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Having crossed the threshold into the (real) new millennium, we can look back at 2000 with a little perspective. In all it wasn’t a year of big changes. While there will be a new faces at the White House, Berkeley citizens voted in, pretty much, the status quo, keeping the balance of power on the council 4-5 in favor of the progressive coalition.  

In 2000, a beautiful new Public Safety Building was completed, but there’s still no good and accessible public meeting space for the City Council and School Board. We’ve been honored with the announcement that more than 90 percent of Berkeley women get prenatal health care, yet we have large numbers of low birth-weight babies in African American families. We talk about streamlining council meetings, but it’s all talk – leaving much to be done in 2001. 

January 

The year 2000 kicked off without the feared Y2K glitches. January saw the fight to unionize the Radisson Hotel move into the courts, where management lost an attempt to restrain workers from union organizing work.  

January also saw the city abandon plans for a saltwater firefighting system – plans which had already cost taxpayers a cool $1.3 million. 

That month Berkeley High students got something rare – formal apologies from the Berkeley Police Department. The BPD had been rounding up students, putting into paddy wagons those who were tardy in their return to class after lunch. 

The first month of the year also saw millionaire landlord Lakireddy Bali Reddy arraigned on charges of sexual misconduct and bringing aliens to the country illegally. 

February 

In February, the community was alerted that its superintendent of schools was looking for a new job. He had been in the race for the post in Oakland, but withdrew. Toward the end of the month, the Daily Planet learned that, once again, Superintendent Jack McLaughlin had withdrawn him name from a superintendent’s race – this time the district was Salem, Ore. 

On the bright side of the news, the southeast Berkeley community celebrated a row of Santa Rosa lights that dotted a crosswalk to alert cars to pedestrians crossing Claremont Avenue. 

March 

February and early March saw a number of youth-led marches through the streets of Berkeley, protesting Proposition 21, which would have young people tried as adults. The measure won in the state-wide election, while losing here.  

That month Berkeley teachers and the schools administration came to an impasse in negotiations for a new contract and called for a mediator to step in. 

April 

In the Daily Planet’s April 1 edition, we reported on developer Patrick Kennedy’s public relations blitz for a development on the parking lot at Oxford and Addison streets. At the time, the city had not yet called for proposals on the lot which it owns.  

Also in April, the community living near the new Public Safety Building woke up one morning to find itself staring at a 170-feet high communications tower. They’ve been trying to get rid of it every since. The city’s hired a consultant to help. 

During the first week of the month, a small arson fire was reported at Berkeley High School. The next week, a major fire severely damaged the school’s administration building. 

April also saw the UC Berkeley administration unveil plans for the Underhill Area, which would include a new 1,400-car parking structure, new university offices, a dining commons and new student dorms on the site of the old dining halls. 

May 

May was a good month for the management of Alta Bates/Summit Medical Center. A challenge by Attorney General Bill Lockyer to a lower court ruling on the merger was denied by a federal appeals court judge. The merger was finalized. 

The schools superintendent was job hunting again. On May 10, former Planet editor Rob Cunningham wrote: “Berkeley Schools Superintendent Jack McLaughlin has kept his word – in a manner of speaking. In late February, after withdrawing his name from the list of candidates for a superintendent post in Salem, Ore., McLaughlin said that he wouldn’t pursue jobs in any other district except San Francisco.” The next week, the Planet reported that McLaughlin was edged out of the running for the S.F. post. 

Also in May, KPFA activist Kahlil Jacobs-Fantauzzi was found not guilty having been charged with obstructing or delaying a police officer. Charges stemmed from the previous summer’s demonstrations outside the listener-sponsored radio station.  

In the middle of the month, UC Berkeley law student Rick Young took a sledge hammer to an old car he had brought to the Underhill Parking lot, to protest the university’s plans to develop the lot. Young argued that because the lot was close to campus, it only made sense for the area to be reserved for student housing. Over the summer Young camped out in the lot to make his point, was arrested a number of times and finally had the charges dropped in the fall. 

Not to be outdone by a superintendent in search of greener pastures, City Manager Jim Keene was looking at a post in Tucson, which he accepted in June. 

June 

The school board settled with its teachers for an 11.5 percent wage hike over two years, averting a strike. 

Berkeley made the regional papers when Councilmember Betty Olds called for a ban on cell phones for cyclists. Critical mass cyclists responded with a ride where participants carried mock phones. Olds dropped her resolution. 

A tough academic year at Berkeley High was topped off by a scandal that involved students changing grades at the high school. The principal announced her departure from the school. 

The same month, active residents who live near Memorial Stadium vociferously protested Fox TV’s offer to give the university permanent lights for the stadium. After a number of meetings with the community, the university has not moved ahead with the plan. 

After more than a year’s work on the question, the city approved a “living wage” for most workers whose employers contract with the city. The wage was set at $9.75 per hour plus $1.62 for health benefits. 

July 

In July, students held “movie-ins” at Underhill to protest the University’s development plans. 

August 

In August neighbors of the Oaks Theater got together to protest cell-phone antennas slated to be affixed to the theater. 

In one of the greatest tragedies of the year, a rented house on Martin Luther King Way went up in flames, killing UC Berkeley student Azalea Jusay and her parents. 

Later in August Councilmember Margaret Breland revealed she had breast cancer, but that she would continue to be in the council race. 

September 

In September, the city decided to recycle plastics, ending a years long fight not to do so. 

Also that month, the UC Regents approved the construction of a three-story building on a university-owned lot at Oxford Street and Hearst Avenue. The city and nearby residents opposed the plan. 

October 

In October council approved landmarking the West Berkeley Shellmound over objections by some people who own property in the area. 

November 

In November the city mourned the loss of life-long resident, environmentalist David Brower and planned to name a street and a day to honor him. 

The Zoning Adjustments Board voted down a controversial housing project at 2700 San Pablo Ave. The developer, Patrick Kennedy, had said he would appeal to the council, but, instead, may be revising the plans instead. 

Toward the end of the month, work on the Harrison Street skate park project was halted when chromium 6 was found in ground water that had been drawn into the skate bowls. 

At the end of the month, hundreds of people protested the visit of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. When they blocked the entrance to the Community Theater at Berkeley High, the speech was canceled. 

December 

The Radisson Hotel negotiated a contract with its workers. Management called it “win-win.” 

Four Landmarks Preservation Commission Boardmembers, also members of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Alliance, are barred by the city attorney from participating in a LPS vote on a Beth El Synagogue development on which BAHA had made a recommendation. 

The schools superintendent finally found a new job. He’ll be heading the state school system in Nevada. 

The Zoning Adjustment Board approved the environmental report for the Beth El project. 

City Hall still hasn’t opened. Its delays are costing tax payers some $2 million. 

What’s in store for 2001? Perhaps it’s up to all of us to write the plan...