Page One

The struggle to maintain a delicate balance between arts and crafts, blue collar jobs and office development in West Berkeley has entered another chapter in its 19-year saga.  

The Planning Commission voted unanimously Wednesday night to hold a public workshop June 11, to air a variety of recommendations designed to slow office development and preserve light manufacturing, which includes arts- and crafts-oriented businesses, in the Multiple Use-Light Industry district, more commonly known as the MU-LI. 

Prior to the workshop, the Planning Department will mail notices to about 2,600 stake holders, among them property owners, artists, artisans, small-business owners and residents who have an interest in the district.  

The MU-LI is a diverse community predominantly characterized by light industry such as arts and crafts workshops and some manufacturing. In recent years, however, the district has seen a rise in office conversion and development, which light manufacturing supporters say threatens the district’s character.  

Corliss Lesser, a painter who lives and works in the Durkee Building, which has 17 units that are leased to artists, spoke in favor of the subcommittee’s report 

“I strongly believe zoning regulations should be looked at,” she said. “If zoning isn’t improved, artists and artisans will definitely be forced out like they were in Santa Monica and Los Angeles.” 

Durkee residents were recently put into a state of uncertainty about their future in the building. Wareham Development, which owns the Durkee, notified residents that their rent will be increased by an undisclosed amount next year after nearly 15 years of a rent control agreement with the city. 

Jane Williamson, a principle reason to ask to see records but permits generalized searches. It makes it a crime for librarians to report such searches. 

Berkeley civil liberties lawyer Jim Chanin said, "They can get anyone who ever used any library book and the library is  

prohibited under criminal sanctions from telling anyone about it. If that's not a definition of a police state, then I don't know what is," said Chanin, who is past president and a current board member of the Berkeley-Albany-Richmond-Kensington Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. 

Other opponents, such as the Bill of Rights Defense Committee say that even if no records are actually searched, the threat has a chilling effect. 

Bowman Enrie regularly uses the library though he doesn't have a library card. He said the government "should mind its own business and get a clue." 

Sylvia Salgado came out of the library with a sack full of books. "Yes, I would care if they looked at my records. I came here from Colombia 28 years ago. There they can do anything — stop you when they want, search you when they want. 

"Now, it’s getting like that here.”