Editorials

“Tragedy” is a word much overused, but it’s the right word for what happened in Berkeley this week. I have been following the story online with especial horror since I happen to be in Paris, ironically visiting my 19-year-old student granddaughter. It does not take much imagination to suggest that in other circumstances she could have been among the victims, and the thought of the Irish parents and grandparents who are grieving this week is heartbreaking. 

The coverage of what went on has generally been admirable, especially by berkeleyside.com, which has stretched a normally small staff to provide a full account. However the New York Times story which tied the balcony collapse to rowdy behavior on the part of some J1 Irish students was inexcusable. We’ve reprinted one outraged letter from Ireland about that. 

Planet readers have kept me well informed about what’s going on as well. The difficulties of working with an unfamiliar computer in a different time zone prevent me from posting most of their comments, but here’s one quote from a reader who’s worked in an engineering office: 

“The idea that such a balcony -- properly designed and constructed -- could be negligently "overloaded", by some combination of not even particularly big males and females (we're not talking a bunch of football or tall basketball players here), is a poor, phony, and, at any rate, non-legitimate excuse. A balcony should be designed and constructed to accommodate every person that could fit on it even shoulder-to-shoulder -- certainly not only, but especially in a student environment where any designer/builder should know that, especially due to student -- or any -- parties, such balconies are likely to be packed on those occasions.  

“In fact, balconies should be -- another good practices engineering concept -- "over-designed" to accommodate such a weight (or "load", as they say in engineering). That means that an engineer designs for the maximum reasonable load -- weight of adults standing shoulder-to-shoulder on the balcony -- and then go, for example, 50% over that! Short of that, you put a shiny brass plate at average eye level next to the balcony door on the inside (and, why not, outside too!): "Maximum load capacity 'X' [number of] people." Engineers do that for elevators. But, we already know that, especially during a party (or maybe even a 4th of July fireworks display, or just an especially spectacular sunset, if the balcony at all faces a suitable direction), students (nor anyone else, especially having a good time and drinking partiers) are not likely to keep track of just how many people are on a balcony. And then if a group of people are dancing on a balcony, you're then talking about additional forces other than just a, more or less, static load.” 

Many of my correspondents have reminded me of what was covered well, often by Richard Brenneman, at the time the Library Gardens complex was entitled and built. This was a project that had the inside track.  

It’s noteworthy that the City of Berkeley’s Current Planning Manager at the time was Mark Rhoades, the same Mark Rhoades who’s now trying to grease the skids from the outside for at least one new and even larger complex, the “Residences at Berkeley Plaza” at 2211 Harold Way. Some readers have reminded us that Berkeley politicians bent over backwards to make concessions on behalf of developer John LeClerq, for example releasing his company from their promise to include three levels of underground parking. Further coverage from the Planet (with an even smaller staff of 1+1) must await our return. 

We have received copies of a number of eminently sensible letters to the Berkeley City Council calling for a moratorium on new construction until obvious problems with city oversight have been investigated. At this point it’s impossible to determine whether the negligence is simple incompetence or politically motivated, but until we have the answer new projects should be on hold. 

That includes, especially, the latest Rhoades entry, now on the fast track, with a marathon schedule of city meetings scheduled to guarantee approval before the council’s long vacation which starts in late July. The mayor appears to have shed copious crocodile tears over the Library Gardens disaster, but what’s needed for city officials, both elected and staff, to stop and think before allowing another one to happen.