Saving Our Civic Center’s Crown Jewel

A Free Online Presentation & Discussion

Thursday, 6 October 2022
6:00 pm
Zoom webinar

Register on Eventbrite

10 October 2022 is the first day for mailing Vote-by-Mail ballots and Early Voting in the November Election. On the ballot is Berkeley’s Measure L, which allocates $100 million for infrastructure improvements, including revitalizing the historic Civic Center.

Renamed the Maudelle Shirek Building in March 2007, our historic City Hall, the defining feature of Berkeley’s Civic Center, has been for many years in serious need of a seismic upgrade, without which it is in grave danger of demolition by neglect.

Measure L may offer the answer. Please attend this free event to learn about the history of this landmark building and find out what is being done to preserve it.

Speakers

Daniella Thompson, architectural historian and BAHA’s website editor, will discuss the history of Berkeley City Hall through its various iterations from 1884 to the 21st century.

John Caner, CEO of the Downtown Berkeley Association and chair of the Community for a Cultural Civic Center, will describe what the CCCC has been doing in concert with City staff to plan improvements for Civic Center Park and to save Old City Hall and the Veterans Memorial Building, both of which are City of Berkeley Landmarks and listed in the National Register of Historic Places as contributors to the Civic Center Historic District.

Marc Steyer, SE, LEED AP is principal at Tipping Structural Engineers. His firm was engaged by CCCC to undertake seismic studies of Old City Hall and the Veterans Memorial Building. The studies established that the cost to retrofit the two landmarks would be only half of the amount estimated in the past. The retrofit plans include space behind the buildings that will protect the historic interiors with buttresses while adding square footage for future uses.

We count on your participation! Please register today!