[field name=iframe] Tonight the Berkeley City Council will hold a special meeting for a final public hearing on the city’s proposed West Berkeley Plan. Ahead of the debate, we bring you a photo essay of West Berkeley by John C. Osborn with explanations of some of the issues under consideration. Click through to this post […]
West Berkeley
Posted inNosh
Joy Moore: Community food reformer
Joy Moore at the Berkeley Technology Academy garden. Photo: Sarah Henry. Retired city of Berkeley health outreach worker Joy Moore, 59, is anything but retired. A long-time local food activist, Moore has played a key role in community efforts to reform school lunch in the Berkeley Unified School District, co-founded Farm Fresh Choice, which brings […]
Posted inBusiness
Gilman Village: A Berkeley shopping area in transition
Show Place Art, which opened in November, has a revolving number of shows and events. Garden outlet store Smith & Hawken closed up shop in 2009. Then, several other businesses, including Turkish towel importer Forza & Home and Paulson Bott Press, defected from the Gilman Village shopping area on 10th Street to the more vibrant […]
Posted inCommunity
Berkeleyans add to West Berkeley debate in novel forum
West Berkeley. Photo: John C. Osborn. Tonight will see part two of public hearings on proposals which could see West Berkeley transformed, and many residents are making their views known on “open town hall” site Peak Democracy. More than 200 people have so far left comments on a forum set up by councilmembers Laurie Capitelli, […]
Posted inCrime & Safety
Fourth Street area loses power
Thousands of people in the Fourth Street shopping district are without power. The electricity failed around 11:30 am. and storekeepers have not gotten any indication when it will go back on. Berkeleyside has a call into PG&E to see when power will resume. UPDATE 1:23 pm: A PG&E repair crew is on the way to […]
Posted inCity
On the table: the future of West Berkeley
Manufacturing businesses and vacancies on Carleton Street in West Berkeley/Photo: John Osborn By John C. Osborn The Berkeley City Council held the first of two public hearings Tuesday about proposed changes for West Berkeley that could drastically alter the landscape of the city’s economy in years to come. The changes would relax protections that have been […]
Posted inCommunity
Council considers dramatic changes in West Berkeley
Change ahead for West Berkeley? Photo by Jingletown. After three years of discussion, dramatic changes to the West Berkeley plan will be discussed by the City Council tonight. The amendments to the plan will first be presented in a special worksession of the council at 5:30 p.m. At the council meeting, which begins at 7 […]
Posted inNosh
Garden teacher Kim Allen offers youth space to grow
Kim Allen at the Bancroft Community Garden. Photo: Sarah Henry. For four years Kim Allen has served as garden program manager for Berkeley Youth Alternatives (BYA), which provides a minimum-wage, internship program for socio-economically challenged adolescents ages 14 to 18. Some come to the garden through word-of-mouth from family or friends, others as part of […]
Posted inNosh
June Taylor’s way with fruit: esoteric, steeped in history
June Taylor in her Still-Room. All photos by Sarah Henry. June Taylor crafts the kind of conserves and fruit confections that make food writers swoon. Case in point: Amanda Hesser’s description of Taylor’s preserves. “They are unlike any commercial preserves, not simply because she uses esoteric — virtually all organic — fruits like bergamots, kadota […]
Posted inBerkeleyside
How did Berkeley do on those 2010 resolutions?
People's Park: there has been no progress this year on the future of this controversial space. Photo: djwudi/Flickr creative commons. A year ago, we suggested 10 resolutions for 2010 for Berkeley (we’ll have our 2011 resolutions tomorrow). How did our city do? We went back to look at those 10 resolutions and scored them 0 […]
Posted inNosh
Berkeley Bites: Jim Montgomery, Green Faerie Farm
Jim Montgomery and friend. Photos: Bret Turner, East Bay Pictures Jim Montgomery, one of the co-founders of Green Faerie Farm, isn’t your typical red-headed, disabled, gay, geeky urban homesteader. But then how many of those do you know? The gently-spoken 45-year-old likes to joke that in 1995, when he and two friends bought a 1920 house […]
Posted inNosh
Spiral Gardens produce stand in jeopardy
Like many nonprofits, it took a while for the downturn in the economy to impact the nursery sales at Spiral Gardens, a community food security project on Sacramento Street in South Berkeley. But this spring and summer plant sales dropped off dramatically, says co-director Lisa Stephens, and now the nonprofit may be forced to close […]
