Gordon Wozniak

Vice mayor and 22-year incumbent Linda Maio was re-elected to City Council to represent District 1, defending her seat against challengers Alejandro Soto-Vigil, a rent board commissioner, and Merrilie Mitchell, an activist and gardener.

On Tuesday, voters will determine the outcome of Measure R, which would create a Civic Center zoning overlay to protect cultural resources and expand and implement regulations from the 2010 downtown “green vision” measure.

In Berkeley’s District 8, the retirement of incumbent Councilmember Gordon Wozniak has left the City Council race wide open to four newcomers.

In West Berkeley, home to manufacturing companies, environmental issues lie at the forefront in the race for the District 1 council seat.

Twelve elected officials urged the Federal Emergency Management Agency to release funds for a proposal to remove trees that pose a “fire hazard” from Claremont Canyon, a regional preserve that runs through Berkeley and Oakland hills, in a letter released on Tuesday.

Berkeley City Council moved forward Tuesday with restrictions on the use and sale of tobacco products, passing one measure on electronic smoking devices and discussing another aimed at making tobacco distribution illegal where children and teenagers gather.

A sampling of the biggest news in Berkeley over the summer.

With fewer than 24 hours remaining, no UC Berkeley student has filed candidacy for City Council after years of lobbying to create a student supermajority district.

Berkeley City Council voted Tuesday to put a measure on the November ballot to increase the existing parks tax, deciding to drop a larger ballot measure that sought to renovate Berkeley public spaces.