Ice skates in the bay during an atmospheric river storm on January 5th. A kayaker discovered raw sewage beneath the seafood restaurant last month. The restaurant closed early and called a plumber. Photo credit: Kelly Sullivan

A kayaker paddling along the Berkeley Marina recently noticed something worrying and quite disgusting. Untreated sewage appeared to be dripping into the San Francisco Bay below the Skates on the Bay restaurant.

The kayaker reported the sighting to the San Francisco Baykeeper pollution hotline, a nonprofit environmental organization, which shared the information with the City of Berkeley.

The city confirmed the leak as raw sewage on April 13, and by the end of the day the restaurant, which stands on pillars in the bay and is known for its panoramic views, had fixed the problem, city spokesman Matthai Chakko said.

It is not clear how long the pipe was leaking.

“City environmental health personnel were able to confirm a slow, steady flow as of 2:00 p.m. Thursday, 4/13/23,” Chakko said. The restaurant closed early and called a plumber, he said.

A cap on the end of a pipe had fallen off.

“The flow was completely stopped by 9 p.m. and the plumber returned the next morning to access the lines at low tide and complete the repair by boat,” Chakko said. “The missing end cap was replaced with a new cap and the restaurant was cleared to reopen.”

Chakko added, “As a side note, the plumber examined the rest of the underside of the restaurant to determine if there were any other plumbing problems in preparation for a planned major remodel.

Berkeleyside has reached out to Landry’s, the owners of Skates, and have yet to receive a response. A Skates executive, who said he could not be identified by name, said the restaurant had no idea the sewer pipe was broken until it was contacted by the city and that the repairs were made immediately.

Baykeeper attorney Nicole Sasaki said the organization’s hotline, which can be reached by email or phone, works exactly as it’s supposed to.

“Skates on the Bay quickly repaired their broken sewer line so that the restaurant’s raw sewage is no longer being dumped directly into the bay,” she said.

The working sewer pipe under the restaurant flows into the city’s sewage system, which then connects to the East Bay Municipal Water District’s (EBMUD) large “interceptor” pipes and on to the treatment plant near the Bay Bridge’s Oakland terminal.

Chakko said he believes sewage from the city’s few shops that are in or on the shore rarely enters the bay’s waters. Eileen White, executive officer of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, which governs state and federal water pollution laws, echoed the same for the Bay Area.

“I don’t think it’s common for companies on the Bay to have septic issues, but all SSOs do [sanitary system overflows] that enter storm drains go into the bay [through gutters, streets, and soils]. SSOs are rampant and we are taking steps to reduce them.”

Berkeley reported the leak to the regional water board, an optional step. The incident was handled as it should be, White said, from a leak report to the city to an inspection and remediation. “That’s the way it’s supposed to work,” she said.

White said the impact of the skates’ leak should be minimal.

“Because the volume of the leak is such a small percentage of the volume of the bay and there is a lot of mixing in the bay, we don’t think there was any impact,” she said. “The bay is recovering quickly due to rapid mixing from wind and tides.”

It is impossible to know the condition of the sewage infrastructure on private property, since inspection is voluntary, with a few exceptions. Property owners may have old leaking sewers, known as private sewers, from their building to the municipal system, usually under roads, without being aware of it.

The main exception is the requirement that private sewer connections must be inspected and repaired if necessary prior to the sale of a property. This requirement, effective in 2011, applies to communities served by EBMUD’s sewage system, including Berkeley.

Another exception is the City of Richmond, which mandates sewer line inspections on private property. Baykeeper’s Sasaki believes the Richmond approach should be the norm.

“Cities should require businesses and homeowners to verify that the sewer pipes on their properties are working properly — which the City of Richmond is already doing — and also find ways to incentivize people to do the right thing,” Sasaki said .

“Without this requirement, there is no way to tell how many more businesses and households are unknowingly polluting our environment.”

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Mendocino County Superior Court Executive Officer Kim Turner believes people of color, women and other citizens who happen to fall within a category on a diversity wheel should be represented in her house.

Court CEOs essentially run court operations like company CEOs do.

“This is a very diverse branch (of the state courts system), with a workforce very reflective of the California population,” she said.

Turner, who has worked as a Northern California court CEO for almost a half century, has noticed a growing list of county courts with diverse workers and management. Out of 11 counties in the greater Bay Area from as far south as Santa Clara to the middle of the Emerald Triangle, only one courthouse is managed by a white, heterosexual man.

“Kinda remarkable, isn’t it?” Turner asked.

And California Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye is a woman of Filipino with Portuguese descent.

For a long time, people who walked up to the counters of courthouses would see women as clerks. Now, more women run are running the legal show.

“The dynamics have changed in public administration. In the last 25 years, there are more women in leadership in court executive positions,” Turner said.

The Mendocino County court manager said she’s made a concerted effort to urge her workers to learn other languages ​​and cultural differences surrounding various populations. For instance, 10 Native American tribes exist in Mendocino County.

To Turner, it’s difficult enough for anyone to understand completely legal language.

This “legalese” is what Turner refers to as “$28 words” lawyers use to get a point across. Sometimes these legal eagles aren’t even around to explain what is meant by the terminology. For example, no longer are attorneys needed to conduct a divorce or the dissolution of a domestic partnership unless it’s complicated. Still, the process requires a general understanding of how the legal system works.

Turner said her staff — which consists of Black, Asian, Hispanic, gay and transgender workers in the small county — is on hand to provide factual information, not advice. But she thinks having this diverse staff explain complicated legal issues provides a level of comfort.

“There’s a lot of sensitivity around our cultural services. We try very hard to connect with people,” she said, further emphasizing the need is exacerbated by court users feeling stressed out or even in mental anguish. “Very few happy things happen at our courts. I think it’s very important for people to go to court and see people who look like them.”

Turner cited a 2006 study titled “Trust & Confidence in California Courts” that evaluated the need for diversity in courthouses to better comprehend the plight of those in minority groups as making “a huge difference” at getting through to people navigating the legal system without regret .

“We have found that people walk away from court remembering not whether they won or lost, but whether they were heard,” she said.

The study discovered that trust and confidence in the courts varies widely among the state’s ethnic groups.

“Blacks and Latinos exhibited lower levels of confidence,” the report reads, with undocumented immigrants tending to avoid the legal system because they fear being deported.

Among the survey respondents, 31% were born outside the United States. The stat coincides with the US Census in 2000 showing over half of the state’s population belonging to an ethnic minority group — with the three largest groups being Latinos, Black, and Chinese Americans.

Court users in the focus groups indicated that many of these minorities and recent immigrants try to avoid the legal system altogether.

“Some fear that having a record of any sort will make them more likely to encounter problems legal with the system in the future,” the study adds.

Susan Wood covers law, cannabis, production, biotech, energy, transportation, agriculture as well as banking and finance. For 25 years, Susan has worked for a variety of publications including the North County Times, now a part of the Union Tribune in San Diego County, along with the Tahoe Daily Tribune and Lake Tahoe News. She graduated from Fullerton College. Reach her at 530-545-8662 or susan.wood@busjrnl.com

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Dec 10, 2021

The San Francisco Fire Department and other authorities responded to a report of a defensive swimmer on December 10, 2021.

San Francisco Fire Department

A man died after being rescued from the cold waters near San Francisco’s Lands End Thursday, fire departments said.

The San Francisco Fire Department said a passerby swam just before 3 p.m. to rescue a man struggling in the water near Eagle’s Point and called for help. Bystanders called 911 and the fire brigade and naval units responded with lifeboats and located the victim.

Paramedic lifeguards transported the victim from the rocky shoreline to a paramedic lifeboat and emergency care was provided, the department said

“Unfortunately, the victim was declared dead,” said the fire brigade. “It is not known how or why this person was in the water.”

The San Francisco Fire Department and other authorities responded to a report of a defensive swimmer on December 10, 2021.

San Francisco Fire Department

The fire department didn’t specifically comment on the cause of death, but the ocean off San Francisco can be deadly, especially in winter when temperatures drop into the 1950s.

While winter is still around the corner, the buoy off San Francisco has recorded water temperatures of 54 degrees in the last few days.

“The water temperatures are currently in the mid-50s – that, together with the cooler air temperatures, can also accelerate hypothermia,” said a spokesman for the US Coast Guard.

Amy Graff is the news editor for SFGATE. Born and raised in the Bay Area, she began her career in the news at UC Berkeley’s Daily Californian newspaper, majoring in English literature. She has been with SFGATE for more than 10 years. You can email her at araff@sfgate.com.

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