Berkeley teachers, facing heavy layoffs, are raising questions about hefty executive salaries and an apparent conflict of interest in upper-level contract negotiations at the Berkeley Unified School District. 

District administrators counter that they are working 14-hour days and deserve salaries that top out at $185,000 per year for Superintendent Michele Lawrence and $153,000 per year for three associate superintendents. 

They add that the alleged conflict of interest, which involves Associate Superintendent of Human Resources David Gomez negotiating the framework for his own wage hike, was not a conflict and has been revised anyhow. 

“I think when people are angry and frustrated and hurting from the loss of such good people, it becomes easier to throw stones at the administration,” said Lawrence. 

But Berkeley Federation of Teachers President Barry Fike said the average person would “smell a rat” in the Gomez contract deal. He added that the district, facing a $4 million to $8 million deficit next year, has not cut enough from the central office — which spends significantly more per pupil on upper management than most districts in the county, according to the most recent state data available.  

Berkeley spends $48 per student on superintendent and associate superintendent salaries, compared to $14 in Oakland, $26 in Alameda City and $32 in Dublin, according to Department of Education data from 2000-2001. The statewide average is $23 per pupil. 

“I think that I earn a good salary, but I do believe it was necessary to recruit a superintendent to take over Berkeley, given all the troubles,” said Lawrence, referring to the dysfunctional accounting system and looming deficits that hung over the district when she took charge last year. 

Lawrence, on top of her $185,000 salary, received an interest-free $300,000 loan to help purchase a home. 

Dennis Myers, assistant executive director of the Association of California School Administrators, said loans and housing allowances for superintendents are becoming more and more prevalent, particularly in areas of the state with a high cost of living. 

“Fifteen years ago, people would raise their eyebrows,” he said. “But now nobody is surprised.” 

Myers added that superintendents, who manage large transportation, food service, custodial and educational systems, receive far less in compensation than corporate CEOs. 

Still, with class sizes on the rise and heavy layoffs hitting teachers and custodians, some find the district’s administrative salaries excessive. 

“We cannot continue to support a top-heavy, overpaid administrative staff while they slash from the bottom,” said Stephanie Allan, a union official with Local 39, which represents bus drivers, security guards and food service workers. 

District officials say they made heavy cuts to the central administration last year and cannot chop any more. According to district figures released last week, Berkeley Unified eliminated 16 positions, created six new jobs and upgraded seven more during a major reorganization effort designed to revamp a struggling central office while cutting costs. 

The move, according to district figures, saved the district about $240,000. Union leaders, who have claimed there was a $400,000 increase in administrative expenditures, declined to comment, saying the district had not yet provided them with the new figures. 

But union officials continued to raise concerns about the Gomez pact. 

As the district’s top human resources official, Gomez is responsible for negotiating contracts with all the district’s unions, including the Union of Berkeley Administrators (UBA), which represents 37 principals, assistant principals and other managers. 

Gomez is not a member of UBA. But three years ago, former Superintendent Jack McLaughlin tied raises for Gomez and Associate Superintendent of Educational Services Christine Lim to the annual UBA pay hikes. 

Lawrence said McLaughlin made the move to “protect his people,” ensuring that Gomez and Lim would get consistent raises under a new superintendent. 

But McLaughlin, now superintendent of public instruction for the state of Nevada, denies the allegation. He said he simply wanted to ensure that all administrators were treated equally. 

“It was meant to keep the integrity of the whole management side together,” he said. 

Experts and officials from other districts said school systems often attempt to give top-level administrators raises on par with those of other district employees. But they said they had never heard of contracts that formally tie pay hikes for administrators to those of another, specific union. 

In fact, several officials said, districts often use their discretion on executive salaries to restrict pay hikes for top managers in tough economic times, even as teachers and other district employees get raises mandated by their contracts. 

Gomez negotiated the most recent, three-year UBA contract in 1999. The contract included a mathematical formula that tied annual raises for union members — and ultimately himself — to those of administrators in 30 other similar districts. 

Gomez said there was no conflict of interest because he did not set his annual pay hike. Instead, the mathematical formula, which yielded a 7 percent pay hike last year, was in control. 

“They’re trying to show that there was foul play,” said Gomez. “There wasn’t.” 

Still, skeptics say the arrangement raises red flags. 

“It’s pretty hard for a teacher to take, considering that their salary is a lot larger than ours,” said fifth-grade teacher Jennifer Landaeta, one of 220 Berkeley educators to receive a pink slip in March. 

Lawrence insists there was nothing underhanded in Gomez’s negotiations. But she said the appearance of a conflict of interest, and the mistrust it might create, led her to change the associate superintendents’ contracts last year, separating their pay from that of UBA members.

COMMUNITY MEETINGS 

TUESDAY, MAY 6 

Freedom of the Press? Bay Area Perspectives, a panel discussion with local journalists, will be held in the Central Library's Community Meeting Room, at 7 p.m. Panelists include Brenda Payton, Becky O'Malley, and Henry Norr. 981-6241. Household Energy Conservation Made Easy, a class covering do-it-yourself insulation, weatherization and metering, plus discussion of appliance use, and standby power along with examples of low- and no-cost solutions, and RECO measures requir- 

ed by the City of Berkeley. Speakers are Reuben Deumling, Berkeley Energy Commission; and Alice La Pierre, City of Berkeley Energy Analyst. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley Energy Office. 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5435 or energy@ci.berkeley.ca.us  

Disaster First Aid Class offered by the City of Ber- 

keley’s Emergency Oper- 

ations Center, from 9 a.m. to noon at 997 Cedar St. For more information call 981-5605. TDD: 981-5799. 

Alameda County Computer Resource Center, celebrates its opening and tour of the computer reuse and recycling facilities at 3 p.m. at their new headquarters, 1501 Eastshore Ave., near Gilman. Open House from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 528-4052. www.accrc.org  

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7 

YMCA’s 63rd Annual Com- 

munity Prayer Breakfast, with Lyn Fine, Buddhist educator, Rev. Rodney Yee, Chinese Community Church, and music by the McGee Avenue Baptist Choir. From 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the Brazilian Room in Tilden Park. Tic-kets are $20 and available by calling 549-4525 or email nandini@baymca.org 

“Tamalpais Tales,” an eve- 

ning of anecdotes and reminiscences by Millie Barish, Tamalpais Road historian, in celebration of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association’s Spring House Tour, at 7:30 pm at The Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar Street at Arch. Tickets, $7, may be purchased at the door, or order by mail: BAHA, P.O. Box 1137, Berkeley, 94701 

South Berkeley Mural  

Project. Community members in South Berkeley are coming together to create a neighborhood mural on the side of the Grove Liquor Store on the corner of Ashby Ave and MLK, Jr. Way. Meetings are held every Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Epic Arts Studios at 1923 Ashby Ave. For further information on ways to get involved please call 644-2204.  

Comedy Show to benefit Berkeley Dispute Resolution Service, featuring a diverse line-up of the Bay Area’s rising stars, at 8 p.m. Cost is $15 and up, sliding scale. 525-5054.  www.ashkenaz.com 

Amnesty International Berkeley Community Group 

meets the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1606 Bonita Ave., at Cedar St. 872-0768. 

Community Dances in Berkeley, traditional English and American dances, 8 p.m. every Wednesday, $9. 7 p.m. first Sunday, $10. Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St., 233-5065. www.bacds.org 

THURSDAY, MAY 8 

Education Not Incarceration, a coalition of teachers, students, parents and community members need you to join the rally at noon at the State Capitol, Sacramento. Buses leave the Bay Area at 8:30 a.m. For information email ed_not_inc@earthlink.net or www.may8.org  

Public Meeting on the Proposed Molecular Foundry Development by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in Strawberry Canyon, at 7:30 p.m. in the Strawberry Can- 

yon Recreation Center. All invited. For information, contact the Mayor’s office, 981-7100. 

Tariq Ali, author, Clash of Fundamentalisms; and Editor, New Left Review speaks on “War, Empire, and Resistance” at 4 p.m. in the Sibley Auditorium, Bechtel Center, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Institute of International Studies. 642-2472. iis@globetrotter.berkeley.edu 

League of Women Voters Speaker Series program on “Rebuilding Together,” formerly “Christmas in April,” from noon to 2 p.m. in the Edith Stone Room of the Albany Public Library, 1247 Marin Ave., at Masonic. 843-8824. lwvbae@pacbell.net 

Grizzly Peak Flyfishers, invites you to a Fly Tying Extravaganza and Auction at the Kensington Community Center, 59 Arlington Ave., at 6:30 p.m. For information contact rorlando@uclink4. 

berkeley.edu  

FRIDAY, MAY 9 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon Series 

“Saving the Planet,” with Michael H. O’Malley, Publisher, Berkeley Daily Planet. Luncheon 11:45 a.m. $11.50 - $12.50, Speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations 526-2925, 665-9020. 

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

548-6310, 845-1143. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions are welcome to join us. 496-6000, ext.135. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship www.bpf.org 

Lawrence K. Altman, M.D., Medical Journalist, New York Times, will talk on “Covering the Government's Response to Terrorism: A Journalist's Perspective” at noon at 22 Warren Hall, UC Campus. Sponsored by the School of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology. 643-2731. 

Johan Galtung, Norwegian peace researcher and mediator, will conduct a day-long workshop on “Peaceful Conflict Transformation” at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Pre-registration required, call 232-4493. Galtung will give a free lecture, “New Approaches to Peace Studies” at 7:30 p.m. in 155 Dwinelle Hall, on the UC Campus. 

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride converges at the Berkeley BART the second Friday of every month at 5:30 p.m. 

May Day Celebration, a benefit for the Revolutionary Worker newspaper, with food, poetry and speeches, at 7 p.m. at The Humanist Hall, 390 27th St between Tele- 

graph and Broadway. Dona- 

tion $5-10 sliding scale, no one turned away for lack of funds. Sponsored by May Day Committee, 848-1196.  

SATURDAY, MAY 10 

Annual Letter Carriers’ Food Drive in support of Alameda County Community Food Bank. If you receive a post card about the food drive, please leave a bag of non-perishable food by your mailbox for letter carriers to pick up. Food can also be dropped off at Berkeley Main, Berkeley DDU, Station A, and Berkeley Elmwood Post Offices. For more information visit ww.accfb. 

org or call 800-870-FOOD. 

Thousand Oaks School 28th Annual Carnival from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 840 Colusa Ave. near Solano. Play games of skill for all ages, from Vegi-roulette to Pie-in-the-Face! You could win a “Flower Power” quilt in the raffle contest, or an award-winning cake at our cake walk. Have wonderful homemade Mexican corn and chicken tostadas for lunch, or even pizza and cotton candy! Thousand Oaks School welcomes the whole community to come have some good old-fashioned fun! Call 841-1445 for more information.  

Kids’ Garden Club: Farm Animals, for ages 7 - 12, from 2 - 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Cost is $5 for residents, $7 non-residents. For information call 525-2233. tnarea@ebparks.org.  

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tours: “Fourth Street Tour and Spenger’s History,” led by Denny Abrams. 10 a.m. $5 members, $10 non-members. For reservations call 848-0181. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc 

Bike Day at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, with programs on traditional and practical bicycles for transportation and shipping, bike repair and bike safety. From 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Center St., at MLK, Jr. Way, sponsored by Bicycle Friendly Berkeley Coalition, the Sierra Club, and the Ecology Center. 549-7433. 

Green Design for Everyday People, a discussion of the process of green design and how we all can have beautiful living and working spaces that are not toxic to ourselves or our environment. Topics will include cleaners, paints, sealers, furnishings, flooring, energy efficient systems and products. Bring a rough plan of your space if possible. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave., near Dwight Way. Call to pre-register. $10 Ecology Center members, $15 others, no one turned away for lack of funds. 548-2220 x233.  

Take This Job and Shove It, a film on workers with  

Johnny Paycheck sound-track at 8 p.m. at the Long Haul, a reading room, library and community center in South Berkeley located at 3124 Shattuck Ave. Wheelchair accessible. All events are free. 540-0751. www.thelonghaul.org  

The Great War Society will hold its monthly meeting, at 10:30 a.m. at 640 Arlington Ave. The topic will be “Hol- 

lywood Goes to War," presented by Andrew Melomet. 527-7118. 

SUNDAY, MAY 11 

Berkeley Architectural  

Heritage House Tour 

"Tamalpais and Shasta" 

from 1 to 5 p.m. featuring twelve houses in one of Berkeley's earliest subdivisions, created in 1905 with artistic, intellectual, and conservation-minded residents in mind. There will be a garden reception at one of the houses. Tickets for the self-guided House Tour and Reception are $25 for BAHA members and their guests and $30 for general admission. Tickets will also be sold on the day of the tour at a table on Euclid Avenue at Bay View Place. For reservations, please call the BAHA office at 841-2242 or 841-1055. www.berkeleyheritage.com/2003springhousetour.html 

Mothers’ Day Tea at the Botanical Garden, food and music in a peaceful setting. Seatings 1 - 3 p.m. Cost is  

$30, Members $20, children under 12, $10. UC Botanical Garden, Centennial Drive, To register, please call 643-2755. 

Mothers’ Day Peace Cele- 

bration, join in prayers and reflections on peace from different faith traditions, with music, poetry, and activities for children, from 1 to 3:30 p.m. in MLK, Jr. Civic Center Park. Sponsored by Wo- 

men for Peace, Code Pink, Ecumenical Peace Institute, Gray Panthers, among many others. 415-255-7291. 

MONDAY, MAY 12 

Berkeley Partners for Parks General Meeting, with a presentation by UC students on their designs for the Santa Fe Right of Way, at 7 p.m. at the City of Berkeley Corporation Yard, 1326 Allston Way. mail@bpfp.org 

Writers Group discusses how to get an agent with a panel of agents including B.J. Roberts, Amy Rennert, and Mark Lee at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

Berkeley Cop Watch meets at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

Berkeley Biodiesel Collective Business Meeting for collective members and those interested in making bio- 

diesel welcome. At 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center Recycling Trailers, 1231 2nd St. 594-4000 x107. biobauerx@hotmail.com. 

ONGOING 

Alameda County Hazardous Waste Drop-Off from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 8, 9 and 10 at Alameda County Household Hazardous Waste, 2100 E. 7th St., Oakland. Take ad- 

vantage of this opportunity to safely dispose of products such as paint, auto products, household batteries, cleaners and sprays, pesticides and fertilizers. Please do NOT bring asbestos, explosives, most compressed gasses, computer monitors, CRTs and TVs, computers & electronic equipment. Call 1-877-STOPWASTE or visit stopwaste.org/fsrecycle. For information on what to do with other items, call 800-606-6606, email HHW@co.alameda.ca.us 

Cooking and Baking Classes, offered by The Bread Project in conjunction with Berkeley Adult School. Contact Lucie Buchbinder at 644-1713 

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets on Tuesday May 6 for a Public Hearing on Allocation of $4.2 Million in Community De- 

velopment Block Grant Funds, at 6 p.m. in City Council Chambers. Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wednesday, May 7, at 7:30 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center. Ruby Primus, 981-5160. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/women 

Fire Safety Commission meets Wednesday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. David Orth, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/firesafety 

Transportation Commission Bicycle Subcommittee meets on Friday, May 7 from 4 to 6 p.m. at 2120 Milvia St. Third Floor Conference Room. Carolyn Helmke, 981-7062. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/transportation 

Commission on Early Child- 

hood Education meets  

Thursday, May 8 at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center. Marianne Graham, 981-5416. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/earlychildhoodeducation 

Community Health Com- 

mission meets Thursday, May 8, from 6:45 to 9:30 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. William Rogers, 981-5344. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/health 

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thursday, May 8, at  

7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/zoning   

School Board meets Wednesday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. Queen Graham 644-6147 or Mark Coplan 644-6320.

TUESDAY, MAY 6 

FILM 

The Inquiring Camera  

Remembrance of Things to Come at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Anne Cummins reads from “Red Ant House,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Toids and Edessa perform at Ashkenaz. Balkan dance lesson with Lise Liepman at 7:30, show at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  www.ashkenaz.com 

Andy M. Stewart and Gerry O’Beirne, Scottish and Irish music masters, perform at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

“Let's Start Using Our Cranium and Get Rid of Depleted Uranium” an evening of music and educational speeches calling attention to health and environmental effects of depleted uranium (DU) weaponry used in the recent war in Iraq. All proceeds from the evening will go to benefit the Military Toxics Project and National Gulf War Resource Center. Blackbox Theater, 1932 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. $10. 919-5478. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7 

CHILDREN 

Karen Sudjian Lampkin and 

students from Whittier EDC perform songs, poetry, dan- 

ce and living history at 6 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

FILM 

Film 50: Timecode at 3 p.m. (sold out) and Video: Special Event, Screening the Body: Video Dance and Live Music, live video mixes by Douglas Rosenberg. Live music by Ryan Smith, Daniel Feiler at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Alejandro Murguia, Francisco X. Alarcon and Maria Melendez read from “Under the Fifth Sun: Latino Literature from California” at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

John Derbyshire looks at “Prime Obsession: Bernard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Inez Hollander Lake, Ksenija Soster Olmer, and Sande Smith read from their book of stories, “A Cup of Comfort for Mothers and Daughters,” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Noon Concert, Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Noon Concert Series, directed by Davitt Moroney. Concert is free, doors open at 11:55 a.m. Hertz Hall, UC Campus. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Karen Sudjian Lampkin and Students from Whittier EDC in a free performance of songs, poetry, dance, and living history, at 6 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Carrie Newcomer performs contemporary folk at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.org 

THURSDAY, MAY 8 

FILM 

Heroic Grace: Martial Arts 

at 7 p.m., Vengeance! at 9:05 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Diane Ravitch describes “The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn,” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 1730 Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

Douglas Rushkoff speaks about “Nothing Sacred: The Truth About Judaism,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Sharon Ellison, author of “Taking the War Out of Our Words,” describes how we use the rules of war as a basis for communication at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

UC Jazz at Noon free concert on Lower Sproul Plaza. 

Due West, a traditional bluegrass band celebrates its album release, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Lagbaja, Nigerian band playing a mix of Afrobeat with highlife, juju, funk and jazz at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $17. 525-5054.  www.ashkenaz.com 

Faun Fables, Joanna Newsom, Jessica Hoop at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. 841-2082. 

Holly Near and Ronnie Gilbert in a program of songs and stories at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $16 in advance, $18 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

FRIDAY, MAY 9 

CHILDREN 

Madeline, will be at Barnes and Noble at 10:30 a.m. while the storyteller reads her story. 644-0861. 

FILM 

Born to Be Bad 2 

I Walked with a Zombie, at 7:30 p.m., introduced by Mikita Brottman. Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan, introduced by Patrick Macias at 9:30 p.m., Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Diana Abu-Jaber reads from her new novel “Crescent,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Stomp the Stumps” benefit dance for Berkeley-based Bay Area Coalition for  

Headwaters with Gary Gates Band, Funky Nixons and The Shut-Ins at 8 p.m. at Ash- 

kenaz. Cost is $8-$15, sliding scale. 525-5054.  www.ash- 

kenaz.com 

Sally Tims and Her Sadies at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082. 

University Symphony, Chorus and Alumni Chorus, directed by David Milnes and Marika Kuzuma, perform Beethoven, Symphony Nº 9, “The Choral” and John Thow’s “Eros and Dust,” at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $2, $6, $8, from 642-9988. http://music.berkeley.edu 

ACME Observatory Contemporary Performance Series presents Scott Rosenberg's Skronktet West and, from Vancouver, Almost Transparent Blue at The Jazz House, formerly TUVA Space, at 8:15 p.m. Admission is free, donations ac- 

cepted. 649-8744. sfsound.org/acme.html 

Fiesta Musicale, an evening of good food and wine, and a program of music and dance at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. Ad- 

vance tickets $35, students and seniors $25. For reservations call 527-3883 or email k7mr@yahoo.com 

Chorale Spring Show, featuring the UC Women’s and Men’s Chorales, at 7 p.m. in the Chorale Rehearsal Hall, basement of Cesar Chavez, UC Campus. Tickets are $10, $5 students. 642-3880. 

Butch Thompson, Prairie Home Companion pianist makes his Freight debut at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Small Brown Bike, Pitch Black, Choke, Scattered Fall, Charlevoix 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. 

SATURDAY, MAY 10 

CHILDREN 

Shadow Puppets by Sean Powers, a workshop for all ages at 11 a.m. with a performance at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. Cost is $5-$10 sliding scale; scholarships available on request. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org  

Kristen Brooks Davidman’s flute students and members of the Windfall Woodwind 

Quintet at 4 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

A Present for Mom, stories about the great gift of mothers, at 11 a.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

FILM 

Born to Be Bad 2, Raw Force at 7:30 p.m. and Pig- 

keeper's Daughter at 9:20 p.m., introduced by Amy Abugo Ongiri, at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Joan Price, shares convenient exercises from her new book, “The Anytime, Anywhere Exercise Book,” at 3:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra, under the direction of Arlene Sagan, performs Brahms “German Requiem,” at 8 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison. Admission is free. 964- 0665.www.bcco.org 

Thomas Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited, a musical-political force in Zimbabwe performs at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $17. 525-5054.  www.ashkenaz.com 

San Francisco Early Music Society presents The Or- 

lando Consort, music from the antipodes of the 18th century musical spectrum at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presby- 

terian Church, 2727 College Ave. 528-1725. ww.sfems.org 

Jazz ... After Dark, with the Cal Jazz Choir at 8 p.m. in the Chorale Rehearsal Hall, basement of Cesar Chavez, UC Campus. Tickets are $10, $5 students. 642-3880. 

Broceliande celebrates spring in a concert of Celtic and Early music at 8 p.m. at St. Alban’s Parish Hall, 1501 Washington Ave., Albany. $10-$12 suggested donation. 569-0437.www.broceliande.org 

University Symphony, Chorus, and Alumni Chorus, directed by David Milnes and Marika Kuzuma, perform Beethoven, Symphony Nº 9, “The Choral” and John Thow’s “Eros and Dust,” at 8 p.m.at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $2, $6, $8, from 642-9988. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Mahea Uchiyama Center for International Dance 

Annual Repertory Concert, featuring live music and drumming, professional guest artists, as well as more than 100 performers of world dance at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Adults $18, children, students, seniors $15 at the door. Advance tickets $15 adults, $12 children, students, seniors available from 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

Trinity Chamber Concerts 

The Usher-Erlich-Rosenak Piano Quartet, with Sara Usher, violin; Paul Erlich, viola; Vicky Erlich, ‘cello and Karen Rosenak, piano performs the music of Han- 

del Halverson, Rebecca Clark and Brahms at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Suggested donation of $12 general, $8 students, seniors or handicapped. 549-3864. 

Rhythm and Music: Young Poets, Writers and Musicians 

Open Mike, featuring Joshua Jamieson, Young Composers Trio, Ise Lyfe, Katrina Flint, Miguel Soberanis and others. Open-mic sign-up for 25 yrs. and under. Sign up at 6:30 p.m. for free performance at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. www.ber- 

keleyartcenter.org 

Mark Growden and the Electric Pinata, Go Van Gogh, Glass Bead Game, at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Greg Brown performs contemporary folk at 8 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $21.50 in ad- 

vance, $22.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Sheldon Brown Group performs at 8 p.m. at the Jazz- 

school. Tickets are $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Against Me! Pansy Division, Fifth Hour Hero, Jason Webley, Panty Raid perform at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5, $1 if wearing prom clothes! 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, MAY 11 

CHILDREN 

Kathy Kallick Family Show, bluegrass celebration of Mother’s Day at 1 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $6.50 for children, $8.50 for adults. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Mothers Day Celebration 

California Revels at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, at 2 p.m. An event for the whole family! Celebrate Mom in grand style with song, dance and story. From fiddle tunes to Irish dance, classical guitar to audience sing-alongs, there's something for everyone at this Mother's Day gathering. Revels founder John Lang- 

staff will be joined by a cast of favorites including Sira Kammen, Susan Rode Morris, Eileen Mize, Yair Evnine and Mariel Vandersteel. Tickets available from 925-798-1300. Adults $10, Children $5. www.juliamorgan.org 

Freaky Friday at 2 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Recommended for ages 8 and older. Celebrate Mother's Day with a lesson in mother-daughter appreciation. Cost is $4 members,UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa. 

berkeley.edu 

FILM 

Born to Be Bad 2 

Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine introduced by Tamao Nakahara, at at 5 p.m., at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash with Jack Marshall, winner of the BABRA Poetry Award for Northern California, and Eric Gudas, at 7:30 p.m. at Cody's Books. $2 donation. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com, www.poetryflash.org 

South Asian Book Club, discusses “Gabriel’s Gift” by Hanif Kureishi at 11:30 a.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

Ernesto Carmona will present his book “The Owners of Chile,” at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sonny Fitman, guitar and vocals, at 11 a.m. in Walnut Square, at Vine. 204-9228. www.walnutsquare.com 

Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra, under the direction of Arlene Sagan, performs Brahms “German Requiem,” at 4 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison. Admission is free. 964- 0665. www.bcco.org 

SoVoSo, world-jazz-pop vocal ensemble, performs at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Tickets are $12-$ 18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

University Wind Ensemble, Robert Calonico, director. Works by Edwin Dugger, Divertimento for Wind Ensemble (premiere) and Reed, Sparke, Daehn, at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, tickets are $2, $6, $8. 642-9988. pennyb@socrates.berkeley.edu 

“Triple Play,” Guitars, Strings and All that Jazz. A benefit and celebration of the 20th Anniversary of The Crowden School. John Ad- 

ams, recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music, conductor; David Tanenbaum, guitar and conductor; Gyan Riley, guitar and composer; Paul Dresher, guitar and composer; San Francisco Guitar Quartet, Jeremy Cohen, jazz violin and arranger; San Francisco Conservatory Guitar Ensemble and Crow- 

den Orchestra; selected current and alumni soloists. Master of Ceremonies is 

Michael Morgan, Music Director, Oakland East Bay Symphony. At 7:30 p.m. at the Dean Lesher Center for the Performing Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek. Tickets are $45 for orchestra and front terrace, $25 for rear terrace. $175 special donor ticket, includes gifts and reception with artists. For more information 559-6910. Purchase tickets online at http://www.dlrca.org 

The Rincon Ramblers, bluegrass and roots country at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.org 

MONDAY, MAY 12 

CHILDREN 

Cantemos Juntos with Lydia Mills and Arianna Guthries at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Family Art Day, drop by and make something special at the Berkeley Art Center, at 2 p.m. Admission is free. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Nancy Kricorian reads from her novel, “Dreams of Bread and Fire,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

END DECEPTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It was interesting to read Carol Barrett’s claim that she resigned from the Planning Department because of discourtesy by members of the Planning Commission. Considering the record of the department over the past few years, embarrassment by the department’s incompetence, rather then discourtesy by commissioners, would be a far more appropriate reason to resign. 

Among other things, the Planning Department signed off on plans allowing Patrick Kennedy to place less affordable units in the Gaia Building than originally promised; failed to provide proper notice to appellants in the 2517 Sacramento St., resulting in a court ordered re-hearing by the City Council; failed to properly review the Negative Declaration on the Molecular Foundry, and were caught in the act of trying to get council approval for a General Plan they changed the language in. This last item of deception no doubt created, or increased, distrust on the part of planning commissioners, but for all these things the Planning Department has no one to blame but themselves.  

I have nothing against Carol Barrett, but if her leaving causes other city officials to behave more honestly it will probably be a good thing. Still, it would be foolish to presume that her resignation solves the problem. Other members of the Planning Department who have been playing these games long before Ms. Barrett came to Berkeley should also be asked to leave.  

Planning departments everywhere favor development, so it is fine for them to argue for development before councils and commissions. It is quite another thing for city staff to act dishonestly, deceptively and at times unlawfully. That is what our Planning Department has been caught doing time and time again. Berkeley needs honest city officials, not those who lie, mislead and deceive. In this time of budget deficits staff members who have acted dishonestly and deceived the public should be the first to go. 

Elliot Cohen 

• 

DOYLE HOUSE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

When developer Patrick Kennedy of Panoramic Interests cried foul last week because preservationists prevented him from demolishing the historic John M. Doyle House on University Avenue — “We have contracts signed that would have to be broken and we already have the financing for this” — your readers should know that the dots don’t connect.  

Mr. Kennedy’s financing for the Touriel Project, intended to replace the Doyle House, is in large part from a state bond low interest loan in the amount of at least $4.5 million, courtesy of the Association of Bay Area Governments. The Alameda County Board of Supervisors approved the ABAG financing in July 2002 contingent upon the Verification of Zoning and Local Approvals. In a city of Berkeley statement, dated July 10, 2002, zoning officer Mark Rhoades signed the verification document, stating all permits had been obtained at that time for the proposed 35-unit Touriel Building. 

In fact, on July 10 no permits had been secured for the Touriel Project: 

1 — The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Doyle House a Structure of Merit on June 1, 2002; 

2 — The Landmarks Preservation Commission refused to approve a demolition permit on June 1, 2002; 

3 — The Zoning Adjustments Board hearing did not take place until July 11, 2002, one day following the signing of the document verifying approvals. 

After July 11, permits approved by the Zoning Adjustments Board were still subject to question by the public, pending appeals which were filed to the City Council. When the City Council ultimately cleared the permits for the Touriel Project in November 2002, by law the public had the right to challenge the council decision, which the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association did. 

How can Mr. Kennedy cry foul when the public is questioning the demolition of a historic resource for which he obtained “affordable housing” financing based on a document containing erroneous information, signed by a city official prior to the hearing at which zoning approval could be granted? 

Lesley Emmington Jones 

• 

RENT CONTROL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I wonder if it ever occurs to the rest of Berkeley residents that those citizens living in rent-controlled apartments are rarely heard from in the opinion columns of the local press. Could it be that we might fear being harassed by landlords who could triple their rents, due to vacancy decontrol, if they could find a way to evict us? I have no doubt that the owners of this building would be delighted to replace me with a new tenant at a much higher rent. I am equally certain that I would not be able to live and work in Berkeley were it not for the reasonable rent and increases (most years) that I have paid for two decades, thanks to Berkeley’s Rent Control Program. 

If rents are down “by all accounts,” as the Berkeley Property Owners Association claims (Letters to the Editor, May 2-5), what is their explanation for the high vacancy rate? Why aren’t people standing in line to rent these decontrolled apartments? The BPOA is fond of bemoaning the curse of rent control while speaking of “lowered rents” in units that went sky high after vacancy decontrol. In the rundown building I live in, and in others around Berkeley, vacant apartments are held off the market as owners refuse to lower rents, while others are rented for three times the previously controlled rate. These often go to students, who stay for a year and move on, replaced by students whose parents can pay the high rent. 

Name Withheld 

• 

REVIEW POLICE POLICY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

While riding my bicycle up Durant the evening of May 1, I was surprised to be confronted at the Ellsworth intersection by what appeared to be a military occupation force of about 20 police in riot dress. Their manner was threatening, harsh and mean as one officer blocked others and me from crossing the street in the pedestrian lane on a green light. I felt intimidated and demanded to know why they were there and by what authority he was blocking my right to cross the street. 

On the far side of the intersection, I could see a small crowd carrying Earth flags and moving away up Ellsworth. Another person on the corner said they were breaking up a May Day parade. The confronting officer replied, “Get off the street or I’ll hit you with my stick,” which he waved menacingly in front of me. They continued to block other people and my freedom of movement, and refused to answer why they were still there. They maintained a bullying stance. 

I by then had become inwardly terrified, my blood curdled, and a deep revulsion of militaristic occupational forces acting against civilians on the street here in America rose to a peak. I had my share of military force in World War II as an aerial gunner on a B-24, and for one year as a POW in Nazi prison camps. The scenes came flooding back of Warmacht guards shouting “Rous Mitt” as they broke up our baseball game crowd and other violations of their petty security rules. My sense of victimization surged as I equated this show of military force with my World War II experiences, the U.S. wars against small countries, Sept. 11 and the invasion of Iraq — all of which involved threatening of civilians.  

The scene got more ridiculous as I continued to demand them to disband and stop blocking the street. An order was shouted and they all like automatons did an about face and assembled into a two-abreast column. The column headed south and, with a sharp command, turned west on Durant toward the stalled traffic. Simultaneously, one of the apparent commanders walked to within five feet of where I was standing and threw down a smoke grenade, and then several more 15 feet down Durant.  

The point of this protest letter is that the Berkeley Police Department, the mayor and City Council need to review their training for crowd control and their policies for appropriate show of military force. One shoe does not fit all circumstances. At the point I came in on the May Day parade breakup there appeared to be no cause for the threat of “I’ll hit you with my stick.” (I have his badge number and name.) However, let us forgive, forget and rid our society and the world from the clutches of the “military mind.” 

Ken Norwood 

• 

PROPERTY TAX INEQUITY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you for publishing Barbara Gilbert’s article on Berkeley’s approaching budget deficit. I agree with her that this is an important issue affecting all of Berkeley’s residents, though I think that there’s more to City Council’s lack of attention to budget matters than just the dull nature of the topic. Thanks to Proposition 13, and the inability of City Council to diversify the city’s tax base beyond property taxes, there’s a major discrepancy between the people who make decisions in Berkeley and those who finance the city’s budget. 

All residents in Berkeley are paying property taxes, either directly as homeowners, or indirectly as part of the rent tenants pay to their landlords, who, in turn, pay property taxes. Yet, City Council, eight of whom are longtime homeowners in Berkeley, pays only a fraction of the property taxes that newer residents are paying. The Alameda County Web site allows the public to view property tax assessments and tax payments throughout the county. Doing some quick research, I looked up the assessed value of the seven homeowners on the council whose addresses are public on the Internet (Gordon Wozniak’s address is not public, and Kriss Worthington rents an apartment). 

The average net assessed value of these seven is $93,209 — Bates ($45,800), Breland ($89,500), Hawley ($92,600), Maio ($74,000), Olds ($62,000), Shirek ($32,000) and Spring ($256,600). According to the city of Berkeley’s Web site, residential property taxes are assessed at 1.2263 percent of the value of a property, so the average councilmember is paying about $1,143 per year in property taxes. 

Compare this to the $510,000 average assessment for a new homeowner in Berkeley (according to the California Association of Realtors) and you realize that a new homeowner, who is often trying to scrape together enough money to make a mortgage payment, is paying about $6,254 in property taxes, or more than five times the property tax that our City Councilmembers are paying. This is not to mention the property transfer tax, which would add an additional $7,500 to the tax bill of a new resident who buys a house in Berkeley. 

Given the disproportionately small amount of taxes paid by the council, is it any wonder, then, that City Council seems so unresponsive to financial issues that impact city residents? While I’m not blaming the councilmembers for Proposition 13 (I would bet that they all voted against it 30 years ago), I would hope that, as the representatives of all Berkeley’s residents, they would be more sensitive to the financial impact that their decisions have on younger residents. 

Richard Brooks 

• 

REDUCE TRAFFIC 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I read with interest the letter from Paul Kamen about the possible Berkeley ferry. It would be great to board a ferry at Berkeley Marina and ride across our beautiful bay to San Francisco, and perhaps other places — just like the old days. A boost in the bridge tolls might provide the funds to get it all started. 

There are a few big downsides. It’s only fair to point them out. 

1 — Right now, public transit is running a deficit. AC Transit is cutting back service. BART needs an earthquake retrofit. The down economy has reduced revenues from sales taxes. Now is not a good time to spend public money on yet another form of public transit, unless it’s thought that buses and BART will not satisfy future transit demand. 

2 — Plans for the Berkeley ferry always include large parking areas. Ferry riders appear unwilling to board the ferry from buses. But the Berkeley pier now has frequent bus service — the #51 bus. It’s not like a suburban BART station. Bay area air pollution is bad enough without more car engines being started on the bay shore. 

3 — The Vallejo ferry has been a success, but the Richmond ferry failed. There’s some question whether the Berkeley-SF market will support a ferry, given that one can now make the trip by BART or TransBay bus. 

My opinion is that we should spend the extra bridge tolls on things which reduce congestion on the Bay Bridge and its feeder routes. This means cutting back on cars, so I don’t like those plans for a parking lot at Berkeley Marina. I’d like the ferry a lot better if it increased rider traffic on the buses, not car traffic on Berkeley streets. 

Steve Geller 

In the early 1890s, the hilly areas north of the university campus began being developed with houses that were a dramatic contrast to the late Victorians still in fashion. The first of these was a fraternity house designed by Ernest Coxhead in 1892 (now the School for Public Policy at Hearst and Le Roy) followed by Bernard Maybeck’s Charles Keeler house in 1895.  

The Charles Keeler House was Maybeck’s first commission, “a house of redwood within and without, all the construction exposed, left in the natural mill-surface finish on the inside and shingled on the outside.”  

Keeler became an ardent proponent of Arts and Crafts ideals and in 1895 formed a discussion group for men called the Ruskin Club. Keeler’s wife founded the Hillside Club in l898. Though its members initially were women who lived in the north Berkeley neighborhood, their husbands were invited to join in 1902. 

The Hillside Club campaigned to retain the natural beauty of the Berkeley hills by promoting “artistic homes that appear to have grown out of the hillside and to be a part of it.” 

The club promoted its ideas by writing pamphlets and sponsoring art exhibits and lectures, as well as music recitals and club pageants. They were politically active and even influenced the design of the neighborhood school, the paving of streets and the design of pedestrian paths and staircases.  

The tenets of the Hillside Club served as inspiration for many home builders, including Lilian Bridgman who came to Berkeley from Kansas in 1891 to study natural science with Joseph LeConte. A scholarship provided by Phoebe Hearst helped finance her studies. After receiving her master’s degree in science in 1888, she taught and also wrote articles about growing up on a farm for magazines which included Overland Monthly and Harper’s Century Magazine.  

In 1899, Bridgman purchased a hillside lot north of campus on La Loma Street. Although she received advice from Maybeck and drew plans for the house herself, the architect of record is William Knowles. In 1908 she designed a studio behind her house that eventually become her architectural work space. In 1912, after teaching physics and chemistry for 17 years, she again enrolled at the university and, in 1915, became a licensed architect. She died in 1948 at the age of 82.  

On May 11 the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association’s annual house tour will explore Arts and Crafts-styled homes inspired by the Hillside Club. Call 841-2242 for information.  

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

Residents fighting to save the 19th-century home of Berkeley pioneer John M. Doyle announced Monday that they will give up their battle, allowing developer Patrick Kennedy to go ahead with plans to demolish the old Victorian building and develop a 35-unit housing project on the site. 

Austene Hall, a spokesman for the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA), a nonprofit preservation organization, said the group’s board of directors voted not to appeal last Tuesday’s Alameda Superior Court ruling, which rejected BAHA’s claim that the project should undergo an environmental impact review (EIR). The lawsuit, filed last December against the city and developer Panoramic Interests, asserts that the Doyle House is a historic landmark and thus protected under a state law that requires an EIR for projects seeking to do irrevocable damage to historic resources. 

The Landmarks Preservation Commission last July designated the house, located at 2008 University Ave., a historical landmark. That ruling was overturned by City Council in November.  

Hall said the organization simply didn’t have enough money to pursue the case. “It’s a lot of money for an organization that works very hard to earn the money that it does,” she said. 

Kennedy could not be reached for comment on the board’s decision. Last week he said he would ask the court to force BAHA to post a bond to cover the costs of the project’s delay due to the ongoing legal battle if the group went ahead with the appeal. BAHA would then likely have had to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars if they lost the lawsuit. 

“I’m wondering who is funding this, who is using BAHA’s good name to continue this lawsuit,” said Kennedy, a member of BAHA and former president of the organization. “I don’t believe there was a vote of the board to pursue this” after the Tuesday ruling. 

BAHA went into court last Thursday to ask the judge to prevent Kennedy from demolishing the structure so that the group had time to appeal the ruling. 

Hall said Kennedy called her last week to request copies of BAHA board minutes.  

“He said he wanted to make sure BAHA was following the procedures” related to proper board approval of litigation, she said. “He said he didn’t want his member dues to be spent on lawsuits and that if [BAHA] hadn’t followed those procedures he would sue me personally.” 

Kennedy could not be reached to confirm that conversation. 

Hall said the board approved by vote every decision related to the Doyle House litigation. 

The Doyle House was built as a duplex with a workshop in 1890. 

Hopefully you will receive dozens of e-mails from teachers who, like me, are insulted by Michael Larrick’s commentary piece (May 2-5 edition), which reveals more about the author’s ignorance than it does about the current state of education. He says we should keep the graduation exam as a means of gauging teacher quality; that the current sorry state of education can be laid in the laps of academically challenged teachers who are responsible for inflating grades and engaging in social work more than teaching academics. 

Where did his statistics come from? Not one source was cited. 

He objects to the fact that over “two-thirds (69 percent) of all public elementary school teachers majored in ‘general education’ and not in a specific subject as undergraduates.” In California, that’s a liberal studies degree, and what is wrong with that? Elementary school teachers teach all subjects — math, social studies, language arts, science, etc. What subject should prospective teachers major in to cover all that? 

For those of us who did not have the foresight to major in liberal studies, there is the MSAT, a comprehensive test of competency in all subjects that must be passed to enter a teacher credential program. (Teachers, as far as I know, are not required to take the GRE to enter a credential program, so I don’t know where this author got his information regarding teachers coming from the “absolute bottom” of GRE examinees.) Teachers must attend continuing education classes in order to renew their credentials every five years. This is not the profession of dunces Mr. Larrick imagines. In my own case, I graduated from Mills College with honors without taking one “Mickey Mouse course.” 

Mr. Larrick declares us guilty of discarding traditional scholarship and adopting the “psychologist, social worker model” of education. I am mystified as to what that is, unless he’s referring to teachers who must deal with society’s dysfunctions, which get in the way of education. Mr. Larrick, what would you have me do? 

By law I have to teach all who come through my classroom door, regardless of traumas experienced, learning disabilities, medical conditions, ADHD, etc. I would love to have a class of well-adjusted individuals whose families are intact, who never see their fathers hitting their mothers, who never see their parents taking drugs, who have never had a parent in jail, who have never been beaten, who regularly eat well-balanced meals, who go to summer camp, whose parents take them to museums and parks and the library, who grow up with a solid sense of right and wrong. 

This is the reality of the public school classroom: While most of my students are well-adjusted, enough are emotionally unprepared for the classroom that I can’t ignore my “social worker” role. My primary concern is the academic success of all my students, and sometimes that means I have to focus on non-academic factors in their lives. 

Mr. Larrick claims the average Joe was better educated 100 years ago. On what basis does he make this claim? Just on the content of one test? How does he know that the average Joe actually passed the test? What percentage of the U.S. population 100 years ago went to school? Were average Joes black as well as white? Were they girls as well as boys? Were they poor as well as rich? What constituted the curriculum 100 years ago that students would be better educated?  

Mr. Larrick believes we are over-paid. Compared to whom? If you take into account the level of education required for teaching and compare that to other professions with similar requirements, which profession is the least paid? Also, Mr. Larrick bases his assumption on an erroneous belief that we are paid for nine months. We are actually paid for and work 10 months. 

I am disappointed this paper would run commentary so sloppy in its scholarship. Next time you run a piece on education, get it from somebody who knows what he or she is talking about. 

Lauren Kayed

The University of California, concerned about the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome, has canceled its summer study abroad program in Beijing, China, and has barred students from SARS-affected countries from enrolling in UC Berkeley summer classes. 

“We cannot predict that the increased SARS control measures being put in place in Beijing will contain SARS by late June,” said John Marcum, director of UC’s Education Abroad Program, in a statement about the study abroad cancellation. “We are not willing to gamble with the safety of UC students.” 

The cancellation of the China study abroad will affect 130 students, including 20 from UC Berkeley, who planned to take language classes at Beijing Normal University this summer. 

The ban on new students from China, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong enrolling in Berkeley summer classes is expected to affect about 600 students and could cost the extension program as much as $1 million in lost revenue, according to an interview with UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl, which was posted on the university’s Web site Monday. The housing program also stands to lose $500,000 from the ban, he said. 

Returning full-time UC Berkeley students from SARS-affected countries will be required to fill out a health questionnaire and will be monitored for 10 days by University Health Services, Berdahl said. 

The move to cancel the China study abroad summer program, announced Friday, comes two weeks after UC canceled its spring study abroad program, recalling 44 students from Beijing in the middle of the semester. No UC students have contracted SARS. 

The Chinese government, which faced criticism for failing to confront the disease quickly, has stepped up its efforts in recent weeks — firing government officials in Beijing and stepping up its quarantine program. 

As of Monday, Beijing city officials said they had quarantined almost 16,000 people. The Chinese government reported nine new SARS deaths nationwide, for a total of 206, and 160 new cases for a total of 4,280, according to the Associated Press.  

The nine-campus UC system still has 250 students in academic programs throughout Asia — in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam. 

UC spokesman Bruce Hanna said the university believes students outside China are safe. 

“We’re being very vigilant, particularly about those Asian countries closest to the epicenter” of SARS, Hanna said. 

Students registered for the program in Beijing will have the option to take part in a similar program at Princeton University in Princeton, N.J. 

The university hopes to re-open its Beijing program in September, Hanna said.  

Everyone agrees that California’s health care system is in crisis. Seven point three million Californians, a full 20 percent of our population, lack health coverage. Costs are rising at rates far above inflation, and workers all over the state are seeing skyrocketing co-pays and declining service.  

Sometimes it’s easy to think the major problems we face have no solution, and that the reason our elected officials have been unable to take action to improve our lives is because such improvements are impossible — or would cost too much money. 

In the case of our health care crisis, the exact opposite is true. There already exists an effective way to solve the multiple problems faced by our health care system. The reform is called “single payer,” which means that health care costs are paid for through a single system. Paperwork, administrative costs and overhead, which are now responsible for 20 per cent to 30 per cent of our health care costs, are all drastically reduced by a single-payer system, making it possible to provide coverage to every Californian without spending any more money than we already do. 

Single payer also saves money, and lives, by guaranteeing that everyone has access to primary and preventive care. This means health problems will be treated before they become serious, and overburdened emergency rooms will be free to deal only with emergencies. Finally, a single-payer system saves money through bulk buying — obtaining reduced prices through coordinated purchasing of items such as medical equipment. 

Proven single-payer systems exist in numerous countries, including Canada. Canada has nearly the same population as California, but spends only half the amount of money on health care that we do, while insuring every resident. In a recent poll, 96 per cent of Canadians said they would prefer to maintain their current health care system rather than switch to a US-style “managed care” system. 

Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) has introduced a bill, SB 921, the “Health Care for All Californians Act,” that would create a single-payer system to cover all Californians. SB 921 allows everyone free choice of doctors and offers prescription drugs with no co-pays, all while containing health insurance costs. Since health coverage would not be linked to employment, people who lose jobs in times of economic crisis would not be forced to suffer doubly with the loss of health care. Self-employed people and part-time workers would have coverage equivalent to everyone else’s. No one would lose coverage due to divorce or temporarily lose coverage during waiting periods when they start a new job. 

SB 921 also unites many different struggles for justice into one solution that benefits everyone. Under our current health care system, serious inequities exist. People of color are dramatically more likely to lack health insurance or to have inferior policies. Many gay and lesbian couples are denied the right to health insurance policies equivalent to those offered heterosexual couples. And many workers do not have coverage, or are in danger of losing coverage, as employers seek ways to cut costs. Many low-income women do not have access to affordable birth control, pre-natal care, obstetric care and other health options.  

Each group that suffers from inadequate care under the current system could struggle separately to improve their access to care — likely an uphill battle. Or we can unite to support an effective and universal solution, which provides a win-win for all of our communities. Let’s pass SB 921. 

For more information, visit: http://www.healthcareforall.org. 

Rebecca Kaplan was a Green Party candidate for Oakland City Council in 2000.

New Police Chief Roy Meisner has taken the helm of a department that will have to struggle to maintain police services with a high percentage of young officers and a reduced budget. 

The department, which was budgeted at $39.5 million this fiscal year, could face between 5 percent and 15 percent in cuts over the next two years. In addition, many senior officers took early retirement following a statewide retirement enhancement, leaving the department with many inexperienced officers.  

The new chief said he’s confident the department will rise to the occasion through teamwork and a revitalized partnership with the community. 

Meisner, 53, has already logged 30 years with the Berkeley Police Department. He began his career as a police trainee and quickly progressed through the ranks. Promoted to patrol officer in 1973, he then made sergeant in 1979. He later was promoted to inspector, lieutenant, captain and then, in 1993, deputy chief.  

City Manager Weldon Rucker gave Meisner the nod in March after a statewide search for a new top cop. He replaces Dash Butler, who retired in July after 11 years as chief and 31 years in the department.  

“I think Chief Meisner’s experience and his character will assist in the development of those young officers and the department’s shift toward community policing,” Rucker said. “One thing for sure is that he listens and understands how to get good end results.” 

City Councilmember Betty Olds agreed that Meisner is an “excellent” choice for chief. 

“There are a lot of things I like about Roy, but one of the main things is that he always follows through,” she said. “You don’t get that very often with city staff because they are so overworked. He wants desperately to do a good job and you never hear anything bad about him.” 

During an interview in his office on the second floor of the Public Safety Building, Meisner displayed an easy and engaging manner, reminiscent of a congenial high school teacher or baseball coach — both professions he considered while studying at UC Berkeley.  

The walls of his office are decorated with family photos and group pictures of Berkeley Police officers at various award ceremonies and fund-raising events.  

“I’m very fortunate to be a part of this department and this community,” he said. “Berkeley is a very special place to work.” 

He is an advocate of community policing and said the best model for law enforcement is one that includes an active partnership with residents, merchants and city organizations. 

“Historically we’ve seen a great collaboration with the community, and when that happens there’s a huge impact on crime,” he said. “When block captains and patrol officers get to know merchants, neighborhood groups and church groups, that gives them an invaluable familiarity.” 

Meisner compared community policing to a mail delivery person who knows the neighborhood from routinely delivering mail and talking with neighbors. 

“That person knows when something is out of place, a car that’s not normally in a driveway or when a person is strange to the neighborhood.” 

The city of Berkeley has a community policing model in place and one of Meisner’s priorities as chief is to strengthen the working relationship with the community. More than half of city residents are new since 1995, he said, and the same is true of police officers. 

Meisner said he plans to schedule a series of town meetings to generate connections between the department and the community. 

“On a routine basis, we expect our officers to spend as much time as possible out of their cars, getting to know residents and merchants on their beats,” he wrote in his Chief’s Message posted on the department’s Web site. 

To contend with a likely budget shortfall, Meisner instituted changes to duty assignments. He eliminated some administrative positions, reassigning those officers to patrols, and plans to assign non-sworn employees to jobs traditionally carried out by sworn officers, further freeing officers for patrol work.  

“We have a bunch of lesser experienced officers who are going to be a tremendous asset to the department,” he said. “We also have a lot of retired officers who have come back to work part time and that will help us tremendously with our work load. It’s a great opportunity for our newer officers to learn from experienced officers.” 

Meisner was studying sociology and playing baseball at UC Berkeley in the late 1960s (“I still remember the smell of tear gas drifting over center field during the riots,” he said) when he saw an ad in the Daily Californian offering ride-alongs with Berkeley Police patrols. Impressed, he went to work for the department immediately after graduating in 1972. 

Meisner said he looks forward to being chief and explained the long-term goal that has governed his career as a police officer.  

“When I retire, I want to walk away with a smile and know I’ve done a good job,” he said.

Every Tuesday morning for a couple of years, I have enjoyed the special moment when the city recycling truck passes by. The truck stops, I hear the crash of glass dumped into the truck, then a voice signaling to the driver, “Yo!” and the truck moves a few yards onward. Then pickup, crash, “Yo!” and, perhaps, the pickup man jumping onto the running board as the truck lurches onward before he jumps off again. 

The shout reminded me of my San Francisco Mission District childhood, when the old junkman came up York Street (in a horse-drawn wagon) hoarsely shouting, “Rags, bottles, sacks,” and of the the cries of street peddlers that Gershwin wrote into “Porgy and Bess.” In Berkeley, we have our own street cries, I would think, as I heard, “Yo!” and would say to my husband, “There’s our friend again.” 

Last Tuesday, when I said that, my husband smiled sadly at me and said, “I hate to say this, but I happened to be out on the street watching. There’s only one man on the truck, the driver, who jumps off to pick up the stuff, then jumps back in. And the ‘Yo!’ you hear is a noise the truck makes when it starts up again.” 

“No.” 

“Yes.”  

“No!” 

“Come out and see.” 

“No!” 

I have refused to discuss it any further, refused to let my husband obliterate, dissolve, murder my friend. I think I know what he looks like, not young but vigorous, wearing jeans and a colorful cap to cover his bald spot, a cheerful guy, not without his own troubles, but glad to be doing valuable work. His name is something like Harry — make that Hari, a more International-American name, as befits Berkeley. I’m sure you all know him, and if that’s not his name, you can correct me. And let me know his age, his looks, his family, in case I’m mistaken. I’ll pass the information on to my husband, if and when I start speaking to him again. 

Dorothy Bryant is a Berkeley author.

UC Regents approved the construction of a six-story molecular foundry in Strawberry Canyon last month without an environmental impact report (EIR), rankling some city residents and at least one City Councilmember worried about environmental impacts. 

The 94,000-square-foot project will be built in the southwest corner of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) property at an estimated cost of $85 million. Construction is scheduled to begin in January 2004 and be completed in February 2006. The lab will manage the foundry, which will be devoted to nanoscience research.  

LBNL is holding a public meeting Thursday night at the Haas Clubhouse to discuss activities related to nanoscience and the proposed foundry. 

Nanoscience is touted as an up-and-coming technology that will revolutionize manufacturing. It is the manipulation of organic and inorganic materials at the molecular level, and is expected to have revolutionary applications in a variety of fields including robotics, structural engineering, computer technology and weapons development.  

The foundry will be one of five nanoscience research centers being built across the country. Each will focus on a different area of nanoscience research and all are being constructed next to major laboratories, including Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York. 

“This technology has untold promise in a variety of areas and we want to be part of it,” said LBNL Communications Director Ron Kolb. “The molecular foundry will be the centerpiece of the lab for the next decade or so.” 

At least one City Councilmember and a group of Berkeley residents are concerned the project will harm Strawberry Canyon’s environmental balance.  

“I hate to see a beautiful canyon destroyed by more development,” City Councilmember Dona Spring said. “A six-story building with several hundred employees a day driving in and out on a single road that is in a high fire risk area seems reckless.” 

The Citizens to Minimize Toxic Waste, a local organization, has also raised concerns that the nanoscience research conducted at the lab will be used for weapons development.  

Kolb said the lab does not have any Department of Defense contracts and doesn’t intend to. 

“Absolutely not,” he said. “We pride ourselves on being an unclassified laboratory. Everything we’re working on will be used for the goodness of life, not weapons.” 

Spring said she was disappointed that City Council did not request LBNL conduct an EIR for the foundry.  

LBNL did complete an environmental study known as a Negative Declaration, which addressed traffic and safety issues. However, an EIR is a more rigorous analysis that would also have included more thorough traffic studies, environmental impacts and alternatives to the project’s size and location.  

On Jan. 14, City Council voted against a Spring-sponsored recommendation calling for an EIR by a vote of 6-1-1. Spring was the only yes vote. Councilmember Kriss Worthington abstained and Councilmember Margaret Breland was absent. 

Councilmember Linda Maio and Gordon Wozniack are former employees of LBNL.  

“We required an EIR just to retrofit the Civic Center and one to landscape Civic Center Park, why would we ask the lab to do one on a new six-story building proposed for an environmentally sensitive area?” Spring said. “It’s the only responsible thing the decision makers could have done in my opinion.” 

Mayor Tom Bates said the council considered requesting an EIR shortly after he took office. He said he was concerned about damaging the city’s relationship with the laboratory. 

“It was sort of a done deal when I came into office,” he said. “Terrible relations existed between the lab and the city and at that point I thought it was better to be an advocate for a better working relationship.” 

Bates said he has been meeting with LBNL Director Charles Shank, and he hopes the city will be allowed greater participation in the lab’s development process in the future. 

The public discussion on the foundry will be held in the Strawberry Canyon Recreation Area at the Haas Clubhouse on Centennial Road at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 8.

Fifth-grader Ruthie Praskius is one of hundreds of Berkeley students who will head to Sacramento Thursday to protest some $5 billion in proposed education cuts, and she has a message for the governor. 

“By taking away our teachers, you’re ripping apart our community,” she said. “If we don’t get the education we need, how will we run the country?” 

Praskius was one of a handful of students who spoke at a “Save Our Schools” rally at Washington Elementary School Monday morning. 

The state and local budget crises have hit Washington hard, with 13 of its 19 teachers receiving pink slips two months ago. 

Berkeley Unified School District officials gave pink slips to 220 of its 652 instructors, but plan to take back as many as 145 by June, when the Board of Education must pass a final budget.  

The district has already rescinded 25 notices, including one at Washington, and an administrative law judge rescinded a second Washington pink slip last week during layoff hearings. 

The board, which has also dropped a pair of high school guidance counselors and raised some ninth-grade class sizes, must chop at least $4 million more from the district’s budget. Gov. Gray Davis, in his January budget proposal, called for $5 billion in cuts from public education. Next week, Davis will issue a revised budget that could include even heavier cuts. 

A group of East Bay parents, teachers and activists calling itself “Education Not Incarceration” is organizing the May 8 rally. Fifth-grade teacher Hilary Mitchell, who is taking her entire class of 29 Washington students to Sacramento, said the children will make more of a statement than adults ever could. 

“I want to see them say ‘no’ to these children,” she said. 

“We’re questioning how we invest in the future for California,” added Rose Braz, director of the Oakland-based Critical Resistance, an anti-prison group. “Are our priorities building prisons, prisons and more prisons or investing in quality education for our children?” 

Davis, in his budget proposal, called for a 1 percent hike in spending on the state prison system, while cutting almost every other major state service. 

“We’re outraged that the ‘education governor’ could take these steps,” said Washington parent Judy Greenspan.

Unchained melodies float free and constant in the azure air off Telegraph Avenue in South Berkeley’s The Village while boys and girls from age 13 to 70 drift into James Casella’s second floor Blue Note Music-storefront searching for their “Holy Grail.” 

Some are seduced by a $12,000 Blonde Gibson L-5 from 1948. Others intend to possess one of Mark Campellone’s exquisite, custom handmade $5,000 archtop guitars. Most frequently these searchers yearn to strum and own a beautiful new Martin, Gibson or Fender Custom Shop recreation of the classic guitars of the Golden Age, an age that depends more on the guitarist than the guitar. James and Jennifer Liu sell dreams — dreams of what once was to folks settled into their fifties, or dreams of what might be to folks in their teens and twenties.  

Wandering into The Village is like stepping into a time warp to the 1970s. A crazy quilt brick walk covers the floor, and staircases ascend and descend almost randomly around the enclosed former warehouse.  

“Obviously stoned out hippies built this place,” said Casella, 47. “They were literally smoking weed while they were putting this together. It has a vibe. It’s quirky. It’s unusual and it’s not a mall.” 

Donnie Mucker, a local gray-haired, dread-locked professional musician visits the 10-year-old shop regularly.  

“It’s like the old neighborhood barbershop,” Mucker said. “You can practice your licks, see your friends and play guitars that make you want to keep on playing.” 

Another customer concurred. Strumming a $3,500 Gibson L-5 he contemplated buying to celebrate his own 50th birthday, he recalled that his brother had purchased a new motorcycle as he approached 50. “I don’t want to die on a motorcycle,” he said. “I’d rather have a beautiful guitar.” 

“My major customer is a plus or minus 50-year-old man looking for expensive guitars,” Casella said. “People who typically — when they were between 15 and 25 — went to a store and saw the ‘Holy Grail’ — the blonde L-5 or the ‘58 Les Paul or the ‘56 Strat and said, ‘Some day I’m going to have that.’ That’s who buys the lion’s share, 60 to 70 percent of the higher end jazz guitars, the higher end acoustic guitars and the custom shop solid body stuff.” 

Over 30 years ago, Casella was a student at The School Without Walls in Rochester, New York. 

“There was a rock band in my area called Rain and I loved the guitar player in that band,” he said. “His name was Helmut Ghetto. I was 14, 15. Finally I met him and asked him where he learned to play. He was taking lessons from an old jazz guy, Dick Longale, who basically taught everybody in Rochester how to play. Because my favorite guitar player studied with him, I thought I was going to learn rock ‘n’ roll, but he taught me jazz instead. It was not my intention, but after you learn to play it you start developing an ear for it and you start listening and then the bug catches you. I started saying, ‘Hey. This is cool shit.’  

“We had to do a senior project, kind of a thesis. It really didn’t need to be related to anything else you were doing so I got an apprenticeship at a guitar shop and built my first guitar.” 

Following high school, a stint as a student in the music department at State University of New York at Brockport didn’t last long. “I stopped going to school when they hired me as an instructor,” Casella said. 

Casella left college for an upstate ashram which eventually led, 23 years ago, to UC Berkeley and a double major in religious studies and philosophy.  

“While I was a student at UC I was also a local jazz musician playing in jazz groups,” he said. “I never stopped being a jazz player. I’m still playing. Ten years ago I was out of school and needed money. There was a music store here, Tweed Music, that closed. When he went out of business I rented a little tiny space upstairs and started Blue Note.  

“If my success is attributable to anything,” said Casella, “it’s that I have knowledge from two sides. I was a guitar builder and repairman so I literally understand the instrument inside and out. I know how they work. I understand the materials and the history. And I’m a musician. I’ve been a performing musician. I’ve done that and I’ve done it for a long time. So I see both sides.” 

Blue Note Music is located at 2556 Telegraph Ave. (hidden upstairs in The Village). The phone number is 510-644-2583.  

A dozen members of the Berkeley-based California Peace Action joined hundreds of demonstrators in Santa Clara Friday, where President Bush toured a United Defense Inc. facility and later addressed the company’s workers. There Bush promised a brighter economic future for Silicon Valley and the United States. 

They brought with them a 50-foot inflatable missile with a glaring message in white letters on a banner hanging down one side, "Bush Strategy: Endangering America, Enraging the World." 

With 35,000 members and other offices in Los Angeles, Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara, California Peace Action is the state’s largest peace organization. The group’s headquarters are located at 2800 Adeline Ave. 

“Before Sept. 11 we probably had one person per week coming by the Berkeley office to find out what we are about,” said Eric See, the group’s state outreach officer. “During the buildup to the invasion of Iraq we would have anywhere from five to 10 people coming in, asking about how they can get involved.” 

Dolores Beliso, the Bay Area canvass director, pulled out her cell phone when she parked her van at the demonstration site Friday. She called See, who had driven down separately. See told her the rest of the group had gathered close by at Lafayette Park to inflate the missile; she led her passengers there. 

“The idea behind the missile is if you have something that is very easy for the TV camera to look at, and it is repeated over and over again then people start looking for it and paying attention to it,” See said.  

The group first used the missile in California back in 2000 during the group’s “Missile Stop Tour.” They displayed the missile in front of different congressional representatives’ offices across the state, giving them two options: sign on to pieces of anti-nuclear legislation, or refuse and suffer bad press. 

The demonstrators’ spirits were high. Some grew anxious as the hour approached 10 a.m. Bush was inside the weapons technology plant.  

At one point during the President’s speech, he celebrated the company’s production of the Hercules tank, which helped drag down the statue of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The 1,500 workers listening cheered, while outside hundreds, cordoned off blocks away from the facility, shouted a different tune. 

Anti-war protesters lined one side of the street, across from a small pocket of Bush supporters. Eleven Santa Clara mounted police officers formed a gate across the street, keeping a buffer zone between the plant and Bush critics. 

The Berkeley group approached with the inflated missile held high. Soon the image grabbed everyone’s attention. A few protesters laughed, then ran toward the object. The closer it came, the louder the protest grew. The carriers marched it into the center of the column of protesters, and the loudest chanting of the day began. 

“The people were real responsive to our missile. The energy felt really good,” said Sean Sandusky, a Berkeley resident and canvasser.  

The day was incident free but for two arrests: a person laid on the ground and refused police orders to move and another person allegedly knocked a protest sign against one of the San Jose police horses.  

Once word spread that Bush had left, demonstrators dispersed shortly after 11 a.m. 

"I didn't have the idea we would change Bush's opinion on his foreign policy, and we didn't feel that we would actually see George W. Bush,” See said. “To the extent it got media coverage it was effective. Two news stations aired coverage of the missile. In terms of getting our message out there it was worthwhile."

University of California clerical workers overwhelmingly have approved a new contract, ending a bitter, two-year fight with UC management over wages and workplace safety. 

The contract, a compromise crafted by a state mediator in March, gives 18,000 administrative assistants, library assistants and child care workers at UC’s nine-campus system a 2.5 percent raise over two years. 

The deal affects 2,300 local workers, both at the UC Berkeley campus and Oakland’s UC Office of the President. 

Approval, by a 2-to-1 margin, marks a victory for the university, which has argued for months that it could only afford a 2.5 percent hike, given the state’s fiscal crisis. 

The vote, taken last month, was announced Thursday. 

“We believe this agreement is a fair and balanced compromise considering the significant state funding constraints we’re experiencing,” said Judith Boyette, UC associate vice president for human resources and benefits, in a statement. “We’re very pleased the union and its members have chosen to accept this agreement.” 

Union leaders with the Coalition for University Employees (CUE) said they are pleased with improved layoff protections and modest gains on workplace safety. But they argued that the university could have tapped a $4 billion unrestricted reserve to fund a 15 percent wage hike. 

“We all know the university has lied to us about their ability to pay us better wages,” said CUE President Claudia Horning in a statement. “Clearly it will take more pressure from all the unions to get a wage offer that we all need and deserve.” 

University officials have long argued that the reserve, while technically unrestricted, is wrapped up in various financial obligations that cannot be ignored. 

“All UC funds are 100 percent committed each year and there are no rainy day reserves full of money for salary increases,” said UC spokesman Paul Schwartz. 

Union member Malla Hadley, a UC Berkeley scheduling coordinator, said she is skeptical of the university’s explanation. Ultimately, she said, she voted in favor of the contract because she didn’t think UC would bend in difficult economic times. 

“It’s impossible for us to expect that we’re going to see huge gains when people are being laid off left and right,” she said. 

The two-year contract battle spawned a nasty war of words that peaked in August 2002, when clerical workers at UC Berkeley joined lecturers in a two-day strike. Two months later, clerical workers at UC campuses in Santa Cruz, Davis, Riverside and Santa Barbara staged their own walk-outs, joined again by lecturers. 

In January, state mediator Micki Callahan intervened at the request of both parties and eventually hammered out the compromise contract. Union officials were not entirely pleased with the result. But after two years of negotiations, they decided to turn it over to their members for a vote. 

“It seemed to us that it was time to let the members decide what to do,” said CUE chief negotiator Margy Wilkinson. 

The union leadership remained neutral on the contract but workers, who had gone two years without a raise, voted 1,557 to 831 to approve Callahan’s proposal.  

The new contract covers the period from September 2001 to September 2004. CUE’s previous contract expired in the fall of 2001, and clericals have been working under the terms of their old contract for 16 months. 

Toni Mendicino, a UC Berkeley secretary, said she was disappointed with rank-and-file approval of the new agreement. “The wage is so inadequate,” said Mendicino, who earned $26,000 last year working four days per week. “The cost of living in California and our recent health and parking increases alone have offset the raises.” 

Scheduling assistant Michael-David Sasson, president of the CUE unit at UC Berkeley, said the wages were particularly insulting given a February report in the San Francisco Chronicle which found that upper-level administrators won 30 to 40 percent raises between 1996 and 2002, while clericals got 2 to 4 percent hikes, reaching an average salary of $33,138. 

Schwartz, the UC spokesman, declined to “rehash old issues.” But he told the Chronicle, in February, that large pay hikes are necessary to retain top-level administrators. 

“The market for clericals is very different than for senior managers, and we do not face the pressures or recruitment and retention issues with clericals that we do with senior managers,” Schwartz told the Chronicle. 

Mendicino said UC Berkeley union members will begin gearing up for the next contract fight shortly. Workers will meet next week, she said, to discuss improving communications with clericals on other campuses and boosting CUE’s overall membership. 

About one-third of UC’s 18,000 clerical employees belong to the union, although the CUE contract covers all the workers.

COMMUNITY MEETINGS 

FRIDAY, MAY 2 

Support the Artists of West Berkeley. The historic Sawtooth Building, on 8th St. between Dwight and Parker, with 50 artist studios is holding an open house from 10 a.m to 5 p.m., also on Sat. May 3.  

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 548-6310, 845-1143. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions are welcome to join us. 496-6000, ext.135. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship www.bpf.org 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon Series, “Syria,” with Beshara Doumani, PhD, Professor of History, UC Berkeley. Luncheon 11:45 a.m. $11.50 - $12.50, Speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For reservations call 526-2925, 665-9020. 

The Rachel Corrie Banner Project fundraiser with  

Jessica Rice, at 7:30 pm at the Unitarian Universalist Hall at 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. For more information on Rachel Corrie's tragic death by being bulldozed by an Israeli soldier while protecting a Palestinian home from demolition, please go to www.electonicintifada.net $20 donation requested, no one turned away for lack of funds. 

Sex, Lies & International Economics a film on alternative economics for women’s equality at 8 p.m. at the Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. Wheelchair accessible. All events are free. 540-0751. ww.thelonghaul.org  

SATURDAY, MAY 3 

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tours, “Stage Craft Studios and the Bay Architects,” led by James Novosel. 10 a.m. $5 members, $10 non-members. For reservations call 848-0181. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc 

Low-Income Cohousing informational meeting from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, South Branch, 1901 Russell St. 

African Spring Festival, at 6:30 p.m. at 155 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus. Featuring authentic African cuisine, dances, plays, music, fashion show and more. Tickets are $7 in advance, $ 10 general admission and $5 for children under 12. 286-7976.  

africanfestival@yahoo.com 

Studies from Nature, drawing workshop for ages 10-14 taught by artist Olga Segal, noon to 2 p.m. at the Ber- 

keley Art Center. Cost is $5-$10 sliding scale; scholarships available on request. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Light Search and Rescue Class offered by the City of Berkeley’s Emergency Operations Center, from 1 to 5 p.m. at 997 Cedar St. For more information call 981-5605. TDD: 981-5799. 

Pet Adopt-A-Thon! The Milo Foundation will be showing pets for adoption on Fourth St., from noon on Saturday and 11 a.m. on Sunday until 6 p.m. both days. Volunteers and foster homes are highly encouraged for this event. Contact The Milo Foundation by email, milo@pacific.net or call 707-459-4900.  

Northcoast Timber Wars Movie Night featuring “Matole Resistance” and “Fire in the Eyes” at 7:30 p.m. at the Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. Wheelchair accessible. All events are free. 540-0751.  

Introductory Day Long Meditation Retreat at the  

Berkeley Buddhist Priory, 1358 Marin Ave. Albany. Advance registration is necessary. 528-1876. www.berkeleybuddhistpriory.org 

Sick Plant Clinic, UC Botanical Garden experts diagnose your plant woes the first Saturday of every month from 9 a.m. to noon at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755. www.mip.berkeley. 

edu/garden 

Cinco de Mayo Celebration at LeConte Elementary School, 2241 Russell St. from noon to 3:30 p.m. Music by Colibrí, mariachi music, baile folklorico performed by LeConte students, DJ music by DJ FUZE, and a special appearance by KMEL's Chuy Gomez. Also Latin American food and a silent auction. Benefit for LeConte's Dual Immersion Program and the LeConte PTA. Tickets are $3 for children and $7 for adults. 644-6290. 

Walking Tour to Explore Creek Mouths on the Bay Trail, sponsored by Friends of Five Creeks with Berkeley Path Wanderers and Friends of Albany Beach. Meet at 10 a.m. at Seabreeze Market, University Ave. just west of freeway. Bring water and dress in layers. 848-9358. www.fivecreeks.org.  

Birding Breakfast and Quarterly Bird Walk, with Chris Carmichael, Manager of Collections and Horticulture, and expert birder Dennis Wolff on a morning walk to discover the Garden's bird life. 8 to 11 a.m. UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Fee $35, Members $25. 643-2755 to register. 

Visit the Cedars, horticulturist Roger Raiche hosts a visit to his property, The Cedars, home to serpentine ecosystems and with the Rhodo- 

dendron occidentale in bloom. Fee $50, UC Botanical Garden Members $30. Reservations required, call 643-2755. 

Spartacist League West Coast Educational Conference, U.S. Imperialism at 2 p.m., The Kurdish Question and U.S. Invasion of Iraq at 5 p.m., and Sun., May 4 at noon, France 1968, Lessons of the Student Revolt and General Strike at Valley Life Sciences Bldg., Room 2040. 839-0851. slbayarea@compuserve.com 

Berkeley Potters Guild Annual Sale, on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 731 Jones St. 524-7031. 

www.berkeleypotters.com 

SUNDAY, MAY 4 

Cinco de Mayo Celebration at James Kenney Park, noon to 5 p.m. Health fair, legal clinic, crafts vendors and food booths. Entertainment by LAVA Band, Danza Azteca Cuauhtonal, Mariachi Estrella, and Ballet Folklor- 

ico de Sonia Ramirez. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley and the Duran Foundation. 540-1046 x 10. 

Exploring Clay, Inventing Creatures, a workshop for ages 5-10, noon to 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. Cost is $5 - $10 sliding scale; scholarships available on request. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Humanizing the Israel-Palestine Conflict: Day of Mutual Recognition, with Moham- 

med Alatar and Rabbi Michael Lerner, from 1 to 6 p.m. at the International House. Sponsored by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, facilitated by the Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue group. Free Middle Eastern dinner included. Reservations required, call 301-2777 or email berkleytikkun 

@yahoogroups.com 

Eckhart Tolle's Talks on Video, at 7:30 p.m. to hear the words of the author of "The Power of Now" at the Feldenkrais Ctr., 830 Bancroft Way. Will meet on the first and third Sunday of each month. 547-2024. EdShorelin@aol.com 

MONDAY, MAY 5 

Community meeting about moving the Berkeley Adult School to the Franklin School site will be the topic of a second community meeting at 7 p.m. at Ala Costa, 1300 Rose St., Cedar Rose Park. School Board Members John Selawsky and Terry Doran, along with Superintendent Michele Lawrence and BAS Principal Margaret Kirkpatrick will be present. For further information contact Principal Margaret Kirkpatrick, Berkeley Adult School, mkirkpat@bas. 

berkeley.net 644-6130, or Caleb Dardick, representing the BUSD Superintendent's Office, caleb@cdastrategies. 

com 704-0130. Information will be posted to www.berkeleypublicschools.org and http://bas.berkeley.net 

Berkeley CopWatch meets  

at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 

Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

Five Star Night, Annual Fundraiser for Alameda County Meals on Wheels at the Greek Orthodox Cathe- 

dral of the Ascension. For information call Marci Vastine 567-8056.  

Oakland/East Bay National Organization for Women, with Tammy Fitz-Randolph, certified mediator, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the South Berkeley Library, 1901 Russell St. Meetings are open to all for free. 287-8948.  

TUESDAY, MAY 6 

Berkeley Camera Club, meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 525-3565.  

Disaster First Aid Class offered by the City of Ber- 

keley’s Emergency Oper- 

ations Center, from 9 a.m. to noon at 997 Cedar St. For more information call 981-5605. TDD: 981-5799. 

Household Energy Conservation Made Easy 

This class will cover do-it-yourself insulation, weatherization and metering, plus discussion of appliance use, and standby power along with examples of low- and no-cost solutions. This lecture also covers RECO measures required by the City of Berkeley. Speakers are Reuben Deumling, Berkeley Energy Commission; and Alice La Pierre, City of Berkeley Energy Analyst. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley Energy Office. 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5435 or energy@ci.berkeley.ca.us  

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7 

YMCA’s 63rd Annual Com- 

munity Prayer Breakfast, with Lyn Fine, Buddhist educator, Rev. Rodney Yee, Chinese Community Church, and music by the McGee Avenue Baptist Choir. From 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the Brazilian Room in Tilden Park. Tickets are $20 and available by calling 549-4525 or email nandini@baymca.org 

“Tamalpais Tales,” an evening of anecdotes and reminiscences by Millie Barish, Tamalpais Road historian, in celebration of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association’s Spring House Tour, at 7:30 pm at the The Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar Street at Arch. Presentation will be followed by cookies and conversation around the fireplace. Tickets, for $7, may be purchased at the door. As space is limited, you may wish to order your tickets by mail: BAHA, P.O. Box 1137, Berkeley, 94701 

South Berkeley Mural Project. Community members in South Berkeley are coming together to create a neighborhood mural on the side of the Grove Liquor Store on the corner of Ashby Ave and Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. Meetings are held every Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Epic Arts Studios at 1923 Ashby Ave. For further information on ways to get involved please call 644-2204.  

Amnesty International Berkeley Community Group 

meets the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1606 Bonita Ave., at Cedar St. Come join fellow friendly human rights activists to help promote social justice one individual at a time. 872-0768. 

THURSDAY, MAY 8 

Public Meeting on the Proposed Molecular Foundry Development by Lawrence Berkeley Nattional Lab in Strawberry Canyon, at 7:30 p.m. in the Strawberry Can- 

yon Recreation Center. All invited. For information, contact the Mayor’s office, 981-7100. 

Tariq Ali, author, Clash of Fundamentalisms; and Editor, New Left Review speaks on War, Empire, and Resistance at 4 p.m. in the Sibley Auditorium, Bechtel Center, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Institute of International Studies. 642-2472. iis@globetrotter.berkeley.edu 

Education Not Incarceration, a coalition of teachers, students, parents and community members need you to join the rally at noon in at the State Capitol, Sacramento. Buses leave the Bay Area at 8:30 a.m. For information email ed_not_inc@earthlink.net or www.may8.org  

League of Women Voters Speaker Series program on “Rebuilding Together,” formerly “Christmas in April,” from noon to 2 p.m. in the Edith Stone Room of the Albany Public Library, 1247 Marin ave., at Masonic. 843-8824. lwvbae@pacbell.net 

Grizzly Peak Flyfishers, invites you to a Fly Tying Extravaganza and Auction at the Kensington Community Center, 59 Arlington Ave., at 6:30 p.m. For information contact rorlando@uclink4. 

berkeley.edu  

ONGOING 

Alameda County Hazardous Waste Drop-Off from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 8, 9 and 10 at Alameda County Household Hazardous Waste, 2100 E. 7th St., Oakland.Take advantage of this opportunity to safely dispose of prosucts such as paint, auto products, household batteries, cleaners and sprays, pesticides and fertilizers. Please do NOT bring asbestos, explosives, most compressed gasses, computer monitors, CRTs and TVs, computers & electronic equipment. Call 1-877-STOPWASTE or visit stopwaste.org/fsrecycle. For information on what to do with other items, call 800-606-6606, email HHW@co.alameda.ca.us, or visit http://householdhazwaste.org/oakland 

Cooking and Baking Classes, offered by The Bread Project in conjunction with Berkeley Adult School. Contact Lucie Buchbinder at 644-1713. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Section 8 Resident Advisory Board meets on Friday, May 2 From 3:30 to 5 p.m. at City Hall, 2180 Milvia St., Dog- 

wood Conference Room, 2nd Floor. Rick Mattessich, 981-5471. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/section8 

Public Works Commission Special Meeting on Friday May 2, on the develpoment of a workplan from 1 to 5 p.m. at 2180 Milvia St., Redwood Room, 6th Floor. Jeff Egeberg, 981-6406. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/publicworks 

Council Agenda Committee Meeting meets Monday, May 5 at 2:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers. Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

citycouncil/agenda-committee 

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Monday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center. Gisele Sorensen 981-7419. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/landmarks 

Peace and Justice Commission meets Monday, May 5, at 7 p.m.in the North Berkeley Senior Center. Manuel Hector 981-5510. 

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

Rent Stabilization Board meets Monday, May 5, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Pam Wyche, 644-6128. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us\rent  

Youth Commission meets Monday, May 5 at 6:30 p.m.  

1730 Oregon St. Philip Harper-Cotton, 981-6670. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/youth 

City Council meets on Tuesday May 6 for a Public Hearing on Allocation of $4.2 Million in Community Development Block Grant Funds, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers. Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wednesday, May 7, at 7:30 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center. Ruby Primus, 981-5160. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/women 

Fire Safety Commission meets Wednesday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. David Orth, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/firesafety 

Transportation Commission Bicycle Subcommittee meets on Friday, May 7 from 4 to 6 p.m. at 2120 Milvia St. Third Floor Conference Room. Carolyn Helmke, 981-7062. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/transportation 

Commission on Early Child- 

hood Education meets  

Thursday, May 8 at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center. Marianne Graham, 981-5416. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/earlychildhoodeducation 

Community Health Com- 

mission meets Thursday, May 8, from 6:45 to 9:30 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. William Rogers, 981-5344. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/health 

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thursday, May 8, at  

7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/zoning   

School Board meets Wednesday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. Queen Graham 644-6147 or Mark Coplan 644-6320. 

Sarah Jones has a hard time sitting still.  

Regardless of whether she’s holding court on the propaganda on Fox News, her recent successful lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission regarding her satirical hip-hop poem “Your Revolution” — “Technically, we haven’t won,” she explained Wednesday before her show, “but the FCC has admitted wrongdoing, and now ‘Revolution’ can be heard on the radio again … so call it poetic justice” — or the quality of the falafel she’s munching on, the 28-year-old poet and performance artist punctuates her statements with kinetic hand gestures and restless movements that are reminiscent less of a theatrical diva than a dervish.  

As anyone who has seen “Surface Transit” — her one-woman show that’s been selling out the Berkeley Rep for the last two weeks — can attest, even her silent and still moments on stage pack an emotional wallop. 

The theater will announce Friday that the run has been extended through June 1. Tickets for the extra shows go on sale this Sunday. 

Considering her background as a poet, it’s no surprise that she’s mastered the art of knowing exactly what to say and when to say it. But what is shocking is her chameleonic ability to turn herself into the eight disparate characters that comprise “Surface Transit’s” tour of the human condition with little more than a few minimal costume changes and an arsenal of accents at her disposal. Running the gamut from a recovering hip-hop MC to a Jewish grandmother to a white supremacist businessman from Alabama, Jones has a knack for both pitch-perfect mimicry and total transformation. 

“I was doing these poetry slams in New York, really pouring on the performance part of it,” she said, (it was her winning the prestigious Nuyorican Poets Café’s Grand Slam Championship in 1997 that catapulted her into the spotlight), “and I remember thinking, I’m doing the best I can to convey this idea I have to the audience. But what if I could actually take the experience I had of, say, meeting a homeless woman ... and instead of being this third party, what if she came up and delivered these ideas herself? What if they got to feel what was so compelling to me about this person? 

“Of course,” she added, “no one was there to tell me, ‘What, are you crazy? You’ve never done any acting before. Just read your poems, then sit down!’ It never occurred to me that it would be strange to become somebody else. Luckily, no one told me I was out of my mind. And luckily, it seems to have worked out.” 

She discovered a facility for impersonating different voices while attending the United Nations School in New York (during the interview, she broke into an East Indian accent that was uncannily accurate). Her tenure as a spoken word dynamo gave her the fearlessness to perform her heart out, she said. What she hadn’t expected was the time it would take to put such a show together. 

“When I’ve got the right elements — a room to bounce around in, access to the people I want to base my characters on, the space to observe … videotapes to get the right physicality, which is incredibly important — I can usually knock something like ‘Transit’ or ‘Waking The American Dream’ [her new show, which plays the Yerba Buena Arts Center in June] in a few months. At first, it was difficult. Now, it’s like a recipe. I know I’ve got to pre-heat the oven to 350, let it bake for 20 minutes, and then let the juices start running clear,” she laughed.  

“Mostly, though, what I need is something grounded in the truth. Almost all of the characters in “Transit” were around me, either major figures or minor players in my life, but they were based on real people that I’d been thinking about for a while. Even the most far-fetched of them, like the racist businessman … I had met this smooth-talker in an airport lounge in Atlanta years ago. And even though he wasn’t a Klansman or anything like that, I could see how someone with a gift of gab could persuade you of even the evilest of ideas. It’s happened throughout history. So even he is grounded in reality, unfortunately.” 

What may be the most impressive aspect of Jones’ work is that even her worst characters, like the businessman or the homophobic cop, are still granted a sense of humanity. “In the end, even the vilest of us is still a human being, and it’s the artist’s responsibility to show that,” she said. “I’m interested in challenging the status quo, which isn’t the most popular thing for artists to be doing right now. But I’m even more interested in seeing what binds people. We’re all here on this earth. We’ve all got to work things out together.”

FRIDAY, MAY 2 

FILM 

Heroic Grace: Martial Arts 

Come Drink with Me at 7:30 and 9:25 p.m., at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students; $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Mike Riera on “Staying Connected to Your Teen- 

ager” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 1730 Fourth St. 559-9500. wwwcodysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Noon Concert with Shaw Pong Liu, violin, Monica Chew, piano. Concert is free, doors open at 11:55 a.m. Hertz Hall, UC Campus. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

California Bach Society and Orchestra, Warren Stewart, artistic director, performs Mozart’s Requiem at 8 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $25, $18 for seniors, $12 for students. 415-262-0272. www.calbach.org 

Solstice, a female vocal ensemble, will perform an a cappella concert at noon in the Reading Room of the Berkeley Main Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100. 

University Dance Theater performs in their annual concert at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus. Tickets are $8 - $14, available from 866-468-3399. For informations call 642-9925. or genturc@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Berkeley Opera performs 

Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $38 adults, $33 seniors over 65, $16 children under 18, $10 students. 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

Anthony Jeffries and his All Stars, blues band at 8 p.m. at Rountree’s, 2618 San Pablo Ave. 663-0440.  

Sensasamba and the Aquarela Brazilian Dance Ensemble performs at 9 p.m., at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 

525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Steve Seskin, Christine Kane 

An evening of song artistry at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Casey Neill and Little Sue, at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Bay Area Latin Jazz Legacy 

Tribute to percussionist Benny Velarde with guest vibraphone and flautist Roger Glen, trumpeter Joe Ellis, and Willie Colon at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12 in advance, $15 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

For the Crown, Playing Enemy, For All It’s Worth, X Wear the Mark X, Blessing the Hogs, 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. 

SATURDAY, MAY 3 

CHILDREN 

An Afternoon of Music and Dance, with Betty Ladzekpo and Berkeley Arts Magnet West African Dance; Chris Brague and the Berkeley Arts Magnet Percussion Ensemble; and Shaeedah Deal and Dancers from Willard Middle School and Malcolm X, at 3 p.m. at the  

Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Children’s Concert Season Finale with Colibri! at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $3 for children, $4 for adults. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

FILM 

Heroic Grace: Martial Arts 

One-Armed Swordsman at 2:15 and 7 p.m., Golden Swallow, at 4:30 and 9:15 p.m. Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students; $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Bay Area Poets Coalition holds an open reading from 3 to 5 p.m. at the West Branch Public Library, 1125 Univer- 

sity Ave. 527-9905. poetalk@aol.com 

Prose Reading to benefit Poetry Flash with Mel Fiske and John Richards, at 7:30 p.m. at Cody's Books. $5 donation. 845-7852. www.codys 

books.com, www.poetryflash.org 

Gloria Feldt, author and President, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, reads from her new book, Behind Every Choice Is a Story, at 3 p.m., at Avenue Books, 2904 College Ave. 549-3532.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Free Folk Festival 

Music and workshops, activities for children, from noon to 9 p.m. at Malcolm X School, 1731 Prince St. Also Sunday, May 4. Sponsored by Freight and Salvage. For information 649-1423. www. 

freightandsalvage.org/bfff 

The Alex Buccat Quartet, featuring Michele Latimer, vocals and trumpet at 2:30 p.m. in Walnut Square, at Vine. 204-9228. www.walnutsquarecenter.com 

Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra, under the direction of Arlene Sagan, performs Brahms “German Requiem,” at 8 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison. Admission is free. 964- 0665. www.bcco.org 

Berkeley Opera performs 

Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $38 adults, $33 seniors over 65, $16 children under 18, $10 students, from 925-798-1300. 

www.juliamorgan.org 

West African Highlife Band performs at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 

525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Moore Brothers, Nedelle, Golden Shoulders, Willow Willow, at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. 

University Dance Theater performs in their annual concert at 2 and 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC campus. Tickets are $8 - $14, available from 866-468-3399. For informations call 642-9925. or enturc@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Il Giardino Armonica 

Music Before 1850: Music of Fontana, Farina, Piccinini, Purcell, Mancini, Vivaldi, Goldberg, Sammartini, at 8 p.m. at the First ongregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $42 from Cal Performances 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Javanese Gamelan 

Gamelan Sari Raras, Heri Purwanto, director. Music and Dance from Surakarta and Yogyakarta, at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets $2-$8 from 642-9988. 

www.ls.berkeley.edu/dept/music 

Chicano de Mayo Celebration with Quetzal and Domingo Siete. Dance to the grooves of two L.A. bands at 9:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $13 in advance, $15 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

World Stage: Juan de Marcos’ Afro-Cuban All Stars Latino rhythms: classic son montuno, contemporary timba, swinging big band guajira, jazz and funk at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $20. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Barbara Higbie, pianist, fiddler, singer and composer performs at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $17.50 adv, $18.50 door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Stfu, Born/Dead, Dead by Dawn, Dead Fall, Stockholm Syndrome, The Abandon 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. 

SUNDAY, MAY 4 

CHILDREN 

Family Day with Gamelan Sekar Jaya, a program created for young audiences, members of the ensemble will demonstrate aspects of Bali's rich performance traditions using dance, gamelan instruments, and costumes at 2 p.m. at the Hearst Museum Gallery, Kroeber Hall. 643-7648.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Publication Celebration for 26 Magazine, Issue B with contributors Gillian Conoley, Joseph Kolb, Rick London, and Elizabeth Treadwell, at 7:30 p.m. at Cody's Books. $2 donation. 845-7852. www.codys 

books.com, www.poetryflash.org 

G. William Domhoff, a sociology professor at the Uni- 

versity of California, discusses his new book, “Changing the Powers That Be: How the Left Can Stop Losing and Win,” at 7 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. 

FILM 

Eisner Awards 

Works from the Eisner Awards Competition at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students; $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Opera performs 

Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” at 2 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $38 adults, $33 seniors over 65, $16 children under 18, $10 students, from 925-798-1300. 

www.juliamorgan.org 

World Stage: Juan de Marcos’ Afro-Cuban All Stars Latino rhythyms: classic son montuno, contemporary timba, swinging big band guajira, jazz and funk at 7 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $20. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Les Yeux Noirs, a Paris-based octect, performs high energy dance music rooted in traditional Roma and Yiddish music at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $14. 525-5054.  www.ashkenaz.com 

Empyrion Ensemble, contemporary chamber music at 4 p.m. at The Crowden School Great Hall, 1475 Rose St. Cost is $10, age 18 and under, free. 559-6910.  

University Dance Theater, presents their annual performance at 2 p.m. at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus. Tickets are $8 - $14 available from 866-468-3399. For information call 642-9925. genturc@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Lisa Says, a pop-folk ensemble at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10, $7 students. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Jeff Pittson Trio performs at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool,  

Cost is $18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Ellen Hoffman with Melicio Magdaluoy & Anna deLeon, jazz pianist and composer, 8 p.m.at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Cuarteto Latinoamericano, with Sonia Rubinsky, piano, featuring a new piano quintet by UC Berkeley Professor of Music Jorge Liderman at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall. Tickets are $32. 642-9988. 

www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Dance and Rhythm of India, a free concert, directed by Purnima Jha, with students from Thousand Oaks Elementary and the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, at 3 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

The Gourmet Ghetto Trio with Greg Kehret, bassist, at 1 p.m. in Walnut Square, at Vine. 204-9228. www.walnutsquarecenter.com 

MONDAY, MAY 5 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ayi Kwei Armah, Ghanaian author, will speak on The Writer in African Society, at 4 p.m. in 402 Barrows Hall, UC Campus. 642-8338. www.ias.berkeley.edu/africa/ 

The Last Word hosts a poetry reading at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. with Naomi Lowinsky, author of “Red Clay Is Talking” and Patrick Hunt, at 7 p.m. 649-1320. 

Michael Lemonick talks about “Echo of the Big Bang,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Christine Schäfer, soprano 

Ted Taylor, piano perform Schubert, Crumb, and Schu- 

mann at 3 p.m. in Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42. 642-9988. www.calperfs. 

berkeley.edu 

Berkeley Contemporary Chamber Players, David Milnes, director, perform new works by UC Music Dept. graduate student composers in the Berkeley New Music Project, at 8 p.m. in Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $2, $6, $8. 642-9988.  

TUESDAY, MAY 6 

FILM 

The Inquiring Camera  

Remembrance of Things to Come at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Anne Cummins reads from “Red Ant House,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Toids and Edessa perform at Ashkenaz. Balkan dance lesson with Lise Liepman at 7:30, show at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  www.ashkenaz.com 

Andy M. Stewart and Gerry O’Beirne, Scottish and Irish music masters, perform at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

“Let's Start Using Our Cranium and Get Rid of Depleted Uranium” an evening of music and educational speeches calling attention to health and environmental effects of depleted uranium (DU) weaponry used in the recent war in Iraq. All proceeds from the evening will go to benefit the Military Toxics Project and National Gulf War Resource Center. Blackbox theater, 1932 Telegraph Ave., Oak- 

land. $10. 919-5478. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7 

CHILDREN 

Karen Sudjian Lampkin and 

students from Whittier EDC perform songs, poetry, 

dance and living history at 6 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

FILM 

Film 50: Timecode at 3 p.m. (sold out) and Video: Special Event, Screening the Body: Video Dance and Live Music, live video mixes by Douglas Rosenberg. Live music by Ryan Smith, Daniel Feiler, at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

COMEDY 

Comedy Show to benefit Berkeley Dispute Resolution Service, featuring a diverse line-up of the Bay Area’s rising stars, at 8 p.m. Cost is $15 and up, sliding scale. 525-5054.  www.ashkenaz.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Alejandro Murguia, Francisco X. Alarcon and Maria Melendez read from “Under the Fifth Sun: Latino Literature from California” at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

John Derbyshire looks at “Prime Obsession: Bernard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Inez Hollander Lake, Ksenija Soster Olmer, and Sande Smith read from their book of stories, “A Cup of Comfort for Mothers and Daughters,” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Noon Concert, Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Noon Concert Series, directed by Davitt Moroney. Concert is free, doors open at 11:55 a.m. Hertz Hall, UC Campus. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Karen Sudjian Lampkin and Students from Whittier EDC in a free performance of songs, poetry, dance, and living history, at 6 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Carrie Newcomer performs contemporary folk at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.org 

THURSDAY, MAY 8 

FILM 

Heroic Grace: Martial Arts 

at 7:00, Vengeance! at 9:05 at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Diane Ravitch describes “The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn,” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 1730 Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

Douglas Rushkoff speaks about “Nothing Sacred: The Truth About Judaism,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Sharon Ellison, author of “Taking the War Out of Our Words,” describes how we use the rules of war as a basis for communication at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

UC Jazz at Noon free concert on Lower Sproul Plaza. 

Due West, a traditional bluegrass band celebrates its album release at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Lagbaja, Nigerian band playing a mix of Afrobeat with highlife, juju, funk and jazz at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $17. 525-5054.  www.ashkenaz.com 

Faun Fables, Joanna Newsom, Jessica Hoop at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. 841-2082. 

Holly Near and Ronnie Gilbert in a program of songs and stories at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $16 in advance, $18 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Departing Planning Director Carol Barrett gets the Harry Truman Award for this week. Truman, you may recall, said, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen,” and that’s exactly what Barrett is doing.  

She’s going back to the wide open spaces of Texas whence she came, with a few parting shots at the hot disputes over planning policy which are a Berkeley tradition. In Berkeley, unlike much of the rest of the country, we take our coffee hot, strong and somewhat bitter, and we tend to take our planning discussions the same way. 

San Marcos, Texas, is certainly a different kind of place from Berkeley. Its city government Web page spotlights a picture of a hometown soldier serving in Iraq. In Texas, there’s room for planners to really plan up a storm. About 40,000 people in San Marcos are trying to spread out over more than 18 square miles. (In Berkeley, we’ve already packed at least 110,000 into 12 square miles.) Undoubtedly, mouthy citizens don’t need to get in the way of professionals when it comes to making planning decisions. 

Some people in Berkeley now seem to think that kind of deference is a model to be imitated. Recently, even in these pages, such people have been advancing civic politesse codes, derived in part from Amitai Etzioni’s quasi-religious communitarian ideology, which peaked around 1984. City Council has authorized the city manager to conduct an investigation into commissioners’ manners, with a report due in September. A League of Women Voters team of “observers” has been making the rounds of commission meetings to check up on deportment. A councilmember’s aide has circulated an e-mail calling for a purge of dissident commissioners, and many already have been replaced. The mayor boasts of City Council meetings which are over by 9:15 p.m., with civic strife swept tidily under the rug. Only the churlish Winston Smiths among us object. 

This model for civic governance is usually accompanied by Only-in-Berkeley-ism. That’s the sub-sect of communitarianism which believes that Berkeley is the only place where citizens talk back to staff in such an annoying way. Believers in this theory, presumably, have never lived in Ann Arbor, Cambridge, Santa Cruz, Bloomington, Santa Barbara, Madison, Davis or any of the many other places with a high concentration of well-educated articulate inhabitants. (They also don’t watch the British House of Commons on late-night cable.) 

The Berkeley Planning Commission, to take one arbitrary example, has two professors, at least one lawyer and assorted other Ph.D.s among its nine members, and it shows. Admittedly, it’s rough for a city department head to hear from one of the professors that he’d give a C+ to a staff report as presented. On the other hand, putting up with that kind of intellectual critique has always been part of the job description for staffers in university towns, and it always will be. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It would be dishonest for an expert citizen commissioner who spots holes in staff data to keep quiet for fear of offending. 

Harry Truman, though no intellectual himself, didn’t suffer fools gladly either. Many who worked with or for him felt the sting of his caustic tongue. Those who could put up with him stayed on, and even enjoyed the challenge. Others left. That’s why Barrett gets the Truman Award. She couldn’t stand the heat of Berkeley’s intellectual stew, so she’s leaving, to her credit. In a small town in Texas she’ll get some respect. 

Becky O’Malley is executive editor of the Planet, a Landmark Preservation Commissioner, a member of the ACLU since 1959 and a registered Democrat.

You wouldn’t know it from the burly 41-year-old’s sanguine demeanor, but when William Mendoza returns home next week, he will face the threat of murder, torture and kidnapping at the hands of paramilitary agents opposed to the union activism that Mendoza and other union leaders have been engaged in for the last two decades. 

Before Mendoza arrived in the Bay Area on April 9 to begin his month-long tour of the United States, he was forced to walk around his hometown with two or three bodyguards, wear a bullet-proof vest most of the time, and frequently send his wife and three children into hiding to protect them from the men who would regularly call and threaten to kill them. 

Mendoza said neither he nor any member of his family has been physically harmed, but he still has reason to worry. Last June, his four-year-old daughter was the victim of a kidnapping attempt, and Mendoza continues to receive death threats on his cell phone even while traveling abroad. 

In a recent interview at the Plumbers Union Hall in San Francisco, minutes after giving a speech to a raucously enthusiastic crowd of unionists, Mendoza explained why he continues his activism in the face of such danger. “I believe it’s my duty as a worker and as a Colombian to denounce everything that’s going on in my country,” he said, speaking through a translator. “It’s better to act even if there’s fear than to not act at all.” 

Mendoza works for Bebidas y Alimentos, a Coca Cola bottling plant in Barrancabermeja, Colombia, and is president of SINALTRAINAL, the trade union that represents workers at several beverage and food companies in the country. Mendoza said he is one of 65 trade unionists in Colombia who have received death threats from paramilitary groups. Since 1989, 15 union activists from SINALTRAINAL have been killed by paramilitaries. Eight were workers at Coca Cola bottling plants. 

The murders of Coca Cola union leaders are the subject of a lawsuit filed in July 2001 by the United Steel Workers of America. The suit alleges that Colombian right-wing paramilitary groups acted as hired hands for Coca Cola, carrying out the intimidation and murder of union leaders with the aim of stamping out the movement for improved working conditions and wages for Coca Cola employees. The suit specifically targets two Florida-based Coca Cola bottlers, Panamerican Beverages and Bebidas y Alimentos, alleging that management at those two companies allowed and even orchestrated the assassination of trade unionists. 

Coca Cola denies all of the allegations. Rodrigo Calderon, spokesman for Coca Cola’s Latin American office, which is based in Mexico, said, “These allegations are false and we think they are being used for the shock value” and as “publicity stunts.” He added that Coca Cola has “extensive normal relations with labor unions in Colombia” and has provided workers threatened with violence by paramilitaries with a host of protections, including cell phones, personal bodyguards, armored vehicles, loans for securing their houses, job transfers and extensive life insurance. “We do everything possible to keep our workers safe,” Calderon said. 

Calderon added that the Colombian courts already have looked into allegations that Coca Cola was involved in the paramilitaries’ murders of unionists and concluded — once in 1997, and then in 2001 — that there was no evidence of wrongdoing by the company. He also said Coca Cola’s own internal investigation exonerated the company. 

Mendoza is visiting four states to raise awareness about the lawsuit and to boost support for an upcoming worldwide boycott of Coca Cola products. Mendoza and his supporters, including the United Steelworkers Union, plan to launch the boycott campaign on July 22 — the day that commemorates the 1986 assassination of Hector Daniel Useche Beron, the first SINALTRAINAL union leader killed by paramilitary groups in Colombia. 

Local labor rights and fair trade activists are hoping the boycott will reinvigorate their own campaign to educate students about the plight of workers at Coca Cola’s Colombian bottling plants. Specifically, they want to convince the UC Berkeley administration, which is now in the second year of a 10-year contract with the multinational beverage company, to use their leverage to pressure Coca Cola to do more to prevent the abuse of Colombian Coca Cola workers. 

Camilo Ramero, a UC Berkeley senior and a Colombian-American, said students should actively oppose the university’s silence on the issue. “This indirectly affects UC Berkeley students because our university is engaged in a contract that endorses Coca Cola’s violation of human rights,” he said. 

Ramero is a member of the Colombian Support Network (CSN), a group of student activists who are encouraging students to write letters to Coca Cola demanding they stop the human rights violations in Colombia and protect union leaders. Ramero said if efforts to hold Coca Cola accountable and ensure the safety of Mendoza and others fail, they will step up their campaign and urge the university to sever their contract with the beverage company. 

When asked to respond to students’ concerns about Coca Cola and the possibility of a campaign to get the administration to end its contract with the company, UC Berkeley media relations director Marie Felde said she couldn’t comment because she didn’t have enough information. “This is the first time I heard of it. I haven’t even heard of the groups you’re speaking of,” she said, referring to CSN and Students Organizing for Justice in the Americas. 

Mendoza said the response he’s received in the United States has been “extremely positive,” but said the country’s geographical vastness will make it difficult to amass widespread support for the boycott. Mendoza will speak to fellow unionists at the International Longshore and Warehouse Union convention on Friday at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown San Francisco. He returns to his war-wracked homeland — and would-be assassins — next week. 

For some local activists, failing to convince Coca Cola to protect its workers abroad now may mean more than losing another campaign — it also may mean losing a friend. Jeremy Rayner, an Oakland resident who helped organize Mendoza’s campus visit in early April, said, “To me it’s personal now that I’ve met William. I think about whether or not they will guarantee his safety once he returns. It’s really disturbing.” 

Meeting Set for Foundry 

At Strawberry Creek 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will hold a community discussion this week on their proposal to construct a six-story, 86,500-square-foot molecular foundry in Strawberry Canyon. 

The foundry will be primarily used to study nano technology. 

Opponents have raised concerns that LBNL’s plan to build such a large facility in Strawberry Canyon will upset the environmental balance in the canyon and create an eyesore.  

The lab is holding the discussion May 8 at the Strawberry Canyon Recreation Area in the Hass Club House’s Club Room on the second floor. The Club House is on Canyon Road above the UC Memorial Stadium. 

— John Geluardi

For four years the Crowden Music Center has brought some of the Bay Area’s finest chamber musicians to Berkeley as part of its Sundays at Four concert series. This weekend, the center is hosting the Empyrean Ensemble, a professional contemporary music ensemble in residence at the University of California, Davis. 

“We are trying to take the daunting out of classical music concerts,” said Ben Simon, who founded the family-friendly series four years ago. “This year started to catch a younger audience, and we’re trying to accommodate a younger audience, which is what classical music really needs. And we’re having a lot of fun with it.” 

The Empyrean Ensemble, formed in 1988, is bringing five of its members to the Crowden School’s Great Hall on Sunday. Its founder, the composer Ross Bauer, is also the parent of a Crowden student. 

“We talked several years ago about what an exciting thing it would be for our audience,” said Simon. “The group is flexible. They will be geared for a young audience, playing very listenable contemporary music.” The instruments for the afternoon will include clarinets, violins, viola , piano and a prepared piano -- wood screws, erasers and paper are used to change the string’s temper. 

The performance, the seventh this year, will last about an hour — a length, Simon said, that is perfect for families. The ensemble will play contemporary chamber music, written within the last 25 years. 

The Crowden Music Center incorporates the Crowden School, a private middle school with intensive music training in addition to a full academic schedule. The music center offers after-school and weekend music and art classes for students of all ages.  

“The performances are probably the best bargain in the Bay Area when it comes to professional musicians,” said Deborah Berman, executive director of The Crowden School. “And aside from that, it is in a warm, intimate atmosphere, which is where chamber music is supposed to be played.” 

All the musicians who participate in the Sunday series play for free. Money from ticket sales goes toward Crowden scholarship students and the music program. 

“We already do give scholarships, but we don’t ever have enough,” Berman said. “That is something we are working very hard on now and this concert series helps.” 

Following this week’s performance, a concert June 1 finishes off the series until next fall. In the finale, a repeat from last year, the Crowden faculty will take to the stage to perform masterpieces from the chamber music repertoire.  

“I round up as many of the Crowden professional music faculty as I can,” Simon said. “We have some wonderful artists at the Crowden School and lovely talent. This is a chance for them to shine and for our community to see the quality of the teachers at the school, and it is really just a lot of fun, the end of the season, final run.” 

The Empyrean Ensemble plays this Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Crowden Music Center’s Great Hall in North Berkeley. Tickets cost $10 for adults, and those 18 and under get in for free. Visit the Web site at: www.thecrowdenschool.org.

GRANDSTANDING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you for both John Geluardi’s and Al Winslow’s reportage on Tom Bates’ patronizing adventure in pseudo-homelessness. The telling episode for me was Winslow’s quote of Bates, who when roused from sleep by a policeman, instantly came up with “I'm the mayor and we have a permit.” In other words, he’s not really a homeless bum. He’s a well-respected gentleman with supporters.  

When the policeman asked to see his permit, Mr. Bates (who lied about having one) then said City Manager Weldon Rucker okayed that he and his coterie could stay put. 

If Mr. Bates was sincerely interested in getting a taste of being on the bottom, he wouldn’t have identified himself to the policeman. He also wouldn’t have exempted himself from the violence done to many homeless people when they are roused from sleep and made to scrounge for another sleeping place.  

However, Bates chose not to join the homeless for one night. Therefore, his mayor’s night out was a grandstanding pose. After all, he could have just gone to People’s Park quietly in the daytime and spoken with the homeless then. 

I suggest the homeless follow Mr. Bates’ example. When they are awakened from sleep by the police, they should say they are the mayor, and that Weldon said it was okay to sleep where they are. 

Maris Arnold 

• 

A NEW DAY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a Berkeley citizen who has sometimes substituted on the Planning Commission and sits on a couple of other commissions, I read the article about Planning Director Carol Barrett’s resignation with interest. The relationship between commissions and staff, as you can see, is not always transparent. Particularly when the issues are as divisive as land use decisions — philosophical differences do inevitably surface, but they need not be aired as dirty linen. 

I have been present at many Planning Commission meetings, usually because there is a topic of interest, but I stay and watch out of fascination for process. I have seen members of the commission disagree many times, often with determination, although not with raised voices. The commission did a magnificent job working with staff — drafting and guiding the General Plan through many years, thousands of commission, volunteer and staff hours, and a 5-4 vote by City Council a couple of months after Ms. Barrett became our planning director — that must have been quite an eye opener to how we do things here in Berkeley. 

Ms. Barrett thinks there are those who want a planning director who will stop all development. That is certainly not what I have seen. I have seen a public that wants clear and consistent guidelines for development, and to know early in the process whether projects meet those guidelines as infill in their neighborhoods. This is true whether it is a second-story addition in the hills, or a five-story building in the flats. I also suspect this is true in almost any other densely built city. 

Looking back to before Ms. Barrett was hired, a new day was dawning on Berkeley, promises of a process developed to involve all stakeholders early in the process. I still have a vision of that day. 

Carrie Olson 

• 

RENT BOARD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Barbara Gilbert’s call for the city to adopt rational fiscal policies (”Wake Up: We’re In Budget Trouble,” April 29-May 1) is right on the money. Her account of the rent board’s budget is about to become incorrect, however. 

On May 5, the rent board will hear a proposal to increase its own budget by 10 percent to $2.9 million, not the $2.6 million Ms. Gilbert describes. The board will cover the entire increase by raising the fees it charges landlords. This comes at a time when, by all accounts, rents are down and vacancy rates are up dramatically. Moreover, the rent board’s own statistics show that it has processed fewer and fewer complaints in recent years. Rather than tighten its own belt with the rest of the city, however, the rent board is trying to grab the biggest piece of pie for itself.  

To put in perspective the amount of money that the rent board absorbs for its own bureaucracy, it is worth noting that the entire rest of the city receives $2.4 million from the business license fee charged to landlords. That’s with landlords paying the highest license fee rates of any business except waste disposal.   

Ms. Gilbert points out that Berkeley’s private housing providers are also paying the highest property taxes in the state. The total burden on this particular type of Berkeley small business can exceed 10 percent of gross revenues — a punitive burden on the very people who provide one of the most important services in our community. 

For the sake of the city, it is time to replace tired political attitudes with sound public policy. 

Michael Wilson  

President 

Berkeley Property 

Owners Association 

• 

WASTEFUL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The wasteful ferry subsidies driving state Sen. Don Perata’s proposed $3 bridge tolls are reason enough to ask Assemblywoman Loni Hancock to oppose Perata’s related bills, SB 915 and SB 916. 

A ferry advocate quoted in your article (“Perata Floats Ferry Proposal,” April 22-24) foresees subsidized fares on her chosen “yachts” that are “on par with the price of a BART ticket from Berkeley to San Francisco ... currently ... about $3.” That’s absurd. Ferry costs per rider are vastly higher than those of current BART trains or transbay buses. And ferries generate worse air pollution. 

In Perata’s scenario, we would lavishly subsidize the small and declining number of commuters who find ferries convenient, while denying funds to cleaner and more cost-effective transit options that can move many more people. That’s right: Perata would provide not one cent to current bus and BART service, even though both are caught in a downward spiral of service cuts and fare increases. He wouldn’t even fund the Bay Bridge’s own seismic retrofit, which is essential but over budget. 

Voters likely will approve only one toll increase in uncertain economic times. Yet Perata’s approach would pre-empt that one increase, and permanently deny it to the projects that most need and deserve it.  

Let’s vote down this wasteful proposal (a favor to developers in Alameda who’ve long backed Perata) and reserve future toll increases for core transit services. To really get people out of their cars, for example, why not subsidize transbay bus and BART fares of $3 per round-trip, the same cost as motorists’ bridge toll? 

Ferry enthusiasts should retain the right to sip cocktails on their chosen “yachts.” But amid a budget meltdown, it’s only fair for them to pay the full costs, with no public subsidies. (In return, I won’t ask bridge commuters to pay for my next Caribbean cruise.) 

Tom Brown 

• 

INVITATION TO MEDIATE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Timothy Lynch, Hali Hammer and your readers should do some research. It is thanks to my seven years of efforts that Marissa Shaw, Karen Craig and the ADA compliance officer, both current and former, knew anything at all about the accessibility problems at previous festivals and interested themselves in the issue. 

The current location, Malcolm X, was brought about by a petition signed by over 50 concerned citizens who objected to yet another self-appointed director’s selection of a very different location, which happened as recently as this summer. Hali Hammer insisted that she had unilaterally “signed a contract” for a different hall which had inadequate dance and workshop space, but decided after receiving the petition that perhaps she did not sign a contract after all. 

If any reader, or writer, wants to see the letters and e-mails by all the festival directors, including the current director, attacking me over the years, just give me a call.  

To claim that no retaliatory behavior has taken place without reading these vitriolic archives strikes me as absurd. They were liberally spread through five newspapers, the Internet, commission and council meetings, and countless moments not only recounted to me by others but documented in signed affidavits. The festival’s first director, Jessica Bryant, acknowledges blacklisting me for the early festival years in a signed letter, copies of which are available to anyone interested. 

The “open” meetings the current director cites were also the result of my efforts. Hali’s first action as self-appointed director was to have a very private meeting she does not mention, a meeting at which she attempted to finalize her preferred location for reasons of convenience to herself, a convenience which seems to have been the major factor in location selection for the festival’s entire history.  

Hali’s initial response to the petition was to put it on the Internet and encourage others to contact the signers to discourage them from supporting it. Judy Fjell was so frightened that she dis-invited me from playing a gig with her at the Freight and Salvage, citing concerns about her career. Hali did eventually make a private apology for doing this, but the larger, public message was sent that joining the community effort to improve access is a dangerous thing to do. 

I have never “attacked” any of the festivals or the hard-working people who put them together and make them the joyous occasions they are. I played at one, I’ll be playing Saturday night, and I have worked hard for seven years to make sure the entire community can participate at great cost to myself. I’ve never confused the festival itself with the entirely human mistakes often made by often well-intended organizers. 

Hali’s contention that I refused a meeting is peculiar, considering her own vehement and repetitive refusals to meet after she violated (and continues to violate) agreements she made earlier this summer to stop transforming a public community issue into a personal attack.  

I’m happy to have this opportunity to publicly invite her to meet me and other interested community members at the Dispute Resolution Center, where perhaps someone can clarify for her that raising the issues of accessibility and inclusion is not a personal matter and benefits the entire community. I’ll let the community know from the stage on Saturday whether she accepts my invitation. 

Carol Denney 

In his first state of the city address, Mayor Tom Bates touted a congenial City Council, praised new development and warned of a looming budget deficit. He also promised to enhance the city’s business environment and to improve educational services for the city’s youth.  

Marking his 150th day in office, Bates spoke to about 200 people in the auditorium at Longfellow Middle School on Tuesday. City Councilmembers Miriam Hawley, Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington attended the address as well as a dozen city commissioners and several Board of Education directors. 

The mayor’s speech lasted nearly an hour and, typical of his style, he spoke rapidly without benefit of prepared text. His comments frequently were applauded by the audience, which was largely comprised of supporters. 

Bates spoke mostly about the city’s future. He opened his address, however, by describing one change that has already taken hold: the improved working relationship among City Councilmembers. 

Bates credited the new spirit of congeniality, in part, to the newly instituted Agenda Committee, formerly the Rules Committee. He said the committee has improved the content of agenda items by making sure they are complete before council considers them. 

The council previously was known for contentious meetings characterized by late-night discussions punctuated with effronteries and backbiting. 

“There have been some really radical things happening in Berkeley,” he said. “We’ve had [City Council] meetings over at 9:30 p.m. I get home and my wife asks me, ‘What are you doing here?’” 

Bates then addressed the city’s future with a mixture of enthusiasm and caution. 

Budget questions 

The state budget deficit is the most critical issue facing the city, Bates said.  

“The state of California is far and away in the worst shape of any state in the union,” Bates said. He then chastised state Assembly Republicans for refusing to raise taxes to cope with a $36 billion deficit. “The situation in Sacramento is a log jam with Republicans holding teachers, schoolchildren and poor people hostage.” 

He said the impact on Berkeley will be a $4 million deficit in fiscal year 2004-2005 followed by an $11 million deficit the following year.  

“We can handle the first year raising fees and fines,” he said. “We can raise parking tickets from $23 to $30 and our fines will still be comparable to other Bay Area cities.” 

The city manager instituted a hiring freeze several months ago, which also will help to offset next year’s deficit. 

However, Bates said the following year will be more difficult to contend with and that a ballot measure to raise taxes might be necessary as well as deep cuts to programs and city staff.  

“We will have to be resourceful and we will have to make the most with less,” he said.  

Business development 

Berkeley needs to do more to welcome businesses, Bates said. He said the city will have to counter slouching sales taxes by streamlining the business permit process to attract new businesses.  

Sales tax, which accounts for about 13 percent of the city’s general fund, is down by about 6 percent or $1.2 million, Bates said. 

“We have to recognize that we need people coming to Berkeley to purchase things,” he said. “I will do everything possible to help business come here and thrive.” 

As an example of a business impediment, he described former state Assemblywoman Dion Aroner’s difficulties getting her consulting business started. “She can’t get a permit because the fire inspectors are too busy,” he said.  

Bates said he has formed a task force and expects to hold a public hearing on permitting changes within the next three to four months. 

Development  

Bates said he wants to see more housing developed in Berkeley, especially affordable housing. To that end, the Mayor’s Task Force on Permitting and Development was formed to consider ways to speed the development process without restricting public input. The task force is expected to offer recommendations in the next several months. 

“I want to see commercial and mixed use on arterioles that are well designed and opened not just to students but to the entire community so we can actually have poor people living here,” he said. 

Bates described a pending development boom which includes 2,000 residential units either under construction or approved in a two-mile radius of downtown. 

Bates also said it was time to assess the strain UC Berkeley puts on the city’s infrastructure and services. UC Berkeley is one of the largest property owners in town but, because of its state-owned status, does not pay property tax to the city of Berkeley.  

In addition, Bates said the university is working on plans to develop 2 million square feet of new housing, research space, administrative offices and parking facilities within the next 10 years and should pay something to the city for sewers, utilities and police and fire service. 

“If they’re going to develop, they have to help us,” he said.  

Bates proposed a “shared study” with UC Berkeley to determine infrastructure costs.  

The homeless 

Bates spoke briefly of his 24-hour homeless stint last week. He said Berkeley has a variety of homeless services that show the city is a “wonderful, loving and outreaching community.”  

He also described the problem of homelessness as intractable and called on a regional approach to providing homeless services.  

“The city of Berkeley spent $3 million on homeless programs and the entire county of Contra Costa spent only $2 million,” he said. “This is simply not fair. Perhaps we can cut out Contra Costa’s highway funding and divert it to cities who want to do something on a regional basis.” 

Schools 

Bates campaigned on the promise of improving Berkeley’s schools. In his first months in office he forged new alliances with the Berkeley Unified School District in the hopes of improving school safety and educational services, he said. 

He organized a Youth and Education Summit, a series of meetings which began in late March. They include members of the Berkeley School Board, the Berkeley Public Education Foundation and the Berkeley Community Fund. The collaboration is exploring ways to maintain and improve school services in the face of a budget deficit of between $4 million and $8 million in the coming year. 

“Our school kids have to have an opportunity to learn, and I want to do everything I can to improve their lives,” he said. “Stay tuned to this because we’re off to a wonderful start.”

Berkeley High School Drama Department  

“Guys and Dolls”  

Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, directed by Jordan Winer. The musical is based on short stories by Damon Runyon, of gamblers and chorus girls who lived on the fringes of the criminal world in the Broadway district of New York City. Sat. May 3 at 8 p.m., Sun. May 4 at 7 p.m. in the Florence Schwimley Little Theater on Allston Way between Milvia and MLK Jr. Way. Tickets are $7, $5 with student i.d. and are on sale at the box office 1/2 hr. before performance time. 

Youth Musical Theater  

Commons 

“Les Miserables”  

Performed by students of King, Longfellow, Willard, BHS, and Albany High. This school edition is shorter than the Broadway version, but not short on talent. Sat May 2 through May 10 at 7:30 p.m., Longfellow Auditorium, 1500 Derby St. Tickets at the door, $ 5 - $8. 848-1797. ttp://busduse.org/lesmiz 

Stagebridge and Berkeley Adult School 

“Senior Moments” 

A lively original comedy by James Keller, on Sat. May 3 at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Adult School, 1222 University Ave. Ticket information and reservations are available by calling 444-4755.  

1 Foot 2 Players 

“The Maids”  

By Jean Genet. Maids play a nightly game masquerading as their mistress, unti the game unravels with devastating consequences. May 2-18, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 pm, with 1 extra late show Saturday, May 3 at 11 p.m., at Ann Davlin Dance Studio, 2311 Stuart St., between Telegraph and Ellsworth.$10 general, $8 seniors/students. Call 644.1889 for tickets and information.  

“La Casa Azul” 

A work based on the life of Frida Kahlo with author/ 

actress Sophie Faucher, Robert Lepage, director, May 8 - 10 at 8 p.m., May 10 at 2 p.m. and May 11 at 3 p.m., at Zellerbach Playhouse. Tickets are $36-$52. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Aurora Theater Company 

“Partition”  

Written by Ira Hauptman, directed by Barbara Oliver. April 17- May 18. Wed. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 and 7 p.m. $32-$34. 2081 Addison St. 843-4822. www.auroratheater.org 

Berkeley Repertory Theater 

“Surface Transit” 

Written and performed by Sarah Jones, directed by Tony Taccone. April 18 - May 18. Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. 647-2949, (888) 4BRTTIX www.berkeleyrep.org 

Shotgun Theater Lab  

“Fig Leaf:  

Tales of Truth  

And Transgressions”  

A glimpse of truth and transgressions. May 5, 6, 12 and 13 at 8:00 PM La Val's Subterranean, 1834 Euclid $10. www.shotgunplayers.org 

Shotgun Players 

“Vampires” 

By Harry Kondoleon, directed by Joanie McBrien, April 12 - May 17, Thursday through Sunday, at 8 p.m. La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid at Hearst. www.shotgunplayers.com

The education establishment has shown itself to be an advocate of low standards, false educational theory, poor selection and training of teachers, and it is incredibly wasteful with taxpayer dollars. Today’s teachers suffer from the inability to pass on the accumulated knowledge of civilization from one generation to the next. Teachers unions operate as political organizations while masquerading as professional groups, and now they want to eliminate one of the few objective tools we have to measure their performance.  

State Assemblywoman Loni Hancock would eliminate the state exit exam requirement and leave it to school districts to decide if they want to use the test as a criterion for graduation. In the Berkeley Daily Planet article of April 18, a student asked, “What if you get straight A’s and flunk the test?” Considering the current rate of grade inflation, that possibility is not far fetched.  

Proof that grade inflation is epidemic in public schools is easy to find. The SAT people at the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J., collect, then correlate, students’ grades against their scores on the SAT test. The SAT is taken by 1.7 million teenagers, 70 percent of all 11th-graders. From 1988 to 1998, the number of “A” students taking the test went from 28 percent to 38 percent, yet the SAT scores dropped dramatically. Parents are often fooled by the establishment’s propaganda; they believe that because their children are getting good grades they are learning.  

Even with SAT test scores declining, the average college-bound 11th-grader has a higher test score than his teacher. Teachers in the United States are self-selected from the bottom one-third of high school and university graduates. The unfortunate reality is that the teacher hopefuls had only a 964 SAT score, far below average. Another standardized test, the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), is taken by college seniors applying for graduate school in business, engineering, health science, humanities, life science, social science, physical science and education. The GRE test shows that test takers seeking to enter the field of education come in at the absolute bottom of the eight specialties. 

More than two-thirds (69 percent) of all public elementary school teachers majored in “general education” and not in a specific subject as undergraduates. Education training focuses more on how to teach than on content. 

A Pennsylvania study shows that ordinary math majors in that state had to complete courses in deferential equations and advanced calculus to earn a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. But would-be high school math teachers, including those who would teach advanced placement classes, could waive taking these courses and instead enroll in a “Mickey Mouse” class like the history of mathematics. 

Teachers and educators are, by and large, humane and well-meaning people. Their sin is that they have discarded traditional scholarship as a major goal and have adopted the psychologist, social worker model rather than that of academic instructor.  

A recent international math competition included 24,000 eighth-grade students, chosen at random from the United States, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Spain, Ireland and Canada. They were all given 63 math questions and also asked to fill out a yes or no response to the simple statement “I am good at math.” With the great emphasis on self-esteem which permeates American schools, two-thirds answered “yes.” The South Koreans were a bit less assured and only one-quarter answered “yes.”  

When the test results came in, the United States was last and the South Koreans had won the contest. The math scores were in reverse ratio to the self-esteem responses.  

One multiple choice question asked what the average was for the five numbers: 13, 8, 6, 4, 4. Only 40 percent of American kids got it correct. I have an eighth-grade final exam from Salinas, Kan., from 1895. One question says, “Find the interest of $512.60 for eight months and 18 days at 7 percent.” No multiple choice either. The fact is that the average Joe was better educated 100 years ago. 

Proponents of the bill to eliminate exit exams, which is being sponsored by the California Teachers Association, say the exit exam unfairly punishes students for inequities in the educational system. 

Perhaps the teachers union should look at their own testing and qualifying system. A 66-page report sent to congress in June of 2002 by the Education Department criticized the majority of states for lax standards. It noted that one test that California demands all teachers to pass is the California Basic Education Skills Test. That test is set at the 10th-grade level. The report said that another common test that assesses a teacher’s reading, writing and math skills set passing grades “shockingly low.” 

California teachers are now the highest paid in the United States. They average about $53,000 per year. Remember that is for a nine-month year which computes to about $70,000 for a normal worker’s year.  

The state of California spends more that 50 percent of the state budget on education, yet half of all freshmen entering the University of California system need either remedial math or English. The high school exit exam is the only objective measure of teacher accountability. Do not take it away. 

Michael Larrick is a Berkeley resident and parent of a Berkeley High School student.

Local UC lab escapes federal contract review 

U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham dealt the University of California a major blow this week when he opened bidding on the management contract for the Los Alamos weapons laboratory, which the university has operated unchallenged for 60 years. 

Abraham’s announcement has fueled speculation that the federal government may open the contract on a second UC-run weapons lab, Lawrence Livermore. But UC’s third national lab — Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory — appears to be safe. 

The lab, located in Berkeley, has not been tainted with the accounting scandals that have rocked Los Alamos, the New Mexico-based weapons lab. 

Spokesman Ron Kolb added that the non-military nature of Lawrence Berkeley’s research and its special ties to the UC Berkeley campus separate it from Los Alamos. 

“We’re pleased because we always felt that the conditions we operate — the non-classified nature, the relationship with the campus — separate us from the weapons lab,” said Kolb. 

Nonetheless, the federal government’s General Accounting Office, which conducted part of the Los Alamos investigation, began a two-week review of Lawrence Berkeley’s books this week. 

A recent “wall-to-wall” inventory check by the Berkeley-based lab accounted for 98 percent of the lab’s equipment. Los Alamos has come under fire for misplacing equipment, among other things. 

—David Scharfenberg 

ANG cuts jobs 

Alameda Newspaper Group management Thursday announced editorial layoffs at its five original papers, including the flagship Oakland Tribune, that have left as many as 18 people out of work. 

According to Oakland Tribune reporter Sean Holstege, who is also vice president of the Northern California Media Workers Union, 13 full-time employees and as many as five part-time employees showed up for work Thursday and were told they were laid off. The cuts included reporters, editors, copy editors and paginators. 

The other papers affected by layoffs were The Argus, The Daily Review, The Tri-Valley Herald and the San Mateo County Times. 

ANG’s East Bay newspapers reach 500,000 daily, the largest circulation in the East Bay and the third largest in the Bay Area. The San Mateo County Times has a daily circulation of 37,000.  

According to a statement issued to employees by management, new publisher Beverly Jackson analyzed the books and determined “it has become clear through a strategic planning process that we need to constrict before we can expand.” 

Jackson did not return calls to the Daily Planet on Thursday. 

Holstege said the atmosphere around the paper was one of shock and concern for the employees who were laid off. “We don’t have a lot of ability contractually to contest the layoffs,” he said. “Right now we are looking at what we can do to protect the people who are still here and minimize the harm to the people who were let go.” 

Holstege said some options might include a rehire list and possibly negotiating severance pay for those who lost their jobs.  

The impact of the layoffs to the editorial quality of the paper is uncertain.  

“We have to figure out how to cover a lot of assignments and maintain quality,” Holstege said, “and we don’t have any answers today.” 

—John Geluardi 

Bay Area students to rally in Sacramento 

More than 2,000 Bay Area students, including as many as 1,000 from Berkeley, are expected to protest state education cuts in Sacramento on May 8. 

“We feel passionately that the state of California needs to critically examine its values,” said Wayne Au, a Berkeley High School teacher who is helping to organize the event. “Do we value educating children? Or do we place more value on locking young people up?” 

An ad hoc group of Bay Area teachers, students and community activists called “Education Not Incarceration” is the primary organizer. The group has raised about half of the $20,000 it needs to fund the event, with most of the money going toward 10 buses for Berkeley students and 10 buses for Oakland students. 

The Berkeley Board of Education has endorsed the event, and students who attend, most of them from the high school, will be on official, district-sanctioned field trips. 

Democrats and Republicans in the state Legislature agreed on a $3.6 billion package of cuts this week, including a $328 million reduction in public education funding.  

But the $3.6 billion package represents only a small dent in the state’s estimated $34.6 billion shortfall for next year. Billions more in education cuts are expected. 

More information on the event can be found at www.may8.org or by calling (510) 444-0484. Donations can be sent to the Berkeley High School Development Group, P.O. Box 519, Berkeley, CA 94701. Checks should be made out to “BHSDG — May 8th Field Trip.” 

—David Scharfenberg

Bike cop spots suspect 

On Wednesday around 2:45 p.m., a bicycle patrol officer noticed that a pan handler he was familiar with had the same name as one appearing on a $780,000 warrant. The officer detained the 43-year-old Berkeley resident who regularly hung out at the Wells Fargo at University and San Pablo avenues.  

It turned out the man was, in fact, wanted for a 2002 incident in Richmond which involved assault with a deadly weapon, auto theft and possession of cocaine. The suspect also had a $289 warrant for an open container.  

Warrant served on minivan 

On Wednesday night about 7 p.m., the Special Enforcement Unit served a narcotics search warrant on a 34-year-old Antioch woman who is known to frequent the waterfront in west Berkeley.  

Officers detained her minivan at 7th Street and Dwight Way and found approximately two grams of rock cocaine packaged for sales in the woman’s bra.  

The woman was booked into the Berkeley jail on charges of possession of cocaine for sales and a warrant for driving while intoxicated.

In an unlikely alliance, UC Berkeley’s mathematics department joined with the Aurora Theater Company last week for a discussion at the Bechtel Engineering Center entitled “Hardy and Ramanujan in Berkeley.”  

Since both revered mathematicians are long dead, the title refers to Aurora’s current production: the world premiere of the play “Partition,” based on the true story of the relationship between the two geniuses. 

In the early 20th century, Hardy was a renowned mathematician at Cambridge. Out of the blue he received a remarkable letter from Ramanujan, a mostly self-taught young man living in India. Hardy brought Ramanujan to Cambridge where the two worked together. Ultimately, the close bond between the two men was broken by the weight of their cultural and personality differences. 

The UC forum last Friday was planned as a discussion of the scientific and cultural background of Ira Hauptman’s play. Panelists included Aurora artistic director Barbara Oliver and two distinguished mathematicians: Jeremy Gray, chair in the history of mathematics at the Open University in England, and David Hoffman, associate director for external collaboration at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) at Berkeley. 

(MSRI was the direct organizer of the event. Ramanujan’s significance to mathematicians is perhaps demonstrated by the fact that MSRI’s money-raising arm, the Archimedes Society, has one level of contribution designated a “Ramanujan Donor.”) 

The panel’s contributions were interwoven with pertinent scenes from the play, acted by Rahul Gupta, who embodies the intuitive, emotional Ramanujan, and David Arrow, who plays the uptight Britisher G.H. Hardy. The actors, relying on their own research of their characters, also took part in the discussion. 

Hoffman said that Cambridge, at the time, was the “only university for mathematics in England” and Hardy wanted to bring “pure mathematics” there. Hardy prided himself on the idea that nothing he ever did “was of any use.” To his dismay, Hardy felt he had not been that successful with the university. 

The firm distinction between pure and applied mathematics is one that still exists, according to Hoffman, although the demands of historical events led to some breakdown of the categories, for example, during World War II, when some pure mathematicians found themselves working for fairly practical purposes. 

Hoffman clarified one point from which the play departs from historical truth: it introduces a famous mathematical mystery known as “Fermat’s last theorem” as a significant part of the plot. The longtime mystery exists, but had nothing to do with Ramanujan’s death, as in the play. 

“Partition” appears to be grounded in historical accuracy, though decorated with some identifiable fantasy elements, the panelists said. It uses the participants’ real names and many accurate biographical details. If the play becomes widely known, it may be the way that its historical figures are remembered. 

It is understandable that Hardy’s various eccentricities would be significant to the play: They were dramatic. He, for example, would never look in a mirror, and shrank from letting anyone touch him. He even refused to shake hands. 

Constance Reid, the biographer of a number of 20th-century mathematicians, is not a mathematician herself. However, she is unusually knowledgeable about them. Reid said she enjoyed the play but objects to the portrayal of Hardy.  

“I have known a number of mathematicians who loved and admired Hardy,” she said. “This was not their Hardy.  

“Hardy was a wonderful writer,” she added. 

“In fact, the playwright apparently felt compelled to use everything Hardy ever said that was quotable. I personally enjoyed hearing them all again. I hope that everyone who saw the play will be inspired to read Hardy’s little book, ‘A Mathematician’s Apology,’ which he wrote seven years before his death.”

Lawyers for Tod Mikuriya, M.D. — a psychiatrist who has lived and practiced in Berkeley since 1970 — have filed a motion to dismiss the case against him brought by the Medical Board of California (MBC). 

If the motion fails, Mikuriya will spend the week of May 19 in an Oakland courtroom defending his handling of 17 cases in which medical board investigators claim he “departed from the standard of care.”  

Mikuriya, 69, is a leading authority on the medicinal use of cannabis. He has edited an anthology of pre-prohibition scientific papers and reported extensively on his own clinical observations. Since Proposition 215 passed in 1996, legalizing marijuana for medical use in California, he has approved and monitored its use by more than 7,000 patients, most of them seen at ad hoc clinics arranged by cannabis clubs in rural counties. 

(Many California doctors have been afraid or otherwise reluctant to approve cannabis use by patients whose conditions are not terminal. Mikuriya has been willing to approve its use to alleviate physical or emotional pain.) 

The medical board is the state agency that issues doctor’s licenses and can revoke or suspend them. Its policies are voted on by physicians appointed by the governor; its day-to-day operations are conducted by investigators who are career law-enforcement officers. 

Mikuriya says that not one of the board’s investigations into cases he allegedly mishandled stemmed from a complaint by a patient or a patient’s loved one. 

“Nor were any of the complaints from other physicians or health care providers,” he adds. “They came from cops and sheriffs and deputy DAs in rural counties who couldn’t accept that a certain individual had the right to use marijuana. And not one of their complaints alleges harm to a patient.” 

Mikuriya is represented by his longtime personal attorney, Susan Lea, and by Bill Simpich and Ben Rosenfeld — members of the team that sued the FBI on behalf of Darryl Cherney and Judi Bari. He is also represented by John Fleer, who is retained by Norcal Insurance, Mikuriya’s malpractice carrier. 

“We helped him review his files, case by case,” says Fleer. “I’ve been doing this for 20 years and I have a feel for whether a doctor has a detailed understanding of a case. Mikuriya not only had understanding, he had an unusual level of sympathy for his patients … I’m afraid the board is holding him to an artificially high standard.” 

The primary basis for dismissal, according to Mikuriya’s motion, is the section of state law established by Proposition 215 (Health and Safety Code section 11362.5) which reads: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no physician in this state shall be punished, or denied any right or privilege, for having recommended marijuana to a patient for medical purposes.” 

Although the MBC investigation is ostensibly about departures from the standard of care, Mikuriya’s defenders say it’s really about medical-marijuana recommendations. 

A letter to Mikuriya from senior investigator Thomas Campbell, dated June 28, 2002, states bluntly, “The Medical Board of California has concluded its investigation into the matter of your treatment and subsequent recommendations and approval of medical marijuana for numerous patients.” 

Almost all of the patients Mikuriya sees had been self-medicating with cannabis before consulting him. He says that the 15-to-20-minute exams he conducts are sufficient to take a full history, review a patient’s medical records and prior test results, make or confirm a diagnosis, discuss various aspects of cannabis use (he routinely advocates the use of a vaporizer), and note his findings and observations. His initial interviews, he says, “are always face to face, in person, confidential and live.” Follow-ups may be via video, phone or e-mail. 

“Successful doctor-patient relationships are characterized by candor and trust,” Mikuriya said. “Removing the stigma of criminality promotes candor and trust.” 

The medical board charges that Mikuriya didn’t establish bona fide physician-patient relationships. “The board is seeking to hold Dr. Mikuriya to an ambiguous standard of care,” says Lea, “that doesn’t even apply to most primary care doctors and specialists, let alone doctors acting as medical consultants.” 

Ironically, since the passage of Proposition 215, Mikuriya has been imploring the medical board to develop clear-cut guidelines for doctors who recommend cannabis. In February of this year he introduced a resolution urging the California Medical Association to lobby the medical board to create such guidelines.  

Mikuriya’s motion to dismiss asserts that the case against him was initiated by “a coterie of federal and state law enforcement officials,” led by former Attorney General Dan Lungren and Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey. Shortly after Proposition 215 passed, Lungren instructed California police chiefs, sheriffs and district attorneys to keep arresting and prosecuting citizens for using and cultivating marijuana, and to force their doctors to testify in open court. Lungren then flew to Washington, D.C., to strategize with the drug czar and other federal officials opposed to the implementation of Proposition 215. 

On Dec. 30, McCaffrey held a televised press conference at which he warned California physicians that recommending marijuana could cost them their licenses. McCaffrey displayed and ridiculed a long list of conditions for which marijuana reportedly provides relief. It was headed “Dr. Mikuriya’s (Proposition 215 Medical Advisor’s) Conditions,” and McCaffrey dismissed the whole field of medical marijuana as, “Cheech and Chong medicine.” 

In response, a group of Bay Area physicians and patients, led by AIDS specialist Marcus Conant, sued the drug czar on First Amendment grounds. The plaintiffs got an injunction barring the feds from taking action against California doctors who “in the context of a bona fide physician-patient relationship, discuss, approve or recommend the medical use of marijuana.” Mikuriya’s lawyers argue that the Conant injunction “applies with equal force to other government actors, such as the complainants in this case.” 

In addition to documents establishing the Lungren-McCaffrey connection, Mikuriya’s lawyers are citing an October 1997 memo from Lungren’s right-hand man, Senior Deputy Attorney General John Gordnier, requesting that district attorneys in all 58 counties notify him of any cases involving medical-marijuana recommendations by Mikuriya and one other doctor (Eugene Schoenfeld, who once upon a time wrote the Dr. Hip column for the Berkeley Barb).  

Two of Gordnier’s assistants, Deputy Attorney Generals Jane Zack Simon and Larry Mercer, are slated to argue the medical board’s case against Mikuriya. 

“I can’t understand why [Attorney General] Bill Lockyer would assign these two prosecutors to the case,” said Simpich. “It’s almost as if he’s granting Dan Lungren a last request from beyond the political grave.” 

It remains to be seen what penalty the board would impose if the charges against Mikuriya are upheld, but patients and staff at local dispensaries are fearful. 

“It seems that Dr. Mikuriya has been targeted for being knowledgeable and outspoken,” says Debby Goldsberry, director of a medical marijuana care facility on San Pablo Avenue. “Patients are afraid of losing his expert care and advice. Everybody’s wondering, ‘Who’ll be next?’”

JAKARTA, Indonesia — News of controversial Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir’s upcoming public trial is throwing new light on the horrific Bali nightclub bombings that killed 193 people in this southeast Asian nation last October. 

At the time, several suspects said Bashir knew about the bombings. Indonesian authorities have not charged him with the Bali crime, but with treason for allegedly attempting to overthrow the government and set up an Islamic state. 

Whether Bashir is convicted or eventually linked solidly to Bali, those bombings are seen here as far more than a criminal case. They have helped reshape politics in Indonesia, which hosts the world’s largest Muslim population. 

President Megawati Sukarnoputri, like her counterparts in the region, was adamantly opposed to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. “We are saddened to watch their show of strength, which is not only destructive but also retrogressive and wrong,” she said in an April speech. Yet her government is quietly cooperating with international efforts to combat the threat posed by radical Islamic militias, something that wasn’t the case before October. 

“There was a reluctance to take on the issue of homegrown terrorism before the Bali bombings, partly because no one in the government wanted to be seen as a puppet of the United States, and no one wanted to provoke a Muslim backlash,” said Sidney Jones, Indonesia Project director for the International Crisis Group. 

That changed after the Bali bombings, which Jones called “a wake-up call for the government.” 

For many, the government’s emergence from denial is best symbolized in the efficient police work that appears to have cracked the case. The main police investigator assigned to the investigation, I Made Pastika, accepted help from Australian and other foreign investigators and quickly followed the trail of evidence that led from the crime scene. More than two dozen Islamic militia members have been arrested. 

Jones said Indonesians have been “astonished” by the quick and effective police work. Police are often regarded here as loathsome and corrupt. 

Police forces were separated from the Indonesian military in 1999, yet the divorce has been plagued by turf battles between the two groups over control of drugs, prostitution, gambling and natural resources. The Bali bombings have given the civilian police an opportunity to distance themselves from the larger and more corrupt military. 

“The only way you’re going to reform this place and keep democracy on track is to keep internal security in civilian hands,” Jones said, claiming the post-bombing investigation has let the police know “that they can get praise and direct economic rewards for doing a professional job.” 

Government officials point out that one of the country’s most violent Islamic militias, the Laskar Jihad, disbanded in the weeks following the Bali bombings. Yet diplomatic sources here claim the group’s dissolution resulted less from government pressure than from the loss of Saudi financing, as well as from internal dissent over bad organization and the impure lifestyle of some leaders. 

Even the most radical Muslim leaders here made it clear after the Bali bombings that they didn’t approve of such tactics. About the only group to publicly side with those arrested for the bombings is the Islamic Defenders Front, which readily provides incendiary sound bites for foreign reporters but, many observers say, is nothing but a bunch of thugs-for-hire recruited by the Jakarta police. 

The testimony provided to date by the two main suspects in the Bali bombings is at times contradictory, and investigators remain unclear what links they may have to terrorist networks. “While the police have caught the hands that did the bombing, they have not yet caught the body and brain that are behind the hands,” said Natan Setiabudi, general secretary of the Indonesian Communion of Churches, the country’s main ecumenical organization. 

Whether U.S. actions in Iraq will produce an anti-American and anti-democratic backlash remains to be seen. 

Indonesians were opposed to the U.S.-led invasion, but with few exceptions the almost daily protests in the streets of Jakarta did not produce huge crowds. Yet many here worry that the young men who fought for groups like Laskar Jihad will come back to the cause with renewed enthusiasm in the wake of the military defeat of another Muslim nation.

A PEOPLE OF STARTS 

One of the reasons that political dialogue in the United States has become so difficult is that we have lost our literary references. Used to be that we had writers like Jonathan Swift and Count Leo Tolstoy and Harriet Beecher Stowe as our guideposts, but today, quoting from a Jay Leno joke about George Bush or using a Roxie Hart line to explain crime and punishment doesn’t quite have the same resonance. 

This is no reflection on the state of American intelligence, which is probably about the same as it’s always been, but rather a comment on the state of our common consciousness as a country. 

All that came to mind because I wanted to start this column off by saying that in the middle of the Iraq War, I had a Rip Van Winkle moment. I realized that I couldn’t do so because most readers these days are familiar only with the Saturday morning cartoon version, and you’d think I went bowling up in the mountains with some dwarves, got drunk, fell asleep for 20 years and grew myself a long beard. 

In fact, the whole point of the actual, original text version of the Washington Irving story was that Van Winkle slept entirely through the American Revolution. When he went up into the mountains, America was a British colony. Twenty years later, he came down to his village a little bit befuddled to find out that he was the only one who still considered himself a loyal subject of King George. 

Things being considerably speeded up these days. 

Like many others, somewhere in the middle of the late Iraqi war I found myself in an information overload, and took a break from television and newspapers. At the time I stopped paying close attention, American forces were on the outskirts of Baghdad, and our Iraqi allies, the Shiites, were helping us topple the last remnants of the heinous Hussein regime. 

Back on Jan. 19, in an article that generally warned against counting on the Iraqi Shiites as allies, Robert Collier of the San Francisco Chronicle noted that, still, “Many American analysts are predicting that the long-downtrodden Shiites, who comprise about 60 percent of the nation’s population, would welcome U.S. troops as liberators.” 

After the U.S.-British invasion, the Chronicle reported on March 26 that “a fascinating drama seemed to be unfolding in Basra, Iraq’s second largest city, a short distance to the north, where Shiite Muslim civilians were reported to have launched at least the start of a revolt against Hussein’s regime. ‘There is some sort of uprising going on in Basra,’ Maj. Gen. Peter Wall, the British military’s chief of staff, told the BBC. … ‘It could be the beginning of something important.’” 

Sleep a bit. Mow the lawn. Switch on CNN again. Baghdad has fallen and the hoped-for Shiite uprisings are occurring, though not against Hussein, but rather against the victorious Americans. Shiite Iraqis march in the streets of Baghdad, telling us to go home, and the attention of America’s Iraqi policy has suddenly turned to preventing the establishment of the heinous Shiite regime. Slept well, Rip? 

“The possibility of a virulent burst of Shiite religious militancy appears to constitute one of the chief threats to American plans to install an open, democratic system in Iraq,” a New York Times reprint in both the Chronicle and the Oakland Tribune told us on April 26. 

Forgive me, friends, if I toss in another literary reference. This feels like the middle of George Orwell’s “1984.” 

Not the parts about Big Brother and the telescreens, but the part where Oceania (Western Europe) at war on one day with Eurasia (Russia) and allied with Eastasia (China), turns around the next day and declares war with Eastasia and peace with Eurasia, so that Winston Smith at the Ministry of Truth has to change all of the historical documents in order for the citizens of Oceania to believe that they had always been at war with Eastasia and at peace with Eurasia. Substitute Oceania, Eastasia and Eurasia with United States, Iran and Iraq, for example, and you’ll get the point. 

In turn-of-millennium America, of course, many of us have done Orwell’s Oceania one better, not even requiring the government-sponsored destruction of history. We murder history, every day, in our own minds. We Americans have developed a remarkable capacity for a self-contained personal Doublethink, the ability to both toss one fact or idea into Memory Hole oblivion at the exact moment a contradictory fact or idea surfaces, and to retrieve that original fact or idea again when it is, inevitably, needed to prove some other point or justify some other act. Our ability to juggle contradictory beliefs has become absolutely breathtaking, more to be marveled at than our military might. 

“[They can] be swung on an idea as on a cord; for the unpledged allegiance of their minds [make] them obedient servants,” a famous scholar-warrior once wrote. “Without a creed they could be taken to the four corners of the world (but not to heaven) by being shown the riches of earth and the pleasures of it. … Their mind [is] strange and dark, full of depressions and exaltations, lacking in rule, but with more of ardour and more fertile in belief than any other in the world. They [are] a people of starts…” 

T.E. Lawrence — Lawrence of Arabia — was writing in “Seven Pillars Of Wisdom” about the British opinion of Arabs three-quarters of a century ago. Sadly, he might easily have been talking about much of the world’s opinion of Americans today. If we read more of the world’s more serious writings, we’d know that. 

J. Douglas Allen-Taylor is an Oakland resident.

A Berkeley city report on whether to install a stoplight at a busy Shattuck Avenue intersection where a man was killed last January recommends that one should be installed — eventually.  

The report, issued by the city’s Transportation Department, indicates there is not enough pedestrian or vehicle traffic at the corner of Woolsey and Shattuck to put in a stoplight now. It concludes, however, that traffic levels will warrant a stoplight when the Ed Roberts Campus (ERC), an educational and resource center for the disabled, is built at the Ashby BART station a few blocks west of the intersection. The report says the ERC should be asked to contribute to the estimated $150,000 cost of installing the stoplight. 

ERC Project Manager Caleb Dardick has not seen the city’s report and would not comment on it, but he did say the center “intends to be a good neighbor and offset any impacts the campus will have.”  

In the meantime, to improve pedestrian visibility, the city has put zebra stripes on the crosswalks at both Shattuck and Woolsey and Shattuck and Prince streets. The Prince intersection also recently received a pedestrian crosswalk sign. The improvements should be in place in a few weeks, said Peter Hillier, Berkeley’s assistant city manager for transportation. 

In addition, the report calls for the Berkeley Police to step up patrols in the area and set up a radar speed feedback trailer — a device that tells drivers how fast they’re going — from “time to time.” 

Last Jan. 17, longtime Berkeley resident and community activist John Henry Mitchell was killed by a car while crossing Shattuck at Woolsey. 

Upon seeing the report, Mitchell’s family members were skeptical about its language. They wanted to know if the ERC merely would be asked to contribute to the stoplight cost or whether it would be required. 

But, according to Hillier, the request “was a polite way of saying that it [the stoplight] should be added as a condition of development approval.” 

Hillier added that in a separate report the ERC’s own traffic consultant also concluded that a traffic signal would be required at Woolsey and Shattuck when the campus is built. The consultant recommended to ERC that they contribute to the cost of the signal. How much the ERC would be required to contribute “comes about through some discussion, negotiation,” said Hillier.  

Plans for the ERC have not been finalized, but representatives for the project recently forecasted that construction will begin in 2005. The stoplight at Woolsey and Shattuck would be installed at the same time. Mitchell’s widow, Siglinde, said a stoplight is needed and was frustrated to learn it would take a few years. “I still would have thought that the gravity of the situation” would have impacted the decision, she said. She said the city is putting residents at risk. “For years this community has been trying to get something done down there, even before John,” she said. “We had so many petitions signed. What does it take to stretch the rules?”

An Alameda County Superior Court judge on Thursday ordered developers to delay demolition of the John M. Doyle House until May 19, giving preservationists a chance to appeal the court’s April 29 decision that rejected their request for a formal environmental review of the project and cleared the way for developers to go ahead with plans to replace the building with a five-story, 35-unit residential and retail complex. 

Attorneys for the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA) filed a lawsuit last December against the city and developers Panoramic Interests and Touriel Building. The lawsuit argues that the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires an environmental impact report be completed on any project that seeks to do irrevocable damage to a historic resource. The lawsuit claims the Doyle House, located at 2008 University Ave., is a historical landmark because it was owned and built by John Doyle, an early Berkeley pioneer who helped incorporate the city, which was once a part of Oakland township, in 1878. 

The court ruled on Tuesday there was no substantial evidence that the structure holds historical significance that would warrant protection under CEQA.  

Hours after the court’s ruling, developers obtained a permit from the city to demolish the building, allowing them to begin destruction of the house on Friday. BAHA, the group fighting the development, went into court on Thursday to ask the judge to prevent the demolition until they could file an appeal to the decision. Judge Steve Brick denied the request for a stay; instead, the developer agreed to put off demolition and the judge issued a stipulation in the record making the developers legally bound to their promise. 

Attorneys for BAHA will file a request for a stay on Wednesday, and the developers will file their response a week later. If the stay is granted — a decision that will be made on May 16 — BAHA can then file their appeal. 

Panoramic Interests’ Patrick Kennedy said he is losing money every day the project is delayed and said if the stay is granted on May 16, allowing the appeal to proceed, he will ask the court to require the plaintiffs to post a bond to cover the costs associated with the delay of the project in the event the preservationists lose the case. “We have contracts signed that would have to be broken, and we already have the financing set up for this,” he said. “We’re talking several hundred thousand dollars.” He criticized the “delaying tactics” and “frivolous lawsuit” of the preservationists, whom he called “NIMBYs masquerading as preservationists” and “career obstructionists.” 

BAHA attorney Kathy Shuck said she believes the court’s intention was to allow time for the case to be heard and ruled upon before demolition, but to also make sure that the appeal is heard fairly soon for the benefit of both parties. “The judge made it clear that he was very concerned with getting the case into the court of appeals as quickly as possible,” she said.