Michael Drummond/Senior Staff

More than 40,000 Bay Area residents took to Shattuck Avenue on Sunday in celebration of Berkeley’s second Sunday Streets event.

From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Shattuck Avenue closed to cars and welcomed pedestrians and cyclists instead. Between Haste and Rose streets, participants could engage in a variety of activities, including live art and salsa dancing, as well as watch various performance groups.

“It’s about getting people to experience their urban environment in a totally different way and appreciate Berkeley in a new way,” said Sunday Streets Berkeley director Emunah Hauser.

The event is organized by Livable Berkeley, a coalition which strives to make Berkeley a more sustainable place, and a few partner organizations. According to Hauser, more than 150 organizations and activity leaders, including several UC Berkeley clubs and organizations, participated in Sunday Streets.

Sunday Streets drew people not only from Berkeley but from surrounding cities as well.

“It’s a really special feeling to have so much of a main street shut down,” said Oakland resident Tina Marie. “People look at each other differently. You’re taking people in.”

Because the street was closed off, several bus lines scheduled detours and added temporary stops near University Avenue and Oxford Street.

For Berkeley resident Michael Marchant, the absence of cars created a safer environment for his children.

“We look forward to any of these events where they block off streets to cars,” he said. “It makes it easier as a parent if you don’t have to worry about traffic.”

Hauser said this year’s Sunday Streets had a larger focus on transportation outreach than last year’s. Bay Area Bike Share allowed people to test bikes, and goBerkeley, a pilot program aiming to improve transportation in the city, asked for feedback from residents about public amenities.

To focus on physical activity and active transportation, Livable Berkeley does not invite street vendors to set up booths. Instead, many stores along Shattuck set up tables themselves, providing free samples or selling smaller store items.

Belli Osteria, a restaurant which does not normally open on Sundays, set up a pasta-making demonstration. Its co-owner Damien Morrison said Sunday Streets increased the restaurant’s exposure.

While some businesses had lines out the door, others saw a decrease in customers.

“There are plenty of distractions, so probably not as many people want to hang out in the comic book store,” said Mike Courtright, an employee at Fantastic Comics. While Courtright saw some new faces in the store, he saw fewer of his regular customers.

Sunday Streets, however, does not come without cost for the event’s organizers. Hauser estimates the event cost about $65,000 this year.

Although fundraising and private sponsorship cover a large part of this cost, Berkeley City Council pledged in January to provide Sunday Streets about $59,000 to split between 2013 and 2014.

Councilmember Kriss Worthington predicts the council will continue funding the event for subsequent years. Still, he feels the city’s contribution is a little high.

“It’s unfortunate that the other longtime community events don’t get more funding,” Worthington said. “This event gets as much as 20 other city events, so there’s a degree of unfairness.”

But for Councilmember Laurie Capitelli, Sunday Streets is “money well spent.”

“Everything shouldn’t be business,” Capitelli said. “Sometimes we should just celebrate as a community, and that’s important.”

Contact Tahmina Achekzai at tachekzai@dailycal.org.

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Sunday Streets will be held on a nearly two-mile stretch of Shattuck, spanning from Haste Street to Rose Street. A number of organizations are hosting activities, which range from chess games to yoga sessions, and several bands and dance groups are scheduled to perform in the area.

The event will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Because the street will be closed off, a number of bus lines have scheduled detours and added temporary stops.

The event will be the second Sunday Streets to be held in Berkeley and aims to draw residents from their homes to connect with the community. Originally inspired by Sunday Streets San Francisco, the event was initiated by an organization called Livable Berkeley.

Livable Berkeley worked in conjunction with other organizations to schedule companion events for the day. The North Shattuck Association is hosting a Vine Street Block Party in the Gourmet Ghetto, and the Downtown Berkeley Association will be hosting an event on Center Street called Downtown Eats, Beats and Brews.

According to Livable Berkeley chair Eric Panzer, last year’s Sunday Streets drew a crowd of about 42,000. This year, he hopes to exceed that.

“We encourage anyone and everyone who wants to be involved to get in contact with us, and hopefully we can find a place for them in our event,” he said.

Contact Tahmina Achekzai at tachekzai@dailycal.org.

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Katherine Chen/File

In light of looming deficits, the city of Berkeley may face difficulty in funding future Sunday Streets, a new and well-received community event.

Berkeley City Council voted Tuesday to include $59,098 in the budgeting process for two Sunday Streets events annually after 2013. For 2013, the event will only be held in October and is projected to cost $29,600 for fiscal year 2014, according to a report from Councilmember Laurie Capitelli. Recent deficits, however, have brought concerns over the feasibility of such funding.

Sunday Streets Berkeley — community initiative modeled after the popular Sunday Streets San Francisco that began six years ago — first took place in Berkeley last October, attracting more than 40,000 people. The event, which stretched more than a mile on Shattuck Avenue, temporarily closed off the street for activities like face painting and live music.

During public comment, resident Dan McMullan voiced enthusiasm for Sunday Streets but raised concerns with the finances needed.

“It was fun — a nice event — but I think this is an awful lot of money to ask for this event from the city,” McMullan said. “Why do we have to pay for this event over and over again?”

Typically, vendor fees cover costs associated with city street fairs, but Sunday Streets Berkeley, which has no outside vendors, must raise money on its own.

An online petition, started by organizers, to continue the event has already gained 945 signatures.

“It’s clear that Berkeley residents and nonresidents enjoy spending time here,” said Erin Rhoades, chair of Livable Berkeley, which planned the event last year. “It was truly a fantastic day.”

Moreover, many councilmembers expressed support for the event, pushing for the city to engage in funding the program.

“If you want to see this happen in the future, we as a city need to commit financially, as well as you would need to commit personally,” said Councilmember Jesse Arreguin.

The city, however, also must address a projected deficit of $3 million in the general fund and $3.9 million in special funds for fiscal year 2014, leaving some councilmembers slightly hesitant to finance the event.

“I think, given the financial situation that we’re in, that we are going to have to take a look at all of our special events,” said Councilmember Susan Wengraf. “I want to see it happen again, but I’m nervous.”

The council will further discuss alternative means of financing the $29,600 needed to run the event this October through grants and other contributions at its meeting Feb. 19.

“There is a uniqueness to this event, and in some ways, we need to focus on that as we think about the budget,” Capitelli said.

Daphne Chen is the lead city government reporter. Contact her at dchen@dailycal.org.

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Katherine Chen/Staff

Berkeley community members took to the streets Sunday for an event that closed off 17 blocks of Shattuck Avenue for pedestrian and bicyclist usage.

Thousands of citizens attended Sunday Streets Berkeley — an event that emphasizes open space and community engagement — to explore the streets and businesses on Shattuck.

“There are no vendors,” said Livable Berkeley Executive Director Erin Rhoades, the main organizer of the event. “It’s not a street festival … the streets are open for the community and local organizations to participate. At the heart of it, it’s really about physical activity, and biking and walking more than you (normally) would in your city.”

The event was modeled after the similarly-themed Sunday Streets San Francisco, now in its fifth year. Both were inspired by the Open Streets movement, which encourages bicycle and pedestrian traffic and community use of public space.

The event — which spanned between Rose and Haste streets — was organized by Livable Berkeley in collaboration with community organizations and the city. The Ecology Center and the East Bay Bicycle Coalition were also sponsors of the event.

Councilmember Jesse Arreguin, whose district encompasses the main area taken over by Sunday Streets, said there were negotiations with neighbors and business owners about shutting down traffic on Shattuck. For the event, bus service in the Downtown area was rerouted.

“At first there was a general concern about closing most of Shattuck Avenue,” Arreguin said. “But I think part of what was done is explaining to these businesses the exciting plans for this event and how successful it has been in other cities.”

Brazil Cafe owner Pedro Robin placed tables on the street and opened his restaurant’s doors for the event, though the store usually remains closed on Sundays.

“I love the whole community, the music,” Robin said. “I hope there’s one (Sunday Streets) per month.”

Sunday Streets is just one in a series of Berkeley events that fills the streets with pedestrians at points throughout the year. The Solano Stroll took over 26 blocks in Albany and Berkeley in early September, and LastSundaysFest last closed off Telegraph Avenue in August.

“The wonderful thing about Sunday Streets versus street fairs is that it’s all about the existing merchants coming out onto sidewalks and being engaged with the communities,” said John Caner, CEO of the Downtown Berkeley Association.

Livable Berkeley and other organizers are already discussing the next steps for the Sunday Streets Berkeley movement, including when it will come to the city next.

“Hopefully this is just the beginning,” said Joe DiStefano, vice chair of the Livable Berkeley Board of Directors. “The most common question I’ve gotten is, ‘Is this going to happen again?’”

Contact Libby Rainey at lrainey@dailycal.org.

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This Sunday, a stretch of Shattuck Avenue more than a mile long will be transformed into a public space hosting more than 80 activities, expositions and performances, right in the middle of the street.

Sunday Streets Berkeley is a new community initiative modeled after the popular Sunday Streets San Francisco events that began five years ago. Both Sunday Streets events are part of the larger “Open Streets” movement that aims to promote sustainability by temporarily closing off main city streets to cars while encouraging bicycle and pedestrian traffic. The events also provide a public forum for entertainment, education, culture and recreation.

Attractions on Sunday will include face painting, live classical music, physics demonstrations, free yoga classes, tours of a brewery, Brazilian drumming and graffiti painting, among many others spread along the length of Shattuck from Haste to Rose streets. The event will continue from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The organization of Sunday Streets Berkeley was a collaboration among Livable Berkeley, the North Shattuck Association, the Downtown Berkeley Association and the city of Berkeley — all of which are main sponsors of the event.

Livable Berkeley, which spearheaded the planning of Sunday Streets Berkeley, is an organization that aims to make Berkeley a better place to live through community, social and sustainability projects. The success of the San Francisco events inspired Livable Berkeley to begin talks with the city.

“This is something that embodies all the goals that Livable Berkeley has been working toward for 10 years,” said Erin Rhoades, executive director of Livable Berkeley. “It removes everything except for activities that people create on their own.”

Sunday Streets events differ from traditional street fairs in that they’re locally focused rather than attracting outside businesses and entertainment. The difference was attractive to local businesses that have been less than enthusiastic about the effectiveness of traditional street fairs at bringing in business in recent years.

“In a typical street fair, local businesses are overlooked,” said Heather Hensley, executive director of the North Shattuck Association. “We usually do a street fair, but this year, we were approached by (Livable Berkeley).”

The excitement extends to local business representatives, such as Jesse Sarinana, general manager of Triple Rock Brewery & Alehouse, which will be offering tours every hour as part of the Sunday Streets event.

“I think it’s unique and fantastic highlighting local businesses,” Sarinana said. “Outside vendors — don’t get me wrong, they are fun and exciting too — but this gives an opportunity for our community to meet each other.”

The city of Berkeley and the Downtown Berkeley Association are also enthusiastic sponsors of the event.

Typically, vendor fees cover the costs associated with city street fairs. However, Sunday Streets Berkeley, which has no outside vendors, must raise money on its own.

“We put forth money out of our marketing budget,” Hensley said. “A number of council members put money towards it. There was even money from Measure B.”

Measure B, passed in 2000, renewed a sales tax providing funds for transportation projects, including bicycle- and pedestrian-related projects.

Livable Berkeley hopes Sunday Streets Berkeley will become a regular event, ideally occurring multiple times a year. Judging by the success of Sunday Streets in other cities like San Francisco and New York, organizers are confident that Sunday’s event will be a success.

Contact Jacob Brown at jbrown@dailycal.org.

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