The time between the date we posted our Seventeenth edition of the BNC eNEWS and now was filled with endless city meetings, events and family holiday delights. But here we are back again to write about the end of 2015 — a year that wasn’t a good one for neighborhoods, but one that reached a high water mark because it deepened our concerns about our city and further solidified our commitment to work to establish a strong, positive neighborhood voice in local decision-making.
Here’s a list of some issues from 2015 that we think will take up much of our time and energy in 2016. As you read about these items, please keep in mind that their listing below is not in priority order, nor do we think that these are the only items that will claim the most of our (and yours) attention. It’s just What We’re Thinking About – right now.
Water, Water Everywhere — but is it enough?
As these words are being writing, it’s raining — again! When the first rain came a few weeks ago, it was in the evening, and from what we’ve heard, most of us were so overjoyed that we ran outside and just stood with arms outstretched, reveling in the drops that came down. Think about it, there are kids in our neighborhoods that are around the age of 4-5 who had up to then never experienced the joy of stomping in rain puddles! Since then, the rain has become more serious and the resultant snow pack has brought an abundance of that good stuff. Good news, but we shouldn’t be too happy yet. The Stage 4 Water Crisis declaration is still in effect.
Last October brought the news that Californians statewide were saving less water than at any time since mandatory reductions went into effect last June. Even in our own East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD), conservation numbers were below the state conservation average. Back then the best water conservers in the Bay Area as compared to October 2013 were in the city of Brentwood and the worst were in the areas served by the North Marin Water District and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
In looking at the water conservation of residential users, a lot of attention has been focused on EBMUD because it is California’s only major water district that set a household limit for water usage. On May 29, 2015, EDMUD enacted regulations that prohibits excessive use of water and established penalties when customers exceeded stated limits. A State bill has now been introduced to require all urban water suppliers to set household limits with a penalty of $500 for each unit of excessive use. EBMUD set a much smaller penalty of $2 per unit. Many believe that it is the shame of being publicly listed as a water waster that inspires others to reduce usage, rather than the size of the penalty.
EBMUD penalized 3,217 households for a total of $248,522 for exceeding a residential limit of 1,000 gallons per day, earning our water district the distinction of leading the state in most customers penalized.
Mandatory water conservation measures remain in effect under the continued Stage 4 Drought Crisis as the effects of the current rain and snowfall are measured in the state’s reservoirs. The message here is pretty clear. Just because it is raining, doesn’t mean that the drought is over. Keep Conserving! The experts are telling us that it will probably take several years and a whole lot of water and snow to fill up the reservoirs and depleted ground water. According to some, it will take a year of rain and snow at levels over 150% of the historic average for this drought to be over. On January 17, 2015, it was reported that rainfall in Oakland was at 71 percent. While the trend is hopeful, it still doesn’t mean that we will get there. It also doesn’t take into account that California has complex agriculture and allocation water problems to be solved, nor that scientists predict that droughts will continue into California’s future.
Further, news came in early January that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) joined international forecasters in predicting the potential appearance of El Niño’s sister, La Niña, this fall. La Niña would bring cooler Pacific water temperatures with resultant drought conditions along the California coast. Each of the El Niño’s we experienced in 1982-83 and 1997-98 were followed by La Niñas. Wouldn’t that be something, escaping the El Niño drought only to land in a La Niña drought. It’s too early to tell that will definitely happen, but conservation just may become a way of life for those of us living in California’s Paradise.
The continued population growth in our coastal communities and the increased need for agriculture usage coupled with the reported mess in how water has historically been allocated in our State and the probability of periodic droughts, are the main reasons why BNC has taken the position that multi-family buildings over three units should be individually metered. State law currently requires meters for each residential unit under three, but not for those over three. We wonder why no one at the State level seems particularly interested? One guess just might be the construction industry lobby. Maybe, if enough of us contacted our local legislators someone could be moved to bring this to the attention of the State, as well as the pressing need for crafting long-term solutions for this most vital of all our natural resources. Let’s hear from you.
Another Way to Calculate the Affordability of Your Monthly Rent Payment:
BNC has to admit at being frankly astounded at finding out that ApartmentList.com had determined that it would take 78 turkey dinners to pay the $4,950 average rental for a 2-bedroom apartment in San Francisco. Bet you didn’t know that!
Not only did San Francisco top the list this website compiled, it was a nationwide list to boot. Second on the list was Washington, D.C., followed by New York. Los Angeles came in number 6, followed by San Jose and Oakland and San Diego was number 10. Oakland’s average 2-bedroom rent was $2,500 with a turkey dinner rent of 35.5 dinners.
Seems the folks at ApartmentList.com decided to look at rent in this unique way because one day they were just sitting around thinking about what people did on Thanksgiving. No kidding, that is actually how they answered inquiries as to why they complied such a list in the first place! Guess they had a lot of time on their hands.
They first looked at U.S. Department of Labor statistics and set the national-average cost of a home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner for eight to ten people at $50.70. Then they consulted a cost-of-living index for various cities, and divided the average monthly rental in each, by the average cost of a Thanksgiving meal in that city to generate what they called a “Turkey Dinner Index”. Then, they compiled a list based on the Turkey Dinner Index. The cost of a turkey dinner in San Francisco was set at $63.47 which results in the information that you would have to pay for 78 turkey dinners to pay the average two-bedroom rent in that city. In anybody’s book, that’s a whole lot of turkey. The highest cost of a turkey dinner was $71.70 in New York City, but the average two-bedroom rent there is only $3,500 which gave them a third place position with a Turkey Dinner Index of 49.
We regret to inform you that ApartmentList.com did not produce an average two-bedroom rent for Berkeley, nor an average cost of a turkey dinner. However, in a completely unscientific survey, in the spirit of the event, in December, BNC found eight buildings in Berkeley that listed rents for two-bedroom apartments as follows:
Avalon | 651 Addison | $3,880 |
Touriel | 2004 University | $3,335 |
Fine Arts | 2110 Haste | $3,395 |
Berkeleyan | 1919 Oxford | $3,545 |
Acton Courtyard | 1370 University | $2,940 |
Bachenheimer | 2119 University | $3,715 |
Renaissance Villas | 1627 University | $3,355 |
Gaia | 2116 Allston | $3,650 |
These rents for a two-bedroom apartment (many of which stated they will have a current vacancy at the end of December or first of January) indicate an average rent of $3,477. We decided to use the turkey dinner cost for Oakland, $62.61, which is almost as high as the cost in San Francisco using the reasoning that such a number would be o.k. given that Mary’s air-chilled or Diestel turkeys at places like Andronico’s, Whole Foods and Berkeley Bowl are pretty darned expensive, and that Oakland is right next to Berkeley. Now we know that 55 turkey dinners will be needed to pay the average rent for one month in a two-bedroom apartment in Berkeley. One more fact you wouldn’t have known except for your very own BNC eNEWS!! We do have to say, however, that in Oakland, you would need only 35.5 turkey dinners because their average two-bedroom apartment rental is listed as $2,212.
The Wondrous Return of the Monarchs:
No, you weren’t dreaming if you were strolling through Aquatic Park around November 23 and you looked around and found hundreds of Monarch butterflies clustered in the trees. As of early December, the clusters were still there, so this just wasn’t a fly-through on the way to some other place. Unless the day is sunny, they were a little hard to see because their wings are folded against the cold with the bright orange and black showing in flutters only now and then.
Initially we were told that this was the first time that Monarchs have clustered in Aquatic Park, then later, that they had come here in 2014. In the past, Monarchs have been known to cluster on Albany Hill, but not recently. They are more usually seen in places like Ardenwood Historic Farm in Fremont where they spend the winter as part of their migratory life cycle. Seeing them in Aquatic Park was a rare sight that was nothing short of spectacular.
We’ve written about the Monarchs in prior issues and expressed our concern about their decline over the years due to loss of habitat and the widespread use of pesticides such as Roundup. There is hope that they will be placed on the Endangered Species list so that they will receive more protection. In the meantime, we’ve urged BNC eNEWS readers to plant milkweed, the host plant to their eggs, and to forgo the use of pesticides in your gardens. We have a dream of planting enough milkweed in Berkeley parks and homes that our city becomes a permanent location for them to return to year after year — a part of a butterfly highway that will extend along the California coast from the north to Mexico and provide rest stops and freedom from killer-pesticides along the annual journey undertaken by these delightful creatures.
The San Francisco Chronicle ran an article not too long ago titled, Airbnb for Butterflies. The article compared the Mexican milkweed (Asclepias curassivica) variety to the native species (Asclepias speciosa and Asclepias fascicularis). It’s important to know about these things since when the milkweed dies off, it serves as a trigger for the Monarch to migrate. Seems that the Mexican variety tends to grow and flower after the usual time an annual would normally die out with colder weather. And, the Mexican variety is also host to a parasite by the name of Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (stay tuned — there may be a quiz later on, but where do these names come from anyway). The Monarch caterpillars stick around and eat the parasite and when they hatch into butterflies it turns out they are much weaker. Takeaway message: Plant the native species!
The native species go deciduous in the winter so they don’t tempt the Monarchs to hang around. The plants return vigorously in the spring and apparently the Monarchs have no trouble finding them. The Monarchs lay their eggs in them, and later their leaves serve as food as the larvae mature.
Each year the Monarchs start off from Canada, forming two streams, one that generally follows the west coast and the other that travels south through the midwest and eastern states. There are about 200 cluster sites in California. Best time to see them is mid-November through December. The females leave the clusters looking for early sprouts of milkweed on which to deposit their eggs, and the clusters are usually gone by March. The eggs left on the milkweed turn into distinctive yellow-black-and white caterpillars that voraciously devour the leaves of the milkweed before turning into a chrysalis and then emerging as a large, lovely orange and black Monarch.
The nearest place to see and learn about these beauties is Ardenwood Historic Farm operated by the East Bay Regional Park District in Fremont, CA. Ardenwood is at 34600 Ardenwood Boulevard just north of Highway 84 in Fremont. They run several Monarch programs which may or may not be over by now. Their phone number for information is 888-327-2757, extension 2797.
BNC checked out the Aquatic Park clusters in the first days of January and they were nowhere to be seen. We are hoping to see a return next year and, in the meantime, let’s see that milkweed (native species) planted in lots and lots of Berkeley yards and once again the sight of a Monarch butterfly will not be a rare or unusual one, but part of our daily lives.
Development — It’s everywhere and does anyone see any that will win an Urban Design Award?
The issue of development — type, location and impact — consumed everyone’s attention throughout 2015 and is fully expected to intensify in 2016. BNC thinks it’s well past the time to take a good hard look at the vision for the future of Berkeley that’s being implemented today by our Council and Planning Department and make some basic changes unless, of course, you all expect to spend precious moments of your life going to endless, unproductive city meetings!
We’re hearing from neighborhoods that one (but not the only one) of the central complaints is that the new buildings are to put it frankly — ugly. They all look like Emeryville (sorry, Emeryville, but that’s what people say) tall, blocky and graceless. BNC isn’t going to argue the point, but since they all go through the Design Review Committee, we wonder how they come out looking like they do. Take a look at the Ashby Arts Building on the corner of Ashby and San Pablo, or the “luxury” building on the corner of Dwight Way and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. What do you think about them? They aren’t cheap buildings, and they bring little to their neighborhoods.
Here’s an idea. Let’s hold an Only in Berkeley, Annual People’s Choice Ugliest Building and an Annual Best Development Contest. Just like the Oscars or the Emmys. Readers get to nominate various Berkeley buildings and the one with the most votes in each category wins the award. We could hold a gala with red carpet, etc. to showcase the nominations, name the architects and present the awards. Let us know what you think, and also send us some pictures (with their addresses) of new development that you think is good and just plain ugly.
In the meantime, BNC will do some research to find out about how other cities handle the issue of ensuring better quality building and enhancing civic beauty.
Of course, the biggest development story in 2015 is the proposed 302 unit, 18-story tower to be constructed in the backyard of the landmarked Shattuck Hotel that will destroy the much loved and economically important Shattuck Cinemas. You can read all about what happened and what is coming next in the story that follows in the Neighborhood Forum Section that follows.