Either way, if you weren’t a dessert person before this, you will be after reading this take on the region’s hottest new bakeries — from a Walnut Creek shop crafting Romanian specialties to an Oakland cheesecake house and a Santa Clara bakery where a couple has found their encore career in Portuguese recipes.

East Bay Bakery, Danville

Across the street from Blackhawk Plaza, this stand-out bakery with the simple name has been wowing locals with its sweet and savory offerings since it opened in July. Glass cases display in jewel-like fashion the laminated croffles, curry puffs and pretzels that have become proprietor-baker Gaby Lubaba’s signatures. East Bay Bakery has no seating but the counter offers views of the open kitchen, where the bakery crew prepares Lubaba’s unique spins on danishes, cookies and croissants. (We recently spied both a baklava croissant and a pastrami-cheese version.)

Lubaba, who made our 2022 list of Rising Stars, offers a wide selection of classic treats and fresh baked breads, too, including rye brownies and a craveable olive fougasse. But there is a certain magic in the seasonal items — hello, pistachio chocolate escargot — and treats inspired by her native Indonesia. Be sure to get your hands on the crispy beef curry puffs filled with real curry leaves. They go fast.

The treat: Made from buttery croissant dough, the croffle ($5) is a crowd-favorite that taps into something deeply nostalgic. The crispy, almost caramelized outside leads to a chewy, satisfying interior that’s buttery and not too sweet. Perfection.

Details: Open 8 a.m.-2 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. weekends at 6000C Crow Canyon Road in  Danville. Also Saturdays at the Orinda Farmers Market and Sundays at the Walnut Creek Farmers Market; https://theeastbaybakery.com

LeLe Cake, Los Gatos

Elena Leskina says she’s pretty fearless when it comes to challenges — whether it’s “new business, new skills, new country.” An electrical engineer by trade, she taught herself how to bake intricate desserts by watching YouTube videos during her young daughter’s two-hour naps back in Moscow. When she and her family immigrated to the U.S. five years ago, she opened a commercial kitchen.

Last June, she launched LeLe Cake, a cute all-day cafe where brunch is as popular as the pastries and custom cakes. It’s worth waiting for a table to try one of the Euro-style dishes that customers rave about — the Syrniki (Russian cheese pancakes) with berries, perhaps, Homemade Salted Salmon Toast or the Gruyere Waffle with goat cheese and onion marmalade.

If you didn’t save room for dessert, stop at the bakery case for a takeout order of, say, Kartoshka (chocolate cake “truffles” topped with fruit), Pavlova or Trifle. The full-size cakes are multi-layer, highly decorated beauties with selections such as the Choco Girl, Poppyseed & Lemonade, flaky Napoleon cake or the Sever, a Norwegian national favorite topped with meringue.

The treat: The star is Leskina’s version of the Medovik, a Russian honey cake layered with fresh raspberries and a light white chocolate and sour cream frosting. It’s available by the slice (three layers) or as a full-size cake (five or six layers).

Details: Open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily at 14178 Blossom Hill Road, Los Gatos; https://lelecake.me/

Crumble & Whisk, Oakland

Charles Farrier’s somewhat random entry into the bakery world came when a coworker asked if he could contribute to a potluck dinner. “I was like, ‘Sure.’ I brought a cheesecake. Everyone loved it,” he recalls.

That revelation triggered a slow and deep dive into the art of baking, with Farrier studying cookbooks, experimenting with different styles of cheesecakes, and then distributing them at barbershops and businesses along Oakland’s MacArthur Boulevard and later at farmers markets. This December, he opened a brick-and-mortar location in the Laurel District, where he prepares not just the confection that put him on the map but scrumptious pastries, artfully decorated cookies and so much more.

“This is about building up community, so people can get to know me as a neighborhood staple,” Farrier says. For his breakfast peeps, he has coffee cake, overnight oats and huge cinnamon buns with a jiggly, custard-like frosting. (Try to get them hot.) Folks celebrating a special occasion – or who just want to treat themselves – can order his super-creamy cheesecakes in full and puck-sized versions, with vegan options to boot. And for dinner, you can pick up a flaky-crusted pot pie and a banana pudding that’d fool your Southern grandma, with vanilla wafers and the obligatory toupee of whipped topping.

The treat: The much-lauded cheesecakes are not dense but rather melting, creamy delights with seasonal surprises. Cold weather might see a maple-pecan crumble or apple-cider cake version with chunks of fruit. In the summer folks, rave about the blackberry and corn cheesecake, made with a puree of off-the-cob kernels, thyme and brown butter.

Details: Open 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday at 4104 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland; www.crumbleandwhisk.com.

Little Sky Bakery, Menlo Park

For years, Tian Mayimin was focused on the law. Since 2017, it’s been all about leavening.

In the beginning, the self-taught baker delivered her naturally leavened breads, baked in her Menlo Park home kitchen, to neighbors. Then she became the darling of the Peninsula and South Bay farmers market circuit with her creative lineup of loaves. Next came pop-ups. And soon she set her sights on a dedicated brick-and-mortar.

Last March, she and her team opened a storefront location on Santa Cruz Avenue near the Caltrain station. Late in the year, she expanded the hours of their indoor pop-up at the State Street Market in Los Altos, all while maintaining a strong farmers market presence. They staff 16 markets every week, with four seasonal ones starting up again this spring.

With the expansions came more innovation. Pistachio Bundt Cakes and Caramel Nut Tarts for the holiday season. Roman-style flatbreads. Baozi, yeast-leavened, filled buns. Open-face lox sandwiches on European rye. Jalapeno Cheddar Rings. A signature Challah made with orange juice and honey and brushed with olive oil. And Volkornbrot, the hefty German loaf nicknamed the king of seeded breads. Some creations are available weekly; some rotate into the lineup.

The treat: The popular Raisin-Walnut loaves go fast. And keep your eye out for batches of the Provencal herbal flatbread called fougasse.

Details: Open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily at 506 Santa Cruz Ave. in Menlo Park, with a permanent indoor pop-up at State Street Market in Los Altos; https://littleskybakery.com/

European Delights, Walnut Creek

Since opening in July on Walnut Creek’s east side, this bakery has become a haven for European expats and others craving Italian coffee and classic pastries without gobs of frosting or other sugar bombs. From the open kitchen, Romanian co-owner and head baker Rica Zaharia, a native of Transylvania, greets customers with a smile and talks them through the day’s fresh bakes while the Lavazza brews on the counter.

The glass case holds a medley of goodies, like almond and honey shortbread, apple morning buns and giant, 7-inch cookies packed with caramel and chocolate chips. Some items, like the covri dog, a frankfurter wrapped in golden pastry dough, are a nod to Zaharia’s Romanian roots. Others are collaborations between Zaharia and staff baker, Vida. One such creation, the tiramisu cookie, features pastry cream sandwiched between soft, round ladyfinger-like cookies.

The treat: We’re big fans of the börek. Thin, flaky, phyllo-like pastry dough is filled with ham, vegetables, cheeses and other savory ingredients. Our favorite is the mushroom ($5), which has flecks of herbs and a distinct truffle flavor. Keep an eye out for heart-shaped treats in February.

Details: Open 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday and until 2 p.m. Sunday, at 2236A Oak Grove Road in Walnut Creek; https://european-delights.com.

Max’s Cakes, Hayward

This classic, family-owned bakery opened five weeks ago and has already added much-needed pizzazz to downtown Hayward. Horchata cheesecake and café de olla and buñelo cupcakes, nods to baker Max Soto‘s Mexican-American heritage, line the pastry case alongside cookies and brick-sized slices of his Instagram-famous layer cakes. Those cakes come in five flavors, including coconut cream, burnt almond and confetti, and are already proving to be top sellers.

After ordering your dessert, take a seat — or a selfie inside the giant picture frame against the white subway-tiled wall. Or spend some time admiring the historic black and white photos of downtown Hayward lining the walls. Soto appeared on Buddy Valastro’s “Big Time Bake” in 2020 and became the youngest contestant ever to win a “Food Network” competition. There are some pretty cute photos of him eating cake as a baby, too.

The treat: You have to get a slice of cake ($8). Two, actually. The 24-Karrot cake is super moist, topped with cream cheese frosting and brimming with shredded carrots and toasted walnuts. If you’re a lemon fiend, Lemon Supreme, a lemon cake layered with lemon curd and vanilla buttercream, is your jam.

Details: Opens at 11 a.m. Wednesday-Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday-Sunday at 1007 B St., Hayward; https://maxscakesofficial.wixsite.com

Portuguese Tasty Desserts, Santa Clara

What’s new in Santa Clara is delightfully old school: a bakery specializing in nostalgic Portuguese recipes that made their way from the Azores to the Bay Area many decades ago.

When Teresa and Nelio Defreitas retired from school district careers (she as a kitchen supervisor, he as a campus maintenance manager), they decided to resurrect her parents’ Portuguese Bakery, which had been in business locally for more than 40 years. They found a spot and opened a year ago.

“This is what we love to do, especially the interaction with the customers,” she said. “We have such an amazing mix in this community.”

Customers come from as far away as Sacramento for the pillowy Portuguese sweet bread, pastel de natas (custard tarts), rice pudding, a rich, smooth flan and other goodies. The malasadas — the Portuguese doughnuts so popular in Hawaii — are available in 12 flavors (including guava and custard) on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Know you won’t have time to cook for that upcoming potluck? They will bake to your specifications. “Bring me your Pyrex dish and I’ll fill it up with rice pudding,” Teresa said.

The old-school touches extend beyond the recipes. Walk in and you’ll be welcomed, as all customers are, with a complementary cup of coffee, sweet bread samples and conversation. You won’t walk out empty-handed.

The treat: Biscoitos, the not-too-sweet cookie rings, come in almond, lemon, cinnamon, anise, chocolate and other flavors and are perfect for dunking in coffee or snacking.

Details: Open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday at 1085 El Camino Real, Santa Clara; www.facebook.com/PortugueseTastyDesserts/.

Simurgh, Emeryville

If you took a bagel, crusted it in sesame seeds and stretched it out like one of those old-timey hoops kids pushed with a stick, you’d get simit. Every Turkish city has shops hawking simit – and around here, there’s no better place to try them than Hatice Yildiz’s cafe that opened on San Pablo Avenue in late 2022.

A daughter of Istanbul restaurateurs who took an interesting journey to baking – she got a PhD in religious studies in Berkeley – Yildiz makes simit that’s crackling outside, soft and stretchy inside and kissed with the smoke of the oven. Order it with lox and cream cheese or, more traditionally, with tahini and grape molasses. There’s charred-top rice pudding, too, and baklava with housemade phyllo and imported “emerald” pistachios, famous for their startling green hue and nutty-fresh taste. Try the chocolate version, whose honey and bitter cocoa notes somehow improves on the original.

A heartier bite can be found in boreks, quichelike pies with fillings of goat cheese, mushrooms and kale, and stuffed eggplants that were sun-dried in Turkey. Yildiz plans to diversify her savory side this year with lahmacun, as well, a thin flatbread topped with minced beef, peppers and herbs and baked to perfection. (Just don’t call it “Turkish pizza.”)

The treat: The Russian/Ukrainian honey cake is a masterfully constructed slab of housemade graham crackers, condensed milk and brown butter. The sweet-sensory overload is like sticking your head in a honeybee hive, without the bees.

Details: Open daily from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at 4125 San Pablo Ave. in Emeryville; www.simurghbakery.com.

Forest & Flour, Fremont

Many Bay Area residents with dietary issues have found sweet salvation at Sway Soturi’s farmers market booths over the past few years. Now the San Jose wellness entrepreneur can offer a larger menu of organic and gluten-free, dairy-free, peanut-free, soy-free and corn-free savories and sweets to a broader audience at her new cafe in Fremont’s Mission San Jose district.

“We try to make things that people would miss,” said Soturi, who started baking allergen-friendly fare for herself. Take, for example, monkey bread and soup. Her Monkey Party muffins are as ooey-gooey as expected, thanks to a coconut-sugar caramel. The creamy, satisfying Clam Chowder is made with chicken broth, coconut milk and cashews, which naturally add an interesting nutty tone.

You’ll also find gluten-free muffins (carrot, matcha and seasonal), baguettes, brioche, chocolate chip cookies and more. For lunch, she and her team offer congee and French toast too.

By the way, this greenery-filled cafe is located near Mission Peak, which is good to keep in mind if you need fuel for a trip up or replenishment after coming down.

The treat: The big hit is the aromatic Lavender-Lemon Bread. It’s available by the loaf or as a small toast order, with a side of locally made Rose Petal Jam. Soturi also showcases other like-minded Bay Area purveyors.

Details: Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday-Friday and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday at 43587 Mission Blvd., Fremont; https://forestandflour.com/.

Bake Sum, Oakland

As a kid, Joyce Tang loved to eat at bakeries in Oakland’s Chinatown. “When I got older, I didn’t really feel like I saw anyone iterating those types of flavors at the patisseries I’d visit around the Bay Area,” she says.

Her solution: Quit a Facebook job, land an internship at a three-star Michelin restaurant in Spain, then come back and start her own bakery specializing in memories from her childhood. The philosophy at Bake Sum is pastries should not just be beautiful (though they are, wonderfully so), but also meaningful to a staff of predominantly Asian and female bakers.

“We always try to find nostalgic flavors that speak to us and our upbringings,” Tang says.

Walk into the charmingly decorated shop in Grand Lake and you might see lilikoi “mochi bites” and loco-moco danish with a meat patty, gravy and runny egg. There’s a croissant and Spam musubi crossover called a “crusubi” and an okonomiyaki danish with garlic oil-roasted mushrooms, Kewpie mayo and furikake. It all sounds hearty, but with the skill of the bakers in making delicate, flaky doughs, you’ll be ready for seconds in no time.

The treat: The green-onion croissant is a popular offering that blends two styles of scallion pancakes from Northern and Southern China. It has a pleasantly bready, oily and crunchy exterior, with a soft interior of scallions, toasted sesame oil and sea salt.

Details: Open 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday-Sunday and 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Thursday and Monday at 3249 Grand Ave. in Oakland; www.bakesum.com.

Moves, expansions and other new-ish bakeries to check out:

Lolita Bakery Cafe: Silvia Leiva Browne has supplemented her Hillsdale Shopping Center location, which opened in 2018, with a larger retail shop where fans of Argentinean baked goods can find her alfajores, empanadas and more. 3790 S. El Camino Real, San Mateo; www.lolitaalfajores.com

Republic of Cake: This longtime Orinda bakery known for cupcakes moved to Danville in 2022, expanding its offerings to include more pastries, quiches, sandwiches and ice cream. 730 Camino Ramon, Suite 196, Danville; www.republicofcake.com

Wingen Bakery: Peek into a new bread room and enjoy extra seating with a bistro-style menu of breakfast and lunch items at this recently-expanded Livermore bakery known for bread and pastries. 50 S. Livermore Ave., Livermore; www.wingenbakery.com

Ono Bakehouse: The East Bay’s only dedicated Hawaiian bakery has been open since Dec. 2020 and continues to wow with malasadas, savory ham-and-pineapple buns and tropical Queen Emma cake. Best to pre-order. 1922 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley; https://ono-bakehouse.square.site

Sunday Bakeshop: StarChefs 2022 Rising Star Award winner Elaine Lau marries classic French training with the Asian flavors of her childhood for magically nostalgic treats that have mass appeal: White Rabbit cookies, a char siu croissant, Thai tea milk buns and halo halo cake are all stunners. 5931 College Ave., Oakland; www.thesundaybakeshop.com

Alameda County DAis coddling criminals

It should not surprise anyone that Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price dropped special circumstances against David Misch, one involving his alleged kidnapping and murder of Michaela Garecht in 1988, giving him the possibility of being paroled, instead of serving life in prison.

Soon after Ms. Price was elected, she said she would “seek to remove all 41 local cases from Death Row and to resentence people who were sentenced to life without parole.” She also said her “administration will begin an era of change that ultimately will make us (Alameda County residents) stronger and safer.” I beg to differ, not with the likes of Misch running around.

The voters and residents of Alameda County are being introduced to a new form of criminal justice — one that, in my view, is not going to keep them safe and favors the perpetrator.

Ninfa WoodWalnut Creek

Quarry plan willundermine rural road

The EBMUD plan to fill in the old quarry on Lake Chabot Road, located on county land between San Leandro and Castro Valley, with soil excavated during pipeline maintenance proposes to run 60 to 100 dump trucks a day along Lake Chabot Road for 40 to 80 years.

That’s right. If anybody now alive is here to see it, the site and adjacent hillside will eventually be seeded and planted with native plants.

Lake Chabot Road is currently closed because of landslides and erosion that have undermined the roadbed. It’s doubtful that it will ever be able to support the constant dump truck traffic.

Gary SloaneSan Leandro

Agencies must makebetter use of tax dollars

Re. “Prop. 13 proves costly to government programs,” Page A8, Jan. 13:

I disagree with the notion that local and state governments don’t have enough money already from other taxes and bonds for impoverished schools, understaffed government offices and infrastructure.

Our property taxes are plenty high in California and enough businesses have been run out of the state. We don’t need any more lost jobs and tax base.

The real problem is not a lack of funding but how all of these agencies use the money they have.

Herman BetchartFremont

Recount cost is worthelection integrity

The article “Are Alameda County elections actually headed to a recount?” (Page B1, Jan. 15) regarding “voters confusion about everything from the results of certain races to the future of ranked choice voting” helps me understand why people might question election results.

The District 4 Oakland Unified school board “snafu” demonstrates that our election systems are not infallible. That said, I believe that the seeds of doubt this might have cast is very troubling. The cost of letting any doubts remain will be much more costly to our society in the long run than any monetary cost of a recount now. We should not put a price on maintaining faith in election integrity.

Dennis CarlisleNewark

Predicting climate changeisn’t settled science

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently stated to “Expect record-shattering hot years soon, likely in the next couple years because of ‘relentless’ climate change from the burning of coal, oil and gas.”

Last October, this same NOAA released its U.S. Winter Outlook. Researchers predicted that through February 2023, “California will still have to contend with the ongoing drought and won’t see much precipitation.” Wrong.

Scientists admittedly can’t predict hurricanes a year out with any accuracy, but they want us to believe they can predict global temperatures and sea levels years out. Real science is never “settled.”

Jon RegoClayton

]]> https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/01/16/letters-1119/feed/ 0 8717708 2023-01-16T16:30:41+00:00 2023-01-17T03:58:22+00:00 https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/01/16/east-bay-pets-of-the-week-for-jan-20/ https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/01/16/east-bay-pets-of-the-week-for-jan-20/#respond Mon, 16 Jan 2023 13:00:18 +0000 https://www.eastbaytimes.com/?p=8711552 Hi, I’m Lillian, a feisty and playful girl with an extra spring to my step! I have a big personality, so I’ll need an adopter who”ll help me express myself in a positive way. I’m unsure about new people and will need an experienced adopter who ideally has worked with “stranger danger” before. Once I become friends with someone, I’m a friend for life and will show that person nothing but love and loyalty! I’m super-athletic and would love an active home. Visit the website of the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society (Berkeley Humane) at berkeleyhumane.org to learn more and schedule a meeting with me.

— Berkeley Humane

Yoda, I am. Like the infamous grand master of Jedi Order, I believe size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you?

— EBSPCA

Meet Chopper, a sweet senior looking for a new home. This low-key, laid-back low-rider has one walk speed: leisurely. The only time he breaks into a trot is when he spies a cat, and then he quickly stops to watch from a distance. Chopper ignores other dogs in his vicinity. He just wants to sniff, nap and get your attention and treats! Chopper’s big noggin is made to lie in a lap and be petted. He can be your shop dog, your couch potato, wherever you need a mature lovebug to brighten your day. Chopper weighs 53 pounds, and we estimate his age to be around 8. To meet this pet at Friends of the Alameda Animal Shelter (FAAS), call 510-337-8565 or visit alamedaanimalshelter.org/adopt online.

— FAAS

Tink is the sweetest little girl, born in her foster mom’s living room the day after her mother was rescued from an overcrowded residence. She was the tiniest of the litter and is the last of her family to find a home. Our tortie is initially quite shy, needing a little time to warm up and realize you’re not a predator, but once she does, look out! To meet our purr monster and lap sitter, contact Kay at kericksonttt@yahoo.com. Community Concern for Cats (CC4C) now holds weekend adoption events at Pet Food Express stores in Martinez and Concord plus our regular location at 1250-H Newell Ave. in Walnut Creek. Visit communityconcernforcats.org online for more information.

— CC4C

Finn is an extra-special ginger girl! Most ginger cats are male, and just a special few are female. Female ginger cats are well known to have calm and quiet personalities, and that’s Finn to a T! Finn is a people lover, lap lover, nap lover and playtime lover. Contact the staff at Milo Point Richmond for assistance at 220 S. Garrard Blvd. in Richmond from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. any day but Tuesdays. Our dedicated staff is on duty every day caring for our animals and have saved more than 39,000 lives in 28 years. For more details, visit milofoundation.org/contact-us.

— Milo Foundation

Mama Lana is a 1½-year-old domestic longhair beauty with a great personality and curly, fluffy tail. She loves people and will happily snuggle on your lap, purring away. But wait. Then there’s the Lana that gets the zoomies, flying around the house and playing with toys. She gets along with other cats and would make a great addition to your family. For more information about this or any other adoptable pets with the Contra Costa (CCSPCA), call Pat at 925-323-0667.

— CCSPCA

Nearly half of the almost 52,000 people who called 211 — the nationwide social services hotline — in six Bay Area counties last year needed housing help, from a place to shelter for the night to assistance paying their rent so they wouldn’t be evicted. That’s up from about a third the year before.

The surge in demand, which came as the last statewide COVID-19 eviction protections expired and inflation soared, is overwhelming the Bay Area’s resources, meaning many people in need are turned away or left to languish on long waitlists.

“We’ve always received calls about housing needs, but the past quarter especially we’ve been seeing thousands of our neighbors reach out about housing,” said Clare Margason, 211 director for United Way Bay Area. “Our residents are struggling to pay their rent, to meet basic needs.”

United Way recently released its first public, online database tracking the number and types of calls it receives at the 211 centers it operates for San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Marin, Napa and Solano counties. (The call centers in Alameda and Contra Costa counties are run by different organizations.) Margason hopes the data will help make their services stronger by identifying gaps in resources.

After housing at 47%, food was the second-most needed resource last year, comprising nearly 17% of requests, followed by help with health care, at 13%. Requests for help with mental health or substance abuse, at nearly 7%, also ticked up despite the launch last summer of 988 — a nationwide mental health crisis hotline.

Pleas for housing help have soared in Alameda County as well, jumping up 27% last year, according to Eden I&R, which operates the county’s 211 line locally. The call center, which keeps an extensive housing database, sometimes can refer callers directly to affordable housing units or shelter beds, or help them get on waitlists. Because of the bureaucratic nature of the county’s affordable housing system, 211 operators often have to refer callers to other resource centers where they can begin a complicated screening process to determine if they are eligible for help.

“There’s never enough,” said Eden I&R Executive Director Alison DeJung. “It can be pretty common that a caller will call and there’s no shelter bed available.”

Because the need is so great, her team launched a new “housing specialty unit” in October designed to help callers hold onto their housing and avoid ending up on the street. They hired three employees specially trained in tenant rights to help callers who are at risk of eviction or struggling to pay rent. The Bay Area’s other 211 call centers are working on similar experimental programs.

United Way outsourced its 211 call centers to Southern California in 2012 due to financial challenges and now calls from San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Napa, Marin and Sonora counties are answered in Ventura County.

In Santa Clara County, there has been such a desperate need for emergency shelter that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the county launched a separate hotline just to connect people to beds. Dubbed the Here4You hotline — 408-385-2400 — the number is now operated by the Bill Wilson Center, which runs shelters and housing programs in the county. Before the recent storms wreaked havoc on the region, the hotline received about 300 calls per day, said CEO Sparky Harlan. Now, that’s up to between 400 and 450. There are so many people in need, that the call center is constantly turning people away.

“We’re probably able to place a third of the people right now that are calling,” Harlan said.

The need is similarly high in Contra Costa County, where the number of calls specifically related to evictions nearly doubled — increasing from 681 in 2021 to 1,196 last year.

Tom Myers, executive director of the nonprofit Community Services Agency in Mountain View, isn’t surprised by the spike in 211 requests for housing. He’s seen a similar increase at his own agency — both in the number of people who need help paying rent and in those who are trying to claw their way out of homelessness. Unable to keep up with demand, his team is forced to put people on waiting lists. The average wait for rental assistance is between two and four weeks, he said.

“Unfortunately, I think we’ve known for some time that we have a group of people who are living in incredibly housing insecure environments,” Myers said. “And that number increased. It multiplied during COVID. And it’s not going away. Until the Bay Area solves its affordable housing crisis, we are going to continue to have this problem.”

State must stopwasting rainwater

Professor Andrew Fisher’s article on increasing groundwater storage (“How California can save water from the atmospheric river,” Page A9, Jan. 8) may be feasible in the Pajaro Valley but not in the Central Valley due to the hardpan and salt buildup in the soils there.

It would be far better to build the Sites Reservoir south of Sacramento to store winter rains from the Sacramento River. But despite voters approving Proposition 1 in 2014 to build more water storage, Sacramento politicians seem to prefer sending years of excess rainwater down the Sacramento River to the ocean.

Ed KahlWoodside

Don’t reward migrantsfor breaking the law

If you don’t own a car and steal one, the law will not let you keep the car. If you embezzle, even if you are needy, you must repay the money. Similarly, if you break immigration laws, you should not be provided with food, housing, medical care or travel. Our justice system is based on the idea that you cannot benefit from breaking the law.

When people know that by crossing a border they can immediately improve their lives because of the foolish generosity of Americans, they will come in droves, as they have been. We need to stop giving away our wealth to lawbreakers; there is enough need here. Work on changing immigration laws, but don’t open the border and welcome lawbreakers with our taxes.

Denise KalmWalnut Creek

Letter ignorescritical COVID stats

Bob Wheeler would have us believe blue states with sustained lockdowns saved lives compared to red states that minimized lockdowns (“Plenty of reasons to vote for Democrats,” Page A6 Jan. 3). As evidence, he correctly states COVID deaths were higher in Florida (3,919 per million) than in California, (2,504 per million).

He conveniently ignores COVID deaths in New York, the poster child of lockdowns, which were almost the same as Florida — 3,897 per million according to the website Worldometer.

He also needs to take into consideration that about 75% of COVID deaths occur in people 65 and older, and Florida has a much higher percentage of seniors than either California or New York.

He also believes school closure learning loss is no big deal. In an affluent city like Walnut Creek with an abundance of resources, the learning gap in math and science can be closed. In Hayward, not so much.

Martin WilmingtonHayward

Paper should updatethe comics page

I am really tired of seeing political commentary on the comic pages: “Doonesbury,” which is outdated; “Mallard Fillmore,” which is out of touch; and “Dilbert,” which is just bad.

If you quit publishing dead white guys (Charles Schulz — and I love “Peanuts,” don’t get me wrong), please make room for new voices, especially women and people of color. The comics pages are still largely white, heterosexual, male, patriarchal standard fare.

Please update your comics pages. (And I’m sorry, “Cathy” doesn’t count.)

Karinne GordonPacific Grove

]]> https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/01/13/letters-1117/feed/ 0 8716205 2023-01-13T16:30:22+00:00 2023-01-15T10:11:34+00:00 https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/01/13/flooding-causes-contra-costas-only-roller-rink-to-temporarily-close/ https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/01/13/flooding-causes-contra-costas-only-roller-rink-to-temporarily-close/#respond Fri, 13 Jan 2023 14:03:53 +0000 https://www.eastbaytimes.com/?p=8715580&preview=true&preview_id=8715580 Colorful beach balls hang from a net on the ceiling for a New Year’s Eve party that never was as roller rink owner Jeff Warrenburg stands ready with sump pumps and vacuums to suck up any more rain that might creep into his Antioch business.

The Paradise Skate owner and his staff were caught off-guard by the all-day New Year’s Eve rain that pummeled the region, having no time to add sandbags and spray foam in the cracks to fortify the business before water poured in, flooding the building and effectively shutting it down the only roller rink in eastern Contra Costa County for months to come.

“There was lots of water everywhere and it penetrated the building and came through the drains that normally shouldn’t have anything in them,” manager Bob Bruce said. “And once it gets in, the wood will soak it up.”

Warrenburg, who was away at the time, said the building had six inches of water surrounding it.

“The problem was when it came so fast like it did, we did not get time to seal all the doors like we normally do,” he said.

Warrenburg’s staff later added some 200 sandbags around the building and was able to seal the doors to prevent more water from seeping into the rink and are now standing by to pump it out if needed when the next storm hits.

“It comes in very minimal and you just take a shop vac and suck it up and then you pour the water out … and we can keep the damage minimal if we can do that,” he said.

In the meantime, his 16 employees – some just hired – are out of work until the rain stops, the fixes are made and they can reopen. It’s a timeframe Warrenburg is unsure of at this point while he waits for estimates to replace the rink’s 9,300-square-foot maplewood floating floor and the surrounding carpet among other items.

He’s also had to cancel dozens of parties, classes and other events that were scheduled, the rink owner said.

“I’m giving refunds like crazy,” he said.

Michelle Higby of Concord coaches an artistic roller skating club and runs classes four times a week at the Antioch rink and was disheartened to hear of the water damage and temporary closure.

“We’ve worked really hard to build the club,” she said. “And, it’s mostly heartbreaking for those kids since this was going to be our first full season since before COVID.

“It’s pretty hard on some of the kids because they’re getting old enough to be committed on their own (to the sport),” Higby added. “It’s not just fun; they’ve got goals that they’re trying to meet.”

Bruce suggested that it would be eight to 12 weeks before the rink can reopen, and that also depends on the supply chain, and how fast materials can be shipped.

“It’s a major guess,” he said, noting they’d keep customers aware of progress on their Facebook page.

Warrenburg, who bought the business – formerly called Roller Haven – in 2008 and leases the building from the state, is no stranger to flooding. Operating as a roller rink since 1969, the structure is located at the county fairgrounds, near a creek that flows to the San Joaquin River and is prone to flooding during high tides and torrential rain storms.

In 2009, more than a quarter of the rink’s wooden floors were damaged when 18 inches of rain surrounded his building, but even so, there was less damage because they were able to protect the building with sandbags and foam before the deluge hit.

“We’re not flooded around our building at this point – the water comes and goes – so water comes up and floods us and then after the tide goes down and the water goes out, the water goes away from our buildings,” he said. “ When the water is up against our building, whether it’s one inch, two inches or six inches, we have water coming through some of the cracks, and we use shop vacuums and sump pumps to get the water out.”

Bruce said he’s hoping the rain will stop long enough to dry things out and get back in the building and make some repair estimates.

“Mother Nature needs to stop raining right now,” he said. “We’ve got (the building) sealed and barricaded and sandbagged just to keep everything else from getting ruined.”

Rainwater causes seasonal flooding around the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds area. The county’s flood control district made improvements to the stormwater system in 1993, but a gap was left near the area of 10th and O streets because of a lack of funding. Additional culverts were added in 2012, paid for from a Department of Water Resources fund for flood prevention.

Now Warrenburg is hoping there will be federal or state disaster relief funding to help him renovate the flooded-out center, which he estimates will cost somewhere uo to $400,000 in repairs. Unfortunately, his flood insurance lapsed while he was changing insurance companies, he said.

“We don’t know when it’s gonna flood again. … We’re just kind of watching the news. We keep watching the creek, so we stay on top of it.”

Despite the challenges, the hardy business owner has no intention of leaving because he said he really enjoys running a family entertainment business.

“Yeah, we do have to put up with this flooding, and usually, it’s a lot of work every winter, especially when there’s wet winters, but it’s worth it,” Warrenburg said. “It’s been like 15 years (since significant rain damage); however, this time the rain got us.”

Gregory Prokopowicz, 44, pleaded guilty last year to murdering Roselyn Policarpio, a Walnut Creek resident who had dated Prokopowicz for two years and told family members she was planning to break up with him that day. But Prokopwicz’s lawyer argued he should be found legally insane at the time of the shooting, which would have resulted in Prokopwicz being sent to a mental institution in lieu of prison.

Prokowicz launched an appeal of Judge Charles “Ben” Burch’s ruling last Dec. 21, court records show. His attorney declined to comment.

Deputy District Attorney Rachel Piersig, who prosecuted the case, praised Burch’s decision.

“This was a horrific domestic violence-related murder in which a young woman was senselessly murdered,” Piersig said in an email to this newspaper. “Prokopowicz will be serving 25 years to life in prison for his actions. It is our hope that his sentencing will bring a sense of justice to the family members of the victim.”

Under state law, prosecutors must prove that a person understood the nature of his or her act, or understood that it was wrong, in order to establish a criminal defendant was legally sane. Knowledge of wrongdoing can be proved by evidence the defendant tried to cover up the crime or elude police.

After the murder, Prokopowicz told Policarpio’s son over the phone that he’d killed her. He fled the area, and was located that evening in Martinez, where police initiated what became a standoff that lasted 19 hours and ended with Prokopowicz’s arrest.

Prokopowicz remains in the Martinez Detention Facility on a no-bail hold, pending transfer to state prison, court records show.

The attack resulted in the disclosure of over 120,000 files related to BART’s police force operations. Among the documents, which were posted on a dark web site, were at least six unredacted reports detailing suspected child abuse, driver’s license numbers, and mental health evaluations, according to a review from NBC News. The files include personal information of the children and alleged abusers in some cases.

The hackers made “multiple sophisticated attempts” on BART’s network, the memo from BART Chief of Police Ed Alvarez said.

“Most of these attempts were unsuccessful,” Alvarez said. “Unfortunately, the attackers were able to exfiltrate less than 1% of the District’s internal business records.”

This hack did not include rider databases or financial records, according to a separate email sent to BART’s board of directors.

The hack was perpetrated by Vice Society, a notorious Russian criminal group that has targeted schools, hospitals, and public agencies around the world with ransomware attacks, according to Alvarez’s memo. Last week Brett Callow, a cybersecurity analyst at Emsisoft, said the group listed BART as the target of an attack.

“It’s often the case that other people scrape the data,” said Callow, in an interview. “Once the data is posted on these sites there is no way of knowing where it will end up or what other people may do with it.”

In an initial statement on Tuesday, BART spokesperson Alicia Trost said the agency is “investigating the data that has been posted.”

“To be clear, no BART services or internal business systems have been impacted,” she said. “As with other government agencies, we are taking all necessary precautions to respond.”

A summary of the incident provided to BART board members and the media, said the agency worked in consultation with state and federal law enforcement and outside cybersecurity experts after detecting the attack. A BART spokesperson declined to provide further details of the attack or if there was any attempt to negotiate a ransom with the hackers.

BART said it contracted with a data forensics firm to identify personal information disclosed in the hack and notify impacted individuals.

State must acceleratewater-storage projects

Water, water everywhere and nary a drop to drink. A parade of atmospheric rivers is drenching California with an estimated 22 trillion gallons of rain, enough to cover the entire state with up to six inches of water. Tragically, we’re capturing only a fraction of it while $2.7 billion approved by voters in 2014 to expand water storage sits largely idle.

The seven projects included in Prop. 1 have the collective capacity to increase the state’s water storage by 900 billion gallons, enough to supply up to 2.7 million homes for a year. But nearly five years after initial funding was awarded, none of the projects has yet broken ground.

It’s absolutely critical we accelerate these projects to begin storing water that can help us blunt future droughts. California and the federal government must work together on ways to streamline permits for infrastructure projects essential for adapting to climate change.

Jim WundermanPresident and CEO, Bay Area CouncilPleasant Hill

Concord should reopenNWS project to bids

The East Bay Times hit the nail on the head with its editorial on Jan. 6 calling for a better master developer than Seeno for the Naval Weapons Station (“Concord can do better than the Seeno III group,” Page A6).

Seeno and its Concord First Partners have proven incapable of meeting promises made to Concord during the selection process and those negotiated with construction unions over one year prior. Now Seeno wants Concord residents to bear the burden of its shortcomings by changing the specific plan to incorporate over 30% more homes, resulting in mind-boggling traffic in North Concord and the 680/242/4 highway interchange.

Changing the specific plan requires allowing other developers to submit competitive term sheets for comparison. It’s not possible to know if Concord is getting the best deal without having another developer make a counteroffer to Seeno’s.

Council must let the exclusive negotiating agreement with Seeno expire and proceed with a competitive process to get the best deal.

Hope JohnsonConcord

FTB is wrongfullyreporting inflation relief

As if delays and glitches in sending state Inflation Relief payments weren’t bad enough, the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) is causing more headaches by notifying the IRS that many of the payments may be subject to federal income tax.

In its November Tax News newsletter, FTB stated recipients of payments of $600 or more will receive IRS Form 1099-MISC. This alerts the IRS to look for the income on your tax return. However, these payments are most likely not taxable for federal, and definitely not taxable for California, but few taxpayers will be aware of these rules and may pay taxes they don’t owe. FTB has not explained why they are treating these payments differently from previous years’ Golden State Stimulus payments, for which they did not report anything to the IRS, nor why they have not just asked the IRS for guidance.

Thanks for nothing, FTB.

Mark BoleWalnut Creek

House Republicansplot political revenge

So here we are in 2023 with a Republican majority in the House of Representatives. This clown car includes names like Greene, Boebert, Jacobs, Gaetz, Scalise, and of course, McCarthy from California.

What is their agenda for America with an ongoing pandemic, climate change, police violence, gun control, voting rights, abortion rights, and so on? Political revenge.

The minority party led by an insurrectionist has no plans to improve the lives of anyone but themselves: greed, anger and power. And while they’re at it, good luck ever explaining George Santos.

Stuart ShicoffMartinez

Let’s celebrate heroesof the Jan. 6 breach

Re. “Survey: Few in GOP see Jan. 6 as a tragic day,” Page A1, Jan. 7:

Last week, House Republicans, some of whom were complicit in the attempt to change the presidential election outcome, took control of Congress because regular people seemed to have forgotten the horror of that infamous day and reelected these traitors.

Let’s remind everyone which party (Republicans) tried to destroy our democracy and which party (Democrats) saved it. Let’s start commemorating January 6 as “Defend Democracy Day.” If we don’t learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.

Sandy WhiteFremont

The new law is intended to ensure that seniors and other adults — in particular those who rely on cannabis for medicinal reasons — have access marijuana vaping products. Proposed by Supervisor Diane Burgis, the ordinance allows permitted cannabis retailers located in unincorporated areas to sell and deliver the products.

The ordinance passed 3-2 with supervisors Federal Glover and Candace Anderson voting no.

During the first reading of the ordinance on Dec. 6, Burgis said the motivation behind the revised ordinance was that the 2019 law hurt seniors and other adults who rely on cannabis vaping products for both recreational and medical reasons. In particular, it affected homebound seniors in unincorporated areas, she said.

“What we’re trying to do by having policies here in Contra Costa County is to give people a way to access safe products,” Burgis said.

At the December meeting, both Glover and Anderson voted against the ordinance, saying it would send mixed messages to the public and betray an effort led by Contra Costa youth who wanted the ban in the first place.

“We clearly took a leadership position back in 2019 when we had a number of our students throughout this county that came before us and asked for the leadership to put this ban in place,” Glover said. “And I’m not going to turn away from that. I think it’s important that that we listen to our youth when they cry out and ask for this help.”

Glover said there is no evidence “that vaping does not cause problems to individuals” and partially lifting the ban would send “false messages or confusing messages to our public that it’s OK to do this this while at the same time saying that we want to prevent it.”

On Tuesday, groups advocating for cannabis access told the Board of Supervisors that banning pot vape products has created an illicit black market for the product and disproportionately affected vulnerable populations who rely on cannabis primarily for medical reasons.

Renee Lee, a resident of the retirement community of Rossmoor who runs an organization with a mission to help seniors legally access and safety use cannabis, said the majority of medicinal cannabis users in the unincorporated community near Walnut Creek prefer vaping.

“I am so happy,” Lee said after Tuesday’s vote. “It’s like a big weight off my shoulders … (the ordinance) had been very unfair.”

Sarah Armstrong of American for Safe Access, the country’s largest and oldest advocacy organization for medical cannabis patients, said forcing people to travel medicinal marijuana “often stimulates a black market because they simply cannot go to the nearest dispensary if they don’t have one near them.”

Before the vote, Burgis emphasized that the ordinance makes no change to the current ban of tobacco and flavored tobacco vaping products; nor does it allow for new dispensaries in unincorporated areas.

“This does allow the sale of one particular set of cannabis products, which are already sold in many cities of Contra Costa County and are available to purchase in nearly every other part of the state that has approved cannabis retail sales,” she said.

In passing the ordinance, the board also directed Contra Costa Health Services to begin working on an awareness program about the dangers of youth cannabis vaping. Supervisor John Gioia said creation of such a program was a major factor in his decision to support the new legislation.