Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Its looking quite royal out here! KidKraft released a new FOUR FOOT Princess Barbie-like Disney Dollhouse just in time for the holiday season.

The castle towers over your heroine (or hero) showcasing a wallpapered interior paying tribute to the entire Disney Princess lineup and offers her Disney Princess dolls (as well as visiting Barbies) a place to stay, eat and play dress up. Check out the details on this wonderful gift idea!

Disney has really revamped its Princess line since the 1990s, showing that girls can be empowered, creative, kind, curious, adventurers and intelligent readers! The lineup has been shown now to influence girls (and boys) in positive ways and empower them all! Moana is a top contender according to surveys for a positive role model! At what age did you start to recognize positive characteristics in animated characters?

The KidKraft Disney Dollhouse Dance & Dream Castle (which you can check out here) royally stands at 4ft tall and lets a doll dress up in their finest attire to twirl the night away on a rooftop patio to 3 dreamy songs and explore 8 Disney Princess themed rooms throughout the castle. Its now available online at such retailers like Amazon (where it ships free with Amazon Prime) for a price of $199.99.

The listing describes the Dance & Dream Castle with the caption:

Oh my! An invitation to the ball! How exciting! Precious KidKraft Disney Princess Dance & Dream Castle lets dolls dress up in their finest attire and then dance the night away on the rooftop. Press the tiara button to play three dreamy songs and watch princesses twirl around to the music. The unique design provides storage for jewelry and accessories on the front faade. Inside youll find regal furniture ready for royal stories.

Whats neat about opening up this Disney dollhouse is the sound! The interior mechanisms not only play music on the elegant rooftop balcony but when its time for play, a magical harp sounds when your little kid creator opens the door.

Likewise, when playtime is over, parents can close the doors enclosing all the action figures inside with the furniture. Its an easy cleanup. Is your little Disney princess fan playing dress up along with their toys? The doll house balconies on the exterior are creatively themed to capture jewelry or scarves in the crown points to drape the Castle in extra fun.

Included with the KidKraft Disney Princess Dance & Dream Castle is twenty royal furniture pieces like a bed fit for Princess Aurora, a dining set for Tiana, a dressing wardrobe set for Cinderella, and a bathtub for Ariels mermaid fins! Step down the staircase in front of the grand clock to the music room, where youll find a baby grand piano to practice your music lessons.

Peek at the wallpaper lining each room, and youll see Ray buzzing around the cakes, Flounder and Sebastian in the bathroom, and Cogsworth in the library. Even Lucifer has a spot on the couch! Everyones favorite fairytale is included in the small details, leading to exciting play.

When your dolls are ready for the ball, step up to the rooftop where there are places for four dolls to stand and dance the night away. The center front golden button plays the three songs for entertainment. The Disney KidKraft dollhouse even has tiny steps for the Princess dolls to make their way up, and hopefully not lose a beautiful glass slipper on the way down!

Would your Heroine or Hero enjoy playing house in this elaborate four foot tall KidKraft Disney Princess Dance & Dream Castle? Leave us a comment below about who you might buy this playset for!

Originally posted here:
Gift Your Princess a GIANT Disney Dollhouse This Holiday Season - Inside the Magic

A choice of four properties in county Leitrim which offer tranquil living and excellent value.

190k DNG Flanagan Ford (071) 915 9222

The Forest Park estate was built in the early 2000s on the outskirts of Dromahair, less than a kilometre from the centre of town. Lough Gill about five minutes' drive away. No22 is at the end of a cul-de-sac and next to the small forest of the title, and plenty of mature trees shelter its south-facing garden. You reach the garden through patio doors in the kitchen/diner at the back of the house. Elsewhere, the ground floor has a living room with a marble fireplace, and there are four bedrooms upstairs (one ensuite). The total space is 1,399 sq ft.

149k Gordon Hughes Estate Agents (071) 964 5555

Effrinagh is between two lakes - Effrinagh Lough and Loughtown Lough, which has a tiny island on it, possibly a cranng. Otherwise, the landscape around here is dominated by Sheemore, the fairy hill, with its cairns and huge Catholic cross. It's quite a remote spot, although only eight kilometres from Carrick-on-Shannon. The bungalow here is on 0.3 of an acre and has been extended. There's a open-plan kitchen and dining room (the kitchen done in bottle green), a living room with an open fire, and three bedrooms, as well as a shower room and utility.

300k Sherry FitzGerald Draper (071) 914 3710

Chestnut Cottage is at the very end of the Hospital Road out of Manorhamilton, past the old Union workhouse, which is now part of a hospital complex. It consists of a carefully restored two-storey house, plus a two-storey stone outbuilding that is even prettier. The main house has a flagstone-floored kitchen with an Aga on the ground floor, along with a sitting room with a stove and a formal dining room. The first floor has three bedrooms, one with an ensuite shower and walk-in wardrobe. The main bathroom upstairs has a free-standing bath. The total floor area is 1,706 sq ft.

240k Gordon Hughes Estate Agents (071) 964 5555

Leitrim Village lies just a little east of the Shannon, straddling the Ballinamore-Ballyconnell Canal, and has a marina and quay. The townland of Tullylannan is south of the village, close to the shores of Carrickevy Lough, which is reportedly good for coarse angling. This detached house faces south towards the lough and is less than 10 minutes' walk from the village. And if you want to make it earn a living, it has planning permission to be used as a creche. It's 1,884 sq ft with an open-plan kitchen and living room, a lounge and office, and three bedrooms, as well as a two-room attic.

Indo Property

Link:
Four on the market: in county Leitrim - Independent.ie

PUBLISHED: 17:21 05 October 2020 | UPDATED: 13:03 07 October 2020

Karen Richards

The huge drive leads to the front of the bungalow.

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The current owners have also added air conditioning and a detached garden office as part of the refurbishment.

The property is situated on a generous plot, with the accommodation comprising an entrance hall, living room, playroom/bedroom, kitchen-dining room, utility room, bathroom and a bedroom with patio doors on the ground floor.

The hallway features Karndean flooring, as does the beautifully-designed kitchen-diner-family room, which has full-length, aluminium bi-folding doors, with fitted-blinds, leading to the back garden, matching side-window, a skylight, units with granite worktops, a Bosch gas hob with extractor, integral Bosch double-oven and Smeg dishwasher. The first floor has another two bedrooms, a shower room and a walk-in wardrobe.

Outside, there is an enclosed garden at the back, with lawn and large patio and the office with under-floor heating. There is ample parking and a double garage at the front.

PROPERTY FACTS

Guide Price: 700,000

Location: Down Road, Portishead Agent: Hunters, 01275 600025

http://www.hunters.com

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What property has the wow factor in North Somerset? - North Somerset Times

The Event Barn at Mahr Park Arboretum is nearing completion with just some small details left to complete, according to Mahr Park Arboretum Director Ashton Robinson.

To celebrate the completion of the renovation, the city will be hosting an open house at the more than 5,000 square foot event venue on Friday.

The open house will span most of the day to allow for the community to visit with COVID safety measures in place.

We will welcome our business and organization visitors from noon to 3 p.m. and the community from 3 to 6 p.m., according to Sara Lutz, public relations director for Madisonville. We will be serving refreshments throughout the day. We are also very excited to feature several local music artists playing on the beautiful outdoor patio during the event.

Musical performances will include Rufus Baker and Julia Sizemore from noon to 1:30 p.m., Rachel Crick and Hunter Bishop from 1:30 to 3 p.m., Spencer Holley from 3 to 4 p.m., Johnny Keyz from 4 to 5 p.m. and Luci Bess from 5 to 6 p.m.

The space provides a catering kitchen, back patio, VIP room, a space for a band, buffet or party space, furnished entry and registration room, roll-up glass doors, rustic wood beams and batten walls, herringbone wood features and white round tables and chairs.

The outside patio is about 3,600 square feet, and offers a big area for outside events, said Robinson.

Robinson said she expects the event space to be a way to make the Madisonville area more marketable.

I think it will encourage a lot of people to come into the park and bring more people in even from out of town visiting for conferences or weddings, said Robinson. I think the community needs a place like this. Theres not a place like this in Madisonville.

Robinson said bookings have already been made this week.

As far as using the facility, we are just following CDC guidelines whatever they are at the time and we will change with them whatever it may be, said Robinson. We have started booking this week and open house is kind of the kick off of that.

View original post here:
Madisonville to celebrate renovation of Mahr Park Event Barn - The Messenger

In the event of a fire

Flee the minute calamity becomes imminent, and certainly if you are told to evacuate.

Take your disaster kit and important documents with you.

Back your car into an open space to load it, leaving it pointed in the direction you plan to head. While you load up, leave the cars doors unlocked and the key in the ignition.

If the fire has hit your house before youve had time to escape, check the temperature of any doorknob you need to use before you open it. A hot knob means the flames are close on the other side of the door. Pick another exit.

If you have to flee through a room on fire, crawl so you will be below the smoke level.

Throw on a heavy coat to protect against burning embers.

If you have time and winds arent high

Wet down the roof of your hose with a garden hose. But emergency officials say dont try to be a hero. They dont want to waste valuable time they could use to fight the fire to rescue you.

To reduce or slow the spread of fire, move combustible patio furniture inside, or at least to the other side of the house from where the fire is approaching. Flaming embers will have less to ignite.

Read the original here:
What to do first in the first critical minutes of a fire - San Francisco Chronicle

The house at 4020 Glenwick Lane is a custom-made, five-bedroom, five-bathroom and two half-bathroom home. Designed and built in 2019 by SHM Architects and Tatum Brown Custom Homes, the home is 10,111 square feet.

Listing agent Amy Detwiler called it a contemporary masterpiece that is like art that illuminates at night. She noted that the home features travertine throughout, all imported from Italy.

Past the exterior gate at the entrance of the home and through a courtyard, large windows look through the entrance and into a formal dining room.

Adjacent to the dining room, the two-story living room has views of the yard and pool through floor-to-ceiling windows and is accented by a fireplace. The living room has access to an outdoor patio and sits next to the kitchen.

The kitchen features dark flooring, countertops and a center island that contrast with the warm-toned cabinets along the walls of the kitchen. Theres a breakfast area on one side of the kitchen, and the room is open to an additional living area. The family room features a fireplace and has views onto a patio.

The downstairs library and lounge sit next to a wet bar accented with marble details. Both the library and the wet bar feature the darker color palettes that contrast with the neutral tones throughout.

1/13Interior of 4020 Glenwick Lane.(Sean Gallagher / Sean Gallagher Photography LLC)

2/13Interior of 4020 Glenwick Lane.(Sean Gallagher / Sean Gallagher Photography LLC)

3/13The kitchen at 4020 Glenwick Lane.(Sean Gallagher / Sean Gallagher Photography LLC)

4/13The wet bar at 4020 Glenwick Lane.(Sean Gallagher / Sean Gallagher Photography LLC)

5/13A bathroom at 4020 Glenwick Lane.(Sean Gallagher / Sean Gallagher Photography LLC)

6/13The primary bedroom at 4020 Glenwick Lane.(Sean Gallagher / Sean Gallagher Photography LLC)

7/13The library, or lounge, at 4020 Glenwick Lane.(Sean Gallagher / Sean Gallagher Photography LLC)

8/13Another bedroom at 4020 Glenwick Lane.(Sean Gallagher / Sean Gallagher Photography LLC)

9/13A living room at 4020 Glenwick Lane.(Sean Gallagher / Sean Gallagher Photography LLC)

10/13The exterior of 4020 Glenwick Lane.(Sean Gallagher / Sean Gallagher Photography LLC)

11/13The backyard at 4020 Glenwick Lane.(Sean Gallagher / Sean Gallagher Photography LLC)

12/13A patio at 4020 Glenwick Lane.(Sean Gallagher / Sean Gallagher Photography LLC)

13/13A patio at 4020 Glenwick Lane.(Sean Gallagher / Sean Gallagher Photography LLC)

A guest bedroom is downstairs, and the remaining four bedrooms are on the second floor.

The primary suite has large glass doors that open to the private balcony, along with a bathroom with built-in cabinets, dual sinks, a vanity area and a bathtub set next to windows to allow for natural light. The private balcony is expansive enough to fit a couch and set of chairs and overlooks the property and surrounding neighborhood.

Outside, theres a pool with a water feature and plenty of green space in the front and back yards of the 0.58-acre property. The home also has a three-car garage.

4020 Glenwick Lane is listed for $9.5 million by Amy Detwiler of Compass.

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Look inside a custom-built University Park home priced at $9.5M, complete with travertine from Italy - The Dallas Morning News

Holmen living at its finest! This spacious home backs up to Halfway Creek for privacy right in town. 5 bedrooms & 2 conforming den/offices will never leave you w/o space. Whole home audio, huge deck, separate coffee bar & wine fridge area, granite throughout, 5x7 walk-in master shower, hot tub, & covered three-season porch are just some of the amenities of this custom built home! The heated & finished 4-car garage is an extension of the home, complete with a batting cage & a 50-ft stall for your ball player to get in practice. No ball player? No problem! There is lots of room for your toys or workshop! The huge kitchen-greatroom is the perfect place for entertaining. The lower level offers a beautiful patio w/ fire pit, steps away from the hot tub or space for the kids to play wiffle ball.

View Listing

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17 of the Most Expensive Homes for Sale in the Coulee Region - Winona Daily News

People are just really lonely right now, my neighbor Gavin Mogan told me, as I sat on my front porch watching him water some patches of sod hed brought over.

Theres this one guy, whose yard I work on, who literally comes out and walks with me as I mow ... just to have someone to talk to.

Gavin isnt a landscaper by trade, but this pandemic has pushed him into new ventures. He has Parkinsons disease and has spent the better half of the last decade as a fitness coach for others struggling with this same condition. The mind-body connection when it comes to this disease is crucial, and he has always understood that.

However, with the outbreak of COVID-19, his clientele began to dwindle. Fewer people were comfortable leaving their homes when it could mean truly putting their lives at risk. So Gavin adapted, as hes been doing since his own diagnosis in 2008.

Initially, he started recruiting others with Parkinsons disease (those still able to go outside) to partner with him doing yardwork around local neighborhoods for a little extra money. But as their abilities ebbed and flowed, he began offering the opportunity to anyone who might need it the teenage kid next door who wants to earn a few bucks and the man he met at a gas station who was out of work due to the pandemic and now living in his car. Sometimes they showed, sometimes they didnt, but either way Gavin is always there, working.

Most of the time he just appears in my front yard, trimming tree branches or power-washing my sidewalk. A few times Ive told him that I couldnt really afford his services at the moment and hed tell me its something he meant to do the prior week when wed hired him to just mow our lawn, so not to worry about paying for the maintenance, which was really so much more. Hed say its medicine to him and that he needed to do it. Because, again, that mind-body connection is real.

On days when he doesnt have any clients, he drives around the neighborhood and finds lawns in need of some TLC. He told me hell do them for free or what little money the person can pay. He showed me a picture of one backyard that looked like a jungle. He cleared it all out for $20.

When I told him that job was worth so much more he said, Yeah, but I knew she couldnt afford more than that. He explained that she was an elderly woman living on her own, and it was obvious she needed a little help and that it goes both ways. It helps him too.

We talked about how so many of us are struggling with low-grade depression right now. Were trapped inside with no end in sight. The only human connection many of us are getting right now is online, and its often at a fever pitch made up of pent-up emotions. Everyone is screaming at us that the sky is falling.

Normally, we can get away from that. Just walk outside and interact with others to remind ourselves that screens offer a skewed view of reality. But, for many, thats not an option these days.

Gavin explained that when we look out and see a mess all around us in our yards, it can feel like an outward expression of what were already feeling inside.

When people can see something nice outside their windows, it just might make what theyre experiencing internally feel more manageable," he said.

Ive experienced this firsthand. Last month, he cleared out all of the brush from our side yard; a place we barely ever go, full of wild, overgrown rosebushes. I honestly never really think about it, I just close the blinds and ignore the overgrowth.

But now, when I open our kitchen window, I see a clear space. And somehow it feels like I have more room to breathe because of it, even amidst this quarantine.

As I sat on my porch, I thought about the older gentleman who walks with Gavin, shouting over the mower, just to have some semblance of human connection.

That must be so hard, I thought, living alone during a pandemic. At least I have a partner and a houseful of children. As Gavin continued watering, I realize Id been talking his ear off for 30 minutes, so perhaps even I have a need for that type of calming human connection.

And thats when it hit me Gavin is offering more than just lawn care. In so many ways hes offering mental care. Hes helping those of us who need to know were not alone. Hes adding a bit of beauty among this chaos.

Hes reminding us that even though the online world may be a mess right now, the real world still exists, and people who care about their communities and neighbors are just outside our door.

Destiny Herndon-De La Rosa is a writer in Richardson and founder of New Wave Feminists.

More:
Hes here to cut the lawn and to draw us out of our COVID-induced depression - The Dallas Morning News

Mayor Jesse Arregun in front of City Hall on Milvia Street on Sept. 29. He is running for a second four-year term. Photo: Pete Rosos

The intersection of Interstate 80 and University Avenue is the entrance to Berkeley, and in the last few years it has turned into an eyesore. Home to about 100 people without a place to live, the two eyebrows on the west side of the freeway are a jumble of tents, shanties, heaps of garbage, discarded mattresses and bicycle parts. One Berkeley resident called it a cesspool and an embarrassment. A city official referred to the encampment as a humanitarian crisis.

For Jesse Arregun, who was elected mayor in 2016 on a pledge of doing more for the homeless, the encampment by the Seabreeze Market is an albatross. Try as he might and he has proposed many ideas on how to clean the place up and help the residents while reckoning with the property owner, Caltrans he has not come up with a solution.

For many voters in Berkeley considering whether to reelect him, the encampments along I-80 represent a massive fail on the part of the city of Berkeley, and by extension, Arregun.

For many voters in Berkeley considering whether to reelect him, the encampments along I-80 represent a massive fail on the part of the city and, by extension, Arregun. In addition, more tents seem to be springing up around Berkeley, along Gilman Street, Ashby Avenue, Shattuck Avenue, Adeline Street and in Willard Park. The tents are there, in part, because CDC guidelines recommend people shelter in place as much as possible to stop the spread of the coronavirus; Berkeley is following those guidelines. The city has mostly stopped relocating the unhoused.

This has been a very thorny issue, Arregun acknowledged in a recent interview with Berkeleyside, referring to the encampments near the freeway. Its the entryway to the city. Its unacceptable. Its not OK to let people live like that and its a safety hazard. We have to act.

Had these encampments been on city property, Berkeley would already have resolved the issue, he said. The fact that its on Caltrans property makes it more complicated. We need their cooperation and we need their approval.

Arregun knows that most Berkeley residents arent that interested in who has jurisdiction over the land. They just want something to be done, both to get rid of the unsightly encampments and to help the unhoused who need support. And each day that passes, the pressure to act grows.

When I drive into Berkeley, I am heartbroken by the hundreds of people in camps along the street, former Mayor Gus Newport wrote in a forthcoming Berkeleyside editorial. He has endorsed Wayne Hsiung, one of Arreguns opponents, for mayor. Homelessness, however, is not an accident or inevitability; it is a direct result of policy choices made by our elected officials. Instead of providing supportive services and housing, Arregun has chosen a punitive route with disastrous results.

Osha Neumann, a lawyer with the East Bay Community Law Center who has filed lawsuits on behalf of the homeless against Berkeley, said no one politician can ever end homelessness in a region with such a huge housing shortage. The test instead is how a politician treats those who have to live on the streets. Does he or she make sure toilets, hand-washing stations and regular trash pickup is happening? Are service providers doing outreach? While Berkeley has taken some positive steps, it should do more, he said.

I dont fault anybody for not ending homelessness, not any politician, said Neumann, who has not endorsed anyone in the mayoral campaign. I would fault any politician who says they are going to end homelessness because they are not going to do it.

Confronting the homeless issue is just one of the crises Arregun, 36, has had to face in the last four years as mayor. Hes also had to grapple with the 2017 street battles between antifascist activists and right-wing groups such the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and Identity Evropa; the 2019 PG&E power shutoffs; threats from President Trump to cut funding to sanctuary cities like Berkeley; protests against police in the wake of George Floyds death; the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, including the economic devastation facing Berkeleys small businesses, restaurants and art institutions and the many people who have lost their jobs and are struggling to pay rent and buy food. As David Brooks wrote in his New York Times column this week, Governing is usually about responding to crises you didnt choose or foresee.

The challenges have changed him, Arregun said. He had served on Berkeleys Rent Stabilization Board and City Council for 12 years before becoming one of the citys youngest-ever mayors, often aligning himself with the left wing of the council that included Kriss Worthington and Max Anderson. In those days, Arregun was often known for what he opposed as much as what he proposed. He, along with Sophie Hahn, now a City Council member running for reelection in District 5, were the backers of the second Measure R in 2014 that sought to impose greater restrictions on the three 180-foot-high buildings that were allowed downtown. Most Berkeley voters 74% opposed it. Arregun was often critical of many of the market-rate projects that came before the council.

Arregun no longer rigidly holds those positions, he said. He now more often votes for large apartment complexes because he knows Berkeley needs the developer fees that come with them to help build more affordable units. And Berkeley also needs housing for all income levels, he said.

As mayor, Arregun said he has to represent all of the city, rather than just one district. Building consensus on the council has become his priority over pushing to make a point. He has also brought back civility to council meetings.

I really feel like I am a different person now than I was four years ago. All the challenges we faced you cant help but grow as a leader and adapt. Mayor Jesse Arregun

I really feel like I am a different person now than I was four years ago, said Arregun. All the challenges we faced you cant help but grow as a leader and adapt. Ive felt its my fundamental responsibility to keep our community safe and to advance our values and represent the whole community.

Evidence of Arreguns political evolution can be seen in his list of endorsers. Many of the people who endorsed former City Councilmember Laurie Capitelli for mayor in 2016, including former Mayor Tom Bates, are now backing Arregun. Seven of the eight council members have endorsed him. The exception is City Councilmember Cheryl Davila. The entire School Board is endorsing him as are seven rent board commissioners. The Berkeley Democratic Club, in which Capitelli is a leader, gave its endorsement, as did the Berkeley Progressive Alliance and Berkeley Citizens Action, among others. There doesnt seem to be a single organization, political or governmental body, or nonprofit that is not endorsing him.

I am enthusiastically endorsing him, said City Councilmember Lori Droste, who backed Capitelli in the last mayoral election and has had policy differences with Arregun over the years. Hes evolved as a leader. He is governing as the leader of the entire city instead of a district, so he has to create consensus. He has matured in this position. I find him much more reasonable.

The slew of endorsements may also reflect the weakness of Arreguns opponents. Theres a logic to endorsing the person who looks like he has the strongest chance of winning.

Aidan Hill, the vice-chair of the Homeless Commission and a passionate advocate for Peoples Park, was unable to secure a City Council seat in 2018, making a win a longshot in a city-wide race. Naomi Pete is a perennial candidate for various positions. Hsiung, who is running a strong ground campaign, appears to be the biggest threat to Arreguns reelection. But he is also the co-founder of the controversial animal rights group DxE, which had members do bloody die-ins in front of the Local Butcher Shop until its owners agreed to put a sign in the window acknowledging there is no humane way to butcher animals. Hsiung has also been charged with 17 felonies in three different states in connection with entering industrial farms around the country, filming inside and taking animals.

One Tuesday in July, in a parking lot on Berkeley Way, officials held a ceremonial groundbreaking for the largest affordable and homeless housing project in Berkeleys history. The complex now being built at 2012 Berkeley Way will have two components. One side will have 53 units of permanent supportive housing for homeless and disabled men and women; 32 shelter beds for homeless men; and 12 transitional housing beds for homeless male veterans. Mental health and medical services will be offered on-site and a communal dining room will allow residents and unsheltered people to share meals.

The other portion of the site will have 89 units of affordable housing, ranging from studios to one- and two-bedroom apartments. They will be available through a lottery to people who earn 50%-60% of the area median income.

Arregun could not make the ceremony, so City Manager Dee Williams-Ridley, City Councilmember Kate Harrison and others represented Berkeley. But the project is something Arregun is particularly proud of because, in 2009, he and then-council members Linda Maio and Kriss Worthington first proposed the idea of a service-enriched homeless housing project.

It took 11 years to cobble together funding for the $120 million complex, and a 2018 bond pushed by Arregun and his allies ultimately made the project feasible, Williams-Ridley said at the ceremony. Berkeley donated the land and committed $27 million from its Housing Trust Fund, funded by fees developers pay when they dont include affordable units in developments, and money from Measure O, the bond measure. Other funds came from state, county and private sources.

I cant help but see hundreds of people on our streets who dont have homes and not recognize we have a problem and that we are facing a housing crisis, Arregun told Berkeleyside this week. The status quo is not working. Housing is the solution to homelessness and housing is critical to creating a more equitable and racially and culturally diverse community.

Yet progress is painfully slow, Arregun acknowledges, and his critics are using the pace of progress to suggest he is callous to the plight of the unhoused.

For example, Hsiung says Berkeley has only built 22 units of affordable housing during Arreguns first term, as reported in a recent housing pipeline analysis published by the city.

Arregun has consistently said Hsiung distorts his record and cherry-picks facts about the mayors initiatives. That 22 number is an incomplete snapshot and doesnt reflect the units in Berkeleys housing pipeline, Arregun said. While 22 units have been constructed since he became mayor (during the years 2017-2019) another 244 were built between 2014 and 2016 when he served on the council. An additional 338 below-market-rate units have been approved but have not started construction, according to Berkeleys recent housing pipeline report. In that same time frame, 994 market-rate units have been built.

As the president of ABAG, Arregun said he is very aware of how much farther Berkeley and the entire Bay Area have to go to meet the regions housing needs. Arregun also argues he is in a good position to help drive the debate and to push cities to meet their quotas. In terms of other accomplishments connected to housing, Arregun points to the MOU Berkeley and BART worked out to build housing on the North Berkeley and Ashby BART stations, the millions of dollars the city has donated for flexible housing funds for people to retain their housing or consult a lawyer and programs to prevent displacement. He also helped raise $4.4 million for the Berkeley Relief Fund to give direct grants for people struggling to pay rent, to small business owners, and to art non-profits. (Berkeley donated $3 million of those funds and individuals and companies contributed the rest.) Early on, the City Council also passed a moratorium on evictions during the state of emergency.

If there is one program that Arregun is singularly proud of, one that he often mentions in debates and talks, it is Pathways center on Second Street. Arregun and Hahn pushed the initiative, which is modeled on San Franciscos navigation centers. The program allows (or did before COVID) partners to sleep near one another and bring pets. There is a kitchen, some communal meals, services and the ability to come and go freely 24/7. People can stay for up to six months. The aim is to give unhoused people respite from the street, counseling and the resources and funds to find more permanent housing.

Arregun said 250 people have been placed in permanent housing through Pathways. However, sometimes the subsidies are only for the short term and people have ended up back on the streets.

Most subsidies are short term, said boona cheema, the former director of BOSS and a longtime advocate for the unhoused. She has endorsed Arregun. Just because they got housing, the issues are still there, like poverty, addiction and mental health issues. People fall out of the housing.

Cheema wishes Arregun would be bolder and have the courage to acknowledge that large groups of people will never be housed. (Berkeley has about 1,000 homeless people with another 1,000 drifting through every year, according to a city report.)

Where are people supposed to go? she said. Are there small encampments we can create? It doesnt have to be a 100-person encampment.

The City Council has voted to create a sanctioned encampment in Berkeley and to look at a place for RVs to get short-term permits to park. So far, officials havent come up with a spot. State agencies nixed the parking lot by the former Hs Lordships, Arregun said. The city is still looking, said Arregun, but there just isnt a lot of available space in Berkeley. He said he is convening a meeting with Alameda County and other East Bay mayors to discuss a regional RV lot. In the meantime, Berkeley is not enforcing its ban against overnight RV parking.

The pandemic has been both good and bad for the unhoused. The good: Berkeley got state money to rent out two hotels that can accommodate 69 homeless individuals most at-risk of contracting COVID-19. In addition, the city installed 18 trailers and renovated a four-bedroom house for their needs.

The bad: Social distancing rules have meant that Berkeley has had to pare down the number of people served by each shelter, leading to fewer services.

Since people are living in the eyebrows along I-80, Neumann wants Berkeley to do more and thinks Arregun should show leadership. Even though the land belongs to Caltrans, the public works department could pick up garbage more often, which would reduce the rat problem.

The question is how do we treat the people who inevitably are going to be outside? said Neumann. How do we make their lives as livable as possible, reduce the impact of living outside for them and their neighbors?

Neumann does appreciate Arreguns resistance to dispersing the I-80 encampments especially now when the impending election has placed pressure on him to do something, he said.

But Arreguns concern about the encampments continues and he said they are going to be cleaned very soon. Caltrans already moved people from land near Gilman and erected a fence. The state agency started there because there have been 10 fires in the area in the last few months. University Avenue is next.

I dont envy him, Droste said of Arregun. Its easy to criticize but its hard for people to come up with solutions.

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Original post:
Should Jesse Arreguin be elected to a second term as Berkeley mayor? - Berkeleyside

Turtlecreek Twp. Trustee Jonathan Sams told the commissioners that the township did not oppose the churchs mission to develop a facility which looks attractive but said there were better locations in the township to build. He said the township wants to expand its tax base but struggles due to the proximity of three correctional centers.

In August, the trustees sent a letter to the county Rural Zoning Commission asking that it deny the zoning change. The trustees cited the zoning change was contrary to the area plans adopted the township and the county commissioners for future development as well as being contrary to the business/economic plan and would have a substantial negative impact for planned business and residential uses.

In July, church representatives withdrew a similar plan rather than risk rejection because the existing plan for the land use, approved in 2002, only permitted senior-living facilities, including a 30-person building and 36 single-family homes.

It would expand on a 12-boy home already set up in the church and make way for a similar program for 12 girls

Commissioner Shannon Jones said the proposed facility will address a great need in the county of placing foster children. She said the county places children in facilities that are hours away from Warren County and in different states. Jones said the facility would be on church owned property and it was a service they want to provide that isnt available now.

This would be cost-effective to the county, she said.

Jones said the goal was to reunify children with parents and placing them locally would be a benefit. While she wants to help the township, she did not think the facility competes with the township efforts.

Commissioners Tom Grossman and David Young agreed.

Weve been partners with the township but it looks like this time well have to disagree, Young said.

He said the churchs plan was an extension of their ministries.

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Warren County approves plan for Solid Rock Churchs boys home with equine therapy - Hamilton Journal News