While Berkeley’s office vacancy rate is the lowest in the East Bay, the city is not so fortunate when it comes to retail space—those street-level locations so prized by merchandisers and restaurants. -more-
For students at Thousand Oaks Elementary School, the only thing worse than losing a game at recess was losing their ball in the polluted Blackberry Creek that runs through their schoolyard. -more-
While Berkeley Police are offering few details about the in-custody death of 45-year-old Tyrone Hughes Sr., the dead man’s son is talking lawsuit, and he’s already arranged for a private autopsy. -more-
Pedestrian tunnels, daylighted creeks, “green” construction, mass transit, a field trip to San Luis Obispo, street musicians, bus fumes and funding issues dominated the discussion last Wednesday night at the Planning Commission’s UC Hotel Task Force presentation. -more-
After 16 years, four aborted attempts to win city approval and $600,000 lost, the design of UC Berkeley’s proposed Foothill Bridge across Hearst Avenue has changed dramatically—but not the opposition from neighbors. -more-
Ongoing stings aimed at Berkeley liquor stores selling booze to teenagers have left the state’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) District Administrator Everest Robillard “very unhappy.” -more-
Berkeley’s Commission on the Status of Women (COSOW) honored fourteen Outstanding Berkeley Women at a public awards ceremony Wednesday evening at the North Berkeley Senior Center. The honorees were recognized before friends and family for their contributions to the Berkeley community in various fields of interest. -more-
Despite mounting pressure from parents for a November ballot measure that would add millions to the Berkeley Unified School District’s signature parcel tax, Superintendent Michele Lawrence urged community members Wednesday to consider a change in course that could delay the vote until 2005 or beyond. -more-
The Oakland Tribune informs us that the Oakland School For The Arts (which it helpfully identifies as “Mayor Jerry Brown’s performing arts charter school,” so we’ll remember to whom it belongs) is planning on moving out of its present location at the Alice Arts Center and into tents and portables on the parking lots surrounding the Fox Oakland, sometime thereafter to move into the Fox building itself. The proposal is for OSA to pay the city (meaning us) a thousand dollars a month in rent, which is a good deal for them if they can get it, since Oakland brings in considerably more a month for parking revenue for that space. Oakland’s civic leaders, we learn, are willing to make the sacrifice. “Anything we can do to provide additional educational opportunities in Oakland we have to do,” the Tribune quotes Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente. It’s a good sound byte for a man who would be Oakland’s mayor, if we’d let him, and Don Perata don’t run. But as in all such cases, context—and a little history lesson—is all important. -more-
Compiled for Councilmember Dona Spring by Leuren Moret. -more-
I have been reviewing the proposed zoning code amendments to implement the University Avenue Strategic Plan, and I am disappointed that the balance of a citizen written plan promoting redevelopment along one of Berkeley’s most neglected Avenues has been lost and instead the Planning Commission is being presented with a blueprint for a four- and five-story University Avenue. This plan will burden Berkeley with a distorted development pattern of over-size buildings with little hope of realizing the avenue’s retail potential and severe and unmitigated privacy, shadowing, and traffic impacts to the residential streets that adjoin the avenue. The zoning code amendments that staff are proposing do a disservice to the entire planning process, they consistently ignore the purpose and the goals of the UASP plan, they emasculate and/or ignore the plan’s protections for the existing business and residential neighbors, and they open areas of ambiguity that will be fought over in the planning process and the courts for years to come. -more-
University Avenue is the main gateway to Berkeley and its appearance and function set the tone for our city. Currently, the avenue lacks the intensity of retail and pedestrian activities that characterize a vital urban street and support use of public transportation. This under-development creates an opportunity to build new housing, which will help provide housing for people who work here, revitalize existing commercial areas, and provide customers for new retail that can serve all Berkeleyans as well as our visitors. -more-
With the violence in the Middle East, the slumping economy, the controversy over gay marriage, and a do-or-die election quickly approaching, the Jewish holiday of Passover is especially meaningful for many this year. -more-
The sound of heaven is voices raised in song. With approximately 220 voices, Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra (BCCO) offers the East Bay community heaven on earth. Founded by Eugene Jones in 1966 as a Berkeley Adult Education Program class, BCCO offers all comers, without audition or judgment, the opportunity to rediscover the celestial song inside, despite any deficit in training or talent. -more-
Comparing loans is often the most difficult part of mortgage shopping. It is important to keep in mind that mortgage packages consist of more than interest rates. They consist of a variety of factors, including when and how the interest rate may change, points, and other fees. -more-
This may be the most exquisite weekend of the year to explore the rolling hills and small, funky, and beautiful little towns of western Marin and Sonoma counties. The grass is still green, the leaves on the trees are brightly new and clean, lambs are popping, and the fish are jumping in Bodega Bay. -more-
The leader of a notorious Berkeley real estate dynasty, who in 2001 pled guilty for his role in a family operation to smuggle young Indian girls into the country for sex and cheap labor, has asked a United States District Court judge to rescind his guilty plea just as a civil case against the family is about to commence. -more-
While Berkeley office vacancy rates have been increasing over the past two years, they still remain half those of San Francisco, where real estate vendors estimate year-end office vacancy rates at more than 20 percent. -more-
The Shattuck Hotel is no longer for sale, its owner said Monday, after the prospective buyer, Aki Ito, pulled out of the deal that would have turned the 94-year-old Berkeley landmark into short-term student housing. -more-
A Berkeley-based concert promoter has struck a blow against corporate music behemoth Clear Channel Entertainment, winning the exclusive rights to promote concerts at the Greek Theater. -more-
A controversial activist group met in a South Berkeley church Saturday afternoon to urge parents to enlist in the fight against a lawsuit filed by an Berkeley affirmative action foe backed by a equally controversial conservative legal foundation. -more-
As touchscreen voting machines continue to draw heat from critics pointing to allegations of security vulnerabilities, one group of computer science experts proposes to have the solution. -more-
When the lights went out in downtown Berkeley two weeks ago, renowned French actor/producer/author Anne Delbee had just launched into her one-women show reenacting the greatest performances of legendary 19th Century actress Sarah Bernhardt. Delbee’s director walked on stage and asked if she wanted to quit. -more-
Phil McArdle is a Berkeley resident and author. On vacation in Spain, he arrived one day after the horrific terrorist bombing on the Madrid commuter train. Below is his first-hand account of events in Spain in the immediate aftermath of that bombing, including the election that toppled the Spanish government. -more-
There is an old saying that “to speak the name of our ancestors is to keep them alive.” Today I speak the name of labor leader and environmentalist, César Estrada Chávez. He was a man who died prematurely at 66, a life worn out by dedicated service, personal sacrifice, constant threats to his and his family’s life; and the formidable efforts of agribusiness, Teamsters, and government agents to derail everything he tried to accomplish. -more-
“I have to go to the powder room,” my ancient Grandmother announced, a note of desperation in her voice, her caterac-ted eyes staring at me in cloudy confusion. -more-
“If I couldn’t go to Vista College I would just have to focus on working, getting by. I couldn’t get a better job. What would the future be?” -more-
Alameda County Registrar of Voters Brad Clark deserves thanks for making a formal contract complaint against Diebold Election Systems, the vendor for the county’s touchscreen and vote tallying technology. According to the Oakland Tribune, the precipitating event for Registrar Clark’s action appears to have been the failure of 200 uncertified and poorly tested voter card encoders during the March 2 election. -more-
The San Francisco Bay Area and the West Coast were dramatically transformed during the Great Depression. Great new bridges spanned the bay. The New Deal brought funding for other immense public works—dams, highways, aqueducts, and electrification—throughout California, the Pacific Northwest and the desert Southwest. -more-
Thirty-five years ago, to an artist captivated by old boats and maritime dereliction, the Oakland Estuary—described on the AAA map as the Inner Harbor—was a paradise of waterscapes. Employed by the city’s Planning Department, I was left gloriously alone for months to pursue a photo-survey of the whole terrain. The old semi-derelict water-edge was far and away my preferred haunt. -more-
Three recent books with local connections explore a variety of approaches to the topic of what it means to do public service. -more-
Listening to biologists could easily lead you to believe that all field work has to cope with impassible roads, extreme weather, tropical diseases, leeches, guerilla movements, or some combination of the above. I remember the late herpetologist, Joe Slowinski, describing how everyone in his party contracted malaria in Burma, then going on about what a great place it was in which to work. (On his next trip back, Slowinski was fatally bitten by one of his research subjects.) -more-
Birthdays. Some people love them, some people hate them. For optimists, it’s a chance to have a party, to get gifts and bouquets from your friends, and to look forward with enthusiasm to new triumphs in the coming year. For pessimists, there’s the temptation to be excessively aware of how the time has slipped away since last year, with concomitant worrying about what hasn’t been accomplished. Pessimists are the people who need the parties and the bouquets, but often they greet friends’ efforts to cheer them up on birthdays with surly rejection. -more-
Berkeley Man Dies in Police Custody -more-
