JESSE ARREGUIN - Councilmember District 4

Berkeley Arts Festival 2011 at 2133 University Avenue

We finally have a home for the Berkeley Arts Festival this year up at the top of University Avenue right next to Ace Hardware. We have scheduled concerts with some of the most creative people in Berkeley--the musicians, composers and writers who bring vibrant talents for all to hear and see. So come along with us on an exciting journey into their domains.

July 12-August 15

July 12, Festival Opening Sarah Cahill, piano concert, 8 pm
July 13, Dan Plonsey New Monstrosities of Jazz, 8 pm
July 15, Jerry Kuderna, piano concert, 8 pm
July 16, FPR Trio, 8 pm
July 19, Jerry Kuderna, noon concert
July 21, Holly Martins, 8 pm
July 24, Patti Deuter, piano concert, 4 pm
July 25, Sarah Cahill, piano concert, 8 pm
July 26, Jerry Kuderna, noon concert
July 29, Upsurge Jazz/Poetry, 8 pm
July 30, Rachel Durling/James Carmichael, violin, piano, 4 pm
August 2, Jerry Kuderna, noon concert
August 3, Philippa Kelly, book reading, 8 pm
August 4, Luciano Chessa, 8 pm
August 6, Theresa Wong, cello, 8 pm
August 9, Jerry noon concert
August 9, Dylan Mattingly and friends, 8 pm
August 10, Lisa Mezzacappa's Bait & Switch + Octet, 8 pm
August 11, Adam Tendler, piano concert, 8 pm
August 12, Phillip Greenlief Lost Trio, 8 pm
August 13, Dean Santomieri, 8 pm
August 14, India Cooke/Bill Crossman, violin, piano, 4 pm
August 15, Jerry Kuderna, 8 pm
For program details refer to the calendar date.

Gracing the walls of the performance space will be the paintings of four East Bay artists: Bob Brokl, Lisa Esherick, M. Louise Stanley and Livia Stein.

The Berkeley Arts Festival Calendar is dedicated to the notion that in Berkeley every day is an arts festival. With the first month-long Arts Festival in 1997, we initiated this web site and realized that it could fill a need for information about the activities of all the Berkeley arts organizations year-round. So we expanded it and kept it going, as a guide for the arts-loving people of Berkeley and in appreciation of the City's continued support.

VOTE NOW FOR YOUR FAVORITE MOVIES TO BE SHOWN AT CENTER STREET SUMMER CINEMA!

Berkeley, CA —June 27, 2011— Berkeley is so democratic that you, the citizenry, can vote now at www.surveymonkey.com/s/L87BBJQ for your favorite four movies to be shown at the first ever CENTER STREET SUMMER CINEMA series. The four movies that garner the most votes will be shown outdoors, free, every Saturday evening August 6, 13, 20 & 27 in the Bank of America parking lot in the heart of Downtown Berkeley. Choose from a list of twenty movies that was developed by the event committee, led by the Downtown Berkeley Association, or you write-in your own movie choice. Go viral, pass it on, ask your friends and family to vote also!

The top choices will be projected onto a 12’x22’ ‘screen’ painted onto the west wall of the old UC Printing Plant Building, future site of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. According to Darcy Babbitt, Branch Manager at the Bank of America, “We are delighted to support this community program. When the DBA approached us we realized that the parking lot makes for a natural outdoor theatre.” Place your seating in the Bank of America parking lot at 2219 Center St. where you can rent a chair for $5 or “BYOC”. The event is easily accessible by BART, AC Transit, or bicycle.

So VOTE NOW! And get to watch your favorite movie under the stars. Results will be posted www.DowntownBerkeley.org. "We are proud to be supporting the new Summer Cinema series led by the DBA, which is one of many initiatives and programs focused on the revival of Downtown Berkeley", said Mayor Tom Bates.

And Councilmember Jesse Arreguín, who first suggested the idea of outdoor movies to the DBA, adds "We are so happy to be supporting this fun and exciting program, which will bring people to our Downtown, support local businesses and help build community, while promoting an innovative use of public and private space."

Come early to dine al fresco at fifteen local restaurants serving cafe style on or near Center Street, closed to traffic between Shattuck Avenue and Oxford Street starting at 6:30PM, while entertainers from the Downtown Berkeley MusicFest serenade you. Before the main movie begins, other fun may include cartoons, short features, a follow-the-bouncing-ball sing-along, face painting and more!

These evenings are generously sponsored by the Downtown Berkeley Association, Bank of America, Eco-City Builders, Alborz Persian Restaurant, Sportivo Italian Restaurant, and media partner Berkeleyside.com. Additional sponsors include HDR Remodeling, Office of Council Member Jesse Arreguin, Office of Mayor Tom Bates, and UC Berkeley Community Relations. CENTER STREET SUMMER CINEMA is presented by the Downtown Berkeley Association, with production support by www.AnotherBullwinkelShow.com, 510.548.5335 where you may get more info, or find it at www.DowntownBerkeley.org, 510.549.2230 x11.

August is summer fun month in Downtown Berkeley. From August 18th to 28th, the Downtown Berkeley MusicFest will feature a wide variety of music and events in multiple venues in Downtown Berkeley. The MusicFest is produced by the Freight and Salvage with support from the Downtown Berkeley Association, City of Berkeley and other partners. And, every Thursday in August, Summer Noon Concerts will be held in BART Plaza featuring talent from the Jazzschool's Rising Stars! Summer Series. The Summer Noon Concerts are produced by the Jazzschool with support from the Downtown Berkeley Association. These events are a sample of the arts and entertainment that can be found all year round in Downtown Berkeley.

The city council passed a resolution this week in an effort to stop federal audits on worker immigration status at Pacific Steel Casting.

The Berkeley City Council called on the Department of Homeland Security Tuesday, asking the department not to audit the immigration status of the 500 workers at Pacific Steel Castings foundry in West Berkeley — an audit the Glass, Molders, Pottery International Union says is illegal.

“Berkeley has a reputation of being welcoming of all people, including people who are not U.S. citizens,” Councilmember Jesse Arreguin told Patch after the resolution passed. “We have a sanctuary policy. We as a city government will not cooperate with ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Department of Homeland Security], and the deportation of our residents, and certainly this audit is in conflict with the spirit of our sanctuary policy.”

The resolution, approved 6-3 by the council, says: The I-9 audit “at Pacific Steel can lead to the termination of many of the foundry’s workers, and will do irreparable harm to them and to our community... These are skilled workers ... [who] inject hundreds of thousands of dollars into our local economy each month and support other businesses and families. The company and the workers pay taxes that support local schools and services. If the I-9 audit goes forward and workers are fired as a result, we could lose money that Berkeley desperately needs in these challenging economic times. Pacific Steel also has suppliers whose businesses could also be harmed... An immigration audit leading to the firing of these workers will not create a single job and instead will force workers into an underground economy where illegal wages and conditions are prevalent.”

Councilmembers Gordon Wozniak, Laurie Capitelli and Susan Wengraf abstained on the resolution. Wozniak said he supports the Obama administration’s efforts to focus on the employers rather than “putting the burden on the individual immigrant.” Moreover, he said he doubts that there are so many undocumented workers at PSC that the company would have to shut its doors. “I don’t think we should be going against federal laws,” Wozniak said.

Wengraf said she abstained because she didn’t have enough information on exactly what was happening at Pacific Steel and why the audit was taking place at this particular time.

A number of Pacific Steel workers have come forward to say they are undocumented, Arreguin said, noting, “There’s legitimate fear that some of those workers will be terminated as a result of the audit. Some of these people have worked for Pacific Steel for a decade or more and have good-paying union jobs and support their families.”

ICE, under the Obama administration, carries out fewer factory raids to detain and deport individual immigrants without proper documents than it did under President George Bush. Instead, it targets employers who hire undocumented workers, threatening them with fines, jail time and the loss of government contracts. Pacific Steel Management is cooperating with ICE and also working with the union on the question, according to PSC spokesperson Elizabeth Jewell.

Ignacio de la Fuente, vice president of the Glass, Molders, Pottery International Union said in a phone interview that the audit is illegal. “DHS and ICE have their own internal operating instructions,” he said. “They cannot initiate an audit when a labor dispute is in progress.” Pacific Steel employees have been working without a contract since March, with outstanding questions of wages and contributions for benefits.

“In our opinion, the audit is improper; we’re using the tools at our disposal to stop the audit,” de la Fuente said. The union has taken the question to the National Labor Relations Board. De la Fuente, also a member of the Oakland City Council, said he was bringing a similar resolution to Oakland next week.

Some two dozen PSC workers came to the city council meeting to show support for the resolution. Josie Camacho, executive secretary treasurer of the Alameda County Labor Council, was also there.

Urging the city council to adopt the resolution, Camacho said it was in synch with the labor council’s mission “to improve the lives of working families, by bringing economic justice to our workplaces, and social justice to our communities.” Camacho added, “These workers are good, decent people. They are not criminals... They pay their taxes and contribute greatly to the local economy.”

Janice Schroeder from the West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs, also addressed the council. Schroeder has often stood before the council to complain about noxious emissions from the plant near her home and underscored that the resolution corresponded to the Alliance’s goal: protecting the health of both the community and the workers at Pacific Steel.

More than 2,000 companies have been audited by ICE since the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, according to the Wall Street Journal. Another 1,000 companies, including PSC, were alerted of the upcoming audit in mid June. DHS did not return Patch's email request for comment.

De la Fuente characterized the I-9 audits as an electoral game. “The presidential elections are coming up,” he said. “The escalation of this type of audit is a political football.”

City council member meets with Obama

Berkeley City Councilmember Jesse Arreguin traveled to Washington, D.C., Friday morning to attend an intimate reception with the president and meet with members of his administration.

Arreguin was one of a few members of the Young Elected Officials Network who were invited to the White House to discuss important local and state issues with President Barack Obama.

Upon his arrival in the capitol around 11 a.m. Friday, Arreguin said he was led to a series of policy briefings with Obama administration officials before heading to the reception with the president. According to Arreguin, about 200 officials from across the country were in attendance.

In meeting with members of the administration, including U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Arreguin said the president’s plan on economic recovery was discussed.

“We talked a little bit about innovation in terms of providing government subsidies for (research and development) and clean tech-type businesses, trying to stimulate job creation,” Arreguin said.

Additionally, Arreguin said learning about various types of grants was “probably one of the most interesting parts of the whole trip.” Such opportunities, including a competitive grant to support the establishment of an infrastructure for electric vehicles, the city of Berkeley may want to seriously consider applying for, he said.

“I think (the trip) was incredibly helpful because a lot of things that were discussed related to what we’ve been discussing on the City Council and in Berkeley — especially on the environmental side,” he said.

After the White House reception, during which Obama spoke with the group about the importance of young people being involved in government and what it means to be a leader, Arreguin spoke with the president directly about the president’s immigration policy and Arreguin’s concerns about rising deportations.

“He was very polite and he listened — he said it was a priority of his and something they would be working on,” Arreguin said. “Obviously, the climate in Washington is different this year than it was last year, which will make it a little difficult to move forward on that.”

Berkeley councilmembers celebrate Gay Pride Day

Jesse Arreguin, left, and Kriss Worthington took part in yesterday's Gay Pride Parade in San Francisco. Photo: Anthony Sanchez

City of Berkeley councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Jesse Arreguin took part in Sunday’s Gay Pride Parade in San Francisco, riding in an open-top Mini with Worthington’s Legislative Aide Alejandro Soto-Vigil at the wheel. The party also included Soto-Vigil’s son Chencho, Kriss’s partner Marty Spence and city employee Lynn Riordan.

Berkeley City Council passes budgets for 2012, 2013

The 2012 and 2013 budget passed at the City Council last night, but debate on supplemental funds was heated. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

As expected, the Berkeley City Council last night adopted the biennial budget for fiscal years 2012 and 2013. The budget, originally presented on May 3, closes a $12.2 million deficit in FY2012 and a $13.3 million deficit in FY2013 by eliminating 79 positions, cutting a number of services, and raising a number of fees (the full 384-page budget report can be accessed here).

The budget had been extensively debated in a number of council meetings since the a discussion of the budget development calendar in October. Last night there was no discussion of the main budget, and it passed without comment. The focus of debate last night was on supplemental allocations for community agencies that had been cut in the proposed budget. Councilmember Linda Maio and Mayor Tom Bates proposed $114,078 in additional funding for nine agencies, and councilmember Max Anderson proposed $264,078 in additional funding for the same nine agencies, as well as the city’s Black Infant Health program, a number of festivals and the city’s pools.

The debate on the two proposals was heated, even though councilmember Jesse Arreguín pointed out that “we’re close”, and attempts should be made to “bridge the gap”. Eventually, the Maio/Bates proposal was agreed, with additional sums for the Cinco de Mayo and Stonewall festivals.

City Manager Phil Kamlarz had identified the $114,078 as available for one-time use in the general fund because of a terminated contract and the freeing of Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS) funds thanks to six-months funding from Community Services Block Grant. Additionally, the Youth Emergency Assistance Hostel (YEAH) has relinquished its contract of $45,000 per year.

“What has happened over the last few years,” Anderson said, “is the continuous shredding of the safety net in our city.” His proposal was a partial attempt to halt that trend, he said. The extra $150,000, he said, could be found by trimming the city’s budget for paving, which Kamlarz said came to $4.3 million over the two years.

“We’re spending $6.6 million on the agencies,” said councilmember Gordon Wozniak. “It’s not like we’re not supporting the agencies. Our roads have deteriorated to the point where if we don’t do something now, we’ll pay for it. We shouldn’t be robbing Peter to pay for Paul.”

Wozniak particularly singled out the expenditures for festivals in Anderson’s proposal. “I think in these times we can’t spend $10,000 on festivals,” he said.

Councilmember Kriss Worthington strongly supported Anderson’s proposal. “The City of Berkeley has many, many events. But there is only one city event that is aimed at the Latino community. Similarly there is only one LGBT event that the city funds,” he said. “They are little events compared to July 4th or Solano Stroll. Eliminating these events is disrespectful to these communities.”

“As to where this money is coming from, it’s $105,000 out of $4.7 million,” Worthington said. “We are increasing the money by hundreds of thousands of dollars for paving. And no one on City Council says we shouldn’t increase the money for paving. Where is it written in stone that we have to increase paving by this number of dollars?”

Councilmember Darryl Moore said that at a recent community meeting he had held in San Pablo Park, “the number one issue was when are you going to repair streets. So I’m concerned about reducing any funds going to street maintenance.” He said, however, that he favored supporting Cinco de Mayo and Stonewall festivals.

Moore was a particular focus at the meeting, because he had to leave at 9 p.m. to catch the red eye to Washington for his White House meeting to celebrate Pride Month. As Mayor Bates hurried the meeting along to accommodate Moore, Worthington said it was unfortunate to limit time when it was “the most important council decision of the year”.

“We’re tens if not hundreds of millions behind on our infrastructure maintenance,” said councilmember Laurie Capitelli. “Try to get across Milvia in a wheelchair or ride a bicycle on Milvia. When you pave a street it costs x. When you wait a few years and try to repave it, it costs 3x. I will not support cutting the infrastructure budget.”

Jesse Arreguín: budget reflects "our priorities as a community"

Arreguín pointed out that many agencies “have threadbare budgets”, and said that taking some of the $105,000 out of the paving budget or some of the YEAH money “is a reasonable proposal”. “The budget is a reflection of our priorities as a community,” he said. “While this budget increases spending on infrastructure more than in recent years, our budget should assist the poor, the disabled, the youth.”

Arreguín said, “I think we’re close [to agreement]. I hope we can see what can be done to bridge the gap.”

Anderson picked up Arreguín’s point about the budget reflecting the community and lamented that the budget had become “blood sport” and a matter of political power battles. “You don’t have to scorch the earth with people, Mr. Mayor,” he said. “How could you possibly be opposed to taking one-thirty-sixth thousandth from the paving budget?”

Bates and Worthington became involved in a heated dispute over whether the public had been given a right to a fair hearing at the meeting. Worthington claimed that there were people who had been denied the right to speak, adding that it could result in a lawsuit invalidating the budget. Banging his gavel, mayor Bates said, “That is absolutely false.” The city attorney, asked for an opinion at the meeting, said that the public comment part of the meeting had been properly conducted.

When votes were taken, Anderson’s proposal failed, and the Maio/Bates proposal passed, with additional sums of $4,000 allocated to the Cinco de Mayo festival and $5,000 to the Stonewall festival, using some of the money from the YEAH funds. The council also agreed to return to further funding for homeless programs, using the remainder of the YEAH funds.

City Council promotes affordable local housing

By Anjuli Sastry, staff

asastry@dailycal.org

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Berkeley real estate developers now have more of an incentive to build affordable housing units after the Berkeley City Council voted to pass an ordinance at its meeting Tuesday that would impose a fee on developers who do not meet the required percentage of affordable units.

First introduced in Berkeley after a 2009 Los Angeles court ruling made it illegal for California cities to require developers to provide inclusionary housing — which required 20 percent of the units in new development be set aside as affordable — the affordable housing mitigation fee gives developers an incentive to fund affordable housing units.

If developers choose not to build affordable housing units in complexes, they will be required to pay a yet-to-be-determined fee of anywhere between $20,000 and $34,000 per unit.

“The ordinance will require developers of market rate housing to pay fees on new housing, or would give them the option to provide housing,” said Amy Davidson, senior management analyst for the city’s housing and community services. “If developers chose to provide units, there would be more affordable units, and there would be housing for incomes at or below the 50 percent median income for families in that area — 50 percent being about $45,000.”

All funds raised from the fee will go into the Housing Trust Fund, which is managed by the city and has been sustained primarily by federal funds in order to provide assistance for nonprofit developers to develop projects around Berkeley, according to Jane Micallef, the city’s director of housing and community services.

The funds produced from the ordinance will offset a projected 12 percent decrease in funding during the 2012 fiscal year to HOME, the largest federal block grant exclusive to affordable housing around the country and in Berkeley, making the city’s Housing Trust Fund invaluable for financing Berkeley’s affordable housing in the future, according to city officials.

“When you develop market rate housing, when you develop any housing, you’re bringing more people into the city. When you do that, there is a higher demand for all kinds of things — book stores, apparel stores,” said City Councilmember Linda Maio. “We need to mitigate demand, or there will be a ripple effect in the housing market, and some people in lower level income sectors will be priced out.”

The council will set the ordinance fee amounts based on what it heard from the Bay Area Economics firm, which presented a nexus study in January 2011 supporting a $34,000 per market rate rental unit, while city housing staff from both the Housing Advisory Commission and Rent Stabilization Board recommended a fee of $28,000 per unit.

However, city staff suggested at a Feb. 15 meeting that the council set the fee at $20,000 per unit, mimicking the cost of inclusionary housing and raising money for affordable units without affecting the development climate.

“New housing development created an indirect demand for affordable housing, and the city had a right to order developers to mitigate the impact,” saidSteve Barton, deputy director of the Rent Stabilization Board. “The rent stabilization board has strongly supported the idea of having such a fee, but there is controversy over the amount of the fee.”

Council members also unanimously adopted a resolution at Tuesday’s meeting to approve a number of allocations from the Housing Trust Fund, including $890,000 for the Resources for Community Development — a Berkeley-based nonprofit development housing corporation — to acquire and rehabilitate 47 units of family housing at the University Avenue Cooperative Housing.

“Over the years, we have built affordable housing using funds from the Housing Trust Fund,” said Susan Friedland, executive director of Affordable Housing Associates, a nonprofit Berkeley developer that was allocated $60,000 from the fund. “Most recently, we are just finishing construction on a new building on Sacramento Avenue that will be home to 15 homeless youth.”

Although the resolution to adopt the specific fee amount is set for July 12, Councilmember Jesse Arreguin said he feels it is crucial to have the amount finalized before the council adjourns for summer recess July 19.

“Whatever happens should generate the most affordable housing in the community, whether it means getting money into the Housing Trust Fund or getting units into a project,” Arreguin said. “It is good to have inclusionary projects and economic diversity in the buildings with diverse neighborhoods, but it fundamentally comes down to what’s the best way to get affordable housing in a community.”

Thank you to everyone who came last Wednesday, May 4th, to the neighborhood crime meeting at Congregation Beth Israel. It was great to see so many neighbors. I counted about 100 people at one point in the evening. I thought it was a positive, illuminating and productive discussion. I would like to thank Chief of Police Michael Meehan and Officer Casimiro Pierantoni for staying so long and answering everybody's questions. I would also like to give my deepest thanks to the Board and staff of Congregation Beth Israel and Rabbi Yonatan Cohen for graciously agreeing to host our meeting.

I will be posting the notes from the meeting here soon. I also wanted to share with you the article which ran on Berkeleyside last Thursday about the meeting. Since the article was first posted on their website there has been a discussion on the website about the relationship between Berkeley Police and BUSD and the need for more sharing of information and collaboration.

Also below the article is some crime prevention tips that I passed out at the meeting last Wednesday including some important numbers to call in the event of a crime or an emergency.

Last Wednesday's meeting is one of many community meetings that my office will be hosting throughout the year, stay tuned for information on the next meeting in your neighborhood.

As always if you have any questions, suggestions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me at (510) 981-7140 or at jarreguin@cityofberkeley.info.

Crime prevention top of mind for a Berkeley community

Berkeley Police Chief Michael Meehan expressed frustration at the Berkeley Unified School District last night, and in particular its lack of communication with the BPD, following a rash of crimes in a central Berkeley neighborhood, some of which were committed by students at Berkeley High School.

“We don’t get good information from the school district right now,” Chief Meehan said. “We asked them: if there was a robbery you knew about, would you call us? And they said, ‘we would not’.”

Chief Meehan added that the school district had not responded yet to a series of recommendations on security measures compiled by the BPD in the wake of a number of gun incidents on the Berkeley High campus.

Calls to BUSD Superintendent Bill Huyett were not returned at the time of going to press.

Since January there have been three strong-arm robberies, one armed robbery, one attempted burglary and one case of an arrest for prowling/possession of burglary tools in the area west of Martin Luther King Junior Way, according to police records. Four of the six cases involved juveniles.

The robberies occurred on the 2300 block of Jefferson, 2200 block of California, Channing/Roosevelt, Allston/Roosevelt and Shattuck and Allston.

Addressing a community meeting held at the Congregation Beth Israel on Bancroft Way last night, Police Officer Casimiro Pieratoni described one home robbery incident in which two Berkeley High students were caught. Two 14-year-olds stole a laptop computer from a home in a “smash and grab” robbery, Pieratoni said. It was a first offense for one of the students.

An estimated 100 people attended the gathering which was organized by District 4 Councilmember Jesse Arreguin. ”There has been an increase in crime in this area,” he told Berkeleyside. “People are very concerned.”

Arreguin said he gets regular calls from residents in his district concerned about the behavior of young people in the neighborhood. “There are cases of vandalized property and bad behavior,” he said. But he stressed that it is not always possible to identify whether the youth are at BHS or other schools. “There are a lot of schools in the area,” he said, “including elementary schools and the Cal Prep Academy.”

Issues discussed at the meeting included how to help prevent and deal with robberies, the presence of beat officers, communication between the BPD to the community, the need to report suspicious behavior, the need for better lighting, gang grafitti at Strawberry Creek Park, and how to have good “situational awareness” when out walking.

Officer Pierantoni said the majority of residential burglaries happen in the daytime, and that, in 25-50% of cases, the burglars access homes through unlocked doors or open windows.

There was also a reminder that phoning 911 on a cell phone connects you to California Highway Patrol in Vallejo which then has to re-direct the emergency call. Chief Meehan advised Berkeley residents using a cell phone to call 510-981 5911 for emergency calls, as this goes directly to a dispatcher answering 911 calls. Landline calls should be made to 911, not least because the location of the caller can immediately be tracked.

UPDATE, 05.06.11: BUSD Superintendent Bill Huyett got in touch at around 5:00pm today. He said he had not been aware of any police department frustration over communication with the BUSD. “The first I knew there was a problem was when I read it on Berkeleyside,” he said. “We have a long-standing arrangement with the Berkeley Police Department and we want to fully cooperate with them,” he said.

Huyett said he understood that an attorney working for the school district had said that the district could not supply certain information about student robberies to the police. Huyett did not know the details about this possible legal point, and said he would be looking into it.

He added that he and Police Chief Meehan had agreed to sit down and figure out improved channels of communication.

He said the recommendations made by the police on campus security were under consideration, both by the school board and the safety committee that was set up in the wake of recent gun activity. ”We have already taken on board some of the recommendations — we’ve increased the number of days for the [on campus police officer], and are looking at having two instead of one, and some training is under way,” he said. These issues will take time and are being considered in ongoing discussions, he said.

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If you are robbed, try to stay calm and cooperate. Call 9-1-1 afterwards on a land line or 510-981-5911 from your cell phone.

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The Berkeley Arts Festival presents

VOTE NOW FOR YOUR FAVORITE MOVIES TO BE SHOWN AT CENTER STREET SUMMER CINEMA!

City council member meets with Obama

Berkeley councilmembers celebrate Gay Pride Day

Berkeley City Council passes budgets for 2012, 2013

City Council promotes affordable local housing

Crime prevention top of mind for a Berkeley community