Safeway reached a compromise with local opponents on its plans to expand its College Avenue store. The store, on the Oakland side of the Berkeley/Oakland border, faced opposition from some local residents concerned about the scale of the proposed supermarket and increased traffic in the neighborhood. The compromise plan includes more parking and less retail space.
The election count was completed by the Registrar of Voters on Thursday. At one point in the count, it seemed as though Measure T, which would have changed West Berkeley zoning, could pass narrowly. But the final tally gave opponents a 1% victory. A close contest for the final position on the Rent Stabilization Board also ended with the Election Day leader, Alejandro Soto-Vigil, confirmed in his post. The certified results are expected this Wednesday.
Berkeley City Council decided on Tuesday night that Perfect Plants Patients Group (3PG), a cannabis collective located on Sacramento Street, was in violation of zoning laws. The city will now take steps to close 3PG. The council discussion became heated when Councilmember Max Anderson suggested racial motives for the opposition to the collective. Councilmember Darryl Moore, who represents the district, accused Anderson of race baiting.
UC Berkeley has plowed under winter greens planted by the Occupy the Farm movement at Gill Tract, the UC-owned research field in Albany. Keith Gilless, dean of Berkeley’s College of Natural Resources, said in a statement released late on Friday night that the university wants to find ways to work with community groups, but that “illegal incursions” and “unauthorized use” were a “direct threat to both academic freedom and our capacity to fulfill the University’s mission.”
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