The Exedra received the following notice on Friday, April 9:
At its regular meeting on Monday April 19th at 6:00 p.m., the City Council will consider the second reading and final approval of a lease renewal for the Piedmont Center for the Arts (PCA). The Council approved the first reading of the ordinance at its regular meeting of November 16, 2020.
Since that time, the City has negotiated with PCA to revise and improve the proposed lease based upon input received from community members. Major changes include:
- Addition of Rent Payment
- Additional Time Designated for City Programming
- Improved Early Termination Clause
- Addition of an Emergency or Unforeseen Circumstance Clause
- Prior Written Consent for Non-Arts Related Rentals
The agenda report for this item, which includes the proposed lease and supporting documents is available [HERE or] on the City Council’s page of the City’s web site at: piedmont.ca.gov/government/city_council/staff_reports
Comments regarding the proposed lease agreement may be sent to the City Council via email to: citycouncil@piedmont.ca.gov. To send comments via U.S. Mail, please use the following address: Piedmont City Council c/o City Clerk, 120 Vista Avenue, Piedmont, CA 94611.
The April 19th City Council meeting will be held virtually in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The virtual meeting information will be included in the agenda for the meeting, which will be issued by 9:00 a.m. on Friday, April 16th and posted to the City Council Agenda page of the City web site at piedmont.ca.gov/government/city_council/meeting_information___agendas
The meeting will also be televised live on KCOM-TV, the City’s government access TV station and available through streaming video on the City’s web site.
Contact: John O. Tulloch
(510) 420-3040
jtulloch@piedmont.ca.gov
The city press release claims the lease has been “improved” but salvaged is more like it. Read
https://piedmontexedra.com/2020/11/letter-to-the-editor-the-proposed-pca-lease-is-flawed to see just how flawed the first draft was. All the current draft does is incorporate standard terms that a building owner (the city in this case) would insist upon. The City is getting much less revenue than if it were it to lease the office space directly.
The lease negotiation process has been flawed from the start, being facilitated without Council input. Had Council agendized lease renewal at a public meeting there could have been a transparent community discussion of the use of the 801 Building, revealing the many other ideas for use of the space. Instead the public process has been suppressed.
Council voted 3-2 to approve the first draft in November. Calls for the new Council to open the discussion of 801 to public input have gone unheard. It raises the question why does Council goes out of its way to provide space for PUSD but won’t address the long expressed needs of its constituents?