News

Everything you wanted to know about Berkeley, on KQED

June 27, 2011 3:00 pm by Tracey Taylor

"People in Berkeley are very passionate about the issues": Photo: D.H. Parks

On Thursday, Berkeleyside’s Frances Dinkelspiel was interviewed by Jon Brooks, Editor of KQED’s News Fix, about Berkeley — the biggest issues facing the city, its financial health and business climate, food culture and outsize influence nationwide.

Dinkelspiel also spoke about Berkeleyside, and in particular its diverse and engaged readership.

“One of the most interesting things as a journalist,” Dinkelspiel said, “is the back and forth on the Berkeleyside site. It’s definitely a two-way communication. For every article we write we get lots of comments, sometimes hundreds… People in Berkeley are very passionate about the issues, and they love to argue about the issues.”

That won’t be news for Berkeleyside’s regular readers.

The interview can be both read and listened to online at KQED News Fix.

13 Comments

Print Friendly
Tagged , , ,
  • Agingingenue

    Cheers to Berkeleyside.  I just read the interview on KQED.  Impressive,  filled with information and not to be missed.  

  • Alina

    Yes, yes, Frances’ interview was very cool.  But that photo is something else!  Can you do a story on that?

  • http://berkeleyside.com Tracey Taylor

    Alina, we agree the photo is excellent! It is by D.H Parks, one of our favorite contributing photographers here at Berkeleyside. This photo happens to be taken at the last winter solstice. You can see more of D.H. Parks’ images on his Flickr page here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/parksdh/

  • DH Parks

    The story behind this photo is extremely boring except for the part where I took it in between fighting off attacks from a pack of ravenous wolverines. That part of the story might surprise you because wolverines are typically solitary hunters… except, it seems, in Berkeley.

  • Alina

    Wait, what? We have wolverines in Berkeley? And ravenous at that? And they go in packs?
    I was going to ask where in the hills you went to take this picture, but now I’m not sure I want to know…

  • GPO

    Thank you to Berkeleyside for providing such a rich and valuable forum for community discussion and debate:
     
    “One of the most interesting things as a journalist,” Dinkelspiel said, “is the back and forth on the Berkeleyside site. It’s definitely a two-way communication. For every article we write we get lots of comments, sometimes hundreds…
     
    There are other local news portals, predicated on a soon to be extinct hierarchical model, which are less interested in “two-way communication” and do not offer the opportunity to get immediate and varied feedback from its readership.  I guess you could sum it up by saying that at Berkeleyside we are more interested in judging readers’ comments and feedback by the content of their thoughts than by the credentials which adorn their name.  Each comment represents one small step in the quest for a deeper truth and greater understanding of a given issue and one giant leap for intellectual freedom.

  • Meliflaw

    The Cheese Board sells wolverines–a chewy, slightly sourdoughish scone stuffed with raisins and dried apricots–and they provoke ravenousness in some CB customers. I wasn’t aware of other wolverines (Gulo gulo) among us, but they could certainly be an appropriate symbol of our city, since, according to the inevitable Wikipedia entry, “The wolverine has a reputation for ferocity and strength out of
    proportion to its size, with the documented ability to kill prey many
    times its size.” Grrrrrrr.

  • Zelda Bronstein

    I like the idea of the News Fix–interviewing people who provide news to the Bay Area via independent, online sites.  I’d like it even better if Frances Dinkelspiel had provided more accurate information about Berkeley’s finances.  She says that small businesses are the largest source of the city’s tax revenues. Page 62 of Berkeley’s proposed biennial budget for fiscal years 2012 and 2013 (it’s on the council’s agenda for tonight’s meeting) lists the sources of the general fund. The largest source by far is the tax on real property. For FY 2009,it brought in $36.6 million; FY 2010, $37.4 million; FY 2011 (adopted), $38.3 million. Sales tax yielded $14.2 million in 2009, $12.6 million in 2010 and $13.9 million (adopted) in 2011.Dinkelspiel also told Jon Brooks that Berkeley city employees have given up their cost of living adjustments. Yes and no. The Maintenance and Clerical Chapter of SEIU Local 1021 just agreed to delay the 2% COLA it was supposed to get as of June 25. Now it will get that COLA on December 25. The same workers agreed to eliminate half of a second 2% COLA they are scheduled to get on December 25, and, depending on city revenues, to give up all of that COLA. They further agreed to no COLAS through July 2015. The firefighters have given up their COLAs for 20 and 2014. To my knowledge, the police haven’t given up anything; they are still in negotiations with the CIty. Mind you, the average salary of a Berkeley police officer for fiscal year 2012 is $125,652–plus 74.42% of that amount in benefits.Zelda Bronstein

  • http://francesdinkelspiel.com/ Frances Dinkelspiel

    Zelda you are correct I misspoke and said sales tax revenues were the biggest source of revenues for Berkeley. Please excuse that mistake. I rarely do radio interviews and I was trying to make the point that the city does not have big box stores(the places people are spending their dollars in this recession) and that sales tax revenues from retail dropped $1.9 million in the last few years.

  • Eric

    Re: “That won’t be news for Berkeleyside’s regular readers.” — I got a laugh at this.  I think Tracey needs a break from patrolling the comment beat.  Maybe she can referee a live debate between Thomas Lord/Bruce Love and The Sharkey — could be cathartic!

  • Eric

    @Frances — where is the rock and roll venue?  The old movie theater on University?  That would be cool!

  • http://berkeleyside.com Tracey Taylor

    A break? Yes. A break. Please!

  • http://francesdinkelspiel.com/ Frances Dinkelspiel

    Yes Eric the old UC Theater on University will become a concert space.