Photos: See inside the rebuilt Berkeley Tuolumne Camp
The new camp, which welcomes families back this summer, was built to be more accessible and better protected from wildfire.
City
Top Stories
A bravura performance by Desiree Rogers in Shotgun Players’ ‘A Small Fire’
How would we cope if we could no longer walk or lost the capacity to reason? The play explores how one exists when the inner life remains as the outer life fails.
Put on your dancing shoes, Ashkenaz is back
After being closed for more than two years due to the pandemic, the nonprofit venue is reopening June 5 with an all-day free event.
City budget
Audit: Berkeley’s finances ‘strong’ for now, but long-term challenges loom
Rising infrastructure and pension liabilities could threaten the city’s fiscal health, a recent audit found.
In 7-2 vote, Berkeley council approves broad package to reimagine policing
Thursday’s vote was a budget referral: The package will come back in June so officials can decide what will actually be funded in the coming years.
Officials say yes to ‘new vision of public safety’ — and more cops, too
“When we work together as a whole community we can make real progress,” Mayor Jesse Arreguín said Thursday.
Open patrol beats are the biggest driver of police officer overtime, audit finds
Security work for outside entities, such as UC Berkeley, the Apple store and other Fourth Street businesses, made up 10% of the overtime costs in FY20.
Coronavirus
Yes, it’s a surge: Wastewater tests reveal high level of COVID-19 in East Bay
Health experts say positive cases are underreported, but high vaccination rates have meant fewer hospitalizations and deaths.
City of Berkeley urges indoor masking as COVID-19 cases spike again
Berkeley’s case rate is higher than it’s been at any point in the pandemic other than the omicron surge. Hospitalizations remain low.
Berkeley is analyzing sewage data to track COVID-19 as response shifts in third year of pandemic
As self-testing becomes more common, the Berkeley health officer said the data is a useful tool in monitoring COVID-19 in the general population.
Berkeley to end vaccination requirement for indoor dining, gyms
The requirement that restaurants and other businesses check vaccination status ends Friday.
Housing & Development
South Berkeley elder, business owner wants an accessible home to ‘start over with new beginnings’
After suffering serious falls, Betty Gray hasn’t been able to leave her second-floor apartment to run Alice’s Relaxing Bath and Gift Shop.
Proposal for California Theatre would keep facade, add high-rise housing
A proposal to build “approximately 15 stories” of new housing behind the theater’s facade cleared an early hurdle this month.
Berkeley Troll House, where the ‘transcontinental psychedelic elite’ partied, is for sale
Owsley Stanley, famed Grateful Dead soundman and the first person to privately manufacture LSD, lived in the Poet’s Corner cottage during the Summer of Love.
Berkeley’s homeless population dropped 5% during the pandemic, report says
There are about 50 fewer homeless people in the city than in 2019, even as Alameda County’s homeless population rose 22%.
Homelessness
First North Berkeley affordable housing in over 30 years, Jordan Court, opens
Tenants began moving into the 34-unit affordable senior housing project in March after being chosen among 1,000 applicants.
800 homeless people died in Alameda County in 3 years
The main causes of death were overdoses and medical conditions, many “preventable,” according to a county report.
West Berkeley homeless occupants have 3 weeks to find housing
Six of the remaining people at the Ashby-Shellmound encampment have disabilities that make it difficult to find housing.
South Berkeley Black churches are building affordable housing on their properties
The parcels are part of the ongoing Adeline Corridor Plan near Ashby BART.
Transportation
Berkeley’s first (legal) electric scooter rentals launching this week
Find out how many scooters and bikes are coming to Berkeley, and how you can report illegally parked vehicles.
New bike lanes coming to Hopkins Street despite some neighbors’ objections
Some of the area’s residents and merchants vehemently opposed plans for new bike lanes that will require the removal of parking spaces.
Police will ticket drivers to curb rampant double-parking on Durant
The street has grown increasingly clogged with motorists double-parking on both sides of the one-way street just east of Telegraph Avenue.
From 7 stories to 12: Commission backs taller height limit for BART housing
The City Council is set to vote on the controversial zoning change, which one commissioner called a “fireball,” later this spring.
Berkeley City Council
Look up your council district. See the Berkeley City Council roster. Review council meeting agendas.
Exclusive: Berkeley City Councilmember Lori Droste won’t seek a third term
“I feel like I’ve served with the seriousness and integrity that the voters deserve,” Droste told Berkeleyside in an exclusive interview. “My family needs me now.”
Why hasn’t UC Berkeley built more student housing?
For much of Cal’s history, providing housing for students was not a priority. Troubled finances in the last few decades have hobbled Cal’s efforts to catch up.
Elderly Berkeley homeowner burdened by major code repair debt gets new day in court
Leonard Powell hopes the court will find that Berkeley and a receiver mismanaged his home code problems.
Related stories
Under threat from climate change, Berkeley’s family camps adapt to survive
As Berkeley Tuolumne Camp reopens, the city’s cherished rustic retreats are facing growing threats from wildfires and landslides.
Shattuck Cinemas is closing, as downtown loses another movie theater
Downtown Berkeley, which once boasted a half-dozen movie theaters, will soon be down to one.
