Friday, February 8, 2008

Interests and Paper Topics

Group: Laura Cohen; Michael Cohen; Natalie Kitchen; Josh Mukhopadhyay; Jesse Solomon

  1. Important Elements of Downtown

Crime levels. Our group expressed two main concerns about downtown safety issues: (1) that crime rate levels not disincentivize new businesses from coming into downtown Berkeley and (2) the need to control crime while respecting the civil liberties of Berkeley residents. [Note that this issue is distinct from, but related to, issues of homelessness; aesthetic design of Berkeley; and business and economic development, all discussed below.]

  • Business and economic development. We discussed three issues with respect to economic development: (1) the need for the City of Berkeley to create business and economic incentives to provide companies that commit to downtown Berkeley with some assurance of gaining a return on their investments; (2) gaining some diversity of vibrant, useful retail shops, including grocery stores and smaller boutique outlets that would cater to the Berkeley cultures; and (3) keeping existing stores open later in the evening to create more business opportunities and nightlife culture downtown.
  • Homelessness. Our concerns about homelessness focus around (1) Berkeley’s Public Commons Initiative and both practical and constitutional concerns about its implementation, and (2) ways that Berkeley might use its provisions of services for the homeless and its use of inclusionary zoning to maximize aid to the homeless while revitalizing downtown. We discussed in particular Patrick Kennedy’s proposal of creating a shelter on the ground floor of a residential building.
  • Accessibility. Some members of the group expressed concern for more signs regarding parking spots and more parking availability in general. Some of the group members were concerned that the city’s desire to locate parking on downtown’s periphery and thereby obligate visitors to walk further and generate more retailer-friendly foot traffic might work against safety and access priorities.
  • Aesthetics. Relatedly, we discussed various ways that Berkeley can improve its aesthetic environment through revitalization. Part of the changes involve minor cosmetic changes (such as more signs regarding parking availability and more lighting throughout city streets) and part of the changes involved more extensive planning (e.g., calling for green spaces, the need for historic preservation, as mentioned below)
  • Housing. One critical issue in-itself and related to some of the other elements we discussed is the amount of new residential housing to build for downtown Berkeley (and relatedly the Charles Hotel on Center Street). The group is interested in pursuing the relationship between creating new housing downtown and growth of retail shops: what comes first? Should Berkeley establish new housing and then follow up with new retail spaces to serve the new Berkeley residents? Does the demand work the other way, requiring retail shops and services before Berkeley residents will move in? Will beginning Berkeley’s revitalization with new residences cede control to private developers in redesigning the city?
  • Additional issues. We did discuss several elements of downtown that were of great importance to members of the group, although we did not discuss them at sufficient length tonight: (1) historic preservation policies; (2) the Arts District in Berkeley; (3) distributional issues related to development and how any benefits should be spread among the city’s various socioeconomic groups; and (4) the tension between the City of Berkeley and UC Berkeley; since UC has the leverage to get their way if they wait out the city’s procedural objections, they must trade off the value of speedy development and unilateral decision making for their long term ongoing relationship with the city.

  1. Paper Topics

Our group discussed three legal / law-related issues that might be useful for class paper topics:

  1. Public Commons Initiative and The Berkeley Police Department

This paper topic would focus narrowly on the Public Commons Initiative ordinance and more broadly on the role of policing and crime levels on the DAPAC Plan.

As to the ordinance, this paper topic would undertake two steps: (1) analyzing the current ordinance attached to the Berkeley Public Commons Initiative in light of Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment constitutional holdings on such initiatives by the Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit, and (2) redrafting the current ordinance to propose a more constitutional, more easily-implemented ordinance that would respect Berkeley residents and the values of the Berkeley community.

As to the broader role of policing, this paper topic could discuss the way in which the Berkeley Police Department and the City of Berkeley can support the DAPAC revitalization plan through controlling crime rates and assuring public safety. This could include analysis of the current beats that police officers walk downtown; measures the city can use to ensure public safety; and what discretion police and prosecutors will have in enforcing the Public Commons ordinance.

  1. Impediments to Downtown Development

Analyze the laws that development opponents often use to derail new projects and outline how proponents can best navigate the minefield. The relevant doctrines include CEQA, CA General Planning Requirements, the Fair Housing Act, and others zoning laws, property servitudes, and other covenants that influence what gets built and which tenants get access.

  1. Affordable Housing and Service Provision

The State of California provides a kind of blueprint of how communities can provide affordable housing. The Department of Finance, based on population and income projections, provides housing production requirements for the state’s various municipalities. City land use planning must address these requirements with special attention to low-income housing. There are sanctions in place to penalize cities that fail to meet their housing targets (though they are seldom enforces) and funding sources exist to provide project capital for below market development. One paper topic might be examining this development pathway and using it to develop proposals for mixed-use building that incorporates a homeless shelter or other public services that will in turn help alleviate downtown’s social crisis.

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