Tag Archives: Aquatic Park
Cruise ship visits Berkeley waterfront
By Paul Kamen
In a proof-of-concept demonstration early Monday morning, an 800-foot cruise ship berthed briefly in the North Sailing Basin, the body of water east of Cesar Chavez Park in the Berkeley Marina.
“This had to be done at high tide, naturally,” explained Capt. Fidley Grating in a press conference Monday. “But it does demonstrate that it’s feasible. We will be able to bring the ships into Berkeley’s Aquatic Park without any major dredging operations.”
The demonstration, conducted on the north side of the marina, is part of a plan that has been taking shape over the last year to bring new commercial, residential and technology-oriented lab and office space to West Berkeley, but without the cumbersome and time-consuming zoning and use permit process. … Continue reading »
Kayak theft puts Berkeley youth program in jeopardy
The theft of twelve ocean kayaks from a storage trailer in Aquatic Park has put a summer program for Berkeley youth in jeopardy.
The kayaks, which are owned by the California Police Activities League (CalPAL), were located in a parking lot owned by the City of Berkeley but leased to the Berkeley Water Ski Club.
The crime was discovered on April 13 when Oakland Police notified CalPAL that life jackets with the CalPAL insignia had been found in an Oakland dumpster. Staff from Berkeley Boosters, which runs youth water sports camps throughout the year for Berkeley youth, went to Aquatic Park and found the trailer and kayaks missing.
Cheryl La Rosa Longo, Executive Director of Berkeley Boosters, said the theft appeared to be planned rather than opportunistic. “The kayaks are stored in a remote and inaccessible part of the park. You need to open a gate and pass by a sign that reads ‘Private Property’ to get there,” she said. “The kayaks are locked but it looks like someone hitched their car to the trailer and drove away.” … Continue reading »
Pacific Flyway Survey comes to Berkeley’s Aquatic Park
By Chris Hammond
At Berkeley’s Aquatic Park, Mike Perlmutter bent over his bird-watching telescope, intent on finding more of the birds he’s seen in years past. The traffic on highway 580/80 roared behind him. A freight train pulling empty container cars clickity-clacked on the other side of the park. In between were the birds, all of them are year-rounders like great egrets, coots and ducks. There were no migratory shorebirds yet.
Volunteer bird watchers and scientists combed the sandy San Francisco Bay marshes for shorebirds at high tide Tuesday morning. Perhaps 350,000 of the spindly legged, long-distance travelers were counted in northern and central California as they fattened themselves on crabs, worms and muscles in the flats and rocky shoreline.
“This is as many birds as we get in winter,” said Julian Wood, who works for PRBO Conservation Science, the group leading the Pacific Flyway Shorebird Survey. He said that tracking the birds is no easy feat. “It’s hard to get numbers for migrating shorebirds. The ones we see breed in Alaska and winter here.” … Continue reading »
Aquatic Park pitches for Berkeley Lab 2nd campus tonight
Yesterday, Golden Gate Fields had its turn in the spotlight at a public meeting held by the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab to discuss that location as one of the six possibles on its shortlist for its second campus. Richmond, Alameda and Oakland have all had their chance to shine, and Monday August 8th will see a pitch by Wareham Development for a Berkeley/Emeryville site.
Tonight Aquatic Park West, the only site that is 100% in Berkeley, will be presenting its case.
The site is co-owned by Michael and Steven Goldin and the Jones Family. The Goldins would act as partners to Forest City, the developers of the 12.5 acre site off Bolivar Drive. As it has done at all the meetings, the Lab will talk about its requirements — UC Berkeley’s Professor Jay Keasling is among those who will be on the platform today — and members of the public will be invited to share their views. … Continue reading »
Berkeley sites for Lab’s second campus in the spotlight
As the Berkeley Lab rolls into town this week to hold three public meetings about a second campus, there has been a lot of speculation about which community will be the best cheerleader. The bar has already been set high: Richmond had drummers and dancers perform at its meeting, Oakland put forward its mayor, and Alameda had a packed house.
But a curious thing happened in each community meeting. Instead of the cities wooing the Lab, the Lab … Continue reading »
Three Berkeley sites being considered for Lawrence Berkeley Lab second campus
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has selected six sites in six East Bay cities as the possible location of a second campus, Berkeleyside has learned.
Three of the six sites are either in Berkeley or partly in Berkeley, according to knowledgeable sources who asked not to be named. They are:
- The Richmond Field Station. The University of California already owns this land, and it is presumed to be the front runner for the second campus.
- Golden Gate Fields — This 30-acre parcel sits mainly in Albany, although a section also sits in Berkeley.
- The Goldin brothers/Jones family parcel off of Bolivar Drive near Aquatic Park in Berkeley. This 12.5 acre parcel is the site of the old American Soils property.
- A 64 acre parcel known as the Brooklyn Basin along Oakland’s waterfront.
- A portion of the old Alameda Naval Air Station in Alameda. The city has offered this land for free to the lab as a way to quick-start development of the old base.
- Wareham Development’s sites straddling Berkeley and Emeryville.
The lab received 21 proposals from eight cities interested in having the second campus. They included multiple sites in Berkeley, including the old Marchant Building, about four proposals in Oakland, one in Walnut Creek, one in Dublin, and a number in Richmond. … Continue reading »
How did Berkeley do on those 2010 resolutions?
A year ago, we suggested 10 resolutions for 2010 for Berkeley (we’ll have our 2011 resolutions tomorrow). How did our city do?
We went back to look at those 10 resolutions and scored them 0 for no movement (or backward movement), a ½ point for some improvement and a full 1 point for true progress. We have to say that, even with the most generous grading possible, we can only give ourselves a score of four out of 10.
Here … Continue reading »
Aquatic Park advocate wins conservation award
Mark Liolios, founder of Aquatic Park Egret, has been named one of five Cox Conserves Heroes for the Bay Area. The program, run by the Trust for Public Land, honored Liolios for more than a decade of work in environmental education and restoration at the south end of Aquatic Park.
Each of the five finalists receives $1,250 to donate to the nonprofit of their choice. Liolios has donated the money to Berkeley Partners for Parks. There is … Continue reading »
Aquatic Park cleans up, tackles brackish reputation
On Saturday evening, hundreds of flickering paper lanterns floated serenely across the main lake of the Berkeley Aquatic Park in commemoration of the victims of the 1945 nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Now on its sixth ninth year, the Japanese Lantern Ceremony for World Peace has become an annual Bay Area tradition, with hundreds showing up to decorate the lanterns and watch the ceremony from the shore.
Aside from the whooshing of cars on the nearby I-80 freeway, the event … Continue reading »
On the waterfront: A new cafe in Aquatic Park
The recently opened Waterside Cafe provides a beautiful spot to have coffee or tea in Berkeley’s Aquatic Park. And the cafe, part of the non-profit Waterside Workshops, offers 25 cents off any beverage for customers who arrive by bicycle.
Cyclists are also catered for in the open bicycle workshop that is part of the complex, where professional bike mechanics are on hand to offer advice (they’ll also do bike repair if you don’t have the time or interest to … Continue reading »
Missing baby search centers on Berkeley
A search is currently under way for a missing 8-month year-old baby who disappeared around the same time his mother was found murdered in Berkeley’s Aquatic Park.
Follow the story on ABC7.
[Photo: abclocal.go.com]
