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.
Not only did the city's new "rain gardens" on San Pablo Avenue sidewalks replace concrete with California native plants nourished by rainwater run-off but they also clean the water before it goes into Bay and beautify the street.
This poster blow-up of an archive photo — showing El Cerrito in 1934 with its famous (or infamous) dog-racing track — was found by peripatetic Patch in a discard pile at City Hall.
A brief flash of red brightened a cloudy outlook from El Cerrito City Hall this morning.
Our munchable flora can make marvelous bouquets too.
This is the first installment in our Mystery Photo contest. The prize is a $25 gift certificate to Fatapple's.
![Mystery Photo: [Update: We Have a Winner] Where's This Crenellated Tower?](https://patch.com/img/cdn/users/15468/2010/09/raw/eacdaf8d83fcbc402df5fe8dcff136f5.jpg)
A mesmerizing look at the past can be found at a special City Hall exhibit of historic photos of Japanese-American nurseries that bloomed in the north part of El Cerrito and part of Richmond.
Munchable flora can make marvelous bouquets too.
There's no telling what historic artifacts will be washed ashore by the tides of change (of address).
Rebecca Benassini, a member of a city board and a city committee, says she's running for City Council so that she can work on a broader range of issues.
Current Mayor Janet Abelson says she's running for a fourth City Council term in large part because she feels her mission to revitalize El Cerrito's main corridor is not yet complete.
If you want to know how many people have served on the El Cerrito City Council, who they were and exactly when they served, we have the answers.
Purported Dolly Parton autograph saying, "You were sure cute," raises local eyebrows — some in astonishment, some in skepticism and some possibly in envy.
A consensus proved impossible to corral at last night's community meeting on allowing chickens, bees, goats and pigs in El Cerrito yards.
Only two candidates filed for the two open seats on the El Cerrito council.
A suspected robber who knocked down a 72-year-old man using a walker and stole cash was quickly arrested, thanks to citizen calls to police.
The rebirth of Cerrito Theater offers a message about people who live in El Cerrito.
To avert cuts in city spending, the City Council placed a half-cent increase in the sales tax on the November ballot.
The editor of El Cerrito Patch talks about our hopes and plans and why we're doing this.
Glass flew Saturday when a car smashed through the front doors of the Ross store in El Cerrito Plaza.
City officials will hold a community meeting tonight for El Cerrito residents to learn about and give feedback on a proposed new law to allow the keeping of animals usually found in barnyards.
