An Open Letter to the City on Accountability and Design Leadership
— by Mike Bowermaster — 9 June 2009 — 6 comments below »
The following email was sent today to our city leaders in my best attempt to respond to the Safeway Station presentation…
Dear City Manager, Mayor & City Council, Planning Commission, Planning Department, Redevelopment Agency, and City Staff:
I am writing all of you today in a search for accountability and design leadership with the City’s current, past, and future projects. A week ago, the Waterfront Workshop presentation was another embarrassment of the City continuing to make the same problem it’s made over the last several years. When it comes to city projects, our leaders keep making the mistake of acting on their own accord and agendas, instead of listening to what the people of Hercules need and desire.
My wife and I chose to move to Hercules because of several strong points. Coming from the architecture profession we love the quality of the unique architecture, landscape architecture, urban design and town planning found throughout the city. We like the good design found in the waterfront neighborhoods of Baywood, Promenade (including the Railroad Avenue live-works), and the historic homes. We appreciate the continued pursuit of historical preservation, remodeling, and integration of the few remaining buildings from the old company factory town. We like the bold design of the library and it’s bright interior garden. We like the handsome design of the affordable senior housing directly behind the library. We also like the charming affordable housing found at the southeast corner of Victoria by the Bay. We enjoy the quality of Frog Pad Park, the procession of stairs and axial streets down to Victoria by the Bay’s park, and soon Duck Pond Park. Despite all of these wonderful attributes, the biggest draw to Hercules for us was the city becoming a transit-oriented walkable town, with a ferry and train station five houses away from our new home.
Unfortunately after last Monday’s presentation, I am now concerned about how the new transit station design fits into our waterfront context. The following are links to articles I have written on the matter that will better express my concerns. The articles in these links have a lot of comments from the general public at the bottom of them as well.
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- This is the landmark station design my fellow neighbors and Herculeans have been wanting all along:
http://www.waterfrontwatch.org/archives/2009/05/waterfront-workshop-primer.html
- Sadly this is the second failed design the City has produced (the first being the Szabo big-box plan on the north side of the creek):
http://www.waterfrontwatch.org/archives/2009/06/transit-station-to-emulate-1970s-safeway.html
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So why is the City so far off track from what the voting public wants? Many say our main problem is that we have a small town with small town politics dealing with big city problems. I love how ambitious our town is, but unfortunately there is truth in this reference to small town politics.
The main political issue with the transit station has been over who controls its design. Previously, as shown in the landmark station link above, the developer had used New Urbanism architects and planners to come up with a solution that the general public unanimously embraced. When first proposed, our former City Manager Mike Sakamoto enthusiastically backed the landmark station as well. Shortly thereafter, Sakamoto was replaced by Nelson Oliva as the new city manager. For unknown reasons Oliva then brought on George Szabo to be Town Architect and consultant for the City on the waterfront project and to change the design [a Town Architect is like the CEO who supervises and guides the designs]. This happened despite the fact that Szabo’s designs are the antithesis of New Urbanism’s traditionally styled, pedestrian-oriented fundamentals. For some reason the City wanted to create their own version of the transit station to compete with the developer’s design and a power struggle ensued. During that early 2008 series of public presentations, Oliva pushed the dreaded Szabo design while the developer stood beside their popular New Urbanism design. It was embarrassing how much the public at these meetings loved the developer’s design and hated the Szabo design.
Why does the city feel the need to control the design of the transit station? If the popular vote wants the developer’s design, then the City should oblige their constituency and release control to the winning designers. For unexplained reasons the City has not done this and continues to push Szabo’s design methodologies on our waterfront. So far the City has payed at least $273,000 to Szabo, himself billed at $200 per hour, despite his unpopularity with the people of Hercules. Szabo was Town Architect and responsible for overseeing the latest design of our transit station, dubbed “Safeway Station.” By this point the developer had relinquished control of the station design to the City, so all responsibility of the new design falls on Szabo, the Town Architect for that area.
From Central Hercules Plan Regulating Code VII-6, July 16, 2001:
Design Review Findings
4. General architectural considerations, including the character, scale, and quality of design, the architectural relationship with the site and other buildings, building materials, colors, screening of exterior appurtenances, exterior lighting and signing, and similar elements have been incorporated in order to ensure the compatibility of this development with its design concept and the character of adjacent buildings.”
The City of Hercules needs better design leadership to guide our city forward. This is especially crucial with the transit station, arguably our most important building architecturally to the city. Through the history of towns and cities, churches and train stations have always been the most significant landmark and prominent central core to the layout of the town. The last few years I’ve enjoyed being a “fly on the wall” just listening to city meetings with no hidden agenda of my own. I’m not a paid spokesmen for any organization, design firm, developer, or advocacy group. I’m not looking to micro-manage the City’s team in an attempt to design the station myself. I’m writing here today as a devoted citizen of Hercules and as an advocate for good design, particularly because I’ll be able to see the station from my front porch.
City leaders of Hercules, why are you pushing George Szabo’s designs on us? I beg you to bring back New Urbanism design firms like Moule & Polyzoides, Opticos Design, Solomon E.T.C. – WRT, or any other firm of their stature and quality to be Town Architect for our waterfront projects. Our transit station needs to be a landmark building that harmoniously blends into and compliments the neighborhood context. We shouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel, why can’t we have that 2007 landmark station design linked to above, the one that the developer brought to us on his dime?
Why has the City moved so far into development with the current design, before releasing it to the public? This is especially important after how unpopular the City’s last attempt was, the early 2008 Szabo big-box plan.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Mike Bowermaster
Mike,
Wow! Awesome letter! I agree with everything you stated. I sincerely hope the City listens. I’m tired of the behind the scenes machinations. Its time for the City of Hercules to be transparent!
The vision of a train station as an anchor for the downtown, a public building that will bring pride to Herculeans for generations, and be a draw for out-of-towners to visit Hercules, was expressed by the charette nearly a decade ago, has enjoyed continual support by Herculeans since, and was expressed clearly (again) by the Waterfront Now Initiative less than one year ago. The developer is an expert in and a noted advocate for this New Urbanism approach and has designed a beautiful train station that drew applause from the city’s Planning Commission (more than one year ago!). I understand that the city must find the funds for the station, and that might necessitate scaling it down, although I don’t see that this requires us to create a different concept for the station. The problem is that George Szabo’s team, hired through what is transparently a crony-support program, has a very different concept of this station. They describe the station as “a machine for moving people”. About 18 months ago, they unveiled a plan for a 1970s-style mass transit hub north of the creek that caused a delay of more than a year as Herculeans fought it until it was rejected. I’d thought that the resounding support for New Urbanism and loathing of the “Szabo Plan” at that time sent a strong enough message to the city, but that does not seem to be the case. Here we see reincarnated a plan for efficiently moving people through our town rather than inviting them to linger. We do not want to see our beautiful waterfront be devoted to another El Cerrito del Norte station (but George Szabo does). I am now convinced that we will not have the downtown that we all want as long as George Szabo remains a consultant for the city.
The city council should remove Nelson Oliva as our city manager. If the city council fails to take action, the residents of Hercules should vote to replace this group of councilmembers. Let us be forthright, the councilmembers are ultimately responsible and must take steps to rectify this problem.
Here is my nickles worth.
I agree with Mike on this completely. The “Safeway” designed building does not meet the design standards (style) that every other building in the waterfront projects have had to meet, simple as that.
What I believe is going on here is that the plans to actually build a train station, much less a ferry terminal have become nothing more than 10 years of “pipe dreams”. The city planning, city council, land holders, and perhaps even the developers have no intention of moving forward with these things, at least for the foreseeable future. So, rather than letting things just sit the city is using the development plans as a means of finding funds and spending those funds on studies, designs, programs, and presentations. Much of that spending is just plan old buddies giving buddies contracts for work that has no value other than to line pockets. Reflect on all of the project changes that have occurred on the waterfront over the past five years (10 since the original charrette done by the city and the citizens.) and nothing but residential has happened.
Another year has passed. There is no creek alignment, no laying of extra train tracks to orient for a station, no funding approved for a ferry (not even a design), no bridge funding on Bayfront, no repair of dilapidated houses, no tenent in the city owned house on Railroad, no building starts on the already approved land on Bayfront. This year I have seen 3 new versions of design. Last year there was the Szabo fiasco. The year before the Walmart threat. The year before that the loss of the principle developer (Bixby). This year the same old beat up chain link fencing around the ruins and street beds and sidewalks coming apart.
On the up side we did get two trash bins on Bayfront for the doggies.
Phil Simmons
I am not so quick to support the dismissal of Nelson Oliva. In general, I judge that he has done some terrific things for Hercules, is well qualified for the job, and has a lot of good ideas. Often, it has been some city council members who have been meddling into these designs and causing delays and disappointments, and Mr. Oliva who has opposed the council (generally without the public’s knowledge). In my view, Mr. Oliva’s one continued, critical failing has been in supporting his long-term friend, George Szabo. Personally, my enthusiasm for Mr. Oliva depends critically on whether he is willing to abandon his support of this ill-guided effort of Mr. Szabo to sabotage the New Urbanism on the Waterfront. I am now convinced as a result of round two of this battle, that Mr. Szabo must go. Mr. Oliva, for the good of this city, must come to agree, or find himself on the wrong side of the most important issue to the residents of this city.
I would like to know what process the City Council used to select George Szabo as the town architect. I can only recall Mr. Balico reading a prepared statement and making the announcement at a City Council meeting. What other firms were considered to lead the most visible project in town? What qualifications does GL Szabo have that bested other Bay Area firms with New Urbanism credentials?
.
Unfortunately, I found very little about GL Szabo; the firm has no website, no published record of New Urbanism work completed or designed, no links to industry organizations. The firm is an unknown entity with no track record… yet it was selected to be the town architect for Hercules. Boggles the mind…..
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What I did find of GL Szabo is not comforting….
GL Szabo & Associates operates out of a single-family home in Southern California; adjacent to a golf course in the middle of agricultural land being encroached by residential subdivisions. The firm’s location is the poster child for low-density, car oriented, suburban sprawl; the complete antitheses of the New Urbanism that Hercules is trying to create. Yet somehow the firm was retained to lead the development of the waterfront. Follow the link to view the firm’s location:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl&q=12030%20nelson%20rd%2C%20moorpark%20ca
Hector Rubio