Editorials

To the surprise of almost no one, the good citizens of Berkeley presented quarts, pounds, volumes of evidence proving conclusively that profit figures supplied by the applicant for The Residences at Berkeley Plaza (also known as the Harold Way Alley Project) were phony, perhaps fraudulently so. The Bates controllees voted enthusiastically to rubberstamp the project, of course. One speaker said "the fix is in", and maybe it is. But I never try to explain the Bates council's decisions on the basis of cupidity when stupidity will also do. And to think he sold his soul to the devil, and all he got was a lousy soccer field.

For more factual information about what happened last night, there's an excellent professional report by Tom Lochner in the Bay Area News Group papers:

Berkeley council OK's downtown high-rise project

More from me later...