105 results for author: CESP

Of Birds and Humans- Aquatic Park

Would fixing the flooding in West Berkeley hurt the fish in Aquatic Park? By Eric Klein July 29, 2009 Berkeley officials are studying a plan to improve circulation in the stagnant lagoons of Aquatic Park. They say the stale water kills fish, increases algae growth, and gives the park a distinctive odor that you can enjoy when you're speeding past on I-80. But environmentalists fear the plan will increase storm water runoff, killing fish and degrading the environment in one of the Bay Area's most important waterbird habitats. Aquatic Park is Berkeley's largest city park, stretching along the western shoreline from Ashby Avenue to one block ...

Readers’ Forum: Casino benefit still doesn’t add up for Richmond

By Gayle McLaughlin Guest commentary Thursday July 25, 2009 ON MAY 14, 2005, the Times published an article I wrote titled: Casino at Point Molate is a losing bet for Richmond. In this article, I took issue with the idea that a casino would sustain our local economy, our environment and our social well-being here in Richmond. Fast forward four years later and here we are with the draft environmental impact documents completed and released to the public for comment. In my article in 2005, I cited the exhaustive study "Casinos, Crime and Community Costs" conducted by Grinols & Mustard. This study examined the relationship between casinos ...

Toll Plaza Delays Called Main Richmond Casino Impact

By Richard Brenneman Thursday July 23, 2009 The $1.5 billion gambling, hotel, entertainment and housing resort planned for Richmond's Point Molate would only create three significant impacts that couldn't be readily remedied, concludes the project's draft environmental impact report (EIR). For an EIR, the critical findings for developers and regulators are those which reveal significant and unavoidable adverse impacts resulting from construction. The Point Molate draft EIR finds relatively few in any of the casino-based alternatives. They would arise from: • Cultural impacts from demolition of one of the structures in the Winehaven ...

Environmental Review Details Richmond Casino Alternatives

By Richard Brenneman Thursday July 16, 2009 The long-delayed environmental impact report on the proposed Point Molate $1.5 billion casino resort complex is finally finished, four years after the first public meeting to gather public comment. This is the first of three articles on the Richmond shoreline project. This article focuses on the project itself, looking at the range of alternatives presented in the environmental impact report. Subsequent articles in the coming weeks will look at environmental impacts and community–and official–reactions to the proposal. The site of the project is the former naval refueling station at Point ...

Albany council adopts recommendations for waterfront

November 9, 2007 - By Shelly Meron STAFF WRITER Albany city officials this week accepted a consultant's recommendation to focus their waterfront-planning process on civic engagement and education, saying they want to be prepared if the landowner comes forward with its own proposal. "It's always been my contention that whatever we do with the waterfront should be Albany-driven, not developer-driven," Mayor Robert Lieber said. "We need to be ready with our own plan." Following a recommendation from the city's waterfront committee, the City Council voted 4-1, with Councilwoman Jewel Okawachi dissenting, to accept the first phase of option No. 3 ...

Rediscovering the shoreline

October 30, 2007 - Chris Treadway A LOT OF GROUPS and individuals that put year-round effort into studying, cleaning and restoring waterways and Bay shoreline in West County are inviting the community to spend an entertaining and informative afternoon and see what it's all about. The third Richmond Shoreline Festival, which takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, will offer activities for all ages, interpretive hikes and a barbecue at picturesque Point Pinole Regional Shoreline in Richmond. The day will include informational displays, conversations with public officials and an open mic poetry slam. The free celebration is being ...

Albany’s Golden Gate Fields Developer Runs Low on Cash

October 19, 2007 - By Richard Brenneman What’s the future of Golden Gate Fields now that its corporate owner is shedding real estate to cover losses on its ailing horse racing business? The track’s principal owner has told investors that something major is afoot, despite last year’s withdrawal of a proposal for an upscale shopping center and housing complex on part of the site. “Well, Golden Gate is a sizable piece of land, and ... for what it returns, the value of the real estate—it’s just not in line,” said Frank Stronach, the Canadian auto parks magnate who holds a controlling interest in the track’s corporate parent, ...

UC Illegally Buried ‘Thousands of Truckloads’ of Toxic Soil in Richmond State Says

July 3, 2007 - By Richard Brenneman UC Berkeley and a Swiss multinational must clean up thousands of truckloads of toxic-laden soil illegally buried at the Richmond site of a planned 1,330-unit housing complex, state officials ordered Friday. “What we had feared has been verified,” said Assemblymember Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley, Richmond). “It confirms my fears and the fears of the neighbors, which have been shown to be terribly correct.” Much of the contaminated earth and cinders buried at Campus Bay came from the adjacent, university-owned Richmond Field Station, according to a pair of certified letters sent to the university and ...

Toxic Questions Surround Two Richmond Sites

  July 6-9, 2007 - By Richard Brenneman More questions are swirling around the cleanup efforts at two adjacent contaminated sites in Richmond this week. Issues range from the adequacy of testing of contaminants at UC Berkeley’s Richmond Field Station (RFS) and the possibility of radioactive contamination both at the field station and at the adjacent site at Campus Bay, owned by AstraZeneca, a Swiss agro-chemical giant. State officials last week issued emergency cleanup orders to the university and AstraZeneca, demanding the cleanup of thousands of truckloads of contaminated soil illegally transported from the RFS and buried at the chemical ...

Berkeley Meadows opens at long last

October 6, 2006 - By Denis Cuff and Martin Snapp The skies were overcast but the mood was sunny as VIPs and ordinary folks rubbed shoulders Wednesday morning at the opening of a 17-acre slice of the Berkeley Meadow as the first developed part of the Eastshore State Park, which stretches from Oakland to Richmond. Originally part of the Bay, the meadow was filled in a century ago to make a garbage dump. In the 1960s, developers proposed constructing a huge shopping center and office complex on the site, but a citizens' revolt stopped that plan cold. The loudest cheers of the day were for the leader of that revolt, 89-year-old Sylvia McLaugh...