Comments on: A Facelift for the College Avenue Safeway

By: Safeway Community Meeting Turns into Public Venting Session « Living in the O

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:11:25 +0000

[...] of the positive and more level-headed critical comments left at the Safeway proposal website or Eric’s analysis of the project at Transbay Blog. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Rockridge Safeway Proposal [...]

By: david vartanoff

david vartanoff — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:23:55 +0000

so last night a large mtg @ Peralta School w/majority wearing it’s too BIG stickers. Other interesting notes. The Safeway flack was gushing abou how the bigger store could have a real butcher counter(like the one it had when he was in diapers!) Others called for more open space at ground level. A further thought, Safeway bragged a doubling of “union” jobs to 200 but 28 parking slots. How about zero emp parking and full transit pass/ticket for each employee at Safeway’s expense as a conditon of the permit?

By: Steve R

Steve R — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:16:55 +0000

I’ve long thought that this suburban style grocery store should be replaced by something that fits the urban character of the neighborhood. The “blocks the sun” argument about a two-story building is absurd–leafy green trees block the sun also, but no one objects to more trees. And while cute neighborhood markets are nice and all and serve a niche (I shop in them from time to time), they’re not practical for most people with families or who don’t have the time to walk to the market every day.

By: Rockridge Safeway Proposal Community Meeting on Thursday Night « Living in the O

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:02:55 +0000

[...] Rockridge Safeway Proposal Community Meeting on Thursday Night June 18, 2008 It seems that everyone in the blogoaksphere is weighing in on the proposed Safeway remodel on College in Rockridge. [...]

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:10:56 +0000

David^^^

I don’t Safeway is that dumb. Yes, I do most of my shopping at TJ’s and local produce/meat/etc markets, but the VAST majority of people still shop at Safeway-type grocery stores. Long lines would be an indication of succes, I would assume. Costco isn’t at all convenient to me, so I still have a need (at least a couple times a month) for a regular old grocery store.

By: david vartanoff

david vartanoff — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:34:27 +0000

so here’s my question. How dumb is Safeway given that one of these days a newer better webvan will emerge and combined with more farmer’s markets that might finish large markets w/ long checkout lines? My major Safeway purchases are the few canned items neither availsable at Costco nor at TJ which means maybe once a quarter. They would need to be a totally different operation to draw me away from Yasai,Ver Brugge,La Farine across the street.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:32:28 +0000

Also, just in case anyone was wondering about this: the whole length of the Oakland portion of College Avenue, from Alcatraz on the north to Broadway on the south, is zoned C-31, which, if I’m remembering my Oakland planning code correctly, carries a 35-foot height limit.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:13:28 +0000

It would be a really big store: I think the current one is 23,000 square feet. I’m not really a big fan of Safeway, and personally, I would rather see two dozen small independent shops lining College and Claremont instead, if we had that kind of choice to make, because it would contribute to the public life of the street more than people moving between the 2nd floor grocery store and the parking lot tucked in the back. Surely this project can be honed into something better — this short thread of comments here has already produced a few ways to do that — but even in it’s current incarnation, it’s an improvement over the status quo.

By: tr5e80026b

tr5e80026b — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 09:27:59 +0000

The nicest thing about that area of College Avenue is the foliage. There are trees completely covering the west side of the street from Alcatraz to 63rd, helping the transition to the surrounding residential areas. The rendering seem pretty skimpy on the greenery, hopefully they just haven’t finalized that part of the plan yet.

Also, the actual store looks like it will be gigantic.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 02:37:24 +0000

Yeah, the rendering is not so great. A better depiction (or maybe just a plain better building) might sway at least some of the opposition. And, of course, agreed on the housing. As controversial as it might be, we really ought to be adding 2-3 stories of housing on avenues like College.

I’ve heard good things about Yasai from a few people. I expect I’d probably go there too if I lived in the ‘hood. Here, I often get produce from the Civic Center (“Heart of the City”) farmers market, since it’s conveniently located, reasonably priced, and obviously better than the slim pickings at the liquor stores which surround me on all sides.