El Cerrito, CA|News|
Developer Picked for Former Tradeway, Chamber Sites Next to City Hall
The City Council was asked to spare a distinctive building that once housed a Japanese-American florist.

Email: (See my email address at the bottom of the Albany Patch or Berkeley Patch homepage.)
Phone: 510-435-4127
Now in my fourth year with Patch.com, I'm the editor of and Albany Patch and Berkeley Patch.
I worked many years as a staff writer and editor at the San Francisco Chronicle until April of 2009, when I switched to freelancing. I then wrote for the Los Angeles Times and other publications, and I also took on editing assignments for UC Berkeley and the United Nations.
Being an East Bay reporter for Patch brings my career full circle in the East Bay. My first bylines appeared in the East Bay Review of the Performing Arts. I next worked as a reporter and editor at the Daily Californian while studying at UC Berkeley, where I obtained a master's in journalism. I was a reporter at the Contra Costa Independent, Berkeley Gazette and San Francisco Examiner before moving to the Chronicle, where I worked several years in the Berkeley bureau and in the main East Bay bureau in Oakland.
The City Council was asked to spare a distinctive building that once housed a Japanese-American florist.

It looks like the two regular candidates for the two open seats on the City Council are shoe-ins since no write-in candidates filed by today's deadline.
We welcome "School Matters" by Betty Buginas, a veteran journalist, longtime teacher and well-known name to those familiar with El Cerrito Wire.
After 36 years in public service in four cities, Gary Pokorny finds El Cerrito "a very attractive place to live."
Each week, we'll highlight a reader comment.
A new program making the police department's radar guns available to citizens was adopted by the City Council last night.
A new program urging residents to turn their vehicles into sticker-bearing "Pace Cars" that never exceed the speed limit was approved by the City Council last night.
A scene from the bazaar Sunday at Sycamore Congregational Church.
Who was the first El Cerritan whom history remembers by name?
What Patch found on Stockton Avenue this morning.
Every Monday, we'll answer your questions about El Cerrito.
City officials say they're not aware of any large gas mains in El Cerrito like the one that ruptured in San Bruno but have had trouble getting information from PG&E.
Be first to identify the location of this wagon wheel and win a $25 gift certificate.
Volunteers are being sought for an exemplary writer-coaching program that is coming to the high school.
A little doggie named "Patch" and his companion Polly visit the Patch booth.
This photo of Albany Hill was taken from the Berkeley foothills in the same year that the Civil War began.
Patch journalists in San Bruno and other parts of the Peninsula are providing detailed and updated coverage of the big explosion and devastating fire in San Bruno.
What is the origin of the name of the City of El Cerrito?
The Stockton Avenue Art Stroll is a modest-sized event with a big heart.