Friday’s Briefing: Large housing projects in Berkeley, Alameda, face uncertainty; Snowpack looks promising

Friday’s Briefing: Large housing projects in Berkeley, Alameda, face uncertainty; Snowpack looks promising

CITY OF BERKELEY

The project at Harold Way in Berkeley proposed 300-units of new housing.


Blacks are far more likely to be pulled over by police in California than whites

News you don’t want to miss for Jan. 3-5:

1. The developer behind an 18-story, 300-unit housing development at Harold Way in Berkeley is scrapping the project, Berkeleyside reports. Cost may have been a determining factor.

2. A large housing development in Alameda is also having difficult, the East Bay Times reports. Alameda officials are looking to replace the developer for a project at West Midway that includes 267 units of affordable housing. $$

3. Homicides in the Bay Area rose by seven percent in 2019, but the longer view reveals crime levels are still low, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The prior two years, the number of homicides dropped significantly. $$

4. A new report by the state Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board found black residents are 2.5 times more likely to be pulled over by police in California than whites, and three times more likely to be searched, the Associated Press reports.

5. The first measurements of snowpack in the Sierras south of Lake Tahoe is giving encouraging signs as the drought concerns persist in the Bay Area and state, the Associated Press reports. The December snowfall did the state well, reaching 97 percent of the January average.

$$ = Stories you may have to pay to read.