Thursday, February 23, 2012
The new exhibit that opened this week at the El Cerrito Hall Gallery Space features photos of flora, fauna and beyond by El Cerrito resident Evie Groch.
The second-floor Gallery Space at El Cerrito City Hall had its walls enlivened by a new art exhibit this week, a show of photos by El Cerrito resident Evie Groch. A public reception for the artist will be held Saturday, 2-4 p.m., at City Hall. The show runs through March. 29. A framed artist's statement accompanying the exhibit says, "The creative spirit that I nurture within me bridges genres, boundaries, and themes, combining my love of cooking, writing, painting, and creating two and three-dimensional art." "My photography selection reflects the thematic ebb and flow of the flora and fauna encountered in my travels, along with some spiritual scenes," Groch's statement continues. "I am at my happiest when my two worlds of words and …
37.91547
-122.31146
City of El Cerrito City Government
10890 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito, CA
/articles/vivid-evocative-photos-at-city-hall
516869
/locations/6435629
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Enthusiastic applause erupted at the El Cerrito City Council meeting Tuesday night following a proclamation ceremony for resident Pumpsie Green, the African American who ended segregation in major league baseball.
It was in 1959 that an African-American baseball player broke the color barrier on the last segregated major league baseball team. The team was the Boston Red Sox, and the player was Pumpsie Green of El Cerrito. The El Cerrito City Council Tuesday night presented Elijah Jerry "Pumpsie" Green, 78, with a proclamation honoring his "distinguished stature in baseball history." (The proclamation is attached to this article.) Mayor Jones offers encomium "We are honoring more than a baseball player tonight," said Mayor Bill Jones. "We're honoring a very good person by all accounts." Jones noted that he and Green both graduated from El Cerrito High School (Green in 1952 and Jones in 1968) and both played baseball. "So it's pleasure from one Gaucho…
37.91547
-122.31146
City of El Cerrito City Government
10890 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito, CA
/articles/history-making-pumpsie-green-thanks-city
516869
/locations/6427433
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
The El Cerrito City Council agenda tonight, Tuesday, leads off with a resolution honoring Elijah Jerry "Pumpsie" Green, the African-American baseball player who broke the color barrier on the last segregated pro ball team.
The African American who knocked down the last color barrier in pro baseball – Elijah Jerry "Pumpsie" Green of El Cerrito – is due to be honored tonight, Tuesday, by the El Cerrito City Council. Leading off the agenda line-up is a council resolution recognizing Green's "distinguished stature in baseball history as the first African-American ever to play for the Boston Red Sox, the last team in the major leagues to integrate." Green, who grew up in Richmond and graduated from El Cerrito High School 1952, raised his family in El Cerrito, where he continues to live with his wife of more than 50 years, Marie, the resolution notes. (A copy of the resolution is attached to this article.) After battling discrimination in training camps and on …
37.91547
-122.31146
City of El Cerrito City Government
10890 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito, CA
/articles/honor-for-el-cerrito-baseball-pro-pumpsie-green
516869
/locations/6422980
The El Cerrito City Council tonight officially abandons its 77-year-old tradition of Monday night meetings with its first regular Tuesday night meeting.
The El Cerrito City Council tonight will hold its first regular Tuesday night meeting, switching from having met on Monday nights since 1935. The council voted Nov. 21 to switch its twice-monthly meeting from its long-standing place on Monday at 7:30 p.m. to Tuesday at 7 p.m. Honor for baseball pro "Pumpsie" Green The agenda begins with recognition of the "distinguished stature in baseball history" of El Cerrito resident Elijah Jerry "Pumpsie" Green, the African American player who desegregated the last segregated team in pro baseball, the Boston Red Sox. (See accompanying article.) Honor for police Officer Terry Schillinger Another honor on the agenda is commendation of El Cerrito police Officer Terry Schillinger on his "recognition by …
37.91547
-122.31146
City of El Cerrito City Government
10890 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito, CA
/articles/first-regular-tuesday-council-honors-and-budgets
516869
/locations/6419052
Monday, February 20, 2012
Many people call today Presidents Day, or Presidents' Day, or President's Day, but officially in the eyes of the U.S. government, it's none of the above.
What exactly are we celebrating today? Presidents Day? Presidents' Day? President's Day? Wandering Apostrophe Day? And whom exactly does it honor? Is it just one president (Washington)? Or two (Washington and Lincoln)? Or the whole lot (including Warren G. Harding)? The apostrophe's placement, assuming an apostrophe is used, depends on whether we're celebrating more than one president today, right? Officials should have the official word. Here in El Cerrito, the calendar on the city's Web site declares it "Presidents Day," taking the politically ambiguous and grammatically liberal course of omitting the apostrophe altogether. The city-run Recycling Center, however, opts for the singular "President's Day" on its web page, though it doesn't…
Sunday, February 19, 2012
The Bay Bridge reopened around 8 p.m. Sunday (much earlier than the Tuesday morning forecast). Bridge officials thanked the good weather.
Update: This article is a revised version of one published earlier Sunday evening. The Bay Bridge reopened around 8 p.m. Sunday, far ahead of its scheduled reopening at 5 a.m. Tuesday. The upper deck, containing all westbound lanes, was shut down beginning at 8 p.m. Friday for construction work on the western approach of the new Bridge Bridge, which is being built next to the old one. "We had some great sun," said Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney, quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle. "It was nothing we could have forecasted, but it allowed us to finish the work quickly. In the long run this will save us a lot of money." Motorists passing through the toll plaza are asked to drive carefully, since the merge will be different, Bay City News …
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Contra Costa County's LAFCO (Local Agency Formation Commission) is seeking to fill regular and alternate seats on the seven-member body that manages government boundaries and strives to preserves agricultural and open spaces.
The Contra Costa Local Agency Formation Commission is accepting applications for members to serve as its regular and alternate public members. The commission is a state-created agency that manages government boundaries, discourages urban sprawl and preserves agricultural and open spaces. It regulates the boundaries of cities and special districts. The commission has seven voting members and four alternates. These positions include two members and an alternate from the county Board of Supervisors, two members and an alternate from city councils, two members and an alternate from independent special district boards, and one public member and one alternate public member. Alternate members "participate in meetings, but vote only when the …
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Mayor Bill Jones listed key accomplishments and challenges for El Cerrito in his "State of the City" presentation Wednesday before the El Cerrito Chamber of Commerce.
When Mayor Bill Jones gave an overview Wednesday of key issues and programs for El Cerrito in the future, first on the list was the soon-to-open El Cerrito Recycling Center. "We're really proud of this," Jones told the El Cerrito Chamber of Commerce in a luncheon presentation described by the chamber as a "State of the City Address." Jones announced that the rebuilt El Cerrito Recycling and Environmental Resource Center will have a formal opening on April 22, he said. "Over 40 years ago when El Cerrito first started it, it was a novelty for a city, of our size anyway, to have its own recycling center," he said in his talk at the Mira Vista Golf and Country Club. The new facility is built on the same site as the city's now-gone old …
37.93276
-122.3022
Mira Vista Golf and Country Club
7901 Cutting Blvd, El Cerrito, CA
/articles/green-gains-financial-pains-for-city-mayor-says
516643
/locations/6398263
The El Cerrito Arts and Culture Commission pushed forward two public art projects in one night Wednesday: sculptures on San Pablo Avenue streetlight poles and "functional artworks" for the new Recycling Center.
The largest public art project in El Cerrito history – abstract sculptures to be hung from 12 streetlight poles on San Pablo Avenue – won another key approval from the city's Arts and Culture Commission Wednesday night. With four of the panel's five members present, the commission voted unanimously to select 12 designs and locations for the formal proposal that will be considered for approval by the commission at a public hearing in March. The designs and locations had won tentative approval at prior commission meetings. Also on Wednesday night, the commission unanimously approved the city's newest public art project – a plan for commissioning an artist or artists to create "functional artworks" for the soon-to-open Recycling Center. The …
37.91547
-122.31146
City of El Cerrito City Government
10890 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito, CA
/articles/two-el-cerrito-public-art-plans-advance
516869
/locations/6391500
37.918768
-122.299925
City of El Cerrito Recycling Center
7501 Schmidt Ln, El Cerrito, CA
/articles/two-el-cerrito-public-art-plans-advance
516844
/locations/6391501
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
To fulfill the public-art requirement for the new El Cerrio Recycling Center, the city plans to commission a "visual arts professional" for $24,000 to create shelves, gates for the bulk compost area and equipment shelters.
The El Cerrito Arts and Culture Commission tonight, Wednesday, will review a new plan for the city's next public art project – $24,000 worth of "functional artworks," including shelves, gates and shelters at the new El Cerrito Recycling Center. City's public art law Under the city's Art in Public Places law, adopted by the City Council in 2005, new city or private projects costing $250,000 or more must devote at least one percent of the development costs to public art. (It is Chapter 13.50 in the city's Municipal Code.) Previous public art project The previous project funded under the law, sculptures to be suspended on streetlight poles on San Pablo Avenue, has seen major delays, in large part because the arts commission rejected the …
37.918768
-122.299925
City of El Cerrito Recycling Center
7501 Schmidt Ln, El Cerrito, CA
/articles/city-s-next-public-art-functional-artworks-at-recycling-center
516844
/locations/6382377
37.91547
-122.31146
City of El Cerrito City Government
10890 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito, CA
/articles/city-s-next-public-art-functional-artworks-at-recycling-center
516869
/locations/6382378
John Stashik
1:17 pm on Monday, February 20, 2012
Presidents Day sounds good to me. AP style handles it that way although other style manuals use plural possessive. I like keeping it simple. Thanks for pointing out that Presidents Day is not the official name of the holiday. Veterans Day is another problem case. Properly without any apostrophe. But you see it three ways. Since I create calendars for a few clients I tend to pay attention to these… more ›