Hi: Allen Cain, Solano Avenue Association. I wish to say that we are not insensitive to the needs of the neighbors of Safeway, nor do we wish to minimize their concerns. They seem to be very nice people. Honestly, with a Whole Foods project coming around the bend a block away from Solano… we need to brace ourselves as a district, and without additional delay. We recognize that there are mixed feelings revolving around this project. Thank you for your attention. info@solanoavenue.org

Nothing could be worse than the current store with its hideous waste-of-space parking lot designed for 1950s suburbia.

I am so glad to hear that the new Safeway design got a good reception. I wanted to attend the meeting, but unfortunately I had a conflict with another obligation at the same time. Having a Safeway so close is wonderful and I love that I can walk there to do my grocery shopping. What is not so wonderful is that it is so small that it often does not have the product selection I am looking for. I Unfortunately then get in my car and head to the Luckys. I really hope that Safe gets the new design passed so that eventually I will do a lot more of my grocery shopping in Albany and not have to drive to the store.

To cut to the chase, this is a BIG BOX solution for a small-scale neighborhood, with this scale (i.e. Fonda, Rivoli, La Bedaine, The Bone Room, Peet's, etc.) being Solano Ave's essence. There's no question that the current Safeway is a blight and overdue for a facelift. However, this design is completely out of scale with and threatens to dominate its surroundings. Case in point is Slide 6. How would you like to be living in the house next to Safeway, e.g. the white building on the lower right hand side of the sketch? While we're getting a bigger Safeway, we're also getting a huge 2-story parking garage, with all of its traffic impacts, which I doubt the streets can support. In terms of building shape/mass, the design is also backwards, with two stories towards Solano Avenue, which could be ok, but THREE stories towards the residential neighborhood downhill towards Marin, which would be a disaster. Why not emulate (and improve upon) the approach that Andronico takes further up the street? In other words, move the building towards Solano, which is one nice thing about the design, with corner entries into Safeway proper, other businesses (another nice idea) mid-block, and with parking and landscape as a buffer between the store and the residential neighborhood immediately downhill. To be clear, a better Safeway is definitely needed, just not this solution. Please do not settle for this design but press Safeway and their architects for something better.

And the architect Philip D'Agostino's comment that "Solano doesn't have a place that everyone knows," is absolute bogus, and an utter reflection of someone who doesn't live here. There are plenty of memorable, intimate little places all along Solano that we KNOW, from the stoop in front of Sunnyside Cafe, the little playground and plaza next to Talavera, the sitting area outside of Cugini, Solano Cellars, the porch of the Pub, and LOVE. Once again, change is absolutely needed and long overdue, but this design hasn't yet solved the problem.

Emilie, Thanks for the suggestion and offer. I just sent you an e-mail with some further thoughts. In the meantime, to add to the thread here, the key illustrations that Safeway and their architects haven't shared are the views uphill from Nielson and Curtis showing the back of the proposed design and views that show the Safeway completely in context with all of its neighbors, including Sunnyside cafe and Fonda, etc. across the street. Make no mistake, this project is going to be HUGE. I'd suggest that anyone who questions this takes a little drive or stroll uphill on Nielson and Curtis from Marin and take a look of the current Safeway's backside, which is already pretty imposing. Imagine doubling that in height (1.5 times to be exact), and that's the heart of my concerns.

We live on Curtis, a little more than a block from the Safeway, and almost directly across from a church. I understand people not wanting a large building hovering over their home but if that is their concern, they shouldn’t buy a house backing up against a town’s main commercial street. That makes no more sense than if we complained about problems related to street parking during church events.

I agree with the comment that “Solano doesn't have a place that everyone knows," .We bought in Albany because we wanted to walk to shops, not realizing the shopping on Solano is in Berkeley. We get coffee at Peet’s, browse for books at Pegasus, have a meal at Cactus Taqueria, buy breakfast rolls at La Farine, get groceries at Andronico’s, and go home. We’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars renovating and decorating our home. The only thing we’ve been able to buy in Albany is a coffee table at a second hand store. I thought of printing a map to Pastime for all the workers who have asked me where the nearest hardware store is.

By having a cumbersome, antagonistic city process we are driving Albany residents to shop at the El Cerrito Plaza, Berkeley’s Fourth Street, Emeryville’s Bay Street, and downtown San Francisco. About two years ago El Cerrito passed a sales tax increase. The proponents pushed for its passage on the basis that most of the sales tax would not be paid by El Cerrito residents. To whom do you think they were referring?

I don't know if I'd call the city process antagonistic. Yesterday's community review brought much enthusiastic support to the latest design. By not settling for the easy way out, Albany has clearly made this project better. The project's more sustainably designed, better scaled, more neighborhood and user friendly, and more exciting overall. Yes, while the overall process was prolonged by the back and forth, Albany should be proud of pushing Safeway and their architects to achieve the creative solution they've ultimately reached.

Yeah, Berkeley has many commercial attractions, but Albany also holds its own. My family and I've spent a pretty penny at Little Star, As you Wish, Bua Luang, Curry House, Sunnyside Cafe, Fonda, Bowl'd, China Village, the Albany Twin, etc. A hardware store on the ground floor of the Safeway actually might not be a bad idea.