News

The Berkeley Wire: 05.21.13

May 21, 2013 5:05 pm by Berkeleyside Editors
Typewriter by quinn anya

Went for my usual walk. Photo: Quinn Dombrowski

$2,500 dinner at Chez Panisse on reopening night (LA Times)
Berkeley man nearly beaten to death by CHP (NBC Bay Area)
Jerry Brown, on script, urges Cal grads to combat climate change (Sac Bee)
New BART director wants to raise fares, end fast pass (SF Bay Guardian)

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Police arrest alleged auto thief near Berkeley school
Screen Shot 2013-05-21 at 7.23.53 PM
May 21, 2013 4:30 pm by Emilie Raguso

Tuesday afternoon, police arrested a man and recovered a stolen vehicle in North Berkeley, and the activity left many parents wanting to know more about the incident, which was near Cragmont Elementary School, at Spruce Street and Marin Avenue.

One parent posed the question to Berkeleyside, noting at about 4 p.m. that “the area around Cragmont School/Marin/Euclid was crawling with police (cars, marked and un-, motorcycle, crime unit van) about an hour ago. I live near Easter Steps on Cragmont and there were many clustered at entrances there. I counted at least a dozen units of various types. No sirens or helicopters. Be good to know what went down.” … Continue reading »

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Golden Gate Fields: Energy, emotions and lots of stories

May 21, 2013 2:00 pm by Kaia Diringer
GGF4

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Kaia Diringer has worked as Berkeleyside’s photo intern for the past four months. One of her last assignments, which she chose herself, was to shoot at the Golden Gate Fields racetrack on the Berkeley-Albany border. Here, she writes about her impressions of the track, which she visited several times over the course of a few weeks:

I noticed the exit sign for Golden Gate Fields Racetrack the first time I drove down I-80 last fall and I was immediately curious. Horse racing didn’t really seem like a Berkeley thing to me. I grew up going to tracks like Laurel Park in Maryland — places that were rural or seemingly out of the way. But here was this racetrack, in a city on the bay, and so conveniently located.

Living off Gilman, I was always driving past it, but it always seemed  distant in some way, hard to see in, and even harder to imagine all that was going on inside.

I finally made it to Golden Gate Fields last month, having arranged to take photos that I hoped to share with Berkeleyside readers who may have been as intrigued as me. … Continue reading »

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Shop Talk: The ins and outs of Berkeley businesses

May 21, 2013 12:19 pm by Lance Knobel
Arabica

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WHAT’S IN A NAME? Berserkeley is being developed just south of Gilman on 10th, adjacent to the relocated Office Depot and across from the proposed Whole Foods Market. Berserkeley has two parcels, a divisible 10,735-square-foot lot facing 10th Street for retail, and a 5,376-square-foot lot facing Ninth Street for specialty food outlets. “We are gearing all prospective tenancies to make sure they all are aligned with community, and have dual purpose of retail and customer experience that address active lifestyles,” Michael Fogelman, the developer, said in a press statement. According to Matt Holmes, principal of Retail West, which is marketing the development, ideal tenants would be “a highly specialized bike store like Velo cult in Portland that offers expertise, service in the cycling world and a brew pub in one store experience, or a specialty soccer or running shoe store that can start weekend group runs or activities from our project.” The specialty food annex along Ninth will have a large outdoor deck and feature a mix of restaurants, cafes and specialty food purveyors.  … Continue reading »

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Edible Schoolyard grad puts hemp burgers on map

May 21, 2013 9:00 am by Alix Wall
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Alice Waters’ disciples are a varied bunch. There are the chefs opening their own restaurants following the organic and local ethos. There are the fresh food evangelists planting vegetable gardens on school grounds. And then there is Will Gaudet Jr., who hopes to bring hemp burgers to the people.

Hemp is a byproduct of growing marijuana. It has long been used to make rope, clothing and beauty products. Hemp seeds are widely available at health food stores. But, because it remains illegal to farm marijuana in the United States, Gaudet’s intention with his startup, Bay Roots, is twofold; while he wants to promote the virtues of hemp seeds as a non-meat, healthy protein source, he also hopes to educate the public about the virtues of hemp, which might in turn bring more people around to the idea of legalizing marijuana.

Gaudet, himself a product of Waters’ Edible Schoolyard at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, called Waters nothing short of “a revolutionary,” speaking recently in the Edible Schoolyard, as chickens and ducks wandered freely nearby. … Continue reading »

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Blooming beautiful: Berkeley in the spring

May 21, 2013 7:00 am by Robert Trachtenberg
spring1

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Robert Trachtenberg, a landscape designer who lives in Berkeley, is the owner of Garden Architecture. This photo essay is part of an occasional series in which Trachtenberg brings an educated eye to the beauty of the nature that surrounds us in Berkeley.

It has been several weeks since I took these photos as I was hoping to share these images as soon as possible but life is full of twists and turns. Once again I didn’t have to travel far to catch some magnificent little jewels in the garden. I share a spectacular all white garden designed by my neighbor, florist Devorah Nussenbaum. All the white flowers in this piece are in our garden. Lucky me!

Scroll down for more photographs and extended captions… … Continue reading »

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News

The Berkeley Wire: 05.20.13

May 20, 2013 5:05 pm by Berkeleyside Editors
Fog in trees. Phot- Pete Rosos

Fog. Photo: Pete Rosos

Berkeley set to raise fees, add new ones (SF Chronicle)
20 Berkeley memories to make before your 21st birthday (Daily Cal)
Berkeley students flock to Bay to Breakers (Daily Clog)
Big Bay Area nurses strike: who will be affected and why (KQED)
UC Berkeley student overcomes stroke to graduate (Daily Cal)
Proposal to cut trees to reduce hills fire risk draws crowd (Patch)
BHS senior is U.S. Presidential Scholar (US Dept. of Education)
Gov. Brown delivers commencement to Cal pol-sci grads (IVN)
Apple’s co-founder hails Berkeley’s “human values” at convocation (UCB)
Brown urges Cal pol-sci grads to “go out and save the world” (BANG)
Olympic swimmer Missy Franklin heads to Cal (NBC Bay Area)

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Crime

Berkeleyside Police Blotter: Crime in Berkeley, May 9-15

May 20, 2013 2:00 pm by Emilie Raguso
Selected calls for service to the Berkeley Police, May 9-15, via CrimeMapping.com. (Scroll down for maps of home burglaries, auto burglaries and auto thefts.) The red icons show physical violence. The blue icons with a white mask are robberies. The green icons are fraud reports or vandalism. Click the map for a full list of calls.

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This is a partial list of recent crimes in Berkeley, compiled by Berkeleyside, and based on reports to the Berkeley Police Department unless otherwise noted. See past crime blotters here. (Note to readers: We always appreciate photographs and tips, about breaking news or neighborhood safety issues, via email at tips@berkeleyside.com.)

The following items represent just a sampling of calls, and times may be approximate. From May 9-15, there were 15 burglary reports, 33 auto break-in or theft from a vehicle reports, and nine stolen vehicle reports to the Berkeley Police Department, according to CrimeMapping.com. Eight robberies and 10 assaults, domestic violence incidents or batteries were reported. These numbers are subject to change. Click the previous links for the most current information. Information from several incidents over the weekend is also included at the bottom of this post. … Continue reading »

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Cal plows again, after weekend occupation

May 20, 2013 12:50 pm by Emilie Raguso
Monday, Cal staff plowed up seeds planted over the weekend by activists at Albany's University Village. Photo: David Sanger

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For the third time in less than a week, Cal staff have plowed up crops planted in Albany by a group of activists who have been working to turn a UC-owned vacant lot slated for development into a community farm.

The activists, called Occupy the Farm, have been visiting the San Pablo Avenue site regularly since May 11. They’ve planted crops and camped several times, and many of its members say the land should be protected in perpetuity and used for farming. The University of California, which owns the land, has been working with the city of Albany for about five years to develop a project for the property, at Monroe Street, which is set to include a Sprouts Farmers Market and a senior housing complex. … Continue reading »

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Landlord-backed group fined for campaign violations

May 20, 2013 11:00 am by Frances Dinkelspiel
The FCPC commissioners review their papers before a meeting. From left: Brad Smith, Jennifer Lombardi, Patrick O'Donnell, and Anna De Leon. Photo: Frances Dinkelspiel

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The Fair Campaign Practices Commission on Thursday levied its second heaviest fine in 20 years on a landlord-backed group that spent more than $42,500 during the 2012 election.

The FCPC approved a stipulation agreement worked out between city staff and the people behind a Slate Mailer Organization that sent out five campaign mailers in support of the TUFF (Tenants United for Fairness) Rent Board slate. … Continue reading »

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Op-Ed: False alarms take up valuable Berkeley police time

May 20, 2013 9:35 am by Guest contributor
Burglar alarmed CC

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More than 6,000 police dispatches are made annually to homes and business when sensors are tripped sending signals to alarm monitoring companies who dial 911 reporting an intrusion to the police. In general, the vast majority of these types of alerts, a percentage as high as 98% according to the U.S. Department of Justice, are false alarms. In an Opinionator piece published this morning on Berkeleyside, Pat Mapps and James Barter argue that Berkeley police resources would be better deployed on … Continue reading »

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On a spring weekend in Berkeley, a city full of happenings

May 20, 2013 7:00 am by Tracey Taylor
Commencement UC Berkeley 2013 by Ted Friedman

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This past weekend in Berkeley was action packed and the weather more than cooperated for the many al fresco activities. At the UC Berkeley Commencement on Saturday, held at the newly remodeled Memorial Stadium, Apple-co-founder Steve Wozniak gave a 15-minute talk in which he recalled his adventures as a Cal student and offered some formulas for happiness, one of them being: “Happiness equals S minus F (smiles minus frowns).”  … Continue reading »

News

Best of Berkeleyside: This week’s most popular posts

May 18, 2013 1:51 pm by Berkeleyside Editors
Eucalyptus trees in Claremont Canyon will be cut down to make room for native species and reduce fire risk if FEMA funding is approved. Photo: Tracey Taylor

Eucalyptus trees in Claremont Canyon will be cut down to make room for native species and reduce fire risk if FEMA funding is approved. Photo: Tracey Taylor

The plan by UC Berkeley to reduce fire risk in Claremont and Strawberry canyons by eradicating non-native trees has attracted both praise and criticism from neighborhood groups. Over 22,000 eucalyptus, Monterey pine and acacia trees will be chopped down, making room, according to the university, for native trees like oak and California bay laurel.

A homicide on Grizzly Peak Boulevard early last Sunday morning closed the road for much of the day as police investigated the crime. On Wednesday, police released details of the suspect in the killing of 21-year old Fremont student Alverto Santana-Silva. Berkeleyside’s Emilie Raguso also analyzed the 25% rise in robberies in Berkeley this year. According to Berkeley police, most of the robberies involve pedestrians walking alone while carrying a cell phone that’s visible. The opportunity to target victims in this position may be on the increase as more and more people buy smart phones and tend to use them on the go.

The future of the old Cody’s building on Telegraph continues to concern our readers (71 comments and counting). Ken Sarachan, owner of the building, received approval to open his Mad Monk Center for Anachronistic Media from the Zoning Adjustments Board.

What posts stood out to you this week? Are there other stories you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments or by writing to us at editors@berkeleyside.com. 

Do you appreciate hearing about the news in your community through Berkeleyside’s work? If so, please consider becoming a supporter of Berkeleyside. Become part of the conversation. Help a local news site thrive.

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News

The Berkeley Wire: 05.17.13

May 17, 2013 5:05 pm by Berkeleyside Editors
Holes by Beck Cowles

Photo: beckcowles

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak to address Berkeley’s 2013 grads (UCB)
Students think big ideas in tackling societal problems (UCB)
Road show: pavement on Berkeley streets a disgrace (BANG)
Berkeley to close part of Telegraph Sundays in summer (Tribune)

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