A complaint was filed on May 2 through the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Nahla Droubi, the landlord of the property that houses the dispensary. The lawsuit threatens to seize the property for allegedly violating federal law, which prohibits operating a marijuana dispensary.

Berkeley City Council members and representatives from Berkeley Patients Group held a press conference Wednesday afternoon in front of the Old City Hall expressing their opposition to the lawsuit.

“There is no legitimate reason to target Berkeley Patients Group,” said Sean Luse, chief operations officer at BPG. “They’re in compliance with state law. The U.S. attorney general … has chosen to hurt our patients by diverting attention from the real issues.”

Berkeley Patients Group also came into opposition with the federal government in February 2012, when it received letters from the U.S. attorney’s office for violating a federal law banning dispensaries from being located within 1,000 feet of a school. Even though California law dictates that the distance only has to be 600 feet, the dispensary voluntarily closed down and reopened at a new location in December a few blocks away.

According to the complaint, the U.S. attorney began sending Droubi letters again in November 2012 before the new location opened, warning that the new location would be in violation of the same federal law by being within 1,000 feet of two preschools. A second letter sent in February noted that the group could face criminal and civil penalties if operation continued.

Luse said that the federal government should focus its attention on other crime problems in the city, like illegal drug and gun trafficking. He also said that they plan to fight the lawsuit.

“We look forward to having our day in court and believe we will ultimately prevail,” Luse said.

City Councilmembers Darryl Moore, Kriss Worthington, Laurie Capitelli and Jesse Arreguin voiced their backing of Berkeley Patients Group at the press conference. Mayor Tom Bates also showed his support for the dispensary.

“I’m very, very disappointed that this has happened, and we’ll do anything we can to make sure they get back into business,” Bates said.

Councilmember Kriss Worthington said that the federal government was overstepping its boundaries, referencing the recent California Supreme Court ruling on City of Riverside v. Inland Empire Patients Health and Wellness Center. In the ruling, the court recognized the legality of medical cannabis dispensaries but allowed that local governments may ban dispensaries despite state law.

“Being a U.S. attorney doesn’t give you the right to change state law or city law,” Worthington said. “It’s so absurd. It’s a waste of time, and it’s threatening patient care.”

In the meantime, the dispensary will remain open, according to Henry Wykowski, attorney for Berkeley Patients Group.

“The only people that would benefit from the closing of Berkeley Patients Group are the gangs and cartels,” Wykowski said. “This action will cause them to prey on the patients who now have a clean, safe place to get their medicine.”

The federal government filed a similar lawsuit against a medical marijuana dispensary in Oakland last July. The city of Oakland filed a lawsuit in response, claiming that the federal government had overstepped its jurisdiction. A federal judge later dismissed the lawsuit, saying that only the dispensary and its landlords could contest the government’s seizure of property.

Wykowski said that they intend to file a claim in response to the lawsuit and will also present their case in court.

Contact Tara Hurley at thurley@dailycal.org.

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Currently, the city has quotas in place limiting the number of each type of business — such as restaurants, barbershops and gift shops — that can operate in the Telegraph Avenue commercial area.

Thirty-four local restaurants, including Gypsy’s Trattoria Italiana, C.R.E.A.M. and La Burrita, have signed a petition opposed to relaxing these quotas for three years.

Alex Popov, manager of Pappy’s Grill and Sports Bar, created the petition and the Telegraph Restaurant Association to organize the thoughts and concerns of local restaurant owners.

“We’re concerned with the general appeal of (Telegraph Avenue),” Popov said. “We don’t want (visitors) to think of Telegraph Avenue as just a place to go when they’re hungry.”

The current city quotas specify that 19 carry-out and 30 quick-service restaurants may operate in the area, yet the petition counted 72 carry-out and quick-service restaurants in operation.

Some restaurant owners said there are too many restaurants operating in the Telegraph area and that they desire more retail diversity. According to Popov, 17 of the 18 stores on Center Street in Berkeley are restaurants.

City Council members will discuss the quota issue in a meeting Tuesday night at 7 p.m.

Gladys Rosario covers academics and administration. Contact her at grosario@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @gladysrosario93.

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Originally slated for discussion on Tuesday, the item was postponed due to the lengthy meeting and substantial agenda that day. Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmembers Jesse Arreguin and Kriss Worthington drafted a statement Tuesday urging the city’s Commission on Labor to consider implementing a local minimum wage of $10.55 per hour. Berkeley currently does not have a city minimum wage requirement and has been using the state standard, which is $8 per hour.

They also hope to add a provision that would automatically increase the wage along with inflation.

This push follows San Francisco’s increase in minimum wage this year from $10.24 to $10.55 per hour — the highest minimum wage in the country. San Jose also passed a minimum wage ordinance in November of $10 per hour.

The city of Berkeley also has another regulation — the Living Wage Ordinance — requiring city contractors to pay a minimum of $13.03 per hour along with a medical benefit of at least $2.17 per hour. Other businesses located in Berkeley but not contracted with the city are not held to these standards.

Though the impact of an increased minimum wage on Berkeley is still unknown, UC Berkeley economics professor Michael Reich said that his studies have found that San Francisco’s citywide minimum wage of $10.55 per hour has not created negative employment effects.

In another study titled “Increasing the Minimum Wage in San Jose: Benefits and Costs,” Reich also concluded that “minimum wage increases attract more workers to a local area and make it easier for employers to recruit and retain their workers.”

Arreguin explained that he and other council members were inspired to discuss the issue by the high cost of living in Berkeley.

“We need to establish our own minimum wage so that people who work minimum- and low-wage jobs have livable income to be able to support their families, to be able to support themselves,” Arreguin said. “It’s very expensive to live in Berkeley and very expensive to live in the Bay Area.”

However, the Berkeley Restaurant Alliance, a coalition of more than 150 Berkeley restaurants, argues that this proposal is unreasonable and that the city’s communication with local businesses has been lacking.

“No one knew about this,” said Natalie Kniess, a co-founder of the Berkeley Restaurant Alliance. “The majority of businesses heard about it from the San Francisco Chronicle report. It was disrespectful to the business community. We want to help out the community … (but a) 32 percent wage increase will break the backs of the small mom-and-pop stores Berkeley is out to support.”

Arreguin said he has received a few emails from business owners expressing that this ordinance would negatively impact them but is confident that compromises can be made.

“Some businesses have voiced concerns, but there are ways we can work with the business community to move this forward,” Arreguin said. “I don’t think in the end it will force businesses to shut down.”

The minimum wage item was moved to the action agenda.

Contact Alison Fu at afu@dailycal.org.

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Serving the Berkeley community since 1914, Downtown Berkeley’s main post office is one of the city’s historical landmarks listed in the National Register of Historic Places and contains two pieces of Works Progress Administration artwork. Monday’s announcement means that the Postal Service will be selling the property and moving operations from the historic building to another location nearby, which has yet to be determined.

The decision comes after the Postal Service announced in June of last year that it intended to relocate the Downtown branch as part of a nationwide strategy to consolidate up to 140 locations by 2013 and another 89 by 2014. The Postal Service has been facing a nationwide $25 billion deficit over the past four years, according to Postal Service spokesperson Augustine Ruiz.

“It doesn’t mean we’re going to go out of business,” Ruiz said. “All we’re saying is that we don’t need a 57,000-square-foot building anymore when we only need 4,000. It makes good business sense.”

Since the plan to relocate the post office was revealed, residents and city officials have opposed it.

Local groups, such as Save the Berkeley Post Office, have held several protests outside the building, and the mayor and several Berkeley City Council members created the Post Office Subcommittee last July to lobby the USPS.

“I’m really disappointed,” said Mayor Tom Bates. “It’s a beautiful building. We talked to the Postal Service about the need to keep the building public, but they just seem to have it in their minds that they want to sell it no matter what.”

According to the statement, there is a 15-day appeal period during which anyone can send a letter to the Postal Service, which will review the complaints prior to making a final decision.

Bates and Arreguin both voiced plans to take part in appealing the decision. A special City Council session may be held to organize a collective letter of appeal from the city on April 30, Arreguin mentioned.

“We’re going to appeal, but I think the chances of the appeal going through are about one out of 20,” Bates said.

Save the Berkeley Post Office also intends to hold a protest against the decision and has been talking with lawyers about the possibility of challenging it legally, according to Harvey Smith, spokesperson for Save the Berkeley Post Office.

“In the end, even if the outcome of the appeal is not favorable, what we can certainly do as a city government is to work with the USPS to make sure who buys the building uses it for a positive use,” Arreguin said.

Contact Alison Fu at afu@dailycal.org.

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But while Berkeley residents have been using Downtown as a portal out, others in the Bay Area have been coming in, settling down and calling it their new home — leaving Telegraph Avenue on the sidelines. With flocks of young professionals coming to find new housing, Downtown has seen a boom in housing development, with nearly 1,000 apartment units planned for the area.

Telegraph, however, has yet to witness the same kind of growth. Struggling to reclaim its storied past as a hub of intellectual activity, many on Telegraph are looking to Downtown and feeling left behind.

Telegraph: home to students

“Telegraph has been starved for attention and money from the city of Berkeley for years,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington. “It’s long past time to do something about it.”

The lack of attention shows. There stand a few housing developments, including one at the corner of Haste Street and Telegraph that has slowly emerged more than a year after the fire at the Sequoia building. But it is nothing on the scale of what is going on Downtown.

The Residences at Berkeley Plaza, for instance, is an ambitious proposal for a 17-story building in the historic Hinks Department Store that currently houses Shattuck Cinemas. Another project, Acheson Commons, will occupy the northeast corner of University and Shattuck avenues and add hundreds of new units to the city’s rental housing stock. These are just two of the more ambitious developments proposed among the many in place for Downtown, spanning nearly 1,000 apartment units.

“Telegraph doesn’t resonate with people as much as it used to,” said Roland Peterson, the executive director of the Telegraph Business Improvement District. “Any commercial district is not going to succeed unless the people who live around it support it.”

The people who live around Telegraph, however, have found themselves to be one of the area’s greatest strengths and weaknesses. Developers are continuously building units suited more for student needs than those of the young professionals who are spurring the housing growth Downtown.

Of the nearly 200 proposed housing units near Telegraph on Southside, around 120 of the units describe themselves as “dormitory-style” housing and “student-oriented rental apartment units.”

Downtown: Berkeley’s transportation hub

Just a few streets away, however, Bay Area professionals are increasingly finding Downtown to be a suitable housing option, in contrast to the student-heavy Telegraph and Southside.

“Attitudes are changing about the Downtown,” said Downtown Berkeley Association CEO John Caner. “People see it as an up-and-coming, fun environment.”

Yet Downtown’s growth is only a recent phenomenon, and the city is still actively working to revitalize the area under the Downtown Area Plan. One of the reasons for this newfound growth, on top of Bay Area regional economic recovery, appears to be Downtown’s transportation strengths.

In fact, for experts like former Oakland city planner and longtime Berkeley resident John English, the BART station may be the overriding reason that Downtown is thriving while Telegraph seems stagnant.

With BART and the buses providing easy access to Oakland and San Francisco, the appeal of the area as a transportation hub attracts students and professionals equally — thus spiking housing demand.

“Downtown is a node of activity for the greater Bay Area,” said Berkeley developer Derek Allen, director of development for ROEM Corporation.

Notably, the current location of Downtown Berkeley BART’s iconic brown dome was not the only spot for the station that was considered when the transit system was still in the works.

“I remember when the BART system was being planned,” English said. “There was the plan of BART running up Telegraph and into Sproul Plaza.”

Finding a niche for Telegraph

Had that been the case, Telegraph’s story might be different today. Instead, Telegraph’s residents feel left in the dust in the wave of Downtown’s heavy development.

No one is more aware of the problems on Telegraph than city officials. As such, the iconic street has seen years of meetings and get-togethers discussing how to revamp its slumped economy and dilapidated facade. There is generally a sense of what people want to see in a recovered Telegraph.

“You have to have specialty stores in niche markets,” said Mayor Tom Bates, who has recently undertaken efforts to address Telegraph’s problems. “We have to find that niche, a combination of good food, shops and exciting places to be.”

Current ideas for improving Telegraph in the near future to reach that ideal include installing LED lights, an in-progress project funded by the university; changing the flows of both pedestrian and vehicular traffic and enticing new stores to move into the area.

Yet Worthington worries that improvements to the now-fragile district will remain just talk for quite some time.

“There are dozens of ideas that have been circulating,” Worthington said. “There are dozens of meetings that have been held. And yet, very little has actually been done for years. We need to actually come up with specific things we can do to support the stores there and support the area.”

This includes making sure Telegraph Avenue lives up to its historic reputation.

“When I’m hitchhiking around Europe, when I’m walking down the streets in India and say I live in Berkeley — Telegraph Avenue is the iconic street of Berkeley,” Worthington said. “Nobody in Europe or India asks me about Shattuck Avenue, Ashby Avenue, San Pablo — it’s always Telegraph.”

Megan Messerly covers city government. Contact her at mmesserly@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @meganmesserly.

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At its March 19 meeting, Berkeley City Council will consider a referral submitted by Worthington requesting the city manager to assist Michael Koh, Ann Vu and Jack Huynh, the respective owners of Dojo Dog, Healthy Heavenly Foods and Kettle Corn Star, in relocating their businesses. The move comes more than two months after the vendors were asked to vacate the property in December due to Lower Sproul construction.

Mayor Tom Bates has also called upon the city manager to look into finding alternative locations for the vendors.

Worthington characterized the vendors’ notice to vacate two days before the beginning of construction as “offensive and outrageous.” Usually, authorized businesses are notified one to two months in advance if they need to vacate for construction purposes, he said.

“This construction project has been planned for five years,” Worthington said. “It’s not like some emergency that just sprung up.”

Worthington said he hopes his referral will prompt the city to consider alternatives for the vendors more seriously in the future.

The owners, who invested in the trucks last year under a four-year permit program with the city, are reaching out for either alternative locations or compensation from the city because they cannot afford to keep paying the trucks’ parking permits or insurance.

The vendors say Worthington’s action may bring them the help they need to earn their livelihoods again.

“It’s kind of like when you’re drowning and someone throws you a rope,” said Koh, a UC Berkeley senior. “The city was pretty much going to avoid us. Because of (Worthington), they will start to reinvestigate and put in some serious effort.”

Vu has also been trying to reach out to UC Berkeley students on Lower Sproul for help in further gaining attention from the city.

“I went there last Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to reach out to students,” Vu said. “The people support me.”

The vendors said their previous locations near Lower Sproul were ideal but that they are willing to operate anywhere the city allows as long as they will receive business.

Worthington said he hopes the city can come to an agreement with the vendors in the next two weeks, before Berkeley City Council is set to discuss the request.

Aly Neumann covers city government. Contact her at aneumann@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @AlyNeumann.

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As part of a mandatory procedure before continuing with the sale, the Postal Service hosted the meeting to inform residents about the financial reasons behind its proposal and to allow for public comment before any plans are finalized. More than 100 residents attended the meeting to campaign against the potential sale of the historic building, which they claim is a vital part of Berkeley.

“Our post office is not for sale,” said Mayor Tom Bates at the meeting. “It is something we truly love and value … we are not going to stand by and watch this happen.”

Community members have protested the potential sale since the Postal Service’s decision in June to later close and sell the post office.

The reason behind the proposal is a 26 percent drop in mail volume for the Postal Service since 2006 caused by the increasing use of electronic mailing systems, said Postal Service spokesperson Augustine Ruiz.

“We no longer need the space we once did,” Ruiz said. “The Berkeley post office is a good example of a building that is underutilized.”

However, residents said that the sale is part of larger trend of privatizing public spaces and cutting services.

“The post office was how my family later found a gateway to middle-class life,” said Berkeley resident Moni Law. “Do not slash the jobs that will disproportionately slash the jobs of people of color.”

Postal Service Regional Property Manager Diana Alvarado guaranteed, however, that under the new location, employees would not be impacted.

Still, residents emphasized the historical significance of the city’s post office building, which was recognized as a Berkeley landmark and by the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

“It is a short-term gain for a long-term loss,” said Susan Cerny, a member of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. “Many cities in California and across the country have a beautiful post office. The pride the federal government had should not be lost.”

Alvarado said the Postal Service would acknowledge the historical significance of the building and work with affiliated parties like the city, the Landmark Preservation Commission, the Berkeley Historical Society and the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association to preserve the space once the process has begun.

The Postal Service must meet with the California Office of Historic Preservation next before it makes its decision to sell the property, and the public can make appeals, according to Ruiz.

Alyssa Neumann covers City Government. Contact her at aneumann@dailycal.org.

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The fee, which passed by a 6-1 vote, lowers the amount of the previous Affordable Housing Mitigation fee approved by the council last October from $28,000 to $20,000 per apartment unit, which some council members hope will provide a further incentive for development in Berkeley and bolster the city’s fund for low-income housing development.

Currently, developers in Berkeley must make 10 percent of their apartment units affordable to low-income tenants or pay a fee to the Housing Trust Fund, a pool of federal, state and local funds for financing the development of long-term affordable housing.

Since the previous $28,000-per-unit fee was implemented, all of the six new rental housing developments have chosen to include affordable housing in their project proposals rather than pay into the fund.

Mayor Tom Bates noted that he was aware of one development that plans to include an affordable housing component but would rather pay the fee if it were less cost-prohibitive.

Under the terms of the old fee, the more economically sound choice for developers was to include the housing units, according to statistics provided by Berkeley City Planning Director Eric Angstadt.

Without the addition of new fees, the Housing Trust Fund is steadily being depleted and could be bankrupt in a matter of months or years, according to Councilmember Laurie Capitelli.

“If you allow for a reasonable fee and people actually pay it, you could develop more units in a setting where you could provide more services,” Bates said.

Another concern is that these projects will exceed the scale and character of their neighborhoods. Currently, developers can receive a density bonus under state law, an incentive to include low-income housing in project proposals, allowing building heights to exceed zoned limits.

“I would tell developers to take the density bonus,” Capitelli said. “But then we’ll be sitting here with angry residents saying the building is too tall, too wide.”

At the meeting, Housing Advisory Commissioner Marian Wolfe asked the council to wait before reducing the fee, as it had only been in effect for four months.

“This process felt very rushed,” said Commissioner Igor Tregub of the Housing Advisory Commission. “This was an imperfect, piecemeal solution to a problem that does need to be addressed.”

The majority of the council members remain hopeful that the new, lowered fee — which extends to those who submit their plans to the city by October 2014 and are approved by the Zoning Adjustments Board by October 2016 — will make the economics of the choice more equal and encourage some developers to pay into the fund.

Megan Messerly covers city government. Contact her at mmesserly@dailycal.org.

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While pension costs account for the largest part of Berkeley’s unfunded liabilities — costs the city must pay in the future but that are not due presently — costs for improvements in infrastructure compose the second-largest in liabilities, according to the city’s report.

“This is not a particularly bright picture, but we’re not alone,” said Mayor Tom Bates at the meeting. “I don’t know any city in the state of California that doesn’t have similar kinds of problems, not to mention the state itself.”

The city’s infrastructure includes 56 public buildings, 270 miles of public sanitary sewer mains, 52 parks, two pools, three camps and 42 other facilities. For the next five years, the city is facing $37.4 million in unfunded liabilities of improvements of these public buildings, streets, sewers and storm drain systems.

To fund improvements of public buildings, Berkeley has allocated $4 million in its budget over the next five years. However, the five-year projected costs are $23 million, leaving the city with an unfunded liability of $19 million.

For storm drains, $11.6 million has been allocated in the budget, but the city needs $37.4 million to cover the entire $49 million of maintaining the drains.

“We are in a reality of limited resources,” said Jacquelyn McCormick, a previous mayoral candidate and a member of Berkeley Budget SOS. “We should not grasp at straws or short-term fixtures for problems that have been in the making for years.”

An ongoing issue involves pension costs. Of the approximately $362 million in pension costs, CalPERS, a state pension fund that uses investment returns to provide for employee pensions, accounts for the largest employee-related unfunded liability, which is almost $250 million, according to a city report.

The city manager’s office proposed allocating the $5.7 million saved from refinancing certain bonds in 2012 to reduce pension costs.

One of the proposed options to reduce infrastructure costs is applying for more state and regional grants. Additionally, last November’s Measure M — which allows the city to issue $30 million worth of general obligation bonds to fund and accelerate the city’s five-year street-repaving plan and the Watershed Management Plan — is expected to bring in additional revenue.

However, the city must also address a projected deficit of $3 million in the general fund and $3.9 million in special funds for fiscal year 2014.

“I hope that we will show some fiscal discipline,” said Councilmember Laurie Capitelli.

The council will hold two more work sessions in March before the budget for fiscal years 2014 and 2015 is presented on May 7.

Daphne Chen is the lead city government reporter. Contact her at daphnechen@dailycal.org.

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Iglehart, who began working as chief of staff in January of 2012, will found her own business with a colleague, according to Nils Moe, senior aide to the mayor. It is not yet known who will replace Iglehart, as the mayor’s office is currently undergoing a restructuring, Moe added.

As chief of staff, Iglehart acted as the point person in the office for policy, working with the media and managing the office, said Moe. She had an especially strong background and expertise in dealing with startups and entrepreneurs, he said.

“When she came to me, she was helping us to develop more of a positive approach towards helping businesses get started in Berkeley,” said Bates. “She was very interested in the economic development component of the town. She brought a lot of new ideas and a lot of new energy.”

One of those new ideas included the Eureka pitch event, in which local companies and entrepreneurs could pitch their business ideas and receive valuable feedback and critiques from those already experienced in various industries, Bates added.

Additionally, it was during her tenure that the Skydeck went up and running in the city. Skydeck is a joint effort from UC Berkeley and the city to help tech-based startups located in Berkeley.

“She made a big contribution to her office, and I wish her well on her new job,” Bates said.

Jaehak Yu is a news editor. Contact him at jyu@dailycal.org

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