Letter to the Emeryville City Council
(Reprint of letter sent to the City Council prior to its vote on Jan. 20 to demolish the historic brick building at 39th and Adeline Streets – designated as “architecturally significant” under the City’s own preservation ordinance. It is the third “architecturally significant” building the City Council has voted to demolish in the past year. )
Esteemed City Council Members,
I write to express my concern about the brick building currently
standing at 39th and Adeline. This building is an important part of
our landscape. Please don’t give a developer a free pass to demolish
it.
I am not anti-development. I enjoy living in Emeryville, and I love
seeing it thrive and grow. But “smart growth” is different than
“growth at any cost.” We can bring in new businesses and new
residents without violating our own policies for preservation of
historic structures.
Emeryville is strong, and it does not need to destroy its heritage
just to put up another cookie-cutter, vision-less new building. Many
Emeryville residents — long-time residents like me — love living in a
city that is different, quirky, and built on a legacy of industrial
and bricks-and-mortar growth. We love the way it looks. Yes, we must
grow – but not at any cost.
To me, this is part of a larger issue about the City’s vision for
growth, and its priorities. Do we pass resolutions that reflect our values, only to abandon them at the first request of a developer?
Tuesday is my anniversary, and I will be unable to appear personally
at the council meeting. But I write to let you know that this issue
is very important to me, and I vote. Every time.
Thanks to Brian Donahue, John Fricke, and the Secret News for shining
a light on this important issue.
K.H.
6363 Christie Ave. (PPP)
…E’ville since ’05 – and loving it!
It seems like there’s not much attention paid to how it feels to walk and linger with all the new development. Besides the oppressive feeling one gets with all the choking traffic, these are not spaces where one feels like pausing or exploring. There’s no memory here. It’s the difference between being treated like a consumer versus as a citizen. In Emeryville (and other soulless towns) we’re going from citizens to consumers.
Consumers maybe, but who’s got the extra money to keep buying all this stuff? Get ready for more Bay Street mall when it expands (to the north). I don’t know how we’re going to come up with the money (more credit?) but we’re going to have to keep buying stuff to keep Emeryville in the black. The City of Emeryville sees national chain store retail as our salvation…lots of it.
It goes back to what do we want the culture of our town to be? Is it a place for people to come to to shop, eat, park their car, leave their trash and go home? Or do we want it to be a place where people are attracted to rent or purchase a home, send their kids to school, and live their life? I am not proud of our city council who sees our community as a place for visitors and not residents. And where are the residents who speak out?
I’m a resident of Emeryville and I am not happy with the council’s idea of growth. They keep putting into place these gigantic condo projects which are nearly EMPTY. There way to EXPENSIVE. I live on 45th st in Emeryville and Avenue 46 has about 4 residents and the project takes up the entire block. And there continuing to build more of these condominiums such as the ones being built in front of the Black and White liquor Store. There way to expensive and people certainly cannot afford to live here in Emeryville with the amount of people without jobs.