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BNC selects a Berkeley cultural treasure to feature in each eNEWS issue.  The business or activity nominated must be located in the City of Berkeley, and nominated by a Berkeley resident who has no connection, other than that of an ordinary patron of, or a participant in what he/she is nominating.  If the business or activity nominated is advised of the nomination prior to publication, it must be made clear to the nominee that nomination does not automatically mean selection.  The Newsletter Committee determines selections and in the majority of cases, the descriptions/comments about the selection will be published anonymously.  Submissions may be sent to newsletter@berkeleyneighborhoodscouncil.com.  BNC will notify the selected treasure.

Again, the posting for this issue is in keeping with BNC’s focus on neighborhoods.  We didn’t have a problem with our selection for this issue, but we weren’t exactly sure which section of the eNEWS it should be put into.  Finally, we settled on The Cultural Corner because it’s a rare and distinct Berkeley tradition.  However, because it’s also a food and drink place, we understand if you think it should have been in The Neighborhood Food Prowl.  We recommend putting that question aside, taking a trip to check out our choice, settling back, and enjoying.

Our April selection is The Albatross (also known as “The Bird”), Berkeley’s oldest pub that is currently celebrating its 50^th birthday.  The festivities will begin on April 20^th and run for 50 days with drink specials, retro cocktails like manhattans and grasshoppers, and a 1960s band on June 6^th.  As one local newspaper put it when writing about the event, “it sure is looking good for its age.”

Zagat once called it a “cozy, woody, British style pub” and that’s exactly right.  Another reviewer put it this way:  “Albatross pub goers are a diverse microcosm of the Berkeley community itself.  On any given evening you’ll find university students, writers, soccer teams, a hang glider club, local business people and lots of foreign accents.” Yet another, “you feel you’re part of a community when you’re here.” It’s a living, breathing, real neighborhood pub.

So, what makes this place so special that it’s been written up in Sunset and San Francisco Magazine? Well, first and foremost is that while it’s a bar (14 different beers on tap, over 40 in bottles, and offers premium spirits), it’s intentionally (on the owner’s part) not a place to get drunk.  It’s cozy with a fireplace that creates an atmosphere like a living room with people sitting at wooden tables, playing board games and eating popcorn.  It’s a place to be sociable and where you can actually talk and hear what the other person is saying.  The bar doesn’t even make blender drinks because that sound is loud and harsh.

Dogs on leash are allowed up to 8:00 PM and you can even bring some of your own food.  You can buy a bottomless bowl of fresh hot popcorn for only $1 dispensed from an old-fashioned telephone booth.

Games are big here.  They offer:  Pool (in a separate room), Darts with 6 pro lanes (there’s a tournament anyone can enter for a $5 fee on Tuesdays, otherwise you can play all night for $1), all kinds of Board Games like chess, cribbage, dominos, and Scrabble to name a few, and on Sundays at 8:30 PM (sign up at 8:15 PM) you can bring your own team of no more than 5 and play or just watch 6 rounds of Brainstormer Trivia Pub Quiz.  The Bird was named “Best Place to Play Board Games” by the East Bay Express, 4 years in a row, 2010 through 2013.

But that’s not all! There’s FREE live music at 9:00 PM:

• Wednesdays, April 2 and 16, and May 7 and 21, Old Time and Bluegrass performed by the Whiskey Brothers.
• On Saturdays from 9:30 PM to 12:30 am, there is a $3 cover
• April 12, a jazz quintet, RM Jazz
• April 26 it’s BeBop and Blues, done by Citizen’s JaZZ
• May 10, Latin Jazz performed by Danilo y Orquesta Universal
• May 24, New World Café Music, done by the pickPocket ensemble

And, that’s still not all!!! There’s an Original Art Gallery.  From February through July, you can see the works of Lisa Sindori.  Quoting from the Albatross website, the artist hikes around the Bay Area and chooses the most iconic animals, plants, and scenery and then uses an all-digital creation process to produce images with a stylized, screen-printed look reminiscent of vintage travel posters.  The simplified shapes and colors allow viewers to fill in the detail with their own memories of the landscape.

The sample shown on the website is lovely — simple with vibrant color depicting a dog on a hillside or shoreline with the Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.

The Albatross Pub opened at the time of the Free Speech Movement at UC and since then has had a total of 3 owners.  The most recent are 2 women, Wendy Halambeck and Linda Zsilavetz, who have owned it since 1997.  They have worked to make it a place for all ages to enjoy, coming by yourself or in a group — a place that is clean and comfortable, with reasonable prices.

The Albatross Pub
1822 San Pablo Avenue
Berkeley, CA

(510) 843-2470
Sunday — Tuesday, 6 PM to 2 AM
Wednesday — Saturday, 4:30 PM to 2 AM
21 years and older
wheelchair accessible

www.albatrosspub.com

 

 

The letter for this eNEWS concerns the cost of garbage collection which affects every one of us in every neighborhood in Berkeley.  The letter is forwarded to us by BNC eNEWS reader, Nigel Guest, who lives in the South of Campus area.  Mr. Guest is not the author of the letter.  He received it from a local recycler who requests anonymity, and who raises some very important and disturbing issues.  The letter was forwarded to BNC on April 7, 2014 and is printed exactly as received.

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This whole debacle would be laughable if it weren’t so backward and upside-down.  Neither Bayer nor for-profit outside garbage contractors have anything at all to do with this mess.

The 24.7% increase approved by City Council results from a rate analysis done behind closed doors by the manager of the Solid Waste Division — now Zero Waste Division — who will begin a new job in Central Contra Costa County tomorrow.  This rate revision was his last act.  When he and his hand-selected consultant made their first report to the Zero Waste Commission in November, the commission unanimously voted that the report was “inadequate.” But the restructuring went forward anyway, without any change as far as I can tell.  The second and last report was made to the commission the day before it went to Council.

The garbage rates include full financing for recycling services.  The outgoing manager told the Zero Waste Commission that inside City Hall, people think the citizens of Berkeley want to think recycling is “free,” so they went along with that wish.  They didn’t tell people that the costs of recycling are bundled into the garbage bill.  Therefore people pay a rate determined only by the size of their garbage can.

Consequently, when people waste less and shrink their garbage can, then recycle more, there’s less money for the recyclers who are doing more work.

This rate increase helps pay for the new garbage trucks the waste division bought because of a recommendation from another consultant a couple of years ago.  That purchase cost $6 million, which the division didn’t have, so it borrowed from the General Fund — with interest to be repaid.  The new trucks permitted layoffs of garbage collection staff.  But there weren’t as many layoffs as the consultant projected, because the new trucks can’t be used in all Berkeley locations, because the consultant failed to notice that Berkeley has more hills than Emeryville, which they used to make their profile for the trucking needs.

The SEIU union, which represents the City garbage staff, was upset about layoffs.  They said there shouldn’t be layoffs, because they could do the work of the recyclers.  Staff of both the Ecology Center and Community Conservation Corps are represented by the ILWU, which scolded the SEIU for trying to put other unionized workers out of work.  Thus the City set the unions against each other.

In the end there were some layoffs, not as many as feared, and increased borrowing and useless capital investment.

Now there’s this upside-down rate increase.

The division has been mismanaged and basically driven into a ditch since 2005.  It now runs at a deficit.

The whole mess should be turned over to a new developmental department in the City Manager’s office.  Now I’m off to the Chapter Zero Waste Committee’s meeting.  Later I’ll send you a copy of a new initiative we’re about to start circulating that will protect West Berkeley and that also asks the City Council to evaluate a bunch of changes in the Zero Waste structure.  Long overdue.

Meanwhile, tell anybody who inquires that they should send back the rate protest card!

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BNC’s Response

This is interesting stuff that BNC will check out.  We didn’t know that there was money in the General Fund that could be used for a $6 Million loan.  This seems to have slipped by a whole lot of people.  Where did that money come from, what is the interest, how much, if any, has been repaid, and how much of the proposed rate increase is because of that loan? We also would like to know how much of the deficit in the garbage service is related to the loan and how much is related to “unfunded” pension costs of personnel who do this work.  It will take some time, but BNC will delve into the public records to see if we can find the answers.

At this time, what we do know is that the proposed increase in refuse fees will be over 24% and that to impose this “Property Related Fee” increase, the Council will use what is called a “majority protest process” that was set up when the voters approved Prop 218 in 1996.  Homeowners received a notice about this in the mail several days ago.  If you’ve thrown away that notice, ignored it, haven’t dealt with it, are a renter that pays for your own garbage, or whatever, this is what the notice says:

This notice concerns the City of Berkeley’s proposal to increase the rates it charges for both residential and commercial Zero Waste Services:  garbage collection, transfer & disposal, recyclables collection and processing, and organics collection and composting.  These rates have not been adjusted since July 2009.  The proposed rates are needed to fund:  (1) annual cost increases that include landfill disposal expenses, labor costs, fuel charges and composting and recycling expenses;  and (2) required improvements at the closed landfill and the transfer station.  The proposed rates result in a $7.32 per month increase for the average 32-gallon container, with one pickup per week.  Rates in future years beyond Fiscal 2015 will include an annual inflator equal to the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index (“CPI”) or 3% whichever is greater.  (Emphasis has been added)

Only property owners have a right to submit a written protest to the proposed rate change on a form provided in the mailing.  These written protests must be received no later than 3:00 pm on May 20, 2014.  Property owners, whether they have filed a written protest or not, and all others have the right to comment at a Public Hearing which is to be held on Tuesday, May 20, 2014, at 7:00 pm, City Council Chambers, Old City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

Following the close of the Public Hearing the City Clerk will tally the written protests and report the results.  If a majority of the affected property owners submit protests, the proposed rate changes will not be imposed.  Otherwise, the rate increase will become effective on July 1, 2014.

If you didn’t receive such a notice, misplaced it, or have questions about the process, BNC suggests you call the City Clerk at (510) 981- 6900.

The letter also mentions a new West Berkeley Initiative.  BNC can confirm that such an initiative is currently being circulated by a group called the Berkeley Bayfront Coalition for the West Berkeley Initiative.  The Notice of Intent to File for Initiative was submitted to the Berkeley City Clerk and City Attorney on March 13, 2014 by Richard P.C.  Rodgers, M.D.  The Notice describes the initiative as follows:

To affirm support for the West Berkeley Plan, to stop rezoning and granting variances on a piecemeal basis, and to support the increase in sustainable, economically viable recycling-based industries that the West Berkeley Plan set as a major goal.

That any amendment of the Zoning Ordinance of City of Berkeley, the Official Zoning Map, or of any developments standards, allowable or conditionally allowable uses, or zoning procedures that would apply to the area of the West Berkeley Plan shall be submitted by the City Council to a vote of the people at the next General Election.

Readers may recall that the West Berkeley Plan was a highly-lauded consensus plan written by a broad coalition of business people, residents and environmentalists and approved by the Council several years ago.  It called for buildings for most of West Berkeley to be no higher than 45 feet (4 + stories).  In 2012, the City Council put Measure T on the November ballot.  Measure T would have allowed 75 feet (7+ stories).  Measure T was rejected by the voters.  Yet, a variance for a 74-foot building has already been given and others may be on the way, piece by piece.  This continuing undermining of the West Berkeley Plan:

• supports speculators’ short-term gain at the expense of diverse and sustainable community development;
• blocks views of the Bay;
• risks damage to Aquatic Park’s sensitive riparian habitat;
• increases congestion of key arterial intersections and freeway approaches;
• threatens long-established residential neighborhoods and the continued existence of affordable space for artisans, light manufacturing, and innovative technology as well as existing small scale retail and service firms;
• threatens the viability of recycling operations;  and,
• requires all Berkeley taxpayers to pay for new infrastructure and services to accommodate the speculators’ developments.

The Initiative would prevent such variances from happening again without voter approval.

One priority of the West Berkeley Plan was to develop recycling-based business in the area.  Among the things that have happened is that funds for recycling have been cut, garbage rates are rising (see letter above), and a 2005 plan that the Council funded for $100,000 and a Zero Waste Facility designed by Berkeley architects that was privately funded and given to the City seems to be ignored.  This Initiative would approve a non-binding advisory requirement for the Zero Waste Commission to evaluate these and other matters that include looking at the innovative El Cerrito Recycling Center.  (Special BNC Note:  we urge our readers to take a good look at the El Cerrito Center and compare it to the Berkeley Center.  The difference is mind-blowing.) The called-for evaluation is to be guided by the ideal of achieving zero waste, involve the public and be completed within one year.

This Initiative will be discussed at the next BNC General Meeting to be held, Saturday, April 26, 2014, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm, at the Art House Gallery, 2905 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley.  Come and find out all the details.

New:  In this issue we are continuing to expand the scope of this section to include not only reviews of a neighborhood food business, but also news about food products or services that our reviewers find interesting.  From time to time, we might also include a recipe or two.  This section will continue to appear in each Berkeley Neighborhoods Council eNEWS edition along with comments written by an always anonymous reviewer.  The post for this issue is really different because it’s about food news and recipes on the internet.  Drum roll please…

Food.com states it offers 475,000 recipes, and there is no reason to believe that the half a million number isn’t true! When you go to the website you will see a row of tabs across the top.  Click on “Holidays” (second from the left) and you will find the slogan “Every Day is a Food Holiday 365 days a year.” Click on the slogan.  If you choose to, you may sign up here to receive daily e-mails, free of charge, which will provide information as to what holiday is involved with a particular date.  You will see a holiday for the day you do this, along with at least 3 recipes for that day highlighting the “holiday” food.  There are also tabs to see the information for the “Previous Day” and another for the “Next Day” so you can peek at what’s coming.

For example, if you go to the website, Food.com, and click on the Food Holiday tab you will be informed that April 18, 2014 is National Animal Crackers Day.  You will find 6 recipes listed for that date, one for making “Homemade Animal Crackers” and among the others, one for “Zoo Food” which seems to be something that groups (like PTAs?) put together for bake sales.  Zoo Food includes purchased animal crackers, raisins, peanuts and M & Ms — it strikes this reviewer as not a bad mix to slip into one of those big plastic Easter eggs.

Well, this reviewer signed up for the daily e-mails and guess what?

April 1 (April Fools Day) turns out to be The Birthday of Sliced Bread and BNC just couldn’t pass up commenting on this.

Who hasn’t ever said “It’s the greatest thing since sliced bread” but who said it first? Bartlett’s was no help with this.  However, it seems that Otto Frederick Rohwedder of Davenport, Iowa invented the first bread slicing machine around 1923, but he didn’t get his first fully working sliced bread machine going until 1928.  The first use was July 7, 1928 by the Chillicothe Baking Company in Chillicothe, Missouri under the name “Kleen Maid Sliced Bread.” Wonder Bread started around 1925, and the saying, the best thing since sliced bread, seems to have grown out of early advertising that said something along the lines that sliced bread was the greatest thing that has happened to the baking industry.  Wonder Bread started marketing sliced bread nationwide in 1930 and after that, there was no looking back, or as Food.com put it, forever changing how we eat bread.

Along about January 18, 1943, the United States actually banned sliced bread as a “wartime conservation measure” presumably because of fact that waxed paper was needed to keep the bread from drying out.  Apparently the ban wasn’t too well received and it didn’t last long — only until March 8, 1943 when it was said that since the ban didn’t produce the anticipated savings, it was lifted.  (Your family and friends will be awed by what you’ve learned by reading the BNC eNEWS!)

Anyway, the 3 recipes given to celebrate this particular important Birthday, are just so-so.  One of these recipes was for the “Potato Chip Sandwich” which most parents have experienced when they’ve served their kids a sandwich with chips.  Here’s a sampling of the offerings for some other days in April

April 4:		National Cordon Bleu Day
April 6:		Fresh Tomato Day (here are recipes for Tomato Tart and Green Tomato Bread)
April 7:		National Coffee Cake Day (the recipe for Cherry Streusel Coffee Cake sounds good)
April 8:		National Empanada Day
April: 11:		National Cheese Fondue Day (there’s a recipe for Aztec Taco Fondue and Cinco de Mayo is just around the corner)
April 12:		Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day (check out the recipe for French Onion Soup Grilled Cheese)
April 17:		National Cheese Ball Day (another historical fact.  In 1801 the town of

Chesire, Massachusetts sent a 1,000 pound cheese ball to the White House as a gift for the new President, Thomas Jefferson.  None of the recipes given are as hefty as this, however.)

It seems that in the 3 recipes given for each day, one is pretty basic and another is much more adventuresome.  Each day also provides a button to click on to increase the number of recipes for a particular “holiday” date, and all-in-all, it’s pretty interesting stuff which can liven up your cooking choices as well as provide subjects for dinner table or cocktail circuit small talk! Not bad for being free.