The cash-strapped city of Albany is considering building a sprawling retail complex on its southern border with Berkeley. The project threatens to create traffic hazards on the Gilman Interchange.  

Target Stores, Inc. submitted plans to the Albany Planning Department in early February. The proposed project calls for 179,000 square feet of retail space that will include a two-story Target Store, garden center and a fast food restaurant.  

In addition, a 600-space parking lot is planned over a culverted section of Village Creek. The project is expected to generate 11,000 vehicle trips a day, according to a traffic report compiled by the traffic engineering company, Kimley-Horn and Associates. 

City Councilmember Dona Spring said the project should be reconsidered because of the large amount of traffic it would cause.  

“Any project with that much parking can hardly be what you would call smart growth,” Spring said. “And all the extra traffic swamp the Gilman Interchange.” 

Assistant City Manager for Transportation Peter Hillier said that without a traffic signal or traffic circle at the Gilman Interchange, drivers waiting to merge into the Gilman Interchange from Eastshore Highway could become frustrated and take unnecessary risks. 

“It’s a very old and awkward intersection and the traffic engineering report the city of Albany ordered, surprisingly, did not take into consideration the increased risk of collisions or suggest possible mitigations,” Hillier said. 

The city of Berkeley has submitted a proposal to improve the interchange, but Hillier said any potential improvements are at least five years off. 

The proposed 10-acre site runs along the railroad tracks between UC Village and the Eastshore Highway. The Berkeley Solid Waste Transfer Station is immediately south of the site and the Harrison Playing Fields — which include four popular soccer fields — are also close by.  

Community Environmental Advisory Commissioner LA Wood said he was surprised at project’s location. “I was surprised to see it so close to the transfer station that has had issues of airborne particulate matter and odors.” 

The traffic report also cited poor access for emergency vehicles on the south and east sides of the main building and suggested an emergency access be added to the plans.  

The Albany Planning Commission has not yet considered the plan, but there is political support among the city’s elected officials. 

Mayor Jewel Okawachi said Albany, which has a population of 18,000 and is known for its small-town ambiance, could use an infusion of retail revenue.  

“We’ve wanted some type of business to generate revenue and (179,000 square feet) of retail will be helpful,” Okawachi said.  

The city has considered two other projects for the site since 1998. Both, a cinema complex and retail development and an office park, were canceled by the developers.  

According to Albany’s planning manager, David Dowswell, the city is working with Target Stores, Inc. to resolve the traffic and access problems.  

“We’re in the process of working out the traffic impacts,” he said. “Once we come to a meeting of the minds, we’ll bring the project to the Planning Commission.” 

In the past, proposed buildings or parking lots over culverted creeks have been controversial. In this case, however, the Friends of Five Creeks — a nonprofit group that advocates for the restoration and protection of creeks and watersheds — has worked with the property owners, TMG Partners, since the office complex was proposed in 2000. 

Susan Schwartz, president of Friends of Five Creeks, said she does not anticipate much negative impact on the two creeks that run through the proposed site.  

“The plan was pretty good when they submitted it,” she said. “But we would like to see a little more setback from the banks of Codornices Creek, and we would also like a wooden footbridge across the open section of the Village Creek wetland so people could enjoy it.”

FOR SHAME 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The following is a copy of a letter sent to the San Francisco Chronicle and addressed to Executive Editor Phil Bronstein, and Managing Editor Robert Rosenthal: 

I am horrified that the San Francisco Chronicle suspended Mr. Henry Norr, columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, for joining in a peace demonstration in San Francisco. 

What is the press coming to? 

I thought in America there was something called a “free press.” Obviously the San Francisco Chronicle is not one of that group. 

Is the current American government’s war of occupation of Iraq curtailing the information the American citizens receive? This is really the beginning of something quite terrible. The Chronicle cannot pretend to be sending its readers the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth if it begins to punish its employees for doing what they are free to do in their personal time and thereby preventing the reading public’s hearing those points of view. 

Whenever I read the San Francisco Chronicle in the future I will know I am not reading the whole story — only what you wish us to read. Shame! 

Wendy Markel 

• 

IMPROVE TRANSIT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It is good to see the empty lots on main streets becoming useful housing and businesses.  

Unfortunately, the infrastructure changes promised, planned or even required to accompany these new developments have not materialized. 

Maybe, now that building is booming, funds now designated for development fee waivers could be used to materialize the alternative transportation improvements (protected crossing medians, sidewalk extensions, tree plantings, bus stop enhancements, traffic calming). In this way, transit-friendly development could then start to become a reality. 

Wendy Alfsen 

• 

APOLOGY? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As the protest organizers sort through their next moves, they might consider urging an apology from the Green Party. I’ve yet to hear any embarrassment from them over the role they played in the election, which brought about our current nightmare. 

Carol Denney 

• 

LAB INSIGHT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A proposed Molecular Foundry project at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories inspires this insight: 

That the Department of Energy research facility has effectively intimidated City Council and many Berkeley residents into believing that scientists are the only group worthy of an opinion about environmental planning and anticipated impacts from lab-related projects. 

My own opinion is that a project undergoing environmental review pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act should be explained to the public by the environmental planning coordinator rather than a scientist who has a stake in the successful environmental review of the project. 

Janice Thomas 

• 

WELCOME BACK 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was happily surprised when somebody at the Ashby BART entrance thrust a new Daily Planet into my hands as I hurried to catch a train to San Francisco. I missed it while it was gone. 

When I opened it, I was really delighted to find it’s been taken over by people who can write so beautifully, sensitively and progressively about the things that mean so much to me. The editorial moved me to tears. Even the comics are precious. 

I’m going to save my copy away with other important documents. Thank you for fine journalism. 

Barbara Michel 

The Berkeley Daily Planet accepts Letters to the Editor at opinion@berkeleydailyplanet.com. Letters also can be mailed to 3023A Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705. Please include address and phone number for contact purposes.

In recent weeks, Berkeley High School has been the site of a teach-in, a die-in and a walkout, among other anti-war activities. But thanks to Michael and Vicki Larrick, it all happened in the shadow of an American flag. 

The couple, parents of a freshman and conservatives in a liberal haven, noticed this fall that the school had no outdoor flag and very few classroom flags. They pressured the school district to conform with state law requiring a “suitable Flag of the United States” outside every school and “smaller and suitable” flags in each classroom. 

“If you’re not going to keep politics out of the classroom, at least abide by the law,” said Vicki Larrick, explaining her position. 

After the couple complained the school district moved quickly to put a flag in the courtyard, explaining they had taken down Old Glory two years ago at the start of a campus construction project and neglected to put it up again. 

A quick survey of most of Berkeley’s elementary and middle schools found most had a flag flying out front. Berkeley Arts Magnet Elementary School, according to a school secretary, is missing a flag because its pole is temporarily broken. 

But many classrooms at Berkeley High and around the district still do not hang an American flag by the chalkboard. District spokesman Mark Coplan said the central office ordered 371 classroom flags in the fall. But high demand since Sept. 11, 2001, has delayed the shipment, he said. 

Many parents, teachers and students are less than thrilled by the prospect of hoisting flags during a war that most Berkeley residents oppose. 

“I think that the issue of waving the flag right now does tend to represent support for what the government is doing,” said Annie Johnston, a Berkeley High School history teacher. Putting up the flag “sends a message, and it’s not a message that a lot of students in my classroom would be comfortable with.” 

But Superintendent Michele Lawrence said the district must comply with the law. 

“My personal views and those of the Board of Education can’t supersede the Education Code,” she said. “As a result, flags have to go in because we are in violation and we’ve been called on it.” 

Vince Rios, a Vietnam War veteran and officer with the American Legion in San Francisco, said mere compliance with the law is not the only reason to fly a flag. 

“This is something that should have been done voluntarily long ago,” he said. The flag “is part and parcel of American life. It’s as important to school kids as it is to have their mother’s and father’s portrait up.” 

Board of Education Director Terry Doran, who opposes the war, said he has no problem flying the flag, arguing that it need not suggest support for the invasion of Iraq. 

“I think the flag represents the best of America — the right to express differences of opinion,” he said. 

Most students said they didn’t notice the hoisting of the flag and have paid little attention to the “patriotic quote of the day” that now adorns the daily student bulletin. 

The district, after complaints from the Larricks, put the quote in place to satisfy a state requirement for “appropriate patriotic exercises” at the start of the school day — a requirement normally met with the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. 

“It’s kind of intrusive, really, but we do live in America,” said Berkeley High senior James Foley of the reappearance of the flag. 

The Larricks said raising the flag is just a small part of a larger push to win balance in the classroom. They argue that Berkeley High teachers are using the classroom as a soapbox to express their liberal political views. 

“I just want to make sure my child is getting a well-rounded education,” said Michael Larrick. “I basically have to re-educate my kid every day.” 

Larrick pointed to a pair of incidents — the distribution of a petition in his daughter’s English class asking students to “support the struggles of the gay community” and a poster in Johnston’s history class equating California’s “three strikes” law with slavery. 

“Here’s a law that was put through by the democratic process and was recently upheld by the Supreme Court,” Larrick said. 

“They really don’t have a basis to criticize or critique my teaching,” said Johnston, who does not teach the Larricks’ daughter. “Putting provocative posters on the wall is part of keeping my students on their toes.” 

Students agreed that teachers regularly voice their own political views — usually liberal, but sometimes conservative — particularly in this time of war. Some teachers, whatever their stated beliefs, work to lead a balanced discussion but others do not, students said. 

“They’re teaching us what to think and not how to think,” said senior Joseph Manoleas. “The war is an awful thing, but I want to hear what the right wing is thinking.” 

School board directors said balance in the classroom is important, but defended teachers’ rights to speak their minds in an appropriate manner. 

“I think the teacher has a right to express his or her opinion as long as it’s expressed as his or her opinion,” said board Director John Selawsky.

Thursday’s Chronicle Op-Ed page featured a column by a smiling fellow identified as a Readers’ Representative, entitled “Credibility at Stake.” The title was right; the column was flat wrong. His conclusion: “If it were up to me … the sign over the entrance to The Chronicle would read ‘Check your activism at the door.’” 

The author, despite his title, is a Chronicle management employee; he describes himself as having spent years as a reporter and editor. In this connection, I should here identify my own perspective. I am actually a member of an endangered species, a Chronicle reader, and I confess that I have been since 1959. And you know what? Dick Rogers doesn’t represent me, or, I suspect, most other Chronicle readers.  

His piece refers to letters the Chronicle has received criticizing their suspension of technology columnist Henry Norr for demonstrating against the Iraq war. We readers might have liked to read these letters, but for some reason they never made it into the paper. (One which was copied to the Planet is reprinted here.) At first the story about Norr’s suspension didn’t make it into the Chronicle either, though it was picked up by Reuters and the SF Mercury and has been burning up the ‘blogs on the Internet. When Tuesday’s Planet (many of whose readers also read the Chronicle) printed Norr’s comments on what happened to him, the Chronicle was finally forced to take official notice of reader outrage. 

I’ve been a dedicated reader of Henry Norr’s trenchant dissections of technology innovations since my days as a high-tech executive, even before he was hired by the Chronicle. No other tech columnist comes close to his combination of technical savvy with literate prose. He provides the information that computer users need, and does it elegantly. There is absolutely no connection between his beat and his opinion on the Iraq invasion. As his reader, I was surprised to hear about his strong anti-war opinions, except of course that I did know he’s a very smart guy. Why should readers be deprived of Henry Norr’s excellent advice because he demonstrates against foreign policy? As we used to say in the tech biz, it doesn’t compute. 

And what if there were a connection between a writer’s beliefs and his or her beat?  

Let’s suppose that, for example, a financial reporter, who personally opposes the Iraq invasion on moral grounds, concludes that the recent behavior of the stock market was influenced by investors’ war jitters. Should she suppress this analysis in her stories? As a reader and investor, I would object to that. Does it make any additional difference if she also went to an anti-war candlelight vigil in her neighborhood last Sunday night? Why should it? 

Rogers’ piece lays out what I call the “Greater Eunuch” theory of journalism: that the public is better served if newsies check their cojones at the door. Reporters should of course do their level best to keep their own ideas from influencing what they put in news stories. But papers should be written by humans, not robots. It’s easier to leave your own biases out of news if you know what they are. And strongly held opinions add flavor to pieces that are not just straight news reports. 

The most interesting part of most papers, including the Chronicle, is the opinionated section: the Robert  

Scheers, the Molly Ivins, the Jon Carrolls, the Arianna Huffingtons. Old readers remember Herb Caen’s excellent columns against the Vietnam War. 

Arianna’s years as a conservative true believer, including participating in her then husband’s gubernatorial campaign, lend credibility to her recent role of critic of the excesses of capitalism. Should Bob Scheer be barred from the Chronicle because he once ran for Congress in Berkeley? Of course not. One of the reasons he was an excellent reporter for the L.A. Times was that he’d seen politics from both sides of the camera, and thus was hard for politicians to fool. 

I was a political activist and even managed campaigns before I became a journalist. I ran a business after I was a journalist. Meanwhile, I raised three kids who went to the Berkeley schools. I know a lot about why the public schools are constantly running out of money because of my years in the PTO — a lot more than the kind of reporter whose main news source is the superintendent’s office. 

Experience has convinced me that the public is best informed by people who from time to time cross over the line between participant and observer, not by journalists whose views have always been from the sidelines and never from the field.

Residents and officials from American Baptist Seminary of the West squared off Tuesday over the seminary’s proposed campus expansion in the Benvenue neighborhood. 

A capacity crowd filled the City Council Chambers Tuesday for a public hearing on the plans.  

The seminary has proposed three projects on the theological campus in the 2500 block of Benvenue Avenue. They include demolishing two turn-of-the-century cottages to make way for a new five-story building and the retrofit and reconfiguration of two existing buildings.  

The Zoning Adjustments Board approved use permits for the proposed projects last June. The board’s decision was challenged by neighbors of the project, Sharon Hudson and David Baker, who filed an appeal on behalf of the Benvenue Neighborhood Association. 

The three projects will add 41 new dwelling units, a 22-bed dormitory, classrooms, some office space and a 48-car garage to the seminary campus.  

After listening to arguments from both sides, City Council closed the public hearing well after midnight but is not expected to make a decision on the project until the meeting next Tuesday.  

Seminary representatives said the development is needed to provide housing for students, faculty and staff.  

Neighbors argued the scale of the project is too large and will change the residential ambiance of Hillegass and Benvenue avenues. They also claimed the two cottages marked for demolition have historical significance and would be a loss to Berkeley’s architectural heritage. 

The seminary is located four blocks south of the UC Berkeley campus on roughly half a block bounded by Dwight Way and Hillegass and Benvenue avenues. Currently on site are 11 buildings, which are used as classrooms, offices and housing for students, staff and faculty. 

Seminary President Rev. Keith Russell said project approval will improve safety in the two existing buildings in the event of an earthquake and will alleviate the seminary’s housing shortage.  

“Primarily this is about housing, affordable housing, that will be used exclusively for students, staff and faculty,” Russell said. “We also have two buildings that have to be renovated and restored. There is a safety issue that puts our students at risk.” 

The proposal calls for eight affordable dwelling units and five affordable dormitory beds. But a letter from a seminary attorney included in the council’s communications claimed the residential rents are not subject to affordable housing regulations and can be raised any time after construction.  

A group of neighbors said they opposed the 65-foot-tall building proposed for 2514 Benvenue Ave. David Baker, who lives in the area, argued that the institutional building will transform the avenue’s residential nature. 

“This building is nearly three times larger than adjacent buildings, which are three stories,” he said. The building “will have a staggering impact on the Benvenue neighborhood and should be put on a traffic corridor.” 

Neighbors also argued that the two cottages — one built in 1899, the other in 1906 — are worth saving. The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved both cottages for historical status last year, but City Council rejected the approval because of a state law that forbids the landmarking of buildings owned by religious institutions.  

Neighbors said there is still enough evidence, including the documented support of seven UC professors, for the council to deem the cottages historically significant — or at least to order an Environmental Impact Report, under the Californian Environmental Quality Act.  

But architectural historian Tim Kelley, hired by the seminary, argued the buildings did not merit historical designation because they do not relate to any significant historical event, nor were they designed by an architect of note.  

Some councilmembers indicated they would support the project with some changes. Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmember Linda Maio said they were concerned about the height of the proposed five-story building.  

“I think I could support a project that was four stories tall,” Bates said.

Baghdad’s residents are being pounded by the U.S. military policy of shock and awe. Designed to be “the non-nuclear equivalent of the impact that atomic weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had on the Japanese,” the purpose is to “take the city down ... [until] they are physically, emotionally and psychologically exhausted.” President Bush describes this terrorism as liberation. 

Using the Bush Doctrine, another country could launch pre-emptive war against the United States. Since Bush is unelected and authoritarian, invokes false evidence, uses weapons of mass destruction (including depleted uranium, while threatening to use nuclear weapons), supports dictators and terrorists, violates international law, commits war crimes and menaces the global environment, another country could assemble a coalition of the willing to disarm Bush and liberate Americans. 

We do need to be liberated from Bush – though by active resistance and grassroots organizing, not war. 

Herb Caen once called San Francisco “Baghdad by the Bay.” If instead of Baghdad, San Francisco were attacked for Bush’s crimes, we would be the victims. Judging by the United States’ recent wars, we could picture some of the local targets in a war on San Francisco. 

During the first night, many government structures would be bombed and destroyed. City Hall, the State and Federal buildings, various courthouses, police stations and other leadership and command-control centers would be ablaze. Shortly thereafter, cruise missiles and massive bunker-busting bombs would fall on the Federal Reserve Building, the old Mint and the Transamerica Building, as well as on the Moscone Center, Civic and Masonic auditoriums and Embarcadero buildings – regardless of who was in them. 

Symbolic targets, including Coit Tower and the Ferry Building, might be bombed to demoralize us. Fire would be all around. Broken concrete, twisted metal and shattered glass would be everywhere. Smoke, dust and the stench of death would fill the air. 

Bridges would be bombed: the Bay, Golden Gate, San Mateo, Richmond-San Rafael and the Carquinez Straits. Based on military logic of cutting supply lines, disrupting communications and intimidation, bombs would target SBC and PG&E offices and stations; Sutro Tower and other antennae; television and radio stations; ISPs and technology companies. San Francisco International Airport, the piers and other targets of opportunity would be taken. BART, MUNI, Caltrans, the bus terminal and the Cable Car building would also be hit. Gas, water and sewer lines would be ruptured. 

We would be physically and electronically cut off. We would be scared. Some of us would be dying; others dead. 

Outside San Francisco, the oil refineries would be a major target. So would the Oakland Airport, industrial and technology companies, city halls and federal buildings, the Oakland Army Base and Alameda Naval Base, Fort Ord and other active and former bases. San Jose and Silicon Valley would receive heavy fire. The destruction and despair would be tremendous. Universities would not be spared; science and computer labs, weapons research and engineering centers, all would be decimated. 

Even if they were using smart bombs and precision missiles, we can extrapolate from U.S. warfare that there would be serious collateral damage against soft targets. Cruise missiles fired from ships would hit residential neighborhoods. Many people would be killed. 

The environment – air, soil, ocean, bay – would be terribly, possibly permanently, polluted with chemicals, toxic substances, poisonous gases, heavy metals and radioactivity. People would suffer inescapable mental and physical anguish for generations. 

Can you imagine the destruction and disarray, anxiety and terror, the blood and the crying? Can you imagine this in Baghdad by the Bay? Can you imagine similar scenarios in other American cities? Washington, D.C. New York. Los Angeles. Chicago. Boston. Despite the difficulty and distress, imagine what it would feel like. 

Then imagine Baghdad. And Basra, Nasiriyah, Mosul and other Iraqi cities. 

To those being bombed, the differences between Osama bin Laden and Bush are minimal. In the spirit of thinking globally and acting locally, I mourn for Baghdad while I organize in the Bay Area. 

Dan Brook teaches sociology part-time at UC Berkeley.

Women in Black Vigil, held every Friday from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft Way at Telegraph Ave. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 

548-6310, 845-1143. 

Singing for Peace at BART, 

A chance to voice your protest and prayers for peace, all voices and ages welcome. Bring friends, signs, drums and songs. From 4:45 to 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley BART station. For more information call Betsy Rose at 525-7082 or e-mail betsy@betsyrosemusic.org. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, held Fridays at noon. Sponsored by members of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. Meet on the grass close to the west entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions are welcome. Buddhist Peace Fellowship bpf@bpf.org. 496-6000, ext.135.  

Books Not Bombs, sponsored by UC Campus Anti-War network. Meet at 10 a.m. for a rally at Sproul Plaza; leave at 11 a.m. for a march down Telegraph Ave. 

Affordable Housing Rally 

For UC Berkeley Families begins at 11 a.m. at University Village Plaza. Family activities; speakers at noon, including State Assemblywoman Loni Hancock; Albany Mayor Jewel Okawachi; Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates. For information call Peter Brownell 525-0408 or Brent Ducker 610-2495. 

Sick Plant Clinic held from 9 a.m. to noon. UC Botanical Garden experts diagnose plant woes the first Saturday of every month. Service is free; held at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755. 

www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden 

Creating An Ecological House, with author Skip Wenz. A discussion of modeling houses on ecosystems, natural building materials, solar design and alternative construction methods. Held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Building Education Center, 312 Page St. Cost is $75. 

525-7610. 

Kids’ Garden Club: Pollinators, held from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Spring Ponds, an exploration of ponds to learn about spring life cycles. Participants will capture and release naiads, nymphs and maybe some newts. Held from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Soap party with surprises! A special party introducing new and unique hand-crafted soaps and home-spa products, with free brunch, networking, music, belly dancer. From 10 a.m. to noon at 1208 Peralta Ave. To RSVP or get more information, call Sonja 848-7305. 

Block Captains’ Workshop on Disaster Preparedness, held at 6 p.m. at the Public Safety Building, 2100 MLK Way. This annual event is designed to encourage contact between neighborhood block organizers. Comunity Services Bureau, 981-5808. 

Palma Soriano: Berkeley’s Cuban Sister City. Come see the video of the Berkeley delegation’s visit to Palma Soriano during the Week of Culture last December. Held from noon to 1 p.m., in the third floor meeting room of Berkeley Central Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100. 

In Our Own Hands: Reducing the Impacts of Climate Change in Berkeley, a discussion with Nathan E. Hultman (UC Berkeley Energy and Resources Group) on local, practical steps to reduce global warming. Begins at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. For reservations: 981-5435. 

energy@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Community Dances in Berkeley, traditional English and American dances, at 8 p.m. every Wednesday. Cost is $9. Also the first Sunday of the month at 7 p.m. for $10. Held at Grace North Church,  

2138 Cedar St. Mary 233-5065.  

www.bacds.org 

Amnesty International Berkeley Community Group 

meets the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7 p.m. Join human rights activists to promote social justice. Held at Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1606 Bonita Ave., at Cedar St. 872-0768. 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik. Cash prizes. Begins at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $7 at the door; $5 with student i.d. 841-2082. 

Berkeley Liberation Radio 104.1 FM holds public meetings for all interested people on the first and third 

Thursdays of the month. Meet at 7 p.m. at Long Haul Info Shop, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 595-0190. 

Disaster Preparedness Meeting, for community-based organizations, faith-based organizations and neighborhood associations, will be held from 10 a.m. to noon at the Erna P. Harris Court, 1330 University Ave. Reservations required. Please call 451-3140. Sponsored by Collaborating Agencies Responding to Disaster of Alameda County and BOSS.  

Town Hall Meeting on  

Neighborhood Disaster Resistance and Community Sustainability. Sponsored by Berkeley Fire Department and the city of Berkeley. Held from 7 to 9 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 

2727 College Ave. Contact 

Carol Lopes, 981-5514. 

Residential Green Building, a workshop for homeowners. Learn to reduce utility bills and use building materials that are healthier for family and the environment. From 6 to 8 p.m. at The Building Education Center, 812 Page St. at 6th St. Sponsored by Alameda County Waste Management Authority and Recycling Board. For information call Wes Sullens 614-1699 or e-mail wsullens@stopwaste.org. 

Residential Energy Conservation Contest, deadline April 10. If you are a Berkeley resident who has reduced your electrical energy use and has lived in the same location for at least one year you are eligible to enter the Berkeley Unplugged II contest and win one of several prizes. Winners will be announced at Berkeley Earth Day, April 19. For information and registration: Energy@ci.berkeley.ca.us, telephone 981-5435, or TDD 981-6903. 

Free Disaster Preparedness Classes, offered by the Berkeley Office of Emergency Services. Topics include basic personal preparedness, disaster first aid, light search and rescue, fire suppression, disaster mental health, shelter operations  

and earthquake retrofitting. 

Register online at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes.html or call 981-5605. 

Theater of the Oppressed 

with Julie Sparling, M.Ed. 

Theater of the Oppressed uses movement, storytelling and tableauz to explore how images of one’s personal experience reflect universal issues of power and change. At the YWCA, 2600 Bancroft Way, on Sundays April 6 through May 4 (excluding April 20), from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cost varies from $90 to $140. UC Berkeley Racial Justice program. 594-1377. 

Spring Break Theater Lab 

for middle school students, session one from April 7 to 11; session two from April 14 to 18. Runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Curriculum includes clowning/acrobatics, acting, improv, musical theater and hip hop. Cost is $250. 647-2978. 

school@berkeleyrep.org 

jseelig@berkeleyrep.org 

A Taste of Judaism, free classes on the basic tenets of Judaism. Sponsored by the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay. Registration required, classes through mid-May. 839-2900 ext. 347. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets every Tuesday at Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Begins at 7:30 p.m. Call Don, 525-3565. 

www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

City Council Special Meeting on Tuesday, April 8, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in City Council chambers, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk. 981-6900. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/default.htm 

City Council meets Tuesday, April 8, at 7 p.m. in City Council chambers, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk. 

981-6900. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/default.htm 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meets Monday, April 7 at 7 p.m. in City Council chambers, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Pam Wyche 644-6128, ext. 113. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/rent/  

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Monday, April 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. Gisele Sorensen, 981-7419. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/landmarks/default.htm  

Peace and Justice Commission meets Monday, April 7, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. Manuel Hector, 981-5510. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/peaceandjustice/default.htm 

Youth Commission meets Monday, April 7 at 6:30 p.m. 

at 1730 Oregon St. Philip Harper-Cotton, 981-6670. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/youth/default.htm  

Commission on Disability meets Wednesday, April 9, at 

6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. Paul Church, 981-6342.        www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/disability/default.htm 

Homeless Commission meets 

Wednesday, April 9, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. Jane Micallef, 981-5426. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/homeless/default.htm  

Planning Commission meets 

Wednesday, April 9, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. Ruth Grimes, 981-7481. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/planning/default.htm  

Police Review Commission meets Wednesday, April 9, at 

7:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. Barbara Attard, 981-4950. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/policereview/default.htm  

Waterfront Commission meets Wednesday, April 9, at 

7 p.m. at 201 University Ave. 

Cliff Marchetti, 644-6376, ext. 224. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/waterfront/default.htm  

Community Health Commission meets Thursday, April 10, from 6:45 to 9:30 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. William Rogers, 981-5344. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/health/default.htm  

Commission on Early Childhood Education meets Thursday, April 10, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. Marianne Graham, 981-5416. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/earlychildhoodeducation/default.htm  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thursday, April 10, at 

7 p.m. in City Council chambers, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/zoning/default.htm 

The Berkeley Daily Planet prints listings in the community calendar on a space-available basis. Send information at least two weeks in advance. E-mail calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.com; fax 841-5695, or phone 841-5600, ext. 102. 

Even as the country has been plunged into a war, something positive might still come out of all this. Whatever the outcome of the pending crises, and whatever their duration, a significant portion of this country just may have been reawakened to become active, involved participants — players, voters, protesters, hell-raisers. 

The most important manifestation of that would, of course, be in the political, social and economic spheres. Beyond that, were there to be such a changing attitude toward personal activation, it would have to spill over into the cultural realm. 

The awakening entails people starting to value important things that they had been lulled into taking for granted or simply ignoring. This includes such a wide range of former “givens” as decent education for next generations and the availability of music from institutions long regarded as solid and high-minded but now threatened or taking on a commercial outlook. There’s no end to the list of our unchallenged assumptions.  

In the San Francisco Classical Voice, the particular concern is, of course, music. Our priority is to stimulate and perhaps deepen the engagement of people in the musical experience. That starts with bringing out, even just reminding readers, about what is so special, so treasurable, so valuable in this work, that work, this or that performer’s skills, this genre, say symphony, or that, say opera. 

We naturally presuppose that many people are involved in classical music; after all, just look at the attendance and patronage. But the seriousness, the depth or quality of the involvement is not so obvious. That has changed over time with the changes in our world and culture. In the 1930s, young though I was, I was always aware of audience members during intermissions and just after, buzzing about the music, the performance, praising, disparaging, arguing. You don’t hear that today. 

In that earlier time, attendance at the live concert or opera was a bigger deal than today. There was no alternative source. Performances then were not competing with or being diluted by the TV, LP, CD experience. Granted that those technologies have greatly expanded the interest in music. However, it might also be instructive to read our readers’ answers to the Question of the Week, “What was your most memorable childhood musical experience?” 

Almost every answer cites a live performing event, not a recording or broadcast. This does not intend to rule out such inspirational sources of our youth as the Met or major symphony broadcasts, especially for those in rural or small-town America. But it is the interaction with the live performance that strikes deepest. 

What the musical community is combating alongside every other creative force in society, and for that matter, politics, is passivity. It is passivity in perception and in the mental processing of information. It is passivity expressed in nonparticipation, unresponsiveness, inaction.  

Americans have been programmed in this passivity by the very means with which news, entertainment and cultural expressions are communicated: the television and related electronic media. 

It is well known and much discussed that these means do not encourage interaction. Watching news on TV hardly promotes the thoughtful consideration that is possible and fostered by the process of reading the newspaper. The newspaper is clearly a rapidly dwindling institution. There are only 16 cities left in the United States that still have more than one newspaper; only 200 papers are independently owned. 

A people who become less thoughtful, less active intellectually, become poorer listeners to music and are more inclined to favor, if not to insist upon, entertainment. Entertainment, after all, is now a dominant force in our culture. This takes the creative energy out of music life, frustrating, blocking those with something to say, something that is challenging, that addresses the whole and active listener. 

Musical institutions do take worthwhile steps to draw their listeners into more active engagement with the music itself, through pre-concert lectures, talks by the music directors and other strategies. The San Francisco Classical Voice tries to encourage the interactivity at the heart of the musical experience by providing a breadth of reviewing no longer offered by the drastically reduced press. 

These and other actions help, but in music as in all other fields, education, for one critical example, it will take a lot to turn the people of this nation around. 

Just maybe, the shock of the momentous events that are unfolding may have that positive effect. 

A version of this article first appeared in San Francisco Classical Voice. Robert P. Commanday, a Berkeley resident, is the editor of SFCV, which can be found at www.sfcv.org. He is a former music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and before that a conductor and lecturer at UC Berkeley.

Walking through Berkeley’s Arts District, along Addison Street — Berkeley’s Broadway with its theaters, arts and music venues and restaurants — it's impossible to miss the Addison Street Window Gallery.  

Open seven days a week, 24 hours a day, this well lit art gallery captures the attention of everyone passing by. At least ten art shows a year are showcased in this streetside gallery. 

“I try and balance it with non-profit arts, children’s art, disability art shows,” says Brenda Prager, curator and 30-year Berkeley resident. “I did a show called “Artists on the Fringe” with BN Duncan. It was a great exhibit featuring artists who were mostly street people.” 

When the city built the Center Street Parking Garage, it included windows for civic clubs and agencies to market their services and programs. Fifteen years ago the windows were dirty, crumbling and vacant. 

After three months of nagging from the City Council, Prager, then a new Berkeley Civic Art Commissioner as well as an art student at SF Art Institute, volunteered to take on the task of cleaning them up and installed her first show in February of 1988.  

“My basic philosophy has been to support local artists,” said Prager. “To be able to show artists that don’t usually get exposure and be able to support them. Berkeley is one of those places where there're just hundreds of people working away on their art with no venue (in which) to show it. That’s my niche.” 

With no staff and a minuscule budget, Prager presents shows every day of every month and takes pains to ensure that the gallery space reflects various segments of the community, featuring photography, painting, installations, children’s art, dancers and political teach-ins.  

“When it first started I decided to handle the space as much like a gallery as possible,” Prager said. “And I underwrote all the expenses. There was no budget for paint. If the windows needed painting, I would buy the paints. If we needed light bulbs, I would find the light bulbs, I begged the Berkeley University Art Museum and the Oakland Museum for their old light bulbs. If we had a little ‘opening’ I paid for the opening. I even washed the windows.” 

In 1994 the Civic Art Commission created a modest budget for the gallery. Addison Street, home to Berkeley Repertory Theater, had developed into an important arts district for the city of Berkeley. Now Prager is paid a stipend of $360 a month to manage and maintain the gallery space, and the artists are paid a modest honorarium.  

“We give the artists $200 from which they have to pay for their own mailings and other expenses. 

“For example, the artist who’s currently displaying paid for the paint to change the background color. She’ll pay for the paint to repaint it white again,” said Prager. “Out of my $360 per month I still pay for the openings and once a month I hire a window washer for $40 to wash the windows. The city now reimburses me for the other little expenses like light bulbs.” 

The current exhibition at the Addison Street Windows Gallery is a multi-media exhibit by Terri Garland documenting the imperiled lifecycle of endangered Sea Turtles in Baja, Mexico. The show opened in the sidewalk gallery on Monday and runs through May 14. 

“Art is the lifeblood of culture,” Prager said. “It’s a marker of our culture. It enhances our well being and it indicates our quality of life.” 

A recent study on the impact of the arts in Berkeley — tracing the money generated by the arts in Berkeley, where the money goes and where it stops along the way until it leaves Berkeley — showed that art is the fifth largest business in Berkeley, just behind city government, she said. 

“This is definitely different from most communities in the Bay Area. There are over 230 non-profit arts organizations in Berkeley. When they want to cut back on the arts they don’t take this into consideration. They say art is the most dispensable item but it’s not, it’s one of the most indispensable.” 

Berkeley schools Superintendent Michele Lawrence told a group of city officials and parents over the weekend that elementary school libraries may face serious cuts next year and that district staff, stretched to the limit in the midst of a budget crisis, simply don’t have the time to come up with a creative solution. 

“In two weeks’ time, this is going to fall to me,” Lawrence said at Saturday’s education summit between the city and the school district. “I’m going to have to make a decision and it’s going to be ugly ... I need you, I really need you, to do some problem-solving.” 

The summit was the brainchild of Mayor Tom Bates, who promised during the fall campaign to convene the event within 100 days of the start of his administration. 

Welcoming roughly 200 people to the summit, Bates promised a stronger alliance between city government and the Berkeley Unified School District at a time of severe financial crisis. 

“We have an elected school board and they’ve got a lot of different problems, but I want to support them to the maximum I can,” he said. 

But some participants raised doubts about whether the summit will actually result in any change, and collaboration may prove difficult in the midst of a financial crunch. The city of Berkeley faces a $7.7 million shortfall next year and the school district has already chopped $8 million from its budget, with $4 to $6 million more in reductions on the way. 

Summit participants, divided into six work groups focused on everything from mentoring to school safety, had difficulty escaping the shadow of the fiscal emergency.  

In the library services group, Lawrence suggested that the district and the city library consider pooling resources to save money — turning school libraries into community institutions that serve both adults and schoolchildren.  

But with the school district and city focused on immediate budget concerns, Lawrence acknowledged after the meeting that collaboration, in the short-term, is unlikely. The district, she said, will probably have to cut elementary school librarians in September and rely on teachers to fill the gap. 

Bates has made city-school district cooperation a top priority in his new administration, pushing last weekend’s education summit and hiring a former district employee, Julie Sinai, as a senior aide. 

Some in the district have raised concerns about the mayor impinging on Berkeley Unified’s mission to educate children. But Bates has worked to avoid a turf war, stating clearly that the city, which currently spends $15 million on youth services, intends to focus upon its traditional support role — providing health care services, on-site police officers and after school programming — rather than going into the classroom.  

“We’re not imposing,” Bates said in a recent interview. “It’s really a spirit of collaboration.” 

Lawrence embraced the mayor’s initiative. Caring for Berkeley’s children, she said, is a “shared responsibility” that should extend beyond the district.  

The school board has also signaled its support. Director Shirley Issel acknowledges that there was some tension between the district and the city under former Mayor Shirley Dean, but says the situation has improved. 

“Tom’s attitude is much more, ‘what can we do for you?,’” Issel said. 

But parent Michael Miller, a member of the advocacy group Parents of Children of African Descent, said the summit did not include enough minority parents, and doubted whether it would result in real change. 

“The problems we talked about at the summit are problems we’ve had for a long time,” he said. “I don’t think anything is actually going to get done.” 

The Berkeley Public Education Foundation and the Berkeley Community Fund co-sponsored Saturday’s summit. Both groups expressed interest in supporting any initiatives that come out of the event, but warned their budgets are tight. UC Berkeley officials also attended the event.  

The summit, which took place at Berkeley Alternative High School, came eight days after a meeting at the Berkeley Yacht Club that brought together the city, school district and university to discuss possible cost-sharing measures in six areas: information technology, purchasing, employee training, transportation and health and human services. 

The Occupied Territories: What is the Future? This symposium with professors from Israel and Palestine takes place from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in room 2050 in the Valley Life Sciences Building on the UC campus. 

First Annual Haiku Contest, Poetry Reading, takes place at 7 p.m. in the Central Library Reading Room, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6121. 

Frederick Wiseman’s The Last Letter begins at 7:30 p.m. with a special apearance by Frederick Wiseman. Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. Takes place at the Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way. 642-1412. 

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

4 Stand-Up Dads, a PG-rated comedy for the whole family. Cost is $20 for adults; $15 for children under 13, students and seniors. Show starts at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. For tickets call 925-798-1300. 

www.juliamorgan.org 

Noon Concert, the University Gospel Choir, with director Silvester Henderson. Gospel music in the American tradition. Doors open to this free concert at 11:55 a.m. at Hertz Hall on the UC campus. 642-4864. 

http://music.berkeley.edu 

Friday Afternoon Hang, The Brubeck Institute Quartet, an afternoon of jazz from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. Suggested donation of $2 to $5. 845-5373. 

www.jazzschool.com 

Apple Hill Chamber Players, Playing for Peace Concert, at 8 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Cost is $8 to $10. 848-3696. 

Momix Dance Theater presents Opus Cactus at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall on the UC campus. Tickets vary at $20, $30, $42. 642-9988. 

www.calperfs.berkeley.edu   

Jazz at Downtown: Danny Caron, Brenda Boykin and Friends play jazz and blues guitar in the spirit of Charles Brown, at 9:30 p.m. at 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. www.downtownrestaurant.com 

Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums with Ms. Carmen Getit, at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. Swing lesson with Nick and Shanna begins at 8 p.m., followed by the show at 9:30 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054.  

www.ashkenaz.com 

Jethro Jeremiah Band, Dank Man Shank perform reggae and ska at 9:30 p.m. at Blake’s on Telegraph, 2367 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $6. 848-0886.  

www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Laurie Lewis with Nina Gerber, folk and bluegrass singer-songwriter teams with guitar accompanist at 8 p.m. at the Freight and Salvage Coffee House, 1111 Addison St. Cost is $17.50 in advance, $18.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Bay Area Latin Jazz Series 

Tribute to West Coast Jazz 

with guest of honor Johnny Coppola. Panel discussion begins at 7 p.m. followed by performance at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $12 in advance or before 7 p.m.; $15 at the door. 849-2568.       

www.lapena.org 

The Feederz, Born/Dead, Brainoil, Scurvy Dogs, Funeral Shock at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Henri-Pierre Koubaka performs West African folk music at 7 p.m. at Starbucks Coffeehouse, 2128 Oxford St. 

486-1840. 

Mommy’s Friend, Cellofane 

at The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave., at 9:30 p.m. Cost is $6. 841-2082. 

Dance Jammies, a multi-generational event presented by Orches, a nonprofit dance-art organization. Show runs from 6 to 9:30 p.m. at Motivity Center, 2525 8th St. Reservations advised, call 832-3835. orches@earthlink.net 

Jane Timberlake presents songs to benefit Fair Wage — an organization working to raise child care workers’ wages — at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $3 for children, $4 for adults. 

849-2568.    

www.lapena.org 

Bay Area Poets Coalition presents a free, open reading at the west branch of the Berkeley Public Library, 1125 University Ave., from 3 to 5 p.m. Call 527-9905 or visit poetalk@aol.com. 

Poets Connie Post, Caryn Stardancer and Marianne Robinson speak on “Suvivorship and Healing” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-0861. 

Woman Shaman: Female Spiritual Powers, a slide presentation of female dreamers, drummers, healers and dancers from around the world, by Max Dashu. Begins at 7:30 p.m. at Redwood Gardens Community Center, 2951 Derby St. Cost is $10, $15. Wheelchair access. For information, call 654-9298 or e-mail maxdashu@lmi.net.  

Frederick Wiseman’s films  

Near Death (Part 1) and Domestic Violence, at 3:30 and 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way. 

Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. 

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Berkeley Broadway Players presents Moonglow!, directed by Ellen Hoffman, at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Free but donations appreciated. 525-7815.  

singbroadway@yahoo.com 

Moscow Soloists, chamber music and orchestra with  

Yuri Bashmet, viola, 

perform at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall on the UC campus. Cost is $48. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

The Toasters, Warsaw, Go Jimmy Go, Codename Rocky perform at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $10 in advance or $12 at the door. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com. 

Lavish Green, Dr. Masseuse, Habit of Mine, rock music at Blake’s on Telegraph, 2367 Telegraph Ave., at 9:30 p.m. Cost is $5. 848-0886. 

www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Jazz at Downtown: Sylvia and the Silvertones, swing era ballads for voice and guitar, at 9:30 p.m. at 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. www.downtownrestaurant.com 

Love Kills Love, Kill The Pain, The Eddie Haskells, The Drink Tickets perform at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $6. 841-2082. 

Jody Stecher and Kate Breslin present traditional American roots music at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House, 1111 Addison St. Cost is $16.50 in advance, $18.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Hecho en Califas Series, 

Noche de ska-temoc con La Plebe Los Kung fu monkees 

at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $7. 849-2568.      www.lapena.org 

Funeral Diner, Deconditional, An Arrow in Flight, End on End, Takaru perform at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Steve Smith-Mike Zilber Quartet presents Reimagined, material from their Blue Jay Records CD, at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. Tickets are $12, $15, $18. 845-5373. 

www.jazzschool.com 

Baba Ken and the Nigerian Brothers perform from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3 for children, $5 for adults. 525-5054.    

www.ashkenaz.com 

Matrix 203 Memorial Project Vietnam, a talk by artist Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba with reception to follow, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. Cost is $5 to $8, free for members and UCB students. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Betty Cook speaks on “A Buddhist Pilgrimage in India” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Place. For information call 843-6812. 

Alan Rinzler in the final session of Take that Manuscript off the Shelf, a free seminar with a veteran editor, at 3 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852. 

www.codysbooks.com 

Frederick Wiseman’s films  

Near Death (Part 2) and Belfast, Maine, at 2 and 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way. 

Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. 

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Video about Victor Jara, life of the singer-songwriter killed by Chilean military junta in 1973, presented by members of Inti-Ilimani at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10 and benefits Chile’s Victor Jara Foundation. 849-2568.    

www.lapena.org 

Cafe Rumba performs at 3 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 

849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Ends on Nine, Moonstack, Endure, rock music at Blake’s on Telegraph, 2367 Telegraph Ave., at 9:30 p.m. Cost is $3. 848-0886. 

www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Holly Near in a rare small club appearance at Freight and Salvage Coffee House, 1111 Addison St., at 8 p.m. Cost is $18.50 in advance, $19.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Bob Daley, singer-songwriter, performs at 2 p.m. at Starbucks Coffeehouse, 2128 Oxford St. 486-1840. 

Bach Collegium Japan 

Masaki Suzuki, music director and conductor performs  

Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at 7 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC campus. Tickets are $24, $36, $48. 642-9988. 

www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Anthony Brown’s Asian American Quartet perform at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. Tickets are $12, $15, $18. 845-5373. 

www.jazzschool.com 

Candace Falk, Barry Pateman and Jessica Moran speak in a free program on “Emma Goldman: A Documentary History of the American Years: Volume One: Made for America”at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852. 

www.codysbooks.com 

Willis Barnstone reads from  

“The Secret Reader” and Algebra of Night” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-0861. 

Frederick Wiseman’s film 

Hospital at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way. Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. 

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Berkeley Contemporary Chamber Players, under the direction of David Milnes, perform works by John Thow, Gunther Schuller and 2003 Visiting Bloch Lecturer Steven Stucky at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC campus. Tickets range from $2 to $8. 642-9988. 

All Star Jam, featuring The Steve Gannon Band and Mz. Dee, perform at 9:30 p.m. at Blake’s on Telegraph, 2367 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $4. 

848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Melissa Fay Greene reads from “The Last Man Out: The Story of the Springhill Mine Disaster” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852. 

www.codysbooks.com 

Tadesse Meskela: “Fair Trade Coffee Around the World.” Meskela, general manager of Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union in Ethiopia, will speak on the situation of coffee farmers in the global economy and the benefits of Fair Trade. Lecture from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in Wurster Auditorium, UC campus. Suggested donation $5 to $10. No one turned away for lack of funds. 415-558-6938. 

John Kader on “Charles Schwab” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-0861. 

The Murder of Fred Hampton, with Michael Gray in person, will be shown at 

7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way. Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. 

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Empyrean Ensemble presents Chou Wen-Chung 80th Birthday Celebration at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $18 for adults, seniors; $10 children, students. 925-798-1300. 

www.juliamorgan.org 

Inti-Illimani performs traditional Latin American music on more than 30 wind, string and percussion instruments at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC campus. Tickets are $20, $24, $36. 642-9988.  

www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Courtableu at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. Cajun dance lesson with Diana Castillo begins at 8 p.m., followed by show at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054.   www.ashkenaz.com 

Jazz at Downtown: Mimi Fox, solo jazz guitar, performs at 8 p.m. at 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810.  

www.downtownrestaurant.com 

Foreign Policy Association 

Great Decisions Lecture: 

Global Struggle for Women’s Rights with Laurel Fletcher, Boalt Hall School of Law, at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. For reservations call Bert Wilson at 526-2925. 

La Lucha Continua Chiapas,  

a report by the Chiapas Support Group on the latest political developments in Mexico, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5 to $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Cafe Poetry, hosted by Kira Allen, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

John Murray reads from “A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852. 

www.codysbooks.com 

Bill Turner on “Farewell America” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-0861. 

John Shelton Lawrence will discuss “Captain America and the Crusade Against Evil: The Dilemma of Zealous Nationalism” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Frederick Wiseman’s film, 

Juvenile Court, will be shown at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way. Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. 

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Noon Concert featuring works by student composers from the spring 2003 Graduate Composers Seminar of professor John Thow. Doors open to this free concert at 11:55 a.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. 642-4864. 

http://music.berkeley.edu 

Red Archibald and The Internationals at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. A swing dance lesson with Nick and Shanna begins at 8 p.m., followed by the show at 9 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054.   www.ashkenaz.com 

Jazz at Downtown: Jules Broussard and Ned Boynton perform jazz ballads for saxophone, guitar and bass at 8 p.m. at 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810.  

www.downtownrestaurant.com 

Battlefield Band, forward with Scotland’s past, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House, 1111 Addison St. Cost is $18.50 in advance, $19.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Michael Wollenberg on solo guitar at 7 p.m. at Starbucks Coffeehouse, 2128 Oxford St. at Center St. 486-1840. 

The Berkeley Daily Planet prints listings on a space-available basis, and will soon include theater shows and exhibits. Send information at least two weeks in advance to calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.com; fax 841-5695, or phone 841-5600, ext. 102. 

LECTURES AND READINGS 

T. N. Narisimhan speaks on Spiritual Heritage in a Material World: The Challenge of Harmony, at 7:30 p.m. at All Souls Episcopal Parish, 2220 Cedar St. at Spruce St. 848-1755. www.allsoulsparish.org 

Adrain Nicole LeBlanc reads from “Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble and Coming of Age in the Bronx” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852. 

www.codysbooks.com 

Emmy E. Werner reads from 

“A Conspiracy of Decency” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-0861. 

DANCE AND MUSIC 

Monologist Josh Kornbluth presents his one-man show “Red Diaper Baby,” about growing up a boomer in New York City, in a home with outspoken communists for parents, at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $12. 525-5054.   www.ashkenaz.com 

Spank with DJs Solarz from Groove Conflux. Hip hop and R&B music begins at 9:30 p.m. at Blake’s on Telegraph, 2367 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $5. 848-0886. 

www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Jazz at Downtown: Keni El Lebrijano performs on Flamenco guitar at 8 p.m. at 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. www.downtownrestaurant.com 

La Gran Noche del Charango: Horacio Duran and Italo Pedrotti, an evening with two Chilean Charango masters, begins at  

8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Tim Sparks and Teja Gerken, a guitar masters’ double-bill, begins at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House, 1111 Addison St. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

The Buckets, Slick 67, The Cowlicks perform at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough,  

3101 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5. 841-2082. 

FRIDAY, APRIL 11 

CHILDREN 

Storytelling and reading with Maisy begins at 10:30 a.m. at Barnes and Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-0861. 

LECTURES AND READINGS 

Kinky Friedman reads from  

“Kill Two Birds and Get Stoned” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852. 

www.codysbooks.com 

FILM 

Frederick Wiseman’s films  

Primate and Missile, at 7 p.m. and 9:05 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way. Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. 

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

DANCE AND MUSIC 

Noon Concert with Axel Van Chee, baritone, and Colleen Kobussen, piano, performing 

songs by Grieg. Also, Ann Marie Darrow, mezzo soprano, and Jonathan Chou, piano, perform Siete Canciones populares espanoles, by Manuela De Falla. Doors to this free concert open at 11:55 a.m. at Hertz Hall, UC campus. 642-4864. 

http://music.berkeley.edu 

Friday Afternoon Hang with 

The Yair Evnine Quartet, a free concert, from 5 to 7 p.m. 

at the Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 845-5373. 

www.jazzschool.com 

Camerata Sweden, chamber music and orchestra, perform at 8 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 

2345 Channing Way. Cost is $38. 642-9988. 

www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Wadi Gad, Jah Bandis with special guest Jr. Toots, Ashanti HiFi perform conscious reggae at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $12. 525-5054.   www.ashkenaz.com 

Stung: The Police Tribute, 

Zoo Station: U2 Tribute, 

perform Police and U2 music at 9:30 p.m. at Blake’s on Telegraph, 2367 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $7. 848-0886. 

www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Jazz at Downtown: Jackie Ryan performs at 9:30 p.m. at 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. www.downtownrestaurant.com 

Grupo Raiz, the Latin American music sextet founded at La Peña, returns for an evening of peace and justice songs in a Peace No War Concert. Begins at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $12 in advance, $14 at the door. 849-2568.    www.lapena.org 

Scoop Nisker, Scoop with the News celebrating the publication of his new book at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House, 1111 Addison St. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Berkeley High School Jazz Combo performs at 7 p.m. at  

Starbucks Coffeehouse, 2128 Oxford St. at Center St. 

486-1840. 

Winfred E. Eye, Sonny Smith, Bart Davenport 

perform at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $6 at the door. 841-2082. 

This Bike is a Pipe Bomb, the Bananas, Operation Make Out, Pirx the Pilot, Stalker Potential perform at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

I heard the pop-pop of a gun outside my bedroom window late one night last month, but I didn’t get up right away. I waited for more noises. I heard a scream and someone running. I kept still, hoping the commotion was the result of friendly fireworks, but it was too late for Chinese New Year and too early for Independence Day. 

When I heard sirens I decided to investigate. I went downstairs, opened my door and found the corner aglow in red flashing lights. Police cars blocked both ends of Dover Street. My neighbor was on his stoop and together we walked to the corner of 54th Street, where a small knot of people stood. 

I shivered in my pajamas. I’d forgotten to put on my shoes and the cold soaked my feet and crept up my calves. 

“What happened?” we asked above the crackle of police radios.  

“Someone’s been shot,” a man answered.  

“A woman,” a voice added. 

Another voice chimed in, “She’s already dead.” 

A different kind of shiver went up my spine. A fire truck was parked in the middle of the street, but none of the many police or firefighters nearby appeared to be in a hurry as they walked back and forth between two houses to the backyard of a large, square duplex. 

When the ambulance finally appeared I knew it was true, that whoever lay behind the house, whoever I had heard scream and then run, must be dead, for the ambulance arrived silently. The paramedics got out of their vehicle slowly, and when they returned from their trip to the backyard they left, only the beep of their back-up alarm announcing their departure.  

A policeman asked those of us standing on the corner to leave. Yellow caution tape now stretched from my porch banister to the fence in front of the house across the street. I ducked underneath and went inside, climbed the stairs, lay down in my bed and stared at the ceiling where the reflection of police lights kept me awake.  

Sometime during the night, the victim’s body was removed and the caution tape came down. When I got up, Dover Street was awash in early morning sunshine, the rows of front lawns sparkling with dew. The newspaper rested on my porch. There was no mention of the shooting in its pages. 

I took my dog for a walk. I hurried past the house where the woman had died the night before, the second drive-by shooting in our neighborhood in the past six months. I looked for signs of what had happened — blood on the sidewalk, empty bullet cartridges, anything that might mark what had occurred — but found only the dusty gray ashes of emergency flares.  

A few days later I read in the newspaper that the victim was a 35-year-old mother who sometimes lived in the area. Neighbors had heard the shots, the slap of her sneakers running on the pavement and then her soft, weak voice pleading for help as she lay dying, the article reported. She was Oakland’s 20th homicide of the year and it was only the first week of March. 

But lately I have found it difficult to concentrate on the streets outside my front door. The abandoned wars against ignorance, poverty, racial inequality and gun control have been replaced with another. Instead, I watch the evening news on television. War has begun in a country on the other side of the globe. I watch the satellite transmissions and momentarily forget about the woman who died in my neighbor’s backyard. Sometimes it’s less difficult to stare at the distant images on TV than to think about the problems at home. 

Susan Parker lives in Oakland near the Berkeley border. She is the author of “Tumbling After,” a memoir published last year by Crown Publishing.  

Four Israeli and Palestinian scholars and leaders will be in Berkeley to discuss options for peace. 

The group will take part in a symposium, “The Occupied Territories: What is the Future?” to explore solutions to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

Scheduled topics include the role of faculty in promoting peaceful solutions to the conflict and the effect of regional trends on the issue. 

Samer Madanat, a member of Faculty for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, which is co-sponsoring the event, said the symposium offers a unique look into the conflict. 

The panel speakers are Michael Tarazi, of the Palestine Liberation Organization; Ariella Friedman, a professor at Tel-Aviv University; Samir Awad of Columbia University, and Danny Rothschild, President of the Israeli Council on Peace and Security. 

The symposium will take place Friday in the Valley Life Sciences Building, Room 2050 from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30pm. 

Aquatic Park vandalism 

Vandals destroyed thousands of dollars of natural habitat landscaping and set an outhouse on fire last weekend at the north end of Aquatic Park. 

According to police, a patrol officer responded to a call of smoke at the north end of Aquatic Park early Sunday morning around 3:30. When the officer arrived at the scene, he found a Porta-Sans portable toilet in flames. The officer extinguished the fire, but not before 90 percent of the plastic structure was destroyed.  

The officer noted in his report that all the garbage cans in the area had been turned over. 

Also over the weekend, a vandal or vandals uprooted as many as 40 shrubs, cut down 15 young oak trees and severed a network of drip irrigation lines in the landscaped area, according to police. 

Police said they didn’t know if the two incidents were related. 

Damage to the landscaping occurred on either side of West Boulevard Drive, which separates the Main Lagoon from the Center Pond. 

“This doesn’t seem like the work of a sane person,” said Mark Liolios, of the Aquatic Park Egrets, a volunteer group that maintains the landscaping. “It’s especially upsetting because all of the flowers in the habitat area are in bloom right now.” 

Liolios estimated the damage to the landscaping at more than $2,000. 

Lunch time drug sting near high school  

Responding to complaints of drug sales near East Campus High School, police conducted a surveillance operation that resulted in the arrest of a woman who allegedly sold drugs to a student. 

On April 2, Berkeley’s Special Enforcement Unit and the Drug Task Force arrested Zareta Brandi Jones, 21, of Pinole, for allegedly selling marijuana to a 16-year-old West Campus student.  

A police spokesman said officers arrested Jones after witnessing what appeared to be a lunch-time drug transaction between the student and Jones, who was in a parked Mercury station wagon on the 2700 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Way.  

Jones was arrested and found to be carrying $600 in small bills and 13 grams of crack cocaine hidden in her underwear, according to police. She was booked into Berkeley jail for sales of marijuana, possession of crack cocaine for the purpose of sales, sales to a minor, sales of narcotics within 1,000 feet of a school and felony probation violation.  

The minor was arrested and released for possession of marijuana. 

An hour northwest of Berkeley lies the city of Sonoma, full of clean air, rolling hills and seductive vineyards. Though the town weathered a burst of notoriety in 1846 — as the rebellious center and 25-day capital of the California Republic — today it is known more for its pleasures than its politics: good food and wine, art galleries, boutiques, small shops and history. 

And though there is much to explore, a one- or two-day excursion is a good way to begin. 

For the most peaceful drive to Sonoma, take the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, go north on 101, then Highway 37 east. Turn north (left) at Infineon (formerly Sears Point) Raceway on 121, and follow the signs to Sonoma. Free parking is available behind the Barracks off First Street East and Spain Street, and there is lots of free parking on side streets with only a block or two walk. 

Just a mile north of the raceway is Roche Winery, a family operation run by Drs. Genevieve and Joe Roche and their daughter, Mara. Huge French posters decorate the tasting room, designed by Sonoma architect Victor Conforti. The Roches offer their own excellent wines along with those of other producers.  

A few miles north you come to Viansa Winery and Italian Marketplace, created by Vicki and Sam Sebastiani, now run in part by their children. WITH great sauce and edible oil samples; Cucina Viansa picnic foods augment their wines and Ducks Unlimited souvenirs. Viansa’s picnic area looks out on Sam’s wildlife preserve, the tiny Sonoma Valley Airport and the southern outpost of the Sonoma Valley Visitors’ Bureau. 

For a quick breakfast or lunch detour, go straight north up Arnold Drive, past the 76 station about three miles to Arnold Drive and Grove Street. There, at Follini & Eichenbaum Mediterranean Deli & Café, you’ll find Peet’s Coffee and Teas and Artisan Bakery pastries. Also try their large green salad with Maytag or Pt. Reyes blue cheese, great sandwiches, Short and Tall Aunties’ beat-all-others cheesecakes, Matzo balls, roast turkey and the best house mustard anywhere. Families might enjoy the children’s playroom. 

Back to the original approach, follow signs eastward on 121 into Sonoma, and turn left toward Sonoma following the signs. Down Broadway toward Sonoma City Hall, straight ahead in the plaza, is Train Town, a miniature steam railroad that provides a trip into the past for children of all ages. Suzanne Brangham’s MacArthur Place inn and Saddles Restaurant are on the corner of Broadway and MacArthur, and restaurants Deuce, La Poste and Meritage line Broadway just before the plaza. (No lunch at La Poste.) 

Napa Street runs in front of Sonoma City Hall, and an enjoyable stroll can be taken around the plaza. Every corner is wheelchair accessible, and much of the plaza is registered in either the California or National Register of Historic Places. The first block of East Napa Street offers art galleries; Maya Restaurant’s California-Mexican cuisine; Della Santina’s Italian spit-grilled meats, pastas and pastries; Rin’s Thai Restaurant’s excellent and elegantly low-key repasts; and the renowned, unpretentious Café LaHaye. (No lunch at LaHaye.) On East Napa is a favorite stop, Readers’ Books, a bookstore where even kids and teenagers love to hang out. 

Check out San Francisco Solano Mission at the northwest corner of the plaza, the historic Barracks, Casa Grande Indian Servants Quarters and the Toscano Hotel. Sonoma Cheese Factory is next door, and cheese lovers might also want to take a short side trip: One block east on Spain Street and one block up First Street East is Vella’s Cheese, whose internationally acclaimed cheeses are made on site. Just ask for a tour of the one-room plant. 

Back on the plaza, most Sonomans rotate dining in local restaurants and always end up at the Swiss Hotel, worthy of note though often overlooked by reviewers. “The Swiss” serves Italian-California cuisine and fabulous Caesar salads, and offers a fascinating historic bar and sidewalk, indoor and patio dining. At the next corner, is the recommended girl & the fig for Rhone cuisine, cheeses and wines. 

Several places around the plaza offer wine tasting, an easy option for visitors on a tight schedule. Uncorked at East Napa and First Street East offers wines of tiny, personal wineries such as Stoneheath, Noah, Abundance, Casa Carneros, Nance and Favero. Buena Vista has its own tasting bar in The Corner Store kitty-corner from Uncorked. 

Up First Street East enjoy Wine Exchange of Sonoma with its incomparable selection of local, California and imported wines (many winemakers end the day here with a quick imported beer). Cucina Viansa sells tastes of Viansa wines across from the Mission, and Sebastiani offers tastes of Sebastiani wines near the Swiss Hotel on Spain Street. If time is short, Sebastiani Vineyards & Winery is just three blocks east of the plaza at 389 Fourth Street East. New CEO and President Mary Ann Sebastiani Cuneo has redone the tasting room with elegance and rededicated the winery to making fine wines, as well as to using more environmentally sound farming practices. 

Kathleen Hill writes a series of six Hill Guides to the West Coast with her husband, Gerald Hill, including “Sonoma Valley—The Secret Wine Country” from Globe-Pequot Press.

As a pregnant sophomore at Berkeley High School two years ago, Linda Carcamo thought a child would mean the end of her education. But then she saw a newspaper story about the school district’s Vera M. Casey Parent Child Education Center and everything changed. 

A week and a half after giving birth to her daughter, Miriam, Carcamo placed her at the Casey Center, across the street from Berkeley High, and returned to classes. Two years later, she is on track to graduate and begin training as a medical assistant at Heald College in Hayward. 

“It has given me a second chance,” Carcamo said of the 30-year-old Casey Center, which provides young mothers with support services in addition to day care. “I cannot believe I’m graduating.” 

But Carcamo may be one of the program’s last success stories. With a multi-million dollar deficit hanging over its head, the Berkeley Board of Education voted to shut down the program next fall as part of an $8 million package of cuts approved in February.  

The board also dropped a pair of high school guidance counselors, raised some ninth-grade class sizes and gave pink slips, effective next year, to 220 of the Berkeley Unified School District’s 652 teachers. 

The board plans to rescind as many as 145 of those pink slips by June, when it must approve a final budget, and has already taken back 25 - providing a small reprieve for a demoralized faculty.  

But the budget situation only promises to get worse in the coming months. According to district officials, the school board must cut at least $500,000 more from this year’s budget and $3.8 million from next year’s budget to pay its bills.  

The cuts could go even deeper if the state Legislature, as expected, makes heavy cuts in education funding to help close a $26 to $35 billion statewide budget shortfall.  

Indeed, if the governor’s proposed budget passes, according to the district’s director of fiscal services, Song Chin-Bendib, Berkeley Unified could take an additional $900,000 hit next year.  

District officials are considering new cost-cutting measures that range from a reduction in elementary school library services to, in a worst-case scenario, the closure of two elementary schools and the elimination of school busing.  

In the meantime, program cuts and pink slips already approved by the board have had a devastating impact on parents, instructors and administrators. 

“Morale is pretty low - it’s the worst I’ve ever seen it,” said Joan Edelstein, president of Berkeley High School’s Parent Teacher Student Association. “When kids are telling you, ‘My teacher is angry,’ then you know there’s a serious problem and it’s affecting what’s happening in the classroom.” 

“It’s pretty discouraging,” said Jennifer Landaeta, one of 13 teachers at Washington Elementary School who received a pink slip. “I’m invested in this school.” 

Washington, which has sizable minority and low-income student populations, has revamped its faculty and leadership structure in the last five years and seen consistent growth in test scores. 

Now, with 13 of 19 teachers receiving pink slips – only one of them rescinded at this point – the Washington community is worried the school’s progress might be disrupted. 

Angry instructors who received layoff notices have placed large, pink signs in their windows with the words “Pink Slipped Teacher” scrawled on the front. And, two weeks ago, parents and teachers from Washington turned out in force at a school board meeting, dressed in black, to voice their concerns.  

Principal Rita Kimball is particularly concerned about how the layoffs will affect the school’s level of service to black and Hispanic students. Three of Washington’s four minority teachers have received layoff notices, she said, and five of the eight staff members involved in a staff development program focused on teaching to black and Hispanic children got pink slips. 

“We’ve made really positive progress,” Kimball said. “The group has learned individually and together so much about teaching practices for [minority] kids. If they are laid off, we will really have to start over again.” 

District officials are sympathetic but say that seniority rules forbid them from choosing who they let go. 

“Quite honestly, I don’t know what the board can do about this right now,” said school board director John Selawsky. 

That sense of helplessness extends to broader budgeting issues as well. District officials say the deficit is due, in large part, to factors beyond their control - spiraling health care costs, a declining economy and proposed state cuts that, all together, have resulted in an estimated 10,000 teacher pink slips across California.  

“This is a problem in public school funding, and not a bad school board with bad policies,” said school board director Nancy Riddle. 

Critics acknowledge the impact of larger forces, but still take the local leadership to task on a number of issues - including the pink slips. 

Under state law, school districts are required to provide notice by March 15 to any teachers they might lay off next year. Because Berkeley Unified’s budget picture was not clear by mid-March the district, like many across the state, issued layoff notices to a larger chunk of its faculty than it actually intends to let go - providing the school board with some flexibility as the June deadline for a final budget approaches. 

Barry Fike, president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, acknowledges the need for breathing room, but says the district went overboard in noticing 220 teachers. 

“Two hundred plus is excessive,” Fike said, warning that many young teachers, unsure of work next year, might seek a new job in the coming months. And with few teaching jobs available statewide, Fike added, many will be forced to leave the profession. 

Critics also raise questions about the quality of the district’s financial management. Two weeks ago, the Sacramento firm of Gilbert Associates, Inc. presented the district’s annual independent audit and reported 14 problems with the district’s financial infrastructure, including several serious “material weaknesses.” 

The report followed years of accounting errors that have made headlines and embarrassed the district – including the double payment of a large block of employees on one occasion and months of health care payments for employees no longer on district rolls. 

But officials say the district has made substantial progress in the past 16 months, under new Superintendent Michele Lawrence. With the help of the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, Berkeley Unified has put a new payroll and data processing system in place and begun to implement standard accounting practices that, experts say, should have been in place years ago. 

Officials at the Alameda County Office of Education, which oversees Berkeley Unified, say it will take time to rebuild a broken central office. 

“It takes several years for a district to run down,” said Associate Superintendent of Business Services Mike Lenahan. “It takes several years to bring it to where it should be.” 

Still, some worry that the district is suffering unduly in the meantime. Supporters of the Vera Casey Center say the district has mishandled the program’s funds and inaccurately projected a shortfall next year - leading to an unfair decision to close its doors next year. 

“This is no way to run a show,” said Berkeley’s former state Rep. Dion Aroner, who is lobbying the district on behalf of the Casey Center. 

Lawrence acknowledges that the district’s original projection of a $100,000 deficit for the program was high, but she says a significant shortfall is still likely. The district may be able to postpone the center’s closure beyond September, she says, but Berkeley Unified will have to close the center shortly thereafter if it cannot find new money to keep it afloat. 

If the program doesn’t survive the budget battle, Linda Carcamo says her peers will suffer. 

“Teens, a lot of times, they have kids and they just drop out,” she said. 

A newspaper? Why a newspaper? Why now? We’ve been asked these questions often by friends and family in the last three months. From time to time, we’ve even asked ourselves why we’re doing this. It’s a lot of work. It’s time consuming. It’s expensive. We were comfortably retired from the business world, enjoying our grandchildren. 

There is a standard repertory of high-minded answers to these questions. A very few newspapers, perhaps in the low hundreds nationally, are locally owned. Berkeley’s Ben Bagdikian has devoted many years of his life to documenting this depressing story. Most metropolitan papers have been swallowed up by national chains which themselves have become part of monopoly media conglomerates. Even the weekly press, once touted as the alternative to chain papers, has been taken over by out-of-town organizations. The Berkeley Voice and the Montclarion, once lively local products, are now run by the Knight-Ridder empire on an ever-diminishing budget. The Oakland Tribune briefly flourished under Bob Maynard’s stewardship, but was sold to a dull suburban chain after his untimely death. The East Bay Express, formerly a literate local alternative, is now owned by the shrill and formulaic New Times corporation. 

Why does it matter who runs newspapers? Tip O’Neill, then Speaker of the House, once said, “All politics is local.” News is local, too, especially coverage of local government. In towns like Berkeley, daily life for many residents is most affected by action or inaction on the local level, but without a local newspaper citizens can’t find out what’s going on at City Hall, and why. The Bay Guardian continues to offer an independent perspective for San Franciscans, but it doesn’t really cover Berkeley. The San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Times occasionally publish reruns of their standard Beserkeley story, but not much more. 

The Daily Planet, founded about four years ago by three young MBAs from out of town, endeared itself to Berkeley readers by the ingenious technique of simply reporting, in a straightforward way, the news about local government that people needed to know. When we took it over, concerned commentators opined that we would use it as a vehicle for advancing our own political agenda. That’s true, we will. What they don’t know is what our agenda is. 

Among the bits and pieces of newspaper paraphernalia we acquired as the Daily Planet’s assets was a desk calendar published by the Freedom Forum, the nonprofit foundation established by the heirs of the Gannett newspaper family. It’s a nice design. Each daily page reprints the First Amendment in full, coupled with a fresh quote about the importance of a free press. Some of the authors are surprising. Who would have thought that Newt Gingrich said, “One of the things that almost never works is secrecy -- particularly secrecy in defense of dumbness”? We like this calendar a lot. 

We are really old-fashioned liberals at heart, brought up on liberal slogans like “the truth will make you free” and “open covenants, openly arrived at.” We have a measured belief that progress is possible, and have often supported “progressive” candidates in elections, but we don’t believe that all change is progress. We have also acted on our belief that the best of the past should be preserved for future generations to enjoy. 

Our agenda is a simple one: Tell people what’s going on, give them a paper to discuss it in, and trust that they’ll make the right decisions. The last few months have tested our belief in the wisdom of an informed public. One of the most discouraging aspects of the country’s turn toward the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive aggression is not how poorly it’s been covered in print. In fact, the failed effort to head off the Iraq war has produced an outpouring of some of the best prose this country has ever seen. Molly Ivins, Norman Mailer, Henrick Hertzberg, Tony Lewis, Jon Carroll. There’s a seemingly endless supply of cogent argument from articulate writers, and it doesn’t seem to have worked. 

But we still want to do what we can with what we’ve got. Local coverage well done can still give local citizens the information they need to take responsibility for the actions of local government. How this translates to the national and international levels is a discussion that should be going on right now. It can take place in a newspaper like this, among other places. Joe Liebling, a cynical commentator on the press in the middle of the last century, used to say that the press was free for those who owned one. Now that we seem to own one, we want to share it with Berkeley citizens, so that together we might be able to figure out how to save the world. 

And what better place for a free press than Berkeley? Berkeley was chartered on April Fools’ Day and named for a philosopher. Carol Denney likes to remind us that Berkeley was the home of the Free Speech Movement because of the University of California’s determined opposition to free speech, not because free speech was protected here. Berkeley needs a newspaper which remembers its complex and paradoxical past, and which understands and accepts its responsibility ty for shaping the future.

Berkeley with a view of the bay and San Francisco, and one two three bridges, or Berkeley where a dumpster is the most colorful item in sight through the smudged air? 

Whose Berkeley? The aging Nisei couple on the porch of their bungalow with its immaculate yard, very like the house their parents were forced to sell cheap in 1942, do they live in the same town as the high-tech success jogging past them to his $750,000 brown shingle a block away?  

What is Berkeley to the commuter who drives past the Claremont Hotel and blocks of manicured green toward an office in the business school? To the men, talking to each other in Spanish or Mixtec, lined up outside the lumberyards a couple of miles west hoping to get a day’s work? To the African-American police officer who grew up here but had to go 40 miles up the freeway to find a house he could afford for his own family?  

Seasons here are marked less by changes in the weather than by the swelling of the population -- some 33,000 students who come, spend money, take parking places, then disappear almost overnight, leaving restaurant owners nervously hoping they can survive until the new semester begins.  

With faculty and staff, the university involves 55,000 people, more than half the city’s population. Yet it could be on another planet for many in day-to-day Berkeley. Most spend the day working elsewhere, and are early to bed. Many with no visible means of support rise late, drink a lot of coffee, have a glass of red wine at dinner and could vote for a green candidate. 

These last few days they talk of a war half a world away, but present on every newspaper front page and every television screen. They are saddened, feel helpless, seek ways to act, and call upon another Berkeley, usually near invisible.Old-timers will show you its landmarks -- unnoticed by any commission -- buildings and places where they planned and sometimes fought the first battles of a revolution that never arrived. 

And before that, once upon a time, not so very long ago, Berkeley was bathed in light. Fruit trees on every street, cheap eats, low rents and lots of love, all kinds of love, grass everywhere and free music, good music. And before that Hinks, a fine store here at home, where your change came swooping down a wire track from the cashier’s office and across the street clouds of blue-rinsed ladies enjoyed afternoon tea at Edy’s, and in summer kids went sliding straight down the grassy hills for unobstructed blocks on sheets of cardboard. 

Can the Daily Planet speak to, write about all these Berkeleys? Have something to say to people who never heard of Clark Kent? To the man fishing on the city pier at 1 a.m. who talks with longing about his home place in the Punjab? The once-professionals who now fix cars, work in restaurants, solve drainage problems?  

In other words, can we reach and represent the typical resident in a town where there is no typical resident? 

We’re sure gonna try. 

Peter Solomon, a Berkeley resident, is a former editor of The Flatlands, an Oakland-based biweekly, and The Montclarion. 

IN THE DARK 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was sad when you disappeared but am overjoyed at your return. We need an honest voice in a city whose leadership is failing. 

An example is the abuse and controversy over the lot at 2517 Sacramento St. Even while the city is being sued in part due to their failure to act in good faith by notifying the surrounding neighborhood of meetings regarding the property, members of Neighbors for Sensible Development were kept in the dark about a meeting of the Design Review Commission.  

The meeting took place March 20. The only two signs posted to announce the meeting were posted March 21, one day after the meeting took place. We should have been notified 10 days in advance. Why weren’t we? 

Please investigate and let the citizens of Berkeley in on the secret of contractors and developers taking our berserk little village away from us. 

Elizabeth Campos 

• 

GOOD LUCK 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We look forward to the revived non-daily Berkeley Planet. I really miss news about the city, in particular about the schools, which are in so much need of support.  

You had done a great service previously covering them, which is crucial for the citizenry. Also, getting full exposure to the nutty – and hopefully in the future less nutty – Berkeley politics was valuable and ultimately serves the purpose of helping the politicians stay in line a bit, because more attention is drawn not only to their good deeds but also to their shenanigans. 

One more thing about the schools: Because of an article I read in the Planet, I volunteered for the Berkeley High School Writer’s Room Program, which provides a terrific service to Berkeley’s students (one-on-one writing coaching for entire classrooms by eager cadres of community volunteer writing coaches). Without your periodic attention to activities such as this, people simply don’t know about them, and they and the kids miss out. 

You have been sorely missed. My heart skipped a beat when I saw your notice on the boxes: “We will be back.” Good luck. 

Monika Eisenbud 

• 

VOTERS’ RIGHTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Last spring, as an emergency move to quell proposals allowing very tall or dense structures in many parts of Berkeley, people from various communities put together an initiative for the ballot to establish maximum building heights. 

At that time, members of the group set up a booth at the Earth Day Festival and got dozens of signatures from citizens willing to circulate petitions. Of the more than 50 visitors talked with that day, only three were in favor of high-rise development, indicating high support in the ecology community. 

When the text of the final initiative was completed and legally formatted, the document was submitted to city officials as the last step before being circulated for voters’ signatures. The city attorney issued an opinion declaring the proposed measure was beyond the powers of voters to enact as an initiative. 

Furthermore, to do so would require a charter amendment. To our disadvantage, the collection of enough signatures to amend the charter would require three times the number needed for an initiative. By the time this legal judgment was delivered April 3, it was not feasible to collect the over 6,000 signatures in one month before the presidential election deadline. As a consequence the project was shelved. 

Maximum height advocates might go for a charter amendment with more than a year in which to do the petitions. First, a clarification of the city attorney’s judgment needs to be made in view of the fact that the City Charter itself gives direct legislative powers to voters in the initiative section, Article XIII: 

“The qualified voters of the city shall have power through the initiative and otherwise, as provided by this charter and general laws of the state, to enact appropriate legislation to carry out and enforce any of the powers of the city or any of the powers of the council.” 

Since a questionable city attorney opinion, of interfering with a city commission, has been headlined in local newspapers, yet another complaint should be aired involving the initiative process. 

What are our rights as voters under charter Article XIII? Why is the initiative process being limited? Would a City Council workshop on the issue be appropriate? 

Martha Nicoloff 

• 

The Berkeley Daily Planet accepts Letters to the Editor at opinion@berkeleydailyplanet.com. Letters can also be sent by mail to 3023A Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705. Include address and phone number. Please keep letters succinct, and they may be edited for space. 

IN THE DARK 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was sad when you disappeared but am overjoyed at your return. We need an honest voice in a city whose leadership is failing. 

An example is the abuse and controversy over the lot at 2517 Sacramento St. Even while the city is being sued in part due to their failure to act in good faith by notifying the surrounding neighborhood of meetings regarding the property, members of Neighbors for Sensible Development were kept in the dark about a meeting of the Design Review Commission.  

The meeting took place March 20. The only two signs posted to announce the meeting were posted March 21, one day after the meeting took place. We should have been notified 10 days in advance. Why weren’t we? 

Please investigate and let the citizens of Berkeley in on the secret of contractors and developers taking our berserk little village away from us. 

Elizabeth Campos 

• 

GOOD LUCK 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We look forward to the revived non-daily Berkeley Planet. I really miss news about the city, in particular about the schools, which are in so much need of support.  

You had done a great service previously covering them, which is crucial for the citizenry. Also, getting full exposure to the nutty – and hopefully in the future less nutty – Berkeley politics was valuable and ultimately serves the purpose of helping the politicians stay in line a bit, because more attention is drawn not only to their good deeds but also to their shenanigans. 

One more thing about the schools: Because of an article I read in the Planet, I volunteered for the Berkeley High School Writer’s Room Program, which provides a terrific service to Berkeley’s students (one-on-one writing coaching for entire classrooms by eager cadres of community volunteer writing coaches). Without your periodic attention to activities such as this, people simply don’t know about them, and they and the kids miss out. 

You have been sorely missed. My heart skipped a beat when I saw your notice on the boxes: “We will be back.” Good luck. 

Monika Eisenbud 

• 

VOTERS’ RIGHTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Last spring, as an emergency move to quell proposals allowing very tall or dense structures in many parts of Berkeley, people from various communities put together an initiative for the ballot to establish maximum building heights. 

At that time, members of the group set up a booth at the Earth Day Festival and got dozens of signatures from citizens willing to circulate petitions. Of the more than 50 visitors talked with that day, only three were in favor of high-rise development, indicating high support in the ecology community. 

When the text of the final initiative was completed and legally formatted, the document was submitted to city officials as the last step before being circulated for voters’ signatures. The city attorney issued an opinion declaring the proposed measure was beyond the powers of voters to enact as an initiative. 

Furthermore, to do so would require a charter amendment. To our disadvantage, the collection of enough signatures to amend the charter would require three times the number needed for an initiative. By the time this legal judgment was delivered April 3, it was not feasible to collect the over 6,000 signatures in one month before the presidential election deadline. As a consequence the project was shelved. 

Maximum height advocates might go for a charter amendment with more than a year in which to do the petitions. First, a clarification of the city attorney’s judgment needs to be made in view of the fact that the City Charter itself gives direct legislative powers to voters in the initiative section, Article XIII: 

“The qualified voters of the city shall have power through the initiative and otherwise, as provided by this charter and general laws of the state, to enact appropriate legislation to carry out and enforce any of the powers of the city or any of the powers of the council.” 

Since a questionable city attorney opinion, of interfering with a city commission, has been headlined in local newspapers, yet another complaint should be aired involving the initiative process. 

What are our rights as voters under charter Article XIII? Why is the initiative process being limited? Would a City Council workshop on the issue be appropriate? 

Martha Nicoloff 

• 

The Berkeley Daily Planet accepts Letters to the Editor at opinion@berkeleydailyplanet.com. Letters can also be sent by mail to 3023A Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705. Include address and phone number. Please keep letters succinct, and they may be edited for space. 

The Fine Arts Cinema building was leveled by a bulldozer Monday, bringing an end to the last physical legacy of Berkeley’s repertory cinema heyday and clearing the way for construction of a new 250-seat theater on the Shattuck Avenue site. 

The proposed cinema, to be completed in August 2004, is part of a five-story, mixed-use development plan proposed by real estate developer Patrick Kennedy that includes 100 units of housing.  

Under the proposal, the theater’s current leaseholders will run the new movie complex under a 20-year lease. 

Kennedy faced opposition to his plan last year by artists, preservationists and former patrons of the theater, including renowned poets Michael McClure and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who said the theater was a monument of the Beatnik subculture that helped distinguish Berkeley as a mecca of radical art and politics during the 1950s and 1960s.  

They also said it was the birthplace of repertory theater and the impetus for the American Film Movement, an era marked by a new-found fervor for rare, old and foreign films among intellectuals and artists. 

“For us to have cavalierly torn down the most viable remnant of that period is irresponsible and short-sighted,” said Leslie Landberg, who earlier this year led the failed attempt to convince the Landmarks Commission to declare the building a historical landmark, a designation that might have saved it from demolition. “It’s an assault against the history and culture of the people of Berkeley.” 

Landberg is the daughter of Edward Landberg, the man many film experts say established the first repertory cinema house in the country. In 1961, the elder Landberg extensively remodeled the building that became known as the Fine Arts Cinema. That cinema was the second repertory film house Landberg built. The first theater, originally called the Cinema-Guild, was established in 1953 on Telegraph Avenue near Haste Street. The Berkeley theaters were joined by a third, The Gateway, in San Francisco in 1968. All three theaters were managed and programmed by Landberg and, until 1960, his first wife Pauline Kael, a pioneering film critic who would later go on to write for The New Yorker. 

Landberg lost his rep houses to his second wife after their divorce in 1969. Unable to keep the theaters financially viable, she sold out to the Mitchell Brothers, a San Francisco porn theater company. Following the Mitchell Brothers’ stint, the cinema had various occupants, including an Indian film showcaser and the Landmarks Theaters chain. It became the Fine Arts Cinema in 1988, providing a repertory art house oasis amidst a landscape of commercial, mainstream multiplexes. 

Kennedy said the Fine Arts Cinema leaseholders probably would have shut it down had he not come in with his redevelopment plan.  

“They probably wouldn’t have been able to afford to do the seismic retrofitting, fire safety and ADA remodeling required,” he said. 

Fine Arts Cinema leaseholder Keith Arnold plans to team with the Cinema Preservation Society, a nonprofit organization that will operate a film museum and screening room on the site.  

But the plan to include the museum doesn’t soften the position of the theater’s defenders, who say the old building was a “living legacy” worthy of preservation for its role in shaping the spirit and culture of a community.  

“Once the building is gone, the history only exists in photographs, in libraries and in the memories of the people who were there,” said Harold Adler, co-curator of the Free Speech Cafe.

I’m a technology reporter and columnist for the San Francisco 

Chronicle. Or at least I was until last Wednesday, when I was 

suspended, without pay, for getting arrested in peaceful 

civil disobedience against the war. 

The offense the Chronicle is charging me with is falsifying my time card, but this is a bogus, 

after-the-fact cover for an act of political retaliation and an 

attempt to intimidate other employees. The truth is that the 

paper’s senior editors ordered my column pulled from the paper before I had even filled out the time card. Not because of any objections to the column’s contents (it was about spam, and they hadn’t even read 

it), but simply because I had been arrested the day before, just as I had previously informed my supervisors I would be. 

Here’s the sequence of events: On March 14 I applied for a 

month’s leave of absence from my job so I could devote myself to anti-war work. That request went to the paper’s top editorial honchos, editor Phil Bronstein and managing editor Robert Rosenthal. And though I heard nothing from them about it - still haven’t - I was informed indirectly that they had “concerns.” On Wednesday, March 19, after the bombing of Baghdad began and I got home from a long protest march in the rain, I e-mailed my immediate supervisors informing them that I planned to get arrested the following morning and wouldn’t be in to work until I got out of jail. 

Early the next morning, my wife, my daughter and I joined thousands of others protesting the war in San Francisco’s Financial District. We helped block the intersection of Market and Sansome streets, in front of Citicorp and the British Consulate. When the police ordered us to leave we sat down, and a little after 8 a.m. they hauled us off. We were kept in jail until around 10 p.m. that night and then released, after being cited 

for being a pedestrian in a road (an infraction) and refusing an order to move (a misdemeanor). 

I returned to work the next day and finished my column. Late in the day I filled out my time card for that week. For the day I spent in jail, I took a sick day. I did so because I was sick - heartsick over the beginning of the war, nauseated by the lies and the arrogance and the stupidity that led to it, and deeply depressed by the death and destruction it would bring. 

Ironically, on the day I was suspended the Chronicle had a front-page article clearly explaining the ailment I was suffering from. It ran under the headline “The Home Front: Battles with depression, stress are 

taking their toll,” by health writer Ulysses Torassa. 

Nevertheless, claiming sick pay for the day wasn’t a point of 

principle for me. My supervisor knew exactly why I was out of work that day. If he had objected to the sick-day claim (even though the Chronicle does not, as far as I can tell, have a formal definition of what qualifies as sickness) before signing the time card, I would cheerfully have changed it to make the day a personal day, a vacation day or simply an unpaid day. 

On Monday, March 24, another supervisor informed me that I could not write anything for the paper until further notice. 

On March 26, I was called to a meeting with Rosenthal and Cynthia Burks, vice president of human resources. A representative from my union, the Northern California Newspaper Guild, accompanied me. Burks asked me to explain what I did last Thursday and why I took a sick day. After I had done so, she informed me that I would be suspended, without pay, to give the paper time to “investigate” my “falsification” of the time card. She originally did not put a time limit on the suspension, but when my guild representative asked, Burks said it would be for at least two weeks. 

Like the majority of the peo 

ple of the world, I consider this 

war immoral, illegal and unnecessary. Whatever the outcome, it’s sure to compound the suffering of the Iraqis, to waste American lives and resources, to turn fair-minded people the world over against us, and to increase the risk of terrorist attack. Under these circumstances, the civil disobedience I took part in last Thursday was an act of conscience - I’d act the same way if I had it to do over. I’m only sorry that the Chronicle feels it has to retaliate against me, on a patently ridiculous technicality, for demonstrating my opinion on the most important issue of the day. 

Henry Norr is a Berkeley resident. 

and are early to bed. Many with no visible means of support rise late, drink a lot of coffee, have a glass of red wine at dinner and could vote for a green candidate. 

These last few days they talk of a war half a world away, but present on every newspaper front page and every television screen. They are saddened, feel helpless, seek ways to act, and call upon another Berkeley, usually near invisible.Old-timers will show you its landmarks -- unnoticed by any commission -- buildings and places where they planned and sometimes fought the first battles of a revolution that never arrived. 

And before that, once upon a time, not so very long ago, Berkeley was bathed in light. Fruit trees on every street, cheap eats, low rents and lots of love, all kinds of love, grass everywhere and free music, good music. And before that Hinks, a fine store here at home, where your change came swooping down a wire track from the cashier’s office and across the street clouds of blue-rinsed ladies enjoyed afternoon tea at Edy’s, and in summer kids went sliding straight down the grassy hills for unobstructed blocks on sheets of cardboard. 

Can the Daily Planet speak to, write about all these Berkeleys? Have something to say to people who never heard of Clark Kent? To the man fishing on the city pier at 1 a.m. who talks with longing about his home place in the Punjab? The once-professionals who now fix cars, work in restaurants, solve drainage problems?  

In other words, can we reach and represent the typical resident in a town where there is no typical resident? 

We’re sure gonna try. 

Peter Solomon, a Berkeley resident, is a former editor of The Flatlands, an Oakland-based biweekly, and The Montclarion. 

I’m a technology reporter and columnist for the San Francisco 

Chronicle. Or at least I was until last Wednesday, when I was 

suspended, without pay, for getting arrested in peaceful 

civil disobedience against the war. 

The offense the Chronicle is charging me with is falsifying my time card, but this is a bogus, 

after-the-fact cover for an act of political retaliation and an 

attempt to intimidate other employees. The truth is that the 

paper’s senior editors ordered my column pulled from the paper before I had even filled out the time card. Not because of any objections to the column’s contents (it was about spam, and they hadn’t even read 

it), but simply because I had been arrested the day before, just as I had previously informed my supervisors I would be. 

Here’s the sequence of events: On March 14 I applied for a 

month’s leave of absence from my job so I could devote myself to anti-war work. That request went to the paper’s top editorial honchos, editor Phil Bronstein and managing editor Robert Rosenthal. And though I heard nothing from them about it - still haven’t - I was informed indirectly that they had “concerns.” On Wednesday, March 19, after the bombing of Baghdad began and I got home from a long protest march in the rain, I e-mailed my immediate supervisors informing them that I planned to get arrested the following morning and wouldn’t be in to work until I got out of jail. 

Early the next morning, my wife, my daughter and I joined thousands of others protesting the war in San Francisco’s Financial District. We helped block the intersection of Market and Sansome streets, in front of Citicorp and the British Consulate. When the police ordered us to leave we sat down, and a little after 8 a.m. they hauled us off. We were kept in jail until around 10 p.m. that night and then released, after being cited 

for being a pedestrian in a road (an infraction) and refusing an order to move (a misdemeanor). 

I returned to work the next day and finished my column. Late in the day I filled out my time card for that week. For the day I spent in jail, I took a sick day. I did so because I was sick - heartsick over the beginning of the war, nauseated by the lies and the arrogance and the stupidity that led to it, and deeply depressed by the death and destruction it would bring. 

Ironically, on the day I was suspended the Chronicle had a front-page article clearly explaining the ailment I was suffering from. It ran under the headline “The Home Front: Battles with depression, stress are 

taking their toll,” by health writer Ulysses Torassa. 

Nevertheless, claiming sick pay for the day wasn’t a point of 

principle for me. My supervisor knew exactly why I was out of work that day. If he had objected to the sick-day claim (even though the Chronicle does not, as far as I can tell, have a formal definition of what qualifies as sickness) before signing the time card, I would cheerfully have changed it to make the day a personal day, a vacation day or simply an unpaid day. 

On Monday, March 24, another supervisor informed me that I could not write anything for the paper until further notice. 

On March 26, I was called to a meeting with Rosenthal and Cynthia Burks, vice president of human resources. A representative from my union, the Northern California Newspaper Guild, accompanied me. Burks asked me to explain what I did last Thursday and why I took a sick day. After I had done so, she informed me that I would be suspended, without pay, to give the paper time to “investigate” my “falsification” of the time card. She originally did not put a time limit on the suspension, but when my guild representative asked, Burks said it would be for at least two weeks. 

Like the majority of the peo 

ple of the world, I consider this 

war immoral, illegal and unnecessary. Whatever the outcome, it’s sure to compound the suffering of the Iraqis, to waste American lives and resources, to turn fair-minded people the world over against us, and to increase the risk of terrorist attack. Under these circumstances, the civil disobedience I took part in last Thursday was an act of conscience - I’d act the same way if I had it to do over. I’m only sorry that the Chronicle feels it has to retaliate against me, on a patently ridiculous technicality, for demonstrating my opinion on the most important issue of the day. 

Henry Norr is a Berkeley resident.

On Saturday the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Ga., held a rare weekend press conference to address growing global concern regarding Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, better known as SARS. 

“We are very concerned about the spread of this virus,” CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding said. “It is a respiratory virus. It does appear to be transmitted very efficiently, and what we know about respiratory viruses suggests that the potential for infecting large numbers of people is very great. We may be in the very early stages of what could be a much larger problem.” 

As of March 31, there were 69 suspected cases under investigation across America, 14 cases in California, and two in Alameda County. According to the Alameda County Public Health Department, there are five reported possible cases in our community. 

Dr. Thomas Aragon, executive director of UC Berkeley’s Center for Infectious Disease Preparedness, is concerned.  

“Because there is intense travel between the Bay Area and Asia, there are multiple options to introduce SARS into this population and there is great opportunity for this disease to spread.”  

While there have been no SARS-related deaths in the United States, four Canadians have died from SARS and the current global mortality rate appears to be as high as four percent.  

World Health Organization (WHO) and CDC officials suggest that SARS transmits itself primarily through large respiratory droplets.  

When a person coughs or sneezes they expel large airborne droplets that can carry the disease and contaminate surfaces all around them.  

It’s believed the virus, which has been identified as a corona-virus similar to the common cold, can survive for three hours outside the body.  

“If you touch the patient or any of the surfaces that have been contaminated, and then touch your mucous membranes you can transmit the disease,” Aragon said.  

He continued, “We want to be aggressive in educating people, especially heath care providers, on how to avoid becoming infected. If we can delay the infection rate we may be able to get a better handle on how to treat this. We want to delay the infection rate because it is going to spread everywhere.”

Berkeley, in spite of its allure, has an eccentric reputation. Berkeleyans delight in their quirkiness and would never aspire to be conventional. 

Berkeley is a unique place, full of contrast and contradiction. It’s blessed with awesome assets and great natural appeal. It’s the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement and home to strict political correctness. It’s a city with tacky buildings next to architectural jewels. It’s a secular city with dozens of religious congregations of all types. One of the world’s great universities facilitates a rich and varied intellectual life. Berkeleyans care as much about the big issues – peace, the environment – and the little-known ones – organic coffee, rights of naked people – as they do about potholes and parking meters. The national media chides Berkeley whenever they have nothing else to do, but their quips about the city do not deter passionate advocacy. 

Berkeley has more than its share of aging revolutionaries, bold innovators and creative thinkers. Its productivity is a tribute to the people of Berkeley, since Berkeley’s countless capabilities are not publicly supported. Longstanding conflicts make for poor civic planning and use of public resources. 

Intense partisan quarrels have been a persistent feature of Berkeley politics for decades, and the city has paid a heavy price. Political gridlock works its way down to boards, commissions and city staff, who get mixed signals – or no signals at all – about priorities and expectations. 

Berkeley politics is dominated by two political organizations: the Berkeley Democratic Club (BDC) and Berkeley Citizens Action (BCA). Neither organization provides strong civic leadership or holds its endorsed, elected officials accountable. Yet without their help it is extremely difficult to get elected to the City Council and only a bit easier for the school board. 

The BDC is liberal, the BCA progressive. There is no formal communication between the two. While it was possible for Soviet and American officials to have dinner together during the Cold War, I’m not aware that the BDC president and the BCA chair have ever had lunch. 

In the 40 years that I’ve lived in Berkeley, the political left and right have become distinguishable from each other less by issues than by labels and personalities. When I first came to Berkeley, the right talked about business and the left talked about real property – mostly how to distribute it. Today, the left raps about profits and the right has discovered the electoral potency of affirmative action. 

Berkeley inspires passion. Its unconventional informality, its nonviolent diversity and its crusty loveliness are not much diminished by its convoluted politics. But Berkeley needs strong leadership to flourish. Shirley Dean, the former mayor, managed to accomplish a lot in spite of an often hostile City Council. The new mayor, Tom Bates, has a friendlier council, and he is highly motivated to leave a sterling legacy. We should wish him well. 

Harry D. Weininger is a long-time resident of Berkeley.

Berkeley, in spite of its allure, has an eccentric reputation. Berkeleyans delight in their quirkiness and would never aspire to be conventional. 

Berkeley is a unique place, full of contrast and contradiction. It’s blessed with awesome assets and great natural appeal. It’s the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement and home to strict political correctness. It’s a city with tacky buildings next to architectural jewels. It’s a secular city with dozens of religious congregations of all types. One of the world’s great universities facilitates a rich and varied intellectual life. Berkeleyans care as much about the big issues – peace, the environment – and the little-known ones – organic coffee, rights of naked people – as they do about potholes and parking meters. The national media chides Berkeley whenever they have nothing else to do, but their quips about the city do not deter passionate advocacy. 

Berkeley has more than its share of aging revolutionaries, bold innovators and creative thinkers. Its productivity is a tribute to the people of Berkeley, since Berkeley’s countless capabilities are not publicly supported. Longstanding conflicts make for poor civic planning and use of public resources. 

Intense partisan quarrels have been a persistent feature of Berkeley politics for decades, and the city has paid a heavy price. Political gridlock works its way down to boards, commissions and city staff, who get mixed signals – or no signals at all – about priorities and expectations. 

Berkeley politics is dominated by two political organizations: the Berkeley Democratic Club (BDC) and Berkeley Citizens Action (BCA). Neither organization provides strong civic leadership or holds its endorsed, elected officials accountable. Yet without their help it is extremely difficult to get elected to the City Council and only a bit easier for the school board. 

The BDC is liberal, the BCA progressive. There is no formal communication between the two. While it was possible for Soviet and American officials to have dinner together during the Cold War, I’m not aware that the BDC president and the BCA chair have ever had lunch. 

In the 40 years that I’ve lived in Berkeley, the political left and right have become distinguishable from each other less by issues than by labels and personalities. When I first came to Berkeley, the right talked about business and the left talked about real property – mostly how to distribute it. Today, the left raps about profits and the right has discovered the electoral potency of affirmative action. 

Berkeley inspires passion. Its unconventional informality, its nonviolent diversity and its crusty loveliness are not much diminished by its convoluted politics. But Berkeley needs strong leadership to flourish. Shirley Dean, the former mayor, managed to accomplish a lot in spite of an often hostile City Council. The new mayor, Tom Bates, has a friendlier council, and he is highly motivated to leave a sterling legacy. We should wish him well. 

Harry D. Weininger is a long-time resident of Berkeley.

Berkeley Camera Club meets every Tuesday at Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Begins at 7:30 p.m. Call Don, 525-3565.  

www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

Household Energy Conservation Class begins at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. Topics include do-it-yourself insulation, weatherization and metering, appliance use, and law and no-cost solutions to energy problems. 

981-5435. 

energy@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Self Assessment for Career Change, a four-part workshop for people contemplating career change, from 6 to 8:30 p.m., Tuesdays through April 22. Cost is $85 for YWCA members; $95 nonmembers. For preregistration contact Leah Antignas 848-6370. Class held at the YWCA Turning Point Career Center, 2600 Bancroft Way. 

www.ywca-berkeley.org 

Brown Bag Career Talk 

Dual Career Couples: Tips and Tools for Making it Work, a session with career counselor Alan Hochman, from noon to 1 p.m. at the YWCA Turning Point Career Center, 2600 Bancroft. Cost is $3. 

www.ywca-berkeley.org 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil gathers at 6:30 p.m. for a 7 p.m. walk. Meet in downtown Berkeley at the BART station at Shattuck Ave. and Center St. 528-9217. 

vigil4peace@yahoo.com  

www.geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

Amnesty International Berkeley Community Group meets at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1606 Bonita Ave., at Cedar St. Come join other human rights activists to promote social justice. 872-0768. 

Community Dances in Berkeley, with traditional English and American dance, take place at 8 p.m. Wednesdays at Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St. Cost is $9. Also the first Sunday of the month at 7 p.m.; cost is $10. Call Mary at 233-5065. www.bacds.org 

Berkeley Liberation Radio 104.1 FM holds a public meeting at 7 p.m. at the Long Haul Info Shop, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 595-0190. 

UC Berkeley Stop the War Coalition meets at 7 p.m. at 

109 Dwinelle Hall, on the UC Berkeley campus. 

Fourth Annual Seed Swap of the Bay Area Seed Interchange Library takes place from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Meet local gardeners and trade seed. Also, free seed giveaways and a short talk on seed saving. Bring seed, pens and envelopes or come with a commitment to bring seed back to the Interchange Library. Call 548-2220 ext 233. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, sponsored by members of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, begins at noon on the grass near the west entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions welcome.  

496-6000, ext.135.  

http://www.bpf.org/ 

No War Rally, sponsored by the Coalition for Peace and Justice, meets at 11 a.m. at Mosswood Park, MacArthur Blvd. and Broadway. March begins at 11:30 a.m. with a 1:30 p.m. rally at Frank Ogawa Plaza, 14th St. and Broadway. 654-6966. 

Sick Plant Clinic takes place from 9 a.m. to noon at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr.  

Experts will diagnose your plant woes as part of this free service. 643-2755. 

www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden 

Block Captain’s Workshop on Disaster Preparedness begins at 6 p.m. at the Public Safety Building, 2100 MLK Way. This annual event encourages contact between neighborhood block organizers. Call Community Services Bureau, 981-5808. 

Women In Black Vigil, held daily from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph Ave. 

548-6310, 845-1143. 

wibberkeley@yahoo.com 

Residential Energy Conservation Contest, deadline April 10. If you are a Berkeley resident who has reduced your electrical energy use and has lived in the same location for at least one year you are eligible to enter the Berkeley Unplugged II contest and win one of several prizes. Winners will be announced at Berkeley Earth Day, April 19. For information and registration: Energy@ci.berkeley.ca.us, telephone 981-5435, or TDD 981-6903. 

Free Disaster Preparedness Classes, offered by the Berkeley Office of Emergency Services. Topics include basic personal preparedness, disaster first aid, light search and rescue, fire suppression, disaster mental health, shelter operations  

and earthquake retrofitting. 

Register online at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes.html or call 981-5605. 

Theater of the Oppressed 

with Julie Sparling, M.Ed. 

Theater of the Oppressed uses movement, storytelling and tableauz to explore how images of one’s personal experience reflect universal issues of power and change. Takes place at the YWCA, 2600 Bancroft Way, on Sundays April 6 through May 4 (excluding April 20), from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cost varies from $90 to $140. UC Berkeley Racial Justice program. 594-1377. 

Spring Break Theater Lab 

for middle school students, session one from April 7 to 11; session two from April 14 to 18. Runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Curriculum includes clowning/acrobatics, acting, improv, musical theater and hip hop. Cost is $250. 647-2978. 

school@berkeleyrep.org 

jseelig@berkeleyrep.org 

City Council Special Meeting, April 1 from 5 to 6:30 p.m., at City Council chambers, 2134 MLK Way. Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/default.htm 

City Council meets April 1 at 7 p.m. at City Council chambers, 2134 MLK Way. 

Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 

981-6900. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/default.htm 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meets April 7 at 7 p.m. in City Council chambers, 2134 MLK Way. Pam Wyche, 644-6128 ext. 113. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/rent/  

Commission on the Status of Women meets April 2 at 

7:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 

1901 Hearst Ave. Ruby Primus, 981-5160. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/women/default.htm  

Community Environmental Advisory Commission meets April 3 at 7 p.m. at 2118 Milvia St. Nabil Al-Hadithy, 981-7461. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/environmentaladvisory/default.htm  

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/health/default.htm  

Fire Safety Commission meets April 2 at 7:30 p.m. at 997 Cedar St. David Orth, 981-5502. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/firesafety/default.htm  

Housing Advisory Commission meets April 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. Oscar Sung, 981-5410. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/housing/default.htm  

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets April 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. Gisele Sorensen, 981-7419. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/landmarks/default.htm  

Peace and Justice Commission meets April 7 at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. Manuel Hector, 981-5510. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/peaceandjustice/default.htm  

Public Works Commission meets April 3 at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

Jeff Egeberg, 981-6406. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/publicworks/default.htm  

Youth Commission meets April 7 at 6:30 p.m. at 1730 Oregon St. Philip Harper-Cotton, 981-6670. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/youth/default.htm

Berkeley, known around the globe for its strident political activism, will celebrate its 125th anniversary today with a series of quiet, apolitical events. 

A walking tour of downtown Berkeley, a community photograph on the steps of Old City Hall at 4:30 p.m. - with the entire city invited to take part - and an exhibit honoring the city’s namesake, the Irish bishop George Berkeley, will be among the signature events (see page 2 for a full listing). 

Organizers say a busy city staff and a late start to the planning process contributed to the modest scale of the celebration, arguing that there was no conscious decision to downplay Berkeley’s history of political activism. 

“We’ve just been very busy lately,” said Arrietta Chakos, chief of staff for City Manager Weldon Rucker. “If we had a lot of time to deal with this, and an events coordinator, we would have remembered everything we should have remembered.” 

Cisco DeVries, chief of staff for Mayor Tom Bates, suggested the city might benefit from the focus on other aspects of its past. 

“I think people are much more familiar with Berkeley from 1963 on,” he said. “We wanted to make sure this wasn’t just about the sixties.”  

Berkeley’s 125th anniversary celebration actually began in Newport, R.I. 

In November 2001 Steven Finacom, an amateur historian who works in UC Berkeley’s planning department, visited Newport’s International Berkeley Society, which honors Bishop Berkeley, during an East Coast trip. 

Finacom’s visit resulted in an exhibit on the bishop, which began Jan. 9 and runs through April 26, at the Berkeley Historical Society. 

Planning for the larger 125th anniversary celebration grew out of that exhibit when the historical society joined with the city, merchants and the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association to form a birthday committee. 

The architecture group will lead an historic house tour on May 11. This week, some 40 to 50 merchants will offer their customers deals this week, including various items priced at $1.25 or $12.50 in commemoration of the 125th anniversary. 

Centering the event around Bishop Berkeley has generated a small-bore controversy in this town. In 1726 the churchman and philosopher, as part of a failed bid to construct a college in Bermuda, penned a poem called “On the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America” that included the line: “Westward the course of empire takes its way.”  

The phrase, on its face, doesn’t seem to square with the city’s current anti-imperialist bent. But Finacom said Berkeley probably didn’t have visions of conquest when he wrote the poem. 

“He was probably talking about a perfect civilization as opposed to political and military domination,” Finacom said. 

The bishop, Finacom contends, is apt for the city because his philospohy was one of tolerance and anti-materialism. 

Whatever the meaning, it inspired Frederick Billings, one UC’s founders, to name the local campus after the bishop in 1866. Twelve years later, the city incorporated under the same name. 

Amid the discord over the war in Iraq, one group strives to bring a harmonious tone to anti-war protests in the Bay Area. 

The Musicians Action Group, armed with piccolos, harmonicas, drums, tubas and banjos, exercises a melodic version of free speech. Members range in age from pre-teens to octogenarians. They include students in local grade school bands and professionals who have been playing since the Vietnam War. 

Berkeley resident, carpenter and musician Gene Turitz is considered one of the quasi-leaders of this nearly anarchic band simply because he’s been doing it for 30 years. He’s the fellow who usually calls out the songs and counts out the beats. 

“We have a book that has 24 tunes in it,” Turitz said. “If you come to the demonstration you get the book. We call out the number of the tunes, we count ‘em off and we play ‘em. Getting more than 24 tunes makes the book a little heavy and difficult to deal with, so when we add new tunes or make new arrangements, we have to take out tunes.”  

At the San Francisco peace rally on March 15, the band led protesters in rousing renditions of “De Colores,” which was used by the United Farm Workers, and “Wade in the Water,” a spiritual from the days of slavery. They also played protest standards such as “Ain’t Gonna Study War No More,” John Lennon’s “Imagine,” “Down by the Riverside” and “We Shall Overcome.” 

Berkeley pediatrician Bert Lubin plays drums with the band. His son, Danny Lubin-Laden, is a Berkeley High School student who’s been playing trombone for about two years; Danny’s friend, Seth Rosenberg from College Prep, plays saxophone, and the two attended their first MAG performance at the March 15 rally in San Francisco.  

“I'm against the war,” said the senior Lubin. “I think you have to do everything you possibly can. I worry about the violence but I think you have to make a statement.” 

His son agrees. “I don’t believe it’s a just cause,” Danny said. “I'm against the war and I enjoy music and I think you’ve got to speak out any way you can.” 

At the March 15 rally the band’s attire ranged from tie-dye T-shirts to classic, activist flannel plaids. There was also a small mixed-gender contingent in wedding gowns representing the “Brides of March.” 

Jeff Mertens, a Berkeley-based painting contractor, has played trombone in the group for the past 20 years.  

“I like to play music because music is a renewable resource. War is not,” he said. “Music creates energy and people seem happy when we play. They smile and sing along. At these events there are usually political speeches, and speeches tend to make people feel angry and makes them want to do something. Our music brings people together so people can think about the speeches, but they also hear the music and can feel good. The music creates an action, marching and good feelings.” 

Jeff’s wife, Mardi Sicular-Mertens, a Berkeley High School teacher, recently began playing tambourine with the band. 

“Music has always been a part of my life,” she said. “I’ve been marching in demonstrations since I was six years old. I guess you could say I was a red diaper baby. We marched for civil rights. We marched for the farm workers. Every year we march on Hiroshima Day. I’ve been marching all my life but it doesn’t feel like I do enough.” 

The group’s roots run deep in the East Bay’s activist community.  

“Some of us started playing for these marches 30 years ago,” Turitz said. “And we’re still doing it, and people like it. On almost every march that we’ve played people come up and say, ‘Oh this is really great. I wish I could do that with you.’ So they do.” 

The band doesn’t have meetings or leaders or an organizational flow chart. The whole operation runs off a mailing list. Turitz said if someone wants to play all they have to do is e-mail Magband@aol.com, provide an address, indicate their instrument and ask to be notified of the next gathering. 

“It’s very easy,” Turitz said. “While many of the members are professional musicians, the only audition required is showing up. Mostly, everyone plays pretty well, but there’s no criteria other than a willingness to show up. We had a band in 1973 called the Bay Area Progressive Musicians Association — BAPMA. That was a real organization. We had meetings and rehearsals.” 

That association broke up by 1979, but a few of the musicians stayed in touch and continued playing together. They form the nucleus of the current band, which now has about 70 musicians on the mailing list. 

At the March 15 rally in San Francisco, about 50 MAG members came to play. They were also joined by other music groups. 

“I’ve played at demonstrations with as little as three people,” Turitz said at the demonstration. “It was very hard but we had a good time — the three of us. Generally speaking a functional size is 15. It depends on how people feel about the march. Right now a lot of people are interested in playing.” 

More information about the Musicians Action Group can be found on their web site, http://www.musiciansactiongroup.org/.

“So, let me get this straight,” said my recently-transplanted-from-the-East-Coast friend. “Is everybody in Berkeley a foodie?” 

Well, yeah, pretty much. 

And why not, surrounded as we are with a profusion of truly fabulous foods. From nationally recognized restaurants to locally acclaimed coffee shops, from cheese merchants to pasta purveyors, from the Monterey Market to the Farmers’ Market, there’s a whole lot of good eatin’ out there. And if it is indeed the end of the world as we know it, as the Mayan Calendar, Nostradamus and the Bush Imperium all seem to indicate, so little time in which to eat it.  

So I thought I might take this opportunity to force myself upon some of Berkeley’s most talented chefs and weasel recipes out of them appropriate for the home cook. You, dear reader, can then amass over time a Berkeley Dish Cookbook for free, a useful strategy in a tanking economy! Just another public service brought to you by the Berkeley Daily Planet.  

Tough times require carbohydrates, and plenty of them; hence my decision to inaugurate this column at my favorite bakery, Crixa, with a recipe from its gifted proprietess, Elizabeth Kloian. 

Crixa, with its pale saffron walls and beamed ceiling, provides an oasis of delicious calm on busy Adeline Street, just a stone’s throw from the Berkeley Bowl. 

Elizabeth takes inspiration from the Russian bakeries of her youth, explaining how her sophisticated creations attempt to balance textures and tastes, the sweet with the tart and the sour, providing a rounded-mouth feel. 

“But I think of Crixa as the quintessentially Berkeley bakery,” she adds. “I am influenced by all the different cultures here, and by all the extraordinary ingredients available. I don’t want to be limited in my baking to just the usual suspects.”  

Her display case is filled with wondrous delicacies, like Tiramisu cakes and miniature Boston Cream pies. Seasonal fruits grace flaky tarts and gallettes, while such old-fashioned treats as a Dolly Madison Whim cake are also proffered.  

Nobody does tea better. An interesting selection brewed in individual teapots is served up on small silver platters, a lovely little luxury. Add an almond tea cake or a poppyseed rugelach, and even the most looming anxiety attack can be successfully navigated. You can also choose from an array of coffee and espresso drinks (organic milk only, of course). 

Whether you order a deeply chocolate Soprano cake for a birthday celebration or a homey piece of gingerbread, you’ll definitely experience a spike in your serotonin levels. And speaking of ginger, Elizabeth offered a recipe for soft, spicy ginger cookies that’s both tasty and easy to make.

This week, 125 years ago, Berkeley was incorporated as a town. On that day, April 1, 1878, it was not yet large enough to be a city; that would happen in 1908 just before Old City Hall was dedicated in 1909.  

Berkeley’s past, however, stretches back before incorporation, before the Spanish arrived in 1820, to when Native Americans lived here and left evidence of their habitation in shell mounds by Strawberry Creek and mortar depressions in granite rocks in the north hills.  

Berkeley’s non-native history dates to 1820 when the King of Spain granted Don Luis Maria Peralta Rancho San Antonio, a large area that today is part of Alameda County. In 1842 Don Luis gave his son, Jose Domingo Peralta, the area that would become Berkeley. Jose Domingo built an adobe home on the banks of what is today Codornices Creek near Hopkins Street. 

During the Gold Rush California became part of the United States, and by 1852 Jose Domingo had sold most of his land to the newly arrived Americans. Berkeley’s first American settlement, Ocean View, was begun in 1852 when Captain James Jacob built a wharf near the mouth of what is now Strawberry Creek. 

Most of Berkeley was used for farming and grazing until 1860, when the College of California, a small, private institution then located in Oakland, purchased 30 acres of land for the “benefits of a country location.” A subdivision south of the campus was recorded in 1864, and plans for the college campus and a residential subdivision were made by Frederick Law Olmsted around 1865. The college picked the name Berkeley in 1866. The University of California was founded in 1868 and merged with the College of California. 

After the university opened in 1873, there was much activity in building up the surrounding areas. In 1876, Francis Kittredge Shattuck, an early landowner, convinced Leland Stanford to bring a Central (later Southern) Pacific spur line from Oakland along Adeline Street into what is now downtown Berkeley.  

Not yet a city, the communities of Berkeley and Ocean View were part of an unincorporated area of Oakland Township. Citizens in both communities resisted Oakland’s attempts to annex the area. The battle was won in Sacramento on April 1, 1878, when the state Senate voted to establish the town of Berkeley.  

Town Trustees met for years in various rented halls. Berkeley’s first Town Hall was built in 1884 at Sacramento Street and University Avenue (halfway between the two settlements). In 1899 Town Hall was moved to approximately the location of where Old City Hall stands today.  

After Town Hall burned in 1904 it was replaced by Old City Hall. Berkeley’s Civic Center as it stands today was not completed until 1950. The five-block area is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  

Susan Dinkelspiel Cerny is the author of “Berkeley Landmarks” and writes this column in conjunction with the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.

Budget workshop 

Prior to the regular City Council meeting, the council will hold a budget workshop at 5 p.m. in the City Council Chambers to hear presentations from Information Technology Director Chris Mead and Animal Care Services Manager Kate O’Conner about existing services and resources. In November, 2002, Berkeley voters approved a $7.2 million bond to build a new animal shelter. 

Wireless antennae appeal 

The council will consider the appeal of a group of North Berkeley neighbors who are challenging the Zoning Adjustments Board approval of three Sprint wireless communication antennae on the rooftop of a two-story building at the intersection of Shattuck Avenue and Cedar Street. 

Neighbors have filed two separate appeals with a total of 19 appeal issues that range from poor public notice to concerns about health consequences from exposure to radiation emitted from the antennas.  

The City Manager has recommended the council deny the appeal and allow the project to proceed. 

Public hearing: 2508-2514-2516 Benvenue and 2500 Benvenue 

The council will continue the public hearing on the ZAB’s approval of the American Baptist Seminary of the West’s request to demolish single-family dwellings at 2514 and 2516 Benvenue Street to allow the construction of a five-story mixed-use building, which will include 23 dwelling units and 22 dormitory-style beds.  

Also at 2508 Benvenue, the ZAB’s approval of the renovation and reconfiguration of an existing building to add six new dwelling units for a total of 21 units.  

Concerning 2500 Benvenue, the hearing will be continued on the ZAB’s approval of the renovation of a 12-unit building including the addition of 12 units for a total of 24 units. 

Razor fences get cut 

The City Council is expected to approve the second reading of a new ordinance that will prohibit the use of sharp edged or otherwise dangerous fences in residential districts.  

The council considered banning razor fences when several residents complained that their neighbors had installed the fences creating a hazard. Some of the neighbors said they had been injured by the sharp edges while gardening on their properties. The new ordinance will go into effect 30 days from the second reading. 

The City Council meets in the City Council Chambers at 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Live broadcasts of the meetings can be heard on KPFB Radio 89.3 and Cable -TV Channel 25 & 78.