Featured events- 08/28/2013 - Free Outdoor Screening in the BAM/PFA Sculpture Garden
- 08/27/2013 - MARK EPSTEIN / The Trauma of Everyday Life
- 08/24/2013 - The goat Rodeo Sessions
- 08/03/2013 - Book Signing and Discussion with Dave Kehr, followed by The Lawless Breed
- 06/24/2013 - BERKELEY PRIDE 365! First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage…
Author Archives: Lance Knobel
Shop Talk: The ins and outs of Berkeley businesses
WHAT’S IN A NAME? A sign declaring “Berserkeley” announces Gilman District, being developed just south of Gilman on 10th, adjacent to the relocated Office Depot and across from the proposed Whole Foods Market. [Update: the developer clarifies that the marketing sign with Berserkeley is not the name of the development. It will be Gilman District.] Berserkeley Gilman District 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 »
Cal seeks funds to cut down 22,000 non-native trees
Federal funding to enable UC Berkeley to cut down 22,000 non-native trees in Strawberry Canyon and Claremont Canyon is proceeding through the late stages of an environmental impact review. A final public meeting on the project will be held by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on Saturday, May 18, at Claremont Middle School in Oakland at 10 a.m.
The university’s project is a continuation of work it has been doing for the last decade on its land. Over 19,000 non-native trees — eucalyptus, Monterey pine, and acacia — have already been eradicated on 185 acres of campus property. The 22,000 additional trees expand the program to Strawberry Canyon and the hills to the north of Claremont Avenue as it climbs to Grizzly Peak.
“It’s a cohesive strategy that started over a decade ago,” said Tom Klatt, the university’s environmental projects manager. “We target the most fire-prone, fuel-productive trees that we have on our land. Those areas will have less fire intensity as a result.” … Continue reading »
18th annual Jazz on Fourth kicks off on Sunday
The 18th annual Jazz on Fourth Street Festival kicks off on Sunday, May 19 at noon. The free festival supports the renowned jazz programs at Berkeley High.
“School districts around the country have trouble keeping their arts and music programs thriving,” said Marshall Lamm, who helps organize the festival. “Berkeley High’s jazz program has been a source of pride for the community for so long. It takes a community and it takes concerned citizens to support the kids. Every bit helps.”
Sunday’s program includes Dixieland from Mal Sharpe’s Big Money in Jazz Band, blues from Mark Hummel and the Blues Survivors, and Latin jazz from drummer and BHS alumnus Josh Jones and his Latin Jazz Group. The full 22-piece Berkeley High School Ensemble, directed by Sarah Cline, will provide the festival’s finale. … Continue reading »
Tagged Berkeley High Jazz, Jazz on Fourth
Xavier (Kayla) Moore’s death: The timeline
Late on Tuesday night, Feb. 12, Berkeley police responded to a dispatch call about a disturbance on Allston Way. Less than two hours later, Xavier (Kayla) Moore was pronounced dead at Alta Bates Hospital.
On Friday May 3, the Berkeley Police Department released its 348-page investigation of what happened that night, the same day that the Alameda County coroner’s report on the death was released. From the two documents, and the many sworn statements within them, it’s possible to reconstruct part of what happened that night.
Moore identified as female, using the name Kayla, but all of the police documents, the coroner’s report and the witness statements refer to Moore as a male.
Tuesday Feb. 12, 2013, around 5 or 6 p.m.
John Andre Hayes came home to apartment 514 in the Gaia Building on Allston Way early in the evening. According to Hayes, he and Moore are roommates and have known each other for 15 or more years. … Continue reading »
Coroner, police deliver reports on Xavier Moore death
Xavier (Kayla) Moore died because of “acute combined drug intoxication,” according to the Alameda County Coroner’s report released today. The coroner ruled the death accidental. The 41-year old Moore stopped breathing while being taken into police custody on Feb. 12 at the Gaia Building on Allston Way. Moore was pronounced dead at 1:34 a.m. on Feb. 13 at Alta Bates Hospital.
Since Moore’s death, there have been protests about the role of the police, culminating in a heated public comment session at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting. … Continue reading »
Berkeley’s political firmament rallies to keep post office
Mayor Tom Bates, State Senator Loni Hancock, Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, and just about a full complement of Berkeley councilmembers gathered on the steps of the city’s main post office this morning to protest its planned sale.
Bates, Hancock and Skinner jointly signed a letter appealing the decision by the U.S. Postal Service. Bates said it was the beginning of a long fight that will include a lawsuit and appeals to the U.S. Congress.
“We’re not going quietly. We’re going to fight this every step of the way,” Bates said. “We are against it and the people of Berkeley are against it.” … Continue reading »
Julie Sinai appointed to Berkeley school board post
Julie Sinai, former chief of staff to Mayor Tom Bates and now director of local government and community relations at UC Berkeley, was unanimously appointed to a vacant school board seat on Wednesday night. Sinai emerged from a slate of nine candidates in a quick, non-contentious vote by the four sitting members of the Berkeley Unified School District board.
“I’ve been a parent, I’ve been past staff, I’ve been a partner,” Sinai said in her three-minute presentation at the special board meeting. Before her position with Mayor Bates, Sinai had been director of school-linked programs for BUSD. “I’m ready to help get the work done with the board.”
The vacancy was created when board president Leah Wilson resigned in March because of her appointment as Court Executive Officer for the Alameda County Superior Court. Sinai will serve the remainder of Wilson’s term, which expires in November, 2014. … Continue reading »
Redistricting plans focus on student-majority district
A student-majority district in Berkeley moved a step closer with the release of redistricting plans on Thursday. Six individuals and community groups submitted redistricting plans, with most of them concentrating on creating a student-majority district 7, which currently is represented by Kriss Worthington.
Berkeley’s redistricting is spurred by the 2010 census, which showed a population increase of nearly 10,000 to 112,580. Population changes and demographic shifts had made the existing council districts highly unequal in population, from D5 (Laurie Capitelli’s district) with 12,709 to D7 with 16,623. The other vital wrinkle in the current redistricting was the passage of Measure R last November, which removes the severe geographic constraints mandated in Berkeley since 1986. … Continue reading »
Tagged ASUC, Berkeley redistricting, Kriss Worthington, Measure M
The It List: Five things to do in Berkeley this weekend
BE PREPARED A 6.9-magnitude earthquake will hit the Hayward Fault on Saturday, Apr. 27 — simulated in a citywide emergency preparedness drill. Sign up on the city page to participate in local neighborhood drills from 9 to 11 a.m. No matter what your level of community emergency response team (CERT) training, you’re welcome to join in the drills, feedback from experts, and then a citywide debriefing. Earthquake prediction remains a field filled with more noise than signal, but seismologists have consistently warned that the Big One is likely to hit the Hayward Fault in the foreseeable future. Read the Berkeleyside article on the emergency drill.
YOU EAT WHAT THEY FARM Family physician Daphne Miller traveled to seven innovative family farms around the country to uncover the connection between how we care for our bodies and how we grow our food. Miller will be talking about what she found in her visits and, while writing Farmacology, on Saturday, Apr. 27 at 4 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore, 2904 College Ave. Miller, who lives in Berkeley, is a practicing physician and professor of family medicine at UCSF, as well as a noted author. Her previous book, The Jungle Effect, looked at the healthy diets of poor native populations around the world. There’s a wine and cheese reception at The Dailey Method around the corner, immediately after Miller’s talk. … Continue reading »
Tagged CERT, Daphne Miller, Farmacology, UC Botanic Garden, Väsen
Vienna, Kronos, much more in Cal Performances season
Cal Performances 2013-14 season features a return residency for the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the world premiere of Mark Morris’s Acis and Galatea (see video above), a celebration of Kronos Quartet’s 40 years, and an emphasis on Brahms, with performances by Yo Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax and Anne Sofie von Otter, as well as a host of dance, new music, theater, jazz and early music concerts.
“These are all my children,” said Director Matías Tarnopolsky, explaining why it was so difficult to choose which performances to highlight. … Continue reading »
Former Councilwoman Maudelle Shirek dies, aged 101
Update, April 24: There will be a celebration of the life of former Vice-Mayor Maudelle Shirek on Tuesday, April 30, at 5 p.m. at the Old City Hall Council Chambers in the building named after her at 2134 Martin Luther King Way. Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Mayor Tom Bates, Rev. William Kruse and family member Ronald Bridgeforth will speak. After there will be a video, light refreshments served and shared remembrances in the lobby. All are invited.
Original story: Maudelle Shirek, often called the godmother of East Bay progressive politics, died in a Vallejo hospice on April 11. Shirek served in the Berkeley City Council for 20 years, leading many progressive causes, with a particular devotion to seniors and the poor.
Shirek entered politics late in life. Furious that she was forced to retire as director of the West Berkeley Senior Center aged 71, she decided to run for City Council. She won and represented South Berkeley for eight terms. She did not run in 2004 because of her team misinterpreted the changed rules on candidate signatures: she had obtained signatures from across the city, but the new rules required signatures from just her district. Her signatures were ruled invalid.
When she left office in 2004, aged 92, she was the oldest publicly elected official in California. Old City Hall was renamed for Shirek in 2007.
“She was a real warrior for many of the issues on the left,” said Mayor Tom Bates. “It’s really sad the godmother of progressive politics in Berkeley has passed on.” … Continue reading »
Tagged Barbara Lee, Carole Kennerly, Maudelle Shirek
New data show Berkeley is a ‘creative class mecca’
Berkeley is a city full of intelligent, creative people, it seems.
Richard Florida, famous for his notion of the ‘creative class,’ has been dissecting class divides in U.S. metropolitan areas on The Atlantic Cities site, which he edits. Florida, and his colleague Sara Johnson, use data from the American Community Survey to look at the geography of class — split into creative, service and working class. The recent post on San Francisco also provides data on the broader metropolitan area, and it’s possible to zoom in on Berkeley.
All but six census tracts in Berkeley are primarily creative class, and even in those that are primarily service class, the lowest concentration of creative class residents is 35% — in South Berkeley. According to Florida’s map, the second and fourth highest creative class concentrations in the San Francisco metropolitan area are two of the tracts in the Berkeley hills, both of which have over 80% creative class. … Continue reading »
Shotgun’s Shipwreck: You say you want a revolution?
Tom Stoppard’s Shipwreck, the second of the Coast of Utopia trilogy, makes clear where his allegiance lies among the Russian intelligentsia. It isn’t the compelling Michael Bakunin, the focus of Voyage, the first of the plays, or critic Vissarion Belinsky or youthful author Ivan Turgenev. No, it’s the thoughtful, upright Alexander Herzen who urges moderation, rejects grand dreams, and focuses on achievable goals. … Continue reading »
Tagged Coast of Utopia, Shotgun Players, Tom Stoppard
