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By allowing the construction with virtually no public process of an immense industrial-style tower on McKinley Street, our highly competent City staff has created a huge, needless problem for itself. The thing is a desecration of the Civic Center in general, of Old City Hall in particular, which it looms over like a giant oil derrick, and an almost inconceivable affront to the residential neighborhood in which it stands. Because I have the highest respect for our staff, I am dumbfounded that they would commit such a foolish blunder. But there it is. They’ve done it. Their job now is to remove it with as little further disruption as possible for the rest of us. Neither Council nor residents should have to waste another minute assisting them out of their blunder. 

Berkeley’s commitment to careful regulation of new construction is very clear. Our process for granting approval for such construction is very clear. If the staff feels it needs such a thing, they should have no trouble finding out what steps to follow to have their application considered. How can we expect citizens to comply with our very carefully crafted land-use standards if our own government gets away with such a blatant flouting of those standards? 

The construction of this tower disfigures our civic life in two major ways. It places an unthinkably ugly structure at the heart of the city. And it reveals, amazingly, that the staff still does not understand the importance to Berkeley’s residents of appropriate process in relation to changes that have major impacts on our lives. 

None of us, including the Council, should have to get distracted into solving this problem for the staff along the lines suggested by a recent staff report. But because the staff has yet to acknowledge and accept responsibility for the enormity of its infraction, citizens and Council are being asked to endure a public hearing on the subject at the Council meeting scheduled for 7 o’clock on Tuesday, May 16. Those who value the integrity of our planning process, the architectural countenance of our Civic Center, and the livability of our neighborhoods should attend. 

I think the appropriate course is very clear. It has two parts. First, the Council should instruct the staff to remove the McKinley Street tower as soon as possible. Second, and equally important, the Council should do everything it can to ensure that the staff fully and finally understands the importance to Berkeley of following appropriate process where major construction is concerned, so that they spare themselves and us any other blunders on this scale. 

Rob Browning is a Berkeley resi