Remember how scoring a Trader Joe’s for Oakland’s Lakeshore Avenue was such a coup for Pat Kernighan’s campaign just six weeks ago? How about the fact that there were 2o-minute waits to get in when the chain opened its first New York City store this spring? Yeah, well, it’s been a much harder sell over in Berkeley, where a proposal for a combined Trader Joe’s/148-unit apartment building at the intersection of University and Martlin Luther King, Jr. Way finally passed muster with the zoning board after four years of negotiations — the Chron reports that neighbors raised concerns about increased traffic and “that the sale of low-cost alcohol at Trader Joe’s would adversely impact their neighborhood.” All you Two Buck Chuck swiggers better find another place to hang out.
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