Public Comment

Bill Schrader
The Austin Group
164 Gale Road
Alamo,
CA 94507

Dear Mr. Schrader,
When I first learned of this proposal I was concerned about its effect on the Shattuck Cinemas, but then I heard that you had expressed the intent to keep the theaters intact. However, when I examined the sketch on the City of Berkeley Planning Department poster on the side of the building, I could find no indication of the presence of the theaters. This could simply be due to the fact that the entrance to the Shattuck Cinemas is on Shattuck Avenue. However, I write for confirmation that you appreciate the cultural and economic importance of the 10-screen Shattuck Cinemas and have no intention of harming them. 

I write as one of the many thousands of Berkeley and East Bay residents who value the Shattuck Cinemas very highly. As you doubtless know, we demonstrated our opposition over several years when a previous private developer, Joseph Penner, proposed to demolish the Cinemas for his high rise project. More than four thousand film attendees signed our petition to the city to protect this great film venue from demolition. The developer responded by proposing to include new theaters in his project, but the new theaters would have been fewer, would have been mostly underground, and would not duplicate the hand-painted murals and Egyptian and Moorish Revival decor inspired by the movie palaces of the 1920s. 

These theaters are a great treasure both for the general public and for anyone who loves film as an art form. They draw people to downtown Berkeley from all over the East Bay, so they are an economic driver of our downtown as well. Before the pandemic, they were drawing 275,000 to 300,000 movie viewers a year to downtown Berkeley, and those numbers are building again as we begin to return to normalcy. 

I look forward to learning more about your plans. 

Sincerely, Charlene M. Woodcock 

cc: Berkeley Mayor and City Council, Planning Commission, The Daily Planet