Berkeley News Page

         

Welcome!
Welcome to the Berkeley News Page, an online digest of tidbits about City programs and services. For more news, visit the main press releases page, the News Scan, our list of Bay Area news outlets or the A-Z Services Index.

New News Scan
The City of Berkeley's News Scan is a great way to catch up on the news about Berkeley. By visiting www.cityofberkeley.info/news/newsscan.asp, you can get access to a summary of local and national news stories about the City of Berkeley. A single click to a headline will open a new window, and you will be able to read the story on the website where it appeared. The News Scan window will remain open so you can quickly and easily get back to the list of print and broadcast stories, or navigate elsewhere on CityofBerkeley.info.

Art, Art Everywhere
Beginning December 8, the Addison Street Windows Gallery will have a new mixed-media installation by Janet Delaney and Laurie Polster (see the pictures above). Visit this Civic Arts page to learn more about the Addison Street Arts District. December also brings some new art to the lobby gallery of 1947 Center Street. Sonia Gill is a Berkeley resident who is showing pictures of her orchard in Yorkville, in Mendocino County. Visit this press release for details and hours. 

Search and Ye Shall Find
If you took the time to respond to our web survey, thank you! We heard you loud and clear, and we have good news: the City is now using a Google function for searching the City's website. There's a search field at the top of every page on our website, and while it looks the same as before, it works better. Much better. Please let us know if you encounter any problems with it at helpdesk@cityofberkeley.info.

Election News
The County is due to certify the election results by December 2, so the new City Council members will be sworn in at the next meeting after that, which is Monday, December 8. For election news wrap-ups and other frequently asked questions, visit the City Clerk's Election News page.

Notice the smoother ride?
In the last two years, 11.5 miles of Berkeley streets have been resurfaced, giving drivers and cyclists a smoother ride all over town. Street projects are also an opportunity to do other work along the roadways, including fixing sidewalks, curb ramps and storm drains. Visit the press release to read more about those completed projects, and Public Works for current projects.

Love Tuolumne Family Camp? Register online, starting Monday, November 3!
Tuolumne Family Camp has had a special place in Berkeley's heart since 1922, when the City first started operating the camp. Located in the Stanislaus National Forest, Tuolumne offers tent-cabins, great food, and craft, nature, and athletic programs for all ages. Register or read more about this great adventure on the Tuolumne Family Camp page.

Looking to join the City of Berkeley? Apply online!
If you are looking to serve the community, the City's Human Resources Department now has job listing and job applications online. You can also check your application status or sign up to be notified of future openings. To see job openings and learn more about working for the Berkeley community, visit http://agency.governmentjobs.com/berkeley/default.cfm.

Web Survey: Open until November 12
The City of Berkeley launched this new-and-improved website back in January, and we've been working to improve the content and the utility ever since. How are we doing? At the bottom of every page on www.CityofBerkeley.info, you'll see a little yellow cloud that will take you to our survey. It's only 11 questions long, mostly multiple choice, and we're the ones getting graded. What do you have to lose? If you have any trouble taking the survey, email webmaster@ci.berkeley.ca.us. And thank you for your input!

Pools In Berkeley
The City has great aquatic programs, but periodically, it's good to take a step back and see if we're meeting the community's current and future needs for our facilities. With that in mind, the City and the school district are hosting several meetings to hear the community's vision for our public pool system. Visit this page for more information on the dates and times of the meetings.

Pay and Display Parking in New Neighborhoods

Telegraph, Elmwood, and Solano Business Districts, the Hearst-Euclid shopping area, and Downtown Berkeley are getting new pay-and-display meters. No more looking under the seats for coins; you can use your credit or debit card to park. Visit this page for more information.

Cozy Up and Be Safe
It's getting to be the time of year for getting cozy inside: electric blankets, space heaters, and lots of home cooking. But our friends at the Fire Department remind us that the most common cause of home fires is cooking and heating. So while there are many excellent Berkeley restaurants to choose from (http://www.visitberkeley.com/), you may also want to take a few preventive measures. Visit this information from the Fire Department for more on Fire Prevention Week, or go directly to the Fire Prevention page to learn about fire prevention inspections, presentations, vegetation management and more.

Crime and the Community 
Crime is a constant concern for almost all communities, including Berkeley. (For a chart of crime trends in Berkeley from 1970 to the present, visit this Police Department page.) If you would like to learn more about how you can protect yourself from crime, how you can make your community safer, or what is happening around the City, visit www.CityofBerkeley.info/police. Community involvement and assistance has led to major arrests, and that wouldn't be possible without informed and engaged residents. Residents can also join Neighborhood Watch groups to watch out for each other and the neighborhood.

Big Changes For Big Results: Extended Public Comment Period
What if there were more housing near transit lines? More car share opportunities in residential neighborhoods? More solar installations? Berkeley's latest plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions contains specific plans for reducing Berkeley’s transportation, energy use, and solid waste emissions. Love the ideas? Hate them? Need to learn more? Visit this release to see a list of Climate Action Plan workshops, or check out the plan and comment directly at www.BerkeleyClimateAction.org. The public comment period has been extended to January 16th, 2009.  

Get the Berkeley FIRST News First
Residents from all over the City are signing up to be part of the Berkeley FIRST pilot test group. Berkeley FIRST (Financing Initiative for Renewable and Solar Technology) will offer property owners an opportunity to borrow money from the City’s Sustainable Energy Financing District to install solar photovoltaic electric systems. Participating property owners will repay the cost over 20 years through an annual special tax on their property tax bill. You can learn more about the Berkeley FIRST program by visiting their web page and subscribing to the update page.

City Council District Maps- In Color and Easy To Read!
The City Clerk and Information Technology departments have created beautiful new maps for the City's eight Council districts. Viewers can easily zoom in to see street names and precinct lines as well. The citywide map and all eight districts can be downloaded from this City Clerk page. 

Emergency? Get the Call, Wherever You Are
The City of Berkeley has what's referred to as a "reverse-911" system. We call it BENS-- the Berkeley Emergency Notification System-- and it allows the City to call residents with public safety information. It can deliver a message to a specific geographical area because it uses AT&T landline phone service information, and you can now register your cell phone or pager. Registration is free. To learn more about BENS and add your alternate numbers to our system, please visit the Office of Emergency Services FAQ page.

Still need more Berkeley news?
There are dozens of pages throughout the City's website to which you can subscribe. The subscription system allows you to subscribe to any page in 16 categories and receive instant email notification when the City posts new information. Visit the Subscription Page for a complete list of pages.

Gilman Street Fields Opened September 6
After years of careful planning and construction, kids, parents, coaches and city and park leaders celebrated the grand opening of the Regional Sports Fields at Gilman Street! With two synthetic fields and three natural turf fields (ready next spring), the new complex will help relieve some of the East Bay's crowded parks.  Click here for more information.

Annual Report Mailed to 59,000 Berkeley Residents and Businesses
Over the first week or two of September, Berkeley residents received the City's annual report in the mail. The eight-page newsletter includes a letter from City Manager Phil Kamlarz, an extensive budget section, and news about a variety of city programs, including: the AccessMobile, the Customer Service Initiative, the Regional Sports Fields at Gilman Street, emergency preparedness, youth employment, climate action and conservation. Click here for an interactive version of the report, which provides easy gateways to the programs' web pages.

Fire Suppression Classes Still Open
The Office of Emergency Services offers free training in emergency preparedness to anyone (18 or older) who lives or works in Berkeley. The next two classes focus on fire suppression, critical knowledge whether you live in a house, apartment, condo or co-op. You can also sign up for Light Search and Rescue or Disaster First Aid, both of which are scheduled for October. Visit the Office of Emergency Services for schedule details and directions.

Learn and Teach About the Bay: Volunteer Training Begins in October
The Berkeley Marina and Shorebird Park Nature Center are great places for kids to learn about the natural world, but they're also great places for adult volunteers. If everything you learned at school you learned on field trips, you know how important these programs are. By going through the City's Bay Interpretive Training, you will be prepared to help naturalists teach Bay Area ecology to kids 5-18 years old. Check out the volunteer bay interpretive training programs or call (510) 981-6720.

Safe Food, Dining Out or Dining In
The City's Environmental Health division performs restaurant inspections and maintains a searchable database of restaurants, markets, delis and liquor stores in Berkeley. The website also provides advice on about how to safely handle food in your own home. Visit their Online Food Facility Inspection Results page for more information.

CFL Collection Ramps Up in Berkeley
Fluorescent tubes and compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are great in so many ways-- until it's time to throw them away. Because they contain a small amount of mercury vapor, a heavy metal that can be harmful to humans and the environment, they have to be properly disposed. A new City program gives Berkeley residents a few more disposal options: visit the press release for a list of Berkeley stores that now take the bulbs and some guidelines on how to travel with them. You may also want to know what to do if one breaks in your home-- check out this page from the State of California.

Services Held for Council Member Dona Spring
Services celebrating the life and work of Council Member Dona Spring, who passed away on Sunday, July 13, were held Sunday, August 10 at Civic Center Park and the North Berkeley Senior Center. To learn more about the Councilmember's life and the work she did for the environment, the commercial districts and for public safety, please visit her City website. District 4 constituents in need of services can still call her office (981-7140) or the City Manager's office (981-7000).

 

Watch City Government In Action-- From Your Own Computer!
Did you know the City does live Webcasts of public meetings? City Council, Rent Stabilization Board, and Zoning Adjustments Board meetings are all broadcast live online, and all you have to do is go to our main Webcast page at http://www.CityofBerkeley.info/CalendarEventWebcastMain.aspx. You can also watch past Webcasts at www.CityofBerkeley.info/video.

Fire Danger and Free Emergency Preparedness Courses
On June 12, a fire near Old Tunnel Road in the Berkeley/Oakland Hills reminded residents of the 1991 fire. This year had the second-driest March and April on record, and all area fire departments are working together to respond to fires and help residents do their part. What can you do?

If you see a fire or the smoke from a fire, report it immediately by calling 911 from a land line phone, or 510-981-5911 from your cell phone. Be prepared to provide information on the fire's location.

TRAIN: The City has new, free Community Emergency Response Training (CERT) classes;
READ: this Fire Department press release for some basic fire safety tips for residents;
LEARN: about the City's pick-up of trimmed vegetation (the fuel chipper program);
VISIT: the Vegetation Management page for more information or to call for help.

The AccessMobile is here for you
The nation’s first wheelchair-accessible car share van is now available to any City CarShare member. The van, known as the AccessMobile, will increase travel options for those with disabilities in a manner that is independent of buses, paratransit schedules, the limitations of standard rentals and the high cost of buying a customized car or van. Read more about it here.

The AccessMobile: Wheelchair users can enter from the back or the side of the van. 

Foreclosure Help
If you are facing foreclosure on your home, there are resources available to help. The City of Berkeley offers these web links as potential resources to assist people who are directly or indirectly affected by the crisis; visit this Housing Department page for more details.

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For questions about this page, email Mary Kay Clunies-Ross at mclunies-ross@ci.berkeley.ca.us.