The Oakland-Berkeley Firestorm incinerated my house 30 years ago
When Gary and I moved from Ithaca, New York, back to the Bay Area in 1990 and looked for a house, the threat of fire never crossed my mind.
Frances Dinkelspiel
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 2008, was a San Francisco Chronicle bestseller. Her second book, Tangled Vines: Greed, Murder, Obsession and an Arsonist in the Vineyards of California was published in October 2015 and was both a New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle bestseller. Frances is a former staff reporter for the Syracuse Newspapers and the San Jose Mercury News. Her freelance work has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, People Magazine, Daily Beast, the San Francisco Chronicle, and elsewhere.
Articles by Frances Dinkelspiel
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The end of the 1960s? Regents vote to put housing in People’s Park.
About 1,100 students will be housed in two buildings in the long-contested park.
Mrs. Dalloway’s bookstore in The Elmwood has new owners
The new owners, who have experience in sales and the publishing world, will take over on Nov. 1.
‘No real options’: Last tenants agree to leave rent-controlled building, clearing way for UC Berkeley dorm
Cal can now tear down 1921 Walnut St. and the $300 million Anchor House project can proceed.
There have been fires before at Berkeley’s Echo Lake Camp
Buildings have burned and been crushed by snow but there has never been a threat as large as the Caldor Fire.
4 stories shorter: UC Berkeley drops height of People’s Park student housing complex
But construction won’t start until the 50 or so people living at People’s Park have been housed or offered services, chancellor says.
Judge freezes UC Berkeley’s student enrollment at 2020-21 levels
An Alameda County judge ruled that campus must study the impacts of its growth before it expands any further.
Labor, community groups file lawsuits to stop Cal ‘gobbling up Berkeley’
UC Berkeley did not do an adequate analysis of the impacts of its growth on the community, the suits contend.
Woman struck and killed by driver on Ashby Avenue is identified
A mother and her daughter were walking in Berkeley when a car struck them around 9:56 p.m. Monday. The daughter survived.
Spenger’s development can proceed on site of Ohlone shellmound, court rules
The decision by the California Supreme Court means a 260-unit complex with 130 units of affordable housing can proceed on the contested Ohlone land.
UC Berkeley will explore moving 8-unit rent-controlled building as part of $82.6M settlement
The university will also pay $920,000 into the city’s Housing Trust Fund as recompense for the structure.
Update: Woman struck and killed by driver on Ashby Avenue is identified
A mother and her daughter were walking in Berkeley when a motorist struck them around 10 p.m. Monday. The daughter survived.
Berkeley firefighters extinguish 2-acre fire near the marina
The fire appears likely to have been caused by someone at a homeless encampment, the East Bay parks fire chief said.
Neighborhood groups are still battling UC Berkeley to cap enrollment and build more beds
Even though the city of Berkeley has reached a settlement, others are fighting the university in court.
Neighborhood groups sue to stop Berkeley’s $83M settlement with Cal
Voting in closed session and then not reporting it is a violation of California’s open meeting laws, the groups contend.
UC Berkeley will more than double what it pays the city under new settlement agreement
UC Berkeley will now pay the city more than $4 million a year for its use of city services.
