New: Development: Causes and Problems (News Analysis)
We’re not against development. But it should be development in which people have a say, a voice in the process, more than having a minute to speak in a hearing. It should be development that doesn’t get imposed from above, that doesn’t destroy a community’s style of life.”
----A West Berkeley community member
Development
Development means building new buildings. Berkeley is facing a wave of new buildings. That wave is starting with two really big new apartment buildings, standing 14 or 18 stories high, in downtown. The apartments will be fancy, and many will be condos, for people who earn above the median income. We know that because the city has given variances permitting violation of zoning height limits, in exchange for which it requires some units to be “affordable housing.” But that means that "affordable" housing was not part of the plan.Five buildings in all are slated for downtown. One will be a hotel. The developers are going through the permit process at this very moment. Here is the list of sites: Bank of America on Shattuck and Center, Ace Hardware on University and Walnut, CIL between Telegraph and Regent, the corner of Telegraph and Blake, and the Shattuck movie theater building between Shattuck and Harold Way. This last one has spawned a social movement to stop or modify the plan. Its slogan is “Save the Shattuck Cinemas.”
It should also be: Save Water, don’t densify Berkeley. -more-