News

Tree-sitting protesters, impassioned comments by neighbors and environmental activists, a poem, a bit of guerilla theater and the allotted 90 seconds of reasoned argument from Berkeley’s chief planner failed to sway UC Regents Tuesday. -more-

The Berkeley City Council approved (6-3) Tuesday night an ordinance preservationists say will make landmarking historic sites and structures more difficult and ease the way for developers to demolish older buildings. -more-

In a dramatic and rapid end to one of Oakland’s more swiftly rising development controversies, Oakland 6th District Council-member Desley Brooks withdrew her proposal to rewrite Oakland’s condominium conversion law shortly after midnight Wednesday morning, sending the issue to the same “blue-ribbon” citizens’ panel that has been charged with studying the city’s proposed inclusionary zoning law. -more-

Voters in the hills and more affluent neighborhoods of Berkeley provided the strongest opposition to Measure J, the landmarks preservation measure on November’s ballot, assuring its defeat. -more-

Donna Corbeil, Solano County Library deputy director, was named Berkeley’s new library director Wednesday night. -more-

African-American quiltmaker Effie Mae Howard who, under the name of Rosie Lee Tompkins, produced astonishing works of patchwork art, died at the age of 70, Thursday or Friday, of unknown causes. New York Times art critic Roberta Smith wrote that Tompkins’s textile art works “demolish the category.” -more-

“The university has no plans to bulldoze the berms or anything else at People’s Park,” said People’s Park Advisory Committee Chair John Selawsky, reading from a UC Berkeley memo to the 35 or so park supporters crowded into the advisory committee meeting at Trinity United Methodist Church Monday evening. -more-

Berkeley Woman Stabbed While Confronting Burglar -more-

UC Berkeley’s latest building project isn’t a new structure but renovations to an old one—Campbell Hall, now called Durant Hall—recognized as a landmark by city and state and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. -more-

Councilmember Laurie Capitelli said he wants to pass around Berkeley commission posts more equitably, which is why he has written an ordinance that will come before the City Council on Tuesday and that would limit a person’s service to eight years on a particular commission during any 10-year period and limit one person’s service to one commission. -more-

With two recently reelected board members and a new one, Wednesday’s meeting of the school board was both festive and deliberative as it swore in the winners and voted unanimously to elect Joaquin Rivera as president and John Selawsky as vice president of the board. -more-

I'm bummed. “The Sunday Morning Show” on UC Berkeley's radio station, KALX (90.7 FM), has been canceled. On Sept. 10 General Manager Sandra Wasson and management decided to pull the plug on the 20-something-year-old show for what they call a lack of direction. -more-

Tensions within the panel helping to draft the new downtown plan emerged more clearly Tuesday night during a fast-paced meeting. -more-

16th District Assemblymember Sandré Swanson (D-Oakland) quickly delivered on a promise made several times during the months since he won the June Democratic primary, introducing a bill on his first day as a state legislator to immediately return some measure of local control to the Oakland Unified School District. -more-

Tarnel Abbott isn’t just a staunch defender of free speech: she’s also a dedicated practitioner. -more-

The Berkeley City Council, in a 6-3 vote, approved the first reading of an ordinance Tuesday which preservationists contend will make landmarking historical sites and structures more difficult and will make it easier for developers to demolish older buildings. -more-

In the wee, dark hours of Big Game, a Wolf made like a Butterfly and took to the trees. -more-

The presence of BART and the invisible hand of UC Berkeley have prompted a powerful but little-known regional government to demand that Berkeley more than double the number of new housing units built in the city. -more-

UC Berkeley’s building boom is surging forward as the university launches a search for architects for its newest projects—a $42.4 million, seven-level lab and office building and the restoration of Hearst Mining Circle. -more-

A controversial nomination of a conservative African-American Republican to the Oakland Planning Commission by outgoing Mayor Jerry Brown has been withdrawn under pressure from progressive community activists and Councilmember Jane Brunner. -more-

The City Council will consider a revised Landmarks Preservation Ordinance at its meeting tonight (Tuesday), likely kicking off a fight to repeal the law before it takes effect. -more-

The Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC) and the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) are both meeting this week. -more-

The University of California Regents are scheduled to meet this afternoon (Tuesday) to approve the controversial document that will pave the way for massive development in the southeast campus. -more-