Primary election results are still rolling in, but in the Assembly District 15 race, Buffy Wicks will advance, while Dan Kalb and Jovanka Beckles are in a tight race for second place. (The top two vote-getting candidates face off in November.)
Other noteworthy results: Incumbent Nancy O’Malley beat out challenger and civil rights attorney Pamela Price in Alameda County’s district attorney race, and it’s worth noting how the votes divided up geographically.
[embed-1] Alameda County Superior Court Judge Tara Flanagan beat out challenger Karen Katz.
RM3, the bridge toll measure to expand mass transit infrastructure and other transportation projects in the region, passed, as did Emeryville’s affordable housing bond, and Measure D, a parcel tax to fund Oakland’s libraries. Measure A, however, a half-cent sales tax increase to fund childhood education, fell just short of the two-thirds vote needed to pass.
For more local and statewide results, go here.
In non-election news, a controversial project to build 260 units of housing at the site of the Spenger’s parking lot — which has been fiercely opposed by some Ohlone people and their supporters because of its location within the bounds of the West Berkeley Shellmound — faced another obstacle yesterday. City planning staff told developer West Berkeley Investments that the 1900 Fourth St. project does not qualify for fast-tracked approval under SB 35, which aims to streamline the permitting process for affordable housing projects, because it is designated a city landmark and a state archaeological site. (Berkeleyside)
[Read related story: “Living on Ohlone Land”]
A white woman harassed a multiracial group of people in Berkeley over the weekend, the video of which has gone viral. The woman zeroed in on Essex Cook, who is Black, and told him, “You don’t belong here. Get out of Berkeley.” Berkeley police arrested the woman, 31-year-old Lauren Milewski, and said she is known to police for aggressive and drunken behavior. (Berkeleyside)
The Oakland City Council yesterday rejected Councilmember Desley Brooks’ contentious funding proposal for job-training organizations. Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker had said the ordinance would have broken state and federal law. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Reflecting nationwide trends, in Alameda County the birth rate has plummeted at the same time that home values have skyrocketed. Between 2010 and 2016 in the county, the birth rate fell by nearly 25 percent, while homes increased in value by 60 percent. (San Francisco Business Times)
New data shows that 53 percent of Bay Area voters say it’s “much harder” to find a place to live compared to just a year ago. The poll by the Bay Area Council follows another recently released survey by the same group that showed nearly half of Bay Area residents plan to move away in the next few years, in large part because of the high cost of housing. (East Bay Times)
