Nate is an East Bay community papers editor for the East Bay Times and Bay Area News Group.
A century ago, on Oct. 15, 1923, the Berkeley City Council took a major action in response to the September 1923 Berkeley fire, according to the Berkeley Daily Gazette. Meeting on a Saturday, the council unanimously adopted the first reading of an ordinance that would essentially ban wooden shingles on Berkeley homes.Berkeley, a Look Back: Sunday to mark century since city’s worst fire ever
Councilmember Thomas Caldecott said “he did not favor barring wooden shingles, as he considered it worked a hardship on hundreds of poor property owners who in a few years may be forced to put other than wooden shingles on their roofs,” the Gazette reported. However, after continued discussion, the councilmembers present finally adopted the ordinance unanimously, in part to reduce the chance it could be quickly appealed by a voter referendum.
In that era, real estate agents typically valued property on a “front foot” standard, meaning the length of the property boundary bordering a city street. This was useful in commercial areas where a 200-foot-long frontage would be more valuable than a 100-foot frontage because of the amount of streetfront retail that could be built there.
“Miss M.G. Nutting, of Spring Way, has written to the mayor, calling attention to the nuisance of cars being ‘garaged’ in the street and pointing out the danger of accidents.”
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