Iceland Blogs

At the July meeting of the Landmark Preservation Commission (LPC), one of the items on the agenda was "2727 Milvia: Nomination to the National Register of Historic Places".  This was a public hearing on what, if any, comments the LPC should make on the application submitted by the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA) nominating Berkeley Iceland for the listing.  There were three speakers on this topic during the public comment session, an attorney from Miller Starr Regalia representing East Bay Iceland (EBI, the current owners), preservation architect Mark Hulbert (also representing EBI), and John English, who prepared the application for BAHA.  The meeting  ended with the commission voting to send a letter of support pending review by the Berkeley City Attorney.

Earlier this year, the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA) nominated Berkeley Iceland for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.  As the 70th anniversary of Berkeley Iceland's opening approaches, the recognition of Berkeley Iceland in history and the community will be heard later this Summer providing the opportunity to the public to voice their views.  Like the Berkeley Landmark Preservation Ordinance, listing on the National Register does not preserve the use as an ice rink, but it does provide access to funding sources for preservation and repurposing which owners can take advantage of for developing historic sites. 

On behalf of Save Berkeley Iceland, I want to thank the organizers and attendees of last week's Juneteenth Celebration.  This was possibly the best event we have participated in, made even more special since it is Berkeley Iceland's neighborhood.  It was great talking to so many people from the community who shared their memories of their time spent in Berkeley Iceland, ranging from hockey players from the 1950's to moms and dads who took their kids to parties in the time just before the doors closed.  With only one or two exceptions, the support for reopening the community center was universal.

Gene Turner was a special person - a super skater winning US National Championships [one year in three events], performing in films and skating shows, including Iceland with Sonja Henie, and helping generations of skaters through coaching.  Those later years were spent at Berkeley Iceland where he coached until just a few years before his death.  While I did not know Gene other than in passing at the rink, he is fondly remembered by many who learned from him and have told me many stories based on their fond memories of the time they spent with him.  I remember seeing him with Tony Howard on the ice a few years before the doors closed - over 100 years of skating talent together.  I'm sorry I didn't get to know him...

[photo from World Figure Skating Museum and Hall of Fame via U. S. Figure Skating]

Save Berkeley Iceland supports the efforts of the community to save and upgrade Berkeley Pools.  Like Berkeley Iceland, the Berkeley pools are a central part of the community and provide a much needed healthy place for all sections of Berkeley society.  While the measure does require public funding, there is a far higher cost of not making the investment in the health of our City - not just the health of its citizens who use the pools, but in the fiber of Berkeley itself.

As Shirley Dean, former Berkeley Mayor and SBI Director, wrote in the Berkeley Daily Planet :

"Berkeley has always held strong values around caring for the elderly and disabled, providing recreational services that builds a healthier community for everyone, and creating positive physical activities for our youth. Measure C supports those values."

The prospect of loosing one of the recreation pools and the therapeutic Warm Pool, and the continued deterioration of the remaining pools should give all the citizens of Berkeley pause.  This is an opportunity for the community to make it clear that we support healthy activities for our kids and adults with an investment that will leave a model future generations to follow.

Vote Yes on Measure C to save Berkeley Pools and promote a healthy community!

Dear Mayor Bates -

Yesterday I received your monthly newsletter and other articles and your work for the City of Berkeley.  I enthusiastically support many of the activities you do and want to thank you for your efforts.  In particular:

• Support for recreation activities for the community by your active support of Measure C and the pools plan.  This retains and refurbishes valuable community assets which provide Berkeley with healthy activities where kids of all ages have fun.  SBI supports this as well.
• Your enthusiastic support for the YMCA's "Very Green" upgrade - a model for other community projects.  SBI could not agree more and all of our plans for a renewed Berkeley Iceland use this as a basic principle.
• Securing funding for Berkeley's portion of the Eastshore State Park's Bay Trail is something of which you can rightly be proud.  This once again shows your commitment to healthy activities for the community and access for all to those facilities.  Finding and securing funding for this worthwhile project was a job well done.
• The spread of Berkeley FIRST to the state shows both your commitment to sustainable resources and the leadership of Berkeley in coming up with creative solutions to community opportunities.  SBI supports both these principles as outlined in the plans for the future of Berkeley Iceland.   

These were just the programs I saw in my inbox yesterday.  There are others, such as the support for creative housing solutions and community resources in the Vision 2020 plan, that I'm sure show more agreement. 

Looking at these projects and programs, I was impressed by how much we agree on.  These all share elements or principles with the Berkeley Iceland project presented at the 18 May Council meeting and outlined on the Save Berkeley Iceland site.  This leads to the question, what is needed to get the same enthusiastic support you show for these very worthy programs for a plan to restore Berkeley Iceland, a valuable community recreation facility, in a creative plan which provides housing in a sustainable, green site?

As I've written in the past, we have a chance for Berkeley to once again show how a community can use its creativity and commitment to seize an opportunity to save a local treasure, Berkeley Iceland.  The plan incorporates many of the principles you have supported as Mayor and citizen of Berkeley.  How can we get the same support for saving Berkeley Iceland that would help make the goal a reality?

Thank you again for what you have done for Berkeley.  We hope you can find the same support for the restoration of Berkeley Iceland to the community.

    Sincerely,
   
                Tom K. / Save Berkeley Iceland