Author Archives: Guest contributor
In memory: John Quigley, Cal leader, inspirational mentor
John M. Quigley, a leading scholar of housing markets, local public finance, energy efficient buildings, homelessness, and racial discrimination in housing, passed away in Berkeley on Saturday May 12. He was 70.
Quigley, the I. Donald Terner Distinguished Professor of Public Policy, Business, and Economics at UC Berkeley, was a campus leader, an inspirational mentor, and a leading figure in urban economics and housing policy.
During his career he produced fourteen books and over 150 scholarly articles. Quigley excelled at finding clever ways to use empirical data about housing and urban areas to answer important public policy questions such as the macro-economic impact of rising housing prices on consumption behavior, the impact of segregation on African Americans’ opportunities to accumulate wealth through investment in housing, the effect of governmental and voluntary energy standards on energy efficiency and the value of buildings, and the relationship between housing markets and homelessness. … Continue reading »
How much is democracy worth in Berkeley?
How much is democracy worth in Berkeley? Around the world thousands are losing their lives for liberty, but on Tuesday the City Council is poised to bet that $2 million is enough to convince voters to turn their backs on open government.
Agenda Item No. 38 on the May 15 calendar will certify the Berkeley Sunshine Ordinance. In the process, the Council plans to put the following summary on the ballot for an initiative that would ensure that more … Continue reading »
Berkeley art show depicts conservation success stories
By Alison Hawkes
It’s easy to get depressed about the loss of biodiversity when every day, it seems, some new species pops up on a watch list like a death toll.
But there are success stories that offer rays of hope in a world beset by climate change and habitat destruction.
In 2008, retired psychotherapist Robbie Brandwynne was perusing the San Francisco Chronicle when she came across a story about brown pelicans being taken off the threatened and endangered species list.
“I thought about it and realized that’s not the kind of news people get in front of their faces very often,” she said. “Everyone needs that kind of message, particularly young people who feel they are inheriting a world that is pretty damaged.” … Continue reading »
Adopt a Pet: Primrose, a sweet and gentle female cat
By Kirsty Maurits
Just look at those eyes. How can you resist? “Pick me,” they seem to be saying, “Pick me.”
Primrose is an adorably sweet and gentle lady, with a whole lot of love to give. She’s six years young, and in wonderful health, and has been desexed and vaccinated.
She can be a little shy at first, but once you get to know her, Primrose will steal your heart. She would do best in a quiet home, where she can be the only kitty. Although, if you have the room, I bet she’d love to be adopted with her buddy Rajah, her protector and confidante. … Continue reading »
Mom: I want a marijuana dispensary near my kids’ school
Tamar Todd is the mother of three children who attend elementary school and preschool in West Berkeley, just a few blocks from Berkeley Patients Group, the medical marijuana dispensary which was forced to close its doors last week after 12 years of operation. In an Opinionator piece published on Berkeleyside, Todd, who is also a staff attorney for the Drug Policy Alliance, argues that the club provided a safe and responsible service to patients in need, and that its closure in … Continue reading »
Why I want a marijuana dispensary near my kids’ school
Last week, one of California’s oldest and most respected medical marijuana dispensaries, Berkeley Patients Group, closed its doors. It shut down because its landlord, like dozens across the state, received a letter from United States Attorney Melinda Haag threatening to seize the property for renting to a medical marijuana dispensary located within 1,000 feet of a school. My three children attend elementary school and preschool in West Berkeley, just blocks from Berkeley Patients Group. The notion that the closure of … Continue reading »
Christopher Jay Hunt: loving father, musician, caring soul
On April 26, 2012, Christopher Jay Hunt, who lived in Berkeley for 40 years, died peacefully, holding hands with his daughter Cara, at UCSF Medical Center. He was 62 years old.
Chris was born on January 3, 1950 in Highland Park, Michigan to David and Jean Hunt, the first of three children. He attended Detroit Country Day School, supported by his father who worked at a tool and die shop and his mother who worked as a beautician and elementary school secretary. During this time Chris began to develop his passion for music, and also won the Detroit Area spelling bee, which earned him a spot in the national championships in Washington DC.
In 1968 he moved to Cambridge, MA to attend Harvard University. While there, he forged life-long relationships, played in a country rock band called Granfalloon, participated in the student movement, and in his spare time managed to graduate with a degree in English literature. … Continue reading »
Hip-Hop in the Park: Marking its 16th year in Berkeley
By Tefari Casas
Hip-Hop in the Park celebrated its 16th year in Berkeley on Saturday. Organized by Students for Hip-Hop, the annual festival held in People’s Park showcases the various elements of Hip-Hop culture.
Graffiti artists decorated large canvases on the southern lawn and, on the basketball court, DJs played 1970s funk and soul music to a gathering of breakdancers and pop-lockers that spanned three
generations. Local independent rappers moved a steadily growing crowd, and the Bay Area’s own Gift of Gab and Los Angeles emcee Dumbfoundead finished the show and brought the whole park to its feet. … Continue reading »
Aimee Baldwin’s creatures come home to Tilden Park
By Ilana DeBare
As a child, Aimée Baldwin spent Saturday mornings learning about the wildlife of Tilden Park in its junior ranger program.
Now her own wildlife is about to be displayed there.
Baldwin, 36, is a Berkeley artist who specializes in what she calls “vegan taxidermy” – extraordinarily lifelike sculptures of birds made by hand from crepe paper, wire and Styrofoam.
On Thursday May 10th, her work will be exhibited at the Brazilian Room, in the center of her old Tilden haunts. The one-night show is part of a silent auction and dinner to benefit Golden Gate Audubon Society, the local Audubon chapter covering San Francisco, Berkeley and neighboring communities.
“Bird people really appreciate what I do and all the effort I put into making things realistic, versus people who can’t tell the difference,” Baldwin said. … Continue reading »
Gay Austin, educator of Berkeley preschoolers
On the morning of April 15, Gay Austin passed away one month short of her 94th year. Born in Munich, Gay fled Nazi Germany at the age of seventeen for England where she entered a London training program in early childhood education at the North Hampstead Day Nursery.
In 1937 she arrived in America to join family members in Des Moines, Iowa and then moved to St. Louis, Missouri where she taught at Washington University’s Lab Preschool. Two years later she returned to Des Moines to marry Kurt M. Austin, the young man she had known and loved as a young woman in Munich who had also made his way to America. In 1945 Gay, Kurt and their two children Michael and Ruth moved to northern California.
A year later she started the Gay Austin Nursery School in her home with Michael in her first group of children. In 1957 she and Kurt were able to purchase and renovate a dentist’s office on Hopkins Street in Berkeley as the school’s new home where it remains to this day. … Continue reading »
