About North Berkeley Now!

About future development at North Berkeley BART station

Due to state law AB2923 (passed and signed into law in 2018), the North Berkeley BART station is very likely going to change. That process has begun both at BART and at the city level.

On December 12, 2023 Berkeley city council approved North Berkeley BART's Objective Design Standards and there's very little that can go sideways at this point. We can't wait to greet our new neighbors at North Berkeley BART, how about you?

About North Berkeley Now!

Starting in early 2018, several neighbors had been meeting to discuss what we'd like to see happen at the North Berkeley BART station. We coalesced around the idea that there’s an opportunity to have a beautifully-designed development that provides lots of homes for new neighbors at all income levels, with thoughtful design that could make it safer to get around without a car. 

In March 2019 dozens of people donated money to order yard signs that declared "Let's Build Paradise Instead of a Parking Lot" with the url YesOnOurParkingLot.org. On September 23, 2019 we renamed ourselves North Berkeley Now! With over 350 neighbors on our list, we are changing the conversation about making room in North Berkeley for more neighbors. In March 2018 the question was "whether" we should build homes at North Berkeley BART and now it's "how soon." 

Read the North Berkeley Now! platform for more detail on our vision for North Berkeley BART.

In 2021 a survey of North Berkeley Now! supporters showed interest in expanding our scope so we've started advocating for active transportation infrastructure like protected bike lanes, actual affordable housing proposals like Golden Bear, and policies that allow for more apartments in North Berkeley. 


Op-Eds:

Press:


Organizations we work with:

North Berkeley Now! founding members

Darin Ranelletti

Diego Aguilar-Canabal

Greg Magofña

Jeff Hobson

Jeffrey Till

Josh Newlan

Julia Zuckerman

Lee Bishop

Libby & Chris Lee-Egan

Mariana Almeida

Mark Rhoades, AICP

Mary Dorst

May Yun Meng

Phil Erickson

Phyllis Orrick

Pietro Calogero

Sara Fain & Jaime Orozco

Tarek Rached

Theo Posselt

Valerie Knepper

Will Travis

"Funding"

North Berkeley Now! is a group of like-minded neighbors who live in Berkeley. There's no shadowy conspiracy or large donations funding the work we do.

The truth is we simply do not have many expenses since everyone does this in their free time. There's no astroturf here, and the driving force behind our advocacy is urbanist passion for more neighbors of all kinds and a more walkable/bikeable neighborhood.

We are all 100% unpaid volunteers. Every dollar we have comes from crowd-funded donations. If you want to help out, click here or scan the QR code.