Friends of Adeline

By the time Richie Smith was 13, she was used to being told to enter through the back door of a restaurant. So when her family moved from Oklahoma to South Berkeley in 1949, Smith was amazed by the vibrant Black community she found.

Berkeley City Council passed a motion at its special meeting Tuesday to extend discussion regarding the Zoning Adjustments Board’s approval of a housing project on 2902 Adeline St. after controversy emerged over a deal struck between the project developers and the community.

Berkeley has changed significantly in the past 28 years — the minimum wage has increased by about $10 and public health policies are more comprehensive, thanks in part to the work of former District 3 council member Max Anderson.

An unprecedented number of Berkeley residents and community members attended a convention Sunday, in which four candidates were chosen to run for the city Rent Stabilization Board on a pro-tenant slate this November.

Berkeley City Council voted to approve two contentious amendments to city ordinances that would regulate street behaviors and increase nighttime park policing — ordinances characterized by many as criminalizing homelessness.

City planners held a “pop-up” event Saturday on Adeline Street to listen to concerns of community bikers and pedestrians about the Adeline Corridor Plan.

Anticipating large crowds due to a number of more controversial agenda items, the city relocated Tuesday’s city council meeting to a larger venue for the first time this year.

South Berkeley residents are mobilizing around a city project to revitalize their neighborhood, which some worry could spell displacement and proliferate patterns of gentrification seen across the Bay Area.