Homelessness was on the minds of officials and readers this week. On Tuesday, City Councilman Jesse Arreguín introduced his Compassionate Sidewalks Plan, which aims to bring together disparate members of the community in a working group to come up with solutions to the nagging issues surrounding people living on Berkeley’s streets. The City Council agreed it was a good plan to explore. Is this more of the same old, same old? Many readers seemed to think so. Arreguín and other officials got a jump start on the problem when they assisted in the county-wide annual count of the homeless at People’s Park.
After 10 years and $12.2 million, Berkeley’s new animal shelter is set to have its grand opening celebration today. The shelter, named after former City Councilwoman Dona Spring, offers a more humane environment for animals and humans, but faced numerous challenges because it was built on a triangular-shaped lot at the edge of Aquatic Park.
The crime news seemed particularly grim this week, perhaps because of the random nature of a stabbing on Shattuck Avenue on Friday afternoon, and the double stabbing of two people on Harmon Street in South Berkeley in Tuesday. Luckily, it appears as if all the victims will survive their injuries. Police made arrests in both incidents.
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