News

A 76-year-old man died early Thursday as flames did more than $1 million in damage to his North Berkeley home. -more-

In two dramatic votes Wednesday, members of Berkeley’s Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC) adopted a preservation-oriented platform and called for transforming a block of Center Street into a pedestrian plaza. -more-

As the Berkeley Landmarks War heads for a second showdown at the ballot box, preservationists opened a second front in the courts Tuesday. -more-

Those who may have thought that Ron Dellums would alter his political positions before the business community now that he has entered Oakland’s City Hall, or that the business community would be less than favorable to Dellums’ previously announced positions, got a sense they may be wrong at the San Francisco Business Times’ Annual Mayors’ Economic Forecast breakfast at the San Francisco Hilton on Wednesday morning. -more-

The Berkeley school board voted unanimously on Wednesday to accept the Berkeley High School environmental impact report on the Berkeley High School South of Bancroft Master Plan and to approve the Master Plan project. -more-

Some called proposals the Berkeley City Council debated Tuesday evening on commission restrictions “good government,” but others said imposing limits on the number of years commissioners can serve on one commission and on the number of commissions they can serve on at one time was a political move aimed at squelching the voices of commissioners who question large development projects. -more-

Membership in the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce underscores the city’s desire to promote business, Chamber Executive Director Rachel Rupert told the council Tuesday, arguing against a resolution that would have the city cancel memberships in organizations that participate in electoral politics. -more-

While legislative term limits prematurely ended the assembly career of Oakland area representative Wilma Chan, it has helped to immediately boost her successor, Sandré Swanson, up the leadership ladder. -more-

One week after George W. Bush told the nation he would commit 20,000 additional troops to fight on the ground in Iraq, the Bay Area peace community got the bold response it wanted to hear. -more-

Over the years, anxious parents taking the first step toward admitting their children to school have found a guiding light in the Berkeley Unified School District’s Kindergarten Fair. -more-

A planned Saturday afternoon protest and celebration of the Memorial Stadium tree-in aims at recruiting returning UC Berkeley students to the cause of the six branch-sitters and their allies. -more-

As the Global Exchange tour bus makes its way out of Caracas, our Venezuelan guide explains that what we are passing—an extensive array of makeshift dwellings on both sides of the highway—is the largest shantytown in Latin America, rivaled only by the slums of Rio De Janeiro. -more-

More than 15,000 customers of Amazon.com have signed my online petition threatening to close their accounts and take their business elsewhere if the Internet shopping site continues to present a new book by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter in an unusually negative light. -more-

Less than a day after an Oakland judge refused to order the eviction of protesters at the Memorial Stadium tree-in, UC Berkeley police staged a pre-dawn raid Friday, evicting supporters of the tree-dwellers and leveling their encampment. -more-

“No UC campus has paid its fair share for identified off-campus mitigation measures,” concludes a just-released report by the state Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO). -more-

The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce took a stand endorsing various candidates and measures on the November 2006 ballot. City Councilmember Dona Spring says it’s fine for the organization to support candidates of its choice—but she objects to the city paying dues to the chamber and other organizations that make endorsements. -more-

With members of the Oakland Unified School District’s powerless advisory board of trustees renewing their call for an immediate return to local control of the Oakland schools, incoming Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums used the platform of the joint city-school inauguration at the Paramount Theater last week to issue his strongest statement to date on the subject. -more-

Carrying posters, placards and “No to Cell Phone Antennas” signs to the Zoning Adjustments Board meeting on Thursday, a group of South Berkeley residents questioned the need to construct a new wireless telecommunications facility that will host 18 cell phone antennas and related equipment atop the UC Storage Building at 2721 Shattuck Ave. -more-

Supporters of the warm water pool are getting ready to assert the importance of saving the pool, now located in Berkeley High School’s old gymnasium building, at the School Board meeting on Wednesday. -more-

The demand for new Berkeley housing embodied in tentative plans of regional government “boggles even the most ardent smart-growther’s mind,” Mark Rhoades warned last week. -more-

Today (Tuesday) at 5 p.m. a Police Review Commission subcommittee will take its first look at recommendations from the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, the organization that reviewed how Berkeley Police deal with their drug evidence. -more-

Members of two city panels will gather Wednesday to discuss the fate of downtown Berkeley’s historic buildings. -more-

The newly reconstituted Peralta Board of Trustees faces an old controversy—facilities bond money spending—when it meets for the first time in the new year tonight (Tuesday) in the library of the College of Alameda. But one of the trustees who helped delay close to $15 million in Measure A material and equipment requests during a contentious December board meeting believes that the matter will now go more smoothly this time around. -more-

A second community meeting about the East Campus playing fields was held Thursday to give residents another chance to comment on the plan to possibly close Derby Street for the installation of a regulation-size high school baseball field and the proposal to keep the street open with the “curvy Derby plan,” which would bend the street to accomodate the field. -more-

Oakland’s original designation as the “Athens of the Pacific”—favorably comparing the city’s education system to that of the legendary Mediterranean civilization—was clearly somewhat different from Oakland Councilmember Jean Quan’s stated vision for a quality public school system. -more-