News

In an abrupt reversal, the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to table the revised Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO) it had passed on first reading July 11. -more-

Former Mayor Shirley Dean didn’t ask anyone to take out election papers in her name. -more-

In a sign of the growing opposition in Oakland to the proposed sale of the Oakland Unified School District Administration Building and five adjacent downtown school sites, the Oakland City Councilmembers have called on State Superintendent Jack O’Connell to delay the sale until the terms can be renegotiated and the deal receives school board approval. -more-

A construction estimate for new Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) offices has come in at more than double the budget, forcing district officials to head back to the drawing board. -more-

The Berkeley City Council asked the Ashby BART Station Task Force Tuesday evening to reach out to the South Berkeley community and broaden the vision of what the vast, paved parking lot west of the station might become. -more-

“This project is not about Ashby BART,” said David Early, the consultant hired to shepherd a new transportation plan for south and west Berkeley. -more-

The Berkeley City Council debated a proposal to initiate transportation service fees Tuesday evening which was touted by some as a tool to stop global warming and condemned by others as a fee that would hurt the business climate -more-

Faced with some two dozen students calling for “hands off ASUC elections,” the Berkeley City Council Tuesday night nixed a move to intervene in a disputed student vote. -more-

UC Berkeley officials unveiled a scale model of their 200,000-square-foot, replacement for Warren Hall—a $160 million structure that that would rise more than 100 feet near the intersection of Oxford Street and Berkeley Way. -more-

For a time, Wednesday night’s planning meeting turned into a fencing match—with commissioners and the public aiming pointed ripostes at a proposed new fence ordinance drawn up by city staff. -more-

Cary Kent, a former Berkeley police sergeant, was formally sentenced in Alameda County Superior Court Thursday for theft of drugs from the evidence locker at the Berkeley Police Department. -more-

The city is in talks with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) over possibly restructuring the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) board. -more-

The race for seats on the Rent Stabilization Board is underway as potential candidates gear up for a nomination convention Aug. 6. -more-

Ernest died on Saturday, July 15. He was 78. I hadn’t heard from him for over a week and had begun to worry. I had left two messages and they had not been returned. He had been calling me every two or three days with his latest thoughts about how to fight to preserve the Flea Market from the threat of a multi-story housing project proposed for the parking lot where the market had operated for 41 years. Then his calls stopped. When I called again on Saturday evening his stepson, Talib, told me the news. -more-

Thanks to alert citizens and a prompt response by Berkeley firefighters, a Tilden Park hills fire was extinguished before it could spread Tuesday night. -more-

Terror threat on BART -more-

In an abrupt reversal, the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to table the revised Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO) it had passed on first reading July 11. -more-

Thanks to alert citizens and a prompt response by Berkeley firefighters, a Tilden Park hills fire was extinguished before it could spread Tuesday night. -more-

Shirley Dean’s name popped up late Friday on the City Clerk’s list of candidates who have taken out mayoral papers. -more-

The citizens guiding the shape of Berkeley’s new downtown plan staged a second revolt last week—this one focusing on UC Berkeley’s planned hotel complex. -more-

The growing battle over Oakland’s valuable waterfront property development sharply escalated this week, with the coalition opposing the sale of the OUSD downtown properties moving their target from the powerless OUSD Board of Trustees to the powerful Oakland City Council and opponents of the massive nearby Oak-to-Ninth development filing a lawsuit against the project as well as launching a petition drive for a ballot measure to block its implementation. -more-

Removing Telegraph Avenue parking last fall to correct substandard bike lanes was a “colossal blunder,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington. -more-

Councilmember Gordon Wozniak says getting the City Council involved in controversial student elections at UC Berkeley is council business as usual, but others say it is an attack on the independence of student government. -more-

They are everywhere, trying to grab our attention. And they succeed. Public opinion polls claim to adapt statistical research methods to the measuring of beliefs. Scientific? Perhaps, but polling also operates with hidden goals because it is part of the marketplace. -more-

A proposed $3,000 donation on today’s (Tuesday) City Council agenda to Kitchen Democracy from Councilmember Gordon Wozniak’s council office budget has provoked questions on the appropriate use of city funds. -more-

The Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) board meets tonight (Tuesday) for an update on the status of the troubled local housing agency. -more-

Major repairs and renovations will keep alternating lanes closed on Piedmont Avenue for the next three weeks, said Kenneth Emeziem, supervising civil engineer for Berkeley’s Public Works Department. -more-

The race for Berkeley’s city auditor has gone uncontested for eight years. School Board Director John Selawsky wants to change that. -more-