OPINION: 801 Magnolia Ave. Use Needs Public Hearings
– Piedmont Priorities –
With life as good as it is in Piedmont, it’s hard to think how it could get better. But there’s always room for improvement so in 2007 the City conducted a community survey as a prelude to updating its General Plan.
The response to the 2007 survey exceeded all expectations. Approximately 3,800 surveys were mailed out, and almost 1,300 surveys were completed and returned. That’s a 34% response rate, the highest ever response rate of any community survey of Piedmont residents. Question 7 in the survey asked “For which types of projects would you support increases in city taxes or fees?”. The range of responses to that question are in the table below.
| Q7: FOR WHICH TYPES OF PROJECTS WOULD YOU SUPPORT INCREASES IN CITY TAXES OR FEES? | ||||||
| Total with Opinion | Response Average | Strongly Oppose | Somewhat Oppose | Somewhat Support | Strongly Support | |
| Additional recreational facilities | 1116 | 2.69 | 20.2% | 17.4% | 35.7% | 26.8% |
| Landscaping and tree planting | 1155 | 2.87 | 13.3% | 15.2% | 42.9% | 28.6 |
| City-owned competitive swimming pool | 1124 | 2.59 | 28.3% | 15.1% | 25.5% | 31.0% |
| Undergrounding of overhead utility wires | 1159 | 2.96 | 18.5% | 11.8% | 25.0% | 44.7% |
| A parking garage in the City Hall area | 1122 | 2.21 | 37.9% | 21.7% | 22.4% | 18.1% |
| More child care centers | 932 | 2.25 | 29.4% | 27.8% | 30.9% | 11.9% |
| A teen center | 1083 | 2.87 | 17.6% | 12.3% | 35.7% | 34.3% |
| Bike paths and marked bike lanes | 1095 | 2.85 | 14.8% | 16.6% | 36.9% | 31.7% |
| A community gathering place or plaza | 1080 | 2.78 | 17.9% | 16.8% | 35.1% | 30.3% |
| City arts and cultural center | 1067 | 2.57 | 22.2% | 20.0% | 36.7% | 21.1% |
| Wheeled mixed materials recycling carts | 1003 | 2.63 | 22.1% | 20.8% | 29.0% | 28.0% |
| Backyard service for recycling/ green waste | 998 | 2.60 | 23.3% | 21.2% | 27.3% | 28.2% |
| Free citywide wireless (WiFi) internet | 1030 | 2.80 | 22.5% | 13.5% | 25.7% | 38.3% |
Now 14 years later, what has come of this community survey?
Additional recreation facilities – check.
City-owned pool? – check.
Backyard service for recycling/green waste – check.
City arts and cultural center – half-check. The city has a classical arts and cultural center. Chamber music only.
A teen center – negative.
Creating a community gathering place or plaza – negative.
Why this lookback matters is because the city is on the verge of missing a golden opportunity to address the two negatives on the list. A teen/senior center and community drop-in space could easily be run out of the East Wing of the building with access to the restrooms in the West Wing and the placing of city staff in the West Wing office space. And no additional taxes required – seniors and the community don’t need to be supervised by staff. They do need a place to freely gather and schedule meetings and an accessible East Wing would facilitate that.
Instead, city staff has negotiated a lease for the 801 Magnolia Building with the Piedmont Center for the Arts that reduces both city use of and access to the 801 building for the next 7 years. There are significant flaws in the lease (https://www.piedmontcivic.org/2020/11/29/opinion-four-major-flaws-in-proposed-art-center-lease/) and better ideas for true community use of the space (https://www.piedmontcivic.org/2021/02/03/opinion-arts-center-founder-wants-usage-opened-up/ ; https://www.piedmontcivic.org/2021/01/10/opinion-a-false-choice-has-been-presented-for-arts-center-lease/).
So the City has two choices – hold a public hearing on the use of the 801 Magnolia building or a second reading of the flawed lease. By all indications, city staff is proceeding with a second reading of the lease with PCA. Unless Council steps up and calls for a public hearing, this opportunity for Piedmonters to achieve long-standing aspirations of a community space will be lost for another 7 years. To that end, newly elected Councilwoman Conna McCarthy could honor her campaign pledge and call for public meetings on the use of 801 before any lease is approved:
“I want to be part of the leadership that encourages large conversations where all stakeholders thoughtfully plan and manage limited resources for the benefit of Piedmont now and into the future.”
Elected Council Candidate Conna McCarthy
https://www.piedmontcivic.org/category/new-elections/page/8/
If you want the City Council to hold public hearings on the use of 801 Magnolia Avenue, you can reach all Council members at citycouncil@ci.piedmont.ca.us.
Garrett Keating, Former Member of the Piedmont City Council
Recently the proposed Reach Codes garnered considerable controversy. In that process councilmembers asked for more information and the City initiated both a survey and an informational town hall with a Question and Answer. In sharp contrast, the proposed Piedmont Center for the Arts (PCA) lease has been a narrow and controlled process that had no public input before the Nov. 16 City Council meeting when Councilmembers Jen Cavanaugh and Tim Rood asked for a pause so more public input could be considered. Regrettably, a three member majority had already decided to approve the new lease, as three months earlier the PCA Board was informed that they will have the votes to approve. Both the process and the terms of the proposed lease are troubling, yet the City continues to negotiate in private with the PCA Board and likely intends to bring this for the final 2nd reading with no further public input.
Because of the division created in town by the questionable process, the lack of community discussion and that newly elected Councilmember Conna McCarthy brings a fresh viewpoint to this process, the City will be best served by a hearing before the Recreation Commission and/or a town hall type event before Council hears this matter again.