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R ckridgeNews

THE

www.rockridge.org

VOL 37   •   NO. 6   •   ISSUE  NO. 398   •   JUNE 4, 2022                       CIRCULATION: 5,800 Residences; 200 Businesses

Sponsored by the Rockridge Community Planning Council (RCPC)  •  4900 Shattuck Ave., PO Box 22504, Oakland  94609

Legislative Update
with Buffy Wicks
by Anna L. Marks, Editor
A
California native, Buffy Wicks
grew up in the small town of
Foresthill, near Auburn, in the foot-
hills of the Sierras. She spent about
six years working on Obama’s 2008
political campaign, and, in 2016,
served on Hillary Clinton’s leadership
team. After stints in D.C., Chicago,
and Texas, Wicks told her then-
boyfriend, “I need to move back to
California: That’s part of the deal if
you want to marry me.” They found a
home in Rockridge in 2016 and, “have
loved being in the neighborhood.”
Photo by
Anna Marks

Treadwell Mansion was built in 1875 for John and James Treadwell, owners
of the Tesla coal mine near Livermore. In 1922 the Treadwell estate was
acquired by California College of Arts and Crafts. In 2017 they sold the
property to a housing developer who plans to preserve the historic structure.

Rockridge Bids Final
Farewell to California
College of the Arts
renamed the California College of
Arts & Crafts (CCAC). It acquired
its current location at College and
Broadway in 1922.
When the college relocated from
downtown Berkeley, the selection
of Rockridge as a new home was
not random. Rockridge was a lively
commuter neighborhood of Arts &
Crafts homes built largely between
1910 and 1920.
Rockridge News
editor Anna L.
Marks (left) talks
with Buffy Wicks
(below) via Zoom.
by Annette Floystrup
In May, Rockridge said goodbye to
one of its oldest neighbors, the Cal-
ifornia College of the Arts (CCA).
The school began its life as the
California Guild of Arts and Crafts
in 1907 and soon thereafter was
CCA Farewell, see page 10
In 2018, Wicks was elected to the
State Assembly from the 15th District
(Berkeley/Richmond/North Oakland),
beating out Richmond City Council-
woman Jovanka Beckles in the general
election (now the 14th District due
to redistricting). Since then, she has
authored and sponsored a number
of bills currently winding their way
through the legislative process. She
was recently named Chair of the
Assembly Committee on Housing, and
has made this issue her top priority.
MESSAGE FROM INCOMING RCPC CHAIR: CASEY FARMER
HOW SHOULD ROCKRIDGE EVOLVE?
For those I don’t have the
pleasure of knowing yet, I’ll
share a little about myself: I’ve lived
in Rockridge with my husband since
2008 (minus a short stint in Old
Oakland) — first, renting above
Cole Coffee, surrounded by those
lovely scents of java; then, buying
our first home on sweet Hermann
Street; and, last summer, moving
into a larger home for our grow-
ing family on Carlton Street.
While living in these three
pockets of Rockridge, I’ve
witnessed how our residents
make this neighborhood an
Chair Message, see page 2
Buffy Wicks, see page 13


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JUNE 2022

help carry on that spirit of community
improvement by sharing their ideas
as RCPC facilitates conversations
about upcoming land-use projects
— including 51st and Broadway, the
JCC project at the old Dreyer’s site,
the BART parking lot, and the CCA
campus. All of these “opportunity
sites” are at varying stages of planning
and I am committed to ensuring that
RCPC convenes project leaders and
advocates for the needs of our entire
community regarding the impact of
these projects.
I believe we have a moral and
environmental imperative to build
more housing in our neighborhood.
The survey that RCPC conducted in
late 2021 shows that, at least on the
51st and Broadway site, residents over-
whelmingly support housing.
The current proposal for a Home
Depot store does not align with the
needs nor desires of the community.
The RCPC Board has already sent a
letter to the developer (see Rockridge
News, May 2022) and to our elected
representatives expressing this serious
concern, and we will continue to
oppose such poor use of this site.
I invite you to engage with us.
Whether you want to share your feed-
back on a development site, apply for
a community beautification project
from our Kevin Faughnan Grants
Fund, join one of our Committees,
write an article for The Rockridge
News, or attend our October 2nd
Kitchen Tour event — I thank you for
enhancing our neighborhood with
your engagement.
Have ideas, questions, or want to
join our email list? Please email me
at chair@Rockridge.org. n
Chair Message, from front page
amazing place to live. Many streets
hold annual block parties; dozens
of neighbors have stepped up to
“Adopt-a-Drain” to prevent flooding
and abate litter; and countless resi-
dents share gardening tips or their
abundance of fruit. Neighbors check
in with each other when a garage or
gate has been left open, and become
lifelong friends. This sense of cama-
raderie is powerful and an incredible
privilege to be part of.
After my reelection to the Rock-
ridge Community Planning Council
(RCPC) in April, I was also elected to
serve as our new Chair (many thanks
to our great previous chair, Leonora
Sea, who just termed out after serv-
ing three terms). My goals as Chair
are to listen to the concerns of all
Rockridgers; to expand our commu-
nications so that we are reaching and
hearing from more voices; and to
activate more residents to make our
neighborhood more inclusive.
As an organization, RCPC has
advocated for many important
neighborhood features we all can
appreciate. Two of my favorite exam-
ples are the Rockridge Library (which
required us to tax ourselves!), and the
open courtyard and free parking at
the College Avenue Safeway.
I am confident that residents will
The Rockridge News was founded in March
1986 by Don Kinkead and is published
monthly (except August). It is sponsored by
the Rockridge Community Planning Council
(RCPC), a nonprofit public benefit organization
founded to: preserve and enhance the unique
character of the Rockridge neighborhood;
promote the health, safety and quality of life
of its residents; furnish a forum for community
involvement; and provide leadership and
representation of neighborhood interests.
Rockridge News Production
Anna L. Marks ........................ Editor & Layout Artist
Jo Ellis........................Assistant Editor & Ad Manager
Susan Montauk................................Business Manager
Judith Doner Berne.......................Senior Staff Writer
RCPC Board of Directors, 2022-23
Casey Farmer.......................................................Chair
Robin McDonnell..................................... Vice-Chair
Aly Bonde...................................................... Secretary
Ken Rich........................................................Treasurer
Mark Aaronson, Andrew Charman, Stuart Flash-
man, Ben Friedman, Annette Floystrup, Kirk
Peterson, Ashley Pandya, Ronnie Spitzer, Zac Unger
Contact the board: chair@rockridge.org
For information: info@rockridge.org
Contacting The Rockridge News
Are there community issues you’d like to see
covered in The Rockridge News? Have questions
about newsletter distribution? Want to volunteer to
be a Rockridge News block captain? Want to write a
letter to the Editor? We’d love to hear from you.
All letters must be limited to 350 words and are
published at the discretion of the Editor. Send
them to: editor@rockridge.org. Please be sure
to include your name, email address, and city and
street of residence. All submissions accepted
for publication are subject to editing for clarity
and brevity.
Missed an issue of
The Rockridge News?
Visit rockridge.org
and download a copy today,
in color, with hotlinks to resources
on the Internet.
The Rockridge News reserves the right to refuse any
articles, letters, display ads, or classified ads.
Newsletter Subscriptions
To subscribe to The Rockridge News, send your
check for $20, payable to RCPC with “Rockridge
News” noted on the memo line.
Mail payment to: RCPC, 4900 Shattuck Avenue,
PO Box 22504, Oakland, CA, 94609
At Holy Names, students thrive. In our
supportive and academically-challenging
environment, Holy Names students develop
strong voices, deep compassion, and the
Display Advertising Deadline for JULY:
June 16, 2022
skills and confidence they need to have a powerful impact
on the world.  We are proud to be the most diverse all-girls
school in the Bay Area, and our diversity includes the full
socio-economic spectrum, race and a multitude of cultures
that reflect our local community.
Advertising rates are $28/column inch. Six-month
pre-pay rate available. For display ads, call Jo Ellis
at 510-653-3210 (after noon), or email joellis1@
hotmail.com. Email Susan Montauk at smontauk@
gmail.com for information regarding classified ads.
Holy Names High School
Views expressed in published articles do not
necessarily reflect those of The Rockridge
News, its editor, or the board of directors of the
Rockridge Community Planning Council.
4660 Harbord Drive, Oakland, CA 94618
hnhsoakland.org


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JUNE 2022

What is Alameda
County Doing for
the Homeless?
Digital Wayfinding Kiosks
City Council Corner
On April 17, the City Council
instructed city staff to negotiate an
agreement with Ike Smart Cities to
install digital wayfinding kiosks in var-
ious commercial districts throughout
Oakland. The double-sided kiosks are
roughly eight feet tall with interactive
digital screens that provide services
like wayfinding and navigation, real-
time transit info, a local business
directory, and access to social services.
Each kiosk also serves as a limit-
ed-speed WiFi hotspot. The program
is supported by revenue from advertis-
ing that appears on the digital screens
when they are not in active use.
Ike has deployed kiosks in Berkeley
and seeks to expand into neighboring
cities. Oakland commercial districts
under consideration for kiosks include
Rockridge, Koreatown Northgate,
Downtown Oakland, Lake Merritt-Up-
town District, Lakeshore, Chinatown,
Jack London, Temescal, Montclair, and
Fruitvale. Ike proposes to share 35 per-
cent of net ad revenue from 50 kiosks
with the City of Oakland, which Ike
estimates would be between $700,000
and $1.6 million per year.
City staff urged the council to take
a more holistic look at street furniture
and advertising in the public right of
way including bus shelters, “big belly”
trash cans, and digital kiosks, to fully
understand their associated mainte-
nance and staffing costs. n
Oakland City Council
Meeting: Updates
Relevant to Rockridge
by Karen Ivy, Secretary, Greater
Rockridge NCPC
by Aly Bonde, RCPC Board Member
Alameda County has invested
more than $340 million to assist
the nearly 8,000 residents who need
a place to call home. Despite the
pandemic, the rate of increase in the
county’s homeless population from
2019 to 2022 was lower than in the
preceding years — demonstrating
that this investment is having a
positive impact (https://homelessness.
acgov.org).
The Greater Rockridge Neighbor-
hood Crime Prevention Council’s
(NCPC) meeting on June 9, at 7pm,
will cover the topic of homelessness.
The meeting will be held on Zoom
(details in box below). Hear speakers
Colleen Budenholzer (Coordinated
Entry Program Director with Ala-
meda County’s Office of Homeless
Care and Coordination) and Lucy
Kasdin (Alameda County Health Care
for the Homeless Director) talk about
how the county’s programs provide
solutions and services to homeless and
unsheltered county residents. n
Permanent Parklet Program
On March 15, the City Council made
permanent the “Flex Streets” program
that allows restaurants and retail to
extend out of doors and into the public
right of way. City staff developed the
emergency program early in the pan-
demic, and has since seen widespread
adoption. The program was initially
offered to merchants free of charge,
but, as of July 2023, there will be a
permit fee along with stricter design
requirements for these parklets.
Proof of Vaccination Mandate
On May 17, the City Council elim-
inated the requirement for customers
to show proof of vaccination in order
to enter indoor food and beverage
establishments, entertainment and
recreational locations, gyms and fit-
ness venues, public libraries, City Hall,
the Oakland Convention Center, and
large indoor events (the council added
a requirement for masking at large
indoor events). Proof of vaccination
is still required for senior adult care
facilities and senior centers.
NCPC Meeting
The Greater Rockridge
Neighborhood Crime
Prevention Council
will hold its next virtual meeting
with Colleen Budenholzer
and Lucy Kasdin, who will
speak about homelessness and
the unhoused.
Buying ?  Selling?
Let me help you!
June 9, 2022, at 7pm,
(pending further notice)
Anne D. Brandon
Realtor
For Zoom link, visit:
https://rockridgencpc.com
510.682.6644 | 510.339.9290
Anne.Brandon@corcorangl.com
To suggest meeting topics, send an
email to: chair@rockridgencpc.com.
AnneDBrandon.com
Lic# 01877719
© 2020 Corcoran Global Living. All rights reserved.
Each franchise is independently owned and operated.


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Rockridge Artist At
East Bay Open Studios

Docents & Writers Needed for
Rockridge Kitchen Tour
by Robin McDonnell, RCPC Kitchen Tour Co-Chair

Pdesign and construction process, and,
in turn, educate guests and answer
questions on the day of the tour.
The tour is also seeking individuals
to help write press releases, ads, and
kitchen descriptions. Like the docents,
writers get early access to the kitchens
and interview homeowners, architects,
and contractors, so they can describe
what was done, how it was done, and
why. On the day of the tour, docents
will be assigned to one shift and will
have the balance of the day to visit the
other kitchens that they didn’t get to
see during the pre-tour training.
The efforts of our volunteers help to
fund RCPC and its programs. If you
are interested in being a docent, please
contact the Kitchen Tour Committee,
at docents@rockridge.org. n

lanning for the 2022 Rockridge
Kitchen Tour, scheduled for
Sunday, October 2, is in full swing.
The RCPC Kitchen Tour Committee
has selected the kitchens to be fea-
tured on this year’s tour and is now
turning to the vital task of recruiting
another great group of docents.
Whether you’ve been a docent in
the past or are new to the tour, vol-
unteering as a docent is a fun and
rewarding experience.
A week or two before the tour, all
docents attend a training session
that includes visits to several houses.
Docents get an early look behind-the-
scenes and the opportunity to talk
to the owners/architects/contractors.
They will hear about the unique
features and problem-solving in the
Rockridge local Rachel Perls
(rachelperls.com) will be display-
ing her vibrant blossom paintings at
the East Bay Open Studios self-guided
tour at the Rockridge Community
Center on June 4, 5, and 12, from
11am-6pm, at 5776 Broadway. Visit
https://eastbayopenstudios.com/ for
the map and a listing of all the tal-
ented participants. n
The Rockridge News Needs Bundlers
Musicians Needed!
by Susan Montauk, Rockridge News Business Manager
Help RCPC recognize
the 140+ volunteers
who support
The Rockridge News by
performing at their
outdoor celebration.
Photo by
Anna Marks
Event to be held in
late summer.
Email chair@
rockridge.org for more
detailed information.
Volunteer bundlers (pictured left to right), Susan Montauk,
Mary Catherine Haug, Jean Circiello, and Alice Colgan.
Land Use Committee
Meeting Notice
Tand are finished by 4pm. The first
requirement is that you are able
to count to ten, and next, that you
wouldn’t mind sharing local news
with your fellow bundlers. Oh, and,
if you are young and/or strong, you
can help carry boxes the few yards to
the pickup tables.
If interested, contact Susan at (510)
547-3855, or smontauk@gmail.com. n
he Rockridge News bundlers are
looking for more assistance on the
first Friday of each month — that’s
when we count/bundle the papers that
are delivered to the Block Captains
who then deliver the newsletter door-
to-door.
Do you have a couple of hours
monthly to devote to the newsletter?
We meet at 2pm in lower Rockridge
The next meeting of the
RCPC Land Use Committee
will be held on
Wednesday, June 22, 2022,
at 7:30pm, via Zoom.
The meeting is open to the public.
To attend, check rockridge.org
for Zoom link,
or email: landuse@rockridge.org.


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Rockridge Kitchen Tour Offers Inside Peek
at Current Remodel Trends
SAVE THE DATE: October 2, 2022

by Robin McDonnell, RCPC Kitchen Tour Co-Chair
Wof the remodels will also be available
to answer questions about the goals
and challenges each owner faced.
On the tour, guests will learn
strategies for creating a seamless flow
between the kitchen and the rest of
the house, including the outdoors,
and how to make the most of a small
space without sacrificing amenities.
hether you’re looking for ideas
and inspiration for your own
kitchen, interested in seeing the latest
trends in kitchen design, thinking
of adding a small cottage to your
property, or just curious about Rock-
ridge kitchens, the 2022 Rockridge
Kitchen Tour has something for you.
You won’t want to miss the beautiful
kitchens on the tour, or
the full-house tour of a
delightful secondary unit
showcasing how small can
be very, very beautiful.
The homeowners
designed several of the
kitchens on the tour; the
rest are by local architects
and designers who are
experts in sensitive remod-
els of Craftsman and other
older-style houses. One
designer planned the entire
kitchen using online tools
for the remodel.
As on past tours, renovation bud-
gets encompassed a wide range. One
universal trend was to invest in dura-
ble surfaces, appliances, and fixtures
to create kitchens intended to last for
a long time. Many homeowners found
ways to economize on some parts of
the kitchen so that they could splurge
elsewhere while staying on budget.
Some did much of the work them-
selves, helped by family and friends.
Others reused nearly new appliances
that were still in good working order.
A new trend in Craftsman remodels
is to rethink all of the house’s interior
space — moving walls, opening up
dark central corridors, and expanding
the kitchen to be the heart of the
home. There will be a lot to see on the
2022 Kitchen Tour, and architects,
contractors, and designers will be
on hand at many of the kitchens to
answer your questions.
Docents with extensive knowledge
Advance tickets go on sale July 15th
at rockridgekitchentour.org
Tickets will also be available on
the day of the Kitchen Tour at the
registration booth in front of the
College Avenue Presbyterian Church,
5915 College Avenue.
Guests will receive a copy of
the comprehensive Kitchen Tour
Brochure, describing each kitchen
and listing resources for those con-
templating a remodel of their own
kitchens. The brochure is a treasure
trove for both design enthusiasts and
future renovators.
After viewing the marvelous kitch-
ens, you’re likely to be pretty hungry.
Make a full day of it in Rockridge
and, after the tour, enjoy the eclectic
array of fine dining options along
College Avenue. n


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Dream, Play, Build
Your Way to A
Better Community
by Carol Kasparek and Gary Fine
Picture a gathering where people
use blocks, beads, and buttons
to construct a landscape while
sharing stories of their childhood.
Participants welcome each other and
create changes that make everyone
feel better, encouraging new ideas.
Impossible? Possible and proven, say
Hudson Street residents James Rojas
and John Kamp, two urban planners,
in their new book, Dream Play Build
— Hands-On Community Engagement
for Enduring Spaces and Places.
Their collaboration began when
Rojas spoke at one of Kamp’s design
classes. They both had experienced the
challenge of working with groups to
improve a shared space or contribute
to a decision. Rojas knew his East LA
community had great ideas but noticed
they were uncomfortable contributing.
Rojas saw a solution in the “intersec-
tion of art and urban planning.” After
experiencing the streets of Europe
without a car during his military and
Peace Corps stints, he had a “transit
epiphany” about how people could
experience a city and their travels
through it. As he began his job with LA
Metro, he opened an art gallery with a
friend that included a model building
section where visitors could play with
Book Talk with
Hands-On Workshop
Saturday, July 2
from 2pm to 4pm
at the Rockridge Library
For more info, email:
jamestrojas@gmail.com
Urban planners John Kamp and James Rojas display the model they are
building for the U.S. Green Building Conference in LA.
Photo by Teresa Lucky
common objects to create a model for a
new neighborhood.
Turning buttons and bottle caps into
buildings and stacking blue beads to
become a lake seemed to recall a pleas-
ant time in childhood. In this childlike
moment, Rojas observed how collab-
oration and problem solving resulted
in “more play, less talk,” and brought
viable solutions to planning issues. The
technique created a deep bond among
the participants and magnified the
results. “Every time…the magic hap-
pened,” according to Kamp.
Rojas and Kamp came to Rockridge
six years ago. Very different journeys
led them to partner in their work
and their lives. Rojas grew up in Los
Angeles and Kamp grew up in what he
called the “orderly” Midwest.
Early activism with the Sierra Club
led Kamp to apply his landscape
design training to irrigation-free
experimentation. He wanted to use
science as a way to support a terrain
with no aesthetic compromises —
they needed to look good.
Also critical to an improved process
was the way the issue or problem was
presented. Kamp and Rojas asked par-
ticipants to design the “ideal shelter”
instead of the “ideal house.” The former
could bring in elements of the environ-
ment and the way the space is used, as
opposed to only looking at dimension
limitations. Key steps in the process
include building a model-building
workshop, pop-ups, and site explora-
tion, as detailed in their book.
Rojas’s desire to bring the approach
together in a book grew throughout the
pandemic. Kamp helped structure the
book proposal that eventually found a
home with Island Press. Dream, Play,
Build is full of references to Rojas’s
childhood and graced throughout with
Kamp’s line drawings.
When asked about how all this could
apply to Rockridge, Kamp proposed
thinking about the “ideal shared
street,” not simply the best traffic
circle. “It would be so much fun to
rethink what a street could be,” offered
Kamp. Trees planted off the curbs,
plazas located on asphalt, re-designed
storm-water catchments...it’s time to
dream, play, and build our future. n


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Rock-N-Stroll Neighborhood Entertainment
Continues on Saturday, June 11

LOOK AROUND
Sequoia sempervirens
by Kirk Peterson
by Jody Colley, Rockridge District Association Marketing Manager
F
R
The retailers, restaurants, and
service providers that make up the
Rockridge district invite you to
explore and experience big sales,
giveaways, food and wine tastings,
special menus, popup vendors, kids’
crafts, and fun activities for the whole
family — every second Saturday of
the month through December. n
or the second time this season,
Rockridge will host Rock-N-Stroll
on Saturday, June 11, from 11am
to 6pm, with more than a dozen
performers, DJs, and live music along
College Avenue — from Broadway
to Alcatraz. Neighbors are invited to
sip, sample, and save at this leisurely
daytime event.
edwoods are the iconic trees of
California. The Coast Redwood,
Sequoia sempervirens, is native to
Oakland and grows in California’s
Coastal Ranges from Big Sur to
Oregon where Pacific fog extends
inland. Coast redwoods can reach
nearly 400 feet in height and can live
more than 2,000 years — making
them among the oldest living things
on Earth.
Kirk Peterson
Photo by
Anna Marks
The trees’ flat needles are arranged
symmetrically on the twigs, which
bear small cones. They are planted
widely in parks and gardens through-
out Oakland and many California
cities. Majestic old redwoods are
an integral part of the Rockridge
“skyline.”
Stanford University’s logo features
the Palo (stick) Alto (tall), a coast
redwood. Our very own Redwood
Regional Park is a second-growth
forest. By the 1860s, the canyons were
clear-cut — redwood lumber is excel-
lent for construction.
Today, historic redwoods (and other
trees) are threatened by development,
including at the proposed California
College of the Arts site in Rockridge.
If you have the space, consider
planting a redwood tree — they are
great carbon capturers and help make,
and keep, Oakland beautiful. n

Hope Hines of Hella Juiced displays refreshing samples and discounted drinks
for thirsty Rock-N-Strollers. Follow them on Instagram @hellajuiced510.


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JUNE 2022

A Lifetime of Scholarship, Friendships & Travel
by Judith Doner Berne

It was May 6, the day before Ed Jay’s
91st birthday. “I was born a day
after Willie Mays,” he said, as we sat
in his hillside, Tudor-style Rockridge
home, filled with artifacts from a
lifetime of scholarship, friendships,
and travel. “Both of us were born in
Brooklyn.”
A life-long, though amateur, athlete
himself, Jay still plays singles tennis,
a sport he took up while getting his
doctorate in social anthropology from
the University of Chicago. In fact, he
and his wife, Sharon, a former Oak-
land Unified School District teacher,
bought the house they’ve lived in
since 1973, in part because it’s just
down the road from both public and
Chabot Canyon Racquet Club tennis
courts. Prior to that, they rented an
apartment on Claremont Avenue.
“I feel pretty healthy,” he said.
“I’ve always been athletic. I used to
do bicycle racing and touring.” As
a 17-year-old, he cycled 1,800 miles
from his home in Queens, N.Y.,
through the New England states, then
to Quebec and Montreal, on his own.
He still exercises on a stationary bike.
But, if the East Bay is home, India
is home away from home. Jay, a
professor who helped found the
anthropology department at Cal State
Hayward, has spent a total of seven
years living in, and visiting, India.
It all began with a year-and-a-half
(1958-60) in a bamboo hut embedded
in an Aboriginal tribe — the people of
Orcha — who live a jungle existence
in the Abujhmar Hills.
home party at which he met Sharon,
16 years his junior.  “She took to India
very nicely,” he said, in what turned
out to be an understatement. They
lived in India for a year in 1977-78 so
he could study at a regional Hindu
temple center, and again in 1989-90
It all began with a year and a half (1958-60)
in a bamboo hut embedded in an Aboriginal tribe.
His aim: “To achieve an
understanding of a way of life by
observing it and participating in it.”
The Orchas, he said, “accepted us
[him and his former wife] into their
society…they like to dance, drink,
and sing, and I am thankful for the
many evenings within the compound
of some family, sitting around a
warm fire, talking about animals in
the forest, or the crops, or a future
trip to market.”
Fast forward to 1967-68 Jay, now
single and teaching at Cal State Hay-
ward, spent close to another year in
India, this time focused on the lives of
a rice-growing, multi-caste, peasant
village. When he returned to the East
Bay, students threw him a welcome
to study Indian middle-class life.
Sharon then went back on her own to
teach for four years at the American
Embassy School in Delhi. “They
provided everything a teacher could
humanly want,” she said.
Jay retired from Cal State Hayward
in 1992, serving the last 11 years as
department chair. Since then, the two
have returned to India many times to
renew friendships, particularly with
one man and his family.
“On my first trip to the tribal area,
I met a young man who helped us get
settled,” Jay said. “He lived with us for
two months. We became really good
friends.” On his second trip, Jay hired
him as an interpreter — he spoke
Hindi, Urdu, and English — and lived
with his family. “They became our
family.”
The young man, Gulsher Khan,
became a well-known author, writing
under his nickname, Shaani. His
works have been translated into
Russian, Lithuanian, Czech, and
English. One of his books, An Island
of Sal, published in 1981, details the
time he spent with Jay in the tribal
village, chronicling the Orchas’ social
life and highlighting Jay’s interaction
with the tribe.
“Probably Ed had never expected as
much cooperation, love, goodwill and
warmth as were proffered him during
his stay,” Shaani wrote. “Indeed,
Ed Jay, see next page


THE

page 9
JUNE 2022

“Every single object in this
house has a memory behind it,”
say Ed and Sharon Jay.
Photo by Judy Berne
cators, neither has really stopped
teaching. Through stories of their
frequent, extended travels to India, I
have a much better understanding of
life there than from classes or books.
They are the best neighbors ever.”
“Ed and Sharon are our dear neigh-
bors and, effectively, family members
for more than 25 years,” said Brooke
Elmgren. “They’ve shared in our
happiest moments and been there for
us at times of loss. They have also
proved to be exceptional role models,
not just for our children, but for Todd
and me.
“They’re natural and passionate
lifelong learners on a wide range of
subjects — from politics to ethics,
travel to music (jazz, in particular)
— all of it tied nicely to their careers
as educators, both here and in India.
And while their intellectual energy
is impressive, their physical energy
keeps pace. They are, in brief,
inspiring.”
To celebrate Jay’s birthday, the
couple went to Safari West, a wildlife
preserve in Sonoma County, followed
by several days at the Calistoga hot
springs. They planned their trip so as
not to interfere with his regular news-
letter delivery. “I love Rockridge,” he
said. “It’s an ideal place to live.”
To comment or suggest topics
for future columns, please email
judyberne@att.net. n
Ed Jay, from previous page
before long the ‘Eds’ became insepara-
ble members of the zealously guarded,
close-knit community…they shared
with him their joys and sorrows.”
Shaani died in 1995.
“We brought two of his daughters
over here when they were in their
early twenties,” Jay said. “We drove
them all over our state and out of
state. We went to their weddings.”
The Jays returned from their most
recent trip to India in early 2020.
“The day we got back was the first day
of ‘shelter-in-place.’”
The Jays have long been active in
the Rockridge community. Sharon
helped organize the Rockridge
Community Planning Council
(RCPC), and both were involved in
trying to lessen the impact of the
new College Avenue Safeway store
on neighborhood vendors. A recent
Rockridge News survey revealed that
Jay is the oldest volunteer deliverer of
the newsletter.
“When I moved in just across from
them in 1975, Ed and Sharon were
the best at solving garden problems,
neighborhood communication, and
restaurant recommendations,” said
neighbor Lynne Costain.
“Although they are retired edu-


THE
page 10
JUNE 2022

Rockridge was a transportation hub
equal or superior to today’s BART and
bus access. Electric trolleys ran along
College Avenue — the Key System
E-Line electric trains to San Francisco
ran down Claremont; and the Sacra-
mento Northern, a 183-mile electric
interurban railway, ran down Shafter
Avenue connecting Oakland to Chico
via Sacramento. It was faster than it is
now to get to Sacramento by train.
With CCA came an influx of new
residents, both faculty and students,
and many left their mark on Rock-
ridge, Oakland, and, indeed, the
world. At the local level, the vibrancy
CCA Farewell, from front page
The California Arts & Crafts move-
ment (1895-1930) produced a distinct
regional blend of Japanese and Native
American symbolism, and elements
from the state’s Spanish-Mexican
heritage, all overlaid on aesthetic
concepts from Britain and reflected
in the design of homes and com-
mercial buildings here. Additionally,
Craftsman bungalows dominated
Rockridge, the only architectural
form to originate on the West Coast
and spread east. Nationally, they are
known as California bungalows.
With CCA came an influx of new residents, both faculty
and students, and many left their mark on Rockridge.
At the October 2009 RCPC Town
Hall, Arts & Crafts author and lec-
turer Jane Powell noted that while
a neighborhood of Pasadena on the
National Historic Register has been
dubbed “Bungalow Heaven,” Rock-
ridge has more and better bungalows
in a coherent neighborhood setting.
Powell called Rockridge “the finest
Arts & Crafts neighborhood in
America” due to the short building
period within which most Rockridge
homes were developed. Built in part
to serve commuters to San Francisco
following the 1906 earthquake, the
location was perfect for attracting
students from the wider region.
of the artistic hub created by the
college attracted creatives from far
and wide. Rockridge became home
to artists, musicians, writers as well
as many in the crafts. In later years,
filmmakers were also drawn to CCA
and the neighborhood. Rockridge
is home to two Oscar-winning
documentarians.
CCA Artists of Rockridge
Many distinguished alumni made
Rockridge their permanent home.
Two painters of the avant-garde
“Society of Six,” Maurice Logan and
Louis Siegrest, settled here, and the
CCA Farewell, see next page


THE

page 11
JUNE 2022

including the kind of racial uplift
that the work of Black artists has so
often been made to be, would be a
kind of vulgarization: a process by
which “the artist makes himself a
mere peddler.”
RCPC has directly benefitted
from the artistic input of faculty
and students, with board members
drawn from their ranks through the
years, including noted painter and
long-time CCA instructor Jason
Schoener. Local artists contributed
their time during the planning and
CCA Farewell, from previous page
creek that ran from Lake Temescal to
College Avenue (now culverted under
Hwy 24) was a rich subject matter for
them as well as many art students.
One of America’s most celebrated
and important ceramic artists, Peter
Voulkos, took his graduate degree at
CCAC and settled on 63rd Street at
Hillegass in 1959. Voulkos was a key
member of a group of ceramicists who
raised the skill from craft to art. His
work is very sculptural, often large,
frequently decon-
structed, and always
aesthetically chal-
lenging and exciting.
In 1961, Voulkos
was commissioned
by Lytton Savings
bank to make a
sculpture for the
plaza at the corner of
51st and Broadway.
In 1965, his con-
troversial sculpture
“Lady Remington”
was replaced by “The
Money Tree,” created
by noted kinetic
artist Peter Selz.
The Lytton Savings
building, an icon of
modernist architec-
ture by Swiss architect Kurt Meyer,
has since been demolished. Voulkos
was for many years on the faculty
at UC Berkeley. “Mr. Ishi,” one of
Voulkos’s heroic bronzes, can be seen
in the garden at the Oakland Museum
of California —  they also have a col-
lection of his ceramic works.
Rockridge is also home to noted
painter, collagist, and assemblage
artist Raymond Saunders, artist and
CCA faculty member since 1987.
His work is in numerous museums,
including the MOMA, Metropol-
itan Museum, Whitney Museum,
and SFMOMA. His work has been
exhibited worldwide. In his now-fa-
mous 1967 essay, “Black is a Color,”
Saunders stated that racial categories
have no place in the creation, or
viewing, of works of art. To make his
art a vehicle for any specific agenda,
“Lady Remington” was
commissioned by Lytton Savings in
1961. Voulkos created the sculpture
in the foundry at UC Berkeley,
established that same year.
design of the Rockridge Branch
Library and advised on the required
art elements that were included in
its construction.
New Urbanists consider Rockridge
a Natural Cultural District, defined
as “a geographically-defined social
network created by the presence
of a density of cultural assets in a
particular neighborhood. A Natural
Cultural District simply identifies
a neighborhood that has naturally,
organically, spawned a density of
unique cultural assets (organi-
zations, businesses, participants,
and artists) that sets it apart from
other neighborhoods.” This is the
quintessential description of Oak-
land’s Rockridge district, and CCA
embodied this spirit for 100 years.
They will be missed. n

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THE
page 12
JUNE 2022

Oakland Tech Seeks
Support for New
Student Center and
Staff Lounge
The Oakland Tech Parent Teacher
Student Association (PTSA), has
collaborated with a group of admin-
istrators, parents, teachers, and
students, to design a student center
and staff lounge in the old library
space. The PTSA has raised $80,000
to implement Phase One of the rede-
sign. However, additional funds will
be needed for the full vision of this
project to be realized.
Phase One will begin this summer.
The space will be cleared, painted,
and have its flooring replaced. Addi-
tionally, a new staff lounge is planned
to be partially in use by this fall.

The Oakland Tech Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA)
collaborated with a group of administrators, parents, teachers
and students, to design a new student center and staff lounge.
Artistic rendering
Phase Two and Phase Three will be
implemented as funds are secured for
completion.
This large undertaking will involve
many volunteer opportunities, and
success depends upon community
participation and support. Local
businesses are encouraged to be part
of this exciting project. Donors and
major volunteers will be recognized
on a permanent donor recognition
wall at the entrance of the center.
“After two years of disrupted
schooling for so many at-risk Oakland
kids, and the additional epidemic
of underfunded and dilapidated
facilities, this project could be trans-
formational,” said parent volunteer
Shelly Cox. “This new space for the
school will become the heart of Oak-
land Tech, and it will only be possible
through the efforts of our Oakland
Tech Community. Please help with
this important addition to our school
which will benefit Oakland Tech Stu-
dents for years to come.”
To donate, or for more information,
visit the school’s homepage at https://
oaklandtech.com/. For questions,
or to find out about volunteer
opportunities, contact Shelly Cox at
oaklandshellycox@icloud.com. n


THE

page 13
JUNE 2022

Buffy Wicks, from front page
She was charged with manslaughter.
Being criminally prosecuted, in my
opinion, was not the right thing to do.
My bill says you cannot be criminally
prosecuted for suffering a pregnancy
loss, whether it is sillbirth, miscar-
riage, abortion, or perinatal (in-utero
or shortly after birth).
RN: The People’s Convoy (the-
peoplesconvoy.org/) came through
Rockridge this past April. They
paraded loudly past your house and
down College Avenue to call for an
end of the State of Emergency and
to protest Covid vaccine mandates
(specifically Assembly Bill 1993,
authored by Wicks, that would
have required all employees and
all independent contractors who

housing and homelessness crisis.
Wicks: That’s my bill, and it would
be a very big set aside for funding
for affordable housing. Why do we
have growing homelessness in our
communities? It’s due to the lack of
ongoing funding for affordable hous-
ing. It needs a two-thirds vote to get
out of each house — the Senate, and
the Assembly. If it does, it would be
on the ballot this year. If not, I’ll keep
pushing for more funding for afford-
able housing.
RN: Roe v. Wade is back in the
news. AB 2223, authored by you,
would protect a woman from civil and
criminal liability for any “actions or
omissions” affecting her pregnancy.
Can you explain the goal of this bill?
We began our conversation on the
topic of affordable housing.
Rockridge News: Housing is
very tight and very expensive here
in Rockridge. Private companies
have been buying up key parcels of
real estate and prices have soared.
Currently, Home Depot is interested
in the large empty lot at Broadway
and 51st. There’s been a strong desire
to see affordable housing built there,
but the landowners don’t want any
housing at all. You co-authored AB
2011 which would override local
regulations by authorizing certain
multi-family housing projects to
be implemented, with streamlined
review, on sites zoned for office,
retail, or parking. Will this bill
impact this site?
Buffy Wicks: That empty lot is a
perfect example of where we should
be building housing. The reason for
allowing development along commer-
cially zoned areas is because that’s
where you tend to have more public
transportation, and I think that nexus
is very critical.
The bill would allow for commer-
cial zoning on the ground floor and
affordable and mixed-income housing
above — with the idea of trying to
increase that housing supply. To get
that streamlined, developers must
adhere to following labor protections.
They must pay prevailing wages. They
must provide affordable housing. We
have a workforce shortage, so they
must use apprentices because that’s a
critical way to continue to grow the
workforce.
This bill ultimately is voluntary.
The developers have to decide if they
would adhere to the labor protections,
but we think it’ll spur that type of
development. I don’t know how it will
impact that specific lot.
RN: You also authored ACA 14, the
Hope Act (Housing Opportunities for
Everyone) which would amend the
State Constitution to require that five
percent of the State general fund rev-
enues be dedicated, every year for the
next decade, to the State’s affordable
It was kind of bizarre. You would hear, “Buffy Wicks
is taking away our freedoms,” to “Buffy is a baby killer.”
Wicks: It’s ensuring that women,
including women who come to Cal-
ifornia because their state no longer
allows for safe and legal abortions,
know that here in California they
cannot be criminally prosecuted. It’s
part of a suite of bills that the Wom-
en’s Caucus is running to ensure that
California remains a reproductive
freedom state for all.
There was an example of a woman
who got in a very bad car accident. She
wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and unfortu-
nately lost the baby she was carrying.
work in California to show proof of
full vaccination). The event gained
national attention in the Washington
Post (https://www.washingtonpost.
com/nation/2022/04/26/peoples-con-
voy-truckers-egged-kids-california/)
Wicks: They came by my house.
They were in the capital earlier that
week. I had pulled the bill (AB 1993)
about a month before that, so they
shifted gears and started protesting
my abortion bill, AB 2223. It was a
Buffy Wicks, see next page


THE
page 14
JUNE 2022

relationship. [Ed note: This bill was
amended in April, limiting some of
its impact.] There is no precedent for
legislating this type of behavior. Why
do you think it is important to do so?
Wicks: There’s a suite of bills
introduced by my colleagues and me,
and this bill is supported by pediatri-
cians, OBGYNS, emergency medical
physicians, the California Medical
Association, and our county health
providers. The point of this bill is to
combat the sort of disinformation and
misinformation that we’ve been seeing
online around Covid, and vaccines in
particular. There’s been a lot of misin-
formation, and this bill strikes at the
heart of that.
RN: SB 866 (Senators Wiener &
Pan/authors, Wicks/principal co-
author), commonly referred to as
the “Teens Choose Vaccines Act,”
would allow minors as young as
age 12 to decide if they want to get
the Covid vaccine, without parental
knowledge or consent. This assumes
that a 12-year-old child can be fully
informed about the consequences of
their decision, including the more
than 1,200 possible adverse reactions,
including heart disease. If this passes,
parents would be left in the dark and
wouldn’t even know to look for an
adverse reaction.
Wicks: With that logic, we would
then think that underage folks,
teenagers, shouldn’t be able to access
reproductive care either, and that’s
something that I think teenagers
should be able to access without
parental consent. That bill says that
teenagers should be able to make their
own choice if they want to get the
Covid vaccine, which they can right
now with the HPV vaccine, and with
reproductive care (birth control, abor-
tion access). This would add the Covid
vaccine to that list. I think it’s similar.
RN: You are co-author of SB 1479
regarding long-term Covid testing at
schools, and the requirement to report
the results to the California Depart-
ment of Public Health. Schools haven’t
served as testing sites for respiratory
illnesses since testing for tuberculosis
in the ’60s and ’70s, which had limited
success. Testing children, especially
those who are not symptomatic, would
have a financial burden on schools.
Why do you think it’s necessary to
start doing this now, especially in light
of the less harmful variants and the
minimal risk of death and hospitaliza-
tion the virus poses to children?
Wicks: A million people have died
in the United States of America, and
we’ve had a global pandemic shut our
whole world down for a year plus.
We’ve never had a pandemic like this
before, so I think the crisis requires
such a response. Transmission still
happens, but the vaccines reduce
some level of transmission. It’s not
100 percent, but even if it’s 50, I’ll
take it. We know that the vaccines
reduce death. We know that there are
breakthrough cases, obviously, and
we’re learning more every day, but we
know that the vaccines save lives. n
Buffy Wicks, from previous page
little bit of mixed messages in terms
of what transpired — a bit of anti-
vax meets anti-abortion activists. It
was kind of bizarre. You would hear,
“Buffy Wicks is taking away our free-
doms,” to “Buffy is a baby killer.”
RN: You co-authored AB 2098
that says doctors who disseminate
“misinformation or disinformation” to
a patient about Covid or Covid injec-
tions are unprofessional and should be
subject to disciplinary action. Critics
say this bill will penalize physicians
who talk about early treatment options
with off-label drugs, for example, or
who question vaccine safety. They say
that requiring physicians to follow a
pre-established protocol would impede
consumers’ access to medical care
and interfere with the doctor/patient


THE

page 15
JUNE 2022

RN
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Mail to: RCPC, 4900 Shattuck Ave.,
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Competition Drives Price in May
Closing date
BR
BA

Address                                Original price         List price
DOM
Selling price
5/2/2022
3
2

6144 Colby St                         $1,395,000         $1,395,000
14
$1,750,000
5/3/2022
2
1.5

5332 Boyd Ave                       $1,149,000         $1,149,000
12
 $2,300,000
5/16/2022
2
2
         5290 Broadway Terrace          $899,000
           $899,000
11
 $1,180,000
5/16/2022
2
2

5208 Miles Ave                       $1,049,000         $1,049,500
12
$1,225,000
5/17/2022
3
2

6531 Chabot Rd                     $1,695,000         $1,695,000
13
$2,000,000
Homes sold in May closed 37% over the asking price on average.
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tĂŶƚƚŚĞŚŝŐŚĞƐƚƉŽƐƐŝďůĞƉƌŝĐĞ͍ĂůůƵƐĂŶĚǁĞǁŝůůƐŚŽǁLJŽƵŚŽǁǁĞǁŝůůŐĞƚŝƚ͊
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COMING SOON TEMESCAL
Craftsman Bungalow
on Manila Ave
Stunning 2 Bed/ 1 Bath
Original Charm w/ updates
Office Nook on the lower floor
Detached Casita -
Now a private office
Possible ADU
FOR SALE PIEDMONT AVE
4523 Howe St.
Amazing 4 Bed/ 3 Bath
Built New in  2016
Stunning Great room out to patio
3,226 Square feet!! + Garage
RARE ROCKRIDGE
OFFICE LEASE
5767 Broadway
1,400sqft office
Plug and Play Open Space
 for Collaborative Energy
Work Station already installed
2 Bathroom & Kitchenette
$4,000/mo
Stay Safe and Well.
Ron Kriss, Broker
Lawton Associates
(c) 510-612-2547
RonKriss@JPS.net
“#1 in Rockridge
Real Estate”
160+ Successful Sales
in Rockridge
DRE# 01417458
www.LawtonAssoc.com

THE
2843 Forest Ave | Elmwood
$3,495,000 Rare Spanish Mediterranean
home newly constructed in 2014, located on
a beautiful tree-lined street in a wonderful
Berkeley neighborhood.
4+ Bedrooms | 2.5 Baths | 2,762 SF
This home features many custom
upgrades, no expense was spared.
Kevin Brown, Broker
Better Homes Realty, Rockridge
510.593.4780 | dre# 00644175

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