A new mural has been painted on the old Toler property that has been vacant for 30 years. It feature William Byron Rumford with a short biography and the bill that bears his name. Photo: Sofia Zander
A new mural has been painted on the old Toler property at 2951 Sacramento St., which has been vacant for 30 years. Part of the mural features William Byron Rumford, a California legislator who introduced the 1963 Fair Housing Bill. Photo: Sofia Zander

The story on an enrollment surge that prompted the Berkeley Unified School District to add three new kindergartens prompted lots of discussion about why the numbers of students in the district have increased so much.

The fate of the post office on Allston Way was also front and center in the news. The U.S. Postal Commission has agreed to hear an appeal filed by Mayor Tom Bates over the building’s closure some time in the fall, although, as Berkeleyside has previously reported, it probably won’t change the outcome. (In fact the USPS is challenging the right of the Postal Commission to consider the matter since it categorizes the action as a relocation, not a closure.) An op-ed by a former Berkeley resident now living in the UK advocating that the building be turned into a covered farmers’ market got lots of feedback. Lastly, violence came to the camp-in at the post office on Thursday when a 50-year old man stabbed and hit some of the protesters.

Berkeleyside featured a number of stories on the greener side of the city, such as the project to restore Harwood Creek (behind John Muir Elementary School on Claremont and Ashby), and our feature on the city’s secret rooftop gardens.

Berkeleyside also announced some new speakers for our inaugural event: Uncharted: The Berkeley Festival of Ideas, which takes place on Oct. 25-26 in venues around downtown Berkeley.

Do you appreciate hearing about the news in your community through Berkeleyside’s work? If so, please consider becoming a supporter of Berkeleyside. Become part of the conversation. Help a local news site thrive.

"*" indicates required fields

See an error that needs correcting? Have a tip, question or suggestion? Drop us a line.
Hidden

Frances Dinkelspiel, Berkeleyside and CItyside co-founder, is a journalist and author. Her first book, Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California, published in November...