Opinion

There probably won’t be a new formal editorial posted today because we’ve been spending the morning struggling with our server. For the non-techies among you, that’s a computer, maintained on the premises of a Berkeley computing company, LMI Inc., where the program which produces this website is running. A number of readers have complained that when they click on the site, or on links to the site in emails that I send, it doesn’t come up as expected. And my job of posting articles has become very difficult because the server goes down frequently, stopping my work. -more-

It appears that the Zoning Board hearing to approve the Sports Basement permit is now May 10, not May 24 as originally expected. This is an extremely short schedule between meetings making preparations to get our voices heard are significantly shortened. If at all possible, please come to the ZAB on Thursday - the only way to make it clear to the City what the community needs is by getting a lot of folks out there. Also, write to the Zoning Board secretary Steven Buckley at SBuckley@CityofBerkeley.info protesting the plan and providing your comments on the appropriateness of a 70,000 sq. ft. store in what should be a public community recreation space! -more-

We’ve fielded so many questions recently about “who is Eric Angstadt anyway?”, the person just appointed Berkeley’s Planning Director with a $175,000/year salary. He had a modest resume, just planning in Benecia, before working his way up the chain of command in Oakland’s Planning Dept. to Deputy Director of the Community Economic and Development Agency (CEDA), before the Berkeley switch. We can cite some examples of his planning policies in Oakland, but Angstadt, under the Oakland system of government, flew mostly under the radar. It is safe to describe him as a exemplary graduate of the Jerry Brown finishing school for bureaucrats, a product of the Oakland political milieu. -more-