Each Friday in this space food writer Sarah Henry asks a well-known, up-and-coming, or under-the-radar food aficionado about their favorite tastes in town, preferred food purveyors and other local culinary gems worth sharing. Ari Derfel and Eric Fenster, who run the recently opened Gather restaurant, met at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on Eric’s first week […]
Green
Posted inCity
City votes yes on Center Street, delays BRT decision
At last night’s marathon City Council meeting (which ended well past midnight), Berkeley City council members voted 8 to 1 to approve the Strawberry Creek Plaza plan for Center Street (pictured above). The vote gives the go-ahead for money to be raised to implement the designs, which were commissioned from landscape designer Walter Hood. “For […]
Posted inCity
Strawberry Creek Plaza: City votes tomorrow
Berkeley City Council will vote tomorrow, Tuesday, on whether to make official a proposal to transform Center Street between Oxford and Shattuck into a pedestrian-oriented public plaza which would see Strawberry Creek “daylighted” and, according to supporters of the plan, create a much-needed “heart” of Berkeley. The vote takes place at Council Chambers and residents are encouraged to […]
Posted inCity, Schools
BHS hosts green job fair
The East Bay Green Corridor‘s first annual high-school job fair launches this afternoon at Berkeley High. Students will be coming from BHS, El Cerrito High School, Emery Secondary, Oakland Tech High School, Richmond High School, Skyline High School, San Lorenzo High School, Youth Empowerment School and Foothill Academy from the Sacramento area. Each of these […]
Posted inCity
Mayor defends success of city’s pilot solar program
Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates has defended Berkeley FIRST, a pilot program initiated by the city to help residents finance solar power systems for their homes, and which has been cited as a model for other cities across the country. In a letter to the East Bay Express, Bates says he believes Berkeley FIRST might be […]
Posted inEvents, Schools
Ditch your electronics — in a good way
This Sunday we get the opportunity to rid our garages and basements, our stuffed office cabinets and closets, of all the electronic waste we inevitably accumulate over the years. The School for Social Justice and Ecology at BHS is organizing an Electronic Waste Collection from 10am-4pm at the school at 1980 Allston Way. The following […]
Posted inEvents
Get on your bike on Sunday
Berkeley hasn’t quite ridden to the heights of Portland as a bicycle mecca, but it remains a very bike-friendly city. You can celebrate bikes and Berkeley several ways this Sunday, courtesy of the Bicycle-Friendly Berkeley Coalition. First up on Saturday is the Grizzly Peak Cyclists Family Ride. There are two rides starting from Aquatic Park: […]
Posted inCity, Schools
A tree grows in Thousand Oaks
Berkeley marked its first day as an official Tree City USA yesterday by planting 13 young trees on and around Thousand Oaks Elementary School in North Berkeley. The city and the school district joined together to help students learn about the importance of trees in the environment and proper planting techniques. Students planted two Trident […]
Posted inSchools
Welcome the Rosenfeld
If Berkeley wasn’t already blushing from its dominance in scientific nomenclature* it looks like another local name may be immortalized. In a refereed article in Environmental Research Letters, a group of scientists propose that a unit of electricity savings be named the Rosenfeld, after Arthur Rosenfeld, “the godfather of energy efficiency” (photo right). The proposed […]
Posted inEvents
Ideas to reduce your carbon footprint
Last year, we attended a carbon footprint workshop and since then we’ve had a steadily diminishing amount that isn’t recycled or composted. Others in Berkeley seem to have done the same, which is one of the reasons why refuse revenues in the city are down. But the planet is a more important cause than city […]
Posted inHousing & Development
Berkeley abandons pioneering solar program
Two years after it unveiled a pioneering residential solar program, Berkeley has decided to close it down. Only thirteen property owners signed up for the BerkeleyFIRST pilot program, Judith Scherr reports in the East Bay Express, despite it being cited as a model for other cities, and even countries, and receiving glowing reviews in the media. […]
Posted inBusiness, Nosh
Fresh off the boat: Hudson Fish
Captain Mike of Hudson Fish provided some valuable background on local fisheries when I speculated about a fish CSA for Berkeley. Last Saturday morning I dropped by the Hudson Fish stall at the downtown farmers market to chat with them and check out their catch of the day. Hudson Fish has been coming to the […]