One good thing about being around here for awhile with an active memory is history. I remember when Dreyer's Ice Cream proposed its giant facility for Rockridge, and many, including for a time me, were against it. One reason for this was that the original plan called for a visible College Avenue presence that was just too out of scale with the neighborhood. I say that's true for the Safeway proposal before us.
This is one of those stories that needs a video and one will be up soon, but for the present, what's neat about Rockridge is that there's not one long wall of building walls hugging the street. It's a parade of structures of varied heights, allowing Sun to reach the street and giving a small-town-in-Oakland feel.
But Safeway's current proposal will destroy that feeling in my view. It calls for a building that does what's not cool: hugs the street and looms over it. It would drastically alter Rockridge and make it seem more like a retail downtown suburb in Oakland with constant traffic problems.
That's my view. More later.
Comments
The Safeway proposal will move the store into Rockridge and away from the Berkeley boarder, bringing the traffic problems with it along a smaller street that is College Avenue.
Safeway's not leaving Oakland. Not in any way. So that is why I confused you for him; you stated they were -- or could -- leave.
But as to considering Rockridge "another downtown" - it is already in my mind. I go there all the time. I get a few things at Market Hall, have a snack at Oliveto when I can afford it, and then get canned goods at Safeway. It makes for an easy one-stop shopping experience.
But I can understand not wanting it... you already have so much good stuff in Rockridge (Wood Tavern!) that you don't need an upgraded grocery store.
Add to that, I live just over the border in Berkeley so I feel that a different city is shoving this down my throat.