As East Bay Jews prepare for Passover, it’s becoming harder to have peaceful discussions about Israeli politics.
By Judith Scherr
At Passover Seders next week, Jews throughout the East Bay and the nation will repeat the phrase, “Next year in Jerusalem.” But actually having a civil discussion these days among Jews about Israel and its controversial policies toward Palestinians is growing increasingly difficult.
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/the-uncivil-jewish-debate/Content?oid=2574497

East Bay cities have been fouling the bay with partially treated sewage for decades, but a new court settlement will be expensive to implement.
By Judith Scherr

Most East Bay residents take their local sanitary systems for granted and don’t think twice about where the waste goes once it disappears down drains and toilets. But a group of state and federal water protection agencies contend that East Bay cities are polluting San Francisco Bay with untreated and partially treated sewage and have obtained a court agreement ordering the cities to make major repairs to their broken and aging sewer systems. The agreement, however, will be complex and costly for the cities involved.
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/pollution-plan-will-be-costly/Content?oid=2561679

The city is grappling with a deficit of at least $12.5 million and it could worsen.
By Judith Scherr
Berkeley city officials are trying to claw their way out of a $12.5 million budget hole that could deepen when state and federal cuts are finalized. City leaders already are approaching employee unions to negotiate significant concessions. And overall, the Health Services Department and Housing and Community Services Department, which are dependent on state and federal money, could be the hardest hit.
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/berkeley-faces-huge-budget-cuts/Content?oid=2547151

BUSINESSJudith Scherr — Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 10:54 AM
Berkeley Bowl will remain non-union for the foreseeable future. On Thursday, the workers at the Oregon Street store voted 82 to 73 against membership in United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5.
In June 2010, the workers, who were union members, voted 99 to 74 to decertify the union. But the National Labor Relations Board said Bowl management had interfered unfairly with the election and scheduled the new vote.
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/92510/archives/2011/03/25/berkeley-bowl-turns-down-union-again

Faced with declining tax revenues, Albany and Piedmont plan to share a fire chief, while Emeryville studies ways to collaborate with its neighbors.
By Judith Scherr
When times are good and city coffers bulge with revenues from property taxes and thriving businesses, few look critically at pay packages for city administrators, city attorneys, and police and fire chiefs, even when they top $200,000. This is true in cities as large as Oakland and as tiny as Emeryville. But in lean years, as governments grapple with looming deficits, some small East Bay cities are seeking creative ways to respond to hard times by sharing services and costs, while jealously guarding their independence.

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/east-bay-small-cities-share-services/Content?oid=2533410

BUSINESSJudith Scherr — Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 12:34 PM
Some 400 steel workers at Pacific Steel have traded in their hard hats for picket signs. claiming their bosses are unfair.
“We’re asking for a 40 cent per hour wage increase. They don’t want to give us that,” said Manual Duarte, who was picketing on Tuesday in front of one of the gates leading to a plant warehouse of Fifth Street near Gilman in West Berkeley.

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/92510/archives/2011/03/22/pacific-steel-workers-on-strike

POLITICS / ENVIRONMENTJudith Scherr — Wed, Mar 9, 2011 at 11:06 AM
City workers sporting Service Employees union shirts filled seats on the east side of the Berkeley city council chambers, while sign-bearing supporters of the Ecology Center, Community Conservation Center and Urban Ore sat on the other side at Tuesday evening’s council workshop, where the focus was on how to erase a $3 million deficit in the city’s refuse fund.

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/92510/archives/2011/03/09/consultant-report-riles-recycling-workers

Ecology Center Likely to Keep Berkeley Recycling Contract
ENVIRONMENTJudith Scherr — Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 2:23 PM
After concerted community pressure, it looks like Berkeley’s recycling contract will stay with the Ecology Center, a 42-year old city institution. “The turn out [at the March 8 council meeting] helped to turn the tide,” said Ecology Center Executive Director Martin Bourque, underscoring that the decision is yet to be made

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/92510/archives/2011/03/22/ecology-center-likely-to-keep-berkeley-recycling-contract

Judith Scherr — Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 12:10 PM
If you’re planning to de-stress with a chair massage, better go to Oakland. Chair massage businesses in Berkeley — at least at Berkeley’s Whole Foods Market — have been suspended. Last week, On the Spot Massage, a small Berkeley business that has been sending chair-massage therapists to knead the necks of shoppers at the foodie mecca for seven years, was slapped with a fine and told their operation is illegal. The laws they broke are aimed at curbing prostitution.

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/92510/archives/2011/03/03/berkeley-cracks-down-onchair-massages

East Bay residents won a $3 million judgment against “notorious” landlord Richard E. Thomas, but will they ever collect? And will he change?
By Judith Scherr
Arek Nathanson knew from the moment he moved into a rented house on Hamilton Place in Oakland that relations with his new landlord, Richard E. Thomas, were going to be rocky. The house was infested with fleas; there was no stove or refrigerator; the stove the landlord finally brought in was broken; the back gate dangled from a lone hinge. Then, when Nathanson and his roommates had had enough and decided to move out, Thomas refused to return most of their deposit.

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/tenants-win-big-fraud-case-against-landlord/Content?oid=2491954

East Bay residents say the governor’s proposal to slash health services will push them into institutions and cost the state more money than it will save.
By Judith Scherr
With California’s budget $25 billion in the red, Jerry Brown has proposed slashing $12.5 billion from programs largely serving the disabled, the poor, children, students, and seniors. The governor plans to make up most of the other half of the deficit by convincing voters to extend temporary tax increases for five years. But the East Bay’s disabled community, accustomed to fighting for its rights, has teamed up with groups around the state, and is standing up to Brown’s plan. They’re also standing up to liberal Democrats who are going along with the proposed service cuts, claiming the Republicans’ vow not to raise taxes has them in a stranglehold.

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/disabled-fight-jerry-browns-budget/Content?oid=2456279