Daily Archives: November 12, 2012
The Berkeley Wire: 11.12.12
Jewel Lake. Photo: calalum8
Cal Bears play well but make one key mistake against Oregon (Mercury News)
Berkeley Fire and Police team up for toy drive (Patch)
Salonen leads two vibrant performances (Chronicle)
Lively, versatile performances carry Wilder one-acts at Aurora (HuffPo)
Red Oak Victory’s chief engineer emeritus dies at 94 (Tribune)
Berkeley founded Peet’s appoints new CEO (Herald Online)
Berkeley Fire douses 2-alarm blaze at Potter Street lab
UPDATE, Nov. 13: According to the Berkeley Fire Department, the fire is estimated to have caused $50,000 in property loss, and $10,000 in content loss. The damage was primarily confined to the roof, though a third-floor utility room sustained some water damage as well.
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Berkeley firefighters put out a two-alarm roof fire in West Berkeley on Monday afternoon at a biology lab space leased by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, authorities said.
Deputy Chief Gil Dong of the Berkeley Fire Department said the call, to the west end of Potter Street near Fifth Street, came in just before 1 p.m.
Dong said a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning contractor was working on the roof when some insulation roofing material caught fire.
“On arrival, the first engine company on scene saw flames coming from the rooftop,” he said, describing the fire as “fairly large.” … Continue reading »
Inside absentee, provisional ballot counting
By Joe DeCredico
Joe DeCredico, an architect based in West Berkeley and the co-chair of the Yes on Measure T campaign, doesn’t know how the final tally on the proposed west Berkeley zoning ordinance will come out, but he was intrigued to find out more about the process of counting the outstanding votes. He therefore spent time over the weekend at the Alameda County Registrar. It is clear, he says, that Registrar Dave Macdonald and his team do a terrific job.
As the co-chair of Yes on T, I of course have a vested interest how the votes are counted, but the geek inside of me was also just curious as to how the process of counting absentee and provisional ballots works. So Saturday morning I arrived bright and early at the County Registrar of Voters to exercise my civic right and observe the ballot counting. For those who are interested, and for those who keep sniping about how long the process takes, I hope these observations will clear the waters. … Continue reading »
Op-Ed: Why I support plans for the Safeway on College
On Tuesday, Oakland City Council will consider the city’s planning commission’s appeal on the proposed re-development of the Safeway store on College and Claremont avenues, a stone’s throw from the border with Berkeley. Berkeley’s City Council has made known its opposition to the current plans. In an Opinionator piece published today, Berkeley resident David Denton argues that the suggested store, big as it is, is exactly what is needed for the community.
Berkeleyside welcomes submissions of op-ed articles … Continue reading »
“Wilder Times” at the Aurora: Engaging, thought-provoking
Four engaging one-act plays by Thornton Wilder, the three-time Pulitzer prize-winning author, give us insight into Wilder’s view of the ways in which American families live and struggle — for better or for worse. Add a terrific cast and wonderful direction by Barbara Oliver, and these plays come alive. Whether written in the 1930s or the 1960s, the Wilder Times one-act plays remain creative and fresh.
The first two plays, both written in 1962, Infancy and Childhood, show us what deficient parents we’ve had and what flawed parents we are to our children. Infancy and Childhood were written for Wilder’s Plays for Bleecker Street at the Circle in the Square Theater in Greenwich Village, where they were directed by the great José Quintero. Then and now, Wilder’s plays experiment with the private thoughts of his characters. … Continue reading »
Vote update: Yes on Measure T slips further behind
The staff at the Alameda County Registrar of Voters worked throughout the weekend, ploughing through the thousands of vote by mail ballots. With the updated figures posted on the registrar’s website yesterday afternoon, Measure T, which would alter the zoning in West Berkeley, looks unlikely to pass: the opponents’s lead has grown to 440, 23,131 to 22,691.
The gap on the sit ordinance, Measure S, remains large. No on S votes are 1,583 ahead of yes votes, 25,191 to 23,608.
Only about 1,000 new votes were added to the Berkeley totals yesterday. On Friday, Registrar Dave Macdonald said he planned to finish counting vote by mail ballots over the weekend. His staff will then turn their efforts to validating and counting the 40,000 provisional ballots countywide. … Continue reading »
Op-Ed: Why I support plans for the Safeway on College
In July, the Berkeley City Council took up the EIR agreement for the proposed Safeway store on College Avenue in Oakland’s Rockridge district right on the Berkeley border. Buoyed by the protests of the attendees, Mayor Bates summarized the objections of the council, “it’s just too big for the location.”
In the debate about the Rockridge Safeway, there is little understanding of how the 61,000 sq ft design came about. Why is this project so big? Why have they piled … Continue reading »
