For some time, the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center has been fenced off and piles of concrete sit across the street on the south end of Lake Merritt. It’s the beginning of a two-year, $35 million construction project that will produce a new four-acre park and replace the current 12-lane expressway with six lanes and bike lanes.

Come the end of 2011, the Piedmont Avenue Branch Library may no longer occupy its space on 41st Street, an aging structure that is small but full of character.