News

Grant Denied, Ashby BART Plan On Hold

By Richard Brenneman
Friday June 02, 2006

Caltrans last week denied the city of Berkeley’s request for a $120,000 grant to fund a transportation plan to be used in shaping the development of a project that would feature about 300 units of housing over commercial space and parking at the Ashby Bart Station. -more-


Developer Challenges Albany Shore Petition

By Richard Brenneman
Friday June 02, 2006

Stop that initiative or we’ll sue, an attorney for Golden Gate Fields has warned Albany officials. Citizens for the Albany Shoreline (CAS) filed the initiative in question, an attempt to stop shoreline development, with Albany City Clerk Jacqueline Bucholz on May 16. -more-


Council OKs Creek Task Force Recommendations

By Judith Scherr
Friday June 02, 2006

The City Council on Tuesday approved the Creek Task Force (CTF) recommendations that ease current building restrictions, but still would require various permits and environmental analyses to build or remodel near creeks. -more-


Many Fail Exit Exam As Graduation Nears

By Suzanne La Barre
Friday June 02, 2006

Graduation season is fast approaching, but more than 40,000 students statewide, including about 200 in Berkeley, still have not passed the high school exit exam. -more-


Standoff at Nexus Institute Continues, Artists Staying Put

By Richard Brenneman
Friday June 02, 2006

Members of the Nexus Institute were still occupying their rented West Berkeley home Thursday, the day after the deadline had passed for them to leave. -more-


Judge Orders DOD to Expedite ACLU Records Request

By Judith Scherr
Friday June 02, 2006

A federal court judge last week ordered the Department of Defense to expedite a Freedom of Information request made by the ACLU of Northern California on behalf of UC Berkeley Stop the War Coalition and UC Santa Cruz Students Against the War. -more-


DAPAC-LPC Discuss Downtown Architecture

By Suzanne La Barre
Friday June 02, 2006

The Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC) and the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) held a joint meeting Wednesday, and the topic du jour was architectural preservation. -more-


Appeal Filed Against Pacific Steel Odor Reduction Permit

By Suzanne La Barre
Friday June 02, 2006

L. A. Wood has filed an appeal to the Zoning Adjustments Board’s (ZAB) decision to modify a use permit that allows Pacific Steel Casting to construct odor pollution reducing facilities. -more-


Hancock’s Opt-Out Recruitment Bill Moves to State Senate

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday June 02, 2006

The “opt-out” notification high school military recruiter bill co-sponsored by Bay Area Assemblymembers Loni Hancock and Sally Lieber has moved on to the California State Senate, but solid Republican opposition and lack of full Democratic support mean that the bill continues to have little chance of surviving a possible gubernatorial veto. -more-


Two Men Injured in South Berkeley Drive-by Shooting

By Richard Brenneman
Friday June 02, 2006

Two self-professed gang members were wounded in a drive-by shooting in South Berkeley Monday night—and neither one is talking to police. -more-


Supervisors to Vote on Voting Machine Contract

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday June 02, 2006

With Alameda County Supervisors coming down to the wire on a decision for the purchase of a permanent new voting system, local voting activists are hoping for what they call an “interim solution” that will not commit the county past the November elections. -more-


Green Albany Project Celebrates Program’s First Anniversary

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday June 02, 2006

Officials from Alameda County, the Albany Chamber of Commerce as well as Albany residents and small businesses got together at the Albany City Hall Tuesday to talk trash. -more-


Summer Activities for Teens

By Elizabeth Hopper
Friday June 02, 2006

Even though the end of the school year is approaching, it’s not too late for local teenagers to find summer activities. -more-


BOCA Helps Immigrants, Others Find a Voice

By Judith Scherr
Friday June 02, 2006

“People think Berkeley is different, that we don’t have undocumented people,” says Belen Pulido-Martinez, organizer with BOCA, Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action, a nonprofit dedicated to giving voice to people from communities with little power. -more-


Cell Phone Towers Rejected in Residential Area

By Suzanne La Barre
Friday June 02, 2006

About a dozen Berkeley residents filed into Council Chambers last Thursday to urge the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) to reject a proposal for new wireless facilities at a local Catholic church. The board took heed. -more-


Police Blotter

By Richard Brenneman
Friday June 02, 2006

Stuck up -more-


Flash: Golden Gate Fields Threatens Lawsuit

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday May 30, 2006

Stop that initiative or we’ll sue, an attorney for Golden Gate Fields has warned Albany officials. Citizens for the Albany Shoreline (CAS) filed the initiative in question, an attempt to stop shoreline development, with Albany City Clerk Jacqueline Bucholz on May 16. -more-


Flash: Caltrans Nixs Ashby Bart Planning Grant

Tuesday May 30, 2006

The City of Berkeley will not get a Caltrans Community-based Transit Planning Grant to plan a large condo development for the west parking lot of the Ashby BART station. Winning cities were posted on the Caltrans web site late Friday afternoon, and Berkeley was not among them. -more-


Diaz Sets Out to Save Berkeley Alternative

By Suzanne La Barre
Tuesday May 30, 2006

As a teacher for a GED program in San Francisco, Victor Diaz floated a novel notion: He would prepare students to earn high school diplomas. -more-


Confusion Surrounds Possible Eviction of Nexus Collective

By Ricghard Brenneman
Tuesday May 30, 2006

The Nexus Institute, a prominent West Berkeley artists’ collective, faces eviction from its home of 20 years when their lease expires Thursday. -more-


Commission Blasts Review of Mayor’s Landmarks Proposal

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday May 30, 2006

“All these years I’ve been speaking about the Landmarks Demolitions Ordinance, and here it is,” said Carrie Olson. -more-


BUSD Rebuffs City Review Process

By Suzanne La Barre
Tuesday May 30, 2006

Development of a portion of a defunct Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) campus will move forward without city review, whether city officials and community members like it or not. -more-


Landmarks, Downtown Plan Panel Hold Joint Meeting

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday May 30, 2006

DoubleTree Hotel Workers Protest Stalled Negotiations

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday May 30, 2006

Billed as a wake-up call to management, some 80 DoubleTree Hotel workers and their supporters held a 6:30 a.m. rally Friday, circling the hotel at the Marina with chants and drums, in an attempt to advance what their union, Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees 2850, says are “stalled” contract negotiations. -more-


Shattuck Cinemas Employees To Vote on Forming a Union

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday May 30, 2006

Workers at the downtown Shattuck Cinemas, owned by Landmark Theaters, who earn just above minimum wage with no health benefits, will have their say about whether they form a union. -more-


OUSD Postpones Trustee Meeting Over Sale of Properties

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday May 30, 2006

The state-appointed administrator of the Oakland Unified School District has postponed a meeting with OUSD Advisory Trustees, leaving trustees in the dark as to the future of nearly 10 acres of valuable midtown district properties, including the district administration headquarters. -more-


PRC Reviews Police Policies in Case of Stolen Drug Evidence

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday May 30, 2006

The Police Review Commission on Wednesday established a subcommittee to review police policies related to the case of convicted felon Sgt. Cary Kent, who stole drugs from the police evidence vault of which he was in charge. -more-


A Guide to Ballot Measures in the June Election

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday May 30, 2006

The last two times Alameda County voters have gone to the polls, they were inundated with ballot measures (eight state propositions along with local measures in Albany and Emeryville in the off-year election in November 2005; 16 state propositions along with 13 Berkeley, one Albany, two Emeryville, and two Oakland measures, as well as special measures for BART, AC Transit, and the East Bay Regional Park District in the general election of November 2004). -more-


Superintendent, Secretary of State Races Heat Up

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday May 30, 2006

The race for the Democratic nomination for California attorney general has become something of a referendum on Oakland, with candidates Rocky Delgadillo and Jerry Brown debating over how good a job Brown has done in his two terms as Oakland mayor. -more-


Planners Tackle Creeks Group Representation, Stadium

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday May 30, 2006

The Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday centered on two main issues. -more-


A Wake-Up Call for Telegraph Avenue

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday May 30, 2006

Calling the looming closure of Cody’s Books on Telegraph Avenue a “wake-up call,” Councilmember Kriss Worthington has announced a community rally to save the celebrated bookstore and support Telegraph Avenue area businesses. -more-


Police Blotter

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday May 30, 2006

May 13 -more-