Public Comment

Mark McLeod has written a letter to the City Council, local papers and others which attacks the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee’s vote to support pedestrianization as the preferred option for Center Street between Shattuck and Oxford streets downtown where the new hotel and UC art museum are planned. 

As chair of DAPAC’s Center Street subcommittee, I am writing to correct some factual misstatements in his letter and to elaborate on the DAPAC’s action. 

I will pass over the somewhat intemperate language of his letter (“renegades”; “cynical rush to judgment”; “subverted”) to focus on the substance of his arguments. 

First, it is not true that the subcommittee report recommended further study of three alternatives for Center Street. As the report clearly states, the subcommittee was not able to reach a consensus on what to do with the street. Most subcommittee members thought pedestrianization was the most promising option, but some preferred two alternative options that would allow cars to continue to drive and park on, or at least drive on, the street. The subcommittee left the decision regarding which option was best to the full DAPAC. 

Second, the vote (which was 11 to 7, not 11 to 8) was not the outcome of some “parliamentary maneuver.” The motion that passed was submitted a week in advance of the meeting. DAPAC members, and everyone on the DAPAC e-mail list, got it along with the agendas for the meeting. Everyone knew what was being proposed and had time to think about it. 

Third, there has been ample consultation of stakeholders regarding the future of that block of Center Street. The idea that a pedestrian open space should be created there has been discussed for years. 

The General Plan, adopted in 2001-2002, called for the City to explore options for closing Center Street and also called for a task force to look at the idea of a downtown hotel and conference center. 

In 2004, the 25-member Hotel Task Force was formed. The task force included representatives of DBA and the Chamber of Commerce, and also included a Center Street property owner. It met for five months and heard input from merchants and property owners on Center and nearby streets, along with input from other stakeholders and interested citizens. 

In the end the task force recommended the creation of “a public pedestrian-oriented open space or plaza” on Center Street between Shattuck and Oxford. It called for closing the street to motor vehicles. The City Council subsequently accepted the recommendations and forwarded them to the hotel developer and UC. 

In effect, by its recent action, the DAPAC has voted to affirm the Hotel Task Force recommendation. The DAPAC subcommittee also heard from merchants on Center Street and even discussed detailed drawings for alternative options. 

The full DAPAC has also dealt with Center Street during public workshops and other public meetings since the DAPAC process began in November 2005. Members of the public have had ample opportunities to voice their opinions. Support for the option that DAPAC ultimately approved has been voiced by many throughout the process. 

Now, with only nine months remaining before DAPAC disbands, DAPAC has begun to give its input to staff about what it wants in the draft plan, which is supposed to be finished by summer’s end in time for DAPAC review in the fall. 

Both during the Hotel Task Force process and again in the DAPAC process, merchants have raised a number of legitimate concerns about what pedestrianization will mean for Center Street. Their concerns have been addressed in the Hotel Task Force recommendations and again in the recent motion passed by DAPAC. 

First, there is a concern about how businesses on Center will receive deliveries when the street is closed. There are thousands of streets around the world that have been closed to regular motor vehicle traffic to create pedestrian areas. These streets, like Center Street, typically include restaurants and retail businesses, and all of them manage to get the deliveries they need. 

How this is accomplished varies according to the specific context. On Center Street, it may make sense to allow delivery vehicles onto whatever plaza is created during early morning hours. 

Second, there is a concern about whether the city will follow through and maintain the new open space if one is created. The city certainly will have the resources to do so. The new hotel and associated housing will generate well over $1 million a year in new hotel tax and property tax revenues. A small portion of this would be enough to keep the newly designed public space clean and well maintained.  

Third, there is a concern about the loss of on-street parking. Both the Hotel Task Force and the DAPAC have recommended creation of easy pedestrian access to public parking that will be built underneath the hotel and/or museum. 

Center Street businesses do not currently rely heavily on the on- street parking. A large portion of their business comes from the enormous flow of pedestrians going between BART and downtown bus stops and the UC campus. This flow has been estimated at 10,000 pedestrian trips a day. But with underground parking, it will probably be easier to find a place to park that it is now at the metered spaces on the street. 

By its vote, DAPAC has said that it wants a pedestrian-friendly open space. But DAPAC did not vote to endorse a specific design for that space. It has recommended a design process that will afford merchants, property owners and others an opportunity to voice their opinions on the specific design features they would like to see. Deliveries, maintenance, parking and whatever other concerns are raised can all be addressed in this design process. 

Designs could include varying mixes of trees, landscaping, street and sidewalk surfaces, street furniture, benches, public art, tables and chairs for outdoor dining, etc. A creek or other “water feature” could be included. There is a real opportunity to create a gathering place where people can spend time away from the noise and traffic of Shattuck Avenue. There could also be space for outdoor concerts.  

Without removing cars from the street (with possible exceptions for deliveries and emergency vehicles), it would be impossible to create a real pedestrian plaza. 

With no traffic and parked cars to contend with, people visiting the hotel, conference center and UC art museum will be able to more easily access the restaurants and shops on the south side of the street. There will likely be more of a flow from one side of the street to the other. 

So local businesses stand to benefit. Hopefully Mark McLeod and others will offer their ideas about how this new open space can work to maximum advantage for local businesses. 

Rob Wrenn is a member of DAPAC and a resident of the LeConte neighborhood.