Editorials

Anyone who’s ever been responsible for managing a 2 ½ year old knows the trick. Is the child resisting getting dressed? At that age they’re resistant to almost anything you suggest.

So you ask this way: “Would you like to wear the red shirt or the green one?” and with any luck the child will be distracted from the pink sequined tutu which was her prior choice, or at least from her first idea, which was to finish building her block tower before dressing for pre-school.

That’s the paradigm for the techniques beloved of professional planners for getting citizens to go along with what they ought to think is good for them. Or at least what the planners think they ought to think.

Yes, it’s another chapter in my ongoing discussion of Manufacturing Consent which began last week. 

My first encounter with this plan was at the Tuesday Berkeley Farmers’ Market on Adeline, which is hands down the best place to find out what’s going on with the deathless schemes to wrest control of the area around the Ashby Bart Station from the undeserving hands of the local citizenry. Some of the notorious Friends of Adeline, who have the temerity to think that they should be consulted just because they happen to live there, can usually be found expounding on the latest outrage inflicted by Berkeley’s Very Important People on long-suffering neighborhood residents. 

A couple of weeks ago there appeared a fancy pop-up canvas pavilion, nicer than the shade tents used by the farmer merchants, complete with a counter, three very large schematic graphic diagrams and several winsome youth. They carried clipboards, always a bad sign, and one even had an IPad. 

I watched with interest as several locals whom I recognized as Those Not To Be Trifled With engaged the staffers in heated conversation, and finally my curiosity got the better of me. I went over and asked the young folks why they were there. 

With great enthusiasm, they handed me some expensively printed materials and directed me to an included survey, which they wanted me to fill out on the spot with one of the pens they seemed to be giving away. Since I still needed to get my veggies, I demurred, but did agree to listen to a quick explanation of the big pictures. 

They turned out to represent three choices for possible ways to improve San Pablo Avenue, helpfully labelled Concept A, Concept B and Concept C, each copiously detailed. 

Because I am an experienced mother of three, grandmother of three, and frequent babysitter, I immediately recognized that they were using the “You Get to Choose! “ ploy. 

Because I’m a retired high tech manager, I immediately thought of one of the small number of useful slogans I acquired when dealing with software developers: If It’s Not Broke, Don’t Fix It. 

Let’s just start by asking what’s wrong with San Pablo Avenue. 

I recently had dinner with a European friend at the estimable LongBranch restaurant on San Pablo, in the same block which also houses the Ecology Center and Caffé Chiave (formerly Trieste) in charming vintage storefronts. As usually, the food was good, not too expensive, and parking was easy. 

(Here, a pause for the OMG moment with the bicycle enthusiasts. Why did I have a car? Well, I have a bum knee, I’m an old lady, and the dog was with me, okay? There are quite a few of us out there who have one or more of these issues which keep us off bikes. And don’t get me started on AC Transit.) 

My European friend, who lives in Oakland, said with a sigh that she thinks San Pablo is one of the most interesting streets in the East Bay because of the number and variety of the businesses it supports. 

I couldn’t agree more. For many years now my breakfast has been one and a half slices of super whole grain raisin toast from Vital Vittles, a distinctly funky bakery on San Pablo, to which I credit my generally vigorous health. I have purchased lots of replacement items to fix my elderly house from Omega Salvage and the Sink Factory. Discount Fabrics has supplied my family with upholstery materials and costumes galore. If I want to go out after a musical event, La Marcha Tapas Bar is one of the few places open until midnight in stodgy Berkeley. And all of these terrific operations are just on the west side of San Pablo between University and Ashby. Many more can be found east, north and south of this stretch. 

People live on San Pablo too, happily. For the perspective of one of them, see this piece from frequent Planet contributor Carol Denney, who also encountered the “improvement” proposal this week. 

So of course our public officials are planning to gentrify the life out of all that fun, right? 

I reluctantly agreed to let the polite young woman read me some survey questions from her I-pad, all from the “You Get to Choose One” play list. (Here I must admit that part of my motivation was the pile of key chains with useful small plastic whistles which they were giving away to participants.) 

But my patience only lasted through about four idiotic multiple choice questions, I’m sorry to report. None of them offered “Just Don’t Do It” as a choice, which is what I really wanted to tell them. I said I needed to move on to finish getting my veggies, and I did. 

They seemed to be contractual consultants from Baltimore hired by the Alameda County Traffic Commission, an organization I’d never heard of. The glossy handout had the sponsor’s website address: 

https://www.alamedactc.org/programs-projects/multimodal-arterial-roads/sanpabloave/ 

It linked to a Survey Monkey poll: 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SPACorridor 

Since I took their keychain, I made a cursory effort to finish the poll from home, but it was just too depressing to contemplate as I got further into the gory details of my three “choices”. 

Folks, have you been on Van Ness in San Francisco lately? Regardless of the predicted merits of the proposed redecoration of this major artery, any of the remodeling processes described would surely kill off a large percentage of the successful small time operators now doing business on San Pablo, just as the Van Ness reconfiguring has bombed the businesses there.  

There is still just a little time if you’d like to get involved. From the website: 

“The project is currently at the conceptual design stage, exploring what improvements can fit within the existing roadway. We have developed different concepts for how the space on San Pablo Avenue could be used differently in the future and want to hear from you. “Please complete this quick SURVEY to provide your input on trade-offs between different types of improvements for San Pablo Avenue. The survey will close May 5, 2019. 

“Public Workshops [remaining]

“Tuesday, May 14, 2019, 7:00-8:15 p.m.
Environmental Quality Committee Meeting
El Cerrito City Hall
10890 San Pablo Avenue
El Cerrito, CA 94530  

“Thursday, May 23, 2019, 6:30-8:00 p.m.
Francis Albrier Community Center (at San Pablo Park)
2800 Park Street
Berkeley, CA 94702 “ 

 

 

 

 

 

l