Loading ...We thought the whole Berkeley Iceland thing was done, especially after it closed its doors in late March. But alas, it rears its ugly head again.
First, some local developer bought the Berkeley Iceland right before the Berkeley City Council was supposed to vote on whether or not to give the Iceland landmark status. This is an important detail because that developer wants to tear down the Iceland and build townhouses or something like that.
If the City Council made the Iceland a landmark, then that developer would have to go through all that bureaucratic red tape.
So, the council actually postponed its vote until next week, thus giving the Save the Berkeley Iceland folk another week to raise the money to try to outbid the developer.
It’s a classic underdog story for sure. It should be mentioned in the same breath as Rocky and Seabiscuit, except that Rocky lost to Apollo Creed in the first movie and Seabiscuit broke his leg and wasn’t able to race after that.
But it looks like the Save the Iceland folk have their stuff down.
Tom Killilea, president of Save Berkeley Iceland, said his group already has raised $100,000 from grants, private donations and neighborhood fundraisers.
“We’ve also contracted with a professional skating rink management firm to operate the facility if we buy it,” Killilea said.
They also had a bake sale through the Cheese Board co-op in North Berkeley. Hmm … bake sales for a just cause. Sounds kind of high school-ish to us. But hey, if it works, it works.
Image Source: Blaire Baily, Daily Cal
Berkeley’s Iceland finds a buyer [Inside Bay Area]
Comments:
No comments yet.
