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 El Cerrito City Council has given the green light to an "urban greening plan" whose specifics will be shaped by public input. The council approved a contract of at least $154,000 for a Berkeley-based firm to develop the plan.
A proposal to knock down a prominently located house on Solano Avenue on the Albany-Berkeley border and replace it with a two-story dental-retail complex is scheduled to go before the Albany Planning Commission this week.
Faced with the upcoming loss of its half-time fire chief, the Albany City Council voted Monday night to recruit a full-time chief, while at the same time eliminating the second-in-command, the battalion chief, as a sworn position.
The Piedmont City Council voted unanimously Monday night to join a proposed Alameda County "Energy Council," whose voting structure was opposed by the council in an earlier vote in January.
A proposal to put license plate readers at all entrances and exits of Piedmont won tentative support Monday from the City Council, which asked for a Public Safety Committee review and a vendor quote for the whole project.
The Albany City Council's closed session Monday night includes the lawsuit by Albany Strollers & Rollers against the city over approval of UC development plans for University Village. A settlement is being discussed, a plaintiffs' attorne
On the City Council agenda Monday is a recommendation for the city to join a new Alameda County "Energy Council," whose voting structure was opposed by the council in an earlier vote in January.
Mark Twain, who sits holding a book just inside the front entrance to the main library at UC Berkeley, seemed unfazed by his cellphone-holding seatmate, graduate student Sarah Oh.
The cost of installing license plate readers on poles at all entrances and exits of Piedmont could exceed $1 million, also include ongoing service fees and require an additional police detective, according to a police report released Thursday.
It was Pi Day Thursday, which meant the math club at Albany High was a popular attraction as members sold slices of homemade pie for a club fundraiser in the front plaza after school.
Facing a possible loss of $7.4 million, the Alameda school board voted 4-1 Tuesday night to appeal the recent state Court of Appeal ruling in Borikas v. Alameda Unified School District that the district's Measure H parcel tax is partially invalid.
A seventh-grade life sciences class from Portola Middle School in El Cerrito helped green the city under a sunny sky Tuesday when they planted a dozen oak trees on the hilly portion of Cerrito Vista Park.
Those who were hoping for officialdom to deal with the apparent surge in wild turkeys making Albany their home – and life miserable for some residents – are not likely to find satisfaction, according to city officials.
Berkeley transportation planners are considering whether any fixes are needed to address driver confusion caused by the large white striped crescent that the city painted on Solano Avenue at the intersection with Colusa Avenue.
At the only the place that sells made-to-order food in Piedmont, Mulberry's Market, the most popular choice on the expansive sandwich board is probably the cold "Settlemonster," followed closely by the hot "See Jane."
Berkeley transportation planners are considering whether any fixes are needed to address driver confusion caused by the large white striped crescent that the city painted on Solano Avenue at the intersection with Colusa Avenue.
Wednesday's state Court of Appeal ruling against an Alameda school parcel tax will have no immediate impact on West Contra Costa schools and pose only a relatively small risk of future financial loss, board member Charles Ramsey said.
Early morning fire at celebrated Berkeley restaurant could keep main dining room closed for weeks.
Waters says the Cafe could reopen by next weekend.
For those unfamiliar with the world of knitting, "k2tog" is not a mountain in Nepal. It's a knitting shop on Solano Avenue in Albany, named after a technique in knitting, with "k2tog" standing for "knit two together."
