SAN PABLO
The city of San Pablo has formally appointed Capt. Brian Bubar, a 21-year veteran of the San Pablo Police Department, as the city’s next police chief.
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Bubar, selected from a field of 13 applicants, has served as the city’s interim police chief since the retirement of former San Pablo Police Chief Ron Raman in late December. Peckham and McKenney, an executive search firm based in Roseville, was retained in January to conduct a search for Raman’s replacement on the city’s behalf.
Bubar’s starting annual base salary will be $268,488, and his new role will officially begin May 1. A married Fairfield resident and father of three children, he will be San Pablo’s first Asian American police chief since the city’s incorporation in 1948.
“After an extensive and competitive executive recruitment search, I am pleased to announce San Pablo Police Captain Brian Bubar as San Pablo’s next police chief,” said Matt Rodriguez, San Pablo’s city manager.
Since 2016, Bubar has served in a number of ascending positions of leadership, responsibility and supervision, including several command positions within the Police Department.
In August 2021, Bubar earned a master’s degree in law enforcement and public safety leadership from the University of San Diego. He had previously earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from California Coast University in September 2018. Bubar is also a 2021 graduate of the California Commission of Peace Officers’ Standards and Training (POST) command college program.
— Dameron Communications
BERKELEY
Bay Area Book Festival’s separate Family Day to be May 4
This year, for the first time ever, the Bay Area Book Festival is dedicating a whole separate day for its free family programming and showcasing it all at the Berkeley Public Library downtown from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 4.
Bring your little ones, your middle-graders, your teens for a full day of interactive, unforgettable fun in the city’s main library at 2090 Kittredge St. The Family Day event is in conjunction with the 10th annual Bay Area Book Festival happening the weekend of June 1-2. For more details online, visit baybookfest.org/familyday.
— Bay Area Book Festival
Humane Society’s Pints for Paws fundraiser set for June 1
In honor of the upcoming National Beer Day, the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society (Berkeley Humane) has announced that tickets are now on sale for their 10th anniversary craft beer festival, Pints for Paws.
Voted Best Fundraising Event in the East Bay for several years running, Pints for Paws will take place from 2 to 5 p.m. June 1 at 2700 Ninth Street in Berkeley. This event, which will start an hour earlier for VIP ticket holders, sells out every year.
Community volunteers organize this dog-friendly event for ages 21 and older with all proceeds going to support the medical and behavioral needs of shelter dogs and cats. To learn more or to purchase tickets, visit berkeleyhumane.org/pints-for-paws online.
— Berkeley Humane
Group seeks donations for emergency aid to Gaza residents
Amidst the ongoing attack on Gaza, the Berkeley-based Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) and its partners are providing emergency assistance to families who have fled their homes to seek shelter with relatives as well as procuring emergency medical supplies for hospitals and clinics.
Every single person in Gaza is desperately hungry. Children and babies are the most vulnerable, and at least 27 have starved to death. Pregnant women can’t get enough food to give birth to healthy babies or to nurse them. The impact on their physical and mental development will be severe and could even be passed on to future generations.
Right now, MECA’s partners and volunteers in northern Gaza are delivering 600 food parcels with flour, lentils, rice, beans, and more. The cost now is $118. We are also working to get fresh produce from farmers.
Six hundred food parcels may seem like almost nothing, but for the 600 families who will get food, it is everything. MECA partners and volunteers are determined and working incredibly hard. With your support now, we can get more food to more people in the days and weeks ahead.
Food is scarce, expensive, and vanishes quickly. MECA must keep raising funds so that whenever something is available we can buy it. Please make the most generous contribution you can online at bit.ly/3U15LhW. For more information, visit mecaforpeace.org/about-us.
— MECA
RICHMOND
Homeowner sought to accommodate tiny house ADU project
THIMBY, or Tiny House in My Backyard, in collaboration with TentMakers Inc., seeks to pilot Richmond’s “Tiny House on Wheels” ordinance to provide permanent homes for unhoused folk. Accordingly, we’re constructing a mobile accessory dwelling unit (ADU) to be placed on a property with existing housing.
To facilitate this, THIMBY co-founded the Tiny House Building Academy, an organization providing education and on-site construction experience to individuals from marginalized backgrounds, preparing them for careers in the industry.
As THIMBY’s construction nears completion, our biggest priority is finding a homeowner to accommodate the ADU on their property, a process facilitated by THIMBY and TentMakers. The tiny house would be located in the host’s yard for a minimum of one year and would be managed by TentMakers, with minimal necessary involvement from the homeowner.
The ADU is equipped with solar panels and consumes less water, energy and space than larger homes. If you’re interested in hosting the ADU, please fill out our survey online at bit.ly/3w6jkoh. Also, check out our info packet at bit.ly/3Ukuzmi and website (shac.studentorg.berkeley.edu/thimby3) for more details, or email us at garrett@tentmakersinc.org.
— Garrett Pohlman
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