East Bay real estate

East Bay real estate

City staff recently told us that we cannot have the Telegraph Holiday Fair or the Juneteenth Festival at their usual locations because of the fire code's 26-foot rule, which says streets with buildings more than 30 feet high must have at least 26 feet of clear roadway to accommodate emergency vehicles. Berkeley's Juneteenth Festival and a popular holiday market on Telegraph Avenue must move from their longtime homes, as the city mulls big fee increases and steps up fire code enforcement.

The city council held the joint study session with the planning and heritage preservation commissions. Saratoga retained Lisa Wise Consulting, an urban planning and economics firm that specializes in walkable, transit-oriented communities. The goal of the meeting was to take the Village Design Guidelines from 2019 and turn them into objective design standards that would support the addition of housing in accordance with state law.

In a city of about 120,000 residents, it takes only about 50 to trigger the process. If that designation is issued on the grounds that the site has some historic value, future attempts to alter the property become much more challenging. It's a tool councilmembers and housing advocates say has been weaponized to prevent or delay housing development in the city.

We spend a lot of time on this podcast covering Oakland's challenges - budget crises, crime statistics, political turmoil. That's important. But it's not the full story of what's happening in this city. When we launched this newsroom, we made a commitment to reporting that reflects the value of Oakland. Along with our accountability and watchdog journalism, we share real news about real change that's making Oakland better.

Typically I avoid telling people where I'm from. Especially now that I live on the West Coast, the perception of the Hamptons is so different from my childhood and young adult experience that I'd rather just tell people I'm from Long Island than explain the reality of growing up in an area notorious for its status as a playground for the rich and famous with sky-high real estate prices and club entry fees in the hundreds of dollars.

The 2,928-square-foot property, built in 1975, was sold on Sept. 23, 2025 for $1,860,000 which represents a price per square foot of $635. This two-story house offers a capacious living environment with its six bedrooms and three bathrooms. The property is equipped with central A/C. In addition, the house comes with two parking spots. The lot of the unit covers a substantial area of 8,000 square feet.

Work is finally underway to remove telephone poles from the center of the sidewalk-level bike lane on Fruitvale Avenue, which runs from the Fruitvale BART station to Jingletown and the estuary. "The work should be done on Monday," said a uniformed AT&T worker at the intersection of Fruitvale and San Leandro. That means cutting down the old pole and filling the hole it leaves behind. As seen in the lead image, the new pole is already installed and the wires have been moved over.