Public Comment

Can we prevent Berkeley project proposal from destroying art film theaters?

Judy Shelton
Wednesday December 31, 2014 - 04:40:00 PM

Why do we love Berkeley? Isn’t it because of our culture?

Berkeley’s culture is a rich ferment of the intellectual, artistic, and political. We appreciate ideas here, we have strong opinions, and yes, we lean left (though on the whole, not nearly as left as many people believe). And the entertainment we value embodies our culture.

But we have been losing our culture, not through natural evolution, but through large development projects. The latest threat is the proposed tear-down of the Landmark Shattuck Cinemas, a 10-screen venue known for its spacious vestibule, plush retro lobby, and intellectually rich films. It is remarkable that so small a city as ours can boast this large venue, which hosts several yearly film festivals from around the world and is one of the few places that screens independent, locally made films.

Did you know about its planned demolition? If so, you’re in the minority. Most Berkeley citizens don’t know since it’s not easy to keep track of what’s going on in the Planning Department, where these decisions are made. How can it be otherwise, given that talks between developers and Planning begin as private conversations, sometimes at social gatherings? Years later, after basic agreements about these projects have already been made, public comment is allowed (more like tolerated) at largely-ceremonial, poorly advertised meetings whose agendas often obscure the significance of their subject matter – as is the case with the opaquely named 2210 Harold Way Project, where the Landmark now sits. 

Here are some key points about this project: 

  • The new building will be 18 stories high, squeezed into the space between Harold Way, the Shattuck Hotel, and the Library Gardens/Main Library complex.
  • We don’t know, even this far into the project, whether the developer will create condos, apartments, or both. But in either case, only upper-middle-class people will be able to afford the vast majority of the completed units. Development is, above all, a class issue.
  • The developer, Mark Rhoades, promises that after “significant community pushback” on his original plan to omit a theater from the finished project, he will now construct a six-screen cinema complex, two of which will be “art house” theaters. So we’re down from ten art house screens to two, yet Rhoades claims that his inferior replacement is a “significant benefit” to the community.
  • If another cinema complex really gets built – there’s no written agreement to this effect, and we remember the empty promises about the Fine Arts Theater – we don’t know whether the Landmark will inhabit it, at the increased rentals the new building will command (two dollars per square foot now versus three fifty per square foot after completion).
  • And if another cinema complex really gets built, it will be jammed into a basement corner of the completed edifice.
  • Lastly, if another cinema complex really gets built, the Harold Way building won’t be ready for several years, during which time only the small California and Albany Theaters will remain to show the nuanced and challenging films that Berkeley – a University town, after all – wants to see.
Speak out about this! Come to the second round of public comment concerning the “benefits” of the 2210 Harold Way Project, which is scheduled for the January 8th Zoning Adjustment Board meeting (next Thursday, 7:00 PM, in the Old City Hall). Dissenting voices have pushed approval of the final EIR back to mid-February, and made it clear that the scale of this development and the demolition of the Landmark Cinemas are untenable. We need to keep the pressure on, and to extend that pressure to City Council meetings. 

You can sign our petition and get more information about this situation on our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/saveshattuckcinemas