About a dozen people marched Saturday from People’s Park toward the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists on Cedar Street in memory of Kevin Freeman, the longtime Berkeley transient who allegedly was murdered by his cell mate in Santa Rita Jail in May. 

Like most of the marchers, John “Papa” Lacy held up a sign protesting the circumstances of Freeman’s May 9 death. Critics say the fatal beating of Freeman, a chronic alcoholic who was in and out of jail for public drunkenness for years, is an example of what’s wrong with a system that incarcerates addicts and alcoholics instead of treating their substance abuse problems. 

Those critics—including chemical dependency counselors, homeless care providers and veteran Berkeley activists—say the city needs to open a detox center. But, unlike most of those critics, Lacy, a self-described speed addict who lives with his wife on the streets, knows firsthand how it feels to struggle with addiction and to be demonized by the rest of the world. 

While walking on Shattuck Street near Center Street, Lacy gets yet another taste of that regular dose of antipathy from a pedestrian crossing the marchers’ path. “Maybe you shouldn’t take the shit in the first place,” the passerby snaps. 

“Maybe you should have your brains and guts splattered, too,” Lacy spits back, alluding to the grisly scene found at the scene of Freeman’s murder. According to jail guards, the walls of the jail cell were smeared with matter from Freeman’s brains and internal organs. 

Lacy, who is called “Papa” by the street kids he looks after, has lived in Berkeley since 1993, when he moved here from the Southwest. Shortly afterward he met Freeman, whom he says was “always drunk.” Lacy added: “I’ve heard hearsay about him doing other things but the only thing I’ve ever seen him do is alcohol.” 

While Freeman’s death has made him a sort of symbol for the national movement to implement more humane ways of dealing with drug and alcohol problems, Lacy’s continuing struggle makes him a living testament to the need for such reform. Lacy said he would be more likely to sober up and seek treatment if there was a place nearby he could go to. 

“I think it would help ... me and my wife,” said Lacy, a wiry, slouched-over man with an eager-to-help attitude and the weathered face of a long-term addict. 

But whether Freeman himself would have done so in time to save his life is questionable. Friends who eulogized him said his problem was intractable. Teddy Mead, who first met Freeman more than 20 years ago when both were residents at a former student co-operative called Barrington Hall, said he and other friends tried for years to convince Freeman to get help. “But he never listened to us,” Mead said. 

Mead said he didn’t know Freeman well, but never knew him to “be a liar or a thief. He always maintained his ethics.” Speaking before a crowd of about 45 people, he said Freeman, a former high school state swimming champion, could talk with him “about the differences in Hindu spiritual paths and about politics. He was well read and intelligent.” 

The memorial included an invocation by Beaver Berry, a Native-American elder from Oklahoma, who recounted his own struggle with chemical dependency and homelessness. “I know how it feels. People look at you like they don’t want to be around you, even your own family,” he said. 

One of the eulogizers was Michael Diehl, a longtime Berkeley activist most noted for his work with Copwatch. He said he had seen him around since the early seventies, when both men moved to the Bay Area, Diehl said, “looking for the legacy of the 1960s.” Diehl said he believed Freeman was “pretty disenchanted with political dissent,” recounting an incident in which Freeman took money from a police officer to tear down flyers Diehl was passing out to rally support for a sleep-in demonstration on Dwight street to protest the arrest of homeless people for sleeping outdoors. “I said, why you tearing my flyers down man? We’re doing this for you. And he told me a cop gave him $50 to do it,” Diehl said, eliciting chuckles from the audience. 

Diehl took the opportunity to criticize the city’s use of stay-away orders to prevent transients from going into certain areas. Freeman’s last arrest involved not only public drunkenness, for which he had been arrested repeatedly in the last few years, but also for violating a court-ordered stay-away order, which proscribed him from being in certain areas of Telegraph Avenue. Diehl said that by issuing the stay-away order the city “took his home away from him,” forcing him into the outskirts of the city, away from the familiar band of street people. 

Christina, who would only give her first name, gave a glimpse into Freeman’s darker side. She said she was a friend of a woman with whom Freeman was involved. At times, she said, this friend would call her asking her to rescue her from Freeman’s physical abuse.  

But she also recounted his good side: “He had a good sense of humor and a distinctive laugh that in turn made you want to laugh. ... When I heard about [his death] I was devastated,” she said, breaking out into tears. 

Another who took to the microphone was Debbie Moore of the Xplicit Players, a pro-nudity activist theater group. She painted herself white and held a totem with a skull to symbolize death and the vulnerability of the homeless. Moore, who has been arrested 12 times for public nudity, said jail is a dangerous place, particularly because it becomes a sort of wasteland for substance abusers. “When I was in there, there were a lot of people on drugs, in various states of distress, and I was trying to heal them and comfort them, but it was very difficult to maintain the balance. It’s a delicate situation. Anything can happen in there,” she said. 

TUESDAY, JULY 1 

Celebrate David Brower Day and Help Restore The Bay Join Earth Island Institute, Save The Bay, and Earth Team in celebrating the third annual David Brower Day with a community wetlands restoration project, from 1 to 5 p.m. at Oakland’s Arrowhead Marsh on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Shoreline. Guest speakers will include Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, Save The Bay co-founder Sylvia McLaughlin, and the Brower family. For more information call Marilyn Latta at 452-9261. mlatta@savesfbay.org 

Wine Tasting at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Derby St. at MLK, Jr. Way. 548-3333. 

Alternatives to Action Discussion Group with Robert Berend at 7 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 527-5332. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 525-3565. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 2 

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. Join fellow human rights activists to help promote social justice one individual at a time. 872-0768. 

Free Feldenkrais ATM Classes for adults 55 and older at 10:30 and 11:45 a.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut at Rose. For information on the classes call 848-5143. 527-5332. 

I Spy! Come undercover in a disquise and visit our spy training stations. Make a gadget, decode a secret message and network with other spies in training, from noon to 2 p.m. at Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Drive. 643-5961. www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

THURSDAY, JULY 3 

Berkeley Liberation Radio 104.1 FM holds public meetings for all interested people first and third Thursdays, 7 p.m. at the Long Haul Info Shop, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 595-0190.  

FRIDAY, JULY 4 

Independence Day, City of Berkeley Offices Closed 

Pools are open! Come swim the 4th at your neigborhood pool. Willard, Telegraph at Derby, 1 - 4pm; King, Hopkins at Colusa, 1 - 4pm; or West Campus, Browning at Addison, 1:30 - 4pm. For more Berkeley Aquatics information call 981-5150.  

July 4 at the Berkeley Marina, sponsored by the City of Berkeley. Free celebration from  

noon to 10 p.m. with two stages for live music, arts and crafts, free sailboat rides, bicycle parade at 7 p.m. and a fireworks show at 9:30 p.m. “Operation Kidprint,” a program of the Berkeley Police Department will provide parents with their children’s fingerprints at no cost. Valet bicycle parking will be available free of charge. Personal fireworks and alcohol are forbidden. Cars must be in by 7 p.m., and will not be permitted out until after 10 p.m. 981-7000. 

Evening Canoe Outing with Save the Bay Celebrate the 4th away from the crowds, paddling through Oakland’s serene Arrowhead Marsh, from 7 to 10 p.m. Cost is $25 for STB members, $30 for non-members. To register or for more information call 542-9261.  

www.savesfbay.org 

World One Festival, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Cerrito Park, El Cerrito. Music includes classical Indian dance, global fusion, bluegrass, reggae, capoeira, roots, and African. Sponsored by the City of El Cerrito, and 88.1 KeCg 97.7. For information contact  

worldone@worldoneradio.org 

SATURDAY, JULY 5 

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 

Rattlers! Learn abut the only poisonous snake in the park and meet its very common harmless mimic. Fact, folklore and live snakes. Bring the whole family. From 1 to 3 p..m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Free. Wheelchair accessible. 525-2233.  

Living House Help make a house that is alive! Construct a trellis for a garden and plant beans that will climb up and bring shade. Learn about plant ecology and how beans are able to reach for the sky. From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Free. Wheelchair accessible. 525-2233.  

SUNDAY, JULY 6 

War Tax Resistance Information and Gathering Find out ways to respond to the use of our tax dollars for the military, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Berkeley Unitarian Fellowship, 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. 843-9877.  

Butterfly Count Our native plant garden is blooming. Learn to identify the local species to add to our butterfly list. From 1 to 3 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Free. 525-2233.  

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

Introduction to Tibetan Buddhist Culture from 3 to 5 p.m. and Betty Cook on “Maps to Enlightenment” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Place. 843-6812.  

www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, JULY 7 

Berkeley Biodiesel Cooperative Orientation for those interested in making biodiesel welcome at 7:30 p.m. Call for location, 594-4000 ext. 777. biobauerx@hotmail.com 

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

ONGOING 

Science Fair Projects by students at Thousand Oaks Elementary School will be on display at the Children’s Room of the Berkeley Main Library, 2090 Kittredge. For information on the projects, contact the science teacher, Mallorie Baron, at 549-1724. 

Summer Fun Camps for Children and Teens, from age five and up are offered at Berkeley recreation centers and include such activities as arts and crafts, swimming and tennis lessons, yoga, organized sports and games, and field trips. The Summer Fun Camp Program runs June 30 through August 22, Mon. - Fri., 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.  The fee, including lunch and snack, is $77 per week for Berkeley residents. Extended morning and afternoon sessions are also available at an additional cost. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Department. Applications for the camps can be picked up at the Camps Office, located at 2016 Center St., or can be mailed upon request. 981-5150. 

Echo Lake Youth Camp for ages 6 - 12 at Echo Lake, near South Lake Tahoe. One week sessions are offered between July 7 and August 22. Cost is $235 per session. For registration information please visit the City of Berkeley’s Recreation Programs Office at 2016 Center St., or call 981-5150. 

The Bay Area Shakespeare Camp offers a complete theatrical experience for children 7-13 years of age covering casting, staging, costuming, and performing, in a series of five, 2-week sessions, through August 22. Sessions are held at John Hinkel Park, Southampton Place at Arlington Ave. Cost is $340 per session. Additional after-care is also provided for a fee. Scholarships are available. Call 981-5150 for scholarship details. To register for the camp, or for more information, please call 415-422-2222, or 800-978-PLAY. 

Free Quit Smoking Class on six Monday evenings, from 6 to 8 p.m., starting July 14th, at the South Berkeley Senior Center. To register or for more information contact the Berkeley Tobacco Prevention Program, 981-5330 or QuitNow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Bay Area Technology Education Collaborative, a community non-profit offers low-cost training in Computer Information Technology. Free orientations on July 2 and 9, classes start July 14. For information call 451-7300, ext. 604. www.baytec.org 

Free Energy Conservation Retrofits for Berkeley Residents CA Youth Energy Services (CYES) is a nonprofit sponsored by the City of Berkeley that trains and employs high school students to provide conservation retrofits to residents. Work includes weatherstripping doorways, replacing lightbulbs with CFLs, cleaning refrigerator coils, replacing faucet aerators and showerheads with low-flow devices, checking hot water temperature, installing earthquake preparedness measures, a comprehensive audit, and more. Available to home owners and renters. Takes 1-1.5 hours. Call for an appointment. 428-2357. 

www.risingsunenergy.org 

CITY MEETINGS 

Council Agenda Committee meets Monday, July 7, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St., Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/agenda-committee 

City Council meets Tuesday, July 8, at 7 p.m. in City Council hambers, Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meets Monday, July 7,at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers, Pam Wyche, 644-6128 ext. 113. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/rent 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wednesday, July 2, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Ruby Primus, 981-5106. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/women 

Fire Safety Commission meets Wednesday, July 2, at 7:30 p.m. at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. David Orth, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/firesafety 

School Board meets Wednesday July 2, at 7:30 p.m., in the City Council Chambers. Queen Graham 644-6147 or Mark Coplan 644-6320. 

Peace and Justice Commission meets Monday, July 7, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Manuel Hector, 981-5510. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/peaceandjustice 

Youth Commission meets Monday, July 7, at 6:30 p.m., at 1730 Oregon St. Philip Harper-Cotton, 981-6670. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/youth

“We are trying to build an organization to counter the ‘dumb growth’ positions of what the defeat of Measure P told us is a distinct minority of Berkeley residents. The subtle propaganda of the revived Daily Planet is clearly fanning the flames—and adding an ugly note of personal defamation that should remind us demagoguery is not reserved just to the Bush administration.” 

—From an e-mail fund-raising letter sent out by Hank Resnik on behalf of the recently re-constituted Livable Berkeley organization, forwarded to the Planet by a number of friends who are on his e-mail list. 

Well, no. Defamation is a fancy word for libel, and an essential element of the legal definition of libel is that the supposedly libelous statement must be untrue. As far as we know, the Planet has never been accused of making an untrue statement about any person. We certainly say true things that people don’t like to hear, and will continue to do so. We also expect to make some mistakes, but if we find out about them, we will correct them promptly. 

Truth is the most important product of a newspaper, and when someone accuses a newspaper of defamation, when no defamation has take place, that actually comes pretty close to something called “trade libel,” disparaging a business or its products untruthfully. Look it up. Ask your lawyer. But we’re not going to sue. 

It is kind of heavy-handed, however, to compare the Planet to the Bush administration. Nice to know we’ve finally made the big time, but still ... isn’t that kind of over the top? 

Land use discussions frequently take on this kind of acrimonious tone, here and elsewhere, and there are good reasons why this is so. Neighborhood participants often have no other assets but the equity in their home, so a perceived threat to its value is traumatic. Developers are usually skating on pretty thin ice, with millions of dollars in loans and small profit margins; some say the risk is what makes it fun, but it can also be stressful. 

Then there are the true believers, some of whom, like Resnik, are now carrying water for the aforementioned Livable Berkeley. Environmental problems are real and scary, and it’s tempting to believe that the right mantra, like “smart growth,” is going to save us from ourselves. Many of us wish we believed that building a thousand high-rise apartments in Berkeley will prevent McMansions in Fairfield, but there’s just no evidence that it’s true. (Austin, Texas, in fact, one of the early adopters of the Smart Growth slogan, has already officially given it up.) 

The current Livable Berkeley organization is a rump faction of the original Coalition for a Livable Berkeley, a campaign committee formed to oppose Measure P, the November 2002 ballot measure intended to restrict the height of buildings in Berkeley. The lion’s share of the No-on-P campaign funding came from the development crowd, including principals, investors, sub-contractors, employees, spouses and in-laws. They outspent the proponents many times over, winning a predictable 3 to 1 margin in the election. But it is a mistake to think, as the most avid Livable Berkeley spokesmen do, that the vote on Measure P meant that a big majority of Berkeleyans favor unrestricted development of pricey rental apartments. Some No-On-P supporters were persuaded that affordable housing required tall buildings. Many “No” voters simply thought that limiting height was one-dimensional planning, and that height was not the only thing that mattered. 

After the election, an e-mail letter calling for a purge of city commissioners who supported Measure P was circulated under the name of Councilmember Linda Maio’s aide Brad Smith, although Resnik later admitted to being the author. Then, a couple of public meetings were called by Resnik and others, with the announced intention of carrying on the Coalition ideology in a successor organization. Much to the consternation of the true believers, a significant number of people who had opposed Measure P but also believed in careful planning turned out for these meetings. Attendees voted to establish committees for organization and goal-setting, and many signed up for them. 

But then, in a coup worthy of the left sectarian wars of the thirties (or of the Bush administration), self-styled “core” participants simply started over again, with a brand-new steering committee chosen by unnamed individuals meeting at undisclosed locations, just as if the first meetings had never taken place. 

Are you lost yet? It gets even more baroque. Now new members are being recruited (that’s the purpose of Resnik’s latest letter). They can join by paying 30 bucks, but this time they don’t get to vote. The unelected steering committee makes all the decisions. The members just send money. Don’t believe this? Go to livableberkeley.com. 

This is a long tale, and perhaps not interesting to people who aren’t planning mavens. There is a point to it, or perhaps several points. 

The opposite of “smart growth” is not “dumb growth.” It may be “no growth.” Some supporters of Measure P, as well as some who didn’t support it, think that any growth in Berkeley needs to be a lot smarter than what we’ve been getting lately. It’s not smart, to borrow a phrase from backers of the war against Vietnam, to destroy cities in order to save them. There’s nothing smart about simply granting every permit application for large buildings until all buildable sites are gone, destroying any vintage structures in the path. Berkeley is already crowded. If it becomes unpleasant for current residents, you can bet they’ll flee to the suburbs, as previous residents of carelessly urbanized areas did before them. 

The San Francisco Chronicle and the S.F. Bay Guardian have recently done  

excellent pieces on the effects of dumb “smart” growth on San Francisco. On Rincon Hill, according to Chronicle urban critic John King, San Francisco has been blithely ignoring an intelligent plan for increased development drawn up in the eighties, instead granting building permits to anyone who has enough juice, to build whatever they want, regardless of the consequences. The Bay Guardian had a cover story on the big empty holes which have been left South of Market after the bottom fell out of the dotcom boom. The building projects are off, but the small businesses and artists have already been driven out. 

Berkeley has managed to avoid the worst of such excesses. So far. Our planning processes have been criticized for being too slow and cautious, with too much citizen input, but maybe we’ve got it about right. Or, if you believe some of those who supported Measure P, the Cassandras among us, perhaps we’ve gone too far in the wrong direction already. 

It’s time to take stock of where we are, before we decide where we want to go next. 

That’s why The Planet has asked former Planning Commission chair Rob Wrenn to report on exactly what has been built, and where. It’s remarkable that he’s had to compile this information himself, more or less from scratch, since there is no comprehensive and accessible database of cumulative development maintained by the city of Berkeley. 

And now we are pleased to quote the closing sentence in Resnik’s fund-raising pitch: “Read the Daily Planet and you’ll know why this matter is urgent.” We couldn’t agree more. The next part of the Planet’s Special Report on Berkeley’s Housing Boom will appear next Friday. 

Becky O’Malley is executive editor of the Planet. 

TUESDAY, JULY 1 

FILM 

Sarunas Bartas: “Three Days” 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. 642-0808.  

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Berkeley Summer Poetry from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Mediterranean Cafe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. Free, open mic, poetry, prose, short fiction, amateur and advanced artists welcome.  

549-1128. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jonathan Wilson reads from his new novel, “A Palestine Affair,” set in British-occupied Palestine, at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

K. K. Ottensen discusses her new book “Great Americans: Famous Names, Real People,” of interviews and photographs of ordinary people with famous names, at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Ronnie Gilbert Celebrates Gay Pride in song at 1:15 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst. 981-5190. 

Libby Kirkpatrick, singer-songwriter, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $8-$10 sliding scale. 649-8744.  

www.thejazzhouse.org 

Noche Flamenca from Madrid performs at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus at 8 p.m. Tickets are $42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

DP and the Rhythm Riders at 8:30 p.m., with a Cajun dance lesson with Cheryl McBride at 8 p.m., at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

www.ashkenaz.com 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 2 

FILM 

Excess of Evil: “God Told Me To” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive, with Larry Cohen in person. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-0808.  

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Christine Wicker discusses “Lily Dale: The True Story of the Town that Talks to the Dead,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Happy Turtle performs Latin jazz at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $8-$10 sliding scale. 649-8744.  

www.thejazzhouse.org 

Noche Flamenca from Madrid performs at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Reeltime Travelers and Bluegrass Intentions perform traditional and original dance songs at 8 p.m., at Ashkenaz. Cost is $11. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jules Broussard and Ned Boynton at 8 p.m. at Downtown, 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. 

Angel of Thorns, Half-Seas-Over, Superlarry, Anna Oxygen perform at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886.  

www.blakesontelegraph.com 

THURSDAY, JULY 3 

FILM 

Aki Kaurismäki: “Calamari Union” at 7:30 p.m. and “Shadows in Paradise” at 9:10 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-0808.  

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Summer Noon Concert Downtown features a performance by students of the Capoeira Arts Café at the Berkeley BART Station. Seating available. Sponsored by the Downtown Berkeley Assoc. 549-2230. 

Noche Flamenca from Madrid performs at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus at 8 p.m. Tickets are $42. 642-9988.  

www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Monkey Ranch Hands performs at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $4.  

841-2082.  

www.starryploughpub.com 

Keni el Lebrijano Flamenco Guitar at 8 p.m. at Downtown, 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. 

FRIDAY, JULY 4 

FILM 

“Gridlock” Tupac Shakur and Tim Roth play addicts fighting bureaucracy to get help, at 8:30 p.m. at the Long Haul, a reading room, library and community center located at 3124 Shattuck Ave. Wheelchair accessible. Free, sponsored by N.E.E.D. 540-0751. www.thelonghaul.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tropical Vibrations, Harry Best and Shabang perform a mix of Caribbean styles at 9 p.m., at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

SixFourTwo and My Hero perform at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5.  

841-2082.  

www.starryploughpub.com 

Celebrate END Dependence Day in collaboration with Underground Railroad and Brown Fist Collective at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568.  

www.lapena.org 

Mimi Fox Trio performs at 9:30 p.m. at Downtown, 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. 

S.T.F.U., Critical Unit, Dead Fall, D.F.A., Strung Up perfrom 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, JULY 5 

FILM 

“War Game” a British docu- 

drama on the horrific possibilities of an atomic holocaust, at 8:30 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  

Aki Kaurismäki: “Crime and Punishment” at 5 and 8:45 p.m. and “Hamlet Goes Business” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students; $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 adults. 642-0808. 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 Berkeley Public Library, 1125 University Ave. Free. For information, call 527-9905.  

poetalk@aol.com 

Aphrodite Jones reads from her new book, “Red Zone,” about the San Francisco dog-mauling case, at 5:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Celebrate END Dependence day in collaboration with Underground Railroad and Brown Fist Collective at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Noche Flamenca from Madrid performs at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus at 8 p.m. Tickets are $42.  

642-9988.  

www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Vince Black with Root Awakening perform socially conscious reggae classics at 9:30 p.m., at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054.  

www.ashkenaz.com 

Pernice Brothers, Warren Zanes and Heavenly States perform at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Collective Amnesia at 9:30 p.m. at Downtown, 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. 

Benefit for Lynn Morris with Peter Rowan, True Blue and Earl Brothers at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $18.50 advance, $19.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

The Cost, From Monument to Masses, Red Light Sting, 1905, The Cinema Eye 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, JULY 6 

FILM 

Aki Kaurismäki: “Leningrad Cowboys Go America” at 5:30 p.m. and “Hamlet Goes Business” at 7:10 at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash at Cody’s with G. P. Skratz and Summer Brenner at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

African Drum Workshop with Wade Peterson. Beginners at 11 a.m., experienced at 12:30, at The Jazz House. Cost is $15-$25, registration is encouraged. 533-5111.  

Noche Flamenca from Madrid performs at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus at 7 p.m. Tickets are $42. 642-9988.  

www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Teka brings an evening of Hungarian music and dance to Ashkenaz, at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $12. 525-5054.  

www.ashkenaz.com 

MONDAY, JULY 7 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Christopher Moore reads from “Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Last Word Poetry, featuring Kirk Lumpkin and Mary Rudge, at 7 p.m. at Pegasus Bookstore, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

Dan O’Neill discusses how communal-living cartoonists provoked the ire of Disney in his new book, “The Pirates and the Mouse: Disney’s War Against the Underground,” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

www.blackoakbooks.com 

Poetry Express, open mic night, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Bandworks Student Recital, featuring rock, blues and pop at 7:30 p.m., at Ashkenaz. Cost is $4. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Sassafras, Shotgun’s 11th Anniversary Spendalicious Silent Auction Family Reunion and Supperganza. Come have supper with us, enjoy live music and support the Shotgun Players, for 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are sliding scale $11-$111. For reservation call Kimberly 704-8210 ext. 317.  

AT THE THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley, “The Bacchae,” directed by David Stein. Euripedes’ play about Dionysus and his revenge against a hateful king. Sat. and Sun., June 21 through July 6, at 5:30 p.m., outdoors in John Hinkle Park, off The Arlington at Southampton Ave. and Somerset Place. Free admission.  

525-1620.  

www.aeofberkeley.org 

Aurora Theater Company, “Thérèse Raquin,” by Emile Zola, directed by Tom Ross. A sinister tale set among the lower classes in nineteenth-century Parisian society. Runs June 20 to July 27, at 2081 Addison St. Tickets are $32 and $34.  

843-4822.  

www.auroratheatre.org 

Berkeley Repertory Theater, “The Guys,” by Anne Nelson, directed by Robert Egan. Through July 5, Tues. - Sun., call for starting times. $10-$54. The Roda Theater, 2016 Addison St. 647-2918. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

California Shakespeare Festival runs through October 22. Performances this year will be Julius Caesar, Arms and the Man, Measure for Measure, and Much Ado About Nothing. Please call for dates and times. The Bruns Amphitheater, Orinda. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org  

Central Works Theater Ensemble, “The Wyrd Sisters” directed by Jan Zvaifler. Through July 27, Thurs. - Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 5 p.m. No performance July 4 or 24. At the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Tickets are $8-$20 sliding scale. For reservations call 558-1381.

A gun shot victim hoisted from a rocky embankment at the Berkeley Marina early Monday morning was in critical condition at Oakland’s Highland Hospital Monday afternoon, authorities said. 

Berkeley Police Department spokesperson Kevin Schofield said police, responding to a 2:40 a.m. report of gunshots in the area, found a male victim who was “conscious but non-responsive” near the marina’s public boat launch. 

Schofield said the department is treating the incident as a felony assault at present, but has not ruled out attempted murder. Police are not releasing the name of the victim and did not have any suspects in custody at press time. 

Authorities found the victim half-in and half-out of the water at the bottom of a rocky embankment in the northern section of the marina, according to Deputy Fire Chief David Orth. 

The fire department, called in by the police, used ropes to shimmy down the slippery rock face and pull the victim to safety, Orth said. 

The incident came just two months after a pair of dog walkers found the bodies of high-profile murder victim Laci Peterson and her unborn son just two miles north, on the Richmond shoreline. 

Workers at the Berkeley Marina said they were unfazed by the Monday shooting. 

“It doesn’t matter to me, unless they come in my area,” said Chris Starrett, owner of the Starrett Stainless metal shop at the Marina. “Then I’ll shoot back.” 

Starrett said the area around the public launch, in the northern section of the Marina, is usually quiet, except for the occasional car break-in. 

Police are asking anyone with information on the shooting to call the homicide detail at 510-981-5742. Callers may remain anonymous.

SHOOTINGS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you for covering the numerous shootings recently in South Berkeley and North Oakland. I’m glad to know that someone is paying attention—besides the Berkeley police.  

When I attended the Thursday night ROC meeting (the neighborhood association of Russell, Oregon and California), I learned from our marvelous beat officer, Jim Marongoni, that there have been six shootings in the area in the past two weeks. Given this level of violence and murder, police patrols on both sides of the border have been increased. 

I think the Berkeley police do a pretty good job of responding to our numerous problems, but where has our city government been? Both our newspaper-loving mayor and South Berkeley councilmember Ms. Shirek were invited but neither could be bothered to show up. None of Ms. Shirek’s aides came either. I really find the lack of support from our city government offensive. 

For the nine years I’ve lived in this ‘hood, I have rarely seen Ms. Shirek attend a meeting. I can only remember one time. And I found her unhelpful to say the least, and that’s being very polite. As for our new mayor, he showed up once and “held court” as a fellow attendee described it. He said he might come back if we were nice to him. 

I’m really fed up with those two who don’t do enough for South Berkeley. As Ms. Shirek’s term is coming to an end, I want everybody to ask themselves: Has South Berkeley gotten any better? Is there less drug dealing? Do the buildings look better? Do people have better jobs? I actually think it’s gotten worse and I’ll vote for just about anybody before Ms. Shirek. 

Indigo 

• 

TITLE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Mr. Scharfenberg states in his article of June 27 that the Alameda County Green Party has “come out in formal opposition to the recall.” This is not completely correct, as the local Green Council reached consensus only on opposing the recall petition signature drive, and urged Greens not to sign. 

Some councilors believe everything about the recall should be opposed and the party should not run a candidate under any circumstances. Others support running a candidate and support Peter Camejo’s candidacy. Some councilors believe that it is too early to take a position on the recall itself or on possible candidates, because it is unknown when or even if there will be any recall at all and who will or will not run for the Demopublicans. 

This broad spectrum of opinion is not a sign of a “rift” as your headline states, but is the signature of a democratic, grassroots organization wherein each person’s opinion is respected. The Green Party does not try to impose control over its members’ speech or actions as other parties often do. 

Robert Marsh 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Green Party members demonstrate a lack of political imagination when  

they say that Peter Camejo’s participation in a potential recall vote would somehow reflect poorly on the Greens. To characterize Republican efforts as “undemocratic” implies that we have a choice between a legitimate, democratic electoral process and one that is not. Until multi-million dollar campaign chests, and all that goes along with them, are removed from the political equation, democratic elections will continue to be a chimera of fevered delusion. Political advantage could be scored with a public disgusted with the entire sordid spectacle of electoral politics as usual. In the last election, the Republican and Democratic candidates for governor were the strongest argument possible for an instant run-off process, and making “None of the above” a valid ballot choice. 

A good number of liberal/ progressive interests are acting as if the Republicans are about to blast the state with the electoral version of Darth Vader’s Death Star. Republicans are not acting from a position of strength but one of incredibly desperate weakness. Unable to elect anyone to an office at the state level higher than dog catcher or the state Legislature (at times, somewhat interchangeable positions), despite all their wealth and resources, the Republican Party is basically toast in California. They are a political one trick pony whose slash and burn social and fiscal policies and recent budgetary escapades have alienated them from a variety of political sectors. 

Liberal and progressive forces need to embrace and project the type of  

political imagination shown in Upton Sinclair’s campaign for governor in 1934. There are parallels worthy of immediate consideration and adoption contained within Sinclair’s “End Poverty In California Campaign.” Those were  

times of grand and sweeping political vision. Peter Camejo’s entry into the recall fray offers a viable alternative to choosing between Conan Republicans and venal, GOP-lite Democrats. Both grovel and drool at the feet of their corporate masters; growling, barking, and performing tricks on command. No more selling out to the Democratic Party, portraying itself as the lesser of two evils. Democrats must feel the pain of losing elections when a progressive candidate splits the vote by taking positions they refused to embrace. 

Stephen Dunifer 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

According to Rob Wrenn’s informative article about housing in Berkeley, over 7,000 housing units were built in Berkeley between 1960 and 1974, while 1,140 units were built during the 1990s.  

The 1990s looked like a boom compared with the previous decade or two, but we actually were building housing at not much more than one-fifth of the rate of the 1960s.  

Charles Siegel

After 16 years of selling transit passes and helping locals navigate the Bay Area’s complicated web of trains and buses, the Berkeley Transit Rideshare and Parking shop, better known as Berkeley TRiP, closed its doors Friday. 

Local transit advocates said the demise of the combination ticket store and advocacy organization, jointly operated by the city and UC Berkeley, is a blow to public transit in the East Bay and beyond. 

“Berkeley TRiP was actually a national model in how a city, in this case a city and university, could really try to make alternative transportation use more accessible to the public,” said Stuart Cohen, executive director of the Oakland-based Transportation and Land Use Coalition. “It’s setting a very unfortunate precedent now in shutting down during tough financial times.” 

The decision to pull the plug came from UC Berkeley, which will likely take tens of millions of dollars in cuts when the state Legislature, deadlocked in budget talks, finally addresses its $38 billion deficit. 

UC Berkeley Director of Transportation Nadeson Permaul said the university could not continue to pay for about 65 percent of TRiP’s $350,000 annual budget when only 18 percent of the people who buy passes or seek transit information at the Center Street store are affiliated with the university. 

UC Berkeley, he said, must focus its public transportation dollars squarely on faculty, students and staff. 

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for the university to be neglecting, in some sense, its own constituency,” said Permaul. 

City officials dispute the university’s budget figures. They say Berkeley’s contribution of a rent-free building and utilities payments mean the city and the university have split the cost of the TRiP store evenly.  

City Councilmember Dona Spring argues that UC Berkeley should maintain its commitment to public transit given that its students and employees contribute heavily to the city’s traffic problems. 

“[Closing TRiP] was a real disappointing blow,” Spring said. “The university has just decided it wants to do its own thing.”  

Starting this week, UC Berkeley is offering passes and travel advice to faculty, students and staff at its main parking and transportation office at 2150 Kittredge St., downtown. Former TRiP employees will work at the downtown office.  

So far, the city has not made alternative arrangements for members of the public. But Mayor Tom Bates said he is negotiating with the Berkeley Convention & Visitors Bureau, located next door to the TRiP office, about opening a new shop. 

Berkeley transportation planner Cherry Chaichara said several other options are also on the table. The city has had preliminary discussions with the nonprofit Bicycle-Friendly Berkeley Coalition about setting up a TRiP-like store at the organization’s bike station at the downtown Berkeley BART station. The station currently provides free protection for train passengers’ bikes. 

Chaichara added that one of the two companies bidding for management of the city-owned Center Street parking garage has expressed interest in selling transit passes on site.  

The city and university are also talking about re-establishing their partnership at some point, albeit in a different form. Permaul said the two sides may work together to deliver passes to the public cheaply through the Internet or vending machines.  

Last week, with no alternative yet in place, Berkeley TRiP directed customers to a range of local businesses that sell public transit passes, from the Ecology Center Bookstore on San Pablo Avenue to Try Us Bail Bonds on Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

Felix Brenner, a lawyer at the Berkeley firm of Duane & Seltzer on Center Street, said Friday that he purchases $122 in two-week transit passes at Berkeley TRiP every month. 

“I will miss it,” he said outside the shop, which was covered in orange and green signs announcing its closure. “I’ll have to track down my BART-plus ticket somewhere else, and I’m not sure where yet.” 

Office manager Carolina Vasquez, who arrived in May to shut down the program, said the elderly may have the most difficult time with TRiP’s demise. 

“The people who will really be hurt are the seniors, because they are used to going to one place,” she said, adding that language barriers have made it difficult for staff to tell some customers where they can go to get passes in the future. 

Berkeley TRiP was born in 1987 when the city, the university and three transit agencies—BART, AC Transit and Caltrans—set up the organization to promote public transportation. For years, the group combined ticket sales with advocacy, dropping off passes at senior centers and meeting with local businesses to encourage large-scale transit pass plans for employees. 

Cohen said the program was a model for similar efforts in places like Santa Clara County and Boulder, Colo. 

But Permaul said the advocacy work waned in recent years as growing ticket sales occupied more and more staff time. In the meantime, he said, Berkeley TRiP’s financial woes ballooned as the transit agencies pulled out of the program and the city, until two years ago, maintained flat funding for the shop.

The furor in Washington over possible nuclear weapons development in Iran is fueled in part because Bush administration officials claim that Iran doesn’t need to generate nuclear power. They assert that Iran’s nuclear energy program is unnecessary given its oil reserves. Therefore, officials say, its nuclear plants must exist for weapons production.  

In fact, for Iran, generating nuclear power makes sense. Moreover, the plans to do this were started decades ago, and with American approval.  

Ex-CIA director James Woolsey, in an interview on the PBS program Frontline on Feb. 23, claimed “there is no underlying [reason] for one of the greatest oil producers in the world to need to get into the nuclear [energy] business.”  

At first glance, such logic seems sound. Countries with vast oil reserves also have large reserves of natural gas sitting on top of those reserves. Some years ago, the natural gas was regularly burned off to get at the oil beneath. However, technological advances today make it feasible to use this gas for power generation.  

Even so, nuclear power still makes sense in a country with vast amounts of natural gas, particularly given the unusual circumstances in the Iranian hydrocarbons industry. There are needs for gas in Iran that command much higher priorities than the construction of gas power plants.  

First, gas is vitally needed for reinjection into existing oil reservoirs (repressurizing). This is indispensable for maintaining oil output levels, as well as for increasing overall, long-term recovery of oil.  

Second, natural gas is needed for growing domestic use, such as in cooking fuel and domestic heating (Iranians typically use kerosene for both), where it can free up oil for more profitable export. New uses such as powering bus and taxi fleets in Iran’s smoggy urban areas are also essential for development.  

Third, natural gas exports—via pipelines to Turkey or in liquefied form to the subcontinent—set an attractive minimum value for any available natural gas. With adequate nuclear power generation, Iran can profit more from selling its gas than using it to generate power.  

Fourth, the economics of gas production in Iran are almost backwards, certainly counter-intuitive. Much of Iran’s gas is “rich”—it contains by-products, such as liquid-petrolem gas (LPG, better known as propane), which are more valuable than the natural gas they are derived from. Iran can profit by selling these derivatives, but not if it burns the natural gas to generate power. Furthermore, Iran adheres to OPEC production quotas, which combine oil and natural gas production. Therefore Iran cannot simply increase natural gas for export to make up for what it burns at home.  

Overall, therefore, it can reasonably be argued that natural gas in Iran has economic uses that are superior to power generation, in spite of Iran’s much-touted large reserves. The economic rationale is therefore plausible—the costs of gas versus nuclear power generation are sufficiently close that the choice is a standoff, especially given the reported bargain price for the Russian reactor.  

The great irony in America’s accusations is that Iran’s nuclear program was first developed on the advice of American specialists, who urged the government of the Shah to begin producing nuclear power in order to save oil reserves for more lucrative purposes than fuel. The prospect of an industrial base built on petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals never materialized, but the nuclear power program continued unabated.  

Now, to have American officials express alarm over the exact same program is illogical at best and utterly disingenuous at worst. Much of the criticism of Iran’s nuclear program comes from the same people who insisted that Iraq had an active nuclear weapons development program before the American invasion of that nation on March 19. That fact alone should raise severe skepticism throughout the world.  

Thomas Stauffer is a former nuclear engineer and a specialist in Middle Eastern energy economics. William O. Beeman is director of Middle East studies at Brown University. Both have conducted research in Iran for more than 30 years.

A grass fire Saturday consumed an acre and a half off Centennial Drive, near the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and the Lawrence Hall of Science, before being extinguished by Berkeley, Oakland and East Bay Regional Parks firefighters. 

The blaze, which was reported to the Berkeley Fire Department at 7:41 p.m., began spreading up the hill from the north side of Centennial Drive toward LBNL. Firefighters responding to the scene contained the fire by 8:08 p.m. 

“It produced a nice column of smoke and scared everybody, but we took care of the problem pretty quickly,” said Berkeley Fire Department deputy chief David Orth. 

Because the Strawberry Canyon area, which includes Centennial Drive, runs along the Berkeley-Oakland border, the location is a full-response area, which meant that companies from both cities and the parks department responded to the call. The Berkeley Fire Department sent three engines and a ladder truck, along with 15 firefighters, to fight the blaze. 

A team from the California Department of Forestry also responded, but did not join the fight because the others had contained the fire so quickly. Orth said none of the area structures, including LBNL and the Lawrence Hall of Science, were threatened by the fire. 

The cause of the fire was unknown and under investigation as of Monday. Because much of the area is University of California land, the investigation will be directed by the state fire marshal. 

“For the moment it is being treated as a crime scene,” Orth said. 

California State Fire Department personnel said the results of their investigation would be made public later this week. 

A second, smaller fire was reported about a half-mile north of the Centennial Drive blaze around the same time. It had been extinguished by citizens by the time firefighters arrived at the scene.

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean nearly captured the MoveOn.org PAC’s endorsement for the Democratic presidential nomination. With almost 44 per cent of the vote, Dean came closest to the required 50 per cent majority, the political advocacy group announced Friday.  

More than 300,000 members participated in last week’s 48-hour Internet primary, making the vote larger than the New Hampshire Democratic primary and Iowa caucuses combined. Following Dean, the leading candidates were Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, with 23.9 percent of the vote, and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry with 15.7 percent. No other Democrat received more than 4 percent of the vote, and about 2 percent of voters were undecided.  

A second question on the ballot asked whether voters were united to defeat President Bush, no matter which Democratic candidate is eventually nominated to run against him. Almost 29 percent of voters said they would enthusiastically support any Democratic nominee; others named multiple candidates they’d be willing to back in the general election, indicating broad support for Democratic leaders. 

The independent polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research verified the results before their release last week.  

The primary was the first of its kind for Berkeley-born MoveOn, which was founded during Clinton’s impeachment, in 1999, by software entrepreneurs Wes Boyd and Joan Blades. Though the MoveOn PAC has supported congressional campaigns since its inception—raising $2.3 million in 2000 and $4.1 million in 2002—this primary marked its first foray into presidential politics. 

Chief Operating Officer Carrie Olson said on Monday that reaction to the results was mixed. Some members expressed relief that there would be more time to deliberate about the candidates while others suggested holding a run-off for quick closure.  

MoveOn, however, has no immediate plans to push for endorsement. “We’re going to wait a while and let that bubble up from our membership,” she said. Any other primaries would likely wait until the fall, she added. “Meanwhile, we just hope folks are paying attention.”

WASHINGTON — Measures taken by the U.S. against Arab and Muslim immigrants after 9/11 have not only failed to protect U.S. security, but may have made it more vulnerable, according to a major report released last week. 

The round-up and detention of more than 1,200 immigrants after the attacks on New York and Washington were particularly abusive, says the report by the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute (MPI) an influential think tank. 

It said the government's efforts to depict some of those who were detained as terrorists were simply wrong. “The only charges brought against them were actually for routine immigration violations or ordinary crimes,” concludes the 165-page report, “America's Challenge: Domestic Security, Civil Liberties and National Unity After September 11.” 

“Many of the policies that have been adopted in the wake of Sept. 11 are an attempt to use immigration as a proxy for anti-terrorism,” said Vincent Cannistraro, a former senior counter-terrorism official in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), who is on MPI's board of advisers and helped prepare the report. 

“We haven't learned anything about pre-empting terrorism in America, but we have intimidated, antagonized and alienated many (minority) communities (which is) counter-productive to what the FBI and other agencies are trying to do,” he added at the report's release. 

What breakthroughs have been made in identifying and apprehending terrorists have been the result of traditional police and intelligence work and co-operation and information-sharing with foreign intelligence agencies, not from any of the immigration initiatives taken by the administration, says the report, which also includes the most comprehensive compilation of the individuals detained after 9/11 and their experiences. 

“Arresting a large number of non-citizens ... only gives the nation a false sense of security,” the document added. 

The report is likely to be taken seriously. The MPI's advisory board members include the last two commissioners of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS): James Ziglar, who just served in the current administration; and Doris Meissner, INS head under former President Bill Clinton. Meissner co-authored the report. 

In addition to Cannistraro, it also includes Mary Jo White, who, as a former U.S. attorney in the southern federal district of New York, gained a reputation as a tough and relentless prosecutor in high-profile terrorism cases. 

The report also coincided with news that the Justice Department's inspector general (IG) is investigating possible abuses by federal prison guards in Brooklyn against immigrants detained there. 

In a widely noted report released earlier this month, the IG found “significant problems” in the way federal officials dealt with the post-Sep. 11 roundups. Dozens of detainees were subject to verbal and physical abuse by guards at the facility, where they were left to languish in “unduly harsh” conditions for months, some without access to family members or attorneys, it said. 

The MPI report, whose scope is broader than the plight of the detainees, nonetheless “puts flesh on the bones of the IG's report,” according to David Cole, a Georgetown University law professor who also contributed to the document. 

It found, for example, that, unlike the Sept. 11 hijackers, the majority of those detained had significant ties to the United States and roots in their communities here. Of the detainees on which relevant information was available, almost half had lived in this country for at least six years and had close family relationships here. 

The report examines the government's post-9/11 immigration measures from three distinct perspectives—their effectiveness in actually fighting terrorism; their impact on civil liberties; and their effect on America's sense of community as a nation of immigrants. In each case, it concludes that the administration's policies were largely counter-productive. 

The key to fighting terrorism, according to the report, is focusing on improved intelligence, information and information sharing; better and more targeted border protection; vigorous intelligence-based law enforcement; and engagement with Arab- and Muslim-American communities. 

“We believe it is possible to use immigration measures more effectively to defend against terrorism, while also protecting the fundamental liberties at the core of American identity,” Meissner said. 

The latest raids follow an established pattern in U.S. history, according to the report. During the McCarthy era in the 1950s, Congress enacted strong anti-immigration measures while, during the “Red Scare” that followed World War I, the attorney general at the time, A. Mitchell Palmer, ordered thousands of immigrants rounded up and detained without due process. 

During national security crises, Washington has often followed “the course of least resistance,” according to Cole, who noted that immigrants are particularly vulnerable to abuses at such times. 

But the greatest harm to U.S. anti-terrorist efforts in this case has been the impact of the administration's harsh measures on Arab- and Muslim-American communities, says the report. Programs such as requiring special registration by males from certain countries carried out last year has discouraged co-operation with law-enforcement agencies, in part because they became a vehicle for sweeping up those with minor immigration violations. 

At the same time, the alienation and persecution felt by the same communities immediately after Sept. 11 have also had the unintended effect over time of reaffirming their identity as Muslims and Arabs in the United States, according to Muzaffar Chishti, an MPI senior fellow and co-author. 

“The experience of Muslim and Arab communities post-Sept. 11 is, in many ways, an impressive story of a community that first felt intimidated, but has since started to assert its place in the American body politic,” he said. 

But Cannistraro stressed that the administration's ham-handed attack on immigrant communities had also taken a heavy toll on its image in the immigrants’ homelands overseas. 

“If anything, we have painted an image of us as a narrow, biased society that really believes in the ‘Clash of Civilizations’,” he said, singling out Attorney General John Ashcroft as especially responsible. “It serves us poorly abroad, and it has provided ammunition to some of the fiery imams who encourage young people (to sacrifice) themselves.’”

Policymakers in some very conservative places are moderating their approach to crime and punishment, but in California, which imprisons more people than any other state, politicians still think more prisons are better.  

On June 22, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, signed legislation passed overwhelmingly by Texas’ Republican-controlled House and Senate to divert thousands of low-level drug offenders from prison into treatment. Texas is one of the toughest states in the nation when it comes to criminal justice policy. The Lone Star State’s prison population is second only to that of California. One in 10 prisoners incarcerated nationally is incarcerated in Texas, and one out of every 21 Texans is under the control of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The new law will save taxpayers $115 over the next five years.  

Texas is far from the only state sensibly re-examining its imprisonment binge under growing pressure to cut prison spending. Many of them are governed by Republicans. For example:  

• In December, Michigan Gov. John Engler signed watershed legislation abolishing most of that state’s mandatory sentencing laws and returning discretion to judges. The reform saved Michigan taxpayers $43 million this year alone, money that can go into reducing cuts to education and health care.  

• When Gov. Mike Foster of Louisiana signed legislation reforming his state’s mandatory sentencing laws and returning discretion on non-violent drug offenses to judges, he stated, “There’s nothing worse than having a state that is tops in incarceration. We went a long way toward curing that.” 

• Ohio Gov. Bob Taft carefully “scrubbed” his state’s prison population through revised sentencing and parole guidelines and by creating new treatment programs and other alternatives to incarceration. While prison populations in other Midwest states increased by nearly 4 percent between 1998 and 2000, Ohio’s prison population declined by nearly 6 percent, allowing the state to close two of its prisons and save millions annually.  

Policymakers are finding support for such changes from a public that, across party affiliation, is disappointed with the war on drugs and supportive of diverting non-violent offenders into treatment instead of prison. In a poll conducted by Hart and Associates last year, three-quarters of Americans approved of sentencing nonviolent offenders to probation instead of imprisonment. More than two-thirds of Republicans favored treatment and probation for non-violent offenses, while a majority of Republicans favored “tougher approaches to the causes of crime,” over the policies of the past. In December 2001, four times as many Californians surveyed in a Field Poll reported that they preferred to reduce the state’s prison budget rather than cut higher education.  

Republicans are hardly soft on crime. “I have no problem with putting people in jail,” says Republican Rep. Mike Kowall, former chair of Michigan’s Criminal Justice Committee. “I consider myself to the right of Attila the Hun. This just gets back to common-sense approaches to crime rather than just locking them up and throwing away the key.”  

The budget proposal currently being debated by the California Senate includes just such common sense proposals. The Senate has painstakingly identified low-risk offenders for placement in drug treatment, mental health programs, educational programming, vocational training and drug court as alternatives to imprisoning non-violent inmates. Even after the cost of the new treatment and education programs are accounted for, the state would save over $120 million next fiscal year by adopting these reforms.  

So it’s not too late for California to become part of the “smart on crime” trend. As the debate heats up over tax increases and service cuts, policymakers should thoughtfully trim the corrections budget and put low-risk offenders under treatment and supervision, instead of in counterproductive prisons. If they can do it in Texas, you can certainly do it in California.  

ßVincent Schiraldi is president of the Justice Policy Institute, a research and public policy organization in Washington, D.C.

The following is a report by the Pesticide Action Network Updates Service.  

This week, people dressed as corn and killer tomatoes faced off against riot police on the streets of Sacramento. Meanwhile, in the air-conditioned Sacramento Convention Center, agricultural ministers and delegations from 115 nations around the world attended the U.S. government-sponsored Ministerial Convention and Expo on Agricultural Technology from June 23 to 25.  

The public was not invited to the Ministerial, but from the look of the news headlines, they crashed the party. 

The convergence of protesters, a broad coalition of local and international organizations and direct action activists concerned about food and agriculture, attracted swarms of media to hear their critique of genetically engineered (GE) crops, pesticides and other aspects of the corporate food system, and new free trade and investor rights agreements that further the industrial model of food. 

The aim of the meeting, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), was to apply new agricultural technologies—particularly GE crops—to the problem of world hunger. Mass protests outside the meeting, however, suggest that many saw it as an attempt to further the corporate food agenda and to lobby ministers regarding trade issues. 

The Sacramento Bee summarized, on the front page, “Protesters contend the meeting is not about ending hunger, but rather is a stage for the United States to push its agenda on other countries, an agenda that promotes big-business interests and technology, specifically the genetic engineering of crops.” 

Educational events began before the ministerial officially started with a teach-in at California State University Sacramento, attracting overflow crowds to hear speakers from the Third World and other analysts of food, trade and corporate power. 

During the event, PANNA released a call for protest in Sacramento from more than 150 Third World organizations, representing hundreds of thousands of people. The statement read: “This summit will promote industrial models of agriculture that enrich transnational agribusiness interests while undermining the food security, and food sovereignty of peoples of the global south.”  

The teach-in was organized by the Institute for Social Ecology, Public Citizen, PANNA and others. 

On Monday, June 23, a permitted rally and march convened on the steps of the Capitol. More than 3,000 people marched through the leafy streets of Sacramento, led by a contingent of labor organizations. Drums rattled, “Killer Tomatoes” chanted in unison and a chef from the world-class Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse waved a giant whisk and threatened, “We’re here to whip the lies of big agribusiness.” 

A series of rolling street blockades and other non-violent civil disobedience erupted on Sacramento streets throughout the days of the Ministerial. Whimsical street actions attracted attention, including a “dump” of genetically engineered corn at a press conference held by the National Family Farm Coalition and a “Dr. Monsanto genetically altered vs. organic dog food taste test” hosted by the Organic Consumers Association.  

The city of Sacramento estimates $750,000 was spent on policing the Ministerial; the figure spent by the California Highway Patrol tops one million dollars. In all, about 40 people were arrested. 

A debate organized by PANNA and Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy drew about 1,000 attendees, despite a phalanx of police lining the street outside the venue. Panel members from developing countries faced off with a USDA official, the director general of Crop Life International and a pro-biotech spokeswoman from the University of California.  

One biotech proponent said, “The real issue is not biotechnology; the real issue is starvation.”  

Earlier, Timothy Byakola from PAN Africa had responded to that argument with an example from Uganda.  

“The problem in Uganda isn’t production, it’s distribution. Western Uganda is very fertile and very wet and produces a tremendous surplus of crops. But our roads are horrible; we have no infrastructure, so we can’t move that food around.” 

George Naylor, of the National Family Farm Coalition, asked the USDA representative why farmers growing GE crops weren’t required by the government to leave buffer zones. Naylor complained that he has lost 65 percent of his fields to buffers protecting his crop from Bt corn. 

The protests and educational events highlighted the trend of diverse groups focusing on issues such as food safety and sovereignty, sustainable farming, pesticide reform, labor rights, public participation, globalization and corporate power, to join forces to contest exclusionary international meetings and institutions. Their message is bound to be repeated this September during the World Trade Organization Ministerial meeting in Cancun and beyond.  

These groups argue that the growing international framework of new trade and investment rules affects everyone. 

As one marcher said to the legions of police lining the march, “Get off your horses and join us. It’s your food, too.” 

PANUPS is a weekly e-mail news service providing resource guides and reporting on pesticide issues that don’t always get coverage by the mainstream media. It’s produced by the Pesticide Action Network North America, a nonprofit and non-governmental organization working to advance sustainable alternatives to pesticides worldwide.

A More Friendly Route for Migrants: Into U.S. Via Canada  

Sometimes, the longer route is easier. Due to the stepped-up security on the U.S.-Mexico border, an increasingly popular route for undocumented Mexicans has emerged that takes them by air to Vancouver, and overland into the United States across the less carefully patrolled Canadian border.  

The Vancouver route is also attractive because the Canadian government offers temporary jobs through a well-organized guest worker program for Mexicans, according to a story published June 21 by Los Angeles bilingual weekly Eastern Group Publications. 

The Canadians also offer the guest workers language classes in order to help them adapt to life there, said the story, which cited a recent report on emigration by the Mexican Institute for Statistics and Geography.  

According to the report, Mexican migration north and then into the United States has increased by 70 percent since 1994, when the United States launched Operation Guardian, meant to guard the urban areas along the Mexican-U.S. border to prevent illegal crossings, said EGP, in the story by reporter Elda M. Arroyo Macias.  

The majority of those migrating to the United States are men between the ages of 25 and 34 fleeing economic hardship in rural areas of states like Jalisco, Oaxaca, Michoacán, Durango, Zacatecas, Chiapas y Guanajuato, said EGP. But the report said that the number of Mexican women heading to the United States was also on the rise.  

‘I am American, not Latino or  

Amerindian’  

The emergence of Latinos as a major demographic force in the United States has caused a bit of confusion: is the correct term Latino or Hispanic? If Latino refers only to ethnicity, then what “race” is a Latino of mixed Indian, European and African heritage?  

One letter to the editor published in Los Angeles Spanish-language daily La Opinión on June 23 added a new twist to the endless debates over Latino terminology and identity. The reader, who identified himself only with the apparent pseudonym of Marco Aurelio Greco, wrote that he would be offended if he were a descendant of any of the Latin American tribal groups and he was referred to as a “Latino.” 

“My thesis is that only Italians are Latinos, and only them,” wrote Greco, referring to the fact that Latino is a Spanish-language term that refers to the language Latin, or people who spoke it in the times of the Roman Empire.  

But Greco said he didn't want to be called an Amerindian either -- as indigenous people from the Americas are often referred. Amerindian is a word invented by those who wanted to appropriate the root word --American-- since they are estranged from their own roots, Greco said. He proposed that only those people “descended from the original settlers of the continent” have the right to be called American.  

Greco, however, left out one fact that could confuse the issue further. The New World landmass, America, was named after the Italian cartographer and explorer Amerigo Vespucci. Should the New World's indigenous populations be named after a real Latino?

The Aurora Theater Company in downtown Berkeley has, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear, elected to end its 11th season with Emile Zola’s 19th-century warhorse, “Therese Raquin.” Possibly they’re presenting it because it gives their season subscribers a remarkably well-rounded set of plays for the year, running from farce to melodrama with several stops in between. Or maybe it’s just because it provides the actors with a particularly juicy set of scenes in which to show their chops. And these guys do, no question about that. 

The truth is they just don’t make plays like “Therese Raquin” any more. They can’t. Times have changed way too much. For obvious reasons, Zola’s then-scandalous novel about adultery and murder made a big splash in the France of 1867 and became the basis for the only successful play he ever wrote. (About that time, over in England, the more sober Brits had to make do with Charles Dickens’ relatively bland “Great Expectations.”) But for a modern audience, in an era in which marriage is too frequently merely the forerunner to divorce, the substance of this plot is sadly undercut. We don’t have to kill our husbands anymore: divorce works quite efficiently (and is far less messy). 

Be that as it may, Aurora has cast the drama with strong actors who manage to extract the most out of their fairly lively collection of characters. It isn’t their fault that the first act sags under the load of too much background exposition. Things pick up in the second act, however. In fact, Joy Carlin’s extraordinary performance as mother-in-law Madame Raquin might be enough to justify the price of a ticket. In the second act, she manages to get more drama out of sitting paralyzed in her chair, unmoving except for her eyes, than most actors could get if they stripped naked and ran screaming through the audience. It is an incredible piece of acting. 

The adulterous pair, Therese and Laurent, are more than effectively played by Stephanie Gularte and Mark Eliott Wilson. They have the opportunity of their performing lifetimes to pull out every stop in their repertoires. As Therese, Gularte moves from near immobilized depression, through lust and guilt, to rage. The only complaint about Wilson’s performance is that he does such a terrific job of seeming to be a nice-guy best friend to Therese’s idiotic husband, Camille (Jonathan Rys Williams), that it’s a leap to buy into the idea that he’s double-crossing the same jerk. However, he does get the point across with real zest.  

Williams combines with Zola, by the way, to turn the husband into a character who just might create an argument for justifiable homicide.  

The supporting actors are equally strong, presenting well-developed, almost Dickensian, types. This is one production where there can be few complaints: acting, direction, staging, everything is fine. The only real question is, why?  

The curious thing is that the play seems to retain its popularity, with surprisingly frequent modern productions as well as films. An opera was based on it about two years ago and, about the same time, Kate Winslet was trying pretty hard to get a version off the ground in which she and Judi Dench would star. 

Maybe there’s a public need for a regular dose of melodrama. After all, soap operas are still going strong. Or maybe it’s just that the acting community yearns for a chance to play the entire range of passions in the grand old manner. Whatever ... Here it is.

“The Hulk” lumbered into theaters last week and you know the drill: Mild-mannered nerd wears purple pants, gets angry, turns green, has a temper tantrum and, in this case, is eventually talked out of his manic phase by an Oscar-winning fox playing a scientist.  

Ang Lee, who directed “Sense and Sensibility” and “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon,” helmed this monster movie, and aside from the jolly green giant himself, the film isn’t all that bad. Lee demonstrates capable filmmaking, highlighted by an innovative use of transitions, but ultimately the film is too slow and self-absorbed to amount to much. And really, that’s not of any real concern. Crap comes and crap goes in Hollywood. What is of real concern is that “The Hulk” was shot in and around Berkeley; and as such it must be held to account. 

Some films have not been so kind to this city, while others still have immortalized it. 

The 1990s were particularly rough on Berkeley. “Junior” (1994) with Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger represents a low point. The UC campus, likewise, has had rough cinematic sledding, making a photogenic, yet ultimately embarrassing appearance as the backdrop to the forgettable “Boys and Girls” (1999).  

There should be some kind of committee that regulates, and then prohibits, stupid movies from using Berkeley as a film location. After all, there is a history here—not just in the beauty of the town, but an immense cultural history as well—that movies like “Patch Adams” (1998) cheapen. 

Noticing Berkeley in a movie is the same as noticing someone you know in a movie. There’s an initial rush of excitement. You say, “Hey, I know where that is.” Or, “Hey, I live near that.” Followed by an uneasy feeling of shame at realizing that the “this” or “that” you live near is in a movie with Jason Biggs. 

One of the few bright spots is “The Graduate” (1967), maybe the only film shot in Berkeley to properly capture not only the look of the town, but its vibe as well. The film and its themes are ideally suited to Berkeley in the sixties. A film that examines a generation at odds with an increasingly frustrated and hostile establishment couldn’t be shot anywhere but Berkeley. In “The Graduate” the town serves not only as a location, but also as a symbol. 

In certain, distant ways “The Hulk” similarly uses Berkeley in some unusual, if not ultimately keen respects, the most interesting of which is Jennifer Connelly. She has that Berkeley thing nailed: long, dark hair; denim jacket; braided, craft-like jewelry. She’s sensitive, understanding, concerned with The Issues and probably belongs to PETA. In a sense, the town reinforces her character. 

The rest of “The Hulk” is far too concerned with the big green cartoon to give Berkeley much time. As such, what else of Berkeley that appears in the film is what every out-of-towner puts in his film—views of San Francisco. In this case the Lawrence Berkeley Lab and His Lordship’s Restaurant in the marina provide the gazing points. 

Bad cinema and calendar art of San Francisco aside, film is a unique medium to the extent that it is both art and commerce; and Berkeley is home to a surprising number of cinematographers, gaffers, grips and best boys. When a film company rolls into town, regardless of their intended artistic achievement, they generate cash for our economy.  

When Ang Lee and “The Hulk” came here with a bankroll larger than the GDP of most African nations, they not only employed many of our local film personnel, they paid fees to the city, took rooms in hotels and spent money in restaurants. A film that size creates a small but positive ripple throughout our economy. 

We should be happy when films come to town. Ang Lee and his crew were very good to Berkeley. It’s just that Berkeley is long overdue a role in a great film, and “The Hulk” ain’t it. 

Even though gardening for wildlife is a popular trend, some Berkeleyans might be a bit disconcerted to learn that their gardens harbor venomous snakes. There’s no reason to panic, though. These snakes are only kind of venomous, and they’re basically on your side. No, really. 

The serpent in question here is the ring-necked snake, a striking pencil-thin creature with a black head and back and a yellow-orange belly and matching collar. Its size varies geographically, with a maximum length of about 20 inches in our region. Ringnecks are retiring in disposition, most often found under rocks, boards or loose bark, or inside rotting logs. 

The only one I’ve ever seen in Berkeley was a recently deceased specimen, retrieved from a cat. But they can be common in favorable habitat: a study in Kansas found population densities of up to 700 per acre. And they’re sociable as snakes go, 10 or more holing up together. 

When a ringneck feels threatened, it threatens back by coiling its tail (yes, snakes have tails) into a tight corkscrew and presenting the scarlet underside. This warning, like the skunk’s, should not be taken lightly. If picked up, the snake besmears its captor with foul-smelling secretions. Otherwise unemotional herpetologists have used words like “loathsome” to describe the effect. 

Harry W. Greene, author of “Snakes: The Evolution of Mystery in Nature,” speculates that the tail-coiling display may have evolved in response to predation by scrub-jays, sharp-eyed birds that are hell on small vertebrates. Only ringnecks in Florida and the west, where scrub-jays occur, have contrasting red undertails and perform the display. Since birds have color vision, it could be an effective “don’t touch” signal. 

You’re wondering about the other end of the snake, though. Ringnecks are rear-fanged snakes, which means you would have to go out of your way to be bitten by one. Those who have experienced bites report nothing worse than a localized burning sensation. The effect is more powerful on its small prey. Rather than killing its victims outright, the ringneck’s venom just immobilizes them so they can be swallowed without a lot of thrashing around. 

The rear-fanged syndrome appears to have been a first evolutionary step to a venom delivery system, pre-dating the more sophisticated equipment of vipers, cobras and their kin. Most rear-fangers pose no threat to humans. Some, though—the African boomslang, the East Asian yamakagashi—can be deadly. 

Here’s how it works: In the back of its mouth, the ringneck has a pair of enlarged saber-like teeth. Unlike the hypodermic-style fangs of a rattlesnake, they’re not hollow, and there’s no injection mechanism. The teeth channel toxic secretions from a structure called the Duvernoy’s gland—which appears to be a modified salivary gland—into the snake’s prey. Some chewing may be required for the venom to take effect. Snakes that kill by constriction, like kingsnakes and ratsnakes, have Duvernoy’s glands but have either lost or never evolved the ability to produce toxins. 

In addition to its role in prey capture, the ringneck’s venom seems to function as a defense against ophiophagous (snake-eating) snakes. There is no professional courtesy among serpents. A Florida biologist once observed a ringneck being swallowed, alive and tail-first, by a long-nosed snake. When its head came within range, the ringneck bit the longnose in the floor of the mouth. After a few hours, up came the ringneck. The larger snake tried again, and was again bitten by its intended dinner. Following a third iteration the long-nosed snake succumbed, and the ringneck worked its jaws loose and crawled away, apparently none the worse for wear. 

Fine, but why would you want one of these in your garden? Because, in addition to salamanders, lizards, smaller snakes and earthworms, ring-necked snakes eat slugs. Anything that eats slugs is welcome at my place. They don’t do snails, though. There are snail-eating snakes in the New World tropics, but no North American species ever evolved that taste, more’s the pity. 

The Downtown Berkeley Association (DBA) presents Summer Noon Concerts 2003, a unique series of nine free concerts, Thursdays at noon in June & July, beginning June 5th. From Rhythm & Blues to Brazilian capoeira, these concerts at the Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza (Shattuck Ave. at Center St.) are a showcase of the culturally rich performing arts in Berkeley. This outdoor summer celebration of Berkeley-based musicians & dancers is just a small sampling of the performing arts happening nightly in clubs, cafes, schools, theaters and concert halls in Downtown Berkeley. 

On Thursday, June 5th, our concert series opens with Rhonda Benin and Soulful Strut performing some of the best in R & B, with a splash of jazz and a solid helping of the blues. Soulful Strut appears regularly at many Bay Area nightspots such Enricos Sidewalk Café and Restaurant. 

On Thursday, July 31st, our concert series closes with SoVoSó, a highly visual and imaginative a capella ensemble that sings a compelling mix of jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues, world, pop, and improvisational music. The ensemble is made up of former members of Bobby McFerrin’s Voicestra, and McFerrin says, “SoVoSó is tight, soulful, and a whole lotta fun.” 

This event is easily accessible by transit and there is one hour free parking daily from 9 am to 5 pm in Center Street Garage. Seating will be available. 

For a complete schedule of entertainers for the Downtown Berkeley Summer Noon Concerts 2003 visit the Downtown Berkeley Association website at www.downtownberkeley.org

Stepped-up police patrolling in Southwest Berkeley following two recent shootings has led to the arrest of a suspect in the murder of Ronald Easiley, a 19-year-old who was shot to death on Jan. 14 on Harmon Street in Berkeley. Desmen Lankford, 19, was arrested Tuesday evening after leading police on a foot chase to the 1400 block of Alcatraz Avenue in Oakland.  

Since the June 17 and 18 shootings of two men—one on Alcatraz Street near California Street and another on the 1600 block of Russell—the Berkeley Police Department has added six officers to patrol Southwest Berkeley neighborhoods exclusively. Department spokesperson Mary Kusmiss said police are using “proactive” tactics to avert future violence, including pulling people over for traffic violations and detaining and searching known parolees and probationers. The increased activity, most of it carried out by the department’s nine-person violence suppression unit, has led to the arrest of several parole and probation violators, the retrieval of crack cocaine and the confiscation of eight guns, including two assault rifles. 

In another incident, Berkeley police on June 21 at 11:55 a.m. attempted to pull over a 1992 blue Buick, believing that one of the riders was Lankford. A short pursuit ended up on 60th street near Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. Three of the four people in the car escaped. Police confiscated a Mac 10 firearm. 

Oakland police have also stepped up patrols, both in response to the Berkeley shootings and to the increased gunfire in areas near Oakland’s border with South Berkeley. One Oakland incident stands out: On June 19 at 11:30 a.m., a man opened fire at Aileen and Dover, spraying five houses with gunfire and almost hitting a woman holding a baby. 

There were also two shootings in Oakland on June 17: one at 11:35 a.m. in front of 6106 Shattuck Ave., and a second at 10 p.m. on the corner of Genoa and 53rd streets.  

Oakland Lt. Lawrence Green, who oversees community policing for North Oakland, is warning residents to stay out of certain areas along the border of Oakland and Berkeley, saying the recent wave of violence is a result of a feud between rival factions battling over drug trade territory. In an e-mail to a listserv that includes dozens of North Oakland residents, Green wrote, “It appears inevitable that there will be continued violence in North Oakland and South Berkeley,” adding that “the bottom line is that North Oakland drug dealers are responsible for multiple murders and shootings in Berkeley, and Berkeley drug dealers are banding together to ‘take out’ the North Oakland dealers.” 

In that same e-mail, Green identified seven spots that may be vulnerable to drug-related crime. In Berkeley, those hot spots are Prince and California streets, Russell and Sacramento streets, San Pablo Park and the 1600 block of 62nd street. In Oakland, the areas include the Alcatraz Street corridor, Shattuck Avenue and 62nd street near the Berkeley border. 

Green said he got the information about a possible link to a drug turf war from Berkeley police. But Kusmiss declined to confirm that theory. “Clearly if there’s violence going on there has to be some kind of catalyst,” she said. “But absent having people in custody to interview in order to confirm that, we can’t say for certain. It could be a feud over a relationship or some other reason. We just can’t be 100 percent sure.” 

Kusmiss also said the Berkeley Police Department is not issuing such “stay-away” warnings. “Certainly we think that you should put out crime information to protect people, but the [Berkeley Police] Department would never tell people to avoid an area. We don’t want to incite panic or fear,” she said. 

Some Southwest Berkeley residents say they are fearful anyway. Laura Menard is a retired massage therapist and mother of two who has lived in Southwest Berkeley for 25 years. She was at her Russell Street home having dinner with a friend on the evening of June 18 when she heard gunshots. She later learned that a 31-year-old Oakland man had been shot on the 1600 block of Russell, two blocks from her house. 

“This is not unusual,” she said, adding that she sees drug dealing and hears gunfire on a regular basis, and has witnessed shootings of people on at least two occasions, including once with her child. “It’s unnerving. The threat of assault weapons in the neighborhood has me constantly concerned about my kids’ safety,” she said. “People in the rest of Berkeley don’t understand how different it is in this neighborhood than the rest of Berkeley.” 

Menard said she and her neighbors are planning to develop a proposal to revamp the city’s community policing model to look more like Oakland’s and will present it at the July 17 South Berkeley Police town hall meeting. Those changes include looking at trends over a broader area rather than just block by block, meeting with neighbors more often to discuss solutions and establishing a Web site and hotline to increase communication between police and residents. 

Ozzie Vincent is a longtime Berkeley resident who lives on Alcatraz between Martin Luther King Blvd. and Shattuck Avenue. Living on the border, Vincent has worked with both Berkeley police and Oakland police in getting crime problems addressed in his neighborhood. He said Berkeley police could learn from Oakland’s community policing system. “With Oakland, it’s a real problem solving give-and-take. You never see anything like that in Berkeley,” he said. 

Another resident, who didn’t want her name published, said one of the problems is that many neighbors are afraid to report crime to police. She said a particularly useful tool is the court-ordered, stay-away order, which bans parolees from being in certain drug trafficking areas. “A lot of people won’t talk to police, and they pretend they don’t care when they see drug dealing on the street, even when in private they admit it does bother them,” she said. “They think I’m crazy for making it known.” 

FRIDAY, JUNE 27 

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. 496-6000, ext. 135. www.bpf.org 

International Association for the Study of Dreams Conference: “Dreaming by the Bay” A three-day conference  

on the psychological, medical, artistic and spiritual perspectives of dreams. Members of the public may register for the  

conference on a space-available basis by calling 1-866-DREAM12. www.ASDreams.org 

SATURDAY, JUNE 28 

Memorial for Kevin Lee Freeman, resident of Berkeley’s streets, who was murdered on May 9 in Santa Rita Jail. March at noon in People’s Park, followed by a Memorial at the Berkeley Fellowship, 1924 Cedar St. 845-2248. 

Howard Dean House Party at 6 p.m. at 2933 Benvenue Ave., corner of Ashby. Conference call with Howard Dean at 7 p.m. Learn about Dean’s campaign for President, his record as Governor of Vermont, why we are supporting him, and how he is the most progressive electable Democrat running to defeat George W. Bush. Please bring your checkbooks and questions to ask Howard Dean. For information or to confirm your attendance call Paul  

Hogarth, 666-1260.  

Awarding Social Responsibility Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility present their 21st annual Lewis Mumford Awards for Peace, Development, and Environment to MoveOn. 

org, Rebuilding Homes, and the Center for Environmental Health, at 6 p.m. in the Peralta Community Gardens, Peralta and Hopkins Sts. For more information call 415-974-1306. 

Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Exercise The public is invited to observe the Northern Alameda County Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services in a nationwide test from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Ber- 

keley’s Emergency Operations Center at 997 Cedar St. For more information call Ron Jacobs at 525-0212. 

Kids’ Garden Club: Bread Learn about bread, mill wild wheat, and bake bread. For children age 7 - 12, from 2 to 4 p.m., Tilden Nature Area. Cost is $5 for Berkeley residents, $7 for non-residents. 525-2233, tnarea@ebparks.org 

Sudden Oak Death in California, a two-day class with UC researcher Matteo Garbeletto and Botanical Garden Director Ellen Simms who will provide an up-to-date account of the research and status of the epidemic. Cost is $200. To register, call the Jepson Herbarium at 643-7008. 

National Organization for Women, Oakland/East Bay Chapter, celebrates its 36th anniversary at noon at Café de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck. The keynote speaker will be Ruth Rosen, author of “The World Split Open: How the Modern Women’s Movement Changed America.” Cost for the luncheon is $30, $20 for students. 287-8948. 

SUNDAY, JUNE 29 

Gardening With Kids, A Workshop for Adults Whether you’re starting a school or home garden or have one already and want to get kids involved, this is the workshop for you, from 1 to 4:30 p.m in Tilden Nature Area. Cost is $10 for Berkeley residents, $12 for non-residents. 525-2233, tnarea@ebparks.org 

“History of Nyingma” with Lama Palzang and Pema Gellek at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Place. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, JUNE 30 

LBNL Development, Public Scoping Meeting on the proposed six-story 65,000 sq. ft. Research Office Building on Cyclotron Rd., at 6:30 p.m., North Berkeley Senior Center. 

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

TUESDAY, JULY 1 

Celebrate David Brower Day and Help Restore The Bay Join Earth Island Institute, Save The Bay, and Earth Team in celebrating the third annual David Brower Day with a community wetlands restoration project, from 1 to 5 p.m. at Oakland’s Arrowhead Marsh on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Shoreline. Guest speakers will include Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, Save The Bay co-founder Sylvia McLaughlin, and the Brower family. For more information call Marilyn Latta at 452-9261. mlatta@savesfbay.org 

Wine Tasting at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Derby St. at MLK, Jr. Way. 548-3333. 

Alternatives to Action Discussion Group with Robert Berend at 7 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 527-5332. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 525-3565. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 2 

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. Join fellow human rights activists to help promote social justice one individual at a time. 872-0768. 

Free Feldenkrais ATM Classes for adults 55 and older at 10:30 and 11:45 a.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut at Rose. For information on the classes call  

848-5143. 527-5332. 

I Spy! Come undercover in a disquise and visit our spy training stations. Make a gadget, decode a secret message and network with other spies in training, from noon to 2 p.m. at Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Drive. 643-5961. www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

THURSDAY, JULY 3 

Berkeley Liberation Radio 104.1 FM holds public meetings for all interested people first and third Thursdays, 7 p.m. at the Long Haul Info Shop, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 595-0190.  

FRIDAY, JULY 4 

Independence Day, City of Berkeley Offices Closed 

July 4 at the Berkeley Marina, sponsored by the City of Berkeley. Free celebration from noon to 10 p.m. with two stages for live music, arts and crafts, free sailboat rides, bicycle parade at 7 p.m. and a fireworks show at 9:30 p.m. “Operation Kidprint,” a program of the Berkeley Police Department will provide parents with their children’s fingerprints at no cost. Valet bicycle parking will be available free of charge. Personal fireworks and alcohol are forbidden. Cars must be in by 7 p.m., and will not be permitted out until after 10 p.m. 981-7000. 

Evening Canoe Outing with Save the Bay Celebrate the 4th away from the crowds, paddling through Oakland’s serene Arrowhead Marsh, from 7 to 10 p.m. Cost is $25 for STB members, $30 for non-members. To register or for more information call 542-9261.  

www.savesfbay.org 

World One Festival, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Cerrito Park, El Cerrito. Music includes classical Indian dance, global fusion, bluegrass, reggae, capoeira, roots, African and capoeira. Sponsored by the City of El Cerrito, and 88.1 KeCg 97.7. For information contact  

worldone@worldoneradio.org 

ONGOING 

Summer Fun Camps for Children and Teens, from age five and up are offered at Berkeley recreation centers and include such activities as arts and crafts, swimming and tennis lessons, yoga, organized sports and games, and field trips. The Summer Fun Camp Program runs June 30 through August 22, Mon. - Fri., 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.  The fee, including lunch and snack, is $77 per week for Berkeley residents. Extended morning and afternoon sessions are also available at an additional cost. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Parks Recreation and Waterfront Department. Applications for the camps can be picked up at the Camps Office, located at 2016 Center St., or can be mailed upon request. 981-5150. 

Echo Lake Youth Camp for ages 6 - 12 at Echo Lake, near South Lake Tahoe. One week sessions are offered between July 7 and August 22. Cost is $235 per session. For registration information please visit the City of Berkeley’s Recreation Programs Office at 2016 Center St., or call 981-5150. 

Educators Academy: Insects and Crawling Creatures Tues., June 24 - Thurs., June 26, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Registration is required. Cost is $100 for Berkeley residents, $110 for non-residents. Financial assistance is available. For information call 636-1684. tnarea@ebparks.org 

Summer Science Weeks: Insects and Plants Count butterflies, hunt bugs, and meet common plant families. Mondays, June 30 to July 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for ages 9 to 12, in Tilden Nature Area in Tilden Park. Cost is $150 for Berkeley residents, $166 for non-residents. Financial assistance available for low-income families. For information call 636-1684.  

Bay Area Technology Education Collaborative, a community non-profit offers low-cost training in Computer Information Technology. Free orientations on July 2 and 9, classes start July 14. For information call 451-7300, ext. 604. www.baytec.org 

Alameda County Hazardous Waste Drop-Off from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 26-28 at Alameda County Household Hazardous Waste, 2100 E. 7th St., Oakland. Take advantage of this opportunity to safely dispose of paint, stain, varnish; auto products such as old fuel and motor oil; household batteries, cleaners and sprays; garden products, including pesticides and fertilizers. Call 1-877-STOPWASTE or visit stopwaste.org/fsrecycle.  

CITY MEETINGS 

Council Agenda Committee meets Monday, June 30, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St., Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/agenda-committee 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wednesday, July 2, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Ruby Primus, 981-5106. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/women 

Fire Safety Commission meets Wednesday, July 2, at 7:30 p.m. at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. David Orth, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/firesafety 

School Board meets Wednesday July 2, at 7:30 p.m., in the City Council Chambers. Queen Graham 644-6147 or Mark Coplan 644-6320.

Gray Davis is a pretty unattractive fellow, even to many Democrats. He has a history of cozy relationships with unsavory campaign contributors, like the prison guards’ union. He has enthusiastically promoted their agenda, building more and more prisons at the expense of social programs which might prevent incarceration. His detractors on the left have ugly anecdotes going back to the days when Jerry Brown was governor, when he served as enforcer for shadowy deals that Jerry didn’t want to have on his public record. He’s a jerk, but face it, he’s our jerk. 

Recall signature gatherers are everywhere, even at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, where they have been observed in spirited debate with the people who regularly work the market crowd for reliable Berkeley signatures on certifiably good causes like stopping pollution. One of the regulars articulated the two best arguments against signing the recall petition: (1) An election would cost a fortune, and California hasn’t got the money, and (2) we’d get someone even worse. And that’s the whole story. 

As bad as Davis is, most of the potential opponents are even less appealing, and with the cuckoo legal setup for choosing a successor, the worst candidate with the most money, whoever he is, will certainly win. That’s why erstwhile Green candidate Peter Camejo, who got a lot of votes in Berkeley, is making a big mistake identifying himself with the recall campaign. He’s saying that his reasons for opposing Davis are different from those advanced by the organization funded by Darrell Issa, but the message doesn’t get through. Recall advocates blame Davis for California’s fiscal crisis, which is primarily caused by the disastrous economic policies of the Bush administration. They pander to the racist segment of the California electorate which passed initiatives opposing immigration and affirmative action. Camejo’s endorsement of the recall will inevitably taint the Green party with these ideas and tactics. Berkeley Green leaders have been trying to head off Camejo’s suicidal maneuvers, but at press time they still hadn’t talked him out of supporting the recall. Their back-up tactic is to run a Green anti-recall candidate against Camejo in the election, but by that time it will really be too late. 

Prominent Democrats have pointedly removed themselves from contention to avoid aiding the Issa campaign. There’s one more thing which would keep disaffected voters on the left from supporting recall. That would be for an attractive Democratic candidate with better values than Davis to announce, now, the intention of running for governor in the next regular election. The Bay Area could offer Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who is smart, liberal and an effective campaigner. Or how about the many able termed-out former legislators who know their way around Sacramento? Berkeley’s own Dion Aroner, who worked in the Assembly for close to 30 years both as an aide and as a representative, would make an excellent candidate for governor, and if she started now she would be able to build a good base before the 2006 election. A vigorous anti-Davis candidacy would attract better candidates to Democratic legislative primaries for all offices in the interim. 

The new Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club, which attracted a standing room only crowd to its recent Berkeley meeting, has an anyone-but-Bush agenda for the next national election. It should also take as part of its mission finding better Democrats for California races, so that we won’t continue to be stuck with embarrassments like Davis in the future. 

Becky O’Malley is executive editor of the Berkeley Daily Planet.

FRIDAY, JUNE 27 

CHILDREN 

Stage Door Conservatory's “Kids OnStage” presents a free mini-musical at 7:30 p.m. at Epworth United Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. 527-5939. StageDoorCamp@aol.com 

FILM 

Douglas Sirk: “Written on the Wind” at 7:30 p.m. and “Magnificent Obsession” at 9:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon Series, “Wisdom, Experience, Humor, and Whatever” with City Club members. Luncheon 11:45 a.m. $11.50 - $12.50, open mic at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations 

526-2925, 665-9020. 

Edward Tenner explores how technology has shaped our bodies in “Our Own Devices: The Past and Future of Body Technology” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Noche Flamenca from Madrid performs at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Big Brutha Soul at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenez. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

U.D.I., 11/5, Da Duke Boys, ADR La Vey, Pho-Ba’la perform hip hop at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes On Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886. www.blakesontele 

graph.com 

Suzanne Pittson in concert at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12 in advance, $14 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Doraflood, Sushirobo and Love is Chemicals perform at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com  

LynAnn King with the Vincent Tolliver Quintet perform at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $15. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Shana Morrison, celtic/blues fusion 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 

Sean Powers Shadow Puppetry and the Bent Antennae Puppet Troupe at 8 p.m. at The 1923 Teahouse, 1923 Ashby Ave. 644-2204. 

O-Maya fuses Latin music with Hip Hop at 8 p.m. at Jupiter, 2181 Shattuck Ave. 843-7625. 

Missing 23rd, Breath In, Members of the Yellow Press, Clampdown, The Filthy Vagrants perform at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SATURDAY, JUNE 28 

CHILDREN 

Golden Gate International Children’s Choral Festival Choirs from Jakarta, Indonesia, Vladivostok and Nakhodka, Russia, Havana, Cuba and the United States will perform “Sing All Ye Joyful” at 7.30 p.m. in Zeller-bach Hall. Tickets are $10-26, available from 642-9988. www.piedmontchoirs.org 

Take a Seat for Habitot, an exhibition of chairs designed and decorated by Michael Chabon, Whoopi Goldberg, Chris Isaak, Frederica von Stade, Robin Williams, Lucas Film, Oakland Athletics, SF Giants and 49ers, and others, from 7 to 10 p.m. at Ethan Allen, 5717 Christie Ave., Emeryville. Chairs will be auctioned on Sept. 5 in a benefit for Berkeley’s Habitot Children’s Museum. 841-4034 or 841-0440. 

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

Audrey Coleman reads her new book, “Francine, Francine the Beach Party Queen,” at 11 a.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

FILM 

Douglas Sirk: “Tarnished Angels” at 4:30 and 8:40 p.m. and “Shockproof” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Allan Sekula, conceptual photographer, in converstaion with Kaja Silverman, on his recent work, including “Waiting for Tear Gas,” at 1 p.m. in Dwinnelle 142, UC Campus. More information is available at www.NewScreenMedia.com 

Rhythm and Muse Poetry reading at the Berkeley Art Center. Open mic sign-up at 6:30 p.m., reading at 7 p.m. 1275 Walnut St., between Eunice & Rose Sts. Admission is free. 527-9753 or 569-5364. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Baghdad and Beyond: Healing the Wounds of War” with Cameron Powers and other musicians who played Arab music in Baghdad during the war, at 8 p.m. at The 1923 Teahouse, 1923 Ashby Ave. 644-2204. 

Noche Flamenca from Madrid performs at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Don Carlos with Reggae Angels and Jah Light Music at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $14 in advance, $16 at the door. 525-5054.  

www.ashkenaz.com 

Mark Growden and the Electric Pinata and Molehill Orchestra perform at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.www.starryploughpub.com 

Psychokenetics, Kirby Dominant perform hip hop at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes On Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

LynAnn King with the Vincent Tolliver Quintet perform at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $15. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.org 

House Jacks, a cappella over-drive, at 5 and 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $16.50 in advance, $17.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jesus Diaz y su QBA, Afro-Cuban dance music at 9:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568.  

www.lapena.org  

Famous Last Words performs at 8 p.m. at Jupiter, 2181 Shattuck Ave. 843-7625. 

Babyland, Replicator, Brilliant Red Lights, 8-Bit 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, JUNE 29 

FILM 

“Relentless: The Struggle for Peace in Israel” will be sceened at 7 p.m. at Congregation Beth El, Arch and Vine. Facilitated discussion groups will follow. Admission is free. Sponsored by Bridges to Israel-Berkeley. For information call June Brott at 636-9639 or Seymour Kessler at 525-1526. 

Douglas Sirk: “Imitation of Life” 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. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Audacious Imaginations: A Tribute to Berkeley Poet Barbara Guest, at 3:30 p.m. in the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way 642-0808.                   www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Poets Eliot Figman and Judith Taylor at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Guided Tour of Paul Kos: “Everything Matters,” at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. Free for members, UC students, faculty and staff, $5 seniors and disabled, $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Jupiter String Quartet, with Victor Romasevich, violin, performs Tchaikovsky, Andriasov and Mozart at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. Cost is $10, children under 12 are free.  

644-6893. 

ReminEssence in a performance of music, poetry and dance to benefit Destiny Art Center, at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $8 in advance, $10-$25 at the door. For tickets call 306-0236. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Noche Flamenca from Madrid performs at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus at 7 p.m. Tickets are $42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Arin Simonian, contemporary singer-songwriter, performs at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $14.50 in advance, $15.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

LynAnn King with the Vincent Tolliver Quintet performs at 5 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $15. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Flamenco Open Stage with Alicia and Roberto Zamora at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The Landrus Project, Johnny Sketch perform funk at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes On Telegraph. Cost is $3. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

MONDAY, JUNE 30 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ursula K. LeGuin reads from her new novel, “Changing Places,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Lincoln Cushing introduces a unique graphic art in “¡Revolución!: Cuban Poster Art,” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

TUESDAY, JULY 1 

FILM 

Sarunas Bartas: “Three Days” 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. 642-0808.  

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Berkeley Summer Poetry from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Mediterranean Cafe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. Free, open mic, poetry, prose, short fiction, amateur and advanced artists welcome. 549-1128. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jonathan Wilson reads from his new novel, “A Palestine Affair,” set in British-occupied Palestine, at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

K. K. Ottensen discusses her new book “Great Americans: Famous Names, Real People,” of interviews and photographs of ordinary people with famous names, at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Ronnie Gilbert Celebrates Gay Pride in song at 1:15 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst. 981-5190. 

Libby Kirkpatrick, singer-songwriter, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $8-$10 sliding scale. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Noche Flamenca from Madrid performs at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus at 8 p.m. Tickets are $42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

DP and the Rhythm Riders at 8:30 p.m., with a Cajun dance lesson with Cheryl McBride at 8 p.m., at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 2 

FILM 

Excess of Evil: “God Told Me To” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive, with Larry Cohen in person. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Christine Wicker discusses “Lily Dale: The True Story of the Town That Talks to the Dead,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Happy Turtle performs Latin jazz at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $8-$10 sliding scale. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Noche Flamenca from Madrid performs at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Reeltime Travelers and Bluegrass Intentions perform traditional and original dance songs at 8 p.m., at Ashkenaz. Cost is $11. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jules Broussard and Ned Boynton at 8 p.m. at Downtown, 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. 

Angel of Thorns, Half-Seas-Over, Superlarry, Anna Oxygen perform at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

AT THE THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley, “The Bacchae,” directed by David Stein. Euripedes’ play about Dionysus and his revenge against a hateful king. Sat. and Sun., June 21 through July 6, at 5:30 p.m., outdoors in John Hinkle Park, off The Arlington at Southampton Ave. and Somerset Place. Free admission. 525-1620. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Aurora Theater Company, “Thérèse Raquin,” by Emile Zola, directed by Tom Ross. A sinister tale set among the lower classes in nineteenth-century Parisian society. Runs June 20 to July 27, at 2081 Addison St. Tickets are $32 and $34. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

Berkeley Repertory Theater, “The Guys,” by Anne Nelson, directed by Robert Egan. Through July 5, Tues. - Sun., call for starting times. $10-$54. The Roda Theater, 2016 Addison St. 647-2918. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

California Shakespeare Festival runs through October 22. Performances this year will be Julius Caesar, Arms and the Man, Measure for Measure, and Much Ado About Nothing. Please call for dates and times. The Bruns Amphitheater, Orinda. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org  

Central Works Theater Ensemble, “The Wyrd Sisters” directed by Jan Zvaifler. Through July 13, Thurs. - Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 5 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Tickets are $8-$20 sliding scale. For reservations call 558-1381. 

Shotgun Players “under milk wood” by Dylan Thomas at Eighth Street Studio, 2525 8th St. Through June 29, Thurs. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 7 p.m. Tickets are $18 adults, $12 children and seniors, $10 on Thursdays. 704-8210. www.shotgunplayers.org

Drivers will pay more for parking violations and homeowners and businessmen will pay more in property taxes under a final 2003-2004 budget passed by City Council Wednesday night. 

Council approved the $280 million budget on a 7-1 vote, with one abstention, after five months of meetings and public hearings. The city closed a $9 million deficit with a selective hiring freeze, cuts to administration and social services, and increases in various fees and taxes. 

“It’s been a difficult process, but I think we’ve got a very good budget,” said Mayor Tom Bates. 

Starting July 1, the fine for an expired meter will jump from $23 to $30, and drivers will pay $51 for parking in a red curb or tow-away zone, up from the current $34.  

Next year, the average homeowner will pay $118 more in property taxes to fund parks, sewers, libraries and other city services. The largest portion of the increase will cover library services, with the average homeowner paying $30 more per year and the average business owner forking over $238 more annually. 

Victor Bull, owner of Thunderware, a high tech company in West Berkeley that recently shut its doors, showed up at the council meeting Tuesday night to object to the 13.9 percent jump in library taxes. 

“I love libraries and I love to support them, but it’s becoming a back-breaking situation for me,” said Bull, who said he still pays $10,000 in property taxes on his West Berkeley building, even though his business has closed. “We are not a bottomless pit of revenue.” 

But councilmembers said raising property taxes and fines was necessary to save vital city services. 

“Without [those services], we just won’t have the kind of city we want to live in,” said councilmember Linda Maio.  

The council, concerned about further cuts from the state, also adopted a $3.66 million contingency plan that would chop youth and senior services and let the assistant fire chief go, if necessary. 

The budget picture only promises to get worse in 2004-2005, when the city will face a projected $8 to $10 million deficit. An initial list of possible cuts, prepared by the city manager’s office, includes heavy reductions in police and fire, which largely avoided the budget axe this year.  

Bates, elected in November, presided over a largely civil budget process this year. The measured debate differed sharply from the brutal spending fights of recent years that pitted a slim “progressive” majority against the “moderates” led by former Mayor Shirley Dean. 

But the new mayor, who now heads a 6-3 progressive majority, did not avoid controversy altogether. On Tuesday night, moderate Councilmembers Betty Olds and Miriam Hawley and progressive Councilmember Maudelle Shirek raised concerns about $685,000 in last-minute spending put forth by Bates and ultimately approved by the council. 

“I think it was a backroom deal,” said Olds, the lone vote against the budget. 

Olds said the mayor should have consulted with a series of citizen commissions — concerned with a variety of issues, such as the arts and homelessness—which normally review budget proposals and make recommendations before the council votes.  

But Bates said the recent emergence of $800,000 in new revenue did not allow time to confer with the commissions on the new spending, which focused on the arts, health programs, homeless services and youth activities.  

Bates cobbled together the spending package over the course of the last two weeks when it became clear that the council was willing to raise parking fines by more than the 30 percent originally recommended by City Manager Weldon Rucker. 

Rucker’s plan would have yielded $2 million in new revenue. But the parking ticket schedule ultimately passed by council Tuesday night, which raised some fines by 30 percent and others by 50 percent, is expected to generate $2.8 million for the city —providing the council with an $800,000 windfall, on top of $115,000 in other unallocated funds.  

With $915,000 to play with, Bates allocated about $685,000 to new spending and set aside a $230,000 reserve in anticipation of further cuts from the state. 

The package included several recommendations made by other councilmembers, but also highlighted the mayor’s priorities. Bates, who focused heavily on education and youth services in his campaign, earmarked $70,000 for a new program, Berkeley Champions for Kids, that would recruit volunteers for libraries, recreation centers and after-school programs. 

Moderate councilmember Miriam Hawley, who had concerns about circumventing the commissions, nonetheless praised Bates for putting together an even-handed spending package that weighed all the councilmembers’ priorities. 

“He looked at them all and everybody was a winner on some things and a loser on others,” she said.  

But Sherry Smith, an aide to Hawley and an Olds appointee to the Civic Arts Commission, said the arts groups that benefited from the last-minute spending package had an unfair advantage over the organizations that competed for city funds before the commission at the start of the budget process. 

“We think these organizations are fine, splendid organizations, and worthy of city support,” Smith said. “But 68 other arts organizations have played by the rules.” 

Bates noted that the new spending plan includes a provision allowing the city manager and commissions to review the package over the next 60 days and make recommendations to the council for changes. 

But Smith said the weight of the existing City Council vote will make it politically impossible for the commissions to recommend taking money away from projects like Totland, a children’s play center near downtown Berkeley, which received $25,000 in the new plan. 

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we had 100 tots show up at the meeting,” she said. 

“There is a certain amount of truth [in that argument],” Bates said.  

But the mayor said the commissions are “independent” entities that won’t be afraid to recommend adjustments and added that he council will be “open-minded” about any proposed funding shifts. 

The other major budget controversy in recent weeks was the library tax. The public library had pushed for a 36 percent hike, but the city’s legal office determined that 13.9 percent was the maximum allowable increase under the law. 

Councilmembers, citing the legal opinion, went for the 13.9 percent jump. 

“I think it’s what we can do now,” said Maio. 

Jorge Garcia, of the Berkeley Board of Library Trustees, said he understood the city’s position and could accept the 13.9 percent increase, which is significantly higher than the 4 percent increase originally proposed by Rucker. 

“It’s better than the worst case scenario and worse than the best case scemario,” said Garcia. 

Garcia said it is too early to say how library services may be affected next year, but cautioned that the 13.9 percent increase, expected to generate $1.3 million in new revenue, may not be enough to prevent a reduction in services for the cash-strapped library. 

The city’s $9 million 2003-2004 deficit included a $4.7 million shortfall in the general fund and a $4.3 million hole in the city’s other funds. 

NEW BUS ROUTE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I believe you are throwing the hills into an unnecessary panic. I read the AC Transit description of the new 65 route, and it appears to say—granted, the language is less than easy to decipher—that the 65 will run on weekdays alternately out to the Hall of Science and on the old 8 route, in a loop around Senior, Campus and Shasta.  

It does not say what you reported it to say, that the bus will only run up Euclid, and proceed along Grizzly on “every other weekday.” Common sense should have persuaded Ms. Greenwell, and her editor, to have questioned this “bus every other day” concept. I hope I am correct on this, as I have one person in my family who does not drive and relies on the 65 to get home after work.  

Marian Simpson  

• 

HARMFUL CONCESSIONS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In order to balance its budget, one of our city’s best sources of revenue should be sales tax. But our left-leaning City Council majority discourages business by rapidly eliminating parking from our commercial areas. They are preparing to give away city-owned parking lots, worth millions, to their favorite developers. Of course they themselves have free parking downtown, and many city staff have special citywide parking permits.  

Berkeleyans have come up with great suggestions for a better budget. But “the (BCA) powers that be” always do the same old thing—impose fees, fines and taxes, even a tax on our PGE and phone bill. Our taxes and assessments are already the highest in the state! If you feel discouraged about living here and sell your home, expect a hefty property “transfer tax.” 

The politicians waive fees for their favorite developers, who pay no “impact fees” for schools or traffic mitigation as they do in other cities. So our developer fees are among the lowest in the state. Favored developers are also usually given every possible concession such as reduced or no parking, lower setbacks, less open space and increased building height. These concessions are usually harmful to the community.  

You can read about the origins of the BCA’s strategies for controlling Berkeley in the 1976 book by Eve Bach, et al, “The Cities Wealth, Programs for Community Economic Control in Berkeley, California.” Another must read is the 1987 version of “Ecocity Berkeley” by Richard Register (and endorsed by Loni Hancock), whose theorems are now being used to push massive development projects. The book has some good ideas, some humorous ideas and some “Cities Wealth” type ideas clothed in eco-green, but which are mostly about politicians’ and developers’ monetary green.  

Merrilie Mitchell 

• 

SUPPORT THEATER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you for running the review of “The Bacchae” in your June 24-26 edition. As a member of the cast, I was delighted with the effusive praise from Betsy Hunton. As an actor, I’m delighted whenever a newspaper covers the small theater productions in the Bay Area. While we usually operate with a fraction of a fraction of the budget of a Berkeley Rep or an ACT, I think that, often, the audiences get just as much entertainment and satisfaction from—and are moved just as much by—performances put on by small, local theater companies. That’s a lot of bang for the buck!  

Please continue to cover productions by small, local theater companies and encourage the people of Berkeley and the rest of the Bay Area to share in the magic of live theater. 

Brian Buckley Smith 

• 

MODEL FOR A NATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Rather than get depressed over the Bush tax cuts, why not collectively redirect the $400 tax break into local services? That would make the Republican idea of local control work for Berkeley, where a majority believe in education and public transportation over war and corporate subsidies.  

I’m pledging $400 to the local schools because I believe in their mission. If we all gave the tax break back to a public service of our choice, we could shed the sense of victimization and again be a model for the nation. 

Eliot Schain 

• 

ABORTION LAW 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

With the bill banning late-term abortion becoming law, it shows that the Democratic Party is taking women voters for granted. In the Senate, the bill to ban later-term abortion was passed with the help of several Democrats, including Minority Leader Tom Daschle. In the House of Representatives, the same bill was passed with the help of several Democrats. All President Bush needs to do is sign it. 

The Democrats didn’t have to defend this procedure. Everyone can agree that it is gruesome. All they needed to do was defend it as a decision that should be up to a woman and her doctor, not anti-choice politicians such as Joseph Pitts, Christopher Smith and Rick Santorum. That’s why I quit the Democratic Party in 1999 and became a registered Green, so I can expose how fake the anti-choice folks in Congress are on their stand on reproductive rights. 

Billy Trice Jr. 

Oakland 

• 

RENT CONTROL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regarding Mr. Koenigshofer’s letter to the editor of June 10-12:   

Mr. Koenigshofer’s main argument against rent control, that it interferes with the freedom to contract, can serve as the basis for opposition to minimum wage laws, workplace safety rules, consumer protection regulations—indeed, any public attempt to curb the socially damaging results of leaving the private market (which, after all, consists of a set of contracts between businesses and others) to its own devices. 

In the early days of the 20th century, some judges used Mr. Koenigshofer’s  rationale to overturn the first versions of social legislation: laws protecting female employees against dangerously long work hours. Later on, the judiciary rejected this notion of the sanctity of contracts and recognized that public welfare justifies government intervention in a wide variety of “private” economic relationships. 

At least Mr. Koenigshofer’s line of thinking places rent control where it belongs, as part of the body of sensible economic regulations that have tamed the savage tendencies of laissez-faire capitalism. 

These regulations are under assault from the extreme right. Accepting Mr. Koenigshofer’s logic would take us where some of the more brazen ideologues surrounding George W. Bush want to go, back to the glorious days when unbridled freedom to contract enabled workers to be paid starvation wages, consumers to be poisoned, and renters to be gouged. 

Randy Silverman 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Two years ago, Berkeley Unified hired a new food services director. In the first year of her administration, Food Services lost $800,000. This year, according to BUSD budget reports, Food Services lost $900,000. During this period, food services administrators’ salaries increased by over $100,000 while the entire department has only 35 mainly part-time workers. The three full-time administrators' salaries and benefits total about $250,000. $900,000 would pay for quite a few teachers.  

It’s no secret why Food Services is losing money. In an era where even McDonald’s and Jack in the Box are featuring salads, the new director terminated the popular farmers’ market salad bars as a cost-cutting measure. Instead cottage cheese and cling peaches became staples on the salad bar.  

A very expensive food preparation unit (estimated at $200,000) was purchased and placed on the black top at Berkeley High School. It has cooking facilities, refrigeration, the works. Yet, this food unit only sells pizza, soda, water and juice.  

And in a school of 3,000 students, the director of food services only manages to sell four to six orders of pizza a day. No wonder the department is losing money, hand over fist.  

Two years ago, the director of the very successful Santa Monica program applied for the job, and we didn’t hire him. Santa Monica’s food services has a farmers’ market salad bar in every school. Each school has regular cafeteria staff plus a salad bar manager. The Santa Monica Food Services department is so successful, they fund a school garden volunteer coordinator and a part-time horticulture teacher at their high school.  

How long do we give someone before we decide that this person is not competent. Is two years and a loss of $1.7 million enough? I would much rather have teachers or music or librarians or sports than cottage cheese and cling peaches with a $900,000 bill.  

Yolanda Huang 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Chris Kavanagh (of the Berkeley Rent Board) continues to expose his grandiose self-dellusions in his letter of June 20 when he asserts that the “Rent Board is perhaps the city’s most critical elected body.” Critical indeed if the great function of government is to build useless and counter productive bureaucracies that create and enforce random and unfair regulations.  

Kavanagh, like any good Orwellian Bureaucrat, speaks from the platform of regulatory minutia but never addresses the larger issues of fairness or justice. He never explains the logic of a rent subsidy program that makes no effort to determine whether or not its recipients need or deserve such subsidies. He is apparently indifferent to the terrible injustices arising from the program he enforces and assumes the case by case abuse of citizens is excusable in the service of the board’s ideological predisposition.  

Explain Chris how you justify forcing a landlord to subsidize the housing costs for a tenant who has a higher income than that landlord?  

Explain why you are indifferent to the fact that the policies you enforce have prompted a decrease in small scale, “mom and pop” rental housing and promote a consolidation of such housing in the hands of large, impersonal, corporate type owners?  

Explain Chris why it doesn’t bother you that citizens, relying on their own character and discernment, are prevented by your agency from negotiating agreements with one another and instead subjected to Draconian governmental intrusion?  

Chris, do you not find it ironic and unjust that a senior citizen on a fixed income can be compelled by your agency to provide subsidized housing to an individual who is younger, earns more and comes from a privileged background?  

Do you not comprehend how such ironies and injustices hurt not only their immediate victims but also the broader social contract between government and citizen?  

Lastly, Chris, I am curious, do you or any of the other Rent Board members enjoy benefits of the program you so actively enforce and defend? Simply Chris, how many of you live in rent controlled units? 

John Koenigshofer

With Green Party leader Peter Camejo set to formally announce his candidacy for governor Monday, local party members are attacking him for taking advantage of an “undemocratic” Republican-led effort to recall Gov. Gray Davis. 

“Peter is a little blinded by opportunity and isn’t seeing the bigger picture,” said Berkeley Board of Education Director John Selawsky, a county councilor with the Green Party of Alameda County. “I don’t think this is a democratic election, and I don’t think we should be encouraging it.” 

But Camejo said Davis is a “corrupt” figure who deserves to lose his job, even if it is conservatives who push him out of office. 

“This is the right of the public, the right of the voters,” he said. “We are critical of the reasons ... but not critical of the recall.” 

Still, local party members said their standard-bearer will do long-term damage to the Greens by running for governor. 

“It would make the Greens more unpopular,” said Berkeley City Councilmember Dona Spring. “It would look opportunistic.” 

The local opposition to Camejo’s candidacy is emblematic of widespread concern among California’s 157,000 Greens over the party’s role in a recall campaign bankrolled largely by a $1.15 million contribution from Republican Congressman and gubernatorial hopeful Darrell Issa. 

Issa’s organization, Rescue California, must gather about 900,000 valid signatures by Sept. 2 to get the recall on the March 2004 ballot. But the March ballot will feature the Democratic presidential primary and is likely to draw liberals to the polls in droves, which would not bode well for the recall vote. So Rescue California is hoping to collect the required signatures by July, possibly triggering a special election in the fall. 

The secretary of state reported Tuesday that recall supporters had gathered 376,008 unverified signatures statewide as of June 16. 

If the recall qualifies, voters will decide whether to dump Davis and will select a candidate to replace him should the recall pass. On Monday, Camejo will join Issa as the only two declared candidates. But actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, businessman Bill Simon, who lost to Davis in November, and state Sen. Tom McClintock are considered possible Republican candidates in the wide open election. 

Prominent Democrats, including U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, Attorney General Bill Lockyer and Treasurer Phil Angelides have rallied around the deeply unpopular Davis, denouncing the recall and saying they will not appear on the ballot. 

The Green Party’s ambivalence over the recall effort came to the forefront in early May at its latest plenary session in Sacramento. Many Greens voiced opposition to Davis, labeling him a money-hungry conservative in Democratic disguise who has led the state into a record-setting $38 billion deficit. Others said recall proponents are misusing a tool that should be reserved for blatant corruption and argued that Green support for ousting Davis could help a Republican get elected.  

Unable to come to a consensus on the issue, the statewide party decided to remain officially neutral on the recall. 

“While we have great disdain for Governor Davis ... we did not want to seem ostensibly to be in a partnership with Darrell Issa and the Republican Party,” said Green Party spokesperson Ross Mirkarimi. 

Left to their own devices, a handful of the party’s county organizations, including the Alameda County outfit, have come out in formal opposition to the recall. The local county council also met personally with Camejo last week to express its concerns.  

“The Greens are divided,” Camejo acknowledged. “There’s a whole spectrum of opinion.” 

But Camejo, who won 5 percent of the vote in the 2002 gubernatorial race, finishing third behind Davis and Simon, predicted the party faithful will rally behind him if the recall qualifies for the ballot. 

“I think 95 percent of the rank-and-file will support me,” he said.  

Greens make up just 1 percent of California’s electorate. But Camejo said he will be in a unique position to win Democratic votes in a recall election, given that leading Democrats have bowed out of the race. 

“It will be an enormous opportunity to get the Greens’ message out,” he said. “I will be the only well-known [progressive] candidate running against the Republicans.” 

UC Berkeley political science professor Jack Citrin predicted that Democratic voters, while generally unhappy with Davis, will probably rally around the governor and defeat the recall—especially if there is no Democratic alternative on the ballot. 

But, if voters do approve the recall, he said, Camejo will have a once in-a-lifetime opportunity to get elected. 

“If there are a couple of Republican candidates and a Green candidate, you might have an interesting situation,” Citrin said. “Democrats might choose the lesser of two evils.” 

Still, some party activists say they want no part in a recall effort that could oust Governor Davis in favor of a Governor Issa or Governor Schwarzenegger. 

“We certainly don’t want to, in any way, aid their election,” said Selawsky. 

But there is division in the party’s local ranks over the best course of action. 

“We are a political party, we’re not just an adjunct of the Democratic Party,” said Suzanne Baker of Oakland, who serves on party’s county council. “It seems rather suicidal not to run a candidate.” 

Mirkarimi, the party spokesperson, said the Greens face a delicate dance ahead, balancing their own opportunities against the specter of a Republican governor. 

“It’s not just walking the line, it’s a whole pirouette,” he said. “I’m not sure if we’re going to do it gracefully, or be absolutely clumsy about it.”

I’m not the first to observe, with some trepidation, that the Bush administration is rapidly erasing the line that separates church from state. Never before so many prayer breakfasts in the White House, never before public money transferred to “faith-based” social programs offered by proselytizing churches. But I see a greater issue still, something that’s making rational political discourse impossible. Policies are becoming articles of faith. 

Take Bush economic policy. The dogma is that tax cuts will heal a depressed economy. There’s no proof this is happening; even Alan Greenspan is skeptical. Nevertheless, George Bush remains committed to Hooveresque trickle-down principles that find no support in the historical record. For how could cutting the taxes of the well-to-do possibly undermine the economic health of the nation, even if it produces deficits that make spendthrift liberals cringe? Faith that reaches extremes like this vies with Tertullian’s heroically inane declaration: “I believe because it’s absurd.” 

One could go on. Weapons of mass destruction? They must exist, because the CIA says they once did. Isn’t that as good as the Bible telling us so? Besides, Saddam was an evil man. Wouldn’t an evil man possess evil weapons? Isn’t that sufficient for true patriots? Must we, like doubting Thomas, lay hands on these weapons before we believe they exist? Global warming? Can’t be true. Would God create a world that wasn’t SUV-friendly? Anti-ballistic missile system? Why even bother to test it? Just build it and pray that it works.  

Does this mode of thinking sound familiar? It does to me. It reminds me of the catechism I learned in my religious instructions. The resurrection of Jesus, original sin, the immaculate soul of Mary needed no proof. As matters of faith, they would be true even if there were facts that spoke against them. Why? Because faith is the evidence of things unseen. To believe in the absence of facts—or better still, to believe in the teeth of the facts—is a spiritual virtue on which one’s salvation depends.  

I suspect such exercises in blind faith result from Mr. Bush’s intimate association with fervent evangelical supporters. The messianic certitude that has come to characterize his foreign and domestic agenda is grounded in the evangelical belief system that rescued him from alcoholism and saved his marriage.  

As a matter of personal choice, he has every right to cling to the creed that shaped his life. He is not, after all, the first born-again Christian to inhabit the West Wing. But one need only recall Jimmy Carter to see how gracefully the presidency and personal faith can be combined. Given the obvious sincerity of Carter’s piety, one might have expected evangelicals to give him their whole-hearted support back in 1980. But they preferred Ronald Reagan, because Reagan wore his religiosity on his sleeve. That’s what many politicized evangelical groups want. At the Pat Robertson extreme this becomes an outright demand that the United States become, by constitutional amendment, a Christian nation. 

George Bush is treating us to a strong dose of religiously correct politics. He would rather cater to his evangelical base than make even a few strategic concessions to the liberal public that gave Al Gore and Ralph Nader 2,300,000 more votes in 2000. True believers don’t compromise with error.  

In a March 10 “Newsweek” feature titled “Bush and God,” Howard Fineman reports that Mr. Bush spends his mornings reading Oswald Chambers, an evangelical preacher, circa 1920. Here’s a taste of what our chief executive is learning from Chambers: “If you debate for even one second when God has spoken, it is over for you. ... Be reckless immediately, totally unrestrained and willing to risk everything by casting your all upon him. ... You will only recognize His voice more clearly through recklessly being willing to risk your all.” 

Recently, while researching a novel about evangelicals, I discovered the strangest things being preached in evangelical churches—things I’d debate a lot longer than a second: obscure old prophecies about the second coming and the third temple and the rapture and the tribulation and, oh yes, that perfect red heifer. Well, I’m sure there are things I believe that look every bit as bizarre; but nobody is turning my eccentricities into policies of war and peace.  

In the novel, I employ Danny Silverman, a gay, Jewish novelist from San Francisco, to spoof the cultural agenda of the 70 million fundamentalists whose politics have more to do with the Book of Revelation than the New York Times. That’s easy to do on paper. But all the while I wrote, I knew the man in the West Wing views these matters in a more serious light. Because, after all, he believes he’s been appointed to do God’s will, and the more recklessly, the better. 

To which I’m sure Danny Silverman could only say “Oy!” 

Theodore Roszak is a Berkeley writer whose latest book is “The Devil and Daniel Silverman.” He will be speaking on “Surviving Fundamentalism”at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 9 at the Rockridge Branch of the Oakland Library.

The face of Berkeley is changing. Vacant lots, former gas stations, parking lots and one-story commercial buildings are being replaced with infill, housing projects, often above ground floor retail. 

Construction sites are popping up all over on Berkeley’s major thoroughfares. On Shattuck, north and south; on University; on Telegraph, and on Bancroft.  

Berkeley is in the midst of a housing boom. Housing is being produced at a more rapid pace than at any time since the passage of the Neighborhood Preservation Ordinance (NPO) in 1973. 

Adding density 

In the past two years, the city’s Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) has approved 17 housing projects that have at least 10 units of housing. Ranging in size from 15 units to 176 units, these projects include a total of 930 units. Almost all are located in the downtown and/or on major commercial corridors with transit service. 

Berkeley’s current boom is far from over. Hundreds of additional units are working their way toward the ZAB for approval.  

What kind of housing is being built? 

• Two of the 17 projects have a majority of affordable units; 15 are market rate projects, but also include affordable “inclusionary” units. 

• Altogether, 25 percent of the approved units are affordable to low- and very low-income households. A majority of Berkeley’s current tenants are low or very low income according to surveys. According to the 2000 Census, the median income of Berkeley’s tenant households was only $27,341 in 1999. 

• Very few units, market rate or affordable, are being built for families. Only four out of 930 approved units are three-bedroom units.  

• All but two projects are rental housing projects. 

• All but one approved project is four or five stories in height. 

The Zoning Board and the City Council have shown strong support for building housing on commercial corridors. How successful are developers in getting housing approved? 

• Only one larger housing project was rejected by the ZAB while 17 were approved 

More than two-thirds of housing projects approved by the ZAB are appealed, but appeals have been almost totally unsuccessful. Only one appeal was even partially successful.  

• Opponents have turned to litigation to stop projects in four cases with no success. 

• The ZAB and City Council have balked at only two projects. Both were located in the middle of residential blocks rather than on transit corridors, and both encountered widespread, well-organized neighborhood opposition. 

• Developers are routinely receiving concessions that allow them to exceed what is permitted by development standards for the area. Reduced setbacks are common, while some projects get approved with reduced open space, reducing parking, increased lot coverage and, in four cases, an extra floor. 

Housing myths 

Some people seem to believe that until recently nothing had been built in Berkeley for decades. But while the pace has picked up sharply, construction of new housing has occurred steadily for the last 30 years. 

The last major housing boom in the city occurred in the 1960s and early 1970s. More than 7,000 units of new housing were built between 1960 and 1974. On neighborhood streets, especially near the UC campus, single-family homes were torn down and replaced with apartment buildings, many of them ugly, motel-style eyesores. Many of these building are soft-story buildings, with parking at ground level, and are in need of seismic retrofit.  

Much of the housing development in the 1950s and 1960s was in response to the post-war growth of UC. The university housed only a minority of its students. This continues to be the case. Today, about one-third of UC students live in dorms, fraternities, sororities and co-ops; the remaining two-thirds have to fend for themselves on the private housing market. 

The NPO put a stop to the trend of demolishing housing on residential streets. Most of the housing built in the 1980s and 1990s was built on major streets; residentially zoned areas saw little change.  

In the eighties, about 740 units were built; more than 60 percent of this housing were subsidized units built for low- and very low-income residents. Major affordable housing projects built in the 1980s include the Savo Island Co-operative Homes at Adeline and Stuart; the U/A Housing Co-op at University and Sacramento, and Redwood Gardens senior housing on Derby.  

The city also built 61 units of scattered-site, low-income housing in the 1980s. The 61 units were located on 10 different sites and generated a lot of opposition. Berkeley Citizens Action (BCA) had an 8-1 majority on the City Council at the time and their decision to build this housing contributed to a political backlash that led to voter approval of district elections in Berkeley. 

In the 1990s, the pace of housing production increased somewhat. Between 1990 and 2000, there was a net gain of 1,140 units. For-profit developers, notably Patrick Kennedy, became more active and the percentage of affordable, below-market units produced was lower than in the 1980s as a greater number of market-rate units were produced. For the first time in many years, housing was built in and near Berkeley's downtown.  

Neighborhood battles 

Nonprofit developers encountered stiff resistance in several cases. Resources for Community Development (RCD), one of the city’s leading nonprofit developers, faced uphill battles as it attempted to build low-income housing at the Bel Air Hotel site on University, on Rose Street in North Berkeley and on the Berkeley Inn site at Telegraph and Haste.  

In the first two cases, neighborhood opinion was divided, with active groups of neighborhood residents vigorously opposing the projects. RCD prevailed at the Bel Air site, where Erna P. Harris Court is now located. The Telegraph project generated no neighborhood opposition, but both it and the Rose Street project, which was slated for people with AIDS, were killed because they lacked the support of Mayor Shirley Dean and her allies who constituted a majority on the City Council at the time. 

School District staff appear to be proposing a giant game of musical chairs whereby (a) the Adult School would be moved from the West Campus to the Franklin School site; (b) the district’s administrative offices and storage and maintenance functions would be relocated from Old City Hall, and from the district’s Russell Street building, to the West Campus, and (c) the Rusell site would be redeveloped for housing. 

Though this complex set of proposals does offer some advantages for the district per se, it also raises major issues that affect the broader community. For example, students of the popular Adult School would be inconvenienced by that facility’s move to a less central, less widely accessible site, while the neighborhood around Franklin School would get impacted by new daytime and evening traffic. 

There is great danger that the Board of Education will quietly okay its staff’s scheme piece by piece, starting this summer, without Berkeley citizens’ grasping the full implications. And amazingly, it seems that nobody has seriously consulted two crucial city documents bearing on such issues: the Zoning Ordinance and the General Plan. 

The employee at the zoning counter who recently remarked to me, sweepingly, that the School District is “exempt” from zoning was uninformed. People should read the California Government Code’s article (Sections 53090 et seq.) entitled “Regulation of Local Agencies by Counties and Cities.” While that article’s Section 53094 gives a procedure whereby a school board may, by a two-thirds vote, exempt proposed uses from zoning, it clearly indicates that the exemption procedure cannot be used for “nonclassroom facilities, including, but not limited to, warehouses, administrative buildings, automotive storage and repair buildings.”  

So it appears that zoning will in any case apply to such proposals as redevelopment of the Russell Street site for housing, and reuse of the West Campus for district administrative headquarters—which, be it noted, the Berkeley Zoning Ordinance appears to classify as “offices” rather than “schools.” Note as well that although its University Avenue frontage per se is commercially zoned, the West Campus is mostly in residential zones (R-2A and R-2) whose lists of permitted uses do not include offices. (As for the potential housing site on Russell, it should be borne in mind that this is now in the R-2A and R-2 Districts—in which allowable density is rather limited.) 

Highly relevant to the West Campus is a General Plan component called the University Avenue Strategic Plan, which the City Council adopted in 1996. That strategic plan treats the Adult School as an important anchor of University Avenue, and calls for supporting and improving it there. So moving the Adult School to the Franklin site would squarely conflict with the city’s plan. 

Quite pertinent to the West Campus and Franklin sites (and potentially to the Russell site) is the General Plan’s citywide Open Space and Recreation Element. That element calls for zealously protecting existing open spaces (as well as seizing appropriate opportunities to create new recreation areas). 

The city shouldn’t idly sit by and let its zoning and its General Plan be ignored. Although it’s conceivable that the city might eventually choose to amend those to accommodate the School District’s proposals, the city shouldn’t do so unless it’s truly convinced of the proposals’ appropriateness, after rigorous evaluation and full public involvement. And rather than just thinking about a short-term fiscal fix for the School District, the city should look to the long-term best interest of Berkeleyans as a whole. 

In any case the City Council and the Planning Commission should actively address this whole matter—right now, before it’s too late. 

John English is a planner by profession and has lived in Berkeley most of his life.

Enrique Lessa’s advanced genetics class at UC Berkeley this summer teaches the same material a similar class would during the academic year. The only difference? Lessa’s students are not formally enrolled at UC Berkeley—they are between 12 and 17 years old. 

Lessa’s class is part of the annual Academic Talent Development Program (ATDP), a summer session that offers gifted elementary and secondary school students the chance to take advanced courses on a college campus. The program, now in its 23rd year, prides itself on providing increased educational opportunities for young students who might not otherwise have them. 

As director of ATDP, Nina Hersch Gabelko is in charge of coordinating classes for 2,400 young students this summer. The program, which began in 1981, offers participants the chance to take courses ranging from marine biology to advanced fiction writing, French literature, physics and computer programming. 

ATDP is split into two divisions: elementary, for students in first through sixth grades, and secondary, for seventh- through 11th-graders. The secondary division has been in session since June 16, while the elementary students will arrive on campus July 7. Both programs will conclude July 25. 

“The amazing thing is that they cover 182 days of work in just 18 class sessions,” Gabelko said. “They work so hard because they all really love to learn.” 

Though Gabelko emphasized the program is not designed exclusively for children who have been identified as “gifted,” admission standards are high. 

The program’s brochure says applicants will be evaluated based on their “grades, achievement test scores, an essay and a teacher recommendation,” a tough set of requirements for the average second-grader. But Gabelko said the key trait of an ATDP-eligible student is motivation. 

“We realize that some students will look better on paper because of the school they come out of,” she said. “But if the kids look like they can do the work and want to do it, they should be fine.” 

Though the course fees are high—around $400 for most classes—ATDP coordinators pride themselves on their ability to provide scholarships to those who need them. This summer, like the past 15 years, a group of academically motivated students from the Central Valley—many of whom are the children of migrant farm workers—are studying at ATDP on partial or complete scholarships. 

The teachers come from backgrounds almost as diverse as the students. Though some UC Berkeley professors teach the summer classes, the majority of the instructors hail from local public or private schools. 

“Every teacher I have seen in the program is great,” said John Shin, a UC Berkeley junior who has worked as a teacher aide for ATDP the last two summers. “If kids were getting this kind of instruction all year, I don’t think we’d be lamenting the demise of public schools.” 

ATDP participants and their parents have historically been similarly pleased with the quality of education—Gabelko said many students return year after year, and some of this year’s 11th-graders have been involved in the program for 10 years.  

Julia Simpson, 12, who took introduction to Japanese through ATDP last year, said the program allowed her to take a fun class she would not otherwise have taken. 

“My school doesn’t offer Japanese, but I wanted to learn it, so the class let me do that,” Simpson said. 

Other students had loftier goals. “It’ll be really good when I apply to college,” said 9-year-old Timothy Morris.  

Gabelko said the goal driving ATDP is inspiring students. 

“We want the students to find out what it is about a discipline that sets them so on fire that they want to devote their working life to it,” she said.

Ignacio Chapela has a teaching position at UC Berkeley for at least another year, but his concern about the “secretive” tenure review process he has undergone has led to a very public display of his dissatisfaction. 

From 6 a.m. Thursday to midnight Monday, Chapela is holding office hours in a “transparent office” around the clock outside California Hall, the building that houses the ofices of University Chancellor Robert Berdahl and the Budget Committee of the Academic Senate, the two offices that are in charge of Chapela’s tenure file. The question of his tenure has been under review for the past year, and Chapela said that he has been told that a decision will not come until after July 1. Chapela has said that the process has taken twice as long as usual, a claim that some university administrators refute. 

“That’s not at all unusual,” said George Strait, the university’s assistant vice chancellor for public affairs. “Tenure is a very, very serious issue at this university, and we conduct thorough reviews no matter how long it takes.”  

Chapela, an assistant professor of environmental science, has become one of the leading critics of biotech agriculture. In 1998 he led a fight against a proposed research partnership between UC Berkeley’s Department of Plant and Microbial Biology and Novartis, a biotech firm, a plan that attracted national attention to the issue of universities forming corporate partnerships. 

Now, some say that Chapela's position against the university’s plan is keeping him from receiving a fair tenure review process. 

At the heart of the dispute is Jasper Rine, a professor of genetics and developmental biology and a member of the nine-person tenure review committee. In 1995, Rine co-founded a biotech company called Acacia Biosciences, a company that maintained a professional relationship with Novartis. Many Chapela allies say that this association raises serious questions regarding Rine’s ability to objectively evaluate Chapela’s tenure file.  

"[It] is purely a conflict of interest," said David Noble, a science historian at York University in Toronto. 

Chapela himself refuses to speculate on reasons behind the delay in his tenure process because he does not know enough about the workings of the committee. He says that it is precisely this lack of information that he is protesting. 

“It’s a black box in there,” Chapela said, gesturing toward California Hall from the site of his sit-in. “I don’t know when they started my case, I don’t know how much progress they’ve made on my case, and I don’t know when they plan to finish my case. They don’t tell me anything about it.” 

In response to his concerns about secrecy among top academic administrators, Chapela has taken the opposite extreme: setting up his office outside so that the general public can see exactly what he is doing all the time. 

Chapela’s relocated office features all the necessities: food, water, a large tree for shade, a shelf full of books, his laptop computer complete with wireless internet access, and a constant stream of colleagues, students, friends, and strangers stopping by to offer their support. He sent a mass e-mail Thursday morning to everyone he could think of, and has since received responses from every corner of the globe. 

“I got cell phone calls from my friends in London, in Latin America,” Chapela said.  

Though Chapela’s contract with the university was scheduled to expire Monday, he received a letter Thursday morning extending his contract until July 2004, a move that came as a “total surprise.” Chapela said that the letter was dated June 19th, but that he had heard nothing about a possible extension until Thursday. 

But administrators emphasized the need for confidentiality when dealing with personnel issues.  

“There are matters that are kept private because there are only very few people who need to know about them,” Strait said. 

For now, Chapela is voicing his disagreement through his transparent office. After this, he said, it remains to be seen what will happen in terms of his tenure case and the issue of academic secrecy. 

“I’m among those working for change,” he said. “We’re going to keep working.”

Kevin Freeman memorial and march set for Saturday 

Homeless advocates will stage a march and memorial Saturday in honor of Kevin Lee Freeman, a well-known Berkeley transient who was allegedly murdered by his cell mate at Santa Rita Jail in May. 

The march will begin at noon at People’s Park on Dwight Way, south of the UC Berkeley campus, and will conclude at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian-Universalists at 1924 Cedar St., where a 1 p.m. memorial will take place. 

Freeman, 55, an alcoholic who was repeatedly picked up for public drunkeness, allegedly died at the hands of his cell mate Ryan Lee Raper, 20, who had a history of violence. The brutal murder has raised questions about Santa Rita’s decision to place an alcoholic in the same cell with a violent criminal. 

—David Scharfenberg 

Most city vehicles convert to 100 percent Biodiesel fuel 

Berkeley converted to 100 percent Biodiesel fuel for almost all public works, parks, fire, and police vehicles on Tuesday. Berkeley is the first city of its size to convert its entire fleet of diesel vehicles to the cleaner fuel. 

Biodiesel is made from virgin soybean oil and recycled vegetable oil from restaurants such as McDonald's, KFC, and Dunkin' Donuts. This mixture drastically reduces the emissions produced by the vehicle compared to petroleum-based diesel, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Though the city has been using 20 percent Biodiesel for several years, public works staff members began working on the switch to 100 percent Biodiesel about six months ago, due in part to encouragement from the Ecology Center, which made the switch about a year ago. 

The initial cost of the fuel is 50 percent more than that of traditional diesel, though the Ecology Center says the opportunity to reduce pollution is worth the extra cost. Proponents also said that the price would end up being reduced because of the bulk quantities the city will now be buying.  

As of Tuesday, the city had implemented 100 percent Biodiesel fuel systems in 180 of its 200 diesel vehicles. The remaining 20 vehicles belong to the Fire Department, which is working to find means of transporting the fuel to its fire stations. 

—Megan Greenwell

An amendment proposed by Congresswoman Barbara Lee that would have ordered an investigation into recent revelations that the Bush administration may have distorted or withheld information regarding Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction fell 33 votes shy of passage Wednesday. 

Lee said the close vote reflects the nation’s desire to see that the truth about the reasons for the war comes out. “I am pleased to see that there is growing support for our effort to receive straight answers from the administration,” she said. 

The amendment would have called on the General Accounting Office to determine whether the Department of Defense and other intelligence agencies gave false information or failed to give information to United Nations weapons inspectors about Iraq’s possession of weapons prior to the invasion. 

Lee said the amendment would have investigated whether intelligence was shared “in a timely” manner. 

“This nation launched a preemptive war based on what it claimed was indisputable evidence,” she said. “If that evidence was not so solid and especially if it was distorted, then we severely undercut our ability to convince the world about future dangers from weapons of mass destruction in other countries.”

This summer my friend, Gloria, is sending her son to space camp at Moffet Field and then hauling him off to Europe to visit distant relatives and musty cathedrals. Another friend’s child is going to music and dance camp, and a third is being coached in crew, lacrosse and golf. I know a kid who is attending an exclusive private camp in the mountains above Santa Cruz where he can rock climb, mountain bike, study Spanish and learn to program a computer.  

The summer activities for kids in my North Oakland neighborhood aren’t quite as exciting or global in scale. Michael, who lives down the street, is hanging out at the Boys Club on Shattuck Avenue. DeShawn is watching television on his grandmother’s living room floor. My nine-year-old friend, Victor, is sitting on my front stoop, counting the cars on the street. No one has made any particular plans for Victor this summer. He’s bored and frustrated and getting a little testy.  

Twenty-six years ago, at the age of 25, I attended summer camp for the first time. I found employment as a counselor at a private all-girls camp in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. Six miles down a windy dirt road, the main lodge of Camp Tamarack was nestled among giant Douglas Firs. Rustic tent cabins clustered around a pristine lake. Campers rode horses and played tennis. They paddled canoes lazily across the mirror-smooth water, dove off the dock, hiked in the woods and told ghost stories at the evening campfires. On Sunday mornings the counselors and their charges gathered in a wide, sunny meadow and listened as the camp directors gave inspirational talks. I can still remember gray-haired Vera, Camp Tamarack’s fiery founder, pounding her fists on a picnic table and saying softly but firmly, “You girls can be anything you want to be: doctors, lawyers, auto mechanics, pipe fitters, teachers. You can raise babies, chickens, daschunds and llamas. You can learn to speak French, build a house, throw a pot, fly to the moon, knit a sweater. Follow your dreams; reach for the stars; go out into the world, and make it a better place for all of us.”   

The other day, when I found Victor again perched and idle on my front porch, I remembered my care-free, privileged afternoons at Camp Tamarack. “Come on,” I said. “I’ll take you some place.” 

We went to Lake Temescal, a surprisingly bucolic lake set incongruously beside Highway 24 on the edge of Berkeley and urban Oakland. I put on my bathing suit and Victor stripped down to his red and yellow plaid boxer shorts. We raced across the hot sandy beach and waded into the cool brown shallows. We could hear, see and smell the cars whizzing by on the freeway, but if I squinted my eyes and let my ears fill with water I could imagine Camp Tamarack and Vera’s rousing speeches.  

When Victor and I got out of the water we found ourselves covered in a thin coat of mossy slime, not unlike the neon glob that appeared on every swimmer at pristine, perfect Camp Tamarack. “Suzy,” screamed Victor with genuine terror in his voice. “I’m covered in gross green stuff!”  

“Don’t be scared,” I replied. “It won’t hurt you.” Sensing that Victor was in a vulnerable place, I decided to make my camp counselor pitch, just as Vera had done every Sunday morning at Camp Tamarack. “While you’re covered in that goop, Victor, I want you to listen up. You can be anything you want to be: doctor, lawyer, airplane pilot, policeman, hamburger flipper, fisherman, circus clown. Just do the best that you can, kiddo, and make the world a better place for all of us.” 

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” said Victor as he played with the slime on his thin arm. “But you gotta get this stuff off me. I can’t do nothin’ about the world until it’s gone.” 

Lake Temescal is located off the Broadway Exit of Highway 24 and is open for swimming seven days a week, May 24 to Sept. 1, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information about it and other places to swim contact the East Bay Regional Park District, 510-562-PARK. 

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

Oakland, bless our hearts, approaches the issue of the sideshows like a youngster spinning donuts at the corner of 90th and International ... round and round we chase ourselves, mugging for the reporters and television cameras, always ending up back where we started.  

The new argument being played out in the public is whether we need something that’s loosely being called a “legal alternative to sideshows.” Having defined sideshows as violent, dangerous, antisocial activity, both Councilmembers De La Fuente and Reid say no way. “Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown has said [sideshow] alternatives would not work because sideshows are illegal and that’s what draws the crowds,” reports the Oakland Tribune, going on to say: “An officer on the street also expressed his doubts: ‘Part of the excitement,’ the police officer said, ‘is doing something wild and illegal.’”  

In another Tribune article, Oakland Police Lt. Paul Figueroa agrees. “[The sideshow] is extremely oppressive activity and there is just no excuse for it,” he is quoted as saying. “Oftentimes, [the youth will say] there is no alternative venue for them. The police chief is working on coming up with alternative venues for having a nice car show, but we can never condone drunk and reckless driving.”  

Councilmember Brooks says we ought to at least take a look at legal alternatives. This is the same public argument—sometimes with different arguers—that’s been playing out for the past couple of years.  

The problem, I think, comes of saying that the problem is the sideshows. That ain’t it. The problem, as our young people continue to tell us, is that Oakland is a city that provides few things for young people to do.  

If we say the problem is the sideshows, then we only talk about solutions (such as providing activities for our young people) as long as the sideshows bother us. That’s why, in the heat of summer, with kids out on the street in their cars, there’s suddenly all this talk from public officials. Last winter, when the sideshows were dormant, Oakland sat on its ass and did nothing. This is the classic leaky-roof-fixing dilemma. The man cannot fix his leaky roof while it is raining because he doesn’t want to get wet. When the rainy season ends he can’t see the point in fixing his roof because, after all, it’s not leaking at the moment. And so, year after year, the roof never gets fixed, and we never solve our problem with our restless youth.  

And let us dismiss the comment, so often made by our good friend Councilmember Reid, that it’s not the business of the city to provide things for “26- to 30-year-olds to do” (that’s the age by which Mr. Reid somehow defines the sideshowers). Oakland is a city that bends over backward to find things for its citizens to do. We broke the city bank in order to get the Raiders back. A year ago, City Manager Bobb was fighting for the city to develop a “world class golf course.” Reid, himself, led a five-year battle to bring a swimming pool theme park to Brookfield Village (see the fine print of Measure DD). Oakland is always finding things for citizens to do. It’s just, maybe, that some of us don’t define sideshowers as citizens.  

Me, I don’t think there’s a legal alternative to sideshows, and the sooner we realize it, the sooner we can move on to the itch we can actually scratch.  

Most of the young people who are advocating legalized sideshows or a “legal alternative to sideshows” want to recreate the sideshows as they existed in the parking lots of the Eastmont Mall and in the early days at Pac N’ Save. That was in the mid to late 1990s, before they drew police attention and were driven into the streets. That was when thousands of sideshowers gathered after hours, off by themselves, without older adult interference, with little violence, to play music, meet somebody cute and show off their cars.  

But this would be like trying to recreate the Summer of Love on the Haight, or Woodstock, or the early, block party, non-commercial days of rap. All of these—the Eastmont Sideshows included—were magic times, soap bubble times, when social forces converged almost of their own accord, existed for a brief moment in shimmering harmony and then burst almost before the participants realized how important they were. You can never, ever, relive them, except in your dreams.  

The trick, I think, is to try to take the most positive aspects of the original sideshows—the excitement, the music, the dancing, the boys-getting-phone-numbers-from-girls thing, the tight cars—some of the things that even Oakland Police Traffic Division head Dave Kozicki has said, on occasion, that he might be able to support—and out of that create something new and productive that both the city and the youngsters can live with. True, there’s a number of people, nobody knows how many, who are into the sideshows because of the attraction of the illegal. There are also people who want to come to A’s and Raiders games so they can drink and fight and throw batteries at the players. That doesn’t stop the city from providing sports venues.  

Nobody’s blowing up my cell phone asking my opinion on this, but if it were me doing the deciding, I’d stop speculating in the press on what we might be able to do or might not be able to do. I’d treat this issue like we treat all major projects or problems in Oakland. Get the principles behind closed doors—councilmembers, the manager’s office, the police department and, most especially, responsible representatives of the sideshowers themselves—and hash out a program of legalized, sanctioned, older-youth-and-young-adult activities for the city of Oakland.  

I wouldn’t call them legal sideshows.  

I wouldn’t call them alternatives to sideshows.  

I’d just call it citizen service, and leave it at that.

Residents living near the Corporation Yard, a 4.5-acre site located on Bancroft Way near Acton Street, staged a small protest Wednesday to protest the city’s plan to partially demolish one of the buildings on the property and install three portable buildings. Neighbors said the plan will increase the traffic, noise and pollution that already stem from the site, which is used to store city vehicles, including diesel trucks, and includes a gas station. 

“With more trucks on the street there’s going to be more pollution,” said Regina Gurs, a retired teacher who lives across the street from the front entrance of the yard, on Bancroft Street. Gurs said she’s been battling the city over the yard since she moved into her house in 1977. “We had to fight for years to get them to build a noise wall around it,” she said. 

Another neighbor said she thinks the yard’s allowed uses should be scaled back. Tania Schweig, a mother of two children who is five months pregnant, worries the fumes are affecting her children. “At times, I don’t even want my kids outside.” She said she wouldn’t object to a lower level of use at the site. “The city needs to find an option that wouldn’t impact so many vulnerable populations,” she said. “We’re not NIMBY’s. I don’t think anyone would object to some use. It’s the big tankers that’s really the problem.”  

Her husband, Muni, said a tanker hit a parked car last week. “We’re talking about flammable explosive materials,” he said. “That’s a real problem.” 

—Angela Rowen

The third event in the city of Berkeley’s Summer Noon Concert series on Thursday featured a bit of jazz, a bit of funk and a whole lot of dancing and foot tapping despite the unseasonably warm weather. 

Voz e Vento, a six-person Brazilian jazz group, played for a group of downtown patrons, many of whom sat fanning themselves as the thermometer crept up above 90 degrees. The band played songs with strong rhythms and melodic lyrics, many of which were sung in Portuguese. 

The concert series was designed to highlight the best in Bay Area musical offerings and provide a sampling of the types of performances happening nightly in local clubs and performance venues downtown. Thursday’s concert even featured a raffle in which the winner received a pair of tickets to all summer performances at the Jazzschool on Addison Street. 

“This good music is all around here,” said Albert Lee, a representative for the Downtown Berkeley Association. “Get a taste here, then go out and find more.” 

The band, like all of those who perform in the Downtown Berkeley 

Association-sponsored Summer Noon Concert series, is based in the Bay Area, 

and are regulars at venues such as the Jazzschool and Anna’s Bistro on University Avenue. The group is composed of vocalist Sparla Swa, Ben Stolorow on piano, Capital on guitar, Zakk Pitt-Smith on saxophone and flute, Lorenzo Farrell on bass, and Chris Brague on drums. 

Many of those who stopped to watch the performance were eating lunch while they listened. Others were taken by surprise by the stage in the plaza upon exiting the Berkeley BART station. 

“I didn’t know it was here, but once I saw it and I had some free time I figured I’d stick around,” said Berkeley resident Donna Levy. “It’s a fun idea to have these concerts out here for the summer.” 

The Thursday noon concerts will continue on the Berkeley Square through July 31. 

Next week, students from the Capoeira Arts Café on Addison Street. will perform the traditional Brazilian martial art under the direction of the café owner, Mestre Acordeon. Future events will feature Mexican dancers, West Coast blues, and a harmonica and guitar duet. 

On July 31, the concert series will close with SoVoSo, an a capella ensemble composed of former members of jazz musician Bobby McFerrin’s Voicestra band. 

“There’s lots more coming up,” Lee reminded Thursday’s audience. “We’re showcasing the best of all types of performance.”

Sen. Gil Cedillo, a stalwart Latino Democrat from Los Angeles, knows an opportunity when he sees it.  

The troubles besetting Calif. Gov. Gray Davis -- a major budget crisis, rock-bottom approval ratings and a powerful recall movement -- give Latinos the chance to push forward an issue foremost on their agenda: driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants.  

Last year, Davis vetoed a bill by Cedillo that would have provided licenses for the undocumented, a hot-button issue for many Latinos, who see it as an immigrant rights issue. In the process, Davis lost Cedillo's endorsement and helped depress Latino voter turnout in the state.  

Now, as the governor fights for his political life, Cedillo speaks out against the recall with all the passion of a diehard Davis supporter.  

"This is a movement put together by extremists in the state who want to set back government," Cedillo says. "It's disruptive and it's a bad precedent. We have to commit ourselves to fight it."  

Cedillo knows the governor cannot now afford to alienate Latinos, who, according to polls, are less likely to want to get rid of him, and helped him win re-election last November by a mere five percentage points over Republican Bill Simon.  

The most recent survey of the Public Policy Institute of California shows that 46 percent of Latinos reject the recall and 37 percent support it -- better for Davis than the 51 percent of the general voting population that want him out and the 43 percent who would keep him.  

At first, Cedillo is evasive when asked about the chances for his driver's license bill this year. "The bill is going forward, we'll continue to negotiate," he says. But later: "My expectation is we'll get a bill this year."  

"When the driver's license bill comes up he's going to sign it, and you can thank the recall for that," says political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe. "(The recall) is going to influence his behavior, what he signs and what he doesn't. It's driving the whole budget process on both sides."  

The governor knows that he cannot afford to have a Latino appear on the recall ballot, which is why it was so important for the Democratic leadership to convince lieutenant governor Cruz Bustamante to bow out of an hypothetical recall election.  

"If Bustamante runs, will Latinos come out in droves to vote Davis out, to get the first Latino governor in modern history?" Jeffe asks. "Maybe."  

If Latinos and other major democratic constituencies were not excited about Davis in November -- his support among Latino voters dropped from 80 percent in his first election to 65 percent in his second -- there's not much to excite them now that budget realities have meant cuts in social programs, the arts and Medical funding.  

But for unions, many of whom represent mostly Latino workers, keeping Davis may be better than risking a Republican governor or one of the two possible democratic candidates who fare better in the polls: Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Bustamante.  

In the event of a recall election "the risk is too great that we'll get somebody that will be less supportive of workers," says Eliseo Medina, executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union's (SEIU). "We can't afford a Republican governor or someone who isn't sympathetic to immigrant rights."  

Most union leadership and legislators like Cedillo would much rather have Davis in a difficult situation and extract concessions from him in exchange for their support than risk the election of others who may not need the Latino vote as much.  

"The senator (Feinstein) ... what can I say?" Medina says. "I don't think she's very pro immigrant." Davis, on the other hand, "may now be in a position to listen better" to the union's concerns.  

Many Latinos remember that when Bustamante was an assemblyman he voted in favor of requiring legal status in order to have a driver's license.  

Sen. Feinstein, considered the best chance for Democrats to keep the governorship should well-financed Republican candidates appear on a recall ballot, has so far said she is not running.  

But if the recall does qualify, and especially if it qualifies for the more Democratic-leaning electorate of the March primary, Davis's people know they have a better chance to win if he is the only Democrat on the ballot. Although risky, their strategy is to label the recall effort a Republican right-wing conspiracy, resurrecting the ghost of infamous former Gov. Pete Wilson and his anti-immigrant Proposition 187.  

Nobody knows how that will work if moderate, moneyed and famous Republicans like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Richard Riordan enter the race.  

But one thing is certain: When undocumented immigrants finally get their drivers licenses in the next few months, they'll have the Republicans and the recall leaders to thank.

Berkeley, one of the most liberal cities in California, has not exactly been a hotbed of recall activity. But that didn’t stop the Berkeley College Republicans from setting up a table on the UC Berkeley campus this spring and collecting signatures to oust Democratic Gov. Gray Davis. 

“I honestly believe that Gray Davis has shown very little leadership—not just financially, but in the [overall] direction of the state,” said Andrea Irvin, president of the student group. 

Irvin said the College Republicans collected more than 500 signatures between late April and mid May, when finals began, and submitted them to the county. The Alameda County Registrar of Voters said this week that it had received 4,174 signatures, just over 1 percent of the 376,008 signatures mustered statewide as of June 16. 

Recall supporters, backed by Republican congressman and gubernatorial hopeful Darrell Issa, have until Sept. 2 to collect 900,000 valid signatures to force a recall. 

Issa’s organization, Rescue California, has focused its efforts on the more populous, conservative areas of Southern California. As a result, the chief anti-recall group, a coalition of labor and environmentalist organizations called Taxpayers Against the Governor’s Recall, has also based its operation in the southern part of the state, according to spokesperson Carroll Wills. 

But Wills said his group, which is collecting signatures for an anti-recall petition, plans to move up to the Bay Area as the campaign wears on, adding to the few anti-recall signature gatherers who now dot Berkeley and the larger Bay Area. 

Wills said his group has collected 600,000 signatures for the anti-recall petition— a symbolic gesture which will have no effect on whether the recall actually reaches the ballot. 

City Councilmember Linda Maio said the relative lack of recall activity in Berkeley has left the locals tuned out. “I don’t think it’s hit people yet,” she said. 

Wills said Berkeley and the entire Bay Area will be critical if the recall qualifies for the ballot. 

“Strong Democratic areas are going to be important if the recall is on the ballot because these are the people who are going to understand what’s at stake,” he said. 

James Hartman, chair of the Alameda County Republican Party, said he is not aware of any organized efforts to collect pro-recall signatures in Berkeley outside of the College Republicans’ push. 

He added that, while the statewide Republican Party has endorsed the recall effort, the county outfit has not thrown its support behind the campaign. 

“I am not a great fan of Governor Davis, but at this stage I’m not convinced that a recall of the governor is appropriate,” Hartman said. 

Davis may be guilty of fiscal mismanagement, Hartman said, but recall should be reserved for clear cases of fraud or corruption. Attempting to oust Davis in the middle of his term with inadequate cause, he said, ultimately could reflect poorly on the Republican Party. 

Hartman said the party should, instead, use the budget fiasco to get more Republicans elected to the state Legislature during next year’s mid-term election. 

“I would prefer that we wait until our day comes in November 2004,” he said.

For Berkeley ice cream lovers, life has been good lately. 

The area has seen an ice cream renaissance in recent months with the addition of two new shops and the reopening of a popular parlor. Now Berkeley residents can enjoy frozen treats whose credentials range from “The Country’s Best Vanilla” to “Best Sorbet in America” and a spot on the list of America’s fastest growing franchises. 

Among Berkeley’s notable scoop shops are Dreyer’s, whose vanilla ice cream was recently named best in the country by Fine Dining magazine, and Double Rainbow, who was found to have the best sorbet by the American Food Critics’ Association. Ben and Jerry’s is another local favorite, but right now the area’s newest ice cream stores are the ones attracting attention. 

One of the new kids on the block is Cold Stone Creamery, at 2204 Shattuck Ave. between Allston and Kittredge streets. Cold Stone, a Scottsdale, Ariz., company with its largest concentration in southern California, claims to be the fastest growing ice cream chain in the country, expanding quickly from independent parlor to large corporation on the scale of Baskin Robbins. Last month, Cold Stone was listed by Entrepreneur Magazine as number 35 on the list of fastest growing franchises. The company opened its Berkeley store last November and has other area stores in Emeryville and El Cerrito. 

Cold Stone employees market ice cream with a twist—one or more toppings of the customer’s choice mixed in with his or her favorite flavor of ice cream. They use a frozen slab of granite—the “cold stone”— to mix traditional toppings with a scoop of ice cream. Popular mixes include cheesecake ice cream with graham cracker crumbs and the “Candy Bar,” using vanilla ice cream, M&Ms, Snickers bars, and Butterfingers. 

“Cold Stone is my favorite ice cream place because of the toppings inside,” said 14-year-old David Rosenberg of San Francisco during a visit to the Berkeley shop. “Instead of having my sprinkles all on the top of the scoop they’re mixed in really well, so you get some with each bite.” 

Just two blocks north of Cold Stone at 2106 Shattuck is another new ice cream favorite: Mondo Gelato. Though the store, like Cold Stone, is part of a larger franchise, the Berkeley location is the first Mondo Gelato store in the United States. It opened last August, and staff members said business has consistently increased. 

The company makes and sells traditional Italian gelato as an alternative to classic American ice cream. Gelato, which is the Italian word for “frozen,” is denser than most ice cream and not as sweet. 

The range of flavors reflects the company’s desire to distinguish itself from other ice cream shops. The popular rose gelato, a bright pink flavor similar to traditional bubble gum ice cream, is made from edible rose petals. The coffee gelato is made with a shot of real espresso. 

“It tastes natural and is better for you,” said UC Berkeley student Mollie Taylor. “It’s all the good things about ice cream without the heaviness or the fat.” 

Berkeley’s Mondo Gelato offers three types of dessert: gelato, sorbetto and soya gelato. Gelato, like ice cream, is made with milk but is not frozen as deeply. The sorbetto is non-dairy-based and made from fresh fruit without fat. The seasonal sorbetto flavors include pear, honeydew and strawberry. Soya gelato is the only vegan ice cream product in Berkeley; vegetable products are used to create flavors such as chocolate and vanilla, as well as the unique hazelnut and Vitamin ACE. 

Cold Stone and Mondo Gelato join several old-time ice cream favorites in the area, the most notable of which recently returned to scooping. Fenton’s Creamery, located at 4226 Piedmont Ave., in Oakland, was established in the Bay Area in 1894 but has been closed for the past two years due to a fire set by two former employees. The pair were sentenced in April to two years in state prison, and were ordered to pay $2.7 million in restitution to the creamery. It reopened earlier this month. 

Fenton’s is known for more than just ice cream. Its sundaes and classic banana splits—with a whole banana and three scoops of ice cream covered in hot fudge sauce, whipped cream and nuts with a cherry on top—attract crowds, which on some nights overflow into the parking lot. The creamery is also a full restaurant, and the egg and olive sandwiches are a lunchtime favorite. 

“I’m happy now that it’s back,” said 7-year-old Martin Goring recently while sharing a hot fudge sundae with his younger sister. “My mom used to take me there for lunch and ice cream, but then it was burned down. Now I get to go again.” 

Berkeley ice cream aficionados said the trek to Peidmont Avenue is worthwhile, but are glad to have a flourishing ice cream scene within their borders. 

“It’s nice to have the scoop shop-type places right in Berkeley,” said North Berkeley resident Sarah Portrero. “Then when you want the full old-fashioned experience you can come out here every once in a while.”

The Downtown Berkeley Association (DBA) presents Summer Noon Concerts 2003, a unique series of nine free concerts, Thursdays at noon in June & July, beginning June 5th. From Rhythm & Blues to Brazilian capoeira, these concerts at the Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza (Shattuck Ave. at Center St.) are a showcase of the culturally rich performing arts in Berkeley. This outdoor summer celebration of Berkeley-based musicians & dancers is just a small sampling of the performing arts happening nightly in clubs, cafes, schools, theaters and concert halls in Downtown Berkeley. 

On Thursday, June 5th, our concert series opens with Rhonda Benin and Soulful Strut performing some of the best in R & B, with a splash of jazz and a solid helping of the blues. Soulful Strut appears regularly at many Bay Area nightspots such Enricos Sidewalk Café and Restaurant. 

On Thursday, July 31st, our concert series closes with SoVoSó, a highly visual and imaginative a capella ensemble that sings a compelling mix of jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues, world, pop, and improvisational music. The ensemble is made up of former members of Bobby McFerrin’s Voicestra, and McFerrin says, “SoVoSó is tight, soulful, and a whole lotta fun.” 

This event is easily accessible by transit and there is one hour free parking daily from 9 am to 5 pm in Center Street Garage. Seating will be available. 

For a complete schedule of entertainers for the Downtown Berkeley Summer Noon Concerts 2003 visit the Downtown Berkeley Association website at www.downtownberkeley.org

The AC Transit Board of Directors appears poised to raise bus fares to avoid service reductions that would eliminate the 17 bus line in Berkeley and reduce service on nearly 50 other lines across Alameda and Contra Costa counties. 

Based on public response from two hearings on June 11, the board concluded that most riders would rather see fares increase than have bus lines eliminated altogether. The transit organization faces a $40 million deficit for the next fiscal year, which begins Wednesday. 

“The plan originally was to keep fares about where they were and trim service,” said AC Transit public information officer Mike Mills. “But most people said they would willingly increase the costs if they could keep the same amount of service we have now. So we’re looking at ways to do just that.” 

By expressing their willingness to pay more money, local riders likely saved the 17 line, one of the more heavily frequented lines that would have been eliminated. Though several Berkeley bus lines were affected by a previous round of reductions that took effect on Sunday, the 17 bus, which runs through South Berkeley toward the Rockridge BART station, is the only Berkeley line that would have been reduced under the new plan. 

On Wednesday, July 16, the board of directors will hold another public hearing to solicit community input on the newest proposal. The meeting will be held at 2 p.m. in the AC Transit District Board Room at 1600 Franklin St. in downtown Oakland. 

In a primary that will shape the future of the 2004 presidential campaign, more than 300,000 MoveOn.org members voted on-line Tuesday and Wednesday to endorse a candidate for the Democratic nomination.  

With the Federal Election Commission second quarter fund-raising deadline set for June 30, a Friday morning endorsement may come early enough to affect this quarter’s contribution receipts. Last fall MoveOn members donated $1 million in five days to the late Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone’s struggling reelection campaign. But MoveOn’s presidential endorsement only will come if a candidate commands a 50 percent majority vote; otherwise the Berkeley-born political advocacy Internet group will carry the process into July.  

MoveOn Chief Operating Officer Carrie Olson compared the number of voters who participated in the 48-hour primary to the number of likely voters in the New Hampshire primary and Iowa caucus combined. 

“It is a phenomenal number for a primary and a significant number of passionate folks,” Olson said Thursday. “The grassroots we represent have been the traditional organizers of campaigns in the past—folks who get out and hold meetings, tell their friends, tell their family and acquaintances. They work to get out the vote, and they need to be engaged by all the candidates.” 

For candidates such as former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, earning MoveOn’s financial support would narrow the margin between their campaigns and the party’s leading fundraisers. Sen. John Edwards and Sen. John Kerry, at $7.4 million and $7 million, led the field in first quarter fundraising, far surpassing Dean at $2.6 million and Lieberman at $3 million.  

During the 2002 election cycle, with 500,000 members, the MoveOn.org PAC raised $4.1 million for congressional campaigns. With today’s membership of 1.4 million, the goal for the 2004 elections is $10 million. 

The MoveOn endorsement process engendered discontent among some of the candidates, who said recently that MoveOn gave an unfair advantage to Dean, Kerry and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the organization’s leading candidates in an early straw poll. In the week before the primary, the three were allowed to send e-mails introducing their platforms to the on-line political community. 

A spokesman for the Dick Gephardt campaign went so far as to insinuate the endorsement process was rigged, according to an Associated Press report. A Washington Post article Wednesday quoted Jennifer Palmieri, a spokesman for the Edwards campaign, addressing the process: “Three candidates were given a head start. It’s like the equivalent of asking all of the candidates to attend a forum in which only three of them are allowed to give opening statements.”  

Neither campaign returned phone calls from the Planet on Thursday. 

The direct line to membership for the top finishers, however, was part of the endorsement process outlined to the nine candidates before any agreed to participate. And all were invited to answer member-generated questions and write letters, which were then posted on the MoveOn Web site along with links to the candidates’ Web sites, said Olson.  

“We went out of our way to make sure all the candidates were equally represented on the site,” said Olson. “To marginalize us and say we’re not honest is disrespectful. We represent our members. The sentiment comes from the bottom up. I am sure the election results will be representative of which candidates are best expressing what our folks feel is important. 

“We recognize that any of the nine might be the eventual candidate, and MoveOn will hopefully have the will of its membership behind that nominee, whoever it is.”