Development
Renewable energy was the topic of the Rockridge Community Planning Council Town Hall meeting on Thursday night; namely, how and why to go solar. After two short power point presentations, Eric Nyman of Berkeley-based Sun Light and Power and Evan Raymond of Renewable Artistry (both of whom install photovoltaic solar energy panels on roofs as well as solar thermal equipment) fielded questions from the 16 Rockridge residents in attendance. Some reasons to install solar equipment that Nyman listed included reducing…
By STEVE SALDIVAR Commuters said Friday that the BART and AC Transit increases that will go into effect on July 1 are unfair and unaffordable. “We need to get more help from the government, not less of it,” said Mahvash Nasehi. “Most people who use BART are low income people, they can’t afford to buy cars. They’re losing their jobs and now an increase in BART? It’s just not fair,” said the Brentwood resident. Nasehi uses the BART sparingly but…
In the murky darkness underneath the 24 Freeway in Rockridge is a little slice of doggie heaven. On a recent Thursday afternoon, five or six pooches – it’s difficult to keep track – romp inside a large, caged doggie run while their owners chat. The dark, mulched run is not pretty to look at, but it’s convenient. Not far away, in a much more verdant spot, several children climb on small rocks in a shallow, plant-fringed pond or play on…
At Bay Bridge Auto Center, Mike Khugiani is Chrysler’s latest casualty. “Chrysler decided to discontinue the dealership with us,” said Khugiani, the general sales manager. That means fewer cars to offer at the dealership that also sells GM and Nissan. On the other side of the street at Honda of Oakland, the long decline of the U.S. auto industry has only added customers, said Raymond Kwan, sales manager Honda of Oakland. Detroit may be 2,400 miles away, but the U.S….
The apocalypse seems near on Thursday. The Oakland City Council will meet for six hours to grill various department heads about their proposed cuts to balance the city budget. This is, many will say, the worst fiscal situation they have ever seen. Ever. Thanks to a declining economy the general fund, which is the city’s annual income for almost half of its budget, is at least $83 million short of the $500 million it needs to pay for such services…
Cuts, plans, master plans—what does it all mean? Instead of attending another meeting on the Bicycle Master Plan, Oakland North decided to hop on a bike and see what the city’s routes had to offer. After checking out the city bicycling website, this bicycling novice found a map of bikeway networks and routes and chose Route 35 down Telegraph Ave. Granted, this was the street with the second highest collision rate for bicyclists between 2000 and 2004, with most collisions…
Several fat books stacked on Deborah Cunningham’s lap spilled over the edges of her wheelchair. As an aide wheeled her away, the dark-haired, elderly woman, a retired English professor in her mid-eighties, grasped them tightly. She is one of ten or eleven repeat customers at Mercy Retirement and Care Center that look forward to the monthly Bookmobile visits from the Oakland Library system. The Bookmobile, a large, multicolored bus that traverses Oakland streets two days a week to visit under-served…
Books? No, give me a wrench, ask many Oakland residents who use the Temescal Library. The branch holds 29,000 books, and rents out 4,000 books, CDs and movies a month. Its Tool Lending Program, started in 2001, checks out 3,000 tools a month and that number is growing.