Where Is Center?
by Joe Chambers
Where is the center of Emeryville? What constitutes a center? As my girlfriend, Luana, and I made our awkward walk home to 62nd and Hollis from Trader Joe’s, groceries in hand, we argued about exactly where the center of Emeryville lies. Unclear whether Emeryville’s main attraction, IKEA, constituted its center, I looked down at the sprawling vacant lot next to Bay Street Mall (a.k.a. Site B) as I crossed the Powell Street bridge.
The development planned for Site B is essentially an extension of the Bay Street mall. The list of what will occupy the site has an all-too-familiar ring: condos, high-rise hotel, and more retail. It’s more of what has come to characterize the city – attractions for the short-term visitor. What struck me, and probably the developers too, was the important central location of this site.
To me, this lot in and around Powell Street represents the heart of Emeryville. Not only is it the main access point to all the stores and freeways, but it allows our neighbors to the east to cross quickly into the main shopping district and onto the highway. Unfortunately, a car is necessary to make that trip. (Even from my home at 62nd and Hollis, I often consider driving as the most practical option.) Upon entering Emeryville, visitors must find parking, consume their goods, and then navigate the city’s convoluted web of one-way streets and heavy traffic to find the road home. There is no place for shoppers to rest, talk, read, or think long enough to consider that there might be something to do in Emeryville other than shop. Where is our communal meeting place? Must it all revolve around retail? I believe a city is made by a central public space that attracts visitors, employees, and residents alike. Site B could be that place. Take Union Square in San Francisco or Union Square in New York City – they both provide a gathering space where people can eat lunch, talk on the phone, or arrange to meet someone. If we had a place to collect ourselves, we could decide where to go next or whether to stay longer.
The Bay Street mall businesses would benefit from such a place. Visitors might stay longer, shop more or eat at a restaurant. As it stands now, people do their shopping, get exhausted, and go home. This transience will continue until the City finds its soul – becoming less retail park and more of a cosmopolitan city. If people could access this central location from a variety of directions, and without a car, Emeryville could have a community of residents from Emeryville, Berkeley and Oakland, who want to spend quality time in our city’s “downtown.â€
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Joe Chambers has lived and worked in Emeryville for the past 4 years. He is a local Emeryville artist whose emphasis is in architecture and city planning. His concern with the state of Emeryville is the lack of social and cultural attention the city provides its residents.
While this opinion letter is inspiring, this is not the kind of talk that qualifies as city planning in Emeryville. These concerns would fall into the “It won’t pencil out” default fall back position invoked by developers and sympathetically embraced by the Council majority as famously quoted by John Fricke. Joe’s observations won’t be taken to heart unless the developers themselves get on board with these city planning precepts and they won’t do that since they can make more money delivering to us what they always do….what Joe finds objectionable. We need a three vote progressive majority to really entertain these kinds of ideas. What you’re talking about with your letter, Joe would require a government governing.
I think this letter is great! It’s true, we’ve become a regional shopping mall…and not much else. This is what we present to the world. We really need a city center, like other towns, real towns have. I wish you could somehow impress upon City Hall to see the truth in this…that’s what it would take to make this so.
It seems like the City always says ‘yes’ to what every developer brings to the table. The council isn’t engaging in any pro-active solutions, they just sit around and wait for a developer to make a proposal for any plot of land and then they say ‘yes’. Any high falutin’ talk about city planning takes a backseat to their need to always and forever say ‘yes’.
They don’t say yes until they change the blue awning to purple and look very self satisfied!!
The idea of a true downtown is so inspiring. But once a true maverick got onto the City Council, the 2 pretend mavericks shut up and it’s business as usual.
Too bad we have a city council of largely liberal cowards.
Just like Berkeley will always be a provincial liberal college town and Oakland will always be a ghetto, Emeryville will always just be a freeway EXIT.