Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • 24

UL UIJ Xv'WW' Hr 2 LOCAL THE OAKLAND TRIBUNE SUNDAY June 12 2005 New banners accent revitalized Auto Row NEW Auto Row banners are now In place along the Broadway median from Grand Avenue to 5 1st Street as part of an ongoing effort to highlight the commercial stretch The previous banners in stalled six years ago were ready to be replaced said project coor dinator Kathy Kleinbaum of the city's Community and Economic Development Agency worked with focal de signer Carla Radosta to come up with the new Kleinbaum said produced three ver sions featuring classic car ele ments and lettering for our committee to review" Kleinbaum is a staff member of the Broadway MacArthur San Pablo Redevelopment Project Area advisory committee members of the com mittee are made up of residents property and business owners and community organizations within the boundaries delineated by the three major thorough fares" she said Local resident Charles Porter heads the panel The cost for the replacement banners 44 pairs in all was $14200 Kleinbaum said In addition to the banners an other Redevelopment division staffer Christine Lebron is working with commercial building owners to provide de sign assistance to facades from 27th to 42nd streets 1 started working on this banner project in January I first reviewed historical materials from the files on the area so I could better under stand how auto row first became established" says designer Ra dosta committee asked to see images of classic cars from the '50s and '60s so I looked through many magazine ads from the era as According to information col lected by Cultural Heritage Survey researchers in 1908 there were fewer than 5000 au vlit Annalee ALLEN LANDMARKS tomobiles in all of Northern and Central California By 1914 there were 20000 in San ran cisco and Alameda counties alone The growth in automobiles grew steadily with 91000 pur chased in 1920 and 300000 on the roads by 1930 The blocks on either side of Broadway north of Grand soon began attracting businesses asso ciated with purchasing and ser vicing the motor vehicles say history files In 1913 the City Council passed an ordinance regulating construction of such structures as garages and repair centers that would likely have gasoline on the premises Building materials were required to be of brick or stone with concrete flooring Prominent architects of the period (between 1913 and 1930) including Julia Morgan Willis Polk and Walter Reed were asked to design a new class of structures Broadway was a natural choice for the emerging automo bile district because it was the route to the pro sperous Piedmont and Rockridge res idential areas whose develop ment owed a good deal to the automo bile A second auto row sector in the ruitvale district along International Boulevard (then 14th Street) devel oped in the 1920s Some of the major dealers on Broadway had branches in ruitvale or sold used cars there Service garage business also began cropping up in the ruit vale district during this period because of the popularity of Sunday drivers embarking on ex cursions along oothill and High streets to the East Bay hijls be yond the outskirts of town Auto showrooms were essenti ally cases for large and n'v Lsi muEdSl THE 1930 ERA irestone Building on Broadway Auto Row has been refurbished The original Art Deco style logo is still visible along the roof line NICK LAMMERS Staff photos 1 it figpaSM 5 'W I jj r5 i Al btlx 'aj r' i 1 mW" J'" THE MEDIAN on Broadway Auto Row has been spruced up with new banners expensive consumer say the files and typically were so lidly constructed and often elabo rately styled both inside and out with large open interiors and full height show windows Con struction costs (from $10000 to $30000) were expensive for the time An early showroom (1916) originally built for the Star Motor Company and designed by noted architect Reed features an un usually long narrow frontage be cause Webster Street meets Broadway forming a shaped lot In recent years the building stood vacant and boarded up until Auto Row dealer Steve Simi decided to rehabilitate the worn out structure It is now home to a Kia dealership and recently had its grand opening Nearby on Broadway and 30th Street a distinctive Art Deco style 1930s building de signed by Charles McCall (who worked actively in the Bay Area from 1901 until the 1940s) has recently reopened as the headquarters for Mercedes pre owned cars after extensive refur bishing Originally the location of a irestone Tire Company dealer ship the newly renovated building still features the shield logo with the distinctive script for irestone along the Deco styled roofline Advisory Committee chair person Porter has servedwlth the group since its inception five years ago consider it an important commitment Although I live on San Pablo in the Golden Gate neighborhood I am interested in pursuing improvement projects all throughout the project area" says Porter anyone is inter ested in finding out more about becoming involved with the com activities I would be happy to tk to The public is invited to the meetings held every other month The next meeting is 6:30 pm July 7 at the Beebee Me morial Church at Telegraph Avenue and 39th Street or more information about other upcoming improvement projects in the redevelopment area contact Kathy Kleinbaum 637 0247 or Porter 547 2689 UC clerical I workers to stage strike ROM STA REPORTS JT" Clerical workers at the University of California will strike Monday through Wednesday to protest contract negotiations becoming the third em ployee union in the past two months to walk off the job over employment issues As with the previous strikes UC officials said the planned action is illegal and that die clerical union has rejected compromise proposals and as sistance from a neutral mediator The Coalition of University Employees plans a statewide strike over what it called UC's budge" stance over wages stemming from a 2003 04 contract dispute according to a union statement The union represents 16000 deilcal workers at UC campuses and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory UC officials say they have offered four wage compromise proposals that include offers of across the board increases and step increases A university statement said officials will take propriate so the strike doesn't affect opera tions CUE workers plan to walk pickets at UC Berkeley and said they will rally Wednesday out side UC headquarters in downtown Oakland The action follows a one day strike last month by University Professional and Technical Em ployees and another in April by the American ederation of State Municipal and County firn ployees SEAN CONNEUET Staff photos A i KHSSSSS tl III wW HI SEIU Local 790 marches A bystander raises his fist (top) in support of hundreds of members of SEIU Local 790 which represents service workers who marched Saturday along Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley to protest Gov Arnold Schwarze budget proposals The march coin cided with the member convention A rally (above) was held on the steps of Berke Martin Luther King Civic Center union dues get a boost DUES from Local 1 CTA President Barbara Kerr said the reform effort is the big gest political fight the union has ever faced pick this fight but this vote clearly shows teachers have never been more united than they are she said in a statement The vote to raise dues was nearly unanimous among the 800 delegates officials said The vote calls for a mandatory $60 increase in annual dues over the next three years In addition California teachers pay $35 an nually into the political advocacy initiative and another 1 3 for a CTA political action committee The union is also starting a voluntary fund where contributions will help form a separate political action com mittee to fight the governor's re forms Staff writers Grace Rauh and Josh Richman and the Associated Press contributed to this report Elsewhere: Aerial firefighting simulator off the ground riday News 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IMWOeOUMM CHASM Off COMMMCff R905 2005 100th Annual Meeting presented Join us in a celebration of Oakland's progress and of the Chamber's continued pledge to work on behalf of all member businesses as we strive to fulfill our goal to be the Connected Progressive Pro Business and Influential voice of business in the Metropolitan Area Wednesday June 22 Oakland Marriott City Center 1001 Broadway Oakland CJL Individual tickets: $50 Patron Sposorship: $1500 Benefactor Sposorship: $2000 (Entitles you to host cm elected official at your table!) Reservation Deadline June 20th 2005 or sponsorship information and to RSVP please visit us online at oaklandchambercom and dick on calendar or contact Ronke Iselen at 510 874 4800 ext 319 or email ronkeoaldandchambercom This event is sponsored by: mmmmma mmmmmmrn I Ti.