Neighbors to hold Adeline Corridor meeting Saturday

Adeline corridor meeting, Jan. 31, 2015. Photo: City of Berkeley — More than 100 people attended an Adeline Corridor meeting in January. Photo: City of Berkeley

Neighbors will meet Saturday morning at the South Berkeley Community Church to discuss the city’s plans to revitalize the Adeline Corridor. All are invited.

Unlike prior meetings organized by the city, this session is community driven: “We are NOT affiliated with the City of Berkeley. We are neighbors who care about each other and want to shape the future of our area plan,” according to a flier created to promote the event.

Organizers said attendees will “discuss and help shape our community values … to have a voice in creating an inclusive, fair and just proposal for the Adeline Corridor Plan.” (See the meeting flier.)

Councilman Max Anderson said at Tuesday night’s Berkeley City Council meeting that people concerned about increasing gentrification in South Berkeley should try to attend.

Last year, the city of Berkeley won a $750,000 planning grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to fund a planning process focused on the Adeline Corridor that’s set to look at everything from community character and business activity to open space, jobs, housing, parking, sidewalks and lighting, historic preservation and transit.

Read more about Adeline Street in past Berkeleyside coverage.

The area covered by the grant includes the Lorin District commercial area; the Berkeley Bowl, Walgreens and Any Mountain shopping area; the Ed Roberts Campus and parking lot; the Ashby BART station and parking lot; and the intersections of Ashby and Alcatraz avenues with Adeline.

The South Shattuck area is also involved, including the auto dealership cluster, an approved 155-unit mixed-use development project called Parker Place, and the Sports Basement store in the former Berkeley Iceland skating rink, according to a prior statement. That translates into 100 acres in Berkeley, from Dwight Way south to 62nd Street, according to the city.

According to the organizers of Saturday’s meeting, neighborhood concerns include affordable housing, retaining racial and economic diversity, local jobs, “building community power,” transparency and accountability from the city, and community safety through street improvements.

They also listed health and wellness, support for social services and local artists, and “Honoring our elders and youth, especially Black leaders and institutions,” as among their priorities.

The neighborhood group met in April and, according to organizers, more than 70 people attended that session.

A map of the Adeline Corridor. Source: City of Berkeley — A map of the Adeline Corridor and south Shattuck Avenue. Source: City of Berkeley

Meanwhile, the city is continuing its own efforts in relation to the planning process, using site tours, pop-up planning events, focus groups, surveys and interactive workshops in an effort “to use community engagement to craft a vision for the future of the Adeline Corridor.”

In January, the city held a meeting that drew an estimated 120 people, many of whom said they are very concerned about diversity in the neighborhood.

Staff has since launched what the city has termed “IDEA Centers” to collect community input.

One — in a space donated by the Firehouse Art Collective — is located at 3192 Adeline St., and has been open since April 20. It “provides a convenient drop-in location for people to learn about the planning process, ask questions and share their ideas for the future of the Adeline Corridor,” according to the city. The center is open Mondays from 3-7 p.m. and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

There’s also a mobile IDEA Center that will “pop up” at various locations the first and third Saturdays of the month through June. Find it next on Saturday, May 16, at the Ashby Flea Market in the Ashby BART Station south parking lot. (That same day, the city has scheduled an organizational meeting — at the South Branch Library, 1901 Russell St., from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. — geared toward people who want to help with outreach for the plan.) The project website will include information about future locations for the pop-up IDEA Center.

There are several other ways to get involved as well:

Community survey: The city has created a brief online survey to gather information about what people find special about the Adeline Corridor, and what they would like to see changed. There’s also a PDF available.
Community events: The city will have a booth at the Berkeley Juneteenth Festival on Sunday, June 21.
Email list: Receive updates and event announcements from the city about the planning process by joining the Adeline Corridor Plan email list.

Saturday’s meeting will take place from 10 a.m. to noon at the South Berkeley Community Church, at 1802 Fairview St. Connect with the neighborhood group by email at FriendsOfAdeline@gmail.com. Questions about the city’s efforts with the Adeline Corridor effort can be directed to project manager Alisa Shen at 510-981-7409 or ashen@cityofberkeley.info. Read more about the grant in past Berkeleyside coverage. See the city’s project website here.

The city of Berkeley did a study of the Adeline Corridor in 2005. A local resident has compiled a website with news articles and documents addressing changes in the area.

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Emilie Raguso