John B Williams Plaza

Time: 8:13am/58°F cloudy
Purpose: Got off Bart on my way to jamba juice. A text got me to stop. While scrolling through text, corner of eye saw the letters. All these time, it never caught my attention.
Landmark: John B. Williams Plaza. A five tier water fountain located on the bottom level 12^th Street Bart station. Plaza is dedicated to Mr. Williams for all his life long achievements. Mostly notably his love of music.
Pros: Open gateway to all Bart lines, cafes/​restaurants, gym, bank, parking, post office, copy/​shipping places, federal/​state buildings, protection from weather elements, shortcuts, nice during the day.
Cons: Transients use it for laundry, showers, shaving. Coins are fish out by panhandlers, spit, gum, fast food wrappers, mucus, weekends are quiet, no security for bottom half, no CCTV affixed, eerie at night, no ambassador escort to parking lot.
Final Thoughts: I’ve try my best to avoid getting that fountain water near me. Sometimes you can’t help it, when high wind kicks in. Just a thought of few sprinkle droplets gets in your face and you’ll be devastated, day ruin. So, today to my surprise no water was seen. I ask one on the guards upstairs what’s the reason? Told me the drought. Of course, it takes an epidemic water shortage to shut it down. Very well, at least someone is concerned about the situation.

Kind of depressing. The low level means it doesn’t get much sun. Yes, the water feature is nice enough, but there isn’t much reason to go down there unless you’re going to BART from the city center, since there are only a couple of «fly over» restaurants.
Not sure what they can do to improve this. Perhaps the new brightly colored Core Kitchen at the top of the escalator will help.

A dedication to a great city developer. A tranquil spot of interesting leveled and stepped architecture. A lead-​up to a bunch of restaurants and people watching. A lead-​down to BART. Threading these different aspects of Oakland, much like the late John B. Williams himself.