Irish President Michael Higgins visited Berkeley on Wednesday to thank first responders for their compassionate response to the tragic balcony collapse in June that killed six and injured seven young students, most of whom were part of the J-1 cultural exchange program with Ireland. Higgins later joined Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates to plant two arbutus trees in Civic […]
Philip Grant
Posted inCommunity, Crime & Safety
Irish president to visit Berkeley, honor first responders
Irish President Michael Higgins will visit Berkeley next week to speak with students, honor first responders and community members who helped after June’s fatal balcony collapse, and plant trees with Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates. Monday, Oct. 26, Higgins is set to talk to UC Berkeley students in the Chevron Auditorium at International House about ending […]
Posted inCommunity, Crime & Safety
Families of four balcony victims say ‘Thanks’
The families of the four Irish students who remain hospitalized with injuries suffered after a balcony collapsed at 2020 Kittredge St. on June 16, killing six and injuring seven, have issued a statement of thanks. Aoife Beary, Clodagh Cogley, Hannah Waters and Niall Murray are all being treated at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. This […]
Posted inCity, Community, Crime & Safety, Fires
Hundreds gather in Berkeley to remember balcony victims
A month after a fifth-floor balcony snapped off the façade of 2020 Kittredge St. in Berkeley, sending six people in their 20s to their deaths and injuring seven others, hundreds of people gathered at Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park on Sunday to honor them. The event was a “Month’s Mind,” a traditional Irish […]
Posted inCommunity, Crime & Safety
Berkeley balcony survivor is making ‘great progress’
The family of a 21-year-old Irish woman who was seriously injured in the collapse of a fifth-floor balcony at the Library Gardens apartment building in Berkeley has posted photos of her progress on a Facebook page. Clodagh Cogley was one of 13 people who fell nearly 50 feet to the ground after the balcony failed on June […]
Posted inCity, Community, Crime & Safety
Irish Consul General Philip Grant: As balcony collapse victims begin journey of recovery, J-1 visa student community a source of ‘great pride’
Nine days after the fifth-floor balcony collapse that killed six students and injured seven in Berkeley, Berkeleyside sat down with Philip Grant, consul general of Ireland for the Western United States, at the Irish Consulate in San Francisco to review the response, both local and international, to the tragedy. Grant also discussed the status of the students who survived. […]