Weekly Poll: $500K Paint Job on the East Dublin BART Station Parking Garage
The East Dublin BART Station parking garage opened its gates to scores of daily commuters about one and a half months ago. This was a very welcome contribution to the progress of East Dublin in that it provided residents and commuters from other cities with conveniently located parking at the East Dublin BART station.
While the initial parking garage structure met its stated functional requirements, its mostly austere unfinished gray sides did not meet the stringent aesthetic requirements posed by many Dublin residents and local government officials. In response to mounting criticism of the “Gray Lady of the East Bay”, Alameda County kicked in about $500K to paint the parking garage a shade of beige. It’s important to note that while this $500K was an unexpected expense of the East Dublin BART station parking garage construction, the project still came in under budget and that none of the expense was passed along to Dublin residents.
So what do you think? Do you like the finished look? Was the beige paint job worth the $500,000?
8:04 PM on July 7th, 2008
Hi John,
Some residents argued that the money could have been better spent elsewhere, especially given that schools across the state are in crisis. Had Dublin accepted the austere look as is, would it have been possible for Dublin to get the money for our beleaguered schools? Thank you for your time.
8:11 PM on July 7th, 2008
Hi Tosh – no, the money that was used to paint the East Dublin BART parking garage was provided by the Alameda County Surplus Authority. Due to the various laws within California and Alameda County, the $500K could not have been used to help our schools meet their operating budget requirements.
Thx, John Z.
11:07 AM on July 8th, 2008
I love the improved look of this garage, now that it’s painted, but $500k for painting seems crazy.
Once they knew they wanted the garage painted, were they required to get multiple bids? Is it true that the painting contractor actually hired Michaelangelo, Picasso and Monet to do the painting and that led to the higher cost?
11:19 AM on July 8th, 2008
Given Dublin’s “stringent aesthetic requirements,” I am surprised that they would have approved the “Gray Lady of the East Bay.” I am glad the structure no longer sticks out like a sore thumb as it used to. To quote one local election candidate, the concrete look would have looked “ghetto.”
5:21 PM on July 8th, 2008
I’m glad the money was spent. The garage was awful before, and blends much better now. No one wants to live in an ugly community. Not every penny in the state budget can or should go to schools.
10:01 PM on July 8th, 2008
I’m glad the painting was a nice, formal looking paint job… That is, thankfully they didn’t decide to do a town mural or any other kind of mural. Call me crazy, but I always thought murals look too inner-city ghetto (you know, how the 680 underpass in Dublin looks? Yeah, like that).. Thankfully no one decided to do that on the garage
11:24 AM on July 9th, 2008
Hi Anonymous #1 – Yes, Dublin’s aesthetic standards are indeed stringent, and when they agreed to have the East Dublin BART station parking garage built, they believed in the artist’s rendition of what the garage exterior would look like. It is BART who did not act in good faith, so it is a credit to our City Council and Staff who succeeded in getting BART to fulfill their end of the deal.
Thx, John Z.
11:47 PM on July 9th, 2008
$500k for a paint job seems to be very expensive. The could have used that money for landscaping or improvements to the station itself.
10:57 PM on July 16th, 2008
Hi John,
Have you seen this article on San Francisco Chronicle (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/15/MNOA11F1NC.DTL)? I happen to love our new BART garage, and I have serious doubt about John King’s journalistic integrity. He seems to be promoting his friend Mr. Steve Weindel’s firm at Dublin’s expense. All the criticisms King directed toward our garage can easily be applied to Weindel’s work. Is it really important for a garage to “shimmer” at night? Wouldn’t that be just as “distracting” and “brake-screeching?” Perhaps Weindel is still bitter from the fact that his firm did not get to design Dublin’s garage.
6:49 AM on July 17th, 2008
Hi Anonymous – yes, I did see this article. I was very disappointed w/ John King’s article. Mr. King reminds me of “The Fountainhead” character Ellsworth Toohey. Here’s the Wikipedia summary of the character:
Ellsworth Toohey, who writes a popular architectural column, is Roark’s antagonist. Toohey is an unabashed collectivist and Rand’s personification of evil (when speaking freely, he explicitly compares himself to Goethe’s Mephisto, who tempted Faust to destruction). He falsely styles himself as representative of the will of the masses.
4:09 PM on October 6th, 2008
The garage looks much better with the paint Job but still ugly on the South side facing the freeway with the slanted/off centered looking facade. On the North side it looks find.
Ugly is the Dublin Honda building right at one of our major gateways. A mouse trap looking shoebox with an opening on the end for the rodents to enter. The building could have used a bit more imagination than the one that we got.
How about the Chacon Dental building next to Patio and More, how did that structure get approved? It does not fit the Cinder Block light industrial building surrounding it, also the scale of the building looks out of place compared to its’ neighbors. Stucco and Red Tile Roof does not fit that area.
The multi color bazaar that is the Willow Shopping Center (San Ramon Village) at Alcosta and San Ramon Road. Color happy that made the small structure look busy, circus like, thrifty looking.