It can’t be denied — there has been and continues to be plenty for neighborhoods to think about in the City of Berkeley.
More on The Neighborhood Preservation Forum
At our June 7th Neighborhood Preservation Forum we identified 24 possible items important to neighborhood preservation that merited further discussion. (You can read all about the Forum and why these items are important in our June eNEWS.) That further discussion was held on July 19, 2014 and 7 items were selected for further work. Those items are:
- Enacting a Consistency Ordinance ensuring that the Zoning Ordinance conforms to the General Plan.
- Amending the General Plan requiring that density calculations be parcel-based.
- Adopting design standards that provide for consistent treatment along transit corridors that would ensure sensitive transitions from higher densities on major arterials at interfaces with R1 — R3 residential districts.
- Encouraging solar installations on rooftops of commercial and residential buildings by creating incentives and mechanisms for financing.
- Managing height by enacting a lower height in recognition that density bonuses, mechanicals, architectural details, and the like will add to that height, so that when construction is finished, the anticipated/planned height for the development equals the actual result.
- Organizing zoning/planning round tables to educate residents on using the Zoning Ordinance and General Plan. Planners should meet with neighbors in the same manner they meet with developers.
- Retaining strong and possibly enacting stronger demolition standards
A subcommittee was formed to explore these 7 items. Anyone who wants to volunteer to serve on this subcommittee, please e-mail your contact information as soon as possible to bnc50@berkeleyneighborhoodscouncil.com. This is a chance to actually make a difference, so join in and become a part of the solution,
What Happened on July 26, 2014
BNC posted a Special Edition in July. Most of that eNEWS concerned potential traffic problems associated with the professional soccer game held on July 26, 2014 at Cal’s Memorial Stadium (CMS). Here’s what we found out about what happened on that day.
- It took a resident 90 minutes to get from Ashby to the Bancroft Hotel.
- A Panoramic Hill resident saw no police at the bottom of the hill near the Stadium where police are usually stationed on CMS game days. The resident did observe them around the corner, but some cars headed for the game had already gotten through. The resident understood that cars were supposed to be stopped at Dwight Way and only residents allowed to proceed further. The resident was going to work in San Rafael — ended up being 1.5 hours late for work.
- Cars were parked 3 miles away from CMS.
- On the morning of the game, some residents moved their cars from their own off-street parking to the street, making street parking even less available, but allowing them to charge $50 for game parking in their driveways and garages. This was observed on the north side of campus.
- The north side, beyond a few blocks from the campus, was largely unaffected by traffic, noise, or parking.
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Residents on lower Panoramic Hill left their home at 2:45 pm, reported smooth traffic heading away from the CMS, but bumper-to-bumper, heavy traffic incoming to the Stadium on Warring, Derby, Claremont, Ashby, College and Tunnel Road. It would have been impossible that people in these cars would get to the Stadium in time for the opening of the game. Traffic seemed to clear up around 4:15 pm.
- Another resident reported very heavy traffic headed to the Stadium backed up into Oakland along Claremont, with cars parked in driveways on neighborhood streets off of Claremont. The long-line of Claremont traffic met another long, bumper-to-bumper westbound line on Tunnel attempting to turn right onto Claremont at the Ashby intersection. This was around 2:30 pm so people had to have missed the beginning of the game. Traffic cleared up after 4:30 pm.
- Traffic apps on mobile phones and computers all reported “gridlock” on I-80.
- One Panoramic Way resident described the situation as giving residents in that neighborhood, 1 of 2 choices — either leave or be a prisoner in your home.
- People heading for the game were observed parking at downtown meters at 2:15 pm presumably quite willing to pay the price of a parking meter violation in order to get a parking space.
- There were complaints about Cal being very disorganized
- Many people missed the entire first half of the game.
- Only a few entry gates were open, and ticket holders didn’t know which gates were open.
- Having only a few entry gates open was noted to be a safety problem in case the Stadium had to be evacuated.
- There were too few ticket takers at the gates that were open.
- Women were not allowed to bring in purses. After having waited in a long line to get into the Stadium, when they got to the gate they were told they had to turn around and check their purses at I-House and then once again stand in another long line to enter the Stadium. There were no warning signs or other advance notice.
- It was hot and water was sold for $5 per bottle.
- A resident reported hearing noise from the game while inside a house with the windows shut, approximately 1 mile from CMS.
- Residents also reported hearing back-up beeping noises.
- One resident reported that the soccer game was quieter than Cal football games because there was no band, no canon, minimal use of amplified sound, and the lack of crowds being led in cheers. It was still very noisy. Noise levels for Panoramic Hill are restricted to no more than 55 dB for 30 minutes in any one hour between 7:00 am and 10:00 pm. A hand-held device located on an exterior deck, recorded noise levels over that level for short periods of time.
BNC welcomes these comments and hopes that the day’s events will be seen as a “learning experience” for capacity events (62,000 plus) held at the Stadium. As a part of that learning experience BNC would like to have some answers to these questions:
- How many City of Berkeley Police and Fire Department personnel were involved? Did that involve overtime? Who is to pay for this and how much?
- How many cars were towed? What did that cost? What revenues went to what jurisdictions?
- How many meter violations were written? What revenues came to the City from that source?
- How many traffic violations were written? What revenues came to the City from that source?
- The University hired someone to do a noise evaluation. When and where will that report be available to the public?
- How, when and where was the plastic, plywood and sod used for the field disposed of?
- Sometimes after Cal football games, there are parties at sororities, fraternities, other student living groups, and homes. Sometimes these parties require City intervention under the Second Response Ordinance. Did this happen after the soccer game, and if it did, what were the details?
- Was there a measurable effect on Berkeley businesses? In what areas?
- Is there a written agreement, plan, or memorandum of understanding between the University and the City regarding traffic control issues involving CMS? If so, is that document available to the public, and from whom?
- The issue has been raised regarding the City’s ordinance regarding a tax (10% of gross?) on tickets sold and concession sales for professional sporting events at the Stadium. Will that apply? If so, what is the plan to collect that amount?
We’ll see what we can find out.
For those of you who may not know, the game was between Real Madrid and Inter Milan, two of the biggest soccer clubs in the world. At the end of the game, it was a 1 — 1 tie, sending the game into a series of penalty kicks with Inter Milan finally winning, 3 — 2. Some of the world’s most famous players such as Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) did not play because of the need to recuperate from the World Cup competition. However, another Real Madrid star, Gareth Bale, did play and made the goal for his team in regular play. The Real Madrid team (and we assume the Inter Milan team as well but we don’t know for sure) stayed at the Hotel Shattuck Plaza where the street was lined with fans cheering them on.
We understand that when the World Cup games were being broadcast, so many people (around 270) flooded the new Westbrae Biergarten on Gilman at Curtis (where the BART tracks cross) that the neighborhood circulated a petition to limit the number of customers at any one time in the future. Their Use Permit allows 104. The owners of the Biergarten agreed that 270 was too many, but stated they would like to negotiate an occupancy of 170 with the neighbors who seem to be holding out for the 104 number. As a step toward limiting the crowds, the Biergarten folks removed the television screens from this outdoor facility and made some other changes to make their operation more acceptable to the neighbors. We don’t know what happened to the neighbors’ petition and just how the question of occupancy will be worked out, but the lack of television coverage would certainly have reduced the potential draw. As it turned out, the game at the Stadium on the 26th which was televised internationally, was blacked out in our area. We did find on television, a soccer game being held in New York, but that clearly had limited local appeal.
To really understand all of this, not only would we like the answers to the 10 questions above, we would like a succinct answer to the question of the day: In a soccer game, what is the definition of off-sides?
In our Special eNEWS edition in July we also told you about Sandy Barbour leaving as Cal’s Athletic Director to pursue an academic career in sports management at Cal Extension. Her last day at Cal was July 15. Well it turns out, there will be no academic career, as she accepted a position as Athletic Director at Penn State starting August 18th. That was indeed a pretty fast transition. Penn State had set up a 7-member search and screening committee headed by Penn State Senior Vice President for Finance and Business, David Gray and they felt that Ms. Barbour was a perfect fit for them. Penn State University President Eric Barron described Ms. Barbour as their “clear choice, first choice.” Her new salary will be $700,000 per year with possible bonuses for an additional $200,000. She has a 5-year contract.