Shambhala Booksellers, the 32-year-old Berkeley bookstore that was a pioneer in offering titles in Eastern and other religions of the world and their sacred traditions, may be forced to close its doors. 

Shambhala has long filled a niche in Telegraph Avenue’s booksellers row, but ironically it is threatened by the recent mass popularity of so-called “new age” books that the store always sold to its clientele, owner Philip Barry said. 

“The subject matter we specialize in is more popular than ever. Now we have the Dalai Lama on the New York Times bestseller list,” said Barry. “ That never used to happen. We are the victim of success.’’ 

The book chains expanded their inventory to include the best selling “new age” books, wrote Barry in a letter to his customers, and that meant fewer sales for Shambhala. The Internet booksellers have posed similar challenges. 

“We’re in a crisis situation,” said Barry, adding that the store may continue operating for only a few more months. “When you can’t maintain the quality of the store, that is the beginning of a downward spiral, and it’s a very The neat shelves along the walls in the small bookstore are labeled in a range of categories that include the world’s religions, Oriental medicine and Celtic studies. Robert Dreyfuss, a longtime customer and practitioner of Oriental medicine, said the store is unique. 

“It offers so much in the realm of spirituality that is so concentrated, so broad spectrum,” he said. 

Barry said he still is able to purchase inventory, but not as much as he would like to buy. 

“We always paid our bills and had a good credit rating, and we have now started to hit the point where we have trouble paying bills,” he said. 

Sales plunged 15 percent in 1998 but the store recovered 3 percent of that in 1999, but then after November sales dropped 5 percent, falling below the 1998 level. 

“We’re looking for an investor,” said Barry, who employed 13 full-time workers in 1987 and now employs a three part-time staffers besides himself. The store is open seven days a week. 

Dan Liebowitz, used book manager at Moe’s Bookstore at 2476 Telegraph, said the two stores have a symbiotic relationship. Moe’s sells used books in the same “very Berkeley” categories that Shambhala sells new, and customers can shuttle between both stores. 

He said Moe’s deliberately keeps its section of new books on Eastern religions, metaphysics and spirituality small so it doesn’t interfere with Shambhala’s trade. 

Liebowitz said that Shambhala’s owner “is a very discriminating buyer. It means a ton, and it rewards people who come into the store looking for that thing.” 

Shambhala was founded in 1968 by Samuel Bercholz and Michael Fagan in a tiny space in Moe’s Bookstore where a sign read: “Now Entering the Kingdom of Shambhala.” In Tibetan mythology the word means an elevated or happy place. 

“The store was cutting edge and it grew from there,” said Barry. 

Moe Moskowitz lent Bercholz money to move the store in 1969 to its present location at 2482 Telegraph, which had been a Christian Science reading room. 

“If I do get an investor, we’ll expand without leaving our spot,” said Barry, who began working as a clerk at Shambhala 21 years ago. 

The store’s business model no longer works, and he said he would seek a broader market without changing Shambhala’s emphasis on inventory categories. 

He would like to bring in authors and musical performances and make physical improvements in the space. On the positive side, he said, the woman who owns the building is “extremely generous.” He has an “amazing” 35-year lease signed 15 years ago. 

Hut Landon, executive director of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association, of which Shambhala is a member, said “the thing we have to do is market ourselves better.” 

A bookstore owner himself, Landon said the college students in the Telegraph Avenue area are lured by the appeal of Amazon.com, a company “that has spent millions branding itself,’’ as opposed to advertising books. 

He said his association has to remind potential customers that there are alternatives to buying books on the net and in book chains. 

“There are things offered by stores like Shambhala that they can’t get on the Internet. It’s our job and Shambhala’s job to try to figure out ways to reach those people,” Landon said.

Thursday, June 29

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited; the class is offered Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Call ahead for a reservation. 

510-644-6109 

“A European Defense Identity: What Does It Mean for America?” 

Noon 

119 Moses Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Peter Gooderham, counselor of Politico-Military/European Affairs, British Embassy in Washington D.C., will be the featured lecturer. Gooderham joined the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1983. The main focus of his career has been on defense and security issues. Before taking up his position in the Washington Embassy, Gooderham worked at the UK Mission to the United Nations in New York from 1996 to 1999. Prior to joining the British Diplomatic Service he completed a Ph.D. thesis at Bristol University in modern Russian and Soviet history. This free, brown-bag talk is sponsored by the Institute for Governmental Studies. 

510-642-4608; www.igs.berkeley.edu:8880 

Movie: “Birth of the Blues” 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

510-644-6107 

Memorial Stadium lights public meeting 

7-9 p.m. 

Hall of Fame Conference Room, Memorial Stadium, UC Berkeley campus 

This community meeting will present and discuss the findings of the initial study that describes the project and identifies its potential environmental effects. 

510-642-7720 

“Exploring the Trinity Alps” 

7 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Stew Winchester of Diablo Valley College will present a slide lecture introducing the wilderness area 200 miles north of San Francisco. Free. 

510-527-4140 

Friday, June 30

Commission on Disability’s Disability Outreach Subcommittee 

11:30 a.m. 

Public Works Office, 2201 Dwight Way 

Among the items to be addressed are obstacles on sidewalks around town. 

Opera: “The Merry Widow” 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

510-644-6107 

Saturday, July 1

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m.-3 p.m. 

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

510-548-3333 

“The Rides of Summer” 

11 a.m. 

Meet at Berkeley Farmers’ Market on Center Street 

This is a “first Saturday” all-ages community bike ride. On this ride, the group may visit the Albany “Bulb” and then take the Bay Trail out to Point Richmond for a picnic and some fun at Keller’s beach – but organizers note that anything's possible. 

510-601-8124 

New Moon Walk 

7:30 p.m. 

Tilden Regional Park; meet at Inspiration Point 

Experience the sunset, stars and cities on a walk along Nimitz Way. 

510-525-2233 

Women’s Movie Night 

7:30-10 p.m. 

Pacific Center, 2712 Telegraph Ave. 

The featured film will be “I Became A Lesbian & Others Too.” These are several lesbian short comedy films with lots of lesbians, poetry, cats, dreams, love affairs, and swashbuckling heroes. The Pacific Center is a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community center. 

510-548-8283; www.pacificcenter.org 

Sunday, July 2

“Early A.M. Birdwalk” 

8 a.m. 

Tilden Regional Park, Canon Drive off Grizzly Peak Boulevard 

This is a walk in Laurel Canyon for people 10 years and older. 

510-525-2233 

Traditional music performance 

2 p.m. 

Tilden Regional Park, Canon Drive off Grizzly Peak Boulevard 

Paul Kotapish and Scott Nygaard will perform traditional music from the Americas. 

510-525-2233 

Green Party Consensus Building Meeting 

7 p.m. 

2022 Blake St. 

This is part of an ongoing series of discussions for the Green Party of Alameda County, leading up to endorsements on measures and candidates on the November ballot. This week’s focus will be, “Should the Green Party consider endorsing Republican/Democratic candidates in partisan races?” The meeting is open to all, regardless of party affiliation. 

415-789-8418

Monuments are worthy legacy 

I enjoyed reading Tom Elias’ piece about President Clinton and the national monuments (Opinion, June 28). I am happy that Clinton has chosen this way of perpetuating his memory. Corporations who log, mine and graze the lands we own are well represented in Congress. Also, the influential American Recreation Coalition represents resorts, theme parks and petroleum companies. Fee “demonstration” projects and public-private partnerships sponsored by these America Inc. groups were “forced” by cuts in the budgets of the United States Forest Service, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and the Bureau of Land Management. Each agency then designated between ten and fifty sites that are or are to be part of the program. Popular areas near urban centers will generate fees, leaving remote areas struggling to survive on their meager allotments. 

This is a reversal of the concept of a public good. Youth, the elderly, and poor people with children will bear the greatest burden. 

Bureaucratic czars in Smoky the Bear garb have become free of Congressional control. That’s why I waved a sign in front of the Disney store kitty-corner from Union Square (in San Francisco) a couple of weekends ago. 

Richard Thompson 

Berkeley (summer resident) 

Keene provided leadership 

I believe the City of Berkeley has benefited from City Manager James Keene’s leadership in the difficult job as City Manager. I think that I am a better councilperson for having worked with him. I have learned much from his management style. Even though our respective roles sometimes brought us into conflict, I valued the fact that I could be direct with him and he would patiently help with the big as well as small issues. 

The job as City Manager is a tough and often thankless one. The position becomes a lightening rod for whomever takes it. People’s criticism and frustration build up when decisions regarding government do not go their way. It takes a strong and poised person to handle all the flak. 

Mr. Keene is an articulate communicator and I think he has been generally liked by most in the community and will be missed. Personally, I will miss his sense of humor, especially when he hummed “Give peace a chance” at the city council meetings. 

Dona Spring 

Berkeley City Councilmember

After 14 years in jail, Laura Whitehorn is the star of a movie. And she’s not happy about it. 

“I tried talking them out of it,” said Whitehorn of Berkeley-based filmmakers Rhonda Collins and Sonja de Vries. Whitehorn, a lifelong activist-turned-violent agitator, is at the center of the filmmaking duo’s new work, “Out: The Making of a Revolutionary.” 

De Vries, whose documentary “Gay Cuba” won accolades at film festivals in 1995, and Collins, whose “we don’t live under NORMAL CONDITIONS” packed the Fine Arts Cinema last year, are premiering “Out” at San Francisco’s Castro Theater tonight as a benefit for a handful of prisoner support organizations. 

Whitehorn was incarcerated for planting a bomb in a U.S. Capitol building in 1983. The film uses her as an anchor in describing the revolutionary underground of America since the Civil Right’s Movement. A history which, for many, inevitably, includes prison. 

Whitehorn admitted on the telephone from New York that the film gave her a tempting platform to talk as much as she wanted about her political passions. But after dedicating her life to mobilizing people and aligning herself with activist collectives, to be portrayed as an individual revolutionary feels awkward. 

The problem is more than vanity versus martyrdom. The problem is representation, and it touches the essence of documentary filmmaking: how to present a subject to an audience, while staying true to the material? Activism is a collective effort, not a maverick one. 

But every story needs a main character, and if you can’t get Che Guevara, Whitehorn’s story is nonetheless engaging. Collins said she and de Vries faced a crucial decision early in the project. 

“We as filmmakers had an objective to tell the story of this one person so we could have an identification with the audience,” Collins said. 

“We hope this provokes thinking for people. Particularly for people who may have never been introduced to this history, and if they are, never really understood why certain people made the decision that they made.” 

Collins is referring to the decision to move from mass, (so-called) peaceful demonstrations to violently aggressive acts. In the film Whitehorn says the gesture of bombing a federal building was an act of “armed propaganda,” in response to the U.S. involvement in Granada and Lebanon. It came after a lifetime of petitioning, marching, and organizing. 

Hers was an act not dissimilar to that which we will be celebrating this upcoming fourth of July. For Whitehorn, the course of human events was nigh. 

Her act, also, did not come forth from a vacuum. “Out” offers a few highlights of America’s late-20th century activism. Fred Hampton, the charismatic chairman of the Chicago branch of the Black Panthers, who was assassinated, is featured prominently in archival films speaking urgent inspiration. We see image montages of police confrontations scored with protest songs. Contemporary footage of demonstrations to free Mumia Abu-Jamal, on death row in Pennsylvania, bring the film up to date. 

Whitehorn is careful not to get lost in extolling these personalities and newsreel-ready events of civil rights activism. She said she was inspired by “the courage of people who were not politicians or speakers, but people who were going about living their lives and then had to take on the water cannons and bullwhips.” 

The film has a few compelling images of Southern justice to the Civil Rights Movement’s uprising, circa 1965, but the quieter, calmer pictures reveal the sacrifices made. A lawyer, reading from documents and newspaper clippings, said Whitehorn’s sentence was the result of a plea bargain to lessen the jail time of an incarcerated comrade sick with cancer. 

Whitehorn agreed to participate in the film as a way to speak about political activism happening behind bars. Along with her fellow activists she created an HIV/AIDS educational program for inmates which was eventually shut down by prison officials. Having AIDS support groups in prison is next to impossible because it involves admitting to one of two highly illegal activities in prison: having sex and taking drugs. 

Collins and de Vries were at the Dublin facility with their cameras when Whitehorn was released, but the newly freed prisoner had turbulently mixed feelings and refused to talk. Her grief over her personal and political intimates still inside conflicted with her elation. 

Her emotions have calmed somewhat since then. 

“I have enormous amount of joy everyday at being free,” Whitehorn said on the phone last week, “but there’s a real pain that never leaves my heart."

THEATER 

AURORA THEATRE 

“Split” by Mayo Simon, June 1 through July 2. A mordant clear-eyed view of an older couple's love affair. $25 to $28. Wednesday through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. (510) 843-4822. 

BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE 

“Closer” by Patrick Marber, through July 9. A funny, touching and unflinchingly honest examination of love and relationships set in contemporary London. $38 to $48.50. Tuesday, Thursday through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Wednesday, 7 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; May 27, June 1, June 3, June 10, June 15, June 24, June 29 and July 8, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 845-4700 or (888) 4BRTTIX. 

CALIFORNIA SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL 

“Hamlet” by William Shakespeare, July 1 through July 22. Shakespeare probes the shadowy corners of the human psyche in this dark, compelling tragedy of vengeance, madness and murder most foul. 

$21 to $38 general; $19 to $38 seniors; $10 to $38 children. Wednesday and Thursday, 7 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 4 p.m.; July 11 and July 18, 7 p.m.; July 22, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Bruns Memorial Amphitheatre, Shakespeare Festival Way/Gateway Exit on state Highway 24. (510) 548-9666 or www.calshakes.org 

LaVal’s Subterranean 

Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” directed by Yoni Barkan. The play will run from June 8 to July 8, Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. each night. 1834 Euclid Ave. (510) 234-6046. 

MUSIC VENUES 

ASHKENAZ 

Martin Fierro and Legion of Mary, June 29, 10 p.m. $9. 

“Rattle The Cage!!!” June 30, 8:30 p.m. Featuring Rebecca Riots, Green, Copperwimmin, Helen Chaya, Anna and Eileen, Women Walking Tall. $8 to $15. 

1317 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. (510) 525-5099 or www.ashkenaz.com 

BLAKES 

Ripe, Orquestra D, Soul, June 29. $4. 

Blue Marmalade, Molasses, June 30. $5. 

For age 18 and older. Music at 9:30 p.m. 2367 Telegraph Ave., Berkeley. (510) 848-0886. 

FREIGHT AND SALVAGE 

Judy Henske with Craig Doerge, June 30. $14.50 to $15.50. 

Cats and Jammers, July 1. $15.50 to $16.50. 

The Copper Family, July 2. $15.50 to $16.50. 

John Miller and John Reischman, July 6. With Tammy Fassaert. $14.50 to $15.50. 

Roy Rogers and Shana Morrison, July 7. $15.50 to $16.50. 

Mighty Prince Singers and Talk of da Town, July 8. $15.50 to $16.50. 

Music at 8 p.m. 1111 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 548-1761 or (510) 762-BASS. 

LA PEÑA CULTURAL CENTER 

Lila Downs, June 29, 8 p.m. $14. 

Jaranon y Bochinche, June 30, 8:30 p.m. $12. 

Zion I, July 1, 9 p.m. $8 general; $6 students. 

Quetzal, July 5, 8 p.m. $6. 

Atahualpamantab, July 7, 8 p.m. $10. 

The Soul of Black Folks, July 8, 9 p.m. $10 general; $8 students. 

Domingos de Rumba, July 9, 4:30 p.m. Free. 

3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

924 GILMAN ST. 

The Cost, The Hi-Fives, Maurice's Little Bastard, Merrick, June 30. 

Midnight Lazer Beam, The Convocation Of..., Heart Of Snow, July 1. 

Dead and Gone, Catheter, Hog, Laughing Dog, Jeno, July 7. 

El Dopa, Dystopia, Scratchabit, July 8. 

$5. Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 924 Gilman St., Berkeley. (510) 525-9926. 

THE STARRY PLOUGH PUB 

Human Life Index, June 29. $4. 

Kirby Grips, Applesaucer, The Chantigs, June 30. $6. 

Charming Hostess, July 1. 

Noche de Flamenco, July 5, 9:30 p.m. $5. 

Giblet Dribblers, The Bellyachers, July 6. $4. 

Gun and Doll Show, Chub, July 7. $6. 

Soldier of Fortune Cookie, Stikman, July 8. 

For age 21 and over. Wednesday, 8 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9:45 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 3101 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 841-2082. 

MUSEUMS 

Berkeley Historical Society 

"Berkeley's Ethnic Heritage." May 7 through March 2001. The exhibit examines the rich cultural diversity of our city and the contributions of individuals and minority groups to our history and development. The exhibit look at the original native tribelets in the area and the immigrants who settled in Ocean View and displaced the Spanish/Mexican landowners. It also examines the influence of theUniversity of California, the San Francisco earthquake, and World War II on the population and culture of Berkeley, and subsequent efforts to overcome discrimination. Curated by Linda Rosen and the Berkeley Historical Society Exhibit Committee. Thursday through Saturday, 1 to 4 p.m. Wheelchair accessible. Admission free. 

Berkeley Historical Society located in the Veterans Memorial Building, 1931 Center Street, Berkeley. 510-848-0181 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc 

UC BERKELEY ART 

MUSEUM 

“Master of Fine Art Graduate Exhibition,” May 20 through July 2. The 13th annual exhibit of work by candidates for the Master of Fine Arts degree. 

“Doug Aitken/MATRIX 185: Into the Sun,” July 9 through Sept. 3. An exhibit of works primarily in video and film, using the interplay of art and media to evoke deserted landscapes. Artist’s Talk, July 9, 3 p.m. Doug Aitken discusses his installation. In Gallery 1. 

Rodin and His Contemporaries,” through August. An exhibit of 11 bronze maquettes on loan from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation in Los Angeles. The bronzes range in style from the artist's classically inspired “Torso of a Woman” to the anguish of “The Martyr.” 

$6 general; $4 seniors and students ages 12 to 18; free children age 12 and under; free Thursday, 1 1 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. (510) 642-0808. 

HALL OF HEALTH  

2230 Shattuck Ave. (lower level), Berkeley. A hands-on community health education museum and science center sponsored by Children's Hospital Oakland and Alta Bates Medical Center. Free. For children ages 3 to 12 and their parents. 

(510) 549-1564 

LAWRENCE HALL 

OF SCIENCE 

“Experiment Gallery,” through Sept. 10. Step inside a giant laboratory and experiment with concepts surrounding sound, light, mechanics, electricity, and weather. 

“Math Rules!” ongoing exhibit. A math exhibit of hands-on problem-solving stations, each with a different mathematical challenge. Make mathematical ice-cream cones, use blocks to build three dimensional structures, make dodecagon pies from a variety of mathematical shapes and stretch mathematical thinking. 

“Within the Human Brain,” ongoing installation. Visitors test their cranial nerves, play skeeball, master mazes, match musical tones and construct stories inside a simulated “rat cage” of learning experiments. 

$6 general; $4 seniors, students and children ages 7 to 18; $2 children ages 3 to 6; free children under age 3. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Centennial Drive, University of California, Berkeley. (510) 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu 

PHOEBE HEARST MUSEUM 

Kroeber Hall, UC Berkeley 

“Modern Treasures from Ancient Iran,” through Oct. 29. This exhibit explores nomadic and town life in ancient and modern Iran as illustrated in bronze and pottery vessels, and textiles. 

“Pana O’ahu: Sacred Stones – Sacred Places,” through July 16. An exhibit of photographs by Jan Becket and Joseph Singer. 

Wednesday through Sunday 10 am -4:30 pm; Thursday until 9 pm (Sept-May) 

(510) 643-7648 

HABITOT CHILDREN’S MUSEUM 

Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 

A museum especially for children age 7 and younger. Highlights include “WaterWorks,” an area with some unusual water toys, an Infant Tree for babies, a garden especially for toddlers, a child-scale grocery store and cafe, and a costume shop and stage for junior thespians. The museum also features a toy lending library. 

Admission is $4 for adults; $6 child age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child. Hours: Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

(510) 647-1111 

JUDAH L. MAGNES 

MUSEUM 

2911 Russell St., Berkeley 

“Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season,” through May 2002.  

An exhibit structured around the seasons of the year and the seasons of life with objects ranging from the sacred and the secular, to the provocative and the whimsical. Highlights include treasures from Jewish ceremonial and folk art, rare books and manuscripts, contemporary and traditional fine art, video, photography and cultural kitsch. Through Nov. 4: “Spring and Summer.” Free. Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (510) 549-6950. 

To publicize an upcoming event, please submit information to the Daily Planet via fax (841-5695), e-mail (calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.com) or traditional mail (2076 University Avenue, 94704). Calendar items should be submitted at least one week before the opening of a new exhibit or performance. Please include a daytime telephone number in case we need to clarify any information.

The City Council passed an ordinance Tuesday night requiring pet owners to spay and neuter their animals or pay for the right not to. 

The vote was 6-2, with Vice Mayor Maudelle Shirek and Councilmember Diane Woolley voting in opposition, Councilmember Margaret Breland absent and the others supporting the ordinance. 

A last-ditch effort urging the council to forget the ordinance and focus its time and energy on improving the animal shelter, went down in defeat. The substitute motion, proposed by Woolley and Shirek, suggested that the council wait about five or six weeks to pass an ordinance until a shelter director was named, and enlist the help of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine’s Shelter Medicine Program to help improve the operation of the animal shelter. 

Woolley’s motion was defeated by a 4-3 vote, with Councilmember Polly Armstrong and Shirek joining Woolley in favor of the proposal and Councilmembers Dona Spring, Linda Maio, Betty Olds and Mayor Shirley Dean voting against it. Councilmember Kriss Worthington abstained and Breland was absent, having left the meeting early due to illness. 

The new ordinance, which Armstrong said has been misrepresented as mandatory, will require dog and cat owners to pay a $30 annual fee if they choose not to spay or neuter their animals. The fee cannot be raised for two years. Licenses for altered dogs will be $7.50. Altered cats will not require a license. 

Under the new ordinance, if a dog is caught running at large or is a dangerous animal, the citation will be $100. But this amount will be forgiven if the dog is altered within 30 days. If the dog is on the “bad dog” list, meaning it has been picked up before, the license will cost the owner $60 if the dog is unaltered. 

The new law also makes feeding and harboring feral cats a public nuisance unless the person doing so is working with an animal agency or working to have the cats spayed or neutered. 

Low-income residents and those over 65 years old are exempt from paying licensing fees. 

Proponents of the ordinance, which has been discussed in various forms for five years, said they are relieved that action has been taken on behalf of Berkeley’s animals. 

“I feel very good that council has taken a giant leap for animals here in Berkeley,” Spring said Wednesday. Spring served on the animal task force that hammered out the ordinance. 

“There was so much misinformation put forth – it was painful to see the tactics put forth to beat this mild-mannered ordinance,” Spring said. 

She called the ordinance “mild-mannered” in comparison to cities such as Los Angeles, which requires its pet owners to pay a $100 licensing fee for unaltered animals, and an additional $100 breeders charge if owners wish to breed the animal. 

Spring noted that in San Mateo a spay and neuter program reduced the number of animals killed by over 35 percent and, in contrast, Oakland built a new animal shelter without a spay and neuter program and it was full the day after its completion. 

Lee Ann Assalone, a former animal shelter worker in Santa Cruz, supported the ordinance and pleaded with the council to increase education in conjunction with it. Assalone said she had the unfortunate responsibility of euthanizing unwanted animals. 

“Everyone knows the right thing to do,” she said. 

The staff estimates that the cost to put the ordinance in place will be $57,000 for the first year and $20,000 for subsequent years. The $37,000 start-up cost includes $25,000 for a staff person to set up the unaltered license program and $12,000 for computer upgrades. The money will be taken from a surplus of $52,500 allocated to the council’s animal task force in last year’s budget. The funds were not spent because of the time taken to implement the ordinance. 

Opponents of the law, and even some supporters, believe that it is too bureaucratic, complaint-driven and punitive. 

“I think we have taken a good idea and created a bureaucracy that I don’t think will work,” said Armstrong. “It seems we could have done it in a much easier way.” 

Woolley said the ordinance has caused bad feelings among animal activists. 

“This has caused a split in the community when we should be working together for the animals. It’s become counter-productive,” she said. 

“The fix-or-be-fined notion becomes punitive. The idea that you can legislate compliance is nuts.” 

Sharply divided along traditional faction lines, the council approved a spending plan for the $3.5 million – the “little fringe at the end” of the budget, as Councilmember Polly Armstrong described it – the council is authorized to disburse. 

The rest of the city’s $215 million budget is already allocated to fixed personnel and capital costs for the fiscal year that begins Jul. 1. 

At the well-attended Tuesday night meeting, the five liberal/progressive councilmembers – Vice Mayor Maudelle Shirek and Councilmembers Linda Maio, Kriss Worthington, Dona Spring, and Margaret Breland – approved a list of some three dozen items, which addressed job creation, homelessness, the environment, business needs and city government needs. 

Led by the mayor, the four moderates called for the council to put off approving $1 million in spending and approve only the city manager’s $2 million list of recommended expenditures. 

The mayor argued that the remaining $1 million should not be spent until a more rational process for doling out the money has been put into place. 

“We have before us tonight a budget proposal...that continues the same flawed process that we have experienced in the past,” Dean said, reading from a prepared statement. 

“Each year council actions encourage more and more requests for new, undefined concepts and programs, some of which don’t even exist at the time funds are allocated. These requests create a frenzy of activity in which previous commitments and priorities are pushed aside, work plans are ignored, and staff is pushed to the point they cannot perform even basic duties adequately.” 

But Maio, who led the progressives’ allocation efforts, accused the mayor of ducking the hard questions. 

“Some choices had to be made,” Maio said. “We just don’t have enough money.” 

Armstrong countered Maio and backed the mayor’s stance. 

“I appreciate the mayor’s intelligent overview,” she said, acknowledging the realities of being aligned with the minority faction. “We have a disadvantage of not being on the majority. The (allocations) were worked out by the people who have five votes.” 

Armstrong went on, however, to applaud some of the content on the progressives’ list. “Much of it is wonderful,” she said. 

But a “major complaint” she offered was the absence of $150,000 for sidewalk repair and $250,000 for street repair, which the city manager had requested. 

Shirek agreed that it is important to fill up a pothole or repair a street. But she questioned the council minority’s priorities. 

“Which is more important, (street repairs or) education and caring for our youth?” she asked, rhetorically. 

Maio reminded the others that street and sidewalk repair is included as fixed costs elsewhere in the budget. The funds requested by the city manager would have accelerated the street and sidewalk repair process. 

The council majority included $150,000 in its budget for needs relating to the animal shelter and animal rescue. Woolley, however, contended that no funds should be spent on animal care issues – hiring a volunteer coordinator, upgrades to the shelter, advertising for pet adoption, funding low-cost spay and neuter programs and more – until a permanent animal shelter director is hired. That will be in about six weeks, staff said. 

“Directing the funds before we get the director in place, that’s backwards,” Woolley argued. 

During the public comment session at the beginning of the meeting, a number of citizens lined up to underscore the need for the $200,000 the council majority had proposed to improve health in the African-American community in South and West Berkeley. 

“We’re beginning to address the health disparity,” Worthington said, referring to the study that showed the chasm between the health of the largely Caucasian Hills community and the flatlands’ African-American community. 

Worthington did not miss a chance to take a swipe at the city manager: The progressive budget “reflects values not sufficiently addressed in the city manager’s budget.”

Police found a man sleeping in a gutter about 6:30 a.m. Saturday at the corner of Euclid Avenue and Ridge Road. When an officer came up next to him and tried to wake him, he was slow to awaken, but finally shook his head and got up, said Capt. Bobby Miller of the Berkeley Police Department. 

Police officers identified him, and they learned there was a parole warrant for his arrest and another warrant for the misdemeanor of driving with a suspended license. 

When they searched the suspect they found an unidentified substance they believed to be half of a gram of methamphetamine in his pocket. They also found what appeared to be burglary tools, keys and other tools with the edges filed off to make them useful in breaking open locks. 

Douglas Floyd Parker was arrested on charges of parole violation and driving with a suspended license.

A man who gained entrance to a residential hall at 1777 Euclid Ave. Sunday night was thwarted in his burglary attempt. 

Around 11 p.m. Sunday, the man entered a second-floor room where the occupant, a UC Berkeley student, was away and the suspect stole her camera, wallet, laptop computer and cassette disks. 

Carrying all these items he walked down into the common living room area and one person there began talking to him, thinking he was a relative of one of the students. Then another resident, a 24-year-old man, noticed what the suspect was carrying, and asked him who he was. 

With the inquiry, the suspect turned and ran. The witness chased him and almost caught him, said Berkeley Police Capt. Bobby Miller. 

In the chase the suspect dropped the stolen property, and it was recovered by the witness. 

The suspect was described as a Caucasian male in his 20s or 30s, 5 feet, 10 inches tall, around 200 pounds. 

At the time of the incident, he was wearing a dark vest, a short sleeve shirt and blue jeans.

This year’s annual Solano Avenue Stroll Sept. 10, in addition to the food, entertainment and crafts fair, silent auction and a parade, will highlight the 26-year-old Stroll’s recognition by the Library of Congress. 

The popular regional event draws about 100,000 people to the Solano Avenue shopping district, as the biggest and oldest free street festival in the East Bay, said Lisa Bullwinkel, Executive Director of the Solano Avenue Association. 

The Solano Avenue Stroll was selected by the Library of Congress for its Local Legacies Project initiated by the library to celebrate its bicentennial, she said. 

She said the library developed Local Legacies to ensure that future generations will be able to learn about the traditions of local communities as they were played out in cultural events at the millennium. 

Congresswoman Barbara Lee nominated Berkeley/Albany’s Solano Avenue Stroll along with Oakland’s Black Cowboys Parade, Dia de Los Muertos, and The Festival of Greece. All four events were chosen for the Local Legacies collection. 

The Stroll is represented in the library’s folk section with copies of 25 years of Stroll scrapbooks kept by the Solano Avenue Association, and with historical Stroll posters. 

Also included are 28 8-inch by 10-inch color copies of photographs, taken in the last five years, that are representative of the Stroll. The Association was required to historically document them, correctly identifying all the people in the photos. 

Taking Local Legacies one step further for this year’s Stroll, the Solano Avenue Association’s theme is Local Legacies on Parade. 

Celebrating the contributions of community members, the Association is requesting nominations of local people who are “cultural icons, quirky and wonderful,” said Bullwinkel. “You know them when you see them.” Nominees must be residents of Berkeley, Albany, Kensington or El Cerrito. 

To nominate a person who may be a local legacy, the association requests a minimum 25-word description. Nominators are requested to include their own names and addresses and telephone numbers along with the same information for the nominee. 

Bullwinkel said a tentative deadline for nominations is July 15. The nominators and their local legacies are invited to ride together in the parade that begins at the top of Solano Sept. 10. To nominate a local legacy, mail information to The Solano Avenue Association, 1563 Solano Ave., #101; Berkeley 94707. The e-mail address is lbullwinkl@aol.com

Barbara T. Christian, an acclaimed professor of African-American Studies at UC Berkeley, and a pioneer of contemporary American literary feminism, died Sunday at her home in Berkeley from cancer. She was 56. 

The author and editor of several books and almost 100 published articles and reviews, Christian was best known for her landmark study, “Black Women Novelists: The Development of a Tradition,” which appeared in 1980 following the rediscovery of the work of important women writers such as Zora Neale Hurston and Nella Larsen. She was among the first scholars to focus national attention on such major writers as Toni Morrison and Alice Walker. 

“She was a path-breaking scholar,” Percy Hintzen, chair of the department of African-American studies at UC Berkeley, said in a statement released by the university. “Nobody did more to bring black women writers into academic and popular recognition.” 

Christian was known for her critical presence in the growing debates over the relationship between race, class and gender. Her widely cited article, “The Race for Theory,” challenged the increasing domination of African-American literary study by theorists who seemed to displace both writers and their writing. 

Christian received a doctorate from Columbia University in 1970. A year later, she was appointed to UC Berkeley as an assistant professor. Previously, she had spent six years as an activist and teacher at New York’s City College. 

At UC Berkeley, Christian soon became central in establishing the African-American Studies department, where she taught from 1972 until her death. She served as chair of that department from 1978 until 1983 and went on to chair the campus’s new Ethnic Studies doctoral program from 1986 to 1989.  

Christian was the first African-American woman at UC Berkeley to be granted tenure (1978), the first to receive the campus’s Distinguished Teaching Award (1991), and the first to be promoted to full professor (1986). 

This year, she was awarded UC Berkeley’s highest honor, the Berkeley Citation. 

A beloved teacher, her courses attracted large numbers of students of virtually all ethnic backgrounds.  

“Fighting the backlash against affirmative action, which decreased the presence of students of color in higher education, remained one of her central passions,” said Dr. Gabrielle Foreman, one of Christian’s former graduate students.  

Christian’s home was an extension of the intellectual activity, diversity and warmth that had characterized her classroom. 

She also was committed to community education, helping to found the University Without Walls, a community-based alternative college for people of color. 

Her work establishing the college is but one example of her dedication to progressive politics and social justice, friends note. 

Christian, who was born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, is survived by her daughter, Najuma I. Henderson of Berkeley; her parents, Judge Alphonso A. Christian and Ruth Christian of St. Thomas; her siblings, Reubina Gomez of St. Thomas, Alicia Wells of Philadelphia, Delano Christian of San Francisco, Cora Christian of St. Croix, Alphonso Christian II of Washington D.C.; her ex-husband, David Henderson of New York; and by her stepson, Imetai Malik Henderson of New York. 

The African American Studies Department at UC Berkeley will hold memorial services this August. 

In lieu of flowers, contributions should be sent to the Barbara T. Christian Scholarship Fund, c/o Marvina White, Department of English, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.

An attempted robbery was foiled about 6 a.m. Monday after three would-be robbers gained entry to rooms at the Ramada Inn at 920 University Ave. 

The suspects went into the motel and told the desk clerk they had come to visit a guest staying in one of the rooms. Instead they went into several rooms, finding some of them unlocked. The suspects were able to enter some occupied rooms, where they demanded money from the guests. 

In one room, as the suspects accosted one of the guests, he screamed loudly that he was being robbed. The victim’s screams attracted attention to the robbers, who had no weapons, and they left the motel. Police were alerted before the suspects left the motel, and found them running away near Addison and Eighth streets. 

Three people, all Berkeley residents were arrested by police: two juveniles, and John Wilson, 19, of Berkeley, who was arrested on charges of attempted robbery and possession of cocaine. 

An attempted robbery was foiled about 6 a.m. Monday after three would-be robbers gained entry to rooms at the Ramada Inn at 920 University Ave. 

The suspects went into the motel and told the desk clerk they had come to visit a guest staying in one of the rooms. Instead they went into several rooms, finding some of them unlocked. The suspects were able to enter some occupied rooms, where they demanded money from the guests. 

In one room, as the suspects accosted one of the guests, he screamed loudly that he was being robbed. The victim’s screams attracted attention to the robbers, who had no weapons, and they left the motel. Police were alerted before the suspects left the motel, and found them running away near Addison and Eighth streets. 

Three people, all Berkeley residents were arrested by police: two juveniles, and John Wilson, 19, of Berkeley, who was arrested on charges of attempted robbery and possession of cocaine. 

The handwriting is on the walls, on the trash cans and on traffic signs – anywhere taggers leave their marks for the world to see – and the city spends more than $250,000 a year to fight it with cleanup crews daily. 

Eleven years ago, the city launched its Graffiti Abatement Program, the start of an aggressive, targeted effort to quickly remove graffiti from public property. As that program has grown and progressed, however, people have noticed that taggers have started to scrawl more of their work on private property. 

“If there is graffiti on a building it makes the whole street look bad, “ said Patrick Keilch, deputy director of the city’s Public Works Department. “We believe it is in the public interest to remove it from private property, but we encourage businesses to do more themselves.”  

He said graffiti abatement is both a public and private responsibility. The city is able to do removal on private property because graffiti is considered to be a blight on the community. 

Deborah Badhia of the Downtown Berkeley Association said she understands that the city is “stretched thin” in terms of abating graffiti. It takes immediate removal to discourage taggers, she said. 

“Some of the graffiti (downtown) is on longer than we want it to be,” she said. 

Nevertheless, Badhia said that “ultimately the property owners are responsible for much of their own cleanup. It’s part of the equation of living in an urban area.” 

In a recent draft of strategies for downtown Berkeley graffiti abatement, Badhia suggested more education for DBA members regarding what they can do themselves to discourage taggers and how they can work more effectively with the Public Works Department. 

Last May, property owners along Telegraph Avenue joined together to hire their own graffiti clean-up crew, because they wanted shoppers to visit a clean, attractive district. 

Roland Peterson, executive director of the Telegraph Avenue Business Improvement District, said that the amount of graffiti on Telegraph “is not more overwhelming than any other place.” 

On a recent morning crew supervisor Mary Isbell and Calvin Kelly removed black spray painted circles on a gray stucco wall. An easy removal, the pair sprayed Goof Off graffiti remover on the wall, wiped it off with rags and then painted over the spot with brushes leaving no trace of graffiti. 

This full-time crew or “broom brigade” of four people spends most of its time on other cleaning jobs in the district unrelated to graffiti abatement, said Peterson. The budget for their services is between $90,000 and $100,000 a year. 

Peterson said last June when he took the job he walked out in the morning and found about 20 different graffiti samples every day. But the amount decreased to about 10 incidents six months ago and now most days it is fewer than five. 

“So there isn’t graffiti left over from the previous day,” said Peterson. 

He said the intention of the district’s property owners is to squelch the satisfaction that graffiti makers might get from the public display of their work. 

The Public Works Department, in its graffiti-fighting effort, hires workers from three sources: the agency’s Streets Division, which provides two abatement employees; BOSS (Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency), which provides two employees on a contract basis; and a program for high school students, who work on weekends, school vacations and holidays and are supervised by Boss crews. 

The BOSS crews do not step up on ladders or hang from roofs to remove graffiti or stickers higher than nine feet, because of cost issues with worker’s compensation and insurance, said Adrian Harper from BOSS. 

As of Sunday 20 high school students are working in shifts to remove graffiti in Berkeley. 

“I think they understand how much work it is to remove graffiti” said Harper. “They get a much better appreciation of the city.” 

Harper said he did not know if the graffiti problem is improving or becoming worse. 

“It’s just maintenance. If you don’t have someone out there diligently removing it, the problem is going to be worse.” Spray paint makes it easy for kids to do graffiti, he said. 

He recalled the work of one tagger two years ago who spraypainted swastikas on buildings along San Pablo Avenue from Dwight Way to Alcatraz Avenue. 

With spray paint, said Harper, a tagger like that one can paint an icon in less than one minute, but it takes about 30 minutes to cover each icon with paint that matches the walls of the building, and it may need more than one coat. 

Keilch said the graffiti removal includes steam cleaning under high pressure, and a “soda blaster” that blasts pulverized salt mixed with water onto walls. 

A powerful aid in removing marks on stucco, concrete and stone, it is especially useful on brick masonry where paint and solvents don’t work, he said. 

He said several kinds of paint removers are on the market, but the city would rather not use them because employees would breathe toxic fumes. 

Keilch said prime targets of taggers are the streets and sidewalks in the downtown, on University Avenue and on Telegraph Avenue. But the city’s 27 parks and five recreation centers are hit the hardest. He said they could receive as much as half of all the tagging activity in the summer. 

Taggers who deface buildings with graffiti here because they seek recognition or because they are marking gang territory mainly are youthful offenders, and not all of them come from Berkeley, said Sgt. Steve Odom of the police department’s Youth Services Bureau. 

He said his department investigates graffiti cases, depending on its location and its content – whether its gang-related or more “artistic.” Officers may photograph the graffiti before removal if they think the graffiti is associated with gang activity. 

Youthful offenders are required to make restitution to property owners and they receive education to understand the impact and consequences of doing graffiti, said Odom. 

He said he has seen a decrease in tagging in recent years. He credited recently retired Sgt. Frank Reynolds with avidly collecting information that helped the police shut down more taggers. 

Odom said that in 1996 Berkeley placed 48 taggers on probation in the Oakland Juvenile Court. In 1997 there were 56 taggers placed on probation. In 1998 the number dropped to 17, and only 13 referrals were made in 1999. Odom said that so far this year there only has been one. 

An aggressive attack on the problem in the Graffiti Abatement Program and by police, said Odom, got the word out to the network of taggers that Berkeley is knowledgeable, comprehensive and tough on taggers. “So they didn’t mess with us.”

Wednesday, June 28 

“Seeds of Fun” 

Noon 

Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Drive, above UC Berkeley campu 

Explore and identify the many different sizes and shapes of seeds, and use them to make music, create jewelry, and to plant. This is part of the Summer Science Funday series at the Hall. Included with admission. 

510-642-5132; www.lhs.berkeley.edu 

Low-vision trip to Orientation Center for the Blind 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

510-644-6107 

“Housing Rights? Where Will You Live Tomorrow?” 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

This membership meeting of the Berkeley Gray Panthers will address affordable housing. The meeting is open to the public. 

Disaster Council 

7 p.m. 

Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. 

Among the other items for discussion, the commission will address the safety element of the General Plan. 

Baby Bounce and Toddler Tales 

7 p.m. 

West Branch Berkeley Public Library, 1125 University Ave. 

This storytime program is designed for families with children up to 3 years old. The free, participatory program features a half hour of multicultural songs, rhymes, lap jogs and stories to give very young children a lively introduction to the magic of books. Parents also will enjoy the new stories, rediscover old favorites and learn new songs and games to share. 

510-644-6870 

Poetry Flash 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

The featured poets this session will be Brandon Brown and Peter Money. 

510-845-7852; 510-525-5476 

Thursday, June 29 

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited; the class is offered Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Call ahead for a reservation. 

510-644-6109 

“A European Defense Identity: What Does It Mean for America?” 

Noon 

119 Moses Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Peter Gooderham, counselor of Politico-Military/European Affairs, British Embassy in Washington D.C., will be the featured lecturer. Gooderham joined the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1983. The main focus of his career has been on defense and security issues. Before taking up his position in the Washington Embassy, Gooderham worked at the UK Mission to the United Nations in New York from 1996 to 1999. This free, brown-bag talk is sponsored by the Institute for Governmental Studies. 

510-642-4608; www.igs.berkeley.edu:8880 

Movie: “Birth of the Blues” 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

510-644-6107 

Memorial Stadium lights public meeting 

7-9 p.m. 

Hall of Fame Conference Room, Memorial Stadium, UC Berkeley campus 

This community meeting will present and discuss the findings of the initial study that describes the project and identifies its potential environmental effects. 

510-642-7720 

“Exploring the Trinity Alps” 

7 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Stew Winchester of Diablo Valley College will present a slide lecture introducing the wilderness area 200 miles north of San Francisco. Free. 

510-527-4140 

Friday, June 30 

Opera: “The Merry Widow” 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

510-644-6107 

Saturday, July 1 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m.-3 p.m. 

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

510-548-3333 

“The Rides of Summer” 

11 a.m. 

Meet at Berkeley Farmers’ Market on Center Street 

This is a “first Saturday” all-ages community bike ride. On this ride, the group may visit the Albany “Bulb” and then take the Bay Trail out to Point Richmond for a picnic and some fun at Keller’s beach – but organizers note that anything's possible. 

510-601-8124 

New Moon Walk 

7:30 p.m. 

Tilden Regional Park; meet at Inspiration Point 

Experience the sunset, stars and cities on a walk along Nimitz Way. 

510-525-2233 

Women’s Movie Night 

7:30-10 p.m. 

Pacific Center, 2712 Telegraph Ave. 

The featured film will be “I Became A Lesbian & Others Too.” These are several lesbian short comedy films with lots of lesbians, poetry, cats, dreams, love affairs, and swashbuckling heroes. The Pacific Center is a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community center. 

510-548-8283; 

www.pacificcenter.org 

Sunday, July 2 

“Early A.M. Birdwalk” 

8 a.m. 

Tilden Regional Park, Canon Drive off Grizzly Peak Boulevard 

This is a walk in Laurel Canyon for people 10 years and older. 

510-525-2233 

Traditional music performance 

2 p.m. 

Tilden Regional Park, Canon Drive off Grizzly Peak Boulevard 

Paul Kotapish and Scott Nygaard will perform traditional music from the Americas. 

510-525-2233 

Green Party Consensus Building Meeting 

7 p.m. 

2022 Blake St. 

This is part of an ongoing series of discussions for the Green Party of Alameda County, leading up to endorsements on measures and candidates on the November ballot. This week’s focus will be, “Should the Green Party consider endorsing Republican/Democratic candidates in partisan races?” The meeting is open to all, regardless of party affiliation. 

415-789-8418

Nuclear vs. nuclear weapons research in Berkeley 

I would like to clarify some points raised by the opinion letters of Doug Finley (Letters, June 21) and Julian Borrill (Letters, June 22). 

Firstly, the most serious confusion raised by those letters is the discrepancy between the titles given to the letters – “Nuclear research not conducted in Berkeley” and “Nuclear-related work does occur here in Berkeley” – and their content. Neither of those writers were addressing the issue of whether “Nuclear” or “Nuclear-related” research is conducted in Berkeley. It is. Berkeley Lab has a division whose name and focus is Nuclear Science. UC Berkeley has a Nuclear Engineering Department. All of matter is composed of nuclear particles. It would be difficult to have a serious science program without including the study of nuclear particles in some form. 

The issue that was being addressed in those opinion letters was whether or not Nuclear WEAPONS research is conducted in Berkeley. I believe this issue is subject to interpretation. 

Research that the US keeps secret from others because we believe it gives us power over them with more capable weapons is not conducted in Berkeley. As Mr. Finley says, such classified weapons research was phased out at Berkeley Lab many years ago. The results of research done at Berkeley Lab are published in the open literature. 

On the other hand as my colleague Mr. Borrill notes, much unclassified research can be considered to support nuclear weapons work. Development of a scientific instrument such as DARHT can and in this case clearly will be used for nuclear weapons research. Some multipurpose computer science research can be used for nuclear weapons investigations and therefore may be funded by a program like ASCI whose focus is on nuclear weapons. 

I would say that while such unclassified research may support nuclear weapons research, it is not in itself nuclear weapons research. I supported nuclear weapons research for more than 20 years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and now support unclassified research at Berkeley Lab. While I personally believe in the value of both types of research, I think the distinction is an important one. 

James Donnelley 

Staff Scientist, Berkeley Lab

THEATER 

AURORA THEATRE 

“Split” by Mayo Simon, June 1 through July 2. A mordant clear-eyed view of an older couple's love affair. $25 to $28. Wednesday through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. (510) 843-4822. 

BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE 

“Closer” by Patrick Marber, through July 9. A funny, touching and unflinchingly honest examination of love and relationships set in contemporary London. $38 to $48.50. Tuesday, Thursday through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Wednesday, 7 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; May 27, June 1, June 3, June 10, June 15, June 24, June 29 and July 8, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 845-4700 or (888) 4BRTTIX. 

CALIFORNIA SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL 

“Hamlet” by William Shakespeare, July 1 through July 22. Shakespeare probes the shadowy corners of the human psyche in this dark, compelling tragedy of vengeance, madness and murder most foul. $21 to $38 general; $19 to $38 seniors; $10 to $38 children. Wednesday and Thursday, 7 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 4 p.m.; July 11 and July 18, 7 p.m.; July 22, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Bruns Memorial Amphitheatre, Shakespeare Festival Way/Gateway Exit on state Highway 24. (510) 548-9666 or www.calshakes.org 

LaVal’s Subterranean 

Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” directed by Yoni Barkan. The play will run from June 8 to July 8, Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. each night. 1834 Euclid Ave. (510) 234-6046. 

MUSIC VENUES 

ASHKENAZ 

Dotgals with Caller, June 28, 8 p.m. $8. 

Martin Fierro and Legion of Mary, June 29, 10 p.m. $9. 

“Rattle The Cage!!!” June 30, 8:30 p.m. Featuring Rebecca Riots, Green, Copperwimmin, Helen Chaya, Anna and Eileen, Women Walking Tall. $8 to $15. 

1317 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. (510) 525-5099 or www.ashkenaz.com 

BLAKES 

“Third World,” June 28. With UC Buu, DJ Add, Jah Bonz, Big Willie. 

Ripe, Orquestra D, Soul, June 29. $4. 

Blue Marmalade, Molasses, June 30. $5. 

For age 18 and older. Music at 9:30 p.m. 2367 Telegraph Ave., Berkeley. (510) 848-0886. 

FREIGHT AND SALVAGE 

Dakota Dave Hull and Kari Larson, Duck Baker, Tony Marcus and Bob Wilson, June 29. $14.50 to $15.50. 

Judy Henske with Craig Doerge, June 30. $14.50 to $15.50. 

Cats and Jammers, July 1. $15.50 to $16.50. 

The Copper Family, July 2. $15.50 to $16.50. 

Music at 8 p.m. 1111 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 548-1761 or (510) 762-BASS. 

LA PEÑA CULTURAL CENTER 

Lila Downs, June 29, 8 p.m. $14. 

Jaranon y Bochinche, June 30, 8:30 p.m. $12. 

3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

924 GILMAN ST. 

The Cost, The Hi-Fives, Maurice's Little Bastard, Merrick, June 30. 

Midnight Lazer Beam, The Convocation Of..., Heart Of Snow, July 1. 

$5. Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 924 Gilman St., Berkeley. (510) 525-9926. 

THE STARRY PLOUGH PUB 

Human Life Index, June 29. $4. 

Kirby Grips, Applesaucer, The Chantigs, June 30. $6. 

For age 21 and over. Wednesday, 8 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9:45 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 3101 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 841-2082. 

MUSEUMS 

Berkeley Historical Society 

"Berkeley's Ethnic Heritage." May 7 through March 2001. The exhibit examines the rich cultural diversity of our city and the contributions of individuals and minority groups to our history and development. Thursday through Saturday, 1 to 4 p.m. Wheelchair accessible. Admission free. 

Berkeley Historical Society located in the Veterans Memorial Building, 1931 Center Street, Berkeley. 510-848-0181 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc 

UC BERKELEY ART 

MUSEUM 

“Master of Fine Art Graduate Exhibition,” May 20 through July 2. The 13th annual exhibit of work by candidates for the Master of Fine Arts degree. 

$6 general; $4 seniors and students ages 12 to 18; free children age 12 and under; free Thursday, 1 1 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. (510) 642-0808. 

HALL OF HEALTH  

2230 Shattuck Ave. (lower level), Berkeley 

A hands-on community health education museum and science center sponsored by Children's Hospital Oakland and Alta Bates Medical Center. 

Free. 

For children ages 3 to 12 and their parents. 

(510) 549-1564 

LAWRENCE HALL 

OF SCIENCE 

“Experiment Gallery,” through Sept. 10. Step inside a giant laboratory and experiment with concepts surrounding sound, light, mechanics, electricity, and weather. 

$6 general; $4 seniors, students and children ages 7 to 18; $2 children ages 3 to 6; free children under age 3. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Centennial Drive, University of California, Berkeley. (510) 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.eduJUDAH L. MAGNES 

MUSEUM 

2911 Russell St., Berkeley 

“Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season,” through May 2002. Through Nov. 4: “Spring and Summer.” Free. Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

(510) 549-6950. 

GALLERIES  

A.C.C.I. GALLERY 

“Abstract Expressions,” through July 1. A group show featuring Rita Flanagan, Carolyn Careis, Heather Hutchinson, Muriel Paley, and Naomi Policoff. 

Free. Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. 1652 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 843-2527. 

KALA INSTITUTE 

“Markings/Imprints,” through July 28. The 2000 Kala Art Institute Fellowship Awards Exhibitions, Part I, featuring works by Susan Belau, Liliana Lobo Ferreira, and Jamie Morgan. Free. Tuesday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m. 

Workshop Media Center Gallery, 1060 Heinz Ave., Berkeley. (510) 549-2977. 

NEW PIECES GALLERY 

“Progressions: the Quilt as Art,” through June 29. An exhibit of quilts by Jill Le Croisette. 

“Go We to the Revels Masked,” through June 29. An exhibit of dolls by Elise Peeples. 

Free. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. 1597 Solano Ave., Berkeley. (510) 527-6779. 

“Yangtze River: in the Dragon’s Teeth” 

Carol Brighton's poured paper paintings of the Yangtze River gorges, through July 31. 

Six-foot paper pieces in the long format of a Chinese scroll. Addison Street Windows Gallery, 2018 Addison St., Berkeley 

To publicize an upcoming event, please submit information to the Daily Planet via fax (841-5695), e-mail (calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.com) or traditional mail (2076 University Avenue, 94704). 

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Much attention has been paid in recent months to the troubling academic achievement gap between white students and students of color at Berkeley High School, but the parallel “discipline gap” at the campus is not being openly addressed. 

That’s one of the conclusion of a report presented to the school board last week by the Diversity Project’s Discipline Committee, which has been examining the issue since September. 

“I think the challenge to the board, to the administration and to this whole community is to make sure that this issue doesn’t die, and that support for these very basic recommendations to be carried out, is provided,” Pedro Noguera, co-director of the Diversity Project and a UC Berkeley professor, said during a presentation at last week’s school board. 

A central theme in the report is the lack of accountability at the high school, which is highly evident in the often dysfunctional discipline system. The group’s research found that “not one teacher” who was interviewed felt there was a “cohesive, directed or shared understanding of discipline” at the school. 

The On-Campus Suspension (OCS) program is used unevenly, and it seems to lack a defined purpose, the report states. And Off-Campus Suspension seems equally ineffective in changing student behavior. 

But the most unsettling finding – though hardly shocking to those who know Berkeley High well – was the over-representation of minority students in the discipline system at the school. During the fall 1998 semester, African-American students comprised 39 percent of the student body but made up 70 percent of the referrals to OCS. Caucasian students were 31 percent of the campus but just 10 percent of the referrals. 

The report made a series of recommendations to begin tackling the apparent inequity in discipline, as well as academic achievement. Those ideas included increased communication on campus, a more clearly defined discipline system, needs assessment to identify how individual students can be assisted, and ongoing professional development for staff. 

The school board was largely receptive to the recommendations made in the report and the analyses provided during the presentation. School Board Director Terry Doran, himself a retired BHS teacher, told the committee members that many teachers and staff have known of the inequity issues for years, but those who have pushed for change have run into roadblocks. 

“There are many people at Berkeley High who want to do things differently, and they see the issues that you’ve raised very clearly, and they’ve been blocked,” he said. “We know that for some people, preserving the status quo preserves their programs that meet the needs of certain students.” 

But Director Shirley Issel, while saying she agreed with much of the committee’s report, took issue with some of the conclusions and recommendations. The academic achievement gap does exist, but it has to be viewed in a broader context, she argued. She cited an in-house report that showed Caucasian, African-American and Latino students performed better, on average, on the SAT-9 tests than their counterparts around the state. 

“We are nowhere near where we need to be,” she said. “But we have to realize that we are doing something right.” 

Issel offered her harshest criticisms against suggestions to create more heterogeneous courses in the freshman CORE program, and to use “equity” as the primary focus for staff development. Instead, equity must be one of several standards by which staff training effectiveness is measured. 

And she objected to “subtle and sometimes not so subtle assumptions that racism lies at the heart of the achievement gap at the high school.” 

Noguera said he was “disturbed” by Issel’s reaction and her assertion that the Diversity Project was accusing anyone of racism. 

“What we’ve tried to do at Berkeley High School is to bring together teachers, students and parents, from across racial groups, to look at these issues without fingerpointing,” he said. “And although it has been uncomfortable at times to ask the tough questions, we have never singled people out, so to hear that tonight, I find insulting.” 

He said Issel’s comments were similar to what he’s heard from other people in Berkeley, who pat themselves on the back because things aren’t as bad here as they are in other places, so they settle for not pursuing change. 

The Human Genome Project is a perfect example of how the Internet has changed science by making vast databases of information available to scientists at the click of a mouse. In the same way, the Internet could revolutionize America’s dauntingly complex health care industry.  

But a group of scientists and venture capitalists who gathered Tuesday for a discussion at UC Berkeley focused instead on the many roadblocks ahead for what they called “e-health care.” 

“I think there are phenomenal opportunities here, but the road’s going to be torturous,’’ said Samuel Colella, managing director of Versant Ventures, a Menlo Park venture capital firm that specializes in health care interests. 

Online health care, which right now is largely limited to informational and pharmacy Web sites such as PlanetRx.com and WebMD.com, has been hyped a great deal. But profitable business models – and reasons for investing – are few and far between, Colella said. 

To be sure, the Internet could streamline medical records, insurance claims and prescriptions, but the computing power needed to handle all that data is several years away, panelists said. And until better technology and viable business models come along, investing in e-health care is “still an incredibly high risk,” Colella said. 

Thus far the only profits associated with online health care have come from business-to-business transactions such as medical supply auctions, and from shepherding online “communities” of patients toward products that interest them, panelists said. 

But the roadblocks to the one-click health care system of the future are not just about business models and technology. Medical records are another frontier. 

Putting records online would make it possible for any doctor anywhere to see a patient’s comprehensive medical history, thus avoiding duplicate tests and making it far easier to diagnose illness. 

But Americans are still not comfortable enough with security on the Web to put their records online, said Dr. Mark McClellan, an assistant professor at Stanford University’s Center for Health Policy. 

“There’s still a fundamental perception problem of whether people think medical records online are safe,” McClellan said. “Most Americans do not think so.” 

Providing such widespread access to medical histories also raises ethical questions, McClellan said, which are notably similar to those raised by Monday’s announcement that scientists had completed a rough draft map of all the genetic information contained in a typical human.  

The fear is that if medical records or genetic information about individual humans gets into the wrong hands – particularly if it happens long before cures are developed – discrimination could result. 

Complicating matters further, there is no standard medical-record format that every hospital, insurance provider and doctor uses, McClellan said. All these health care entities would have to agree on a format before the information could be put online with any efficiency, he said.  

Despite the obstacles, the experts at Tuesday’s conference, entitled “Into the 21st Century: Genomics and Beyond,” were still enthusiastic about online health care’s potential. 

“E-health care is one of the few things in the last 50 years that could improve not only the quality of health care but its efficiency,” said Laura D’Andrea Tyson, dean of UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

SAN FRANCISCO – You are what you eat, right? Well, a few hundred years down the road the only way people might know anything about you is because of the stuff you didn’t eat – the bones, the cans, the bottles. After all, as any sanitation worker, detective or crazed stalker will tell you, one can tell a lot about somebody by sifting through his garbage. 

And some 225-year-old “garbage” is telling UC Berkeley researchers quite a lot about San Francisco’s first non-indigenous settlers. 

Having been nearly continuously inhabited by Spanish, Mexican and finally American soldiers and their families since 1776, the Presidio is an archaeological gold mine – or rather, a garbage dump. The Funston Avenue Archaeological Research Project’s sites are inundated with a wealth of remnants from the 1770s all the way up to the present, a situation conveniently unearthed by a serendipitous discovery seven years ago. 

“The site was discovered in 1993 back when the U.S. Army was undertaking an environmental remediation program out here,” recalls Barb Voss, a UC Berkeley anthropology graduate student and the archaeological project’s co-coordinator. “I was working for an archaeological consulting firm hired to oversee the process. On one rainy day in May we were removing a fuel oil storage tank behind Building 12 and we discovered some stones that aren’t native to the soil. We weren’t sure what we’d found.” 

Several weeks and several test excavations later, Voss realized just what it was that had been uncovered beneath the old fuel tank – the exposed external foundation of the original Spanish colonial quadrangle (a quadrangle is an open space surrounded on its four sides by buildings). 

The site was on display for the public Tuesday afternoon as Voss and a good number of the 60 volunteers (one-quarter of whom come from Cal, while others hail from universities as far off as Scotland or Australia) spent the day working the fifth-year dig and answering questions for the curious onlookers. 

The original Presidio served as a Spanish military post from its inception in 1776 until the Mexican war of independence ended in 1822. At that time the fort became a Mexican stronghold until transferring over to United States hands in 1848. Military personnel and their families lived on the Presidio up until 1994 – and Voss has the artifacts to prove it. 

Remnants from the Spanish era include adobe bricks, roofing tile (Voss points out that roofs were originally thatched, but the colonists quickly learned that straw roofs and San Francisco weather do not a mixture make), imported and domestically produced pottery and, of course, remains of meals long past. 

“The animal bones present are fairly large-sized, feet, vertebrae, teeth. That points to primary butchering rather than household butchering,” says Voss. “Based on the amount of bones we’ve found, beef stew was probably a mainstay.” 

Moving from the site of the unearthed wall of the eastern wing of the Spanish quadrangle to roughly 75 feet eastward, Voss jokes “we’ve just walked 100 years up in history.” In front of the Victorian officers’ housing erected in 1862 (and still standing), a pit yielding “a wealth of trash from the Civil War period” is teeming with activity. Until 1878, the officers’ housing faced the other direction, meaning the current dig is actually leafing through the Civil War soldiers’ backyards – meaning all the scraps and trash hurled out the back door are now seeing the light of day once more. 

“We’ve found a lovely collection of American artifacts,” says Amy Ramsay, the project’s other co-coordinator and also a UC Berkeley anthropology grad student. “Bottle fragments, handles to silverware, fragments of whiteware (American and English-produced plates), military buttons and lots of other things that say, ‘Hey! You’ve got a nice American period deposit here.’” 

In addition to uncovering a number of broken items that were thrown away, researchers have found artifacts that were, fortunately for posterity, lost. 

“A lot of the children’s toys we found are things I imagine the kids would have liked to have kept,” says Ramsay. “We’ve found so many children’s toys this year, and children are generally not represented well in archaeological recoveries.” 

Archaeologists and students have turned up several-hundred year old marbles, Crackerjack prizes, a miniature Coca-Cola bottle, a Roy Rogers pistol from the 1940s or ’50s and, most recently, toy jet plane wings from the ’70s. 

“During the Civil War period a lot was written about the Presidio and photography was very active,” says Ramsay. “So a lot of people say we have all the answers. But the question is, who was included in the written record? Were the people who were being written about in agreement with those who were writing? 

“Here we see the mundane, day-to-day experience,” continues Ramsay while pointing at the dig. “I want to find artifacts and other indicators in the soil so we can figure out what was going on here in the backyards of Civil War and immediately post-Civil War officers’ quarters.”

Two new vice provosts at UC Berkeley, who will play central roles in academic administration, have been selected, officials announced Tuesday. 

History and economics professor Jan de Vries will oversee academic affairs and faculty welfare while engineering professor William C. Webster will take the lead for academic planning and facilities. 

“I am delighted that Jan de Vries and Bill Webster have agreed to serve in these senior positions. The foundations of Berkeley’s excellence have always been the faculty and the quality of the education we provide. With these appointments, our faculty and our students will be well served,” Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl said in a statement announcing the appointments. 

The vice provost positions, which are pending the UC Regents’ approval, are key components of a restructuring of the senior administration that is aimed at seizing opportunities in teaching, technology and research as UC Berkeley moves into the 21st century. 

“Jan de Vries and Bill Webster know this campus, its faculty and its academic mission inside and out. But what impresses me most is their commitment to ensuring that the future of UC Berkeley is as distinguished as its past. I could not have asked for two more experienced and skillful partners,” Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Designate Paul R. Gray, who will assume his post on July 1, said in the university news release. 

With the appointment in the near future of a vice provost for undergraduate education and instructional technology, the new senior management team will be complete. Earlier it was announced that professor Mary Beth Burnside will become vice chancellor for research in January 2001 and that Mary Ann Mason, a professor of social welfare, will become dean of the Graduate Division on Aug. 1. 

As vice provost for academic affairs and faculty welfare, de Vries will be responsible for all aspects of the academic personnel process for UC Berkeley’s 2,500 faculty members. He also will provide leadership in academic affirmative action and will oversee the offices of Academic Compliance and Faculty Equity Assistance. 

“In the coming years, we must renew and further develop the best faculty in the world. I can’t think of a greater academic responsibility and look forward to the challenge it represents,” said de Vries. 

A UC Berkeley faculty member since 1973, de Vries, 56, is the Sidney Hellman Ehrman Professor of European History and a professor of economics. He served as interim dean of the social sciences in 1999 and was chairman of the history department from 1987 to 1991. He recently was awarded the A.H. Heineken Prize for History and has published widely on European and Dutch economic history. 

Webster, who served as the associate dean of the College of Engineering from 1991 to 1999, will assume primary responsibility for planning, coordinating and implementing academic planning initiatives as the vice provost for academic planning and facilities. 

He will also be responsible for operations of self-supporting academic units, including University Extension and Summer Sessions. 

“What excites me about this new position is the opportunity to help determine what the ‘shape’ of the university should be so that we can better address the problems and opportunities California and the world will face in the coming decades,” said Webster.  

In addition to a number of positions in academic administration, Webster, 62, is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, has been a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley since 1969 and holds the James Fife Chair in the department. 

He is a world-recognized expert in the motion of ships and off-shore platforms such as oil rigs and floating airport run

The next city manager will be selected by a supermajority if the mayor has her way. 

Mayor Shirley Dean will propose a process at tonight’s council meeting for the selection of a top executive to replace City Manager Jim Keene, who is taking the city manager post in Tucson in August. 

In a document released Monday, Dean suggests that seven out of the nine members of the council should agree on the candidate. 

“This is to ensure that the broadest possible support is available to the candidate,” the mayor says in her proposal. 

In a phone interview, Dean conceded that the city charter says decisions are made by five votes and has no provisions for a two-thirds vote. However, she said she hopes the council will go along with the spirit of her proposal. 

“I would think that any city manager would turn down the job with a divided city council,” Dean said. 

The council will discuss Dean’s proposal as well as one to be presented by Councilmember Linda Maio. Maio’s recommendations were not available Monday. 

The mayor will also propose a process for the selection of an interim city manager, since the manager selection process is expected to take six months or longer. 

The council “will interview the candidate already selected for interview (at the closed council meeting June 13) regarding filling the city manager position on an interim bases,” she writs in her council report. 

Some speculate that person may be Deputy City Manager Weldon Rucker, whose candidacy Councilmember Dona Spring is championing. The mayor said she could not divulge the name of the individual who may be interviewed. The council will meet in closed session, perhaps as early as Wednesday, to make the decision, which will not be made public until the candidate and the council come to an agreement on remuneration, Dean said. 

Dean is proposing that at tonight’s meeting certain councilmembers be designated to negotiate the contract provisions with the person selected for interim manager. 

The bulk of the mayor’s proposal addresses the search for a new city manager. She says the search should be conducted by a national headhunter, chosen by the council. 

The firm would look for an individual whose profile would be created through interviews with all councilmembers, six senior staff members and six representatives of the employee unions. The full council would approve the final profile. 

Once the search is completed, a representative of the firm would meet in closed session with the council, sort through the candidates and create a short list of applicants. 

These five or six top candidates would then be interviewed by a community committee of nine or 10 members. The interviews would be “closed in order to protect the confidentiality of the candidates,” the mayor writes. When Keene and several other candidates were interviewed in Tucson by a citizens committee, the interviews were conducted on public TV, according to the local papers. 

The committee members would be appointed by the council as a whole in closed session. They would be designated “under a voluntary agreement among ourselves that a consensus of seven or more councilmembers would be needed to appoint each member of the committee,” the mayor writes. 

The community committee, which would meet only once or twice, should include representatives of the business community, the university community, neighborhoods, city employees and other groups as determined by the council, the mayor said. “The committee should represent the diversity of the city, but need not be confined to Berkeley residents.” 

Dean said committee members would not rank candidates, but would submit written comments to the council on each. 

The council would then interview candidates on the short list in closed session and make a selection. A contract would be negotiated by the same group that negotiated the contract with the interim city manager. 

Tonight’s City Council meeting begins at 7 p.m. and will be held in Council Chambers in Old City Hall, at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. The meeting will be broadcast over 89.3-FM, KPFB, and televised on Cable Channel 25, B-TV.

Tuesday, June 27

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited; the class is offered Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Call ahead for a reservation. 

510-644-6109 

Easy Tilden Trails 

9:30 a.m. 

Tilden Regional Park, in the parking lot that dead ends at the Little Farm 

Join a few seniors, the Tuesday Tilden Walkers, for a stroll around Jewel Lake and the Little Farm Area. Enjoy the beauty of the wildflowers, turtles, and warblers, and waterfowl. 

510-215-7672; members.home.com/teachme99/tilden/index.html 

Blood pressure screening 

9:30 a.m. 

“When Do You Take it Personally?” 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

510-644-6107 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2-7 p.m. 

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

510-548-3333 

City Council Meeting 

7 p.m. 

Council Chambers, Old City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

Berkeley Camera Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share your slides and prints with other photographers. Critiques by qualified judges. Monthly field trips. 

510-531-8664 

Women’s Rap 

8-9:30 p.m. 

Pacific Center, 2712 Telegraph Ave. 

This week’s session will include a viewing of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s famous lesbian episode. The Pacific Center is a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community center. 

510-548-8283; 

www.pacificcenter.org 

Wednesday, June 28

“Seeds of Fun” 

Noon 

Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Drive, above UC Berkeley campu 

Explore and identify the many different sizes and shapes of seeds, and use them to make music, create jewelry, and to plant. This is part of the Summer Science Funday series at the Hall. Included with admission. 

510-642-5132; www.lhs.berkeley.edu 

Low-vision trip to Orientation Center for the Blind 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

510-644-6107 

“Housing Rights? Where Will You Live Tomorrow?” 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

This membership meeting of the Berkeley Gray Panthers will address affordable housing. The meeting is open to the public. 

Disaster Council 

7 p.m. 

Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. 

Among the other items for discussion, the commission will address the safety element of the General Plan. 

Baby Bounce and Toddler Tales 

7 p.m. 

West Branch Berkeley Public Library, 1125 University Ave. 

This storytime program is designed for families with children up to 3 years old. The free, participatory program features a half hour of multicultural songs, rhymes, lap jogs and stories to give very young children a lively introduction to the magic of books. Parents also will enjoy the new stories, rediscover old favorites and learn new songs and games to share. 

510-644-6870 

Poetry Flash 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

The featured poets this session will be Brandon Brown and Peter Money. 

510-845-7852; 510-525-5476 

Thursday, June 29

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited; the class is offered Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Call ahead for a reservation. 

510-644-6109 

“A European Defense Identity: What Does It Mean for America?” 

Noon 

119 Moses Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Peter Gooderham, counselor of Politico-Military/European Affairs, British Embassy in Washington D.C., will be the featured lecturer. Gooderham joined the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1983. The main focus of his career has been on defense and security issues. Before taking up his position in the Washington Embassy, Gooderham worked at the UK Mission to the United Nations in New York from 1996 to 1999. Prior to joining the British Diplomatic Service he completed a Ph.D. thesis at Bristol University in modern Russian and Soviet history. This free, brown-bag talk is sponsored by the Institute for Governmental Studies. 

510-642-4608; www.igs.berkeley.edu:8880 

Movie: “Birth of the Blues” 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

510-644-6107 

Memorial Stadium lights public meeting 

7-9 p.m. 

Hall of Fame Conference Room, Memorial Stadium, UC Berkeley campus 

This community meeting will present and discuss the findings of the initial study that describes the project and identifies its potential environmental effects. 

510-642-7720 

“Exploring the Trinity Alps” 

7 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Stew Winchester of Diablo Valley College will present a slide lecture introducing the wilderness area 200 miles north of San Francisco. Free. 

510-527-4140 

Friday, June 30

Opera: “The Merry Widow” 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

510-644-6107 

Saturday, July 1

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m.-3 p.m. 

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

510-548-3333 

New Moon Walk 

7:30 p.m. 

Tilden Regional Park; meet at Inspiration Point 

Experience the sunset, stars and cities on a walk along Nimitz Way. 

510-525-2233 

Women’s Movie Night 

7:30-10 p.m. 

Pacific Center, 2712 Telegraph Ave. 

The featured film will be “I Became A Lesbian & Others Too.” These are several lesbian short comedy films with lots of lesbians, poetry, cats, dreams, love affairs, and swashbuckling heroes. The Pacific Center is a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community center. 

510-548-8283; 

www.pacificcenter.org 

An open letter to Mayor Shirley Dean and members of the Berkeley City Council: 

Sometime in 2001, Council will dedicate a new landmark in Berkeley for generations to come – the pedestrian/bicycle bridge over I-80. This month, however, is when you must select which design features of the I-80 overcrossing will be added to the construction contract you recently awarded. Decisions made now will determine whether the bridge is a pedestrian-friendly gateway that welcomes people to our city and its waterfront or merely a very expensive steel arch whose design flaws make it difficult and uncomfortable to use. 

Over a year of extensive research went into the bridge’s design phase to guarantee it would attract users and be safe and pleasant for them. Similar structures from around the world were analyzed for their design successes and failures. Simple design features were identified to make the project function best for the user. A team of internationally known architects, landscape architects, and engineers was hired to translate these guidelines into a unified whole. 

In preparing the construction drawings, however, many of these basic user features were stripped from the contract as it became evident that the engineers had significantly underestimated the cost to build the bridge structure they had recommended. The original budget of $3,100,000 has already ballooned 70 percent to $5,270,584. More troubling is that even this new funding level has been met only by the elimination of exactly those features which will make the bridge a success for its intended visitors. 

The main entry staircases have disappeared, adding nearly a mile for the pedestrian making a round trip. The landscaping plan to soften the massive structure’s impacts on the two parks is entirely gone. Any place to sit down along the 1/3 mile pathway has been dropped. Even the bridge entryways are no longer deemed to be part of the project. Walkers and cyclists will arrive in our shoreline park at a patch of bare dirt. Those coming from the Bay Trail will be greeted to Berkeley by an odd conglomeration of old roadbed, an abandoned traffic island, and a parking lot – rather than by a landscaped plaza with terraced seating overlooking the dramatic view of the lagoon in Aquatic Park. 

This dysfunctional design does not have to be the face you present to the world when you dedicate the bridge. For a fractional increase of the total budget, you can build the project the people of Berkeley want. You must look closely at those features which have been stripped from the contract and decide which ones must be added as change orders. Direct staff to identify suitable funding strategies. Don’t let bad planning ruin a landmark that will stand for a hundred years as your legacy. 

Gail Keleman, Parks & Recreation Commission 

Paul Kamen, Vice-chair Waterfront Commission 

D. Mark Abrahams, Transportation Commission 

Zasa Swanson, President Berkeley Partners for Parks 

Dave Campbell, President Bicycle Friendly Berkeley Coalition 

Mark Liolios, Past President 1998 Berkeley Partners for Parks 

Key issues city needs to address 

Staircases 

• Direct access routes to bridge removed 

• Greatly reduces bridge functionality for pedestrians 

• Round trip to bridge's viewing deck now 1/2 mile instead of single staircase 

• Round trip to bay shoreline nearly a mile longer 

• Awkward connection to points south 

• Loss of important safety feature – quick alternate exit from lengthy ramping 

Landscaping 

• All trees and shoreline planting at site in Aquatic Park will be removed to build ramps, columns, and roadbed 

• Massive berms to support bridge ramping will become primary landscaping feature seen by everyone entering Berkeley or passing through 

• Without landscaping, long ramping on multiple concrete columns will destroy scenery in both parks 

• Proposed hydro-seeding of ground cover has already failed at this site 

• Will encourage pedestrians to make shortcuts down hillsides 

• Without irrigation, invasive non-natives such as thistles and kikuyu will colonize the site and be impossible to eradicate 

• Adding landscaping at a later date may triple its cost 

Seating/Rest Areas 

• One-way crossing is a third of a mile long 

• Pedestrians need clearly delineated spaces in which to rest along the way 

• There is no seating anywhere along the entire route 

Berming against retaining wall 

• Simple landscaping solution can soften impact of large concrete retaining wall. 

• Without berming, wall is a permanent graffiti billboard 

Entryway plazas 

• Much of ramping and span will be stark and pedestrian unfriendly 

• Two plazas are the gateways to Berkeley and its shoreline park 

• Aquatic Park entryway could provide simple terraced seating down to the water 

• Opportunity to feature views of two parks 

• Should have kiosks with maps to nearby destinations 

• Lighting standards should be pedestrian-friendly

Shotgun Players opened its fourth outdoor annual summer theatrical tour Sunday afternoon at Willard Park with an original adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s collection of animal stories “The Jungle Book.” 

Influenced by the years Kipling spent in India, “Jungle Book” tells fables set in the animal and human worlds that consider many of life’s most complex issues. But Richard J. Silberg’s didactic and rambling adaptation makes the show seem long and repetitive, more like a sociology lecture than a play. 

And although the production is directed at children and adults alike, its preachiness limits the appeal. 

In “Jungle Book,” a human baby named Mowgli – a girl in this production, a boy in Kipling’s original book – is adopted and raised by a tribe of wolves after a tiger kills and eats her parents. As she grows up, Mowgli struggles to understand who she is, and find her real identity, living as both an insider and an outsider in the world of jungle animals. 

Although “Jungle Book” feels at times like an arbitrary sociology of the wilderness based on a Kipling’s somewhat liberal Victorian sensibility, it hits interesting themes. 

In large part, “Jungle Book” is about the difficulties of living ethically in state of nature where the main concerns of life are finding enough to eat while avoid becoming someone else’s dinner. 

As a story of a human being raised by wolves, it also considers the different ways that both nature and nurture contribute to, and conflict in, the development of a person. 

Further, in its expression of wolf pack social ethics, “Jungle Book” about learning trust and confidence in oneself and others as part a healthy growing process – or not learning it, to the peril of everyone. 

“Jungle Book” also has prescient ecological sensibilities, observing how the shifting of food and water masses in ecosystems can quickly alter deeply held social relationships and customs. 

Finally, it deals with the paradoxes between community of purpose and diversity of purpose among living species. And in a related motif, it touches on how fear is the force that divides species. 

But in an effort to communicate all of these large and important themes, in its account of Mowgli’s wanderings, the Shotgun production covers too much ground and includes too many unfocused story elements,. 

Further complicating the matter, Silberg’s dialogue is very declamatory and didactic. Often Mowgli or the animals talk theory about the laws of the jungle, or list principles for survival. There are debates on child-rearing practices. Such dialogue is inherently non-dramatic. 

And there are just too many episodic story elements squeezed into this two-hour show that aren’t at the service of a clear, dramatic story line. 

Mowgli’s early life with the wolves, for example, in the first half of the play, and her later life among humans in the second half of the play, are tied together in the denouement, but in many ways they feel like two separate stories. 

Shotgun’s script is an expansion by Silberg of a shorter adaptation of “Jungle Book” he wrote for performance by his students at Berkeley’s King Middle School, where Silberg has taught for a decade. The shorter play was probably stronger. 

Among the actors in this production, a smooth, stalking and light-footed Nora el Samahy most effectively got the look and feel of her animal character – a panther. 

Anna Moore’s Mowgli has some strong moments in her biggest scenes at the end of the play. 

Other Shotgun performers include George Frangides (jackal), Meghan Love (tiger), Shaun Church (bear), Jodi Feder (wolf mother), Garth Petal (wolf leader). 

Director Amy Sass, who also teaches middle school and high school drama in the East Bay, cast other teen performers in some of the smaller roles. 

Various actors alternate playing drums, rattles, bells and other percussion instruments to punctuate moments in the story. 

“Jungle Book” plays Saturdays and Sundays at 1 p.m. at parks in Berkeley and Oakland through Aug. 13. 

The show runs Saturday at Civic Center/MLK Park at Center and Milvia, and Sunday at Willard Park at Derby and Hillegass. Both shows begin at 1 p.m. Admission is free. 

Be sure to take a blanket or chairs, hats, sunglasses and sunscreen, and a picnic if you like. For future shows and directions, call (510) 655-0813 or visit the Shotgun web site (www.shotgunplayers.com).

MUSIC VENUES

ASHKENAZ 

DP and The Rhythm Riders, June 27, 9 p.m. $8. 

Dotgals with Caller, June 28, 8 p.m. $8. 

Martin Fierro and Legion of Mary, June 29, 10 p.m. $9. 

“Rattle The Cage!!!” June 30, 8:30 p.m. Featuring Rebecca Riots, Green, Copperwimmin, Helen Chaya, Anna and Eileen, Women Walking Tall. $8 to $15. 

1317 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. (510) 525-5099 or www.ashkenaz.com 

BLAKES 

Illa-dapted, Miricle Orchestra, June 27. $3. 

“Third World,” June 28. With UC Buu, DJ Add, Jah Bonz, Big Willie. 

Ripe, Orquestra D, Soul, June 29. $4. 

Blue Marmalade, Molasses, June 30. $5. 

For age 18 and older. Music at 9:30 p.m. 2367 Telegraph Ave., Berkeley. (510) 848-0886. 

FREIGHT AND SALVAGE 

Andrew Kerr, Natalia Zukerman, Matt Nathanson, Karry Walker, June 27. $12.50 to $13.50. 

Dakota Dave Hull and Kari Larson, Duck Baker, Tony Marcus and Bob Wilson, June 29. $14.50 to $15.50. 

Judy Henske with Craig Doerge, June 30. $14.50 to $15.50. 

Music at 8 p.m. 1111 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 548-1761 or (510) 762-BASS. 

LA PEÑA CULTURAL CENTER 

Lila Downs, June 29, 8 p.m. $14. 

Jaranon y Bochinche, June 30, 8:30 p.m. $12. 

3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

924 GILMAN ST. 

The Cost, The Hi-Fives, Maurice's Little Bastard, Merrick, June 30. 

Midnight Lazer Beam, The Convocation Of..., Heart Of Snow, July 1. 

$5. Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 924 Gilman St., Berkeley. (510) 525-9926. 

THE STARRY PLOUGH PUB 

Human Life Index, June 29. $4. 

Kirby Grips, Applesaucer, The Chantigs, June 30. $6. 

For age 21 and over. Wednesday, 8 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9:45 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 3101 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 841-2082. 

To publicize an upcoming event, please submit information to the Daily Planet via fax (841-5695), e-mail (calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.com) or traditional mail (2076 University Avenue, 94704). Calendar items should be submitted at least one week before the opening of a new exhibit or performance. Please include a daytime telephone number in case we need to clarify any information.

A San Jose man was arrested Monday in connection with a botched home invasion robbery in South Berkeley, but his alleged accomplice remained on the loose. 

The episode began around 3:30 p.m., when the Berkeley Police Department received a call from a resident reporting that at least two men carrying guns entered an apartment building in the 3200 block of California Street. 

Once inside the building, the men stormed into a ground-floor apartment, occupied by several people who apparently knew the suspects. One of the men then forced a woman at gunpoint to walk upstairs to her apartment, which police say he intended to rob. 

But officers who were nearby quickly arrived on the scene and interrupted the crime in progress in the first-floor apartment, said Police Capt. Bobby Miller. The suspect in the downstairs unit apparently hid his weapon when he realized police were coming in. He attempted to blend in with the other people in the apartment and tried to walk out of the building. 

As the suspect was leaving, another person in the unit told officers to stop him because he was one of the gunmen. The suspect managed to escape from police and fled into the neighborhood. 

His alleged accomplice upstairs, however, did not escape from the scene. Police took 28-year-old Phil Martin Jr. of San Jose into custody. He was booked Monday evening on four charges: home invasion robbery, illegal possession of a concealable handgun, possession of stolen property and parole violation. 

Miller said it appears that the two gunmen specifically targeted the individuals in the apartment, although a possible motive was not immediately known. He did confirm that police have had problems with drug dealing and related crimes in the immediate vicinity. 

After the other suspect fled the scene, police sealed off several blocks near the intersection of California and Woolsey streets to conduct a search, which ended unsuccessfully several hours later. 

Crowds formed at various locations around the cordoned blocks – on bicycles, standing around, talking to friends about the incident on cell phones, sitting in cars – wondering what would unfold next. 

Residents who wanted to return home were forbidden to do so during the incident. As one young man walked from the corner of California and Woolsey, across Woolsey, an officer ran from the intersection, grabbed him and walked him out to California Street. He was not detained. 

Earlier at King and Woolsey a resident wondered if it would be safe to be in her own home nearby. Another woman couldn’t return to her home and her three children. 

A woman whose apartment is in the 1600 block of Woolsey, which was cordoned off, waited on a porch at the corner of King and Woolsey. She was eager to see the standoff end. 

“He ought to up and come out. I want to go to work.” 

Ramiro Duarte, interviewed at the corner of California and Woolsey near his home, said he saw a man run out of the building across Fairview Street. 

“I could see police running after him,” Duarte said. “They almost caught him but he was too fast. I was scared because maybe the guy would come this way.” 

The suspect who fled the scene was described as an African-American male, between 5 feet 10 inches and 6 feet tall, with a medium build. At the time he was wearing a mint green T-shirt and knee-length tan pants.

Seems to be anarchy in our city government

The controversy over speed limits on Claremont and Ashby shows that we have a streak of anarchy in our government. 

I was surprised to find out that posted speed limits may be ignored if 85 percent or more of the drivers drive faster. It’s a matter of driver judgment; those speed limit signs are just “advisory.” This may explain being tailgated while driving at the posted limit. Silly me. I thought I was obeying the law. 

My experience is that a large percentage of car drivers are anxious get where they’re going as fast as possible. This attitude has to affect their judgment about what’s a safe speed. The speeders tend to drag the rest along. 

There are some limits to trusting driver judgment. The California Driver’s Manual says that police can give a speeding ticket for driving “too fast for conditions,” regardless of the posted limit. Actually, this happens only if a police officer happens to be monitoring that particular road at that particular time. And I think that, in practice, the “conditions” rule is invoked only for weather-slick roads, or perhaps fog. In fine weather, it’s pedal to the metal, if you’ve got an 85 percent majority. 

The bottom line is that the city can’t do anything to reduce the danger from cars going too fast, especially on the streets which are also state roads. It sure looks like anarchy, and right here in Berkeley. 

Steve Geller 

Berkeley 

Let businesses create their own promotions

Council representative Linda Maio wants to use my tax dollars to promote shopping (Daily Planet, June 24-25)? How much more lunacy are taxpayers supposed to tolerate? As things stand now we have competing area business lobbies that get public funds to promote themselves; now we’ll have a city-wide program that does the same thing? 

I hope someday we’ll have a few people on the City Council who recognize that the merchants in this town are capable of underwriting their own promotion. This is not and should not be the government’s job. 

Carol Denney 

Berkeley

OAKLAND – Now more than ever, candidates, party officials and voters seem to be saying that it’s getting easier to be Green. 

It certainly wasn’t an effort for a packed, standing-room-only crowd of several hundred that wedged into the University of Creation Spirituality in downtown Oakland Monday night for a Green Party rally headlined by the party’s presidential nominee, Ralph Nader. 

Preceded by Oakland city council candidate Rebecca Kaplan and U.S. senate candidate Medea Benjamin, Nader tore into candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush with all the enthusiasm of Evil Knieval in a ramp factory. 

Fresh off his second consecutive nomination as the Green presidential candidate at the party’s convention over the weekend in Denver, Nader referred to Democrat Gore as having “broken more written promises than probably any presidential candidate in modern times” and called Republican Bush an “ex-Yale frat boy who has trouble putting together three sequential sentences” and “the corporate welfare king of all time.” 

Between jabs at the two major parties and their candidates – whom he described as too beholden to special interests to represent the people of the United States – the well-known consumer advocate touched on insufficient health care, the widening gap between the rich and poor, the degradation of the environment, campaign finance reform and the death penalty. 

“The majority of workers are actually making less now adjusted for inflation and working 160 hours a year more on average. This is not supposed to happen after almost 10 years of booming stock market prices and economic growth,” said Nader. “We have an apartheid economy where the top 5 percent do very well, and the top 1 percent do astonishingly well. The rest of the country is increasingly just hanging on. Instead of a rising tide lifting all boats, the rising tide is lifting all yachts.” 

Nader highlighted California as “a state which, in many ways, shows what happens when the concentration of wealth and power is so skewed that millions of innocent people who work hard don’t get their just rewards.” He pointed out that while 15 percent of the state’s children were impoverished in 1980, that figure had grown to 25.2 percent by 1998, with 1.8 million children having no health coverage in California. A total of 47 million people nationally lack health coverage. 

Nader stated that the ever growing divide between the rich and poor, environmental concerns, labor issues, and health care were all back-burner issues for the two major parties, who have chosen instead to “compete in an incredibly incessant race to raise more money than each other every month from business interests all over the country.” 

“A few weeks ago, the Republicans announced they’d broken the record for one fund raiser; $21.5 million for one back in Washington,” continued Nader. “The Democrats said ‘you ain’t seen nothing yet,’ and a few weeks later they raised $26.5 million. Guess what? The same business interest lobbyists with the same loads of cash showed up at each event. These business lobbyists demand homogenization from their political receivers. They demand any competition between the two parties is only the velocities with which their knees hit the floor when big business comes knocking at the door.” 

In a night filled with searing condemnations of both the Democrats and Republicans, Nader made perhaps his most damning criticism of the two-party system when he accused the Democrats and Republicans of avoiding the issues such as corporate crime and corporate welfare because “they are no longer two parties. They have merged to become one corporate party with two heads wearing different makeup.” 

Nader went on to say that recent nationwide polls showed 52 percent of Americans wished to see both he and Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan included in the presidential debates.  

That number would probably be much higher in California, where some polls run Nader as high as 9 percent, and, of course, in Berkeley, where Nader was the favorite candidate in the 1996 presidential election by nearly 20 percent. 

“When Ralph Nader endorses something, voters have confidence it will be in their interests,” said Berkeley city councilmember Dona Spring, a member of the Green Party. “I think it’s because of his lifetime of activity fighting for the little guy, the little consumers, that he’s so well-respected.” 

While recent national news stories in such prominent sources as the New York Times have mainly cast Nader in the role of a thorn in Al Gore’s side, Spring feels the Green Party could glean votes from dissatisfied Republican voters as well. 

“I think (Nader) appeals to McCain voters as well,” said the councilmember. “Greens embrace what used to be Republican values; decentralization of the power structure and accountability in the way our taxes are spent.” 

Spring said she thought a best-case scenario might be Nader’s capturing of 20 percent of the national vote, an ample enough total that “it would really raise the Green Party to a force to be contended with in electoral politics.”

When the hard hats and dump trucks clear out of City Hall and the public flows back in, citizens may be greeted by more than new furniture, repainted walls and council agendas. 

Lattés, cappuccinos and straight java from the Civic Center Cafe could greet visitor and employee alike. 

On tonight’s council agenda is a proposal for a $70,000 contract with an interior designer. That firm would decide which of the building’s furniture should be saved and which should be trashed and consult on the interior design of the sixth-floor conference room, the employee break room, the offices for the city manager, deputies and department heads, council offices, the mayor’s office – and the café. 

“The café? What café?” asked Councilmember Kriss Worthington, when reached by the Daily Planet. 

“There’s a proposal to put a small café (in the civic center building),” said Capital Projects Director John Rosenbrock. “It’s an area where visitors and employees could sit down and have a talk, with a cup of coffee and a donut.” 

He said the concept had been proposed by the city manager and mayor. The café, which would not include cooking facilities, would be contracted out to a private vendor, he said. 

Worthington was angry that the project had not been brought to the council. 

“They should bring it to us all together and not make all the deals with individuals,” he said, noting that the city will be paying high costs for leased office space for city workers who must continue to work outside the civic center building, because there’s not enough room inside. 

The café was also news to Councilmember Margaret Breland, who said it might be a good idea, but there should be more study of the space before it is installed. 

On the other hand, Mayor Shirley Dean said the café is just what City Hall needs. 

“That’s an absolutely marvelous idea,” she said, noting that some public libraries and courts have cafés in them. 

She said she didn’t believe it was taking up space where an office might be located.

On this week’s council agenda there are two different proposals to streamline the city’s tortuous council meetings. One was written by City Auditor Ann-Marie Hogan and the other by Mayor Shirley Dean. 

But since there are about 70-something other items before the council – one of them being the passage of $3 million in budget items – the body may put off the discussion for another day. 

Another agenda item will bring the animal-friendly community out – a vote on the proposed Spay/Neuter Ordinance is scheduled. 

Last week the city heard from animal aficionados about the draft law. The proposal is to create a $30 cat license for unaltered felines and a $30 license for unaltered dogs. There would be no license fee for spayed and neutered cats, and there would be a $7.50 fee for spayed and neutered dogs. Unaltered dogs caught disobeying the law – wandering around unleashed, pooping where they shouldn’t or disturbing the neighborhood with their howls – would be placed on a “bad dog” list and their owners charged a $60 license fee. 

The proposal brought out dozens of two-legged beings on both sides of the issue. Those in favor of the ordinance, such as Councilmember Dona Spring, said the higher fees for unaltered animals are the best way to get people to spay and neuter their cats and dogs and, consequently, the best way to reduce the numbers of strays euthanized at the animal shelter. 

Those on the other side of the question, such as Diane Sequoia, an African-American veterinarian, argued that this law would give police officers one more opportunity to discriminate against people of color, by checking dog licenses when they go to public parks. She and others said that spay and neutering is not the answer – responsible animal ownership is the solution, they argued. 

Another important decision the council will be asked to make tonight is on the question of taking away Kragen Auto Parts’ license to operate. The Zoning Adjustment Board voted for revocation, weighing in on the side of neighbors who have argued for years that operators of the establishment do not keep the area around the store clean and have not stopped customers from working on their cars outside the establishment. Kragen appealed the ZAB’s decision to the City Council. 

At last week’s public hearing, Kragen representatives argued that employees regularly clean outside the business. They also made the point that in an emergency – such as when a person’s oil is dangerously low – individuals have a right to perform a certain amount of work near the business. 

The council also will vote on whether to put a proposed measure on the November ballot that would blunt owner move-in evictions, which would displace seniors and disabled people and would displace long-term renters whose landlords own a number of rental properties. 

The council decided several months ago to add plastic bottles to its recycling efforts on Sept. 1. A committee that included representatives from city staff, the Solid Waste Management Commission and the Ecology Center, which will contract for the recycling, met and proposed a number of principles, which council will be asked to approve. The policy would affirm: 

• That producers of packaging ought to be responsible for designing products that are reusable or recyclable. 

• That the city’s goal is to reduce the amount of plastic packaging that ultimately goes to the landfills. 

• That the city will prioritize “bottle to bottle” recycling, with an awareness that plastics recycling is in its early stages. Bottle to bottle recycling means that the recycled bottle ends up being reused as a bottle. 

• That the city will encourage local efforts for businesses to use reusable packaging, such as refillable plastic beverage containers. 

• That the city recognize “the negative environmental impacts of polyvinyl chloride in the construction sector and from consumer packaging and recommend appropriate actions.” 

In addition, the council will vote on putting two bond measures on the fall ballot: a $5.2 million bond for branch library improvements and a $3.2 million bond for renovation and repair of the warm water pool at Berkeley High School.

A plan to spruce up downtown took a highly visible step forward Monday as crews began cutting down trees along University Avenue, part of a taxpayer-funded revitalization effort. 

The tree removals on University between Milvia Street and Shattuck Avenue are part of the $2.5 million project that will bring new street lights, sidewalks, trees, public art and drainage systems to the heart of downtown. The funds are coming from Measure S, the $50 million bond measure approved by Berkeley voters in 1996. 

Not surprisingly, the tree-cutting component of the plan was controversial when introduced in 1998. The original project sparked intense debate, with protesters attaching themselves with paper chains to condemned trees. The initial plan called for the removal of 200 trees, but a compromise was reached on the City Council, reducing the number to be removed: 103 trees will be cut down, and 121 new ones will be planted. Many of the trees being removed are diseased, which has created a sticky mess of sidewalks along several downtown streets. 

On Monday, crews cut down most of the trees along the south side of University between Milvia and Shattuck; two trees on each end will be preserved. The tree-cutting slowed down vehicles for much of the morning, and traffic had to stop several times as the arbors came crashing to the ground. Once the trees were down, they were quickly shoved into a shredder, and the crew moved on to the next tree. 

One of the workers was surprised by the response of passers-by. He had expected people to express dismay at the removal of the trees, but he found that nearly everyone who offered a comment was happy to see the diseased, sappy arbors cut down. 

The overall project, which is moving block by block, will tackle the south side of University first, which is expected to take three or four weeks. The work on the north side also will run for three or four weeks, but that construction won’t begin until the contractor reaches Oxford Street, and then returns down to Milvia on the north side of the street. Only one lane will be closed at any time. Work also will be done along Shattuck between University and Channing Way.

The firefighters from six departments who came to Tilden Park Sunday were training to fight a major fire – everyone’s worst nightmare, but always a threat in the East Bay Hills. 

“We’re getting ready for war. We’re ordinary people doing an extraordinary job,” said Hugo Godoy, an East Bay Regional Park District firefighter. 

Included in the more than two-hour para-military mutual response drill were units from the East Bay Regional Park District, Berkeley, Oakland, Moraga-Orinda, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention. This was the second such drill this month for the forces that will band together in the event of a major blaze. 

The trainings have taken place each year since the 1991 Oakland-Berkeley hills fire. Before that time, a fire would draw a response from a single department, which would send one to three engines. Now 10 to 15 engines would respond to such a call. With each successive year of drills, the participating agencies work on different aspects of fire control. 

From the staging area in Mineral Springs, Berkeley firefighter Karen Parroff, acting as the staging manager, deployed engines to Equestrian Camp and Inspiration Point where they gathered to fight the mock fire. 

Assistant Chief David Orth said in a real incident the first firefighters on the scene would attack the fire, and take command. Companies rushing in to help them would be deployed from any workable location nearby. 

Communications among firefighters in a wildfire setting are different from the day-to-day radio frequencies that each department uses for contact among its own members. For the mutual response drill, commands were delivered over a specified tactical frequency known as “White Two.” 

“We established communication where we could all talk to each other,” said Battalion Chief Rob Goodyear of the Moraga-Orinda department. 

The Radio Amateur Communications Service or RACES volunteers also were present at the drill. In the event of a fire they would help deploy food and water to firefighters. 

Orth explained that much less water is needed to extinguish a grass fire than a house fire in the city, because a house fire releases more heat. Trees, however, require more water than grass, he said. 

Eagle Five, one of two helicopters in the East Bay Regional Park District’s firefighting unit, buzzed a grove of trees above Equestrian Camp and dropped water from a “Bambi bucket” that holds 144 gallons of water. The bucket swings from a 30-foot long cable attached underneath the copter. 

Pilot Andrew White flew reconnaissance as he would in a real incident to see the progression of a fire, and he flew to Lake Anza to scoop out water and fill the bucket twice. 

Dropping water from a Bambi bucket slows down the aggressive head of a fire, safely giving the firefighters an edge in their battle. 

In one flank, 10 firefighters climbed the grassy hill to a ridge carrying about 1,200 feet of yellow hose in 100-feet lengths that they clamped together. The different lengths of hose belong to the different fire departments. 

The East Bay Regional Park District spread out a water supply bag next to its water tender truck in Equestrian Camp to supply the firefighters heading up to the ridge. The large plastic bag resembles a child’s portable wading pool. The bag that can hold 3,000 gallons of water is an adjunct to the water tender with an 1,800-gallon capacity. A pump on the water tender fills the bag as a sort of holding pond. 

EBRPD firefighter Godoy summed up the session, saying the successive training sessions makes for perfect responses.

Monday, June 26

Personal security 

5:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

This workshop is designed to help people who live in affordable housing to learn more about security issues. 

510-644-6107 

Parks and Recreation Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

Tuesday, June 27

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited; the class is offered Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Call ahead for a reservation. 

510-644-6109 

Easy Tilden Trails 

9:30 a.m. 

Tilden Regional Park, in the parking lot that dead ends at the Little Farm 

Join a few seniors, the Tuesday Tilden Walkers, for a stroll around Jewel Lake and the Little Farm Area. Enjoy the beauty of the wildflowers, turtles, and warblers, and waterfowl. 

510-215-7672; members.home.com/teachme99/tilden/index.html 

Blood pressure screening 

9:30 a.m. 

“When Do You Take it Personally?” 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

510-644-6107 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2-7 p.m. 

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

510-548-3333 

City Council Meeting 

7 p.m. 

Council Chambers, Old City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

Berkeley Camera Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share your slides and prints with other photographers. Critiques by qualified judges. Monthly field trips. 

510-531-8664 

Women’s Rap 

8-9:30 p.m. 

Pacific Center, 2712 Telegraph Ave. 

This week’s session will include a viewing of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s famous lesbian episode. The Pacific Center is a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community center. 

510-548-8283; 

www.pacificcenter.org 

Wednesday, June 28

“Housing Rights? Where Will You Live Tomorrow?” 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

This membership meeting of the Berkeley Gray Panthers will address affordable housing. The meeting is open to the public. 

Disaster Council 

7 p.m. 

Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. 

Among the other items for discussion, the commission will address the safety element of the General Plan. 

Baby Bounce and Toddler Tales 

7 p.m. 

West Branch Berkeley Public Library, 1125 University Ave. 

This storytime program is designed for families with children up to 3 years old. The free, participatory program features a half hour of multicultural songs, rhymes, lap jogs and stories to give very young children a lively introduction to the magic of books. Parents also will enjoy the new stories, rediscover old favorites and learn new songs and games to share. 

510-644-6870 

Poetry Flash 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

The featured poets this session will be Brandon Brown and Peter Money. 

510-845-7852; 510-525-5476 

Thursday, June 29

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited; the class is offered Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Call ahead for a reservation. 

510-644-6109 

“A European Defense Identity: What Does It Mean for America?” 

Noon 

119 Moses Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Peter Gooderham, counselor of Politico-Military/European Affairs, British Embassy in Washington D.C., will be the featured lecturer. Gooderham joined the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1983. The main focus of his career has been on defense and security issues. Before taking up his position in the Washington Embassy, Gooderham worked at the UK Mission to the United Nations in New York from 1996 to 1999. Prior to joining the British Diplomatic Service he completed a Ph.D. thesis at Bristol University in modern Russian and Soviet history. This free, brown-bag talk is sponsored by the Institute for Governmental Studies. 

510-642-4608; www.igs.berkeley.edu:8880 

Memorial Stadium lights public meeting 

7-9 p.m. 

Hall of Fame Conference Room, Memorial Stadium, UC Berkeley campus 

This community meeting will present and discuss the findings of the initial study that describes the project and identifies its potential environmental effects. 

510-642-7720 

“Exploring the Trinity Alps” 

7 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Stew Winchester of Diablo Valley College will present a slide lecture introducing the wilderness area 200 miles north of San Francisco. Free. 

510-527-4140 

Zero-emission vehicles needed

There was an article in your June 22, 2000, edition called “Survey: Bay Area Concerned About the Environment,” which included results from a Public Policy Institute of California telephone survey. Findings showed that 57 percent of adults surveyed said that they “would like to see stricter environmental laws and regulations.” Also, 84 percent of those surveyed said that they believe that a “political candidate’s position on environmental issues is very or somewhat important.” 

This survey amplifies public opinion on what a representative sample of San Francisco Bay Area residents believe should be of concern. 

The ZEV (Zero Emission Vehicle) program is a requirement by the California Air Resources Board for automakers to begin to deliver nonpolluting vehicles to California. It requires that by the year 2003, 10 percent of all vehicles for sale in California be emission-free. The ZEV program advocates, in particular, electric, hybrid, and fuel-cell vehicles. This program will significantly cut down on air pollution caused by cars. 

Governor Davis can represent his constituency by voting to keep the ZEV program as is. 

Gabriel Trousdale 

Santa Clara  

More bonds, more debt

Using our money for maintenance and improvement of services to us, for necessities and pleasures is good. But let’s remind ourselves that bonds profit entities that/who can afford to buy them; like sales tax and like much property tax, today, they are regressive. We working people have to pay back what’s borrowed in the form of bonds. It takes decades of us giving wealthy investors money. It’s like Third World debt, virtually endless. We’re always borrowing to get along. Wealthy investors make profit off of the bonds. 

Meanwhile, real wealth, real high income, is virtually excused from any tax approaching equitability. Eight percent tax on shoes for a person making $20k/yr, vs. $50k/yr is not a similar percentage. But even that kind of difference is minimal. We need to talk about where the gazilliondy gabucks is, and get it. We made it. It’s on our backs that their wealth was accumulated, whether we get $0 or $12k or $120k a year; we’re the ones who made The Rich rich. 

It’s our money. We need it so we can take care of each other and ourselves and so we can enjoy life, and so we can be secure unto our children’s children. 

This idea that there’s The Poor, like it’s genetic, when actually, there’s The Rich, which IS genetic, and now, with the removal of the inheritance tax, it’s even moreso...that there will always be some poor people and some rich people – that’s not acceptable. Let’s work to tax where the money is, so we can sit down together, take the time to look at each other, and decide how to make utopia; and have time to remake it regularly when this or that of our visionary plan becomes lacking. 

We really want it all, not some. 

Norma J.F. Harrison 

Berkeley 

Developers ignore neighbors

How unfortunate that Mr. Gordon Choyce chooses not to listen to the neighborhood voices that have consistently asked for a building of only two- to-three stories at 2700 San Pablo Avenue. At the city-sponsored mediation on 10 May, the neighbors made the centrality of this request clear and Mr. Patrick Kennedy said four stories was his minimum. The neighborhood repeated their objection to four stories at the Design Review meeting on 18 May, and again at the Zoning hearing on 8 June, and even more strenuously at the Design Review meeting on 12 June, at which we were stunned to find ourselves confronted with five stories – a number that exceeds any interpretation of the zoning limits. Not least, I spoke directly to Mr. Choyce at the conclusion of that meeting to emphasize that the number of floors, resulting in too much height and density, was the neighborhood’s central and enduring concern. How could he, too, believe that the project has answered “95 percent” of the neighborhood’s concerns? The neighborhood petition with almost 400 signatures asked for only ONE thing: a building of two to three stories. Any other points may be important, but are peripheral. 

We welcome development, cheer his desire to build something that contributes to our community, and applaud the inclusion of affordable housing. Nevertheless, his project is too large. It violates the goals and policies of the West Berkeley Area Plan. Please, give us something that conforms to the Plan and that we can live beside for the next several decades. 

Howie Muir 

Berkeley 

Berkeley TRiP worth supporting

The June 22 Daily Planet article on the City Council’s budget discussions noted a city funding shortfall for Berkeley TRiP, and referred to the program as a place “which sells reduced-rate bus and BART passes.” But Berkeley TRiP is so much more than that. 

Berkeley TRiP has gained the reputation as the Bay Area’s most comprehensive “alternate transportation headquarters.” Last year alone Berkeley TRiP handled nearly 165,000 ticket sales. In addition, we operated “TRiPmobiles” – mobile commute stores-on-wheels, promoted alternate transportation, including bicycle use, carpools and van pools, provided personalized commute planning, and administered several transit ticket subsidies, including the AC Transit Class Pass Program for university students. 

We serve a city-wide customer base that includes people with disabilities, youth and senior citizens as a significant percentage of our clientele. Eighty-nine percent of Berkeley TRiP’s customers are members of the general community with no affiliation to the university. 

For nearly 20 years the university and city of Berkeley have funded this unique partnership. Berkeley TRiP was originally established with equal funding from the university and the city, but over several years the University has taken on a much larger financial responsibility, accounting for over 70 percent of this year’s funding alone. 

The university has made it clear that it remains committed to Berkeley TRiP and will match the city’s contribution dollar for dollar. Without additional city support, Berkeley TRiP will be forced to cut hours or close its downtown office. We look forward to receiving the necessary city funding of $172,000 paving the way for us to continue building on our successful track record. 

Reza Sirafinejad 

Berkeley TRiP Project Manager 

Wrong ID in library picture

Your June 24 article on the Berkeley Public Library construction and the Library Foundation was most interesting. However, I’d like to make one small correction and add some additional information regarding the photos that appeared with the article. 

The drawing on the back page is not of the Reference Room. It shows the restored and renovated Reading Room, one of the most dramatic and best-loved areas in the Central Library building. Sharp-eyed readers will note the old Magazine Alcove off to the right of the illustration. When the building re-opens, that area will become the new Berkeley History Room. 

The photograph on the front page shows construction of the Reference level, complete with floor well looking down to the main floor. The Reference Desk will be to the right. 

Library staff look forward to welcoming the community back to New Central early next year. Meanwhile, your readers might want to visit the Temporary Library site at 2121 Allston Way. More pictures of the new building are right inside the front door. 

Sayre Van Young 

Berkeley Public Library 

Reference Department

THEATER

AURORA THEATRE 

“Split” by Mayo Simon, June 1 through July 2. A mordant clear-eyed view of an older couple's love affair. $25 to $28. Wednesday through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. (510) 843-4822. 

BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE 

“Closer” by Patrick Marber, through July 9. A funny, touching and unflinchingly honest examination of love and relationships set in contemporary London. $38 to $48.50. Tuesday, Thursday through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Wednesday, 7 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; May 27, June 1, June 3, June 10, June 15, June 24, June 29 and July 8, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 845-4700 or (888) 4BRTTIX. 

LAVAL'S SUBTERRANEAN 

Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” directed by Yoni Barkan. The play will run from June 8 to July 8, Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. each night. 1834 Euclid Ave. (510) 234-6046. 

MUSEUMS

BERKELEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

"Berkeley's Ethnic Heritage." May 7 through March 2001. The exhibit examines the rich cultural diversity of our city and the contributions of individuals and minority groups to our history and development. The exhibit look at the original native tribelets in the area and the immigrants who settled in Ocean View and displaced the Spanish/Mexican landowners. It also examines the influence of theUniversity of California, the San Francisco earthquake, and World War II on the population and culture of Berkeley, and subsequent efforts to overcome discrimination. Curated by Linda Rosen and the Berkeley Historical Society Exhibit Committee. Thursday through Saturday, 1 to 4 p.m. Wheelchair accessible. Admission free. 

Berkeley Historical Society located in the Veterans Memorial Building, 1931 Center Street, Berkeley. 510-848-0181 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc 

UC BERKELEY ART MUSEUM 

“Master of Fine Art Graduate Exhibition,” May 20 through July 2. The 13th annual exhibit of work by candidates for the Master of Fine Arts degree. 

Rodin and His Contemporaries,” through August. An exhibit of 11 bronze maquettes on loan from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation in Los Angeles. The bronzes range in style from the artist's classically inspired “Torso of a Woman” to the anguish of “The Martyr.” Some of the maquettes were cast during Rodin’s lifetime, others have been cast fairly recently under the aegis of the Musee Rodin which alone is authorized to cast his sculptures posthumously. 

$6 general; $4 seniors and students ages 12 to 18; free children age 12 and under; free Thursday, 1 1 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. (510) 642-0808. 

HALL OF HEALTH  

2230 Shattuck Ave. (lower level), Berkeley 

A hands-on community health education museum and science center sponsored by Children's Hospital Oakland and Alta Bates Medical Center. 

“This is Your Heart!” ongoing. An in teractive exhibit on heart health. 

“Good Nutrition,” ongoing. This exhibit includes models for making balanced meals and an exercycle for calculating how calories are burned. 

“Draw Your Own Insides,” ongoing. Human-shaped chalkboards and models with removable organs allow visitors to explore the inside of their bodies. 

“Your Cellular Self and Cancer Prevention,” ongoing. An exhibit on understanding how cells become cancerous and how to detect and prevent cancer. 

Free. For children ages 3 to 12 and their parents. 

(510) 549-1564 

LAWRENCE HALL OF SCIENCE 

“Experiment Gallery,” through Sept. 10. Step inside a giant laboratory and experiment with concepts surrounding sound, light, mechanics, electricity, and weather. 

“Math Rules!” ongoing exhibit. A math exhibit of hands-on problem-solving stations, each with a different mathematical challenge. Make mathematical ice-cream cones, use blocks to build three dimensional structures, make dodecagon pies from a variety of mathematical shapes and stretch mathematical thinking. 

“Within the Human Brain,” ongoing installation. Visitors test their cranial nerves, play skeeball, master mazes, match musical tones and construct stories inside a simulated “rat cage” of learning experiments. 

“Laser: The Light Fantastic” ongoing exhibit. 

$6 general; $4 seniors, students and children ages 7 to 18; $2 children ages 3 to 6; free children under age 3. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Centennial Drive, University of California, Berkeley. (510) 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu 

PHOEBE HEARST MUSEUM 

Kroeber Hall, UC Berkeley 

“Modern Treasures from Ancient Iran,” through Oct. 29. This exhibit explores nomadic and town life in ancient and modern Iran as illustrated in bronze and pottery vessels, and textiles. 

“Pana O’ahu: Sacred Stones – Sacred Places,” through July 16. An exhibit of photographs by Jan Becket and Joseph Singer. 

“Phoebe Hearst Museum-Approaching a Century of Anthropology,” a sampling of the vast collections of the museum, its mission, history, and current research, with selections from ancient Egypt, ancient Peru, California Indians, Asia (India), and Africa. 

“Ishi and the Invention of Yahi Culture,” Ishi, the last Yahi Indian of California, spent the final years of his life, 1911 to 1916, living at the museum, working with anthropologists to record his culture, demonstrating technological skills, and retelling Yahi myths, tales, and songs. 

Wednesday through Sunday 10 am -4:30 pm; Thursday until 9 pm (Sept-May) 

(510) 643-7648 

HABITOT CHILDREN’S MUSEUM 

Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 

A museum especially for children age 7 and younger. Admission is $4 for adults; $6 child age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child. Hours: Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

(510) 647-1111 

JUDAH L. MAGNES MUSEUM 

2911 Russell St., Berkeley 

“Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season,” through May 2002.An exhibit structured around the seasons of the year and the seasons of life with objects ranging from the sacred and the secular, to the provocative and the whimsical. Highlights include treasures from Jewish ceremonial and folk art, rare books and manuscripts, contemporary and traditional fine art, video, photography and cultural kitsch. Free. Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (510) 549-6950. 

GALLERIES

A.C.C.I. GALLERY 

“Abstract Expressions,” through July 1. A group show featuring Rita Flanagan, Carolyn Careis, Heather Hutchinson, Muriel Paley, and Naomi Policoff. 

Free. Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. 1652 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 843-2527. 

KALA INSTITUTE 

“Markings/Imprints,” through July 28. The 2000 Kala Art Institute Fellowship Awards Exhibitions, Part I, featuring works by Susan Belau, Liliana Lobo Ferreira, and Jamie Morgan. 

Free. Tuesday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m. Workshop Media Center Gallery, 1060 Heinz Ave., Berkeley. (510) 549-2977. 

NEW PIECES GALLERY 

“Progressions: the Quilt as Art,” through June 29. An exhibit of quilts by Jill Le Croisette. 

“Go We to the Revels Masked,” through June 29. An exhibit of dolls by Elise Peeples. 

Free. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. 1597 Solano Ave., Berkeley. (510) 527-6779. 

TRAYWICK GALLERY 

Rachel Davis, Samantha Fisher, Benicia Gantner, Cherith Rose, June 21 through July 22. An exhibit of new work by the four artists. Free. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. 1316 10th St., Berkeley. (510) 527-1214. 

"YANGTZE RIVER: IN THE DRAGON'S TEETH" 

Carol Brighton's poured paper paintings of the Yangtze River gorges, through July 31. Six-foot paper pieces in the long format of a Chinese scroll. This artwork is done in support of the International Rivers Network campaign to save the Yangtze River. Addison Street Windows Gallery, 2018 Addison St., Berkeley 

Balancing property owners’ and tenants’ rights is a delicate dance, especially in today’s tight housing market. 

Tuesday night, the City Council may take an initial stab at fixing what its members see as an imbalance under the law in favor of property owners. Councilmembers could vote to place a measure on the November ballot that would restrict landlords from moving into units occupied by long-term renters, under certain circumstances. 

While proponents say the ballot measure targets protection of the most vulnerable – the seniors and disabled – landlord supporters contend it is a measure which, in the end, would deny property owners rights that are sacred to Americans. 

“Where else in the world does a person not have the right to occupy his own property?” said Greg McConnell, a rental housing consultant. 

The proposed ballot measure, which the council can chose to modify Tuesday, says that landlords or their relatives who wish to move into an apartment they own must show that they are truly going to live there. So, they need to occupy the unit for three years. 

Landlord/relative move-in evictions would be prohibited when the tenants are at least 60 years old or disabled and have lived in the apartment five years or longer. 

Further, landlords would be prohibited from moving into an occupied unit if the tenant has lived there for five years and if the landlord owns a 10 percent interest in five or more residential units. This provision targets large landlords. 

At a recent meeting, Councilmember Linda Maio proposed two other provisions. One would require $4,500 in relocation assistance for low-income tenants whose landlords move into their apartment. The other is the exemption of a landlord who owns two units and occupies one. 

Rent Board Member Stephanie Bernay points out that seniors and disabled pay a disproportionate amount of their income in rent. If these groups of people get evicted from a rent-controlled apartment they can afford, they may have a hard time finding a comparable rental. A disabled person needing wheelchair accessible housing may find even greater difficulty in finding a new unit. 

Tenant activists proposed the ordinance to the City Council to combat what they say are the ill effects of the Costa Hawkins Act, which kicked in Jan. 1, 1999. The act allows landlords to raise rents as high as the market will bear, when an apartment is vacated. Tenant activists say this gives unscrupulous landlords an incentive to boot tenants out. 

Bernay says without these protections, Berkeley will change. 

“How can we maintain our diversity when an apartment rents for $1,300 and a house costs $450,000?” she asked. “We shouldn’t have a city of dot com (dwellers). Berkeley shouldn’t become a suburb of the Silicon Valley.” 

It’s the provision that protects long-term renters who are neither disabled nor senior citizens that irks McConnell. 

“The problem is that the ordinance is not intended to protect seniors and the disabled,” he said. “It’s just another attempt at regulation.” 

The result will be the opposite of the intended effect, he said. People will hesitate to rent to anyone over 50 years old. Further, rather than occupying one apartment, they will prefer to go out of the rental business, which is permitted under the Ellis Act. They can convert their apartments to “tenants in common,” where each of the tenants owns the apartments. 

“What everyone needs is not more regulations, they need more housing,” McConnell said.

The Ed Roberts Campus proposed for the Ashby BART station got a boost from the federal government Saturday, when United States Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater presented the sponsoring organization with a check for $300,000. 

The grant, given in recognition of the 10th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, went to a nonprofit formed by nine groups involved in the independent living movement for people with disabilities. 

It will fund the design and environmental review of the campus proposed for the east entrance of the BART station. 

In addition to offices for the founding organizations, the campus is to have a conference center, a library on the disability movement, a computer/media resource center, a fitness center, a café, a children’s play center and space to lease for commercial and office uses. 

The entire project will cost about $30 million, of which $800,000 has been raised. Organizers hope most of the money will come from grants, donations, loans and a bond measure. 

Ed Roberts, after whom the campus will be named, contracted polio and became a quadriplegic at the age of 14. He was the first student with significant disabilities to enroll at UC Berkeley during the 1960s. Roberts was appointed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown to direct California’s Department of Rehabilitation during the 1970s. He died in 1995. 

Roberts had connections to several of the groups now involved in the campus. He founded the Center for Independent Living and served as president of the World Institute on Disability. 

A crowd gathered at the site of the proposed project to listen to speeches by its sponsors, as well as by local and national officials. 

After Vice Mayor Maudelle Shirek welcomed all to the ceremony, Jan Garrett, secretary of the Ed Roberts Campus, gave an overview of the project and stressed the importance of linking the campus, BART and the community. 

“Ed Roberts was a great leader of the disabled community,” Garrett said. “He was a great leader in collaboration and working together. When he died in 1995 it was clear that he deserved a memorial.” 

Michael Winter, well-known to local advocates for the disabled community and currently associate administrator of the Office of Budget and Policy Federal Transit Administration, moderated the event. 

“Secretary Slater has put his money where his mouth is in terms of this program,” he said. 

BART Board of Directors Vice President Willie Kennedy spoke about the history of BART and how it has been influenced by the disabled community. She mentioned that BART has become a model for new transit systems since its beginning in 1972. 

“Some day the Ed Roberts Campus will stand on this site and symbolize the gains and struggles that continue today,” she said. 

Alameda County Supervisor Mary King, also representing the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, talked about the importance of linking a service center such as the Ed Roberts Campus to public transportation. She was followed by Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who praised Ed Roberts and thanked Slater for the donation to the campus. 

Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean spoke about the collaboration among the Ed Roberts Campus supporters, BART and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. She expressed enthusiasm about the opportunities the campus would bring to Berkeley. 

“I want to applaud the partnership that has made it possible for the Ed Roberts Campus to obtain this,” Dean said. “What began as a small group sitting around, talking, has blossomed into a shining vision that will improve services to the disabled, assist in the revitalization of South Berkeley and be an important asset to the great neighborhoods around this area.” 

Slater’s speech underscored the importance of linking transportation and the disabled community. 

“Accessibility is a civil right and every American is entitled to it,” he said.

Barbara Zimmerman, professor of film theory in Ithaca, N.Y., recently described the Bay Area as a “media paradise.” All that flickers and streams and pixilates is in our town, and the East Bay Media Center has begun its annual Summer Media Camp to de-mystify the tools for young people in this virtual Eden. 

Students from area schools gathered last week at the EBMC facility in downtown Berkeley to begin a three-week introduction to video production. In 15 days the 11- to 17-year-olds will brainstorm, write, storyboard, shoot, and edit video works. 

Most of the students have never handled a video camera before, and probably couldn’t tell you what “diagetic” means. (Barbara Zimmerman could, but it would take her 15 minutes to do so.) 

But after thousands of hours of watching television, and hundreds of movies logged in their young minds, the kids have an intuitive knowledge of how film and television programming work. 

“They are much more aware than they cognitively know,” said Lowell Rojon, who has been working in video since 1976 and is one of three instructors at the camp. 

He likened the camp to pulling the curtain away from the Wizard of Oz, such that the students can better participate in this media paradise once the tools of illusion are plainly laid out to see. 

They watched an Eggo Waffle commercial and a short video parody of a Film Noir detective flick, “Dick Jones: Private Detective,” to analyze their production elements and communication techniques. Once the kids overcome their mumbling and fidgeting, they easily recognize camera angles and editing patterns. 

Ikuko Sato, another instructor at the Media Camp and student of film at the California College of Arts and Crafts, said part of her job is to not tell the kids how films are made. She intends to draw out what they already know. 

Kelsey Gustafon, a 14-year-old incoming freshman at Berkeley High, said she had used video previously for a science project, for which she drew by hand a sequence of images to be shot with the camera. At the camp she learned what she had instinctively done is called “storyboarding.” 

No one expects the kids to become professional filmmakers, but Paul Kealoha-Blake, co-founder of the EBMC, points to the statistic of most homes having a minimum of two screens: a television and a computer. He said he designed the Summer Media Camp to give children a better understanding of media through making it. 

Eileen Crean, Kelsey’s mother, said she has been creating family videos with a digital camera and iMac editing software she recently purchased. If Kelsey takes some initiative with the camera, Crean wishfully hopes, she might be pulled her away from her primary hobby of talking endlessly with her friends on the telephone. 

In the EBMC facility, the kids broke up into groups to brainstorm their projects. What to do? Sato makes a hopeful suggestion of documentary-style narrative. Rojon offers the idea of making abstract work. The kids’ eyes sort of glaze over. 

The instructors are gently nudging the kids to consider forging new ways of telling stories, breaking out of usual patterns – which is all in accordance with the EBMC’s overarching advocacy of independent, alternative media practices. 

But among the young students there is little interest in breaking any sort of pattern. The two brainstorming groups consist of the girls on one side of the room, the boys on the other. They talk and laugh and write notes and come up with the stories they are going to spend the next two and a half weeks focused on. 

The boys will make a parody of the action film “The Matrix,” wherein the nemeses of Neo are evil tax agents, and the trick special effects will be cheapened for comic potential. In true action film production style, the script and the storyboard are being created simultaneously. 

The girls have ambitiously embarked on three projects: a television commercial, a music video, and an episode of the sitcom “Friends.” Dawn Ocampo, 17 and an incoming senior at Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward, said they chose to make an episode of “Friends” (which they are calling “Buddies”) because they like the show, and intend to faithfully recreate the program with the same characters and the same relationships. 

In two more weeks, the final tapes will done and dubbed. The next Summer Media Camp begins in July. For information, call the East Bay Media Center at 843-3699.

People who park cars for a company that contracts with the city can expect a wage hike on July 1. And so can other low-wage workers whose employers service the city. 

More than a year after the original proposal was brought to the City Council, and after several sessions where dozens of supporters demonstrated in favor of the ordinance outside of the council chambers, the body unanimously adopted a finalized version of the Living Wage Ordinance without comment at its meeting on Tuesday. Councilmember Margaret Breland was absent. 

The ordinance sets the Living Wage at $9.75, plus $1.62 if the employer does not spend that amount of money on health benefits. 

It also includes 22 days off, of which 12 would be paid vacation/holiday days. 

Employees must receive this wage if they work for a company that employs five or more people and is: 

• A for-profit company which does $25,000 annually or more in business with the city. 

• A nonprofit company which contracts with the city for $100,000 of services annually. 

• A company that leases property from the city which grosses at least $350,000 annually. 

• A company that receives more than $100,000 annually in loans or economic assistance from the city. 

The ordinance includes permanent part-time employees. 

Amaha Kassa, an organizer working with the Berkeley Marina Radisson Hotel workers, whose employer just authorized the employees to unionize, spoke before the council, urging the body to create a Marina Zone to complete the living wage concept. This would be an employment zone at the city-owned marina, where all the employees would get wages mandated by the Living Wage Ordinance. 

The hotels and restaurants rent the land from the city, but will not renegotiate leases for a number of years, making the provisions of the Living Wage Ordinance inapplicable for many years, even decades in some cases. 

Kassa asked the council to approve the zone before going on vacation in August. “This concept is the way of significantly increasing the scope of the ordinance,” he said. 

In other action, just before midnight Tuesday, a weary council approved a resolution to increase the speed limit on Claremont Avenue from 25 mph to 30 mph. That’s because the higher limit is enforceable in the courts. The judicial system looks at the lower limit as a “speed trap,” since few people travel at that speed, and throw out tickets officers write in that zone. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington, the only member of the body to oppose the speed limit change, asked that the question be referred back to the Transportation Commission, which had already rejected the change. Worthington did get an amendment added to the motion, saying that if a state law were passed that mandated the courts to uphold Berkeley’s 25 mile-per-hour limit, the limit would revert to 25. 

Neighborhood activist Dean Metzger urged adoption of the higher limit. 

“The issue is an important safety measure for all of us who live on the avenue,” he said.

Saturday, June 24

Disaster First Aid 

9 a.m.-noon 

Fire department’s Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. 

This summer, Berkeley’s Office of Emergency Services will offer a set of free training classes to help families prepare for emergencies. The classes, open to Berkeley residents at least 18 years old, will be taught by retired firefighters. The classes give hands-on training in how to put on a splint, extinguish a fire, use a fire hose, and more. Call ahead to register. Future classes will be held on Light Search and Rescue (July 15) and Fire Suppression (Aug. 12). 

510-644-8736 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m.-3 p.m. 

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

This weekend’s market will celebrate the summer solstice. Musical performances will be held throughout the four hours of the market. 

510-548-3333 

Jazz/Art at the Library 

3:30 p.m. 

Temporary Central Public Library, 2121 Allston Way 

This event is part of the summer program series in the library system. Lisa di Prima and the Donald Robinson Trio are the featured talents. 

510-644-6100 

Words in Collision: Summer Performance Art Series 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. (in Live Oak Park) 

The featured presentation will be “Out of the Q” by Dale Going. Admission is $7 to $10. 

510-644-6893 

Pedestrian “Bike-In” Movie Night Party and Protest 

9 p.m. 

Underhill parking lot (Channing and College) 

This week's feature: “Doctor Strangelove,” plus video activist shorts. Transform a parking lot into a paradise every Saturday night this summer in protest of the University's plan to build a parking lot on the site, instead of student housing. 

510-CREW-CUT; 

www.geocities.com/rickisyoung 

Sunday, June 25

Spay-Neuter Program 

People are encouraged to bring feral and stray cats to be sterilized and vaccinated. This program is sponsored by Fix Our Ferals. For ahead for location information, reservations and trap loans. 

510-433-9446 

Berkeley Hiking Club Mini-Hike 

8:30 a.m. meet at Shattuck Avenue and Berkeley Way 

Participants will travel to Mt. Tamalpais, where they will reconvene and meet leader at Rock Spring. There are about five miles on the leader’s choice of trails. 

415-388-1929 

Berkeley Hiking Club Main Hike 

8:30 a.m. meet at Shattuck Avenue and Berkeley Way 

Participants will travel to Point Reyes National Seashore, where they will reconvene and meet leader at Bear Valley Visitors’ Center at 9:30 a.m. Participants will make a seven-mile hike to Mt. Wittenburg. 

510-527-7754 

Hula Day: Family Sunday 

12:30-3:30 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Drive, above UC Berkeley campus 

Hula performances will be held at 1:30 p.m. Science activities run throughout the entire three-hour event. 

510-642-5132; www.lhs.berkeley.edu 

Rhyme and Reason Open Mike Series 

2:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum, 2621 Durant Ave. 

The public and students are invited. Signups for the open mike begin at 2 p.m. Featured poets will include Jack Foley and Adelle Foley. 

510-234-0727; 510-642-5168 

Poetry Flash 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

The featured poets this session will include Suzanne Lummis. 

510-845-7852; 510-525-5476 

Monday, June 26

Personal security 

5:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

This workshop is designed to help people who live in affordable housing to learn more about security issues. 

510-644-6107 

Tuesday, June 27

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited; the class is offered Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Call ahead for a reservation. 

510-644-6109 

Easy Tilden Trails 

9:30 a.m. 

Tilden Regional Park, in the parking lot that dead ends at the Little Farm 

Join a few seniors, the Tuesday Tilden Walkers, for a stroll around Jewel Lake and the Little Farm Area. Enjoy the beauty of the wildflowers, turtles, and warblers, and waterfowl. 

510-215-7672; members.home.com/teachme99/tilden/index.html 

Blood pressure screening 

9:30 a.m. 

“When Do You Take it Personally?” 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

510-644-6107 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2-7 p.m. 

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

510-548-3333 

The disturbing vitriol with which people spit out lawyer jokes seems to establish that most Americans feel every member of the legal profession is somehow tied to the O.J. Simpson case, Pat Riley the motorcycle lawyer or the million-dollar settlement for the poor old lady who spilled molten McDonald’s coffee in her lap. 

Yet as easy as it is to laugh, generalize a profession and regurgitate the words “overly litigious,” it is just as simple to overlook the real injustices done to the poor, who, lacking the key ingredients of money, power and exposure, have not gained much from this “overly litigious” society. 

So then, whom do you call when you’ve got no assets and your landlord is attempting to put you out on the street? What if you’re already out on the street? What if you’re out on the street and disabled? What if you’re out on the street, disabled and suffering from a debilitating disease? 

Suddenly those lawyer jokes wouldn’t be so funny anymore. 

“Since we opened in 1988 we’ve assisted clients with about 15,000 legal issues and trained and supervised over 500 law students,” estimates Bernida Reagan, the East Bay Community Law Center’s executive director. “We were started by students from the Boalt Hall School of Law at UC Berkeley who wanted to do two things: Provide legal service for poor people – a lot of people like they were walking over when they tried to get to school – and also provide clinical opportunities for law students to get hands-on training representing clients in general and poor people in particular.” 

The organization that started 12 years ago with a handful of frustrated grad students and a broken typewriter has grown to accommodate a stable of nine supervising attorneys and the constant presence of dozens of law students, most of them from Boalt Hall. 

A full 97 percent of the center’s clientele hearkens from the low-income sector of society while 30 percent are homeless – and the Shattuck Ave. offices may be besieged with as many as 300 calls on a busy day. 

“There’s no typical call at all,” says client liaison Cseneca Parker. “I know that each call that comes in is what, to the client, seems to be an emergency situation. They’re crises, and they range from how to file for divorce to how to prepare for a will to tenant-landlord disputes. One thing we pride ourselves on is that a human being answers the phone; people don’t dial into some crazy voicemail hell system. We’re the only agency serving low-income individuals that does not automatically put people into an automated system.” 

In fact, helping people out of the system is what the EBCLC is all about. While Parker affirms there is no prototypical quandary for the thousands who call each week, the center’s major areas of emphasis are working to prevent evictions, assisting people squeezed by the welfare system and aiding poor people stricken with HIV/AIDS. 

“Right now, evictions are at an all-time high in Oakland and Berkeley,” says Laura Lane, the supervising attorney of the EBCLC’s housing unit. “In San Francisco and Berkeley, as prices go up, people move into Oakland, where you can be evicted for no cause. Landlords are trying to get people out to raise the rent. We’re trying to get better protection for tenants in Oakland.” 

Unlike Berkeley, where landlords must demonstrate that tenants have acted in a detrimental manner before evicting them, Oakland renters can be hit with 30-day notices known in the field as “no cause” evictions. Lane points out that Sentinel Fair Housing and the Eviction Defense Center estimate a recent 200-300 percent jump in the number of 30-day notice evictions in Oakland. 

And whether it’s eviction defense, helping welfare recipients receive job training or disability benefits, manning the homeless outreach program or slicing through the red tape withholding money and treatment from many impoverished AIDS patients, much of the EBCLC’s work is done by law students. 

“As the semester goes on, the students take on more and more responsibility,” says EBCLC Developmental Associate Sarah Horsley. “Interns do a lot of the work of the law center under the very close supervision of what we call supervising attorneys. Students are our main contacts with the clients.” 

So far, hundreds of these lawyers-to-be – or not, as it turns out sometimes – have learned lessons they could never pick up in a classroom. 

“We’ve built up a core of people dedicated to public interest law,” says Reagan, the center’s executive director since virtually day one. “Whether they’re working at a law firm or public interest law jobs, we’ve really helped develop a large group of people compassionate to the needs of poor people and helping people stabilize and improve their lives. Many of our graduates now run their own programs.” 

Adds Parker, “this is not an agency that has a front to be a community service provider and doesn’t really do it. We really help people. 

“I came into this agency as a client in need of many legal services, and they didn’t just fix things for me, they taught me how to fix them myself,” continues Parker, who has been affiliated with the EBCLC for nine years. “Now I’m a part of the EBCLC family, and another good thing about this law center is it is a family. A multi-cultured, multi-gendered type of family.”

I would like to register my support for the University’s effort to solve the vexing problem of affordable student housing. I would also like to dissuade the University from proposing a beefed-up, three-block “megastructure” on the Southside of Berkeley as its most intelligent response to this need. 

The last UC architecture historian, Spiro Kostof, portrays the megastructures “craze” in the United States as a dated and perhaps farcical solution to urban problems. In the 1950s UC proposed its contribution to this movement, of which Units 1 & 2 were to be part and parcel. The portions of the plan that was built marginalized the neighborhood dysfunction. This painful history is nothing that I need chronicle. It is common lore on both sides of Bancroft. 

As someone who has served on the boards of People’s Park and Telegraph Area Association and who is involved in the restoration of Berkeley’s only National Historic Landmark building (Bernard Maybeck’s Christian Science church on Dwight Way), the least I am good for is alerting the University that the present Underhill plan will amplify the dysfunctional impact. While I question the parking structure, it is the philosophy of warehousing students in domineering towers that I believe is most destructive to the Southside. It is antithetical to the mission of educating community leaders. It isolates students from their community and may reinforce, subtly but effectively, indifference or condescension to their neighbors (’townies’). They literally “look down” on others. 

The Southside is a historic community, limping along in its present situation, but capable of recovery. The present Underhill plan could be the proverbial final nail in the coffin. 

The Southside needs housing. It can increase its housing to an acceptable level without any towers, present or future. 

You might be interested to know that the towers long ago proposed on People’s Park (previously traditional Berkeley housing stock) would have increased the number of beds on the block in the range of only 20-30 percent, according to a professional architect who studied it. Often what is promised in the name of “efficiency of scale” takes extravagant, painful efforts and delivers marginal benefits. 

For a number of years I was involved in developing a deteriorating property on the Southside that faced rigid parameters on every front, from neighborhood preservation ordinances to rent control. Investment seemed impossible. However, the right developer came along and now the owner will increase the number of beds by over double the previous, while retaining parking and neighborhood scale. 

Is there no way for the University to solve its housing shortage by a multitude of smaller development efforts, rather than this bureaucratic megastructure approach that takes full (false) responsibility for housing and feeding students in an institutional regimen? If so, it would leave the University with more resources to educate rather than play developer and landlord, which the private sector does so much better. 

Could the University seed parts of Berkeley with small development grants or create more University/private partnerships that make individual projects appealing and workable? It would give the University a number of private sector partners in the local scene that would support its housing program. This would create University/community good will rather than town and gown chills. 

The old fashioned mid-century megastructures were like the bulky mainframe computers of their day. It took concerted effort and a change of philosophy to bring power down to the human scale of PC’s and their remarkable network possibilities. The change was very painful to IBM, I might add, but critical to its survival in the long run. 

Would there not be substantial University and community benefit in adopting the philosophy of “faster, smaller, better, cheaper?” 

William Marquand is executive director of the Maybeck Foundation. This is a copy of an open letter he sent to UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl.

THEATER

AURORA THEATRE 

“Split” by Mayo Simon, June 1 through July 2. A mordant clear-eyed view of an older couple's love affair. $25 to $28. Wednesday through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. (510) 843-4822. 

BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE 

“Closer” by Patrick Marber, through July 9. A funny, touching and unflinchingly honest examination of love and relationships set in contemporary London. $38 to $48.50. Tuesday, Thursday through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Wednesday, 7 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; May 27, June 1, June 3, June 10, June 15, June 24, June 29 and July 8, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 845-4700 or (888) 4BRTTIX. 

CALIFORNIA 

SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL 

“Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare, June 3 through June 24. The classic romantic comedy of mismatched lovers forced into a union. $21 to $38 general; $19 to $38 seniors; $10 to $38 children. Wednesday and Thursday, 7 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 4 p.m.; June 13 and June 20, 7 p.m. June 24, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Bruns Memorial Amphitheatre, Shakespeare Festival Way/Gateway Exit on state Highway 24. (510) 548-9666 or www.calshakes.org 

LaVal’s Subterranean 

Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” directed by Yoni Barkan. The play will run from June 8 to July 8, Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. each night. 1834 Euclid Ave. (510) 234-6046. 

MUSIC VENUES

ASHKENAZ 

Steve Lucky and The Rhumba Bums, June 24, 9:30 p.m. Lindy Hop Dance Lessons with Nick and Shanna at 8 p.m. $11. 

Hahbi'ru, June 25, 7:30 p.m. $10. 

1317 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. (510) 525-5099 or www.ashkenaz.com 

BLAKES 

Kofy Brown, Rous, June 24. $6. 

For age 18 and older. Music at 9:30 p.m. 2367 Telegraph Ave., Berkeley. (510) 848-0886. 

FREIGHT AND SALVAGE 

The Limeliters, June 24. $16.50 to $17.50. 

John Dobby Boe and the avant jazz trio, June 25. $14.50 to $15.50. 

Music at 8 p.m. 1111 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 548-1761 or (510) 762-BASS. 

LA PEÑA CULTURAL CENTER 

Ritmo y Armonia, June 24, 9:30 p.m. $10. 

3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

924 GILMAN ST. 

Damad, Good Clean Fun, Meatjack, Brain Blood Volume, June 24. 

$5. Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 924 Gilman St., Berkeley. (510) 525-9926. 

THE STARRY PLOUGH PUB 

The Paladins, The Dusty 45's, June 24. $8. 

For age 21 and over. Wednesday, 8 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9:45 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 3101 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 841-2082. 

MUSEUMS

Berkeley Historical Society 

“Berkeley's Ethnic Heritage." May 7 through March 2001. The exhibit examines the rich cultural diversity of our city and the contributions of individuals and minority groups to our history and development. The exhibit look at the original native tribelets in the area and the immigrants who settled in Ocean View and displaced the Spanish/Mexican landowners. It also examines the influence of theUniversity of California, the San Francisco earthquake, and World War II on the population and culture of Berkeley, and subsequent efforts to overcome discrimination. Thursday through Saturday, 1 to 4 p.m. Wheelchair accessible. Admission free. 

Berkeley Historical Society located in the Veterans Memorial Building, 1931 Center Street, Berkeley. 510-848-0181 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc 

UC BERKELEY ART 

MUSEUM 

“Master of Fine Art Graduate Exhibition,” May 20 through July 2. The 13th annual exhibit of work by candidates for the Master of Fine Arts degree. 

Rodin and His Contemporaries,” through August. An exhibit of 11 bronze maquettes on loan from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation in Los Angeles. The bronzes range in style from the artist's classically inspired “Torso of a Woman” to the anguish of “The Martyr.” Some of the maquettes were cast during Rodin’s lifetime, others have been cast fairly recently under the aegis of the Musee Rodin which alone is authorized to cast his sculptures posthumously. 

$6 general; $4 seniors and students ages 12 to 18; free children age 12 and under; free Thursday, 1 1 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. (510) 642-0808. 

HALL OF HEALTH  

2230 Shattuck Ave. (lower level), Berkeley 

A hands-on community health education museum and science center sponsored by Children's Hospital Oakland and Alta Bates Medical Center. 

“Your Cellular Self and Cancer Prevention,” ongoing. An exhibit on understanding how cells become cancerous and how to detect and prevent cancer. 

Free. For children ages 3 to 12 and their parents. 

(510) 549-1564 

LAWRENCE HALL 

OF SCIENCE 

“Experiment Gallery,” through Sept. 10. Step inside a giant laboratory and experiment with concepts surrounding sound, light, mechanics, electricity, and weather. 

“Math Rules!” ongoing exhibit. A math exhibit of hands-on problem-solving stations, each with a different mathematical challenge. Make mathematical ice-cream cones, use blocks to build three dimensional structures, make dodecagon pies from a variety of mathematical shapes and stretch mathematical thinking. 

“Within the Human Brain,” ongoing installation. Visitors test their cranial nerves, play skeeball, master mazes, match musical tones and construct stories inside a simulated “rat cage” of learning experiments. 

$6 general; $4 seniors, students and children ages 7 to 18; $2 children ages 3 to 6; free children under age 3. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Centennial Drive, University of California, Berkeley. (510) 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu 

PHOEBE HEARST MUSEUM 

Kroeber Hall, UC Berkeley 

“Modern Treasures from Ancient Iran,” through Oct. 29. This exhibit explores nomadic and town life in ancient and modern Iran as illustrated in bronze and pottery vessels, and textiles. 

“Pana O’ahu: Sacred Stones – Sacred Places,” through July 16. An exhibit of photographs by Jan Becket and Joseph Singer. 

“Phoebe Hearst Museum-Approaching a Century of Anthropology,” a sampling of the vast collections of the museum, its mission, history, and current research, with selections from ancient Egypt, ancient Peru, California Indians, Asia (India), and Africa. 

“Ishi and the Invention of Yahi Culture,” Ishi, the last Yahi Indian of California, spent the final years of his life, 1911 to 1916, living at the museum, working with anthropologists to record his culture, demonstrating technological skills, and retelling Yahi myths, tales, and songs. 

Wednesday through Sunday 10 am -4:30 pm; Thursday until 9 pm (Sept-May) 

(510) 643-7648 

HABITOT CHILDREN’S MUSEUM 

Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 

A museum especially for children age 7 and younger. Highlights include “WaterWorks,” an area with some unusual water toys, an Infant Tree for babies, a garden especially for toddlers, a child-scale grocery store and cafe, and a costume shop and stage for junior thespians. The museum also features a toy lending library. 

Exhibit: “Back to the Farm,” open-ended. This interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels like an earthworm, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and much more.  

Admission is $4 for adults; $6 child age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child.  

Hours: Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

(510) 647-1111 

JUDAH L. MAGNES 

MUSEUM 

2911 Russell St., Berkeley 

“Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season,” through May 2002.  

An exhibit structured around the seasons of the year and the seasons of life with objects ranging from the sacred and the secular, to the provocative and the whimsical. Highlights include treasures from Jewish ceremonial and folk art, rare books and manuscripts, contemporary and traditional fine art, video, photography and cultural kitsch. Through Nov. 4: “Spring and Summer.” 

Free. Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

(510) 549-6950. 

GALLERIES

A.C.C.I. GALLERY 

“Abstract Expressions,” through July 1. A group show featuring Rita Flanagan, Carolyn Careis, Heather Hutchinson, Muriel Paley, and Naomi Policoff. 

Free. Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. 1652 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 843-2527. 

KALA INSTITUTE 

“Markings/Imprints,” through July 28. The 2000 Kala Art Institute Fellowship Awards Exhibitions, Part I, featuring works by Susan Belau, Liliana Lobo Ferreira, and Jamie Morgan. 

Free. Tuesday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m. Workshop Media Center Gallery, 1060 Heinz Ave., Berkeley. (510) 549-2977. 

NEW PIECES GALLERY 

“Progressions: the Quilt as Art,” through June 29. An exhibit of quilts by Jill Le Croisette. 

“Go We to the Revels Masked,” through June 29. An exhibit of dolls by Elise Peeples. 

Free. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. 1597 Solano Ave., Berkeley. (510) 527-6779. 

TRAYWICK GALLERY 

Rachel Davis, Samantha Fisher, Benicia Gantner, Cherith Rose, June 21 through July 22. An exhibit of new work by the four artists. 

Free. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. 1316 10th St., Berkeley. (510) 527-1214. 

“Yangtze River: in the Dragon’s Teeth” 

Carol Brighton's poured paper paintings of the Yangtze River gorges, through July 31. Six-foot paper pieces in the long format of a Chinese scroll. This artwork is done in support of the International Rivers Network campaign to save the Yangtze River. The full impact of these beautiful compositions can even be viewed from across the street. 

Addison Street Windows Gallery, 2018 Addison St., Berkeley 

To publicize an upcoming event, please submit information to the Daily Planet via fax (841-5695), e-mail (calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.com) or traditional mail (2076 University Avenue, 94704). Calendar items should be submitted at least one week before the opening of a new exhibit or performance. Please include a daytime telephone number in case we need to clarify any information.

SAN FRANCISCO – William Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” an Elizabethan slapstick comedy about a husband who uses physical and emotional abuse to train his wife to be submissive and dutiful, is a tough play for 21st century audiences. 

But England’s Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) brought a crisp and comedic touring production of the play to the Bay Area Thursday for an 11-day run, mounting the play with a concept that fits modern sensibilities. 

RSC’s device is to include in the staging Shakespeare’s introductory scene to the play that is omitted in most productions. 

In this introductory scene, a drunken tinker named Christopher Sly is found passed out in the street by some gentlemen who decide to play a practical joke by taking him home and installing him in the bedroom of a fine house. 

When Sly wakes up, he is told by servants that he is the master of the house who has been in a coma for 15 years. A male servant dressed as a woman pretends to be his wife. 

When this infrequently staged introductory scene is used in productions, the body of the play “Taming of the Shrew” is then performed for the confused, deluded and dazed Christopher Sly as an entertainment by some actors who are in on the joke. 

In the current RSC production, the introductory Christopher Sly scene is performed in modern dress. 

Looking for some way out of his confusion, Sly goes to a computer at the side of the stage, logs onto the web, as though looking for a chat room – maybe a porn chat room – and finds the story of “Shrew,” which is staged in traditional costumes and time period. 

So the performance of “Shrew” then is seen as an anti-social web site which makes a sarcastic joke of conjugal politics and love. This context works fairly well as a justification for the production. 

In the basic story of “Shrew,” fortune-hunting bachelor Petruchio agrees to marry the angry, people-hating Katherine in exchange for a sizable dowry from her father. 

Petruchio is encouraged in his plan by several suitors of Katherine’s younger beautiful sister Bianca, because the father won’t permit Bianca to marry until his older Katherine is married first. 

Director Lindsay Posner’s production is a silly cartoon version of the story, played at times with a high-speed pace and herky-jerky movements that have the look and feel of low-speed video transmitted over the Web. 

There are some nice touches. Servants and masters are an important part of “Taming of the Shrew.” In this production the servants are often smart, though they have to be careful not to show it or they get beaten. 

This element is significant in a story about a husband taming a wife until she is his servant. 

Lucentio (Jo Stone-Fewings), a suitor to younger sister Bianca (Charlotte Randle), is outwitted at times by his smarter servant Tranio, played by Louis Hilyer in a funny, intelligent, devious, and quick-witted performance. 

As a determined, explosive Petruchio, Stuart McQuarrie’s high-speed courtship of Kate takes about 10 minutes from first meeting to a setting of the wedding date a week later. 

Beginning his serious assault on Kate’s mind, body and being, he shows up for the wedding wearing a dress. It is a funny performance. 

Monica Dolan plays a poisonous, sociopathic Kate, with a huge chip on her shoulder and an anger so deep that it gives her a crooked posture. Her inwardly directed rage paradoxically makes the character seem small at times. 

Lucentio’s second servant Biondello (Ryan Pope) is very funny with a rapid movement performance like a cartoon stick figure. 

Director Posner runs the show and the dialogue fast. Sometimes the speed of the physical comedy costs the production laughs that it normally gets when the characters are more real and less cartoony. 

The orchestration of Petruchio’s torture of Kate in his house after their marriage is communicated by nice touches that show how the servants are in cahoots with Petruchio. 

In the context of the brutality of this story, the first kiss between Petruchio and Kate is pornographic in its emotions. 

The silences at the end of “Shrew,” as surprised friends and family try and process what they have just witnessed, are hilarious. 

Designer Ashley Martin-Davis has framed the play’s action in a rectangle that implies it is a story told on a computer screen. 

The cavernous, echoing Herbst Theater isn’t the best place acoustically for a play. At times the performers aren’t easy to hear or understand. 

The Kate in this production comes to her submission to Petruchio not from love, but like a prisoner who learns that deception is a necessary survival technique in her relationship with a jailer. Kate becomes a Stepford wife, living dazed in a brutalized trance. 

At this production’s very end, a sleeping Christopher Sly is dumped drunk onto the street, where he wakes to consider his “brave dream,” in which he was Petruchio. Actor McQuarrie plays both roles. 

RSC’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” hosted by the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, runs through July 2 at the Herbst Theater, 401 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco. For tickets and information, call (415) 392-4400.

The Berkeley Public Library Foundation announced this week that it received a $300,000 challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation, the largest gift to date in its “We Love the Library” campaign. 

The fund-raising campaign has raised over $3.3 million of its goal $3.7 million for furnishings and other equipment in the new library, which will open early next year. 

In order to receive the $300,000 grant, the library foundation must complete the campaign. That is, it must raise the $3.7 million by the end of the year. BPLF Executive Director Glen Gilbert said that he hopes the money will be raised by September. 

Kresge Foundation grants are made toward projects involving construction or renovation of facilities and the purchase of major capital equipment or real estate. The library foundation began working on its application in September 1999. 

“It was one of the most challenging application processes I’ve ever been involved with,” Gilbert said. “But it was well worth it.” 

In 1999, the Kresge Foundation reviewed 597 proposals and awarded only 203 grants. Gilbert said that Kresge prefers to reward organizations that receive funding from a wide range of groups and individuals. So far, over 5,000 individuals have donated to the library foundation. 

In addition to the Kresge grant, the library foundation also announced that it has completed a $200,000 challenge grant from the Raymond Family Foundation to help refurbish the historic Reference Room. 

The library foundation received more than 100 gifts of $1,000 and 200 gifts of $500 from the community to meet the challenge grant. Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean helped obtain the grant by being the first citizen to contribute money. 

The library is in the middle of a renovation and expansion project that will make the 1931 landmark building more earthquake-safe while doubling its square footage. It is on schedule to open in February; however, the BPLF will have a better time-frame estimate in the next 30 days. 

The bulk of the project’s funding comes from Measure S, the $49 million bond measure approved by Berkeley voters in 1996. About $30 million of the money went to fund the library’s renovation. However, under strict state laws, none of that money can be used for necessities like furniture, bookshelves, or computers, so the Berkeley Public Library Foundation is raising $3.7 million for these furnishings. 

The Berkeley Public Library is ranked No. 1 in California in circulation per capita among communities our size, and number six in the nation in the same category. Total circulation is 1.6 million items per year. The reference department alone handles over 659,000 questions a year or 198 per hour. 

For more information on making a donation, call the Library Foundation at 549-2943. To get more information about the campaign or to obtain downloadable images of the new library, visit www.bplf.org. The Berkeley Public Library Foundation is located at 2150 Kittredge St., Suite 4A, Berkeley 94704.

A Berkeley woman went shopping for a new car recently and learned that someone had stolen her identity. 

She couldn’t buy the car because a thief had applied for a credit card in her name and charged a significant number of purchases in her name – purchases which remained unpaid. The victim reported the crime to police and notified the company that issued the card, but clearing the blemish on her credit report would take time. 

In the first step of another scam that began with thieves in two Solano Avenue businesses, the suspects stole wallets or purses, and then called the victims several hours later. Pretending to be police officers or bank employees, the thieves requested the victim’s personal banking information. 

More stolen identities. 

The varieties of identity fraud are numerous, and the results can be devastating, said Detective Evan D. McWilliams of the Berkeley Police Department. People have been evicted from their homes because their funds are drained, he said. 

The crime of Identity fraud or using an individual’s name to obtain goods or services or to open up a credit card is “booming,” said McWilliams. 

Berkeley has seen a 150 percent increase in identity fraud since 1997, he said. The department averages about 20 cases every month, but it happens everywhere. 

“This crime is probably the fastest growing crime in the country”’ said Beth Givens, director of the San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. “It’s of epidemic proportions.” 

“This crime is so prevalent because the credit industry makes it too easy for the criminals to assume somebody else’s identity and obtain credit.” 

Givens suggests major credit industry reform as well as increasing law enforcement efforts. She also said the crime should be prosecuted much more vigorously by district attorneys than it is now. 

McWilliams believes the numbers are rising here because more people are reporting the crime to Berkeley police, but also because access to the Internet makes it easier to “steal” another person’s identity. 

He said victims of identity fraud should report the crime immediately to the Berkeley police – at any time during the week – when they “see something funny on their credit cards.” 

He said banks want to see a police report before they begin an investigation to determine the legitimacy of the claim. 

An unwritten law in current Identity theft investigations, he said, is that each law enforcement jurisdiction in Alameda County, such as Berkeley, takes only the cases in its district. “Identity theft can be done anywhere, but it is reported locally.” 

However, McWilliams said, if goods are sent to Oakland, for instance, then the Oakland Police Department would investigate the crime. 

The success of the investigation depends upon the amount of information the victim can obtain. 

“The main point is to prevent future damage,” he said. 

McWilliams explained that the suspect is using the victim’s name and police have to show that the suspect received the stolen goods, and that the suspect signed for them using the victim’s name. 

“This crime is politically hot now,” and McWilliams said President Clinton has held a summit conference on identity theft and Attorney General Reno has addressed it. 

In California, he said, there are 23 bills pending in the state legislature regarding identity fraud. 

McWilliams said Berkeley Police are working with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in developing a training course for police investigation cases of identity fraud. 

The 13,000-member Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, which provides police service for unincorporated portions of Los Angeles County, is a leader in identity theft investigations. Currently the L.A. Sheriffs are sponsoring legislation proposed by Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg that would fund Northern and Southern California regional teams to deal with identity theft. 

Detective Joe Dulla of the L.A. Sheriff’s Dept., who is developing a police training course on a team that includes Berkeley Detective Todd Sabins, said police want to attack identity theft on a regional level. 

If the victim lives in Berkeley, Dulla said, but the suspect committed the crime outside Alameda County, police don’t want the suspect to slip through loopholes. 

“We have found multi-agency response to this issue very successful,” he said. 

Dulla said the legal system is increasing its efforts to aid victims of identity fraud. Prior to Jan. 1, 1998, only financial institutions could be victims of this crime, he said. 

At that time State Statute 530.5 of the penal code was enacted. The law gives the person whose identity was stolen legal standing as a victim. Dulla said the L.A. Sheriff’s response to identity theft is similar to its response to domestic violence in terms of outreach. 

The curriculum for the identity theft training course being prepared for the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training is being written in large part by Berkeley Property Crimes Detective Todd Sabins. 

He said the POST curriculum would be used throughout the state to train investigators new to the field of identity theft. It will include victim issues, computer evidence and law and prosecutorial concerns. The POST course is designed to illustrate the magnitude of the problem, to deal with multi-agency networks, It also touches on the problem of how technology is facilitating identity theft because of the lack of security standards, he said. 

Sabins said he is consulting with police agencies throughout the state to gather information. 

“We are setting the standard for this kind of investigation,” he said.

Will Berkeley residents buy goods and services in town more than they do now? Councilmember Linda Maio believes education is the answer to preserving customers for the independent businesses that pump character and cash into the community. 

She is sponsoring the Preferred Berkeley Business program and has requested a $25,000 allocation from next year’s budget that’s up for consideration at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. 

The allocation would pay for a staff person to coordinate the program. She said the city’s Economic Development staff has suggested that $70,000 might eventually be needed to fully fund a promotional campaign that makes a difference. 

“But we’re going to get started more slowly,” Maio said. 

Preferred Berkeley essentially would be a promotional campaign using emblems or decals displayed prominently in storefronts of businesses that qualify to be included in the program. 

Criteria for qualifying have not yet been determined, but Maio mentioned some possibilities: small and locally owned businesses where the owner would pay good salaries and health benefits, perhaps to employees who live in town, and become involved in a community project. 

In her proposal she is combating the “sameness” that people encounter when cities all have the same stores that look the same and sell the same things and price out the independents. 

The other detractor from the local independent retailers is e-commerce, which Maio said is “siphoning off the retail vitality.” 

The pleasures of browsing – not on the Web but in a store – are at stake. 

“We have to become a little more aware of where we put our dollars,” said Maio. “It’s very much a part of the equation of keeping them alive.” 

It’s happening all over country, she noted, and “it’s not very healthy. We lose our diversity and experience as people.” 

The idea came out of Maio’s working with Fourth Street businesses in her district. 

“I’m interested in bookstores in particular,” she said. “They are such an asset in town and we really have to work hard to preserve them.” 

Herb Bivins, an owner of Black Oak Books on North Shattuck Avenue said the idea seems good. 

“I would hope it would work. Some people would respond and I think it is probably worth the effort, but it is always hard to gauge,” he said. 

“Berkeley is in a tough spot,” he concedes, whether the competition comes from Amazon.com or from other businesses already in Berkeley. Black Oak sells used books on the Internet. 

“It’s really trying to get people to shop in local stores, and not go to the chains.” 

Bivins said an important difference between a local independent store and a “big box” retailer is that the local merchant returns money into the community not to far-flung stockholders. 

Another aspect of the role small businesses can play is in providing salaries above living wage guidelines and “treating employees like human beings,” he said. 

John McBride, an employee in the rare book room at Moe’s Books on Telegraph Avenue, a 35-year-old store that has had a web site for five years, said the program’s effectiveness would depend upon the kind of publicity it generates. 

“The chains have their role but the independents drive the scene,” McBride contends.

North Atlantic Books, a Berkeley publisher, purchased a 27-acre farm in Gustine in the Central Valley Thursday as part of a nonprofit program combining preservation of farmland with the Berkeley Youth Alternative’s (BYA) organic-agriculture program. 

BYA is an organization incorporated in California that serves at-risk children in Berkeley and other Alameda County cities. North Atlantic will lease the farm at no cost to Richard Firme, BYA’s principal outreach farmer for the last five years. 

Firme will train young people in organic farming while providing produce for BYA’s food boxes and the public schools. He plans on having an orchard and apiary as well as a wide range of vegetables and melons. 

North Atlantic Books was founded in Vermont in 1975 and moved to the Bay Area in 1977. It was incorporated in 1980 as a nonprofit, The Society for the Study of Native Arts and Sciences. Its purpose was to publish books from a holistic, nonwestern standpoint in the creative arts, sciences, humanities and healing arts. 

North Atlantic has published approximately 500 titles and together with its sister imprint Frog Ltd., North Atlantic is the largest publisher in English of books on the internal martial arts aikido, t’ai chi chuan and capoeira. 

North Atlantic and Frog also collaborate on a major list of innovative books on alternative healing. 

“We have been publishing books on consciousness and cultural change for 25 years, and we feel it is crucial to put out a portion of our earnings into something that actively furthers this on the ground,” publisher Richard Grossinger said in a press release. 

“We would love to have other publishers and even other businesses join with us in this undertaking. With the help from elsewhere, the farm preservation program can be expanded, saving more land in the Central Valley from development and agribusiness, creating smaller programs elsewhere in the country, and making organic farming available to more inner-city kids at risk.”

Police are investigating whether one man was responsible for two eerily similar crimes that were reported just minutes apart early Thursday morning. In both cases, the suspect asked the victim for the time before issuing a threat and stealing some of their belongings. 

The first reported incident occurred at 6:08 a.m. on the 2100 block of Stuart Street. The victim was parking his car and noticed the suspect pull into the driveway next door to his home in a white mid-size car. The suspect walked up to the victim, who was getting out of his car, and asked him for the time. The victim had a bag with a laptop computer, food and a wallet in it. The suspect grabbed the bag while the victim was asking him not to take it. The suspect reached into the bag, pulled out the wallet and the computer and ran back to his car and drove away, said Capt. Bobby Miller of the Berkeley Police Department. 

In a similar robbery reported at 6:09 a.m. in the 2400 block of Atherton Street, the victim was preparing to get into her car when she noticed a driver pull up in a white four-door Infiniti and park slightly north of her car. He approached the victim and asked her for the time. She told him and turned her attention away and then found the suspect had moved closer to her and acted as if he didn’t hear her, said Miller. 

She told the man the time again but realized the suspect was not really interested knowing the time. He said “Give me your purse or I’ll knock you out,” according to the police report. The victim handed over her purse and he took her car keys, returned to his car and as he was leaving he threw the keys onto the street where she retrieved them. 

Miller said the descriptions of the two suspects were similar and “it is very possible the two incidents are connected.” He said a few minutes delay in the reporting of the first robbery would allow for the crimes, just a few blocks apart, to be linked.

The East Bay Amateur Radio Club will conduct its annual “Field Day” this weekend at Caesar Chavez Park at the Berkeley Marina. 

“Field Day” begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday and ends at 11 a.m. on Sunday. 

Field Day is the annual exercise for amateur radio operators around the country to test their emergency communication skills. 

“Hams” all across the country will be camping out in the field making contacts with other “hams” around the world. Radio communication modes will include voice, Morse code, slow scan TV, and digital. 

The “hams” at the Berkeley site will operate all equipment using only portable generators and batteries to simulate emergency conditions.  

The public is invited to join the group and participate in its attempts to make contacts around the world.

Berkeley Marina Radisson Hotel workers and their supporters were celebrating victory Thursday, with the news that hotel management had accepted unionization. 

“It’s a big victory,” said Stephanie Ruby, an organizer with the Hotel Employee and Restaurant Employee Local 2850, which had supported some 200 Radisson workers in their nine-month unionizing effort. 

Ruby’s elation was tempered, however. 

“It’s not over until the workers get a contract,” she said. “Justice will not be served until people like Addie Washington, who has been there 28 years, have a pension.” 

Community support on the frequent picket lines, included religious leaders, the Gray Panthers and elected officials, Ruby said. A boycott of the hotel was honored by Berkeley city government and groups such as the Berkeley Symphony, the American Association of Sociologists and others. Pressure mounted when the National Labor Relations Board made the decision to go to bat for the workers in a hearing, scheduled to begin Aug. 1, where the hotel faces multiple charges of unfair labor practices, she added. 

Brij Misra, general manager of the hotel, made the announcement in a press release. He declined to comment beyond the written statement. 

“The Radisson Berkeley Marina Hotel has agreed to recognize HERE Local 2850 as the bargaining representative for all employees at the hotel,” he said. “The Hotel recognized that its standing with the city of Berkeley was undermined by the divisive campaigning being targeted at its customers. After discussion with Mayor Shirley Dean, the hotel’s owners agreed to let Local 2850 represent the employees in discussions with management.” 

Misra went on to say that he hoped the animosity was in the past. 

“We have our sights on continuing to work for the best interest of both the hotel and the associates,” he said. 

Dean affirmed that she had encouraged unionization in discussions with one of the owners of the Radisson, Bob Boykin of Boykin Hotel Properties, L.P. 

“Absolutely, I am pleased, cautiously pleased,” she said, echoing Ruby’s concern that the hotel move toward the next step, negotiating a contract with its workers. 

The story could end happily with the signing of a union contract, and a celebration of the lifting of the hotel boycott. 

But there’s a wrinkle that Councilmember Kriss Worthington says might overshadow the festive mood. In a letter released to the council Wednesday, City Manager Jim Keene announced that the city had agreed Boykin’s plan to refinance the Marina Radisson. It is part of a $108 million refinancing that the hotel group is putting together. The Marina Radisson is one of the nine properties encumbered by the deal, so the city, which owns the land on which the hotel is built, had to sign off on the agreement. 

Worthington, who has participated in a number of rallies at the hotel and who met with hotel management on behalf of the workers, said he wants to be sure the agreement to unionize is independent of the action of the city manager signing off on the refinancing deal. 

The councilmember said he and Councilmember Linda Maio have formally asked the city manager to let the council view the entire agreement. This would likely be disclosed to the council in a confidential document or in closed session. 

“Unless we know the details of what is in the refinancing, we can’t tell what it is about,” Worthington said, noting that the city manager’s memo said the deal is good for the city. “Why didn’t we get to look at it before it was signed?” 

The city manager did not return the Daily Planet’s after-hours calls to his cellular phone. 

The mayor, however, said she harbored none of the suspicions Worthington addressed. 

“Refinancing has nothing to do with the union issue,” she said. “The city attorney has said that the two are not related.”

Friday, June 23

“Tai Chi” 

Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 

Jarl Forsman, a professional Tai Chi instructor, will speak during this week’s meeting of the City Commons Club. Social hour begins at 11:15 a.m. Luncheon is served from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Speaker starts promptly at 12:30 p.m. Lunch is $11 or $12.25; admission to the speech is $1, free for students. This is the final meeting for the summer. Regular Friday meetings will resume Sept. 8. 

510-848-3533 

Opera: Swan Lake 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

510-644-6107 

Words in Collision: Summer Performance Art Series 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. (in Live Oak Park) 

The featured presentation will be “subtitled” with Susan Gervitz, Margaret Tedesco and company. Admission is $7 to $10. 

510-644-6893 

Bulgarian line dancing 

8 p.m. 

921 Kains, Albany 

The Albany Y Folkdancers and the San Francisco Mandala are sponsoring this Bulgarian line dance workshop by Nina Kavardjikova. Admission is $8. 

510-528-1100; Asha4results@Juno.com 

Saturday, June 24

Disaster First Aid 

9 a.m.-noon 

Fire department’s Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. 

This summer, Berkeley’s Office of Emergency Services will offer a set of free training classes to help families prepare for emergencies. The classes, open to Berkeley residents at least 18 years old, will be taught by retired firefighters. The classes give hands-on training in how to put on a splint, extinguish a fire, use a fire hose, and more. Call ahead to register. Future classes will be held on Light Search and Rescue (July 15) and Fire Suppression (Aug. 12). 

510-644-8736 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m.-3 p.m. 

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

This weekend’s market will celebrate the summer solstice. Musical performances will be held throughout the four hours of the market. 

510-548-3333 

Jazz/Art at the Library 

3:30 p.m. 

Temporary Central Public Library, 2121 Allston Way 

This event is part of the summer program series in the library system. Lisa di Prima and the Donald Robinson Trio are the featured talents. 

510-644-6100 

Words in Collision: Summer Performance Art Series 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. (in Live Oak Park) 

The featured presentation will be “Out of the Q” by Dale Going. Admission is $7 to $10. 

510-644-6893 

Sunday, June 25

Spay-Neuter Program 

People are encouraged to bring feral and stray cats to be sterilized and vaccinated. This program is sponsored by Fix Our Ferals. For ahead for location information, reservations and trap loans. 

510-433-9446 

Berkeley Hiking Club Mini-Hike 

8:30 a.m. meet at Shattuck Avenue and Berkeley Way 

Participants will travel to Mt. Tamalpais, where they will reconvene and meet leader at Rock Spring. There are about five miles on the leader’s choice of trails. 

415-388-1929 

Berkeley Hiking Club Main Hike 

8:30 a.m. meet at Shattuck Avenue and Berkeley Way 

Participants will travel to Point Reyes National Seashore, where they will reconvene and meet leader at Bear Valley Visitors’ Center at 9:30 a.m. Participants will make a seven-mile hike to Mt. Wittenburg. 

510-527-7754 

Hula Day: Family Sunday 

12:30-3:30 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Drive, above UC Berkeley campus 

Hula performances will be held at 1:30 p.m. Science activities run throughout the entire three-hour event. 

510-642-5132; www.lhs.berkeley.edu 

Poetry Flash 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

The featured poets this session will include Suzanne Lummis. 

510-845-7852; 510-525-5476 

Monday, June 26

Personal security 

5:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

This workshop is designed to help people who live in affordable housing to learn more about security issues. 

510-644-6107 

Tuesday, June 27

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited; the class is offered Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Call ahead for a reservation. 

510-644-6109 

Easy Tilden Trails 

9:30 a.m. 

Tilden Regional Park, in the parking lot that dead ends at the Little Farm 

Join a few seniors, the Tuesday Tilden Walkers, for a stroll around Jewel Lake and the Little Farm Area. Enjoy the beauty of the wildflowers, turtles, and warblers, and waterfowl. 

510-215-7672; members.home.com/teachme99/tilden/index.html 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2-7 p.m. 

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

510-548-3333 

Berkeley Camera Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share your slides and prints with other photographers. Critiques by qualified judges. Monthly field trips. 

510-531-8664 

Few California governors have made themselves as visible as Gray Davis did for one week this spring, as he traveled the state pushing his transportation plan. He set the price tag at $5.2 billion in all his speeches and press releases, even though the actual cost would be three times that. 

But there’s a lot less to the plan than met the eye during the Davis tour. What he showed, what Californians saw, may prove much more than what they actually get. 

The Davis plan has something for almost everybody everywhere in the state: There’s $140 million for a subway to San Francisco’s Chinatown, $740 million to bring rapid transit to San Jose, $25 million for improving Highway 101 north of San Francisco, $256 million for a busway from downtown Los Angeles to the city’s congested Westside, $275 million for more carpool lanes in the Los Angeles area, $481 million for 15 projects in San Diego County and $210 million for projects linking fast-growing parts of the San Joaquin Valley to the Bay Area. 

There’s $235 million for highway improvements in the Inland Empire portions of San Bernardino and Riverside counties and even money to study a 700-mile high-speed rail system linking Northern and Southern California. 

The only thing there’s not is any assurance that any of these projects will ever happen. 

For sure, no one can accuse Davis of lacking vision, even if some critics were saying right from the start that his plan didn’t offer enough. But will his vision be implemented? 

Despite some complaints that his is a halfway plan at best, Davis may have offered far more than he can deliver. 

For when it comes to paying for all he wants, this control-freak governor did not stick with things he can control. Of the 5.2 billion total state dollars involved, Davis originally planned to use $3 billion from the state’s unexpected budget surplus bonanza. Two months later, he added another $2.2 billion when the surplus went even higher. That obviated any need for the ballot proposition Davis had said he would float. 

All this he can control somewhat, if not absolutely. State legislators with other priorities may want to spend some of the surplus money elsewhere or refund it to taxpayers. But in the end, Davis can likely jawbone them for the $5.2 billion his plan needs. 

What’s left very uncertain is where the rest of the money will come from. For it will take another $10 billion in local and federal money to carry out all projects in the Davis plan. 

One example is the $740 million Davis plans to spend in running rapid transit from Fremont in the East Bay to San Jose, a route that could prove vital to further development in the Silicon Valley. Total cost for this project is listed at $4 billion. Davis figures on at least $1 billion in federal money and plenty from local cities and counties. But many congressmen think California already gets too much rapid transit money. So this project may never happen. 

The same for the busway to West Los Angeles, projected cost $595 million. Los Angeles faces the prospect of several billion dollars worth of judgments against its police because of the Ramparts Division corruption scandal which sent scores of suspects to prison on trumped-up charges and falsified evidence. Several corporations also are suing the city, claiming they’ve been overtaxed for years. Faced with these huge question marks, where will that city find $350 million for its share of a transportation project that’s bound to generate plenty of local controversy? 

Davis asserted last year that legislators should “implement my will.” He’s now made his will known on transportation – but there’s absolutely no assurance anyone will implement. 

“The executive proposed, the Legislature will dispose,” said state Senate President John Burton, a San Francisco Democrat. “We will add, subtract, multiply and divide.”  

That’s another way of saying that while Davis may have generated reams of publicity for his plan, there’s much less meat to it than he implied. Only time will tell whether it’s all political flim-flam where what you see is a lot less than what you get. 

Elias’ email address is tdelias@aol.com

Throughout July, the Pacific Film Archive will present restored prints of two dozen classic Hollywood features, in a series saluting the 200th anniversary of the Library of Congress. All the films are in preservation-quality 35mm. 

Created on April 24, 1800, the Library of Congress now holds an essential collection of some 300,000 film titles, dating back to “Edison Kinetoscopic Records” from 1893. The films to be shown at the PFA are chosen from the Library’s important Motion Picture Conservation Center, which has preserved more than 15,000 feature films and shorts since 1970. 

Patrick L. Loughney, Head of the Library of Congress Moving Image Section, will appear in person to introduce programs on July 14, 15 and 16. 

Films include Frank Capra’s classic “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” Lewis Milestone’s anti-war film “All Quiet on the Western Front,” three film noirs by Jacques Tourneur, and a series of rare early films depicting San Francisco and New York City from 1898 to 1915. 

Screenings will take place at the New PFA Theater, located at 2575 Bancroft Way, at Bowditch Street, on the southernmost edge of the UC Berkeley campus. General admission is $7 for one program and $8.50 for double bills. Many of the programs include features and shorts, such as classic comedies by Buster Keaton, Charley Chase and Charley Bowers, jazz and dance films and Looney Tunes. 

For more ticket or program information, call 642-1412. 

Schedule of films

Sunday, July 2 

5:30 p.m. “Out of the Past” Jacques Tourneur (1947). 

7:30 p.m. “Cat People” Jacques Tourneur (1942). With short film “The Great Piggy Bank Robbery” Robert Clampett (1946). 

Friday, July 7 

7:30 p.m. “I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang” Mervyn LeRoy (1932). 

9:25 p.m. “Five Star Final” Mervyn LeRoy (1931). With short film “ ‘Red Nichols and His World Famous Pennies” Joseph Henabery (1936). 

Saturday, July 8 

7:00 p.m. “The Maltese Falcon” John Huston (1941). 

9:00 p.m. “Key Largo” John Huston (1946). 

Sunday, July 9 

5:30 p.m. “The Body Snatcher” Robert Wise (1945). With short film “Artie Shaw and His Orchestra in Symphony of Swing” (1939). 

7:20 p.m. “I Walked with a Zombie” Jacques Tourneur (1943). With short film “Gaiete Parisienne” (1939). 

Friday, July 14 - Introduced by Patrick Loughney 

7:00 p.m. “One Third of a Nation” Dudley Murphy (1939). 

9:10 p.m. “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” Frank Capra (1939) 

Saturday, July 15 - Introduced by Patrick Loughney 

7:00 p.m. “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum” Lewis Milestone (1933). 

9:15 p.m. “All Quiet on the Western Front” Lewis Milestone (1930). 

Sunday, July 16 - Introduced by Patrick Loughney 

6:30 p.m. “Bay Area and New York on Film, 1898 to 1915.” Bruce Loeb on Piano. Program includes: “A Trip Down Market Street Before the Fire (1906), “A Trip to Berkeley” (1906), “Scene in Chinatown” (1903), “Mt. Tamalpais Railroad” (1898), “San Francisco Earthquake ad Fire” (1906), “Arrival of Emigrants, Ellis Island” (1906), “The Skyscrapers of New York” (1906), “Star Theatre” (1901), and “What Happened on 23rd Street” (1901), plus Mabel Normand and Fatty Arbuckle in a promotional film produced for the 1915 San Francisco Panama-Pacific International Exposition. 

8:45 p.m. “The Great Gabbo” James Cruze (1929). 

Friday, July 21 

7:00 p.m. “Employees’ Entrance” Roy Del Ruth (1933). With short film “The Pip from Pittsburgh” James Parrott (1931). 

9:00 p.m. “Only Angels Have Wings” Howard Hawks (U.S., 1939). 

Saturday, July 22 

7:00 p.m. “The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek” Preston Sturges (1944). 

9:00 p.m. “Arsenic and Old Lace” Frank Capra (1944). With short film “Baby Bottleneck” Bob Clampett (1945). 

Sunday, July 23 - Jon Mirsalis on Piano 

5:30 p.m. Annie Laurie” John S. Robertson (1927). 

7:30 p.m. “The Blue Eagle” John Ford (1926). 

Friday, July 28 

7:00 p.m. “Footlight Parade” Lloyd Bacon (1933). 

9:10 p.m. “The Public Enemy” William Wellman (1931). With short film “King for a Day” Roy Mack (1934). 

Saturday, July 29 

7:00 p.m. “The Hitch-Hiker” Ida Lupino (1953). 

8:30 p.m. “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” John Huston (1948). With short film “Jammin’ the Blues” Gjon Mili (1944). 

Sunday, July 30 - Jon Mirsalis on Piano 

5:30 p.m. “The Italian” Reginald Barker” (1914). With short films “The Adventures of Dollie” D.W. Griffith (1908), “Neighbors” Eddie Cline (1920), A Sleepless Night” Charles Bowers (date unknown [1933-41]).

THEATER

AURORA THEATRE 

“Split” by Mayo Simon, June 1 through July 2. A mordant clear-eyed view of an older couple's love affair. $25 to $28. Wednesday through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. (510) 843-4822. 

BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE 

“Closer” by Patrick Marber, through July 9. A funny, touching and unflinchingly honest examination of love and relationships set in contemporary London. $38 to $48.50. Tuesday, Thursday through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Wednesday, 7 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; May 27, June 1, June 3, June 10, June 15, June 24, June 29 and July 8, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 845-4700 or (888) 4BRTTIX. 

CALIFORNIA 

SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL 

“Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare, June 3 through June 24. The classic romantic comedy of mismatched lovers forced into a union. $21 to $38 general; $19 to $38 seniors; $10 to $38 children. Wednesday and Thursday, 7 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 4 p.m.; June 13 and June 20, 7 p.m. June 24, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Bruns Memorial Amphitheatre, Shakespeare Festival Way/Gateway Exit on state Highway 24. (510) 548-9666 or www.calshakes.org 

LaVal’s Subterranean 

Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” directed by Yoni Barkan. The play will run from June 8 to July 8, Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. each night. 1834 Euclid Ave. (510) 234-6046. 

MUSIC VENUES

ASHKENAZ 

Clan Dyken, June 23, 9:30 p.m. $11. 

Steve Lucky and The Rhumba Bums, June 24, 9:30 p.m. Lindy Hop Dance Lessons with Nick and Shanna at 8 p.m. $11. 

Hahbi'ru, June 25, 7:30 p.m. $10. 

1317 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. (510) 525-5099 or www.ashkenaz.com 

BLAKES 

An Evening with Groove Junkies, June 23. $5. 

Kofy Brown, Rous, June 24. $6. 

For age 18 and older. Music at 9:30 p.m. 2367 Telegraph Ave., Berkeley. (510) 848-0886. 

FREIGHT AND SALVAGE 

Eric Bogle, June 23. $16.50 to $17.50. 

The Limeliters, June 24. $16.50 to $17.50. 

John Dobby Boe and the avant jazz trio, June 25. $14.50 to $15.50. 

Music at 8 p.m. 1111 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 548-1761 or (510) 762-BASS. 

LA PEÑA CULTURAL CENTER 

The Raquel Lopez Flamenco Dance Ensemble, June 23, 8:30 p.m. $18. 

Ritmo y Armonia, June 24, 9:30 p.m. $10. 

3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

924 GILMAN ST. 

Damad, Good Clean Fun, Meatjack, Brain Blood Volume, June 24. 

$5. Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 924 Gilman St., Berkeley. (510) 525-9926. 

THE STARRY PLOUGH PUB 

Deke Dickerson and The Ecco-Fonics, Redmeat, June 23. $8. 

The Paladins, The Dusty 45's, June 24. $8. 

For age 21 and over. Wednesday, 8 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9:45 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 3101 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 841-2082. 

MUSEUMS

Berkeley Historical Society 

"Berkeley's Ethnic Heritage." May 7 through March 2001. The exhibit examines the rich cultural diversity of our city and the contributions of individuals and minority groups to our history and development. The exhibit look at the original native tribelets in the area and the immigrants who settled in Ocean View and displaced the Spanish/Mexican landowners. It also examines the influence of theUniversity of California, the San Francisco earthquake, and World War II on the population and culture of Berkeley, and subsequent efforts to overcome discrimination. Curated by Linda Rosen and the Berkeley Historical Society Exhibit Committee. Thursday through Saturday, 1 to 4 p.m. Wheelchair accessible. Admission free. 

Berkeley Historical Society located in the Veterans Memorial Building, 1931 Center Street, Berkeley. 510-848-0181 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc 

UC BERKELEY ART 

MUSEUM 

“Master of Fine Art Graduate Exhibition,” May 20 through July 2. The 13th annual exhibit of work by candidates for the Master of Fine Arts degree. Artist Talk, May 21, 3 p.m. At Gallery 2. 

Rodin and His Contemporaries,” through August. An exhibit of 11 bronze maquettes on loan from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation in Los Angeles. The bronzes range in style from the artist's classically inspired “Torso of a Woman” to the anguish of “The Martyr.” Some of the maquettes were cast during Rodin’s lifetime, others have been cast fairly recently under the aegis of the Musee Rodin which alone is authorized to cast his sculptures posthumously. 

$6 general; $4 seniors and students ages 12 to 18; free children age 12 and under; free Thursday, 1 1 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. (510) 642-0808. 

HALL OF HEALTH  

2230 Shattuck Ave. (lower level), Berkeley 

A hands-on community health education museum and science center sponsored by Children's Hospital Oakland and Alta Bates Medical Center. 

“Your Cellular Self and Cancer Prevention,” ongoing. An exhibit on understanding how cells become cancerous and how to detect and prevent cancer. 

Free. For children ages 3 to 12 and their parents. 

(510) 549-1564 

LAWRENCE HALL 

OF SCIENCE 

“Experiment Gallery,” through Sept. 10. Step inside a giant laboratory and experiment with concepts surrounding sound, light, mechanics, electricity, and weather. 

“Math Rules!” ongoing exhibit. A math exhibit of hands-on problem-solving stations, each with a different mathematical challenge. Make mathematical ice-cream cones, use blocks to build three dimensional structures, make dodecagon pies from a variety of mathematical shapes and stretch mathematical thinking. 

$6 general; $4 seniors, students and children ages 7 to 18; $2 children ages 3 to 6; free children under age 3. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Centennial Drive, University of California, Berkeley. (510) 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu 

PHOEBE HEARST MUSEUM 

Kroeber Hall, UC Berkeley 

“Modern Treasures from Ancient Iran,” through Oct. 29. This exhibit explores nomadic and town life in ancient and modern Iran as illustrated in bronze and pottery vessels, and textiles. 

“Pana O’ahu: Sacred Stones – Sacred Places,” through July 16. An exhibit of photographs by Jan Becket and Joseph Singer. 

“Phoebe Hearst Museum-Approaching a Century of Anthropology,” a sampling of the vast collections of the museum, its mission, history, and current research, with selections from ancient Egypt, ancient Peru, California Indians, Asia (India), and Africa. 

“Ishi and the Invention of Yahi Culture,” Ishi, the last Yahi Indian of California, spent the final years of his life, 1911 to 1916, living at the museum, working with anthropologists to record his culture, demonstrating technological skills, and retelling Yahi myths, tales, and songs. 

Wednesday through Sunday 10 am -4:30 pm; Thursday until 9 pm (Sept-May) 

(510) 643-7648 

HABITOT CHILDREN’S MUSEUM 

Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 

A museum especially for children age 7 and younger. Highlights include “WaterWorks,” an area with some unusual water toys, an Infant Tree for babies, a garden especially for toddlers, a child-scale grocery store and cafe, and a costume shop and stage for junior thespians. The museum also features a toy lending library. 

Admission is $4 for adults; $6 child age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child.  

Hours: Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

(510) 647-1111 

JUDAH L. MAGNES 

MUSEUM 

2911 Russell St., Berkeley 

“Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season,” through May 2002.  

An exhibit structured around the seasons of the year and the seasons of life with objects ranging from the sacred and the secular, to the provocative and the whimsical. Highlights include treasures from Jewish ceremonial and folk art, rare books and manuscripts, contemporary and traditional fine art, video, photography and cultural kitsch. Through Nov. 4: “Spring and Summer.” 

Free. Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

(510) 549-6950. 

GALLERIES

A.C.C.I. GALLERY 

“Abstract Expressions,” through July 1. A group show featuring Rita Flanagan, Carolyn Careis, Heather Hutchinson, Muriel Paley, and Naomi Policoff. 

Free. Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. 1652 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 843-2527. 

GRADUATE THEOLOGICAL UNION 

“On Common Ground.” through June 23. This exhibit is a portrait of faith-based communities in Los Angeles. 

Free. Monday through Thursday, 8:30 am. to 10 p.m.; Friday, 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 7 p.m. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, 2400 Ridge Rd., Berkeley. (510) 649-2541. 

KALA INSTITUTE 

“Markings/Imprints,” through July 28. The 2000 Kala Art Institute Fellowship Awards Exhibitions, Part I, featuring works by Susan Belau, Liliana Lobo Ferreira, and Jamie Morgan. 

Free. Tuesday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m. Workshop Media Center Gallery, 1060 Heinz Ave., Berkeley. (510) 549-2977. 

NEW PIECES GALLERY 

“Progressions: the Quilt as Art,” through June 29. An exhibit of quilts by Jill Le Croisette. 

“Go We to the Revels Masked,” through June 29. An exhibit of dolls by Elise Peeples. 

Free. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. 1597 Solano Ave., Berkeley. (510) 527-6779. 

TRAYWICK GALLERY 

Rachel Davis, Samantha Fisher, Benicia Gantner, Cherith Rose, June 21 through July 22. An exhibit of new work by the four artists. 

Free. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. 1316 10th St., Berkeley. (510) 527-1214. 

Calendar items should be submitted at least one week before the opening of a new exhibit or performance. 

Please include a daytime telephone number in case we need to clarify any information.

Business and property owners and city officials offered mixed opinions about the value of retaining zoning quotas for restaurants and hair salons on Telegraph Avenue during a planning meeting Wednesday. 

They were contributing their viewpoints to the economic development section of the Southside Plan that must be approved by the city and UC Berkeley and is slated to be used by the city and the university in future actions. 

The Southside area, as defined by the plan, extends south from Bancroft Way to a half block south of Dwight Way and from one half block east of Prospect Street to one half block west of Fulton Street. 

In the Telegraph Avenue commercial district – which extends from the University’s Sather Gate to Parker Street – a quota limits the number of restaurants to 78 establishments and hair salons to 10. That was the number of those establishments that operate in the district in 1988 when the quotas were put into place. 

Dave Fogarty, community development project coordinator, explained the origins of the quotas, which prevent new restaurants and hair salons from opening in the district unless they purchase permit rights from an existing restaurant or salon. 

Fogarty said that exceeding the quota is difficult because it requires a zoning variance with legal findings related to the structures of buildings. He said he was able to help one restaurateur obtain a variance because the building had an overhanging awning that sheltered loiterers. The prospective owner argued he could afford to remove the awning. 

In the Elmwood, Solano and North Shattuck retail districts, prospective restaurant owners can exceed quotas and obtain use permits with findings if they prove they meet a unique need and are not detrimental to the districts. 

The suggested policy change for quotas mentioned in the Southside Plan is to “allow for the mix of businesses in the Telegraph retail district to be more responsive to market demands.” 

Such a change would make Telegraph more like Solano, Elmwood and North Shattuck. 

Betsy Morris, a community development consultant and member of the Planning Commission, said it could be possible to make the “fifth block” of Telegraph, between Dwight Way and Parker Street, more flexible with a use permit or the block could be exempted from quotas. 

The quotas came about in the early 1980s, Fogarty said, when chain stores such as The Gap and Orange Julius opened up and elicited protectionist feelings from independent business owners. 

Commercial rent controls were instituted because merchants feared they would be priced out of the market, but the state ruled such restrictions illegal and a quota system took the place of rent controls. 

Quotas were instituted to prevent more restaurants from proliferating, said Fogarty. 

“It was felt they would take over,” he said. 

Currently there are three zoning categories for restaurants in the Telegraph Retail District: carryout food service, 19 establishments; quick service restaurants, 30; and full service restaurants, 29. 

Dana Ellsworth, a major Telegraph Avenue property owner and board president of the Telegraph Avenue Business Improvement District, would like to abolish the quotas. 

Quotas force down quality in restaurants, she contends. Restaurant owners have to pay from $60,000 to $100,000 to buy the permit rights from another owner. 

When they do that, Ellsworth said, they can’t afford to hang an attractive sign, redesign the kitchen to the needs of their own ethnic cuisine or change the decor left over from the former owner. 

Additionally the existing situation with sought-after permits allows a bad restaurant to stay in business because the ability to sell the permit increases its value, said Ellsworth. 

Vacant spaces remain empty unless businesses other than restaurants or hair salons become new tenants, and restaurants and hair salons are charged higher rents than other businesses in the district, she said. 

“Consumers should get an open market choice,” said Ellsworth. 

Hair dresser Alan Batt, who said he had worked for more than 10 years in Telegraph Avenue salons, said he wants to own his own shop to serve his clients in the heart of the district, but is unable to obtain a use permit. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington, whose district includes Telegraph, said he favors retaining the quotas because he believes maintain the small business, unique character of Telegraph Avenue. Without the quotas the big chains would come in, he said, and “Telegraph would lose its specialness.” 

Roland Peterson, executive director of the Telegraph Avenue Business Improvement District, argued that the buildings on Telegraph Avenue are too small to interest big box chains. 

Worthington said if the zoning laws on the quotas are changed, it’s more likely that a restaurant chain would consider tearing down several storefronts to build its own. 

He also mentioned “myths” about sales figures computed for sale tax purposes being down in the mid-1990s, a factor that could lead toward opening up the market to more restaurants by eliminating quotas. 

He also said that sales figures used for computing sales tax for the UC Berkeley bookstores are now reported with downtown sales numbers, instead of with Telegraph’s and that reduces sales figures. 

The Telegraph Area Association took a brief survey of its constituents that include merchants, residents and students and found a mixed reaction to the quotas and that some respondents were unaware quotas existed. 

The association did not take a position for or against the quotas, said Gianna Ranuzzzi, the TAA’s community coordinator. She recommended more education about quotas.

Last week Kala Art Institute of Berkeley announced the winners of this year’s Fellowship awards. 

Three of the eight honorees – Suh Hee Jae, Heather Sparks and Lee Walton – are from San Francisco. 

The Honorable Mention/First Place Alternate award was given to Sam Brown of Oakland and the Second Place Alternate was presented to Hilary Chartrand of San Francisco. 

Other award winners were Sara Gibson of Providence, R.I., Cynthia Mott of Ft. Collins, Colo., Ursula Neubauer of Amsterdam, Netherlands, Pakamas Suwannipa of Chonburi, Thailand, and Marci Tackett of Olympia, Wash. 

Kala Art Institute annually awards six to eight artist who work in printmaking, book arts and electronic media with the Fellowship awards. Recipients have full use of Kala’s 8,500 square foot extensively equipped print and electronic media facility for a six-month period. 

The value of this fellowship is estimated at $5,000 per person. 

Work produced during the residency will be featured in a special Fellowship exhibition held in 2001.

Developer is missing real issue on San Pablo

Patrick Kennedy was quoted in the June 12 Daily Planet as saying opponents to his proposed development at 2700 San Pablo were “citizen vigilantes whose real motive is fighting the low income housing units proposed for the building.” Nothing could be farther from the truth! Every opponent I have spoken to is all for affordable housing and thinks Kennedy’s plan of five affordable units out of 48 total units is far too little. Our opposition is to the mass and density of the building. We would be most pleased to see a 30-unit, all-affordable building. I regret that Patrick Kennedy must resort to name calling to avoid the real issue. 

Bob Kubik 

Berkeley 

Zero-Emission Vehicles will help environment

I was glad to hear that Bay Area residents are so concerned about environmental issues, and air quality in particular (Daily Planet, June 22). Currently, 95 percent of California residents live in areas where air quality failed to meet federal health standards last year, so air pollution is certainly a major problem statewide, and especially the Bay Area. Most of that pollution is due to automobiles (we’re adding 1.5 million new cars every year), so the only realistic long-term solution is to ensure that future cars pollute less. 

California’s Zero-Emission Vehicle program pollutes the development of hybrid, electric, and other clean-technology cars by requiring that 10 percent of new cars sold must be zero- (or near-zero) emission vehicles by 2003. Unfortunately, this program has been handcuffed in the past by automakers and the oil industry, whose lobbying got requirements for 1998 lifted, and the thing is threatening to happen again this year. Gov. Davis ought to support this 10 percent requirement in order to provide a long-term solution to the problem of air quality. 

Alan Keefer 

CALPIRG field manager 

Berkeley 

As expected, the Berkeley Unified School Board voted Wednesday night to place a school bond and a special tax measure on the November ballot. 

“We need to have good facilities for our students, we need to keep them safe and maintain them well, and that’s why we need to do this,” Director Ted Schultz said during deliberations. 

The board unanimously endorsed sending the two ballot measures to the voters. One is a $116.5 million school bond, which would pay for construction of new classrooms and upgrades of existing structures around the district. The other measure is a special tax that would provide an ongoing source of revenue for maintenance needs at school sites. That tax would charged homeowners 4.5 cents per square foot, and commercial properties would be charged 6.75 cents per square foot. 

The two items will return to the board, most likely at the next meeting, with official ballot language attached. All measures for the fall ballot must be delivered to the county by August, and Berkeley Unified School District officials say they want to get the items in well before the deadline. 

Several board members said they were willing to place both measures on the ballot because of the strong support indicated in a survey conducted by Santa Monica-based GLS Research. GLS found that nearly 80 percent of Berkeley voters surveyed would be willing to support a $125 million bond, and about 70 percent would support a special tax. 

If both measures appeared on the ballot, 47 percent would support both, 12 percent would vote against both, 21 would support only the bond, and 9 percent would support only the tax. 

Current state law requires a two-thirds approval for any bond or tax measure. 

The survey of 600 randomly selected registered voters was conducted May 29 through June 1, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. 

The proposed bond and tax are both below the levels supported in that survey, officials noted. 

The staff report presented to the school board included a list of proposed projects around the BUSD, but Manager of Facilities Planning Lew Jones reminded directors that the list is by no means a final documentation of how the money would be used. 

“This report is intended to give an overview of the costing methods of how we developed the numbers, not an attempt to determine the course of action by the school board,” he said. 

That appeared to reassure Board Vice President Terry Doran, who was concerned that the public might believe the board had already decided the details of how all of the $116.5 million from the bond and the $3.8 million annually from the special tax would be used. 

“I just want to make sure that in the language we finally adopt – because I’m 100 percent committed to working for this bond issue and tax – that it is neutral in terms of what we may do in any specific project,” he said. 

Of particular concern to board members were two projects cited in the report: allocation of funds for the Derby Street property at Martin Luther King Jr. Way, and demolition of the King Child Development Center facility. 

The former remains a politically hot topic in town – the board wants to close one block of Derby so a regulation baseball field can be built, but the City Council may be unwilling to support that plan – and the latter would get rid of a building that at least one board member believes can be renovated and retrofitted. 

Jones told the board that the ballot language will be written in such a way that it doesn’t commit the district to a specific course of action before an environmental study is initiated or completed.

The Shotgun Players will present a theatrical adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s coming-of-age epic, “The Jungle Book” on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. The play, adapted by King Middle School teacher Richard J. Silberg, will feature giant puppets, live music and theatrical acrobatics by Bay Area performers. 

Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for students and seniors and $5 for children under 12. For tickets and information, call 655-0813 or visit www.shotgunplayers.com.

Rick Young, the second-year Boalt Hall law student who has been protesting the university’s plans for construction of a three-story 1,000- to 1,400-car parking structure, will go to trial Aug. 4 on misdemeanor charges. 

District Attorney David Lim made an offer Wednesday morning for Young to plead guilty and receive one year probation. Young, who said he did not want to plead guilty and thought he could get a better offer, rejected the D.A.’s offer and will go to court Aug. 4 at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in Oakland at 9 a.m. 

In May, Young camped out on the lot on College Avenue as a protest. His goal was to do so until Chancellor Robert Berdahl agreed to meet with him. He was arrested May 19 for lodging in public and May 20 and 21 for trespassing. 

“I’m expecting this to be an educational experience,” Young said in a phone interview Thursday.

Rob Cunningham, who has served as editor of the Berkeley Daily Planet since its launch last year, will step down from his post on July 15, Publisher Arnold Lee announced today. Cunningham will be succeeded by Judith Scherr, who has worked as the newspaper’s lead reporter since May 1999. 

“Working as the Daily Planet’s editor has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience that’s given me a front-row seat to observe one of the most vibrant, exciting cities in the world,” Cunningham said. 

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned during my time here, it’s this: Berkeleyans are passionate people, and their passion is best seen in how zealously they get involved in community and neighborhood issues. Needless to say, that creates a wealth of stories for a newspaper to cover.” 

In addition to his responsibilities overseeing the Daily Planet’s newsroom, Cunningham has worked as the staff’s education reporter and chief photographer. He’s also been the primary designer of the news pages. 

“It goes without saying that we will miss Rob terribly,” Lee said. “He has been outstanding in terms of his leadership and extraordinary efforts in establishing the credibility and acceptance of the Berkeley Daily Planet. On a personal level, Rob is a truly wonderful person and friend. We all wish Rob the best in his ‘higher’ pursuits. 

“At the same time, we are incredibly fortunate and excited that we have an equally strong leader and editor in Judith Scherr. As anyone who reads the Daily Planet knows, Judith brings a unique combination of objective reporting skills and experience coupled with her deep understanding of the Berkeley community. All of us at the Daily Planet have enormous respect for Judith and are extremely excited about our continued growth under her direction.” 

Since its launch on April 7, 1999, the newspaper has more than doubled in the number of issues printed each day – from 5,000 to more than 10,000 – and the number of pages has nearly tripled – from eight pages per day to an average of 20 to 24 per day today. 

Prior to becoming editor of the Daily Planet, Cunningham had spent more than three years on the staff of the Turlock Journal, the daily newspaper in his hometown of Turlock in the Central Valley. His tenure include stints as a staff reporter, copy editor, city editor and managing editor. 

He’s a 1995 graduate of Evangel College in Springfield, Mo., where he earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism and biblical studies, with a sociology minor. 

“A lot of my friends, when they heard I was moving to Berkeley, said I was the unlikeliest of editors for a city like this, and in some ways, they were right,” Cunningham said. “But I’ve learned that readers in Berkeley are as hungry for daily news about their community as readers in any other town.” 

After leaving the Daily Planet, Cunningham will spend several weeks on the road – “much needed vacation,” he says – and then will leave for a four-month stay in Athens, Greece, where he will work with some longtime friends who are missionaries. His responsibilities will include teaching a journalism class and a host of computer-related production assignments. He intends to return to California for a to-be-determined job, most likely working with a church in some capacity. 

Scherr has worked as a reporter for about 10 years, freelancing for two years while continuing to teach special education. She then worked for The Montclarion and the Contra Costa News Agency, followed by a year of free-lance reporting with the San Francisco Chronicle, City Search, the Berkeley Monthly, and Asian Week. 

A Berkeley resident for 26 years, Scherr is looking forward to expanding the paper’s coverage to yet untapped dimensions of the city, as the staff expands. 

“Berkeley is a planet rich with people from all over the globe,” she said. “Its citizens are active in so many spheres – they love their work, they fight for their neighborhoods, they care about their schools and parks. Their communities are religious, political, familial. When it all works, our community is beautiful. When it doesn’t, we hope the Daily Planet will be there to say why.” 

When Scherr shifts into the editor’s post, she will leave behind her full-time duties as the city reporter. She has but one regret in making the move: “I will miss those six-hour council meetings.”

Resources for Community Development, a Berkeley-based organization that builds affordable housing, is having a grand opening of Miramar Court and the Mariposa Apartments at Alameda Point, the former Alameda Naval Air Station on June 29 from 4-6 p.m. 

Representatives from several lawmakers’ offices will speak at the event. 

The development consists of 32 housing units for Navy personnel, which has been transformed into affordable housing for formerly homeless survivors of domestic violence and people living with HIV/AIDS.

Ah Paris – the city that has never heard of soap, deodorant, pooper-scoopers or artistic constraints. 

It’s because of the city’s rightful position as an artistic Mecca – and not because of the other three things, hopefully – that Berkeley Alternative High School art teacher Larry Stefl and his student Michiael Jamison are so jazzed about their upcoming trip to Paris. 

Stefl and Jamison are two of several local art teachers and students invited to participate in a two-week workshop and cultural exchange orchestrated by renowned painter and California College of Arts and Crafts professor Raymond Saunders. The high school students and teachers will work alongside Cité Université, Paris students taking a class taught by Saunders, who maintains studios in both Oakland and Paris. 

“We’ll have studio space, and for two weeks we’ll be working daily in the studio doing art, interacting, doing critiques, reviewing each others’ work, hanging out and, in the evenings, probably doing more informal kinds of exchanges,” says Stefl, an art and poetry teacher at BAHS for the past seven years. “A lot of it will be working independently, yet side-by-side. Michiael is going to be working with drawing, painting, different media, acrylic, charcoal and he’s going to take some unstretched canvases he can roll up.” 

Stefl said he selected Jamison, 15, for the trip because the junior-to-be is a good student, has shown a great deal of interest in art and is “able to follow directions, listen and take advantage of this opportunity. Just a very good kid.” 

In addition to studio time, Stefl hopes to make day trips to the multitude of Paris locales caught forever as the backdrops for some of the world’s great paintings. The art teacher is especially hoping to make the trek to Giverny, where Claude Monet drew the inspiration for his famed painting of water lilies. In addition, It would be criminal for art students to travel all the way to Paris and not make a trip to the city’s many museums. 

“We’re definitely going to utilize the museums,” says Stefl, who leaves with Jamison for Saunders’ class “Concept, a Visual Jazz Poem, Studo/Atelier, France as Site” on July 1. “I remember I was in Paris 17 years ago, and one of the highlights was seeing the impressionist paintings of Monet, Cezanne, Degas, Gauguin … To go see the masters firsthand, wow! As an artist, an art student, it’s so important to see the original masters.” 

In addition to seeing art and doing art Stefl and Jamison will be working with a number of artists invited to the cultural exchange by Saunders, including Oliver Jackson and “well-known unknown” artist and sculptor JoeSam, whose relief sculptures adorn Berkeley Alternative High School’s quad. 

Stefl smiles when he recalls an earlier meeting between Jamison and Jackson. When the student asked the artist what kinds of things he should bring to Paris, Jackson replied, “You don’t have to worry about bringing things, just be there and drink in the atmosphere.” 

“This could be a very exciting, life-changing opportunity for the people participating,” says Stefl. “It’ll be something the students never forget.” 

A Raymond Saunders painting is up for sale, with the intention of the profits funding the trip to France for local students and teachers. 

Those interested in obtaining the painting – which is valued at $25,000 – should contact Tamra Converse at (510) 763-6362.

Two incidents of vandalism occurred this week in the Safeway supermarket at 1444 Shattuck Ave. 

On Tuesday store employees found the head of a deer in the supermarket’s meat case. Berkeley Police Lt. Russell Lopes said Thursday a report on this incident is not available at the present time. 

On Wednesday, the store manager stepped into the freight elevator in the market’s underground garage sometime between noon and 1 p.m. 

She discovered that the control panel door had been removed and the wires had been cut, Lopes said. 

The manager did not know if the deer’s head had any connection with the malicious damage in the elevator, and the store manager did not mention any personnel problems.

Phone repairs taking time 

SAN BRUNO – Pacific Bell officials said Wednesday they expect it will take at least two weeks to restore service to 25,000 phone lines affected by a fire which severed 27 cables in a San Bruno communications vault. 

Spokesman Rodd Aubrey said damage from Monday’s fire was more extensive than originally thought, adding that the procedure for repairing the cut cables requires splicing and testing each line one by one. The small space surrounding the vault has further complicated matters. Only two workers could fit into the hole surrounding the vault until Tuesday, when the company brought out a backhoe to enlarge the work space. Seven splicers are now on the scene working around the clock to repair the lines, he said. 

The fire was apparently caused by sparks from BART workers welding steel pillars at a nearby construction site for the agency’s airport extension project. BART spokesman Ron Rodriguez said the transit agency is still in the process of conducting an investigation into the fire’s origin. 

Emergency 911 service has been restored to parts of the Peninsula that lost the service for more than five hours Monday evening as a result of the blaze. 

Murder trail delayed 

REDWOOD CITY – Attorneys agreed Wednesday to delay setting a trial date in the case of Mohammed Haroon Ali, accused of murdering his girlfriend, the daughter of former Oakland Raiders great Fred Biletnikoff. 

The 24-year-old Ali is accused of strangling Tracey Biletnikoff in February 1999, then dumping the 20-year-old’s partially clad body near a parking lot at Canada College in Woodside. The pair had been dating for several months when the killing occurred. 

Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe agreed to postpone the hearing until Sept. 22, which would allow Buenaventura to resolve matters in the other case. Ali is being held without bail at the San Mateo County Jail. 

Child porn arrest made 

HAYWARD – The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Alameda County Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Task Force have arrested a Hayward man on charges of possessing and transporting child pornography. 

Postal Inspector Linda Joe said Chester Eric Gossett, 24, allegedly contacted an Internet bulletin board in February this year, advertising teen and preteen sex videos. Joe said Gossett allegedly corresponded with agents via e-mail, expressing interest in some videos. In exchange he sent, via U.S. Mail, computer diskettes with 149 images of minors in sexually explicit poses. During the arrest Tuesday, a search of Gossett’s residence resulted in the seizure of photographs, videotapes, a computer and computer equipment, according to Joe. 

– Bay City News Service

Two new vice provosts at UC Berkeley, who will play central roles in academic administration, have been selected, officials announced Tuesday. 

History and economics professor Jan de Vries will oversee academic affairs and faculty welfare while engineering professor William C. Webster will take the lead for academic planning and facilities. 

“I am delighted that Jan de Vries and Bill Webster have agreed to serve in these senior positions. The foundations of Berkeley’s excellence have always been the faculty and the quality of the education we provide. With these appointments, our faculty and our students will be well served,” Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl said in a statement announcing the appointments. 

The vice provost positions, which are pending the UC Regents’ approval, are key components of a restructuring of the senior administration that is aimed at seizing opportunities in teaching, technology and research as UC Berkeley moves into the 21st century. 

“Jan de Vries and Bill Webster know this campus, its faculty and its academic mission inside and out. But what impresses me most is their commitment to ensuring that the future of UC Berkeley is as distinguished as its past. I could not have asked for two more experienced and skillful partners,” Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Designate Paul R. Gray, who will assume his post on July 1, said in the university news release. 

With the appointment in the near future of a vice provost for undergraduate education and instructional technology, the new senior management team will be complete. Earlier it was announced that professor Mary Beth Burnside will become vice chancellor for research in January 2001 and that Mary Ann Mason, a professor of social welfare, will become dean of the Graduate Division on Aug. 1. 

As vice provost for academic affairs and faculty welfare, de Vries will be responsible for all aspects of the academic personnel process for UC Berkeley’s 2,500 faculty members. He also will provide leadership in academic affirmative action and will oversee the offices of Academic Compliance and Faculty Equity Assistance. 

“In the coming years, we must renew and further develop the best faculty in the world. I can’t think of a greater academic responsibility and look forward to the challenge it represents,” said de Vries. 

A UC Berkeley faculty member since 1973, de Vries, 56, is the Sidney Hellman Ehrman Professor of European History and a professor of economics. He served as interim dean of the social sciences in 1999 and was chairman of the history department from 1987 to 1991. He recently was awarded the A.H. Heineken Prize for History and has published widely on European and Dutch economic history. 

Webster, who served as the associate dean of the College of Engineering from 1991 to 1999, will assume primary responsibility for planning, coordinating and implementing academic planning initiatives as the vice provost for academic planning and facilities. 

He will also be responsible for operations of self-supporting academic units, including University Extension and Summer Sessions. 

“What excites me about this new position is the opportunity to help determine what the ‘shape’ of the university should be so that we can better address the problems and opportunities California and the world will face in the coming decades,” said Webster.  

In addition to a number of positions in academic administration, Webster, 62, is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, has been a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley since 1969 and holds the James Fife Chair in the department. 

He is a world-recognized expert in the motion of ships and off-shore platforms such as oil rigs and floating airport run

Peter Gooderham, Counsellor of Politico-Military/European Affairs at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., will be the featured speaker at a noontime lecture Thursday on the UC Berkeley campus. 

His topic will be “A European Defense Identity: What Does It Mean for America?” The talk, sponsored by the Institute for Governmental Studies, will be held at noon in 119 Moses Hall. 

Gooderham joined the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1983. The main focus of his career has been on defense and security issues. He served as a member of the UK Delegation to NATO from 1985 to 1987, working principally on arms control questions. He was Deputy Head of the FCO’s Security Policy Department from 1993-96, overseeing British policy toward NATO and the Western European Union. 

Before taking up his position in the Washington Embassy, Gooderham worked as Counsellor (Economic, Social and Environment) at the UK Mission to the UN in New York from 1996 to 1999. 

Gooderham is a graduate in Politics and Economics from Newcastle University in England. Prior to joining the British Diplomatic Service he completed a Ph.D. thesis at Bristol University in modern Russian and Soviet history. His research took him to Moscow State University, where he was a British Council exchange scholar from 1978-79. 

For more information call 510-642-4608 or visit the IGS web site at www.igs.berkeley.edu:8880

Drop off hazardous waste

OAKLAND – Alameda County residents can safely and conveniently dispose hazardous household products such as points, cleaners, automotive products and pesticides at locations in Oakland, Hayward and Livermore. Each facility is open for drop-off on specific days, with no appointment necessary and no charge. 

The drop-off dates for the third quarter of 2000 are: 

Oakland (2100 East 7th Street): July 6, 7, 8, Aug. 10, 11, 12, Sept. 7, 8, 9. 

Hayward (2091 W. Winton Ave.): July 1, 22, 27, 28, 29, Aug. 3, 4, 5, 26, 31, Sept. 1, 2, 23, 28, 29, 30. 

Livermore (5584 La Ribera St.): July 13, 14, 15, Aug. 17, 18, 19, Sept. 14, 15, 16. 

The operating hours at each facility are from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays, and 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Saturdays. Residents are urged to call the Household Hazardous Waste Program at (800) 606-6606 to confirm hours of operation and any special handling requirements. For more information, residents may also call the Alameda County Recycling Hotline at 1-877-STOPWASTE. 

Children perform concert

The Kairos Youth Choir will host the East Bay Children’s Choral Festival Culminating Concert on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the First Congregational Church at Channing Way and Dana Street. Tickets are $10. 

For more information call 559-6910. 

Authors’ series continues

The Jewish Learning Center Authors’ Series in the Library presents Robert Alter’s “The David Story” Sunday, July 9 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. For information, call 848-0237 ext. 236. 

Jewish history explored

The Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center presents “In Our Own Hands,” the hidden story of the Jewish Brigade in World War II, Sunday, July 15 at 2 p.m. There will be a peer-led discussion following the movie. There is a suggested donation of $2. JCC is located at 1414 Walnut St., call 848-0237 for information. 

Lupus workshop planned

SAN FRANCISCO – The Lupus Foundation of Northern California, also known as the Bay Area Lupus Foundation (BALF), is holding its first all-day educational class in San Francisco on Saturday, July 15. 

The educational class provides lupus patients with a better understanding of the disease, diagnostic procedures and lab tests, current treatment methods and how to communicate more effectively with their physician and family. 

To register or for more information, lupus patients or a family member can call Barbara Dangerfield in the afternoons at 415-282-3032.

A woman seated on the trunk of her car at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in a commercial parking lot at 2930 Sacramento St., was threatened by a driver who drove toward her car at high speed.  

Driving a red Mazda, the suspect drove into the parking lot, saw the victim, and made a U-turn. She sped toward the victim, narrowly missing her car. Then the suspect stopped, got out of her car and challenged the victim to a fight, which did not occur. 

The suspect returned to her car and drove away, said Lt. Russell Lopes of the Berkeley Police Department. He said the victim made no mention of knowing the suspect in her statement to police. 

Sandra Sharrell Watson was apprehended at Stanton and Russell streets and was arrested on charges of assault with a deadly weapon.