News

Separate fires struck Berkeley Wednesday, one doing over $1 million in damage to a 98-year-old home on College Avenue -more-

Planning commissioners voted Wednesday night to designate downtown Berkeley and five thoroughfares as targets for state-funded high-density development: Telegraph, southern Shattuck, University and San Pablo avenues and Adeline Street. -more-

Ridiculed as the “Public Commons for Everyone but the Homeless” initiative and lauded as a measure badly needed to rid shopping areas of people who act inappropriately and drive customers away, the City Council approved in concept Tuesday night Mayor Tom Bates’ Public Commons for Everyone Initiative, a laundry list of proposals that will be further refined into laws, and considered again in about six months. -more-

The Berkeley City Council voted 4-3 on Tuesday in favor of holding a public hearing on the “Wright’s Garage” project proposed for 2629 Ashby Ave., but no such hearing is currently scheduled. -more-

Graduation was a family affair at the Berkeley Adult School (BAS) Tuesday. -more-

On Sunday, June 3, the Berkeley High School Engineering Club (BHEC) designed, built, and successfully launched a trebuchet at the Albany Bulb. While BHEC may not strike a chord with most Berkeley residents, its presence is well known at the high school. -more-

The Berkeley public schools could lose $60,000 in nutrition money in the new school year if the state legislature cuts funding from the California Fresh Start Program this month. -more-

The Alameda County Administrator’s office has issued a new county budget that closes a projected $52 million funding gap with no layoffs and no program cuts, but County Administrator Susan Muranishi warned reporters at a Wednesday briefing that the governor’s proposed “solution” to the state’s incarceration problem could throw her calculations out of whack. -more-

UC Berkeley’s plan to convert its historic six-acre Laguna Street Extension campus in San Francisco into a private rental-housing development moved a step forward when the San Francisco Planning Commission voted against recommending it as a local landmark last Thursday. -more-

This summer kids in Berkeley will be treated to free breakfast every day, courtesy of the Berkeley Unified School District. -more-

Berkeley High School Vice Principal Pasquale Scuderi announced Thursday that the school had not met the benchmarks to receive an Annual Performance Index (API) score. The federal government requires a 95 percent participation rate in the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) tests. -more-

Eighteen-year city employee Stephen Barton, asked to resign last Tuesday, was publicly pummeled in a memo by the Berkeley city attorney Wednesday, a six-page document addressed to the mayor and City Council and filled with attacks aimed primarily at Barton, but also at the city manager, deputy city manager and other city staff. -more-

Twenty-three young men and women were sent out to conquer the real world on Friday. -more-

The Berkeley City Council tonight (Tuesday) will take another look at the mayor’s controversial Public Commons for Everyone Initiative. At the last meeting, an exhausted council did not address the specifics in the measure intended to enhance shopping areas by removing persons whose behavior is unacceptable. -more-

Berkeley police found the body of the year’s second murder, 46-year-old Terrence Marlow Broadnax, shortly after noon Friday in a fourth-floor apartment at University Avenue Homes. -more-

World Can’t Wait called on all Berkeley High School students Monday to sign a letter protesting the U.S. military’s requirement that Berkeley High give student information to military recruiters unless the students request the school not to. -more-

Littering, downtown safety issues and plans for the warm water pool dominated the meeting held between representatives of the city and the Berkeley Unified School District Friday. -more-

The Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) will once again hear the appeal of an administrative use permit for a residential addition to 2008 Virginia St. -more-

The Housing Advisory Commission is asking the Berkeley City Council to have an independent investigation conducted into allegations made by City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque regarding former Housing Director Steve Barton’s alleged refusal to take her advice and similar allegations directed at City Manager Phil Kamlarz, Deputy City Manager Lisa Caronna and other staff. -more-

The new Berkeley Housing Authority Board will meet in joint session with the City Council at 5 p.m. -more-

In a scene that invoked historical images of a lanky President Abraham Lincoln walking through the streets of a liberated Richmond shortly before the end of the Civil War, Ron Dellums took a 15-block walking tour of International Boulevard in the Fruitvale District Friday evening surrounded by a phalanx of city officials, local residents, staff, police and private security packed around him so dense that the tall Oakland mayor could only be viewed by his snow-haired head towering above the crowd. -more-

The Oakland Police Department official in charge of Oakland’s sideshow enforcement activities may have seriously understated the number of vehicles towed in Oakland in connection with a state sideshow car towing law. -more-

Berkeley landmarks commissioners failed to reach a consensus on the old Berkeley High School Gymnasium Thursday, with a motion to declare the aging structure a landmark failing on a 4-3-1 vote. -more-

A joint subcommittee hammering out a proposal that would define the role of historic buildings in the center of downtown Berkeley will hold its final meeting Tuesday night. -more-

Berkeley residents will have another chance to weigh on with their visions of the future of downtown Berkeley during a Saturday workshop at the Berkeley Public Library. -more-

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) tops the agendas of two city panels this week, the Planning Commission and a DAPAC subcommittee. -more-

While Berkeley struggles with drafting a legally mandated new plan for the city’s downtown, a committee of Richmond residents has been working toward a new plan for their city. -more-