Ted Gartner, a former Berkeley Partners for Parks Chair and President (1997-1998), passed away on August 2. Ted was a renaissance man; he was a scientist by day (until his 2006 retirement ) at LBNL, a founder Environmental Energy Technologies Division and a community advocate by night. Ted was fluent in Spanish, and used his skills translating Spanish to English for his work. He maintained a vast collection of saint statues and religious sculptures. In his spare time, he was a community activist, a leader in FUN (Friends of University Ave. Neighborhood) and a founder of an early adopt-a-park group, the University Avenue Gardeners. He led many gardeners in maintaining the native plantings in the University Avenue median throughout the mid-1990’s . Ted is remembered by his colleagues in BPFP as a gentle, calm, and soft-spoken man, with a wry sense of humor, being generous of nature, while practical and even-handed in guiding the relatively young BPFP in park and playground improvement projects. These among other qualities made him an excellent chair and president. He will be missed.
BPFP Board meeting
Monday, July 30th
7:30-9:00pm
Live Oak Center
(that’s a 5th Monday, taking the place of our usual July and August 3rd Monday meetings)
Workshops on the Strawberry Creek Plaza Proposal
Citizens for A Strawberry Creek Plaza and Ecocity Builders invite you to join us for a day of workshops on the Strawberry Creek Plaza proposal, July 13, in Berkeley.
Please RSVP to Elyce Judith at elyce AT singlesourcetelecom DOT com
A New Vision for Center Street Friday, July 13, at Berkeley City College Auditorium 9:00 -12:30 a.m. at Berkeley City College, 2050 Center Street –
Morning workshop featuring A New Visions for Center Street with Citizens for a Strawberry Creek Plaza. Introductions and updates from Mayor Tom Bates, President of the Downtown Berkeley Association Mark McLeod, and representatives from Carpenter & Company. This will be followed by a presentation on San Luis Obispo’s very successful Mission Plaza project, including ideas for Berkeley, with current Mayor Dave Romero, Former Council Member and Mayor Ken Schwartz, SLO Chamber of Commerce representative Pierre Rademaker and City Administrative Officer Ken Hampian.
2:00 p.m. Meet at the Bank of America, corner of Center Street and Shattuck Avenue.
Guided Tour on the block of Center Street from Oxford to Shattuck and along Strawberry Creek on UCB campus by Citizens for a Strawberry Creek Plaza and Steve Maranzana, UC Berkeley
Office of Environment, Health & Safety.
3:00 p.m. At Alborz Restaurant, 2142 Center Street. Meeting focusing on economic revitalization and the Strawberry Creek Plaza Project, hosted by the Downtown Berkeley Association, featuring Michael Caplan, Acting Director of Economic Development for the City of Berkeley and Pierre Rademaker of Rademaker Design. Pierre is past president of both the SLO Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Association and chaired the design committee that developed the City’s Conceptual Physical Plan for the City Center.
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7:00 p.m. Evening event at the Gaia Building, 2116 Allston Way. Comments by Richard Register of Ecocity Builders and members of the SLO delegation, with time for audience discussion. How can cities be far healthier for both people and nature, now, and into the deep future?
Centennial of Berkeley’s Parks Celebration-Take Part in Planning the Celebration
Activists and affiliates of BPFP are requested to participate in the Centennial of Berkeley’s Parks Celebration (August 25 to October 7) by including their paths, creek, community garden, and/or park in this to be defined calendar of events. BPFP and the City of Berkeley are co-sponsoring a month plus of grassroots’ generated activities, talks, picnics, art happenings, volunteer events, and more in Berkeley’s public outdoor places! We hope you will contribute to celebrating these places and their relationship to our lives and community!
The Centennial will kick-off with a city-wide fair to honor 100 years of our first City Park— San Pablo Park, which will be hosted by the San Pablo Park Neighborhood Council.
We invite other groups and individuals to plan and schedule their own events to be part of a Celebrating Berkeley’s Park Centennial and coordinate their activities with us. BPFP will create a calendar and promote the activities widely. To take part, please contact John Steere at jsteere@igc.org or 849-1969.
Take the Berkely Pools Survey
Tell us (Pools for Berkeley) how you use Berkeley’s public pools and how you’d like to see Berkeley’s pools and programming improved. Online at http://poolsforberkeley.org/survey.aspx.
This survey will run throughout the summer. Results will be announced later in the year. Open to all Berkeley residents and users of Berkeley’s public pools.