On a day when most of Berkeley citizens’ eyes are on the current AFSCME strike that bubbles across campus, few are aware that the city just lost one of its “champion” councilmembers. Dona Spring had been in the hospital for the past week due to an extended illness, and was only 55 when she died Sunday afternoon.
According to the City Council District 4 website, she had 27 years of community service under her belt and acted as a strong proponent for public safety, affordable housing and the environment–and was also a “fighter for the disabled, for animal rights, her district and all Berkeley residents.” Additionally, Spring held a degree in anthropology and psychology from Cal.
The Clog sends our well wishes to her family and friends, along with our appreciation for her many contributions to the city.
EDIT: For updates and additions to this story, see the Daily Cal article.
Image Source: Julie Himes, Daily Cal
Berkeley City Councilmember Dies [Daily Cal]
Oh, when will it all be over! The Clog doesn’t care so much about that tree crap as much as people whose livelihood is partially dependent on keeping track of anything having to do with Cal football (which includes the damn stadium that’s on the damn earthquake fault).
Thus, we suggest you go to the commendably thorough California Golden Blogs for in-depth coverage of flinging excrement, grown adults acting like they’re in Never Never Land and high-res photos of Dumpster Muffin’s piss bottles.
In the mean time, we’ll give you a few “updates” on the saga that’s taking forever and ever to wrap–the Daily Cal reports that a stadium go-ahead is likely if they change their blueprints, although actual construction will definitely depend on whether the tree-sitters continue to build forts up there.
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Berkeley has an “A” in air quality from the American Lung Association, making us way cleaner than many other bay area cities who don’t really care to protect their residents from secondhand smoke. Now if only the city could get an “A” in protecting us from Berkeley’s other rampant city scents–including street grime, hot garbage, hippie sex and piss. Although we suppose that was the purpose of the Public Commons for Everyone Initiative. [Marin Independent Journal]
The music department mourns the loss of renowned composer Jorge Liderman after he was hit by a Richmond-bound BART train yesterday morning. Witnesses and investigators are throwing around the word “suicide,” though this has yet to be confirmed. [San Jose Mercury News]
In lighter news, Berkeley City Council members now possess free, all-expense paid trips to hell. We’re not lying. An anonymous donor sent a gift basket to each member of the Berkeley City Council this weekend that includes “Each council member’s name entered into The Complete Book of Damned Souls,” a “Certificate of Reservation for the council,” and “A One Way Ticket to Hell on the Express One Stop Hellevator™.” As you may know, the council is currently under national scrutiny for pandering to the ridiculous demands of Code Pink’s recruitment center protesters. [Free Press Release]
Earlier: The News in Our Shorts
Berkeley is fatter than you think. And that’s not with a “ph.”
Two city council members aren’t feeling so slim either. So Darryl Moore and Laurie Capitelli decided to go public with their efforts at weight loss, and now they want the city of Berkeley to join them.
The council members both participated in a public “weigh-in” today to kick off their brainchild campaign “Be Fit Berkeley,” which runs until May 31. A friendly competition between the two members over who can lose the most weight will hopefully encourage Berkeley citizens to jump on board the healthy-living bandwagon.
The idea was proposed after the May release of the city’s Health Status Report.It seems that Berkeley either really isn’t as obsessed with our organic-vegan-tofu-granola diets as we thought, or the diets aren’t doing much for us. Thirty-one percent of Berkeley adults are considered overweight or obese.
Of course, organic-vegan-tofu-granola diets aren’t a homogeneous trend across Berkeley’s heterogeneous population–there has been an alarming increase in obesity among African-Americans, Latinos, and low-income individuals, according to the survey.
So the city council has adopted a more light-hearted mood to solve a less-light-hearted problem. It’s so light-hearted, there are dancing vegetables on the program’s home page.
On the site you can find out how to earn points and win prizes by losing weight and exercising. All participants receive free T-shirts, and it’s rumored on the proposal that some might say “Lose Your Belly with Capitelli!”
Now, not only have Moore and Capitelli gone public with their weight loss, but so have Council members Linda Maio, Gordon Wozniak and Kriss Worthington.
The Clog knows the only reason why you’d read to the end of this post is to find out what the weights are. So here you go:
* Moore, 317 lbs.
* Capitelli, 249 lbs.
* Maio, 170 lbs.
* Wozniak, 233 lbs.
* Worthington, 213 lbs.
Berkeley council in weight loss contest [The Oakland Tribune]
Recommendation [Berkeley City Council]
Be Fit Berkeley [Berkeley Health and Human Services]
This whole Trade Joe’s thing just never seems to die.
About a month or so after the Berkeley City Council “finally approved” the Trader Joe’s project, to be on the corner of University Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Way, residents near the proposed site “are ready to file suit”:http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/ci_6550026 to try to prevent its development.
You know, after 14 public hearings and five years of idling in purgatory, sometimes enough is enough.
Hopefully this will just be the last little hurdle that this project must endure–whether or not Trader Joe’s gets built.
And of course, the concern with the Trader Joe’s is exactly the same—traffic.
bq. “It’s too big, it’s bigger than it should be,” said Wollmer, who lives on Berkeley Way next to the project site. “It’s going to make traffic and parking chaos in our neighborhood for anyone who travels along University or MLK during peak shopping periods. Everybody knows it’s laughable.”
Laughable? We’ll show you laughable.
In a city trying to bring businesses in to help revitalize an old, run-down city, it’s pretty laughable to see that the residents are the ones trying to stop this revitalization movement.
Berkeley needs projects like this. The city probably needs another grocery store as much as that guy on Telegraph Avenue needs more weed or as much as Oren Gabriel needs student fees to pay for his lawyer.
But the city and especially the residents need to understand that if the community doesn’t welcome these new projects, then the city will just become dirtier and more run-down than it already is.
And we’re pretty sure when 2010 comes around—which is ETA for the opening of the new Trader Joe’s—that most, if not all residents, will welcome the arrival of the Two-Buck Chuck.
Earlier: “Two-Buck Chuck Makes Its Way to Berkeley”
Berkeley residents to sue city, Trader Joe’s [Tri-Valley Herald]
Like Daniel LaRusso in The Karate Kid, the Berkeley Iceland gave a swift Crane kick to anyone looking to tear it down.
On Tuesday, the Berkeley City Council voted 5-4 to keep the Iceland’s landmark status, which puts up road blocks for the proposed housing units that may go on the site if the developer wishes to continue to pursue that route.
“When a building is landmarked, the cost of renovating is often prohibitive,” said Ali Kashani, who entered an agreement with rink owners last week to purchase the property. “We’re going to study that and decide whether we want to do it at this point.”
Of course, the Save Berkeley Iceland people are enthused. We weren’t at the meeting Tuesday, but we’re sure, spinning inside their heads, was this montage from The Karate Kid with Joe Esposito’s “You’re the Best” playing in the background.
“I was pleased that we’ve gotten this far and that that building is protected for the moment. It’s a big step,” said Tom Killilea, the group’s executive director.
Happiness is one thing, but can this group really save the Berkeley Iceland?
Killilea said the group has raised approximately $600,000 so far and that it believes as a nonprofit organization it could run the rink. However, the former rink managers have said it was not financially feasible.
Damn. We guess you were only the best around for just one night.
Image Source: Ted Kwong, Daily Cal
Iceland to Keep Landmark Status [Daily Cal]
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]
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