"Although towering buildings may advertise to the world the wealth and industry of a city, they also present health and safety menaces and are not conducive to the City Beautiful' idea, according to members of the City Planning Commission the Berkeley Daily Gazette reported a century ago on Feb. 20, 1926. The commission was discussing a limit on building height in Berkeley. Whether permits should be granted for any more 12-story buildings was discussed, and it seemed to be the general consensus of opinion that"
"The Planning Commission was going to consider the creation of a zone west of San Pablo Avenue set aside strictly for manufacturing. This spoke to the avid desire of many Berkeley business owners and civic promoters who saw dollar signs in the potential for large factory investment near the waterfront. One of the problems with this plan, though, was that West Berkeley was also populated by hundreds of homes and thousands of residents, many of them working-class and immigrant."
City planners feared that towering buildings, while signaling wealth, created health and safety hazards and clashed with City Beautiful aesthetics, prompting a push to limit heights to around ten stories. A height-limitation ordinance was expected to reach the City Council. Residents packed a Railroad Commission hearing to press for reconsideration of a ban on an auto ferry from University Avenue to San Francisco. The Planning Commission considered creating a manufacturing zone west of San Pablo Avenue to attract waterfront factories, but West Berkeley's dense working-class and immigrant neighborhoods risked long-term displacement. The city planned to remove the remaining gas street lights.
Read at www.eastbaytimes.com
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