Posted on 10/17/2006 7:48:18 AM PDT by SmithL
Historic preservation, condominium conversion and neighborhood character are dominating political debate this fall in Berkeley, where land use has become the hottest issue on the civic agenda.
"More people care about land use than any other issue right now," said City Councilman Kriss Worthington, one of the few people in Berkeley who's neutral on the issue. "Berkeley can vote to stop the war, but the war's not going to stop tomorrow. But land use is one of the few things the city has direct control over and you can see the results in your neighborhood."
Berkeley, with a population that's older and wealthier than ever before, has turned its political activism from the international to the local. It's morphed from the hub of the counterculture to the granite-counter culture.
Voters will still get a say on impeaching President Bush and stopping global warming, but the measures generating the most controversy are Measure J, which would strengthen the city's landmark preservation ordinance, and Measure I, which would raise the annual limit on condominium conversions to 500 from 100.
Measure J came about as a response to Mayor Tom Bates' efforts to alter the city's 30-year-old landmark preservation ordinance, which he says does not comply with state law, is cumbersome and has evolved into a tool to stop development. Earlier this year he proposed changes, including deadlines and more specific criteria and definitions, that limit the power of the landmark commission, which has declared more than 300 buildings -- ranging from Bernard Maybeck gems to vacant lots -- as landmarks or structures of merit.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Unless you live in the hills it's a dirty city with zero parking. I have always said it's the dirtiest small city in the US for cities with comparable wealth. It can be entertaining in small doses but to live there...
?? Vacant lots ?!
There is so much dog poop on the streets that the city could probably be busted for nitrate and fecal coliform levels in the storm runoff.
Don't blame it all on the dogs.......that overpowering urine smell is definately human.
Vacant lots have always been important to Beserkeley. Every lot kept from those evil builders is a potential People's Park.
Reminds me of April in Paris...
The site of the "Peoples' Park"?
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