Tours of Old City Hall and Veterans Building at 11am and 2pm
Come out this Saturday to tell us your ideas for how we can make better use of the City's Civic Center area to meet our community's vision.
At our "pop-up" booth at the downtown Berkeley Farmers' Market, you'll get to talk to staff and consultants about design concepts for making use of the area - which includes Old City Hall, the Veterans Building and Civic Center Park.
Big moves are being considered and we'd like your input. For example:
- Should a new City Council chambers be built in the parking lot behind Old City Hall?
- Should the Veterans Building be used as an arts and cultural center?
- Should we create elements in our park similar to fountain plazas in Europe or Friday nights at the Oakland Museum of California?
The goal is to make the Civic Center into a space that's enlivened by activity day and night, invites all members of our community and functions as the preferred center stage for all important civic occasions.
We'll also be offering tours at 11am and 2pm of Old City Hall and the Veterans Building
Farmers' Market Pop-up
Saturday, March 7, 11am-2pm
1931 Center Street
Tours: Meet at the Veteran's Building front steps, 1931 Center Street, at 11am and 2pm.
Other ways to engage with Civic Center Project
If you're unable to come, you can also learn more about the project and give feedback at a website created to invite engagement about the future of Berkeley Civic Center.
Currently, both the City's Veterans Building and Old City Hall are in need of extensive repairs, including seismic work. The estimates for repairing Old City Hall range from $13 million to $32.8 million. For the Veterans Building, estimates range from $17.7 million to $32.8 million. Among the issues we'll explore at future workshops includes strategies to pay for the vision.
You can also save the date in your calendars for our next event, for which we'll send out another announcement.
Presentation of Civic Center Design Options
Thursday, March 26, 5:30pm - 7:00pm
MLK Civic Center Building
2180 Milvia St, Cypress Room 1st floor
A preferred design vision will ultimately go to the City Council for approval in the summer of 2020. For further detail, you can also see a January 14, 2020 presentation given to the City Council or read the two-part council report ( Part 1, Part 2). For questions and to add your email to the project mailing list, reach out to the project manager: EHollander@cityofberkeley.info, (510) 981-7536.
Come out on Saturday, learn more and give your input about the future of our Civic Center!