Berkeley Police officers escorted Alison Weir, founder of If Americans Knew, into her organization’s South Berkeley office Monday afternoon, three days after a voicemail threat warning her to stay away from her office at 2 p.m. Monday or risk losing her life. 

Weir was one of four panelists who spoke during a debate Thursday on the UC Berkeley campus where participants presented contrasting views of the Israeli/Palestinean crisis—with Weir as a representative of the Palestinian perspective. 

She said If Americans Knew was created to inform and educate the American public about issues she says are unreported, underreported, or misreported in the American media. 

The anonymous caller claimed to have attended the campus debate and expressed outrage at Weir, who he claimed was helping to “destroy Israel.” The voice on the message—which she replayed for reporters—sounded young, American, and intense, with long heavy breaths in between words. 

“Hi. I heard your speech today in UC Berkeley; the debate. And I’m telling you this right now. On Monday, at 2 p.m., you better not be in your office. Because me and my buddies, who were trained in the Israeli Army, will come and kill every single one of you sons-of-bitches for what you are doing to destroy Israel. So watch out, this is not a joke. On Monday you better watch out. Don’t come to work. And close your organization or you’re going to die,” the message said. 

After contacting the Berkeley Police and the FBI, Weir asked all other employees to stay home, but she decided to show up herself to demonstrate that she was not intimidated. 

“I’m not going to be silenced,” Weir said. 

Several supporters, including UC Dean of Students Karen Kenney—moderator of the UC debate—and Kriss Worthington from the Berkeley City Council, came to join her at the group’s second floor Adeline Street offices for the designated time. 

“This is the bullying action of cowards,” Weir said. “I think it represents that fanaticism with which people defend Israel. It also shows how weak their cause is in a public debate.” 

The debate was the result of a challenge from a San Francisco State student who had asked Weir to defend her claims against pro-Israel speakers. Weir agreed, and sat on the pro-Palestinian side with Hatem Bazian, a lecturer in UC Berkeley’s Near Eastern Studies Department. David Meir-Levi, head of the Israel Peace Institute and Eric Sirkin, a Palo Alto technology firm executive, spoke for the Israeli position. 

Kenney said the debate was extremely well attended and, for the most part, orderly. Organizers had structured the event scrupulously to prevent interferences that are common at events surrounding the conflict in the Middle East. 

“I thought the event went very well—a two on a scale of one to 10, with one being the best possible,” said Kenney.  

Kenney said she was repulsed by the death threat and felt obligated to accompany Weir to her office. She said UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl had also asked her to appear and comment on the threat. 

“We want the community at large to know that anyone who comes to Cal should feel safe,” she said. “We’re an open and caring community and actions that would infringe upon anyone’s safety are absolutely unacceptable.” 

Weir said she suspects that the caller was a student, but not necessarily from Cal. 

After escorting Weir into her office, Berkeley police officers sat across the street in patrol cars to monitor the scene. Other officers had patrolled the area throughout the morning. 

“Every threat we get we take very seriously,” said Kevin Schofield, Public Information Officer for the Berkeley Police department. “Death threats are something that are not uncommon, but they are not always at high-profile events like these.” 

Weir attributes the threat to the pro-Israel side’s frustration over the debate, which she says they lost. “Since they didn’t win the debate, they thought they would just kill us,” said Weir. 

She said there is a history of threats against pro-Palestinean activists from groups like the Jewish Defense League (JDL), whose chairman was indicted Jan. 10 on charges of conspiring to bomb the office of Congressman Daryl Issa. The group was also investigated for the 1985 murder of the West Coast Regional Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). 

When the appointed hour rolled around, nothing happened—other than the arrival of additional Weir supporters, who found seats in the stairwell and office. 

“I hope they’re out there to see this” said Weir, in reference to whoever had made the threat. 

Weir, who said she was initially shaken by the threat, said she is refusing to let the call hold her back and has pledged to continue her work.  

“When you hear this sort of thing, you say, I think I’ll work on the environment. All this is going to do is make me work harder,” she said.

TUESDAY, OCT. 7 

“Observation on the Political Process,” with Tom Campbell, Dean, Walter A. Haas School of Business, at noon in the South Hall Annex. Sponsored by the Center for Studies in Higher Education. 642-7703. lapiz@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers We are a few slowpoke Seniors who walk between a mile or two each Tuesday, meeting at 9:30 a.m. in the Little Farm parking lot. To join us, call 215-7672.  

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

Morris Dancing Workshop Learn the basics of an English ritual dance form that predates Shakespeare, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St. at Oxford. www.talamasca.com/berkmorris 

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 8 

Speaking Truth to Empire: End the Occupation of Iraq! with Norman Solomon, director, Institute for Public Accuracy, and Michael Parenti, author, Democracy for the Few, and a military family from Military Families Speak Out! At 7 p.m. in 145 Dwinelle, UC Campus. The event is free; donations will be accepted at the door. Sponsored by Berkeley Stop the War Coalition. www.berkeleystopthewar.org 

“Understanding the Americans and Understanding the French” with Pascal Baudry at 7:30 p.m. at the Haas School of Business, Anderson Auditorium. Sponsored by East Bay French-American School. 549-3867. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Sta- 

tion, corner of Shattuck and Center. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geo 

cities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

Urban Permaculture Benefit Three teachers will show slides to raise awareness that another way of life is possible in the city. From 7 to 9 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $5-$20 sliding scale. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

EmbracingDiversityFilms and the Albany High School PTA co-host the screening of “Breathing Lessons” at 7 p.m. in the Albany High School Multipurpose Room, 603 Key Route Blvd., Albany. A discussion will follow. Free. 527-1328. 

Prose Writers Workshop from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut, at Rose. We focus on issues of craft. Novices welcome, experienced facilitator. 524-3034. 

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

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 call 848-0237.  

Berkeley CopWatch open office hours 7 to 9 p.m. Drop in to file complaints, assistance available. For information call 548-0425. 

THURSDAY, OCT. 9 

Lights On Afterschool! Kick-off Event on afterschool programs and the threat of budget cuts, at 5 p.m. at Rosa Parks School. 

Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families for Peace, with Rami Elhanan, a seventh generation Jerusalemite whose daughter was killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber and Ghazi Brigieth, whose brothers were shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. At 7 p.m. at 145 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus. For more information call 464-4911 or email bayareapeacetour@yahoo.com www.rcnv.org 

“The Fantasy War: Liberation, Weapons of Mass Destruction, & Democracy,” with Robert Fisk, foreign correspondent recently returned from Baghdad, at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison, 5 blocks from North Berkeley BART. This is a benefit for the Middle East Children's Alliance. Tickets are $20, but nobody will be turned away. Buy tickets via Paypal, www.mecaforpeace.org For more information call 548-0542. 

“A Doctor in Chechnya” Khassan Baieva talks about his new book, “The Oath: A Surgeon Under Fire,” written with the assistance of Ruth and Nicholas Daniloff, at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave at Rose, 843-3533. 

“Hunger and Globalization” with Judith Lewis, UN Director of the World Food Program at 7:30 p.m. at International House, Home Room, Piedmont at Bancroft. 642-9460. 

League of Women Voters meets at noon at the Albany Public Library. Polly Armstrong, former Berkeley Councilmember will speak on “Wheelchairs for Iran.” 843-8824. 

Empowering Democracy Conference “Challenging Corporate Power & Deman- 

ding Accountability!” Skills training by and for corporate campaigners with the intent of sharing the skills necessary to challenge corporate rule, held Oct. 9-11 at the First Unitarian Church, 685 14th St., Oakland. To register call 512-479-7744. www.empoweringdemocracy.org  

UC Botanical Garden Docent Training at 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Fee and registration required. 643-1924. 

Grizzly Peak Flyfishers meets at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Community Center, 59 Arlington Ave. Bob Coates, a hydrologist, will speak about his stream restoration work. 547-8629. 

rorlando@uclink4.berkeley.edu  

St. John's Prime Timers Tap Dancing class meets on Thursday mornings at 9:15 a.m. at St. John's Presbyterian Church at 2717 Garber St. Gil Chun, well-known Berkeley dance teacher is the instructor. Class is free and open to anyone over 50. 527-0167. 

East Bay Mac User Group meets on the second Thursday of the month from 6 to 9 p.m. in the 3rd floor Community Room, Berkeley Central Library, 2090 Kittredge St. Free, all welcome. http://ebmug.org 

Lawyers in the Library, at 6 p.m. in the South Branch, Russell at MLK Jr. Way, 981-6260. 

FRIDAY, OCT. 10 

“Berkeley’s Creeks,” with Robin Grossinger and Carol Schimmerling, at 7:30 p.m. at Spenger’s Fish Grotto, 4th and University. Lecture is part of the 150th Anniversary of Ocean View, Berkeley’s earliest settlement, sponsored by The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association and Berkeley History Society. Tickets are $12. For information call 841-8562.  

Daniel Ellsberg will speak on “Should the President Lead a War on ‘Evil’?” at 8 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd. Kensington. Donation of $10 requested, $7 seniors and students. 528-3417.  

Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families for Peace, with Rami Elhanan, a seventh generation Jerusalemite whose daughter was killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber, and Ghazi Brigieth, whose brothers were shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. At 7 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker, 1640 Addison Ave. A $10-$20 donation is requested, no one turned away. For more information call 464-4911 or email bayareapeacetour@ 

yahoo.com, www.rcnv.org 

Literary Friends meets from 1:30 to 3:15 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. The topic is Leni Riefenstahl: Correspondence, Life and Documentary “Olympia.” 232-1351. 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Jack Citrin, Ph.D., professor Political Science, on “Clashing Civilizations.” Luncheon 11:45 a.m. $11.50 - $12.50. Speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020. 

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

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

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

Berkeley Hillel 75th Anniver- 

sary Shabbat at 6:30 p.m. at 2736 Bancroft Way. 845-7793.  

SATURDAY, OCT. 11 

Shellmound Run Gather at 7:30 a.m. at University and 4th St. The route is along Strawberry Creek to the shoreline, then to the Pow Wow at MLK Civic Center Park. Sponsored by the Indigenous Peoples Day Committee and the City of Berkeley. 595-5520. www.red-coral.net/Pow 

Indigenous Peoples Day PowWow and Indian Market from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Civic Center Park, with arts and crafts, Native California dancing and Native American foods. Sponsor- 

ed by the City of Berkeley. 595-5520. www.red-coral.net/Pow 

East Bay Earth Charter Community Summit from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Oakland, 27th St. and Harrison. Program includes performance art, presentations by local activists and commentators, an ecologically prepared lunch, and workshops. Free. For information call 655-8252. www.earthchartersummits.org.  

Rockin’ in Berkeley Visit seven parks in Berkeley featuring an- 

cient volcanic rock formations. Climb up (optional) for great views. Walk through neighborhoods and see rocks incorporated into buildings and landscapes. From 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. For information call 415-255-3233. www.greenbelt.org 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class on Disaster Mental Health for anyone who lives or works in Berkeley, from 9 a.m. to noon at 997 Cedar St., between 8th and 9th Sts. Register on-line at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes or by calling 981-5506. 

Quaker FunRaiser to benefit the Friends Committee on Legislation, a lobby for just and compassionate lawmaking. Live entertainment, art, children’s activities, books, baked goods and more. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Berkeley Friends Church, 1600 Sacramento St., 1 block north of N. Berkeley BART. 547-2099, 486-1391. 

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour of the Gilman Street Industrial Area. Begins at 10 a.m. Reservations and a donation of $8 required. Please make check payable to Berkeley Historical Society, and mail it to P.O. Box 1190, Berkeley, CA 94701-1190. 848-0181. 

Green Living Series: Green Interior Design Topics will include cleaners, paints, sealers, furnishings, flooring, energy efficient systems and products. Bring a rough plan of your space if possible. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave., near Dwight Way. Cost is $10 Ecology Center members, $15 others, no one turned away for lack of funds. Call to pre-register. Drop-ins OK. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

“So How’d You Become an Activist?” with David Harris, author, Vietnam War resister, and Jeff Patterson, Conscien- 

tious Objector, First Gulf War, Organizer, “Not in Our Name,” at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St., at Bonita. Suggested donation $5. For more information call 528-5403. 

Daniel Ellsberg seminar on ending the cycle of violence and banning nuclear weapons from 9:30 a.m. to noon at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd. Kensington. Donation of $10 requested, $7 seniors and students. 528-3417.  

A Better Chance Annual Independent School Fair for students and families of color. This free event will take place at Samuel Merritt Health Education Center in Oakland from 3 to 6 p.m. 496-1151. 

Pet Adoptions, sponsored by Home at Last, from noon to 5 p.m., Hearst and 4th St. 548-9223. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

Yoga for Seniors at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St., on Saturdays from 10 to 11 a.m. The class is taught by Rosie Linsky, who at age 72, has practiced yoga for over 40 years. Open to non-members of the club for $8.00 per class. For further information and to register, call Karen Ray at 848-7800. 

Kol Hadash, Northern California Community for Humanistic Judaism Brown Bag Family Shabbat with Rabbi Kai Eckstein: “A Celebration of Sukkot," from noon to 1:30 pm at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. Please bring lunch for your family, and (finger) dessert to share; juice provided. We also collect non-perishable food for the needy. For information call 428-1492 or email kolhadash@aol.com 

SUNDAY, OCT. 12 

The Soil Is Alive Come explore our homegrown compost, meet our worms, and take some home to care for and start your own compost pile, from 11 a.m. to noon at the Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. 525-2233.  

Plant Walk in People’s Park with naturalist, Terri Compost. Meet at 1 p.m. in the West End Community Garden. Heavy rain cancels. For information call 658-9178.  

Fall Festival at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, ethnic food, dancing, music, art and fun for children from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

Afternoon Tea Honoring the Women's Club Movement, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Berkeley History Center. Reservations recommended. 528-3284. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc/  

Tibetan Buddhism, “What is Knowledge of Freedom “ with Abbe Blum at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

Eckhart Tolle Talks on Video Free gathering at 7:30 p.m. to hear the words of the author of “The Power of Now” at the Feldenkrais Ctr., 830 Bancroft Way. 547-2024.  

MONDAY, OCT. 13 

Indigenous People’s Day  

City offices are closed. 

“Aftermath: Unanswered Questions From 9/11” video screening followed by discussion, at 8 p.m. at Grand Lake Neighborhood Center, 530 Lake Park Ave., Oakland. Wheelchair accessible. $1 suggested donation, no one turned away for lack of funds. Sponsored by East Bay Community Against the War. www.ebcaw.org 

Home Owners Support Group meets to discuss what to do when your house needs painting, at 3 p.m. at Berkeley Gray Panthers, 1403 Addison St. 548-9696. 

Women’s Cancer Resource Center, volunteer training, every second Monday of the month, from 6 to 8 p.m. at 5741 Telegraph Ave. To sign up call Emily at 601-4040, ext. 109. emily@wcrc.org 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 6 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

ONGOING  

UC Berkeley’s Long Range Development Plan Public Comment Period has been extended to Oct. 10. For more information on the plan, visit http://ldrp/berkeley.edu Written comments can be emailed to 2020LRDP@cp.berkeley.edu or mailed to Jennifer Lawrence, Principal Planner, Capital Projects, 1936 University Ave., Suite 300, Berkeley, CA 94720-1382. 

Flu Shots will be offered at a number of Berkeley locations during the month of October, by Sutter VNA and Hospice. For a location near you plaese call 1-800-500-2400 or visit www.suttervnaandhospice.org 

“Berkeley Speaks” a community program for activists and artists on Berkeley Community Media, BETV Channel 25. For information on being on the program please call 848-2288. or visit www.betv.org 

Acting and Storytelling Classes for Seniors, offered by Stagebridge. Wednesdays and Fridays, at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. at Arts First Oakland, 2501 Harrison St., close to BART and AC Transit. 444-4755. www.stagebridge.org 

Free Smoke Detectors for City residents and UC Berkeley students who live off-campus. Applications are available from the Environment, Health & Safety office of UC Berkeley, at any Berkeley Fire Station, or at the Fire Admin. Office located at 2100 MLK, Jr. Way. 981-5585.  

Free Energy Bill Payment Assistance The City of Berkeley has money to help low-income households pay their gas and electric bills. For applications contact the Energy Office at 644-8544. TDD: 981-6903. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/energy 

Fair Trade Week Oct. 6-12. Products bearing the Fair Trade Certified(tm) label, such as coffee, organic tea and chocolate will be featured at Andronico's Markets. www.transfairusa.org 

CITY MEETINGS 

Commission on Disability meets Wed., Oct. 8, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Paul Church, 981-6342. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/disability 

Homeless Commission meets Wed., Oct. 8, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jane Micallef, 981-5426. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/homeless 

Library Board of Trustees meets Wed., Oct. 8, at 7 p.m. at 1901 Russell St. Jackie Y. Griffin, 981-6195. www.ci.ber- 

keley.ca.us/commissions/library  

Planning Commission meets Wed., Oct. 8, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Ruth Grimes, 981-7481. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/planning 

Police Review Commission meets Wed., Oct. 8, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Barbara Attard, 981-4950. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/policereview 

Waterfront Commission meets Wed., Oct. 8, at 7 p.m., at 201 University Ave. Cliff Marchetti. 644-6376 ext. 224. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/waterfront 

Commission on Early Childhood Education meets Thurs., Oct. 9, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Marianne Graham, 981-5416. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/earlychildhoodeducation  

Community Health Commission meets Thurs., Oct. 9, at 6:45 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. William Rogers, 981-5344. www.ci.ber- 

keley.ca.us/commissions/health 

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., Oct. 9, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. ww.ci.ber- 

keley.ca.us/commissions/zoning

SCHOOL SWAP 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I want to thank Matthew Artz for his accurate reporting of the issues surrounding the lawsuit filed against the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) by the Friends of Franklin (FOF). 

As a party in this suit, I feel that it is important to state that this action was undertaken solely as a last resort, in order to protect the quality and character of the neighborhood surrounding the Franklin School site. It is not in any way meant to be retaliatory, vindictive, or punative. 

Neighbors of both the Franklin School and West Campus (the current location of Berkeley Adult School) have engaged in dialogue with BUSD for many months. These meetings, while initially encouraging, have now resulted in feelings of mistrust, frustration, and disillusionment with the school district and its staff. It is our contention that the district has inadequately addressed our concerns regarding the likely environmental impacts of this project, and have thereby violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). In addition, they have failed to connect the relocation of the Adult School to other foreseeable and related projects, also a violation of CEQA. 

We, the FOF, believe that it is possible to protect the integrity of our neighborhood and the interests of the Adult School students and faculty, if all concerned parties engage in honest and meaningful communication. That it takes a lawsuit to accomplish this is indeed unfortunate. 

When all is said and done, not just the Franklin neighbors, but all of the people of Berkeley will have to live with the outcome of the district’s decisions regarding the use of its properties and facilities. The FOF would like to ensure that due process is adhered to with regard to such decisions, and the district be held accountable for its actions. 

If, in this case, a court decides that due process has been circumvented and project funds are compromises as a result, that indeed would be a terrible waste. However, the school district chose to condone this move in opposition to overwhelming neighborhood sentiment, which asked for the final decision to be postponed in order to better evaluate the entire plan. The district then will have to look no further than itself and its representatives for a reason as to why that outcome came to pass.  

Carrie Adams 

• 

PAMPHLET-BRAINED 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

While ISM member Jim Harris characterizes my letter condemning the Berkeley City Council’s call for an investigation of Rachel Corrie’s death as a “diatribe,” it’s telling that neither he nor fellow critic Gray Brechin respond to the substance of my commentary. 

As reflected in Mother Jones’ current issue, I noted that the ISM was kicked out of its shared office space by the International Red Cross in Jenin for hiding an Islamic Jihad soon thereafter arrested for plotting four homicide bombings. No response on this from Mr. Harris. Moreover, Harris made no mention of the subsequent distancing of NGO’s from his organization after they “socialized” with two Pakistanis of British citizenry who shortly thereafter blew themselves and a dozen innocent Israeli citizens up. 

At least Mr. Harris, despite his calls for “human rights,” didn’t deny what Joshua Hammer found when he investigated the ISM for his Mother Jones piece: that a good number of ISM members “embrace” Palestinian homicide bombers as freedom fighters. Were he being truthful, this is something Mr. Harris could hardly deny and therefore, he didn’t.  

And neither Mr. Harris nor Mr. Brechin deny that the ISM sent photos to Reuters of Rachel Corrie, saying that they were taken just prior to her death when in reality they were taken several hours before, thereby alienating much of the international press. They can’t pretend the ISM tried to lie to the world because through Reuters, we now know this to be a matter of public record. 

Finally, Harris and Brechin call Rachel Corrie’s death “murder,” despite the fact that the primary witness—a fellow ISM member—says it may well have been an accident. 

Of course, like a vocabulary-challenged teenager who absolutely must utter the “F-word,” Mr. Brechin can’t resist tossing in that old Pravda cliché, “Zionist imperialism.” Such language will do fine affirming his affinity with ideologues like the ISM, but like Mr. Harris, Brechin’s willingness to eschew facts for slogans confine him and his comrades to the bargain basement of Berkeley’s pamphlet-brained. 

A question for our fine progressive City Council majority: If you are going to take up the case of Rachel Corrie, how could you ignore the fact that 43 Americans have fallen victim to Palestinian suicide bombs? Is that not also worthy of investigation? Why not? It couldn’t be because they were Jews, could it? 

Dan Spitzer 

• 

PUT ‘EM BACK 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

While some street and sidewalk improvements to better provide for wheelchair users may take a long time to bring about in Berkeley, there is one improvement that the city can make right away. 

The city could immediately instruct and require sanitation and recycling workers to place emptied garbage cans, plant debris, and other recycling containers so they do not obstruct the sidewalk. 

In my neighborhood, for instance, residents are usually very good about putting out their containers where they won’t block the sidewalk. Every pick-up morning one sees neat lines of gray, green, and blue containers carefully placed either in the “verge” (the area between curb and sidewalk, or in driveways, off the sidewalk. 

Once the city workers pass by, however, the sidewalks are cluttered with containers that have been emptied and hastily swung, pushed, or tossed aside. 

This creates obstacles to pedestrians and wheelchairs throughout the day, because many residents are away at work and aren’t there to move the containers out of the sidewalk until evening. 

The city’s Public Works Department could and should require that its workers not only bring containers back to the curb but also place them where they are not blocking the sidewalk. Usually this would mean the simple act of putting a container back where the resident originally placed it for pick-up. 

The city should also make allowances for the increases in time required to do this work with care. My impression has been that the sanitation workers are typically moving so fast down the street—presumably to stick to a schedule—that they don’t have time to do more than quickly drag or swing a container aside once the contents have been dumped into the collection truck. They perform an intricate and energetic ballet, but the end result is often sidewalk clutter. 

It was only about two decades ago in Berkeley that sanitation workers routinely came into yards, picked up garbage cans from storage areas, emptied them, and then carefully returned them to the place they came from. While the days of yard pickup are gone (in part because of the back problems caused by carrying heavy cans), it is not too much to expect that the part about “putting it back where it came from” should be among the city’s axioms for sanitation workers. 

Steven Finacom 

• 

DECISIVE ACTION 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Berkeley’s problem of black-on-white violence and racism will be tackled meaningfully in the same way white racism against blacks was tackled in the South: by the victimized class awakening, throwing off internalized self-hating ideas, and taking decisive action to change the existing culture. 

Al Durrette 

• 

VOTE TO IMPEACH 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Hey, Berkeley. Wake up! Santa Cruz and Arcata have risen to the top of the progressive communities charts by taking action on the impeachment of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Ashcroft. This imperial quadrumvirate must be impeached for their heinous crimes: i.e. manipulation of intelligence (lying) about weapons of mass destruction in order to rationalize the illegal preemptive war against Iraq; designating citizens as “ enemy combatants” and subjecting them to indefinite detention without charge or access to counsel; ordering and condoning assassinations, secret detentions, torture and generally violating the rights of individuals under the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and furthermore, withdrawing from International treaties, e.g. Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, without consent of the legislative branch. 

These and other allegations of our civil, political and human rights make it mandatory that “President” Bush and his cronies are summarily impeached. 

Even Oakland has surpassed Berkeley with this message having been posted on the Grand Lake Theatre Marquee: “ What is an impeachable offense? 

Lying about sex. NO. Lying in order to go to war. YES” 

Vote at www.votetoimpeach.org 

Gene Bernardi 

• 

XXXXXXXX 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

It is with great sadness that I read and watch the daily updates of my native state’s recall election. What first began as my mild amusement at Arnold Schwarzenegger’s campaign has turned into terror that a serial sexual predator will be California’s next governor. Schwarzenegger has publicly apologized for his sexual misconduct by referring to it as “bad behavior” that has “offended people.” Such an apology leads one to believe his actions were as minor as a teenager talking during class. 

Multiple women have claimed that Schwarzenegger grabbed their breasts, pinched their nipple, or otherwise engaged in what is legally considered second-degree sexual assault under the California penal code. While the mainstream press published allegations of Schwarzenegger’s history of sexual assaults just last week, the first report of his sexual misconduct surfaced in 1977. It did not end there. A 2001 article in Premiere referenced several incidents that allegedly occurred in the 1990s and early 2000s. This information was published two years before the current recall election. Therefore, this is not a smear campaign; this is a pattern of sexual abuse  

towards women. 

My older brother and I grew-up watching Schwarzenegger movies and quoting his best-scripted one-liners. My brother still lives in California, with his wife, son, and two daughters. He, like many men in the state, needs to make a decision Tuesday about what means more to him: his long-time movie hero, or a strong statement that he will not tolerate, much less reward, sexual attacks on women. 

The only pragmatic way to vote against Schwarzenegger is to vote against the recall. Please search within yourself and consider this option. 

Amber Novak 

Austin, Texas 

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Editors, Daily Planet:  

Charles Spiegel’s response (Daily Planet, Sept. 30-Oct. 2) to my plea to “Save Our Canyons” (Daily Planet, Sept. 26-29) leaves me bewildered. He advocates for “no development in Strawberry Canyon” as opposed to “no new development in Strawberry Canyon” and then mistakenly suggests that the development impacts from the Panoramic Hill neighborhood are worse than the development impacts from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Hill Area Campus of UC Berkeley.  

The conclusion or point of this line of reasoning leaves me mystified: Is he saying that since there already is development that saving what’s left is a lost cause? Or is he saying that we all—i.e. neighbors, LBNL labs, UCB labs—should go away? Or is he just saying that the neighborhood should go away?  

It seems the latter is his intent as he illogically compares the traffic generated by the persons living in 265 dwelling units as worse than the traffic generated by the 4,000 employees who work at LBNL and those uncounted others who work in the Hill Area Campus of the UC Berkeley labs. And he mentions not at all the relative construction impacts from the houses in the neighborhood to the construction impacts from the numerous huge buildings at the industrial park in our city’s backyard.  

From my perspective, the real question is how worse the collective “we” will let things become. Instead, he and perhaps others will get into a pissing contest about which entity (labs or neighborhoods) is worse or better and thus fritter away a chance to save what little we have left of what is wild.  

But animal habitat arguments aside, building in an area of very high-risk earthquake-induced landslides might not be such a great place for large concentrations of humans. There are many reasons for preserving our canyons as open space.  

Janice Thomas 

It seems unlikely that UC’s Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies bribed the Nobel Prize Committee to choose Oct. 3 to announce they had awarded the world’s most high falutin’ literary prize to South African author J.M. Coetzee. But there must have been at least some dancing in the hallowed academic corridors when the word came over the news. It happened last Friday, the same day that Assistant Professor Peter Glazer’s beautifully staged adaptation of Coetzee’s novel “Foe” opened at Zellerbach Playhouse. 

Coetzee based his book on Daniel Defoe’s great standard of childhood fiction from 1719, “Robinson Crusoe.” But before you rush out to take the kids to Glazer’s fine production—he directs his own adaptation—you might check to see how skilled they are at deciphering postmodern thought. For that matter, there are a couple of bedroom scenes which, though not designed for erotic titillation, are probably more explicit than anything you may want to explain after the show. 

It should be made quite clear that although both the novel and this play are based, or adapted from “Robinson Crusoe,” the plot and the characters vary significantly from the original story. Indeed, what remains of the traditional plot is over and done with by the end of the first act. That’s where we have “Cruso” (Daniel Etcheverry) and the black “Friday” (David Moore) stranded on a desert island, (both very well played parts) but they are wildly different from the pair we may remember from our childhoods. Cruso is a grumpy old man who has no interest in leaving his island, or “civilizing” Friday. That concept is carried by “Susan” a significant addition to the original pair. She is another survivor from an ocean disaster, who assumes the production’s lead role. 

The short version of the differences between “Foe” and “Robinson Crusoe” is that Coetzee’s novel is definitely adult intellectual fare, described by more than one critic as “the archetypal postmodern novel.” Thus the play, the result of years of work on Glazer’s part, is challenging. There is, for example, the fact that for no very clear reason the role of Susan is played simultaneously by three different women, distinguished mainly by the color of their dresses: “Susan in White”( Amy Delores Hattemer) who seems most clearly to carry the plot line, “Susan in Brown” (Stacy Tillett), and “Susan in Green” (Caroline Barad).  

The three versions of Susan always appear on the stage simultaneously and all of them seemingly present pretty much the same aspects of the character. Since they are all quite effective actresses, it does raise some question about why they are all there. Admittedly, they serve a real purpose in breaking up what might otherwise be extraordinarily long speeches if delivered from only one mouth. Rather nice, actually.  

The second and third acts take place back in Great Britain after Susan and Friday are saved (poor Cruso didn’t survive). This part of the play is primarily concerned with Susan’s (all three of her ) efforts to get the author, “Mr. Foe” (Ken Jensen) to write a novel about Cruso’s and Friday’s (and presumably her own) experiences on the desert island. The author sees it as being an idea which is headed in the wrong direction and wants to make a very different kind of book.  

A theme which was mentioned but not significantly developed in the first act appears rather abruptly as a significant factor in the second and third: A young girl (Khloe Alice Lin) abruptly arrives and claims to be the daughter from whom Susan had been separated and for whom she has searched. Curiously, Susan insists that the girl could not possibly be her child and goes to great lengths to get her to go away.  

It’s another of the issues that are raised and left with no clear resolution. This is, after all, a theater piece created from a novel by a master of postmodern fiction.  

Fair warning: Coetzee, who is, of course, the guy behind all of this, gave a lecture at Stanford in 1997, where he was asked if his book “Boyhood” was fiction or a memoir. He responded: “Do I have to choose?” 

With an attitude like that, do you expect a play based on his work to have a really clear beginning, middle and an end? 

“Foe” will be performed at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 19 at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Playhouse. For tickets go to www.ticketweb.com or call 866-468-3399.

TUESDAY, OCT. 7 

FILM 

The Cinema of Ernie Gehr, Program 1, with the filmmaker in person at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Judy Collins dicusses the death of her son in “Sanity and Grace: A Journey of Suicide, Survival, and Strength,” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Turtle Island String Quartet David Balakrishnan, violin; Evan Price, violin; Danny Seidenberg, viola; Mark Summer, cello; perform jazz, classical and a little of everything else, at 8 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club. 525-5211. www.berkeleychamberperform.org  

Brass Menagerie performs Balkan music at 8:30 p.m., with a dance lesson with Gerry Duke at 7:30 p.m., at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Kirov Ballet and the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42-$110, and are available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu  

Dayna Stephens House Jam at The Jazz House. Donation $5. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Mimi Fox, solo guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 8 

FILM 

Heddy Honigmann: “Mental and Melancholy,” at 7:10 p.m. Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Exhibiting Signs of Age, Panel Discussion at 4 p.m. in the Geballe Room, 220 Stephens Hall, UC Campus, with Thomas W. Laqueur, Interim Director, Townsend Center for the Humanities; Guy Micco, M.D., Director, Center on Aging, and Director, Center of Medicine, Humanities, and Law, UC Berkeley; Beth Dungan, Exhibition Co-curator, Ed Kashi, Photographer; and Julie Winokur, Writer/Producer. 642-0808.  

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Curator’s Talk, “One Struggle, Two Communities: Late 20th Century Political Posters of Havana Cuba and the San Francisco Bay Area,” with Lincoln Cushing at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Café Poetry and open mic, hosted by Kira Allen at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Gregory Edmont introduces “Spotted in France: A Dog’s Life ... on the Road” at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave at Rose. 843-3533. 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7,  

$5 with student i.d. 841-2082.  

www.starryploughpub.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert Robert Calonico, clarinet and Jacqueline Chew, piano perform Brahms and Milhaud at the Chevron Auditorium at International House, Bancroft and Piedmont Aves. Admission is free. 642-4864. 

Kirov Ballet and the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42-$110, and are available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu  

Sauce Piquante at 8:30 p.m. with a dance lesson with Cheryl McBride at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jules Broussard, Bing Nathan and Ned Boynton at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Flowtilla plays a blend of psychedelic world groove funk-jazz at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277.  

THURSDAY, OCT. 9 

FILM 

Genetic Screenings: “The Snowflake Crusade” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Daughter from Danang,” a film by Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco, at 7 p.m. at 2060 Valley Life Sciences Building. Sponsored by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies. 642-3609. cseas@uclink.berkeley.edu  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ceramic Folk Art of Ecuador Gallery talk with Richard Burkett, professor of Ceramics at San Diego State University, at noon at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Kroeber Hall, Bancroft Way at College Ave. 643-7648. www.gal.berkeley.edu/~hearst/ 

Lois Banner discusses her new biography, “Intertwined Lives: Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict and Their Circle,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with featured readers Mark States and Chokwadi, followed by an open mic, at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. For information call 526-5985 or 205-1749.  

Gallery Tour of Junko Chodos “Requiem for an Executed Bird,” with the artist at 4 p.m. followed by a talk, “Spirituality and the Process of Creating Art” at 5 p.m. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2541.  

Guided Tour: Gene(sis): Contemporary Art Explores Human Genomics, at 12:15 and 5:30 p.m., Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Curator’s Talk, “Aging and the Body” with Beth Dungan at 12:15 p.m. in the Theater Gallery, Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Kirov Ballet and the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42-$110, and are available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu  

New Century Chamber Orchestra, “A Musical Halloween” at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Tickets are $28-$39 and are available from 415-392-4400. www.ncco.org 

Grateful Dead DJ Night from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Fingerstyle Acoustic Guitar Festival, with Patrick Landeza, Dale Miller and Teja Gerken 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 

Nourish the New Brazil! An evening of news updates, with author Angus Wright, and Brazilian jazz and funk by Voz e Vento at 7:30 p.m., at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

May Pole, J. Othello (The Love Rino) and Poor Bailey perform at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

www.starryploughpub.com 

Keni El Lebrijano, flamenco guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

FRIDAY, OCT. 10  

FILM 

Heddy Honigmann: “O Amor Natural” at 7:30 p.m. at Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Holy Land” about life in the Middle East opens at Landmark’s Shattuck Cinema.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Terry Pratchett reads from his new novel, “Monstrous Regiment,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. www.codysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Kirov Ballet and the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42-$110, and are available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu  

Festival Antiqua, classical, folk, and devotional music of Turkey and Eastern Europe, at 8 p.m. at the Parish Hall, St. Alban’s Church, 1501 Washington St., Albany. Tickets are $15 general and $12 students and seniors. 486-2803 or 524-7952. www.timrayborn.com/Festival 

The Ives String Quartet, “Inspired By,” three string quartets inspired by other artists’ works. Robin Sharp and Susan Freier, violins; Scott Woolweaver, viola; and Stephen Harrison, cello. At 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $20 general, $10 students and are available from 415-883-0727. 

Ollin, at 9 p.m., at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Harry Best and Shabang, Tropical Vibrations perform caribbean/reggae at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Rosin Coven and Japonize Elephants perform at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $9.  

841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Leonard Thompson at 9:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Stairwell Sisters perform old-time stringband music 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 

Quarteto Sonando, Latin jazz at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

The Dwarves, The Frisk, This is My Fist!, Scattered Fall 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. 

Lycanthrope Lounge Pre-Halloween Bash with Nommo Ogo, David Seagull and more, 10 p.m. at The Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 540-0751. 

SATURDAY, OCT. 11  

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Juanita Ulloa, original and traditional songs from Mexico, at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

FILM 

New Latin American Cinema: “Crane World” at 5:10 and 9:20 p.m. and “Japón” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Enter the Dragon,” classic Bruce Lee, at 8 p.m. at the Long Haul, a reading room, library and community center in South Berkeley located at 3124 Shattuck Ave. Wheelchair accessible. 540-0751. www.thelonghaul.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Saul Landau discusses “The Pre-emptive Empire: A Guide to Bush’s Kingdom,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

www.codysbooks.com  

Shelly Rivoli reads from her novel “I Was a Vacuum Cleaner Salesman,” the story of a young woman trying to earn money for tuition at 7:30 p.m. at Boadecia's Books, 398 Colusa Ave. 559-9184. 

Rhythm and Muse with Avotcja at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893.  

www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Poetry Lovers Unite! Poetry Book Club meets to read from “American’s Favorite Poems,” edited by poet laureate Robert Pinsky at 7:30 p.m. at the Claremont Branch Library, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 981-6280.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Face Orchestra, “Fish Pond,” installation by Mantra and music by Dan and Mantra Plonsey, at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Arts Festival Headquarters, 2110 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $8. 665-9496.  

Kirov Ballet and the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater at 2 and 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42-$110, and are available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu  

Facing East, East/West fusion group, performs at 7 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door. 415-703-0330. www.facingeast.com 

Married Couple, alt-jazz ensemble, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Café de la Paz's 10th Anniversary and Flamenco Celebration Dinner show at 8 p.m., seating at 6 p.m. for $40-$47, or late show at 10 p.m. for $20-27. Reservations encouraged. 843-0662. cafedelapaz.net 

Jolie Holland sings at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$15, no one turned away for lack of funds. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Larry Schneider Quintet performs at 8 p.m. at the Jazz- 

school. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

The Edlos perform a cappella at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50 in advance, $17.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsal- 

vage.org 

Ze Manel, from Guinea-Bissau, performs at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jolie Holland sings at 8 p.m. at the 1923 Teahouse. Suggested donation of $7-$12. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Schloss, Brian Kenney Fresno, Fear of Sleep, Three Piece Combo perform at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Frank Jackson at 9:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Nicole McRory at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. becketts- 

irishpub.com 

Hammers of Misfortune, Bread and Water, Garuda, Abandon, A Sleeping Irony 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, OCT. 12 

Berkeley Potters Guild Tour and Demonstration Members of this 32 year old, 20 member guild will demonstrate potters’ wheel throwing and hand building techniques, at 1 p.m. at the Potters Guild, 731 Jones St. at 4th. 524-7031. 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

Berkeley Arts Festival Exhibition Opening, drawings and prints by Carol Brighton, Mari Marks Fleming, Debra Jewel, Sylvia Sussman, Sandy Walker, Audrey Wallace Taylor, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery, 2324 Shatttuck Ave. 665-9496. www.berkeleyartsfestival.com 

Kazumi Cranney, “Japanese Haiga Paintings” Reception from 2-4 p.m. at Takara Sake. Exhibit runs to Oct 16. Free. 540-8250. 

Women's Cancer Resource Center, “Roots - Art” by Renata Gray and Rae Louise Hayward. Reception with the artists from 1 to 4 p.m. Exhibition runs Oct. 12 - Nov. 14. 5741 Telegraph Ave. 601-4040 ext. 111. wcrc@wcrc.org 

FILM 

New Latin American Cinema: “Japón” at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4- 

$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry at Cody’s with Kate Gale and Tracy K. Smith at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Power of Poetry: A Celebration at 7:30 p.m. in the Domin- 

ican School of Philosophy and Theology lounge, 2401 Ridge Rd. Featuring Wayne Daniel Berard, winner of the Sixth Annual New Eden Chapbook Contest. cjrenzop@yahoo.com 

Guided Tour: Gene(sis): Contemporary Art Explores Human Genomics, at 2 p.m., Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Genes, Texts, and Tropes: A Space between Fiction and Fact,” a lecture by Evelyn Fox Keller at 3 p.m. in the Museum Theater, Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Jazz Latino: America’s Music, a lecture demonstration with John Santos from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at The Jazzschool. Free, but registration suggested, call 845-5373. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Kirov Ballet and the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater at 3 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42-$110, and are available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu  

Live Oak Concert with Nan- 

ette McGuiness, soprano, and William Ludtke, composer, pianist, at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. Tickets are $10 general, $9 students/seniors and $8 BAC members. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Music from Scotland, England and Beyond with David Francey at 7:30 p.m. Donation of $12 in advance, $15 at the door. For reservations and location email sally@greenberg.org 

Xicano Moratorium presents Indigenous People’s Day, with activists, music and culture,  

at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

California Friends of  

Louisiana French Music Dance Jam from 2 to 6:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Dance workshops from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Cost is $5 for members, and $8 non-members. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Austin Lounge Lizards at 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 

Americana Unplugged, with Cabin Fever at 4 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

MONDAY, OCT. 13 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Susan Choi introduces her new novel, “American Woman,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Poetry Express, open mic featuring Phil Taggert from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sarah Cahill and Innovative Piano Program, featuring a special performance of Frederic Rzewski’s “Coming Together,” commemorating the Attica prison uprising, with speaker Dean Sanomieri and Steed Cowart conducting a mixed ensemble, at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery, 2324 Shattuck Ave. 655-9496. www.berkeleyartsfestival.com 

Bill Staines performs traditional folk at 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

Berkeley is one of the older cities in the Bay Area and the majority of Berkeley’s approximately 40,000 buildings are more than 60 years old. The city’s built environment gives it a physical quality not found in the newer California communities where the majority of the state’s population lives. With the exception of areas just south of the University Campus, Berkeley escaped the massive urban clearances that other older cities experienced. 

Over the years Berkeley has made a strong commitment to preserve the diversity and quality of its architectural heritage in all sectors of the city: residential, commercial and institutional. The city’s Master Plan states: “Berkeley’s residents have always had a deep attachment to the physical character of the city.”  

Some mistakenly believe and complain that “only in Berkeley” would cultural resources be designated and protected, but the preservation of cultural resources is a nationwide mandate from the Federal Government.  

During the era of massive redevelopment, extending from the mid-1940s through the 1960s, many cities experienced the demolition of entire neighborhoods. 

The preservation movement, beginning with the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, was a response to this destruction. In the words of Richard Moe, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, “Preservation is not creating museum houses...preservation is rooted in an appreciation of the value of history...the business of saving special places and the quality of the life they support...a partnership that makes for orderly growth and change between the past, present and future.” 

The Preservation Act of 1966 established the National Register and state cultural resource surveys. The act also created the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, which reviews federally funded projects for adverse effects on cultural resources.  

In 1992 the State of California Governor’s Executive Order W-26-92 reaffirmed the Federal Preservation Act at the state level, and declared: “all state agencies shall recognize and preserve and maintain the significant heritage resources of the State.” 

To identify the nation’s cultural resources each state has established a cultural resource inventory process that is usually conducted at the local level.  

In 1977-79 The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association in conjunction with the city prepared a State Historic Resources Inventory for the State Office of Historic Preservation. Berkeley’s was one of the first state inventories in California.  

The more than 700 survey forms were reviewed by the State Office and each property was rated as to its eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The state survey produced a representative rather than a comprehensive inventory. It was thought that representative buildings identified in the survey would serve to identify others of a similar period and cultural significance. Copies of these forms are available at the Shattuck Avenue branch of the Public Library.  

Berkeley’s Landmark Preservation Ordinance was passed in 1974 establishing a nine-member commission appointed by each of the nine council members. 

The ordinance goes further than just mandating the preservation of buildings with special architectural character. It also asks the commission to consider structures and sites that have “special historical interests or value” by preserving “...unique and irreplaceable assets to the city and its neighborhoods, or which provide for this generation and future generations examples of the physical surroundings in which past generations lived.” 

The ordinance is specific and broad as to what may be considered a cultural resource, and designated a landmark or structure of merit. 

The Hunrick Grocery located at 2211 Rose St. was designated a Structure of Merit in 1988 because it provides “this generation and future generations examples of the physical surroundings in which past generations lived” and its designation conforms to the purpose and criteria of the ordinance.  

The building was constructed as a grocery store and residence by George Hunrick in 1908. Hunrick had come to California to study banking with A. P. Gianinni, but never returned to Germany. He moved to Berkeley in 1906 and set up his first store at 2120 Shattuck Ave. In 1908 he moved his business and home to 2211 Rose St. Prospects were good in this location at the time as the north Berkeley hills were just being developed and a streetcar line was extended up Spruce Street in 1910.  

Residential areas were linked to downtown and the rest of the Bay Area by streetcars and trains. The Berryman Station shopping area, where the Hunrick Grocery Store is located, had many small specialty shops. 

According to the late Louis Stein, whose father owned a butcher shop on Vine Street, it was customary to send employees out early in the morning to take orders since there were no telephones, and then make deliveries late in the afternoon by horse and wagon.  

Hunrick operated the store at this location from 1908 until 1923, when he moved his home to Woolsey Street and opened a grocery on College and Ashby. 2211 Rose St. served as a small convenience store until 1966. The distinctive architectural feature of the now dilapidated building is its Mission Revival false-front parapet. 

Susan Cerny is the author of the book “Berkeley Landmarks.” 

UC Berkeley graduate student instructors Friday staged a walkout to protest university bargaining practices they blame for a contract impasse. 

United Auto Workers Local 2865, which represents 12,000 University of California student teachers, graders and tutors, called for the one-day system-wide strike Wednesday just hours after its three-year contract expired. 

Although union leaders said the walkout was needed immediately to demonstrate their sense of urgency for a new contract, they gave themselves just two days to mobilize their 2,200 UC Berkeley members and garner support from sister unions.  

No other campus union called for a sympathy strike Friday, and by noon only about 60 UAW members walked the picket line. 

UC spokesperson Carol Hyman said the campus was functioning as usual, and early reports indicated that most graduate instructors taught classes Friday. Twenty of the 31 graduate-instructed math classes were taught, she said, while the other 11 were rescheduled.  

Union spokesperson Rajan Mehta said he assumed the majority of graduate instructors honored the picket lines. 

In September, the union charged the university with 64 unfair labor practices, which they insisted gave them the legal right to stage Friday’s walkout. 

“The university sends negotiators to the table who don’t have the authority to make a deal,” said Mehta, who noted that other unions had charged the university with using the same stalling tactic in previous negotiations. 

The union’s unfair labor practice claims will ultimately be settled by the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB). 

UC Spokesperson Paul Schwartz called the union’s claims baseless and labeled the strike illegal because the union failed to exhaust all bargaining recourses—including a formal declaration that negotiations were at an impasse. “A strike must be used as means of last resort, not as a bargaining tool,” he said. 

Neither side would reveal details of the negotiations, but the union said the university’s demand that it surrender its right to stage sympathy strikes with other university unions was the main stumbling block. 

Last year, the graduate student union—along with other campus and local unions—honored picket lines of striking university clerical workers and lecturers. While the university argued the three-day sympathy strikes violated the union’s no strike clauses, officials never received definitive word from PERB that the sympathy strikes were illegal. 

“It’s a legal gray area,” said Schwartz. “We think no strike means no strike. We pay them wages and uphold our end of the bargain.”  

The university ultimately won the concession from lecturers, but clerical workers refused to include a no-sympathy-strike clause in their new contract. 

“The university is trying to put this union in this closet and this union in another closest so they can gang up on us,” said Claudette Begin, a clerical worker who joined the picket line. 

Judy Goff, executive secretary and treasurer for the Central Labor Council of Alameda County AFL-CIO (CLC) said UC was the only local employer seeking to bar sympathy strikes. “The right to respect the picket line is a basic tenant of the union movement,” Goff said. “No one should be coerced into signing a contract to give that up.” 

While the graduate instructors said they picketed to defend sympathy strikes, their quick decision to walk out prevented other unions from honoring their picket lines.  

“I’m just finding out about [the strike] today,” said Janice Fox-Davis, one of four UC Berkeley nurses who joined the picket line. She said a sympathy strike by the university’s 30 nurses could have been called had they received more notice. 

John Zupan, president of University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE) Local 1, said the strike caught him by surprise, and that he and most other UPTE members worked Friday, even though his union e-mailed members Thursday afternoon encouraging them to honor the pickets. 

Mehta said graduate student union members authorized a strike last spring should their contract expire, so the union did not need to poll members this week, as move he said might have bought time to coordinate efforts with other unions. 

The graduate students also had trouble getting the word out to local unions who do business with the university. The union won strike sanction from the CLC late Thursday, but unionized delivery and construction workers continued to work at the university, saying they were unaware of any picket lines. 

“They have to come here and tell us,” said Joaquin Deanda from Teamsters Local 853, who was working on a new dormitory complex at Durant and College Avenues. “We would have stopped if we had known.” 

Undergraduate students interviewed were ambivalent about the strike. “I wished they’d give out more details”, said Senior Nikki Bhargava. “They haven’t told us why they are striking. The only e-mail we got was from the chancellor.” 

Graduate instructors, who say they conduct 60 percent of all face-to-face university teaching, have a contentious labor history with the university. They struck three years ago, winning their first contract, and staged numerous walkouts during their seventeen-year fight to win university recognition. 

The union negotiates benefits packages, instructor salaries for some departments and represents members who complain they’re work load is not reflected by their income. 

All graduate students interviewed said they supported the union, but the picket line was packed with humanities students, who, on average, receive less funding than science students.  

Paul Murphy, a Ph.D. candidate in the English Department who rides on a wheelchair, said that without the financial and medical benefits negotiated under the last union contract, he would not have been able to attend UC Berkeley. 

Science students—who often receive independent funding and are given a stipend in exchange for prearranged teaching requirements—are not as dependent on the union. 

“I think the union bargains are very important for the humanities grad students, but it seems to me like the sciences are very different,” said one student who declined to give her name. She noted that the past union contract complicated the pay scheme for science students, making the university give them a higher proportion of their stipend during those semesters when they were teaching. Figuring out the payment schedule has been a logistical nightmare she said, resulting in incorrect and late paychecks.

In memory of Fred Lupke 

You done sure showed us 

How far we could see 

Whether the physic was lax or limit 

Mattered not. 

That lesson was profound 

Even more by the fact 

That your own law of physic 

Was more limit than most. 

And your faith in us was more 

Than we sometimes thought deserve, 

But how genuine it was 

So we dared prove you right. 

Yet a glitch always comes 

And the glitch in this case 

Was they went and cut your string 

After only fifty-eight. 

Garrett Murphy 

Oakland 

The West Nile Virus is heading for Northern California and will probably reach Alameda and Contra Costa counties within the next two years, according to an infectious disease expert with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). 

Since its introduction to the eastern seaboard of the United States in 1999, the virus has spread westward as far as Imperial County in the extreme southeastern corner of California. The virus is mainly carried from location to location by migrating birds, and is passed on to humans primarily by bites from infected mosquitos. 

While 20 percent of individuals exposed to the virus only develop flu-like symptoms and 80 percent develop no symptoms at all, a small portion—less than one percent—develop severe, central nervous system diseases, some of which resemble polio, and some of which cause death. Last year 284 people died from West Nile Virus.  

Local, state, and federal health officials are currently conducting detailed monitoring of the virus’ presence in mosquitos, birds, humans, and other animals in every county in the nation. 

In an address last week to the Graduate School of Journalism at the UC Berkeley, CDC Acting Director of the Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases Dr. Lyle Petersen said that with only four years of data to work from, U.S. health officials do not know how severely the virus will hit this country, or what kind of pattern it will develop. 

“It [the West Nile Virus] is worrisome because it can be spread over a prolonged season and a wide geographic range by a variety of hosts,” Petersen said, noting that 43 mosquito species, 170 bird species, and 18 other animal species—including cats, dogs, squirrels, chipmunks, rats, and zoo animals—have all been identified as carriers. 

He estimated that “in a couple of years, every county in the United States will have West Nile Virus.” He also predicted that the virus would spread to every area of the Americas “except for the extreme northern and southern portions.” 

Petersen also said he was “not hopeful” about prevention efforts that have surfaced so far. 

“You can’t get rid of every infected mosquito,” Petersen said, adding that widespread pesticide spraying of adult of larval mosquitos has both limited impact on the mosquito population and widespread detrimental effects on the environment. “The best thing you can do is lower your chance of infection.” To that end, researchers are looking at such therapies as antiviral drugs and the injection of serum containing the virus antibodies. “But so far,” he cautioned, “there’s no treatment on the horizon.”  

Petersen suggested that until something better is developed, the best defense was the standard mosquito bite prevention regimen: Wear protective clothing and use mosquito repellent if you have to be out at twilight or at night, when mosquitos are biting. The doctor should know. Chatting with his mailman out as his mailbox one evening this summer, he was bitten by a mosquito and contracted a mild form of the virus himself.  

So far this year, health agencies report that they have identified 127 deaths among the more than 6,000 individuals in 41 states who they have identified as having been exposed to the virus. The bulk of the deaths have occurred in Colorado (38), Nebraska (15), and Texas (13). There was one report this summer of a woman hospitalized in Alameda County with a severe neurological disease after contracting the virus during a visit to Colorado. 

Two of the major potential mosquito carriers of the virus are the Western Encephalitis mosquito (Culex tarsalis) and the Northern house mosquito (Culex pipiens), both of which are widespread in both Alameda and Contra Costa counties. 

The virus can also be contracted through infected blood transfusion. 

After the CDC confirmed 23 cases of blood transfusion infection in 2002, screening of the nation’s transfusion blood supply for the virus was instituted. While researchers have also detected what Petersen calls a small number of cases of transmission of the virus through breast feeding, he said that “the great benefits of breast milk for babies far outweighs any risk. I wouldn’t recommend that any woman stop breast feeding.” 

Petersen also said that researchers have uncovered one case of transmission of the virus from an infected mother to her embryo through her placenta. “We’ve also found three cases where the embryo did not contract the virus from the infected mother,” he said. “It looks like transplacental transmission is the exception, rather than the rule.” Petersen also said that he knows of one report of what he called “a claim” of the spread of West Nile Virus through sexual contact, which he discounted. He concluded that although the disease can be spread from human to human, he said such incidents are minimal.

In 1891, Charles Keeler and Bernard Maybeck met on the 5 p.m. commuter ferry from San Francisco to Berkeley. Keeler was 20 and worked at the California Academy of Sciences. Maybeck was 29 and employed at the architectural firm of A. Page Brown. Four years later Maybeck designed Keeler’s home--the first house on Highland Place, in the Daley’s Scenic Park tract just north of the university campus. 

Years later, Keeler reminisced about the building of his house in “Bernard Maybeck: A Gothic Man in the 20th Century.” 

“So our home, which was his first, created much attention and comment...When it was done, with a green dome of the live oak back of it, we thought we’d never seen so simple and yet so uniquely charming a home, blending with the landscape. 

‘But,’ I said to Mr. Maybeck, ‘its effect will become completely ruined when others come and build stupid white-painted boxes all about us.’ 

‘You must see to it,’ he replied in his quiet, earnest tones that carried conviction, ‘that all the houses about you are in keeping with your own.’” 

This was the germ of the Hillside Club, an organization of neighbors that was highly influential in the cultural life of Berkeley and whose mission was “to protect the hills of Berkeley from unsightly grading and the building of unsuitable and disfiguring houses; to do all in our power to beautify these hills and above all to create and encourage a decided public opinion on these subjects.” 

Fifteen years ago I came to live in Daley’s Scenic Park. My partner and I thought it was paradise. If the past 15 years have taught us anything, it’s that an urban paradise doesn’t make itself. You must see to it, as Maybeck said. 

Since we moved here, there have been many occasions to exercise the “seeing to it.” Our neighborhood is the oldest in north Berkeley and faces inexorable encroachment by the ever-expanding UC campus. Much here was destroyed in the 1923 fire, but much remains, including an open stretch of the north fork of Strawberry Creek, a collection of turn-of-the-century architectural gems, and the legacy of the Hillside Club: a system of street improvements comprising retaining walls, divided roadways, planted median strips, stairways, and elevated sidewalks that form a continuous line stretching over blocks, including Le Conte, La Loma, LeRoy, Virginia, La Vereda, and Hilgard Avenues, as well as portions of Hearst Avenue and Arch Street. 

The Hillside Club Street Improvements were designated a Berkeley Landmark in July 1983. In the 20 years that elapsed, periodic animosity would erupt between those wishing to protect this unique public resource and those concerned primarily with their private property rights. On three occasions, attempts have been made to demolish retaining walls in the Hillside Club Street Improvements for the purpose of replacing a portion of hillside with a driveway or a garage, always with the object of jacking up a property’s selling price. It worked the first time. The third case, in 1997, involved the City of Berkeley in a protracted lawsuit lodged by a developer. The city won, but the case, since then dubbed “The Wall,” has become an oft-cited excuse for a do-nothing approach in the face of endangered historical resources. 

Few are those who adhere to the Hillside Club’s conviction that “There is a need of realizing civic pride and making sacrifices for it, sinking personal prejudices for the benefit of the whole.” Thus it came as no surprise when a recent anti-preservation article in the East Bay Express (“Berkeley’s Hysterical Landmarks,” Sept. 17 led off with a skewed story of “The Wall,” told from the point of view of the developer who had sued the city and lost. Other cases  

cited were treated in similar one-sided fashion. The Express has not seen fit to print any letters correcting the article’s numerous misrepresentations. 

Was it sheer coincidence that as soon as the Express article appeared, the list of designated Berkeley Landmarks on the city’s website disappeared? That list, fraught with errors, had not been updated since July 2000. Upon inquiry, I was told by Donna Lasala, Electronic Government Manager: “I am 99 percent sure that the Planning Department (along with our GIS staff) is currently updating the information.” 

Maybeck’s words came to mind: “You must see to it.” 

The result is a new Berkeley Landmarks website. It includes a complete and accurate listing of all designated landmarks, many linked to photographs and additional information. 

In the “Preservation Discourse” section, there are illustrated articles and letters on polemical issues, including responses and corrections to the Express article. Your contributions are welcome. 

Daniella Thompson is webmaster for the Berkeley Landmarks website: http://brazzil.com/daniv/berkeley/landmarks.html.

Some nights a blue light shines in South Berkeley. If you’re in the know, when the light is glowing, you’re in for an enchanting evening at one of Berkeley’s newest hot spots for the underground arts scene, the Jazz House. 

Located at the nexus of Adeline and Martin Luther King Boulevard, this six-month-new performance space serves straight up and experimental jazz, community drumming, open jam sessions and avant-garde theater. The lack of signage (except for the blue light that shines when the venue’s open) and the lack of advertising are not the only unusual aspects of this venue. It’s alcohol and smoke free. 

It’s open to all ages, and the revenues from this nonprofit performance space fund children’s arts programs throughout the Bay Area. 

Run without compensation by two San Franciscans, executive director Rod Woodworth and all around hands-on facilitator Kathryn Golden, the Jazz House hosts John H. Doyle’s production of “The Dutchman” by Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka) starting Thursday, Oct. 9. 

“We’re here for the community,” said Woodworth when asked why the Dutchman is playing at the Jazz House. “When John came to me and said, look I really want to do this play. I think I can get people through the door. It’s a great intimate space. I love what you’re doing here. Would you consider doing a play? I said, why not? Let’s do it.” 

“We have had ‘peAktimes’ here,” said Golden. “They’re an improvisational performance art group with music [riffing off today’s headlines]. It’s kind of a play. It’s an improv play. There’s a great demand for that and we thought this would be one additional element of that type.  

“I’m very excited to see this and I’m hoping he’s able to pull a great mix of people both from the community and beyond,” Golden continued. “He’s been great to work with and I’m looking forward to it.” 

Theatrical performances at the Jazz House are the exception, not the rule. More typical events held in the last six months include the Nels Cline Singers, Donald “Duck” Bailey, the James Lick Jazz Combo (SF middle school), Tryone Hill of the Sun Ra Arkestra, Berkeley Alternative High Poetry Slam, Larry Ochs and the John Schott Typical Orchestra.  

“The East Bay has a poverty of places one can hear this kind of music,” said band leader and guitarist John Schott. “Especially places where people under 21 can hear this kind of music. I have a good feeling about this space and especially about the people who are running it.”  

Woodworth works days for a San Francisco ticketing agency and until recently Golden was director of training for SERA Learning, an educational foundation serving at-risk youth. Because of the economic downturn her job was eliminated and she’s currently unemployed.  

“All the money that’s raised goes to the kids’ nonprofit groups—opportunities for youth and music combined. Whether they’re the opening act for a band, or getting a clinic or workshop on a weekend afternoon,” said Woodworth. 

“The nonprofit’s been around for awhile but when the space became available we saw this as another way to raise funds for the nonprofit. This is more a place for kids to actually perform as opposed to sitting in the classroom, reading the notes.” 

Asked why they’d spend their few free hours volunteering for programs that benefits youth, Woodworth explained: “Basically my love of music had a lot to do with it. I’ve seen a lot of kids, especially at the middle school level, who, if they were lucky they might have gotten one performance event a year at their school and that would be only for their parents. I just felt like there was a lot of talent out their in that age bracket who couldn’t get into the bars to play, who really had no where else to go. There needs to be a place where kids could get out there and really, really show what they’ve got.” 

“There are not a lot of places for kids to go,” agreed Golden. “There’s also not a lot of places where parents and their kids can go to hear music together. What we really wanted to create here is a space where anybody can go. They could bring their kids of any ages, and hear music. Kind of the way it was in the old New York loft scene in the 70s—an intimate space where anyone could come hear music and sit very close to the performers. That was what attracted me to it, creating an all-ages place that was about music. It’s not going to a restaurant and it’s the background noise. Or a bar and it’s a background noise. This truly is a destination for music fans of all ages.” 

“The Dutchman” will be performed at the Jazz House Oct. 9-12, and Oct. 16-19. 3192 Adeline Ave., Berkeley. For more information: www.thejazzhouse.com.

Having to put Jesse Jackson on hold so I could take a call from Al Gore. 

Those early body-building photos of Arnold Schwarzenegger; I’ll never feel weird again. 

Hearing both Cruz Bustamante and Gray Davis acknowledge that it would be insulting to expect anybody to get to work on time if they had to take the  

bus, revealing that public transit is just a myth. 

Having the East Bay Express definitively prove its allegiance to sensationalism by arranging for the candidacy of Gary Coleman. 

Arianna Huffington’s decision to drop out of the race, proving that at least one third party candidate can do what she called “third grade arithmetic.” 

Having the Green Party prove yet again to the nation that they can’t do third grade arithmetic. 

Hearing that Democratic strategists thought focusing on Schwarzenegger’s sexual misconduct was “doing the smart thing,” thus allowing him to get away with a policy-free platform, and proving that Democratic strategists have all the depth and foresight of a rear-view mirror. 

Watching local Berkeley strategists make the same error, as though Schwarzenegger voters were people lusting for a moral compass from a body-building film star. 

Watching the Republicans close ranks behind Schwarzenegger. 

Being surrounded one morning in West Virginia by people who had heard that Schwarzenegger had declared his candidacy and just wanted to see my face when I heard the news. 

Carol Denney was the editor of the late lamented Pepperspray Times.

NEW DELHI, India—With Indian tech workers no longer wanted in the United States, the buzz here is all about teachers.  

A shortage of up to 700,000 teaching instructors in the United States has drawn U.S. school administrators looking to plug the gap to India. The reasons, according to the recruiters, are the same ones that caused high-tech companies to hire Indian engineers during the dot-com boom: Indians, they say, work well and work hard for salaries that are low by U.S. standards. And their knowledge of English is good enough to teach American kids.  

George Noflin, principal of Greenwood High School in Greenwood, Miss., visited India recently and interviewed 85 teachers. He hired three for his school. “The quality of teachers in India is unbelievable,” Noflin says.  

The number of Indian tech workers heading to the United States has dropped sharply compared to previous years. The high demand for teachers comes as thousands of Indian H1-B visa holders—a temporary, specialized work visa—in the United States are returning home.  

The teaching shortage in the United States is attributed to the profession’s low regard, dismal pay and high turnover. “No one wants to teach these days,” Noflin says.  

According to the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, a third of new teachers in the United States leave the profession within three years—and half leave after five years.  

Survesh Rudra, a middle-level Indian government official, recently returned to India with his son after a yearlong scholarship in America. His wife chose to stay after she was offered a teaching job in Texas.  

“Because she has more than five years experience, her salary is more than $35,000,” Rudra says. “That’s dismal by U.S. standards, but great by Indian.”  

In India, Rudra’s annual salary would not be more than $2,400, with little ability to save. Even accounting for the high cost of living in the United States, Survesh Rudra says, his wife can still save a minimum of $12,000 a year. Indians, especially women, Rudra says, are great savers. If his wife can hold onto her job in America for three years, her family will be able to afford a reasonably good lifestyle in India for the rest of their lives.  

Indians leaving to teach in the United States look somewhat different than the tech workers who headed west for green cards, U.S. citizenship and possibly American wives. The teachers are predominantly housewives who take up teaching jobs not only for the money, but to accompany their kids to school and keep themselves mentally occupied.  

“There is a new-found respect for the teaching community,” says Sunita Saxena, who teaches at the Delhi Public School Vasant Vihar, in New Delhi, and has been on several teaching stints to the Middle East. “For many of us who have been seen as people who barely contributed a supplementary income, the prospect of earning dollars opens new vistas.”  

However, there is a flip side. A few years ago, a shortage of teachers in the United Kingdom encouraged a large number of recruitment agencies to hire teachers from India. But soon the demand dried up, and the teachers found themselves without jobs or stuck in appalling working conditions as they entered other employment to support families back home used to the largesse from abroad. Many ended up being deported.  

In fact, despite their happiness at being back among family and friends, Indian tech workers returning from the United States have had difficulty adjusting to significantly lower salaries—typically 25 percent of what they made in the United States—and the resulting lifestyle changes. Many would return to America if given the chance.  

But for now, it seems that Indian teachers have nothing to fear. The teacher shortage in America is huge. The writing is there on the blackboard for all to see: techies out, teachers in.

Sometime in the next three weeks, Berkeley renters and landlords will learn how much next year’s rents will increase, after the city’s rent board negotiates its way through a legal and political minefield to pick a number almost certain to make someone unhappy. 

At the heart of the problem are two numbers: a hike of nearly three percent tenatively arrived at earlier by rent board members themselves and a one percent figure set by a formula agreed to earlier by landlords and the board. 

As the final arbiter of annual rent hikes—known as the Annual General Adjustment (AGA)—the Berkeley Rent Stabilization board has until the end of the month to make what they admit will be a difficult judgment call. 

After settling a lawsuit brought by a landlord group that claimed the board’s past rent hikes were too low, this was to be the first year that the unabashedly pro-tenant board skirted the political and legal pitfalls of setting the rent increase. 

The rent board-landlord pact signed in February called for scrapping the current system—which gives the popularly elected nine-member board discretion over rent hikes—in favor of a fixed formula granting owners 65 percent of the annual Consumer Price Index (CPI).  

Other rent-controlled California cities, including San Francisco, Oakland, West Hollywood and Santa Monica, use similar formulas based on the CPI. 

Voters must approve the agreement on next November’s ballot, but both sides consented to instituting the formula this year so long as the formula didn’t vary too far from the rent board’s detailed report that factors in numerous owner expenses. 

But a large discrepancy is exactly the case this year, said representatives of the Berkeley Property Owners Association (BPOA), which struck the deal with the rent board.  

The rent board study recommended a 2.8 percent rent hike for tenants in Berkeley’s estimated 19,000 rent-controlled units, whereas the CPI-based formula would authorize only one percent. Tenants who moved into private homes after 1996 or live in buildings constructed after 1980 are not covered under rent control. 

Higher energy bills, unforeseen costs from the city’s new rental housing safety program and a $12 per unit increase in rent board fees raised the price of renting in Berkeley, but did not register on the CPI. 

“We absolutely insist that the new fees have to be addressed [in the AGA],” said BPOA Secretary Stephanie Hayes.  

Most onerous to owners was the rental housing safety program, which requires property owners to pay a $17 annual fee and get a gas heater inspection every three years.  

The inspections were to be done free of charge by PG&E. But Berkeley Housing Director Stephen Barton told the rent board last week that PG&E couldn’t meet the demand to perform all the inspections so about half of Berkeley landlords had to hire independent contractors to do the inspections at a cost of roughly $75 per unit.  

The PG&E district manager told Barton that while Berkeley comprises about one-fifth of the district’s population, the city accounted for about two-thirds of all inspection requests. 

The BPOA has threatened to sue the city over the program, but Wilson said that if the fees were passed along equitably to tenants, the BPOA would be less inclined to go to court. 

“We don’t want to sue anyone,” Wilson said. “If [the fees] are passed along to tenants that means the whole community can conclude that it’s a pointless program.” 

While the dollar differences between the two proposed rent increases seem relatively minuscule—a tenant paying $700 per month would see a $7 per month increase if the board enacted a one percent hike and a $19.6 per month increase with a 2.8 percent increase—both sides say that more is at stake.  

“If you’re just thinking this is a few dollars per month and, say, $48 bucks a year, is that worth a lot of fighting about, the answer might be no,” said Rent Board member Matthew Siegel. “But if you add up all the rental units you’re talking about $500,000 going from tenants to landlords and then it becomes a larger issue.” 

Wilson said failure by the rent board to pass along fees to tenants would again poison relations between the two sides, after the settlement in February offered hope of constructive relations. 

The AGA has been mired in politics and litigation since Berkeley instituted rent control in 1980. After a decade of complaining that the pro-tenant board denied them fair rent hikes, landlords won a lawsuit in 1989 granting them retroactive rent increases. 

Two years later, the first ever pro-landlord board majority instituted 26 percent rent hikes. 

Since tenants regained a board majority in 1994, they have argued the need for keeping rent increases lower to compensate tenants for the high rent hikes of the early 90s. 

Rent Board members indicated they were open to a compromise. 

“We want to be fair to landlords that have had big increases in expenses,” said Rent Board Commissioner Paul Hogarth. He proposed a two-tier rent increase based on whether the landlord had utilized a 1995 state law, the Costa-Hawkins Act, which ended rent control on vacant units beginning in 1999.  

Hogarth said landlords whose units had remained occupied since Costa-Hawkins—and therefore received below market rent—should get the 2.8 percent increase, while those landlords who raised rents to market rates after their units became vacant should be limited to one percent. 

More than half of Berkeley’s rentals have been brought to market rates since Costa-Hawkins went into effect. 

“I’ve been proposing this for the past few years; this might be the one year people are going to listen to me,” Hogarth said. 

Siegel said he had not yet made up his mind, but seemed inclined not to veer too far from the one percent raise called for under the CPI formula. 

“If you follow the terms of the settlement agreement, it’s one percent. That’s what everyone agreed to,” he said, adding that he might vote to raise it above one percent to cover cost increases from the rental safety program.  

Landlords who want the 2.8 percent increase face an obstacle built into board rules: Any rent increase above 45 percent of CPI must be approved by six of the board’s nine members. 

“I think there are enough votes on the board to keep [the increase] under 2.8,” Siegel said. “But we’ll have to wait, it could be interesting.” 

The rent board will hold a public hearing on the AGA at the beginning of their next meeting scheduled for Oct. 20. The board could decide on a rent increase during the meeting, and must reach a decision by the end of the month.

After watching the PBS special on Mark Twain, I became obsessed with the idea of moving close to the Mississippi River. Maybe if I could spend time along its muddy waters the muse I had lost would return and I’d be able to churn out one marvelous, witty paragraph after another, just like Samuel L. Clemons.  

I found an artist retreat located close to the Mississippi River. It was in Minnesota, far north of Hannibal Missouri, but I decided to take a chance. “The river is long and wide,” I told myself. “Somewhere beside its banks I’ll find the creativity I’m looking for.  

A year went by before my residency began. I dreamed of sunny days along the rolling waterway, waving to the not-so-far-off paddleboats, angling for fat catfish and smoking old stogies while lounging on a homemade raft floating inspiringly toward New Orleans.  

When the day of my departure arrived, I packed carefully: special pens and fancy writing papers, straw hat and baggy dungarees. I was a middle-aged, wrinkled Becky Thatcher. I’d find my Tom Sawyer in Red Wing, Minnesota.  

On my first morning at the retreat I asked the director, “Which way to the Mississippi?” 

He gazed at me thoughtfully. “Far,” he said. “ In fact, you really can’t get there from here without driving down the highway and turning left toward Wisconsin.” 

I stared at him in disbelief. “The brochure said ‘located adjacent to the pristine Mississippi’. I thought I’d be able to see it from my garret window.” 

“Well, yes,” he said carefully, “the brochure did say that. We are artists here, as you know and employ creative license. Bottomland is all around us, and the river was once where we are now standing a mere few thousand years ago.” 

I pondered how I would get inspiration when my incentive had receded before the Ice Age. I needed to come up with a new plan and get rid of that dorky Becky Thatcher hat. 

In the mornings I took time-consuming walks beside a small stream. I jogged down country roads, went swimming at the local Y, broke bread with my fellow residents, argued about politics, religion and the A’s and the Twins. 

I drank lots of red wine and ate too much iceberg lettuce, a Minnesota favorite. I sipped many cups of coffee at the local café and wondered how waitresses in this state can wear hairnets and smile at the same time. For motivation I read good books, bad poetry and awful translations. I tried not to think about sex, but it didn’t work. 

The muse did not arrive. 

One day I took a bike ride along an abandoned railroad track. I pedaled slow against the oncoming winter wind, brushed fallen leaves from my hair, listened for the sound of gray squirrels chattering within the crisp forest, watched honking geese fly overhead, passed three whitetail deer in a nearby field.  

“Maybe I’ll just keep going,” I said to myself, “until the muse finally shows or a sign of some sort tells me to turn back.” 

The trail was flat and smooth, the scenery brown and breathtaking and so I pedaled forward. A great blue heron by the edge of a still pond spread its wings. I wondered if it was the signal I was looking for but I kept going. 

Over a small bridge above a sweet stream I considered reversing my course but didn’t. Passing by a dilapidated train station I continued to pump the pedals. Just when I decided to bike westward to Berkeley, a shot rang through the forest, and then another and another. It was the sign I’d been waiting for. I turned my bicycle around and swiftly pedaled back toward the Anderson Center. 

Inspiration had finally arrived. It didn’t take the mighty Mississippi to turn me on. A loaded 12-gauge shotgun somewhere in the sheltering woods, carried in the arms of an amateur hunter, stalking wild things two weeks before the official start of hunting season had given me the muse I was searching for.

When the Oakland Tribune and other ANG Newspapers withdrew their endorsement of Arnold Schwarzenegger for governor over the weekend, citing recent sexual harassment allegations against the actor, the news brought cheer to a group of East Bay female politicians who had pressed the paper to make the retraction. 

“We can no longer in good conscience recommend him for governor,” read the editorial, published in the Tribune’s Saturday edition. 

The retraction followed a protest Friday by the National Women’s Political Caucus of North Alameda where caucus members and female politicians from the East Bay Area called for the paper and other publications in the ANG Newspapers chain to rescind the endorsement.  

The protest was one of many that have sprung up against Schwarzenegger since the Los Angeles Times reported last Thursday the stories of six women who say Schwarzenegger fondled them. The alleged incidents occurred from the 1970s through 2000.  

“Arnold Schwarzenegger is a sexual predator,” Caucus Chair Patricia Dilks told the small crowd gathered at the County Administration Building in Oakland. “He’s admitted that himself.”  

Dilks gave out copies of the letter she wrote to ANG Newspapers asking for the Oakland Tribune to reverse its endorsement of Schwarzenegger. “It is absolutely untenable for the Oakland Tribune to sustain its endorsement of an admitted sexual predator for governor of California,” the letter read.  

The caucus said it would give the Oakland Tribune “the benefit of doubt” since the endorsement was published Sept. 27, before the sexual harassment allegations were printed. However, Dilks said that if the paper doesn’t retract the endorsement she would personally write letters to local businesses asking them to pull their advertising from the Tribune.  

A few women in the small crowd also began to yell that they would cancel their subscriptions.  

Tom Tuttle, ANG Editorial Page Director, said Friday he had not yet received any complaints from the caucus and insisted that Saturday’s statement would not be in response to the Caucus’ protest.  

“It was of our own initiative,” Tuttle said.  

The latest recommendation, which was also published in the San Mateo Times on Sunday, still urges readers to vote against the recall as it did last Sunday, but now suggests that voters abstain on naming a replacement.  

“Although allegations of his abusive and disrespectful behavior toward women had surfaced earlier,” the editorial read, “the latest revelations reported in the Los Angeles Times and Schwarzenegger’s convenient but seemingly insincere admission that ‘I have behaved badly sometimes,’ alienates a significant proportion of the state’s population, male and female.”  

Schwarzenegger made a public apology Thursday, admitting that he has behaved badly toward women. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday that Schwarzenegger told a crowd at the San Diego Convention Center that in the past he thought his “rowdy” behavior on movie sets was playful, but now realizes that he offended people.  

The women at Friday’s rally, however, remained unmoved.  

“Should we have a governor who thinks it’s playful to touch women in inappropriate ways and who believes that if he apologizes it just goes away?” Assemblywoman Ellen Corbett asked. Corbett went on to say that by regarding his behavior as playful, Schwarzenegger showed that he doesn’t realize that the humiliation, pain and suffering that sexual harassment victims endure is real.  

Several of the speakers at Friday’s rally said that Schwarzenegger’s behavior not only shows his lack of respect for women but also his lack of understanding of sexual harassment.  

Schwarzenegger doesn’t understand that in a true work environment he would be “terminated” for his behavior, Oakland City Council member Jane Brunner said, evoking cheers from the audience.  

Other speakers also questioned Schwarzenegger’s understanding of the law.  

“It makes me wonder whether he knows the difference between movies and real life,” Wilma Chan, Majority Leader of the State Assembly, said. “In real life, you can’t treat women this way.”

Still mourning the loss of beloved friend Fred Lupke, Berkeley wheelchair advocates have started gearing up for a fight to make Berkeley streets and sidewalks safer. 

“Disabled people here in Berkeley need to use this as a lead to get together to do something,” said Blane Beckwith, local chair of national disabled rights organization ADAPT. 

Councilwoman Dona Spring struck the first blow this week, authoring a measure to authorize emergency funds to repair and widen sidewalks along blocks of Ashby Avenue between Martin Luther King Way and Ellis Street—the same stretch where a car struck Lupke’s wheelchair from behind. 

The measure—set to go before Council Oct. 14— would permit wheelchairs to use now off-limits bike lanes and direct the city staff to identify other pedestrian safety improvements along Ashby. 

“If there had been a passable sidewalk on that side of Ashby, Fred might be alive today,” Spring said, adding that the two blocks she wants repaired are heavily traveled by disabled residents on their way from the Ashby Bart Station to the South Berkeley Senior Center on Ellis Street. 

Spring estimates the repairs will cost approximately $100,000. She hopes the city can find the money in its budget, but she said the situation is so dire that, if necessary, the city should dip into its $6 million reserve fund to pay for the repairs. 

“Right now Ashby is a death trap for people in wheelchairs,” she said. The boulevard is designated as a state highway, meaning that the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is responsible for maintaining the road. Any call to widen the sidewalk along Ashby at the expense of the street would need state approval. 

Spring’s measure calls on the city to explore civil and legal actions to compel Caltrans to improve pedestrian safety on the street, but a movement led by residents to wrest control of Ashby from Caltrans could put the city in the driver’s seat. 

Berkeley Transportation Director Peter Hillier said he would like to follow through on long standing calls from residents to pursue city ownership of the street within the next two years. He said that while Caltrans was concerned primarily with upgrading traffic signals so that they could detect bicycles, they “did not seem to have interest in community concerns [like safety].” 

Hillier said the city recently accepted state grants that will pay for a lighted crosswalk at Ashby and Piedmont Street, with three more possible at the intersections of Ashby and Regent, Benvenue and California streets. 

In addition to Spring’s Council proposal, Berkeley’s Commission on Disabilities is planning to revive previous safety suggestions in hopes that city hall might be more receptive. 

Among a host of recommendations, the commission is seeking city help to crack down on cyclists crowding out wheelchair riders on sidewalks, chart traffic accidents involving wheelchairs, and aggressively enforce rules to keep sidewalks clear of overgrown vegetation, parked cars and garbage bins. 

“Fred had asked for some of these things for years,” said Disability Commission Chair Emily Wilcox, who wanted the city’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Waterfront to proactively inspect sidewalks for overgrown vegetation. Department head Lisa Caronna said budget cuts had recently forced her to slash a gardener and forester position, and that no money was available to pay for random inspections. 

Currently residents may complain about overgrown vegetation, and the city will give the property owner a 15-day notice to clear the sidewalk. 

While disabled advocates agreed the time was ripe to push the city for safety and accessibility improvements, the community remains unorganized. Most said they wanted to fight for safer roads but that no grassroots effort had begun. 

“We don’t have a clubhouse,” said Wilcox, noting that accessibility concerns made it difficult for locals to assemble even for commission meetings. She and other disabled residents said they hoped that high attendance at a planned memorial service for Lupke could lay the seeds for a unified movement. 

“This has just begun to stir. It isn’t over by a long shot,” said Michael Pachovas. In 1999, Pachovas was one of dozens of disabled activists who shut down Ashby Avenue for a day to demand safety improvements after Sharon Spencer was killed in her wheelchair as she tried to cross Ashby Avenue at Piedmont Street. 

The protest secured several concessions from the city, Pachovas said, but promised pedestrian right-of-way signs and other improvements never materialized. 

Pachovas and others interviewed hoped the Commission on Disabilities would take the lead in formulating proposals and lobbying the city. The commission will hold a transportation subcommittee meeting Friday to vet ideas and then use a Wednesday meeting to finalize an agenda to present to Council and city officials. 

Disabled advocates complained they didn’t get a fair shake with Council and city officials and said that Spring, who uses a wheelchair, is sometimes at odds with activists on key issues. 

“People think that because there is a woman with a disability on city council that she speaks for us, but that is not true,” said Pachovas, who noted that Spring has sided with bicycle advocates favoring speed bumps on residential streets, while many wheelchair riders insist the bumps cause pain. 

Spring, however, has full support from wheelchair riders in her drive to legalize wheelchair riding on residential streets. State law classifies wheelchair riders as pedestrians and relegates them to sidewalks—where they are at the mercy of painful bumps and divots that rattle their chairs.  

The law was reasonable decades ago, Spring said, when most wheelchairs were hand powered, but unrealistic now that motorized chairs travel up to 11 mph. California law states that wheelchair riders are allowed in bicycle lanes only if there is no sidewalk. The city attorney’s office would not comment if Berkeley had the authority to supersede state law. 

“For me to get to BART takes fifteen minutes on the street,” she said. “If I were to take the sidewalk it would take 40-45 minutes and I would be in so much more pain.” 

Wheelchair riders already use side streets, but say changing the law would give police greater leverage to punish drivers who hit them. The woman who hit Lupke from behind said she was blinded by the setting sun. She was not charged or ticketed, police said, because under the existing laws, Lupke was at fault for riding down Ashby Avenue. 

“Right now, if someone in a wheelchair gets hit, the police perception is that we were doing something wrong,” Pachovas said. “It’s galling that someone can say the sun was in my eyes, kill someone and not even get a traffic ticket.” 

Pachovas predicted a protest on Ashby similar to that one that followed Spencer’s death. But as far as a cohesive agenda, he said, disabled advocates needed more time. “This shouldn’t be a knee-jerk reaction,” he said. “We need to figure out what we want to do.”

FRIDAY, OCT. 3 

“The Shellmound Sites and Berkeley’s Early Native People,” with Malcolm Margolin and Kent Lightfoot, at 7 p.m. at Finn Hall, 10th St. near Hearst. Lecture is part of the 150th An- 

niversary of Ocean View, Berkeley’s earliest settlement, sponsored by The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association and Berkeley History Society. Tickets are $12. For information call 841-8562.  

Master Class with Spanish Classical Guitarist Jaume Torrent, from 4 to 9 p.m. at the Arlington Community Church, 52 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Participants $20, public $5. For registration and information call 528-4633. 

North African Homecoming Dinner with a screening of “Play it Again Maurice” at at 7:30 p.m. at International House, Piedmont at Bancroft. 642-9460. 

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

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

SATURDAY, OCT. 4 

Northern California Solar Energy Association Annual Tour of Solar Homes in Berkeley. Self-guided tours from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. beginning at Cedar-Rose Park. Cost is $15 per group of up to 5 people. Visit www.norcalsolar.org/ 

tour for tour details and online registration or contact Suzie Zupan, 415-332-3676, skzupan@yahoo.com 

Quarterly Bird Walk from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. Cost is $5, members, free. Registration required. 643-8155. www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden  

California Bulbs with Wayne Roderick from 10 a.m. to noon at the Visitor Center, Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Learn to identify brodiaeas, lilies, alliums, fritillaries, and many more in this workshop. Cost is $25 members, $30 non-members. Sponsored by the East Bay Regional Park’s Botanic Garden and the Native Plant Society. To register call 925-935-8871 or 925-820-1021. www.nativeplants.org 

Fall Permaculture: Seed Saving Find out when and how to harvest seeds from your garden and discover a good way to keep your favorite vegetable varieties year after year, at 10 a.m. at Wildheart Gardens, 463 61st Street, at Telegraph, Oak- 

land. Cost is $10 Ecology Center members, $15 others, no one turned away. For information call 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Sick Plant Clinic is offered by the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive, from 9 a.m. to noon. Free. 643-2755. 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class on Light Search and Rescue for anyone who lives or works in Berkeley, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 997 Cedar St., between 8th and 9th Sts. Register on-line at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes or by calling 981-5506. 

Pet Adoptions, sponsored by Home at Last, from noon to 5 p.m., Hearst and 4th St. 548-9223. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, OCT. 5 

Feast of St. Francis Celebration at 10 a.m. at All Souls Episcopal Church, 2220 Cedar St., at Spruce. Join us in a celebration of creation, with an Earth Mass and a Blessing of the Animals. Fur, feathers, fins, skins - all are welcome! 848-1755. 

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 5 p.m. with the Cal Sailing Club. Bring warm waterproof clothes and come to the Berkeley Marina. Learn how to sail or windsurf. For more information see www.cal-sailing.org 

“Meditation for Balance and Healing,” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, OCT. 6 

The National Organization for Women will hold its monthly meeting at the Central Labor Council Building, 70 Hegenberger Rd. Oakland, cross street is Pardee. Meet in the parking lot at 6 p.m. for chapter elections, then phone bank in the building, to remind people to vote against the recall and against Prop. 54. 287-8948. 

In Celebration of the Free Speech Movement: Larry Flint at 7 p.m. in the Pauley Ballroom West, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Berkeley ACLU. 816-0563. abraham@berkeleyaclu.com 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 6 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, OCT. 7 

“Observation on the Political Process,” with Tom Campbell, Dean, Walter A. Haas School of Business, at noon in the South Hall Annex. Sponsored by the Center for Studies in Higher Education. 642-7703. lapiz@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers We are a few slowpoke Seniors who walk between a mile or two each Tuesday, meeting at 9:30 a.m. in the Little Farm parking lot. To join us, call 215-7672 for information or check our web page, http://home.comcast.net/~teachme99/tildenwalkers or email teachme99@comcast.net 

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 

Morris Dancing Workshop Learn the basics of an English ritual dance form that predates Shakespeare. Free and open to all. From 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St. at Oxford. www.talamasca.com/berkmorris 

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 8 

Speaking Truth to Empire: End the Occupation of Iraq! with Norman Solomon, director, Institute for Public Accuracy, and Michael Parenti, author, Democracy for the Few, and a military family from Military Families Speak Out! At 7 p.m. in 145 Dwinelle, UC Campus. The event is free; donations will be accepted at the door. Sponsored by Berkeley Stop the War Coalition. www.berkeleystopthewar.org 

“Understanding the Americans and Understanding the French” with Pascal Baudry at 7:30 p.m. at the Haas School of Business, Anderson Auditorium. Sponsored by East Bay French-American School. 549-3867. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Sta- 

tion, corner of Shattuck and Center. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geo 

cities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

Urban Permaculture Benefit Three teachers will show slides to raise awareness that another way of life is possible in the city. From 7 to 9 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $5-$20 sliding scale. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Embracing Diversity Films and the Albany High School PTA co-host the screening of “Breathing Lessons” at 7 p.m. in the Albany High School-Multipurpose Room, 603 Key Route Blvd, Albany. A discussion will follow the movie. There is no cost for admission. 527-1328. 

Prose Writers Workshop We're a serious but lively bunch whose focus is on issues of craft. Novices welcome. Experienced facilitator. Community sponsored, no fee. Meets 7 to 9 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut, at Rose. For information call 524-3034. 

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

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 call 848-0237.  

Berkeley CopWatch open office hours 7 to 9 p.m. Drop in to file complaints, assistance available. For information call 548-0425. 

THURSDAY, OCT. 9 

Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families for Peace, with Rami Elhanan, a seventh generation Jerusalemite whose daughter was killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber and Ghazi Brigieth, whose brothers were shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. At 7 p.m. at 145 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus. For more information call 464-4911 or email bayareapeacetour@yahoo.com www.rcnv.org 

“The Fantasy War: Liberation, Weapons of Mass Destruction, & Democracy,” with Robert Fisk, foreign correspondent recently returned from Baghdad, at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison, 5 blocks from North Berkeley BART. This is a benefit for the Middle East Children's Alliance. Tickets are $20, but nobody will be turned away. Buy tickets via Paypal, www.mecaforpeace.org, or send self-addressed stamped envelope to MECA, 901 Parker St., Berkeley CA 94710. For more information call 548-0542. 

“A Doctor in Chechnya” Khassan Baieva talks about his new book, “The Oath: A Surgeon Under Fire,” written with the assistance of Ruth and Nicholas Daniloff, at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave at Rose, 843-3533. 

“Hunger and Globalization” with Judith Lewis, UN Director of the World Food Program at 7:30 p.m. at International House, Home Room, Piedmont at Bancroft. 642-9460. 

Empowering Democracy Conference “Challenging Corporate Power & Deman- 

ding Accountability!” Skills training by and for corporate campaigners with the intent of sharing the skills necessary to challenge corporate rule, held Oct 9-11 at the First Unitarian Church, 685 14th St., Oakland. to register, 512-479-7744, www.empoweringdemocracy.org  

UC Botanical Garden Docent Training at 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Fee and registration required. 643-1924. 

Grizzly Peak Flyfishers meets at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Community Center, 59 Arlington Ave. Bob Coates, a hydrologist, will speak about his stream restoration work. 547-8629. 

rorlando@uclink4.berkeley.edu  

St. John's Prime Timers Tap Dancing class meets on Thursday mornings at 9:15 a.m. at St. John's Presbyterian Church at 2717 Garber St. Gil Chun, well-known Berkeley dance teacher is the instructor. Class is free and open to anyone over 50. 527-0167. 

East Bay Mac User Group meets on the second Thursday of the month from 6 to 9 p.m. in the 3rd floor Community Room, Berkeley Central Library, 2090 Kittredge St. Free, all welsome. http://ebmug.org 

Lawyers in the Library, at 6 p.m. in the South Branch, Russell at MLK Jr. Way, 981-6260. 

ONGOING  

UC Berkeley’s Long Range Development Plan Public Comment Period has been extended to Oct. 10. For more information on the plan, visit http://ldrp/berkeley.edu Written comments can be emailed to 2020LRDP@cp.berkeley.edu or mailed to Jennifer Lawrence, Principal Planner, Capital Projects, 1936 University Ave., Suite 300, Berkeley, CA 94720-1382. 

Flu Shots will be offered at a number of Berkeley locations during the month of October, by Sutter VNA and Hospice. For a location near you plaese call 1-800-500-2400 or visit www.suttervnaandhospice.org 

“Berkeley Speaks” a community program for activists and artists on Berkeley Community Media, BETV Channel 25. For information on being on the program please call 848-2288. or visit www.betv.org 

Acting and Storytelling Classes for Seniors, offered by Stagebridge. Wednesdays and Fridays, at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. at Arts First Oakland, 2501 Harrison St., close to BART and AC Transit. 444-4755. www.stagebridge.org 

Free Smoke Detectors for City residents and UC Berkeley students who live off-campus. Applications are available from the Environment, Health & Safety office of UC Berkeley, at any Berkeley Fire Station, or at the Fire Admin. Office located at 2100 MLK, Jr. Way. 981-5585.  

Free Energy Bill Payment Assistance The City of Berkeley has money to help low-income households pay their gas and electric bills. For applications contact the Energy Office at 644-8544. TDD: 981-6903. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/energy 

Swim a Mile for Women with Cancer The East Bay’s Women’s Cancer Resource Center is seeking participants, supporters, and in-kind donations for its annual non-competitive fundraising event, to be held on Oct. 4-5 at the Trefethan Aquatic Center, Mills College. For information and registration, please call 601-4040, ext. 180 or email swimamilewcrc@yahoo.com 

Cal Community Service Days Students, alumni, faculty, staff and community members are invited to participate in a series of workshops and community service projects until Oct. 4. For information on how to get involved, see http://students.berkeley.edu 

/calcorps/cad 

Fair Trade Week Oct. 6-12. Products bearing the Fair Trade Certified(tm) label, such as coffee, organic tea and chocolate will be featured at Andronico's Markets. www.transfairusa.org 

CITY MEETINGS 

Council Agenda Committee meets Mon., Oct. 6, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St., Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/agenda-committee 

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Mon., Oct. 6, 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Gisele Sorensen, 981-7419. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/landmarks 

Youth Commission meets Mon., Oct. 6, at 6:30 p.m., at 1730 Oregon St. Philip Harper-Cotton, 981-6670. www.ci.ber- 

keley.ca.us/commissions/youth 

Commission on Disability meets Wed., Oct. 8, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Paul Church, 981-6342. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/disability 

Homeless Commission meets Wed., Oct. 8, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jane Micallef, 981-5426. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/homeless 

Library Board of Trustees meets Wed., Oct. 8, at 7 p.m. at 1901 Russell St. Jackie Y. Griffin, 981-6195. www.ci.ber- 

keley.ca.us/commissions/library  

Planning Commission meets Wed., Oct. 8, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Ruth Grimes, 981-7481. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/planning 

Police Review Commission meets Wed., Oct. 8, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Barbara Attard, 981-4950. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/policereview 

Waterfront Commission meets Wed., Oct. 8, at 7 p.m., at 201 University Ave. Cliff Marchetti. 644-6376 ext. 224. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/waterfront 

Commission on Early Childhood Education meets Thurs., Oct. 9, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Marianne Graham, 981-5416. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/earlychildhoodeducation  

Community Health Commission meets Thurs., Oct. 9, at 6:45 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. William Rogers, 981-5344. www.ci.ber- 

keley.ca.us/commissions/health 

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., Oct. 9, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. ww.ci.ber- 

keley.ca.us/commissions/zoning

Indian Rock—for strangers to North Berkeley—is an ancient volcanic outcropping in a small city park just above Marin Circle. Though modest in height on the access road side, its flattish top affords splendid panoramic views over a picturesque wooded neighborhood to the Golden Gate, the “City by the Bay,” Angel Island, and Mt. Tamalpais. The Peninsula Hills stretch away to the far left, the grand terrain of Marin to the far right. 

Hardly more than a mile from the UC campus, this singular “view platform” can be reached by Indian Rock Road (tricky: study the map), or on foot up Indian Rock Path, which begins at the top of Solano Avenue. 

As a destination, it is eminently worth the effort. The little public park continues across the street, offering on its northeasterly side shady lawns instead of dramatic views, while up the road at the next corner, Mortar Rock, also a public park, is its own miniature landscape of boulders, writhing trees and grassy hollows—a gorgeous natural garden rather than a viewpoint. 

For generations, loners, lovers and families have made their secular pilgrimage to the rock-hewn view-bench at the top to contemplate the sunset, or, on some crisp February morning, to enjoy the toy city of towers across the water. Others have made as their goal conquest of the rock itself, which has long been a favorite training ground for climbers. Its almost sheer northwesterly side offers a variety of slopes and surfaces ideal for “bouldering”—the rock-climber’s term for climbing without equipment. 

When I was inspired in 1981 to try capturing this locally famous panorama in drawings, I decided to work by direct observation, and not use a camera. The drawing would be strictly informational, not a “work of art,” and not—very important—on expensive paper. Starting with a medium-sized sketchbook sheet, I drew at first, as we mostly tend to do, what fell within my natural angle of vision, but soon found—faced with such a daunting subject—that I needed to expand the original paper, and, in effect, turn myself into a wide angle lens. 

It soon became apparent that the celebrated sunset view centered on the Golden Gate didn’t make it as a balanced composition. Instead, I focused on Albany Hill, the dramatic foreground trees, and the handsome houses in between. A big dark pine on my left-hand edge, and the shaggy windblown redwood on my right, making a squarish format. Later, after much scrambling up and down the precarious stone-cut steps, I decided to include the “view backs” of San Mateo Road to create a wider, more panoramic picture that would promote the sculptural mass of backyard trees into the fulcrum of the whole awkward-yet-typical Berkeley view. 

In the end, the expanded, taped-together ballpoint pen drawing, aided by colored pencil and scribbled notes, became the information sheet for a large watercolor that remains for me the most precious of my pictures. This fond regard is apparently shared by other, for “Panorama From Indian Rock” is by far my most popular “Cityscape” card. In itself this is a revealing comment on the necessity for inventiveness in art, for here, more than usually, I didn’t invent a single thing. Mt. Tamalpais really echoes Albany Hill, the little cameo of the Richmond shore is really there, the enlivening red roofs really exist, and the rock’s jutting edge is exactly as shown. 

The same can be said for my drawing, done in black wax pencil on tracing paper, of the view toward Downtown Berkeley. Here the subject is less dramatic, but it does reveal the seductively picturesque quality of the early 20th Century Northbrae suburbs, those winding contour avenues sprawling out from Marin Circle that are largely the work of the remarkable Mason McDuffie Real Estate Company, which also donated to the city park-parcels around five rock formations, including Indian and Cragmont. Here, pleasant, modest-sized villas are transformed, by a romantic layout and generous planting, into an enviable residential environment whose totality is even prettier than its private panoramas. Sometimes romantic siting even takes preference over the now-mandatory bay view, as demonstrated by two houses set back from Indian Rock Path that directly face the rock itself as preferred “outlook.” 

Specially fine is the cluster of houses from 1911, on Indian Rock Road at Shattuck just below the park itself. Here, the architect John Hudson Thomas has created three Art Nouveau villas, all different in shape and plan but with matching character and details. Note how the garden-edge walls of the front lawns match the stone of the adjacent park—a rare example of city-developer collaboration! Admirers of the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the turn-of-the-century Scottish architect sometimes called “the European Frank Lloyd Wright” mustn’t miss this geographically far removed yet closely related work. 

But back to my pictures. Have these views changed much in almost twenty years? In terms of buildings, the answer is no. Protected largely by zoning, the residential areas look much the same. Trees, however, more subject to individual whim, come and go. In both my drawing and my painting, the beautiful pine-oak and the dark pine tree that, respectively, frame the left hand edge, are gone in the cause of more backyard light. As for the distant objects, Emeryville’s commercial skyline (top right in the drawing) is now much expanded, while, in the watercolor the green PG&E gas-holder peeing over the Portrero Hills, has long ago been dismantled. Sometimes good things actually happen!

FRIDAY, OCT. 3 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

Berkeley Arts Festival Headquarters Opening from 4 to 6 p.m. at 2110 Shattuck Ave. 665-9496. www.berkeleyartsfestival.com 

Cecile Moochnek Gallery, “Numinous Surfaces,” new paintings by Carol Dalton and Michael Shemchuk. Reception 6 to 8 p.m. Exhibtion runs Oct 3. to Nov. 16. Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. Wed. through Sun. 1809-D Fourth St. 549-1018. www.cecilemoochnek.com 

FILM 

Heddy Honigmann: “Mind Shadows” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive with the filmmaker in person. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa. 

berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Christian Parenti reads from his new book, “Soft Cage: Surveillance in America From Slavery to the War on Terror,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Guided Tour: Gene(sis): Contemporary Art Explores Human Genomics, at 12:15 and 5:30 p.m., Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Gallery Talk: Japanese Figure Style with Lynne Kimura, Academic Liaison, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, on the creative explosion of figure styles in Edo painting, at 3 p.m. in Gallery C, Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. Cost is $8, free to UC staff, faculty and students. 643-6494. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Djialy Kunda Kouyate, from West Africa, at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Shorty Long, Faraway Brothers, and Stiles and Ivey Ragtime Band perform at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Jaranon y Bochinche, traditional and contemporary Afro-Peruvian music and dance at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Larry Ochs Sax and Drumming Core and John Schott’s Typical Orchestra at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Sliding scale donation $7-$15. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Noggin, unplugged violin duo with Henry Kuntz, solo saxophone, at 3111 Deakin St. at  

8 p.m. Cost is $8. Presented by Acme Observatory Contemporary Music. 665-1980. http://music.acme.com 

Bitches Brew, big band tribute to the Electric Miles Davis era, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Rahim Alhaj, Iraqi oud master, performs at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $16.50 advance, $17.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Sterling Dervish, acoustic rock and roll at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. beckettsirishpub.com 

Fleshies, Toys That Kill, Killer Dream, Swing Ding Amigos, Civil Dysentery at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SATURDAY, OCT. 4 

Himalayan Papermaking Demonstration with Nimto Sherpa, papermaking master from Kathmandu, and Carol Brighton, Berkeley artist and papermaker, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Berkeley Arts Festival Headquarters, 2110 Shattuck Ave. 665-9496. 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

Trax Gallery, “Summer Work” by Matt Metz and Linda Skikora, at 5 p.m. at 1812 5th St. 540-8729. 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Colibri, music from Latin America, at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

FILM 

Seventh Madcat Women’s International Film Festival: “Traditions and Trajectories” at 7 p.m., and “Educated Ladies” at 8:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Eat the Rich” at 8 p.m. at the Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. Wheelchair accessible. 540-0751.  

www.thelonghaul.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jean Shinoda Bolen, reads from her new book, “Crones, Don’t Whine: Concentrated Wisdom for Juicy Women,” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. www.codysbooks.com 

Bruce Balfour, author of “The Digital Dead” at the Dark Carnival Bookstore, 3086 Claremont Ave, at 2 p.m. 654-7323. 

The Bay Area Poets Coalition holds an open reading, 3 to 5 p.m., West Branch Berkeley Public Library, 1125 University Ave. Free. For information, call 527-9905. poetalk@aol.com 

Improvised Comedy, at 8 p.m. at Cafe Eclectica, 1309 Solano Ave., Albany. Cost is $5. 964-0571. www.eastbayimprov.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

New Millennium Strings, with soloist Jaume Torrent, Spanish Classical Guitar, conducted by Laurien Jones, at 8 p.m. at University Christian Church, 2401 Le Conte Ave. Suggested donation $10, seniors $7. Children under 12 free. 528-4633. 

Live Oak Concert with Matthew Owens, ‘cello, at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. Tickets are $8-$10. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Festival Antiqua, “The Ladder of Gold,” songs of Balkan Sephardic Jews at 8 p.m. at the Parish Hall, St. Alban’s Church, 1501 Washington St., Albany. Tickets are $12-$15. 486-2803 or 524-7952. www.timrayborn.com/Festival 

Michael Brecker and Roy Hargrove at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $24-$48. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Primary Colors, celebrating the release of their new CD “Every Mother’s Son,” at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10-$15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Luminaries: National Independent Talent Showcase, at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Genres include Hip Hop, R & B, and Reggae. Cost is $10 in advance, $12 at the door.  

849-2568. www.lapena.org 

FARWest, Folk Music and Dance Alliance regional meeting at noon, with evening showcases beginning at 7 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. For more information and to register, see www.far-west.org 

Zydeco Flames at 9:30 p.m., with a dance lesson at 8:30 p.m., at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13.  

525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Daevid Allen’s University of Errors, The Spindles perform at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082.  

www.starryploughpub.com 

Scott Amendola, Dave MacNab and John Witala at 9:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers perform traditional jazz vocals at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Nicole McRory at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Champion, For the Crown, The Damage Done, Allegiance, Lights Out 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. 

Blue & Tan, with bassist Vicky Grossi at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

The Original Intentions at 8 p.m. at the 1923 Teahouse. Suggested donation of $7-$12. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Anima Mundi Dance Company previews “Mountains and Rivers Without End,” at 2 p.m. at Yoshi’s Jazz Club, Jack London Square. Admission is $10-$15 sliding scale. 233-5550. 

SUNDAY, OCT. 5 

Berkeley Potters Guild Tour and Demonstration Members of this 32 year old, 20 member guild will demonstrate potters’ wheel throwing and hand buil- 

ding techniques, at 1 p.m. at the Potters Guild, 731 Jones St. at 4th. 524-7031. 

FILM 

Seventh Madcat Women’s International Film Festival: “Clear Visions, Silent Filmmakers” at 5 p.m. with live music by Epic and introduction by Heather Stilin; “Cut Snip Ooze: Contemporary Animated Films by Women” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa. 

berkeley.edu 

Arab Film Festival, Cinemayaat: 

“Planet of the Arabs,” “Lord’s Song in a Strange Land,” at 2 p.m., “Souha Surviving Hell,” “Meantime in Beirut,” at 3:45 p.m., “Travel Agency,” “Under the Sky of Baghdad,” at 5:30 p.m. Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. Tickets are $9, students and seniors $7. Closing Night Party at 10 p.m., $20. www.aff.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry at Cody’s with John Brandi and David Meltzer at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Jonathan Lethem reads from ”The Fortress of Solitude,” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. www.codysbooks.com 

2004 Slingshot Organizer, book release party and dinner at 7:30 p.m. at the Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. Wheelchair accessible. 540-0751. www.thelonghaul.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

New Millennium Strings, with soloist Jaume Torrent, Spanish 

Classical Guitar, conducted by Laurien Jones, at 3 p.m. at St. Clement’s Episcopal Church, 2837 Claremont Blvd. Suggested donation $10, seniors $7. Children under 12 free. 528-4633. 

Takács Quartet with Richard Stoltzman at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $30-$52. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

The Balance: Poetry and Jazz The Word-Music Continuum, from 2 to 5 p.m. with Kirk Lumpkin, poetry and percussion; Mark Randall, bass; Paul Mills, guitar and The Real Band. Peralta Community Garden, Hopkins and Peralta. 231-5912. kirklumpkin@mac.com 

Crowden School Recital with Wei He, violin, and Miles Graber, piano, playing works of Bright Sheng, Beethoven, Strauss, and Ysaye, at 3 p.m. at Crowden Music Center, 1475 Rose St. Tickets are $10, free for children 18 and under. 559-6910. www.thecrowdenschool.org 

Early Music Zachary Gordin, countertenor and Glibert Martinez, harpsichord perform vocal music of Vivaldi, at 4 p.m. at MusicSources, 1000 The Alameda, at Marin. 528-1685. 

www.sfems.org/musicsources  

Baroque Etcetera, “London Meets Paris,” instrumental and vocal works by Händel, Lully, Purcell, Jacquet de la Guerre, Boismortier and Draghi, at 5 p.m., at St. Ambrose Church, 1145 Gilman St. Suggested donation is $10, no one turned away. 540-8222. www.baroquetc.org 

Alice Stuart performs country blues favorites 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 

New Era of Cuban Music, an Afro-Cuban celebration in honor of the Orishas, Orunmila, Eleggua, Oggún and Ochoshi, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15 in advance, $18 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Hemispheres, world-infused jazz and free improvisation, at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Structure of Lies, Animosity, All Shall Perish, Hacksaw to the Throat at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

MONDAY, OCT. 6 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Loretta Napoleoni discusses “Modern Jihad: Tracing the Dollars Behind the Terror Networks,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Poetry Express, featuring Claudette Sigg, open mic from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

Last Word Poetry Series presents Bucky Sinister and Dawn Trook from 7 to 9 p.m. at Pegasus Bookstore, 2349 Shattuck Ave.  

TUESDAY, OCT. 7 

FILM 

The Cinema of Ernie Gehr, Program 1, with the filmmaker in person at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Judy Collins dicusses the death of her son in “Sanity and Grace: A Journey of Suicide, Survival, and Strength,” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Turtle Island String Quartet David Balakrishnan, violin; Evan Price, violin; Danny Seidenberg, viola; Mark Summer, cello; perform jazz, classical and a little of everything else, at 8 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club. 525-5211. www.berkeleychamberperform.org  

Brass Menagerie performs Balkan music at 8:30 p.m., with a dance lesson with Gerry Duke at 7:30 p.m., at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Kirov Ballet and the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42-$110, and are available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu  

Dayna Stephens House Jam at The Jazz House. Donation $5. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Mimi Fox, solo guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 8 

FILM 

Heddy Honigmann: “Mental and Melancholy,” at 7:10 p.m. Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Exhibiting Signs of Age, Panel Discussion at 4 p.m. in the Geballe Room, 220 Stephens Hall, UC Campus, with Thomas W. Laqueur, Interim Director, Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities, and Professor of History, UC Berkeley; Guy Micco, M.D., Director, Center on Aging, and Director, Center of Medicine, Humanities, and Law, UC Berkeley; Beth Dungan, Exhibition Co-curator, Ed Kashi, Photographer; and Julie Winokur, Writer/Producer. 642-0808.  

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Curator’s Talk, “One Struggle, Two Communities: Late 20th Century Political Posters of Havana Cuba and the San Francisco Bay Area,” with Lincoln Cushing at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Café Poetry and open mic, hosted by Kira Allen at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Gregory Edmont introduces “Spotted in France: A Dog’s Life ... on the Road” at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave at Rose. 843-3533. 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7,  

$5 with student i.d. 841-2082.  

www.starryploughpub.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert Robert Calonico, clarinet and Jacqueline Chew, piano perform Brahms and Milhaud at the Chevron Auditorium at International House, Bancroft and Piedmont Aves. Admission is free. 642-4864. 

Kirov Ballet and the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42-$110, and are available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu  

Sauce Piquante at 8:30 p.m. with a dance lesson with Cheryl McBride at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jules Broussard, Bing Nathan and Ned Boynton at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Flowtilla plays a blend of psychedelic world groove funk-jazz at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277.  

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9 

FILM 

Genetic Screenings: “The Snowflake Crusade” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Daughter from Danang,” a film by Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco, at 7 p.m. at 2060 Valley Life Sciences Building. Sponsored by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies. 642-3609. cseas@uclink.berkeley.edu  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ceramic Folk Art of Ecuador Gallery talk with Richard Burkett, professor of ceramics at San Diego State University, at noon at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Kroeber Hall, Bancroft Way at College Ave. 643-7648. www.gal.berkeley.edu/~hearst/ 

Lois Banner discusses her new biography, “Intertwined Lives: Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict and Their Circle,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with featured readers Mark States and Chokwadi, followed by an open mic, at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. For information call 526-5985 or 205-1749.  

Gallery Tour of Junko Chodos “Requiem fran Executed Bird,” with the artist at 4 p.m. followed by a talk, “Spirituality and the Process of Creating Art” at 5 p.m. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2541.  

Guided Tour: Gene(sis): Contemporary Art Explores Human Genomics, at 12:15 and 5:30 p.m., Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Curator’s Talk, “Aging and the Body” with Beth Dungan at 12:15 p.m. in the Theater Gallery, Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

A Doctor in Chechnya, Khassan Baieva talks about his new book, “The Oath: A Surgeon Under Fire,” written with the assistance of Ruth and Nicholas Daniloff, at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave at Rose, 843-3533. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Kirov Ballet and the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42-$110, and are available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu  

New Century Chamber Orchestra, “A Musical Halloween” at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Tickets are $28-$39 and are available from 415-392-4400. www.ncco.org 

Grateful Dead DJ Night from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Fingerstyle Acoustic Guitar Festival, with Patrick Landeza, Dale Miller and Teja Gerken 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 

Nourish the New Brazil! An evening of news updates, with author Angus Wright, and Brazilian jazz and funk by Voz e Vento at 7:30 p.m., at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

May Pole, J. Othello (The Love Rino) and Poor Bailey perform at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Keni El Lebrijano, flamenco guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

The Saga of the Kent Nagano Berkeley Banners has taken on something of the quality of a 19th century German symphony, with enough tension and plot twists to keep the audience abuzz through the intermission, sincerely convinced it’s getting its money’s worth.  

Will the world-class hero conductor gain his rightful honors in the town of his long-term triumphs? 

Will his fans beat back the querulous bureaucrats and barricaded barristers? 

For now, nobody knows for sure. 

Nagano is celebrating his 25th anniversary as conductor of the Berkeley Symphony, and symphony officials had hoped to mark the milestone with his picture on 30 banners strung up throughout the city’s arts and downtown district. 

The banners would temporarily replace the Downtown Berkeley Association banners currently flying throughout the city’s downtown and arts district. 

But the effort to honor Nagano stalled late in the summer after the city’s Acting Manager of Economic Development Thomas Myers said that it would violate the Berkeley’s stringent banner ordinance, which, Myers said, “prohibits [the hanging of banners in public places] to promote private activities or organizations.” 

Sturming to the rescue, Councilmember Dona Spring enticed City Council into setting up a schedule to consider revamping the city’s banner ordinance to allow the Nagano banners to be hung. That ended up on the back burner when it appeared that ordinance revisions would not come in time for the banners to be hung by the end of the symphony season, June 18. 

Representatives of the symphony, the mayor’s office, and Councilmember Spring thought that a compromise solution had been worked out Sept. 16 when—in consultation with the City Attorney’s office—City Council unanimously passed a resolution to host events in connection with the support of the arts and the Arts District, to issue a proclamation honoring Nagano’s anniversary, and requesting the City Manager hang banners in downtown Berkeley relating to the events. 

The resolution was crafted so that by being hung in accordance with a city-sponsored event, the Nagano banners would comply with the city’s banner ordinance. 

But the symphony’s opening night concert came and went Sept. 29 with no banners in sight. Councilmember Spring says that the banners have “been approved” by the city. 

City Attorney Albuquerque refused to comment for this story. 

And while symphony Director of Development and Marketing Jennifer Easton believes that an agreement to allow the Nagano banners is close, it is not yet in place. 

So what’s the holdup? 

“There’s still a hitch in the city attorney’s office,” said Easton. “We got over the ‘city-sponsored event’ hurdle. The next hurdle is how long the banners can stay up.” 

According to Easton, the city attorney’s office is interpreting the Sept. 16 Council ordinance as allowing the banners to hang for only three to four weeks. 

“The city attorney’s office is saying that there needs to be a timeliness between the date on the banner and the period of time that they are up,” said Easton. “They’re saying that if the sponsored event is on Feb. 15, for example, we can’t have the banners up from Jan. 1 through April 15, but only for about three weeks before the event and no more than a week afterwards. So the symphony is trying to see if there is a possibility of putting multiple dates on the banners, and if the city attorney would be okay with that. That would allow us a longer time to put them up.” 

Easton said that three to four weeks is not enough time to justify putting up the banners. 

One consideration is finance. 

Easton says it will cost the symphony approximately $70 apiece for the labor costs to hang the banners on the city’s poles, with another $70 apiece when they have to be taken down, adding up to a cost of $3,500 for what the symphony is now projecting as a 25 banner project. 

A spokesperson for Sign-A-Rama in Berkeley, a company which the Downtown Berkeley Association sometimes uses to hang its signs, said that the $70 estimate was reasonable. Sign-A-Rama did not provide the bid for the hanging of the Nagano banners. 

For her part, Easton said that she “almost fell on the floor when I heard that number. Who knew? That’s why we’re doing a limited number of banners.” 

Easton said that, given the cost, the symphony can only justify flying the Nagano banners if they can stay up long enough to drang up some lucre for the symphony’s fundraising efforts. 

Easton explained that the symphony is now trying to coordinate the raising of the Nagano banners with the removal of the Downtown Berkeley Association’s upcoming holiday season banners in January, thus cutting the symphony’s costs in half. 

The other time consideration, says Easton, is how it reflects on the community’s appreciation for Nagano. “I mean, three weeks—that’s how long you put up for the Pancake Breakfast. For us it would be terrific if we could get the banners up for three months. More if we could get it. The best of all possible worlds would be for them to stay up through the rest of Nagano’s 25th anniversary season.” 

Still, Easton understands the city’s dilemma concerning the Nagano banners. 

“The huge issue here is free speech and access to public property,” she said, explaining that city staff members are concerned that allowing the Nagano banners might open the door for Berkeley’s myriad political and religious associations to ask for equal treatment. “It’s a precedent thing.” 

“The small issue for the city—which is a large issue for us—is honoring Kent Nagano,” Easton continued. “We kind of got stuck between a rock and a hard place on this one. [The city] want[s] this to happen, but they want it to happen in such a way that they don’t get caught down the road.” 

Easton said that the symphony is currently revising the banner design and expects to bring it back to the city manager’s staff for discussion and approval within “a week or two.” 

She said that because City Council has already expressed its intent on the issue—to honor Kent Nagano—she hopes that the matter can be resolved at the City Attorney’s level without having to go back before Council again. “Everyone would like to avoid a rancorous public debate on this.”

MAXIMUM PENALTY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Should the investigation by the Justice Department into whether a member of the White House staff provided the name of a covert CIA agent to news journalists, it will be interesting to see if Attorney General Ashcroft continues to demand that prosecutors go with the most serious of possible charges, seeing that the penalty for conviction in this case would be death. 

G. W. Goth 

• 

NO ON PROP. 54 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In September the Berkeley Board of Education unanimously voted to oppose Proposition 54, the Ward Connerly ballot initiative. The Berkeley City Council has taken a similar stand. 

I urge every Berkeley voter, no matter what your personal view of the recall itself is, to vote NO on Proposition 54. If passed, this proposition would have a devastating impact on public health agencies, public education, and other public entities and their ability to track and monitor essential public data.  

John Selawsky 

Vice-president,  

Berkeley School Board 

• 

EARLY INDICATORS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It’s boring work, but somebody has to do it.  

If you hadn’t noticed, this morning the pedestrian space between Davis Hall North and Cory Hall (just south of the intersection of Hearst and LeRoy) was blocked for a “soil boring.” Signs say the work will continue from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Oct. 3.  

From our experience with recent UCB construction this sort of reconnaissance is one of the earliest indicators of major work to follow.  

When finished, you can expect the Davis Hall North Replacement Building (DHNRB, as it was labeled in the EIR) to top out at 85 feet, slightly taller than the 72-foot high Cory Hall to the east. There’s even been talk about a catwalk connecting the upper stories of both buildings.  

Say goodbye to that airspace above the funky concrete low-rise Davis Hall North while you still can. 

J.M. Sharp 

• 

GENERAL SPECULATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

General Clark seems to be regarded as a great danger by the Republicans. As soon as he declared his presidential intentions, they were all over him for admitting to have voted for Republicans in the past and to have agreed to and then condemned the war in Iraq. 

His first “admission” may just be an intelligent move to attract other than just Democratic voters in order to “bring us together.” 

The second complaint is a clear misrepresentation. General Clark may not have objected to a war with the cooperation of the U.N. but objected to the U.S. going alone and without U.N. consent. It is also doubtful that he would accept the role of a stalking horse for Mrs. Clinton, who made it clear that she intended to remain a senator from New York. But most of the talking heads speculate differently.  

Max Alfert 

Albany 

• 

A LOT OF DREAMS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In the movie “Field of Dreams” the hero hears a voice which says: “Build it, and they shall come!”. He was building a baseball field, his own field of dreams. The Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD), along with the Berkeley City Council have their own version of this movie in which they take that field of dreams and create a parking lot! The plot thickens as the Berkeley Adult School is ripped from its present home (against that neighborhood’s wishes), and stuffed into the Franklin Elementary School Site. Dragged along are 1,200 car-driving students.  

The first of many miracles now occurs when the BUSD’s “Field of Parked Cars” is found to have more than enough parking spaces for all the students and faculty.  

The second miracle unveils itself when there is absolutely no impact on pedestrian safety, noise or gridlock in and around the neighborhood. 

Later, the hero faces the BUSD and in a passionate plea states: “Your plans fly in the face of Berkeley’s Measure L (1986) in which the city promises to jealously protect all existing open spaces and aggressively create more whenever possible!” 

“We have decided,” answers BUSD, “That open space is not all that it’s cracked up to be, and besides, we answer to a higher authority!” 

“God?” asks the hero? 

“No,” retorts BUSD, “The state!”  

Saul Grabia 

• 

SATIATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Food, politics and much humor. Marty Schiffenbauer’s article (“Four Menus Offer Diners ‘Selective Satiation,’” Daily Planet, Sept. 26-29) was a gem. How clever of the editors to run this just before the “How Berkeley Can You Be?” parade. Keep up the good work. The Daily Planet is terrific. 

Burl Willes  

• 

ARNOLD AND CRONIES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Arnold Schwarzenegger claims to care about the environment yet he accepted $100,000 from Yellowstone Development, a Montana-based company which is facing fines from the Environmental Protection Agency. By the way, why does he drive a Hummer? 

Californians, if Schwarzenegger becomes governor can Bush and his oil drilling cronies be far behind to destroy our beautiful coastline? 

I used to be opposed to illegal immigrants obtaining driver’s licenses. After hearing Republican Peter Uberroth’s pro-license argument I realized that there is a significant safety issue involved. Illegal immigrants are here in California—they mow our lawns, they pick our food, they take care of our children, they wash our dishes and they drive. Wouldn’t you feel safer knowing that these drivers were licensed and many would probably have insurance? 

Karen Green 

Alameda 

• 

FRED LUPKE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Fred Lupke is someone I considered a friend, though we were not close. I myself am a wheelchair user who does water therapy at the Berkeley High Warm Poll. I attended several meetings of the Warm Pool Committee, organized and led by Fred. This committee advocates for preservation and improvements of Berkeley High’s marvelous Warm Pool for senior and people with disabilities, including disabled high school students. Also, I often chatted with Fred at the Warm Pool, and chance meetings elsewhere. 

I was always impressed with Fred’s grasp of all the issues affecting the Warm Pool—issues of politics, law, educational policy and disability rights. He was on good terms with many city officials who could affect the welfare of the Warm Pool and the people who use it.  

Fred told me his own disability had advanced to the point where he could not use the Warm Pool for his own therapy. His involvement with the pool was skillful activism, and I saw his advocacy for the pool as a substitute gratification for his inability to use it himself. 

My grief over the loss of Fred is increased by my own anxiety over pedestrians in Berkeley. As a wheelchair user, I’m concerned by the way many motorists chisel their way between pedestrians in crosswalks, especially turning from Shattuck into Center Street and Allston Way. When pedestrians move a foot, motorists advance a foot into the path of other pedestrians. 

Also, many motorists speed through crosswalks on the assumption that they will pass before or after the pedestrian does. The California Drivers’ Manual clearly states it’s illegal for motorists to enter crosswalks at all when pedestrians have the right of way. Why don’t the Berkeley Police cite these outlaw drivers? 

Tom Ross 

Oakland 

• 

BOGUS SURVEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Lies, damn lies, and then there are statistics. 

I was a participant in the Berkeley City Survey (“City Bond Measure Survey Raises Electoral Questions,” Daily Planet, Sept. 30-Oct. 2). If you review the questions asked, you will see that this survey was designed to achieve the results shown in your newspaper. 

For example (paraphrased): Would you be willing to accept fewer fire services (close fire stations) or accept higher taxes? 

Would you accept fewer health services or accept higher taxes? 

Would higher taxes be acceptable if they were only on other (i.e. “rich”) people? 

There were a large number of questions asking about how you would prefer your taxes and fees to be raised. 

What they didn’t ask were the following kinds of questions: 

Do you feel that the city could provide the same level of services at the current tax levels if they were more efficient? 

How do you feel about the fact that Berkeley has approximately two times the number of employees as Hayward but has a lower population? 

Garbage in, garbage out. Guaranteed results. 

David Sudikoff 

• 

YOUTH VIOLENCE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I want to commend Laura Menard for having the courage and civility to come forward with her letter “Only Shared Values Can End the Violence” (Daily Planet, Sept. 30). As a person who has lived in Central Berkeley for twenty years, I am used to seeing diverse groups of teenagers walking to and from the high school. Over the past 20 years, I have seen very few problems with these groups of teenagers who are mostly just hanging out, who can also be loud and intimidating without realizing it. In February of this year, my illusions of safety were shattered when I was assaulted by a rat pack while walking my puppy. The attack happened following a night high school basketball game, just two blocks from our home. I am a white male in my late 40’s, and was physically assaulted and asked for my money by a group of African American teens. The rat pack may have been from Oakland, as I did not recognize any of them as BHS students.  

Realizing I was being robbed and mugged, and that I was grossly outnumbered, I first tried to outrun the group. However, several of the group were on small bicycles, and were able to ride ahead and cut me off. Realizing they were more interested in hurting me to show off than robbing me, I assumed they were unarmed, but still very dangerous. I had no choice but to resist as best I could, and did not surrender my wallet. Because of my physical stature, I escaped further injury by fighting back and was able to run off when I had the advantage. At the time of the attack there were witnesses, (also teenagers) who were asked by the police if they saw anything. According to the officer, one of them said “The white guy looked real scared,” but when asked why they didn’t call the police their response was “I don’t know.” The apparent apathy about contacting authorities creates an atmosphere where this sort of thing can occur. 

Although I was physically hurt I was also verbally abused, using racial slurs while I was being punched. Fortunately, I only suffered a black eye and a few cuts and bruises. But I also suffered the loss of some of my trust in human nature, and to some extent, my belief in the value of living in a racially diverse community. At this point I was so devastated that I was ready to give up on living in Berkeley after 20, and move to the suburbs. Since the attacks, I have adjusted to the reality that racially motivated violence is a reality in our little “utopia.” After reporting it to the police I was told that there were seven such attacks near the campus that week alone.  

Recently (Sept. 10), the San Francisco Chronicle reported an attach by a group of African American teens on a man in Oakland who fought back and was able to chase and identify seven of his nine attackers. The article points to a pattern of such attacks in the vicinity of Oakland Technical High School, as well as the ongoing attacks near the southside of the campus. It also sheds light on the mob psychology of such attacks, something which we must acknowledge and understand better if we are to ever overcome this behavior in our community. 

As a victim I have also since tried to forgive my attackers, which relieves some of the hurt and anger that has resulted. It is easy to see from this experience, how anger and fear feed off of each other, like a cancer both in the victim and in the attackers. While passivism, and spirituality will help to reverse the anger and fear, and can heal the psyche, it will not stop the situation from happening again.  

One thing we can do is to be vigilant and more aware of our environment, especially at night. Avoid walking alone, and avoid groups of young men at night. Please report any suspicious activities and roving gangs to the police departments so that they can perform their sworn duty to protect our civil rights and preserve our safety. 

Name withheld by request 

• 

BEWARE OCT. 7 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Many counties have adopted computerized voting systems to decrease voter error. Unfortunately, voter error may increase due to system limitations and voter behavior. 

Having voted early, I witnessed several problems with the Diebold touch screen system adopted by 13 California counties. 

• Once you start voting you cannot return to the instructions screen. Although you can ask poll workers if you have a question, some voters may opt not to do this and submit unintended votes. Read the instructions you receive in the mail and bring them with you to the polling place. 

• With 135 gubernatorial candidates, it’s easy to press the wrong selection. If you do so, you must press this selection again before you can select another option. Although this procedure is covered in the instructions, some voters will not comprehend this and have difficulty submitting their intended choice. 

• You can vote no on the recall and still vote for a gubernatorial candidate. This is not addressed in the instructions screen. Apparently, some voters are still confused about this, perhaps, because it seems counter intuitive. 

It is ironic that computerized systems may result in more voter error than the systems they replaced. Such error will be difficult to detect because there is no paper trail to validate votes. The state has been investigating the vulnerability of these systems from a technological perspective. The government also needs to research ways to minimize human errors which are likely to occur in the aged and groups with low reading or computer literacy. 

• Counties which use the Diebold Accu-vote ES-2000 touch screen voting system include Alameda, Fresno, Humboldt, Lassen, Marin, Modoc, Placer, Plumas, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Siskiyou, Trinity, and Tulare. I do not know whether the limitations described above pertain to all counties using this voting system. 

Joel M. Moskowitz, Ph.D. 

Oakland 

• 

SCHOOL SWAP 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I want to thank Matthew Artz for his accurate reporting of the issues surrounding the lawsuit filed against the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) by the Friends of Franklin (FOF). 

As a party in this suit, I feel that it is important to state that this action was undertaken solely as a last resort, in order to protect the quality and character of the neighborhood surrounding the Franklin School site. It is not in any way meant to be retaliatory, vindictive, or punative. 

Neighbors of both the Franklin School and West Campus (the current location of Berkeley Adult School) have engaged in dialogue with BUSD for many months. These meetings, while initially encouraging, have now resulted in feelings of mistrust, frustration, and disillusionment with the school district and its staff. It is our contention that the district has inadequately addressed our concerns regarding the likely environmental impacts of this project, and have thereby violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). In addition, they have failed to connect the relocation of the Adult School to other foreseeable and related projects, also a violation of CEQA. 

We, the FOF, believe that it is possible to protect the integrity of our neighborhood and the interests of the Adult School students and faculty, if all concerned parties engage in honest and meaningful communication. That it takes a lawsuit to accomplish this is indeed unfortunate. 

When all is said and done, not just the Franklin neighbors, but all of the people of Berkeley will have to live with the outcome of the district’s decisions regarding the use of its properties and facilities. The FOF would like to ensure that due process is adhered to with regard to such decisions, and the district be held accountable for its actions. 

If, in this case, a court decides that due process has been circumvented and project funds are compromises as a result, that indeed would be a terrible waste. However, the school district chose to condone this move in opposition to overwhelming neighborhood sentiment, which asked for the final decision to be postponed in order to better evaluate the entire plan. The district then will have to look no further than itself and its representatives for a reason as to why that outcome came to pass.  

Carrie Adams 

• 

PAMPHLET-BRAINED 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

While ISM member Jim Harris characterizes my letter condemning the Berkeley City Council’s call for an investigation of Rachel Corrie’s death as a “diatribe,” it’s telling that neither he nor fellow critic Gray Brechin respond to the substance of my commentary. 

As reflected in Mother Jones’ current issue, I noted that the ISM was kicked out of its shared office space by the International Red Cross in Jenin for hiding an 

Islamic Jihad soon thereafter arrested for plotting four homicide bombings. No response on this from Mr. Harris. Moreover, Harris made no mention of the subsequent distancing of NGO’s from his organization after they “socialized” with two Pakistanis of British citizenry who shortly thereafter blew themselves and a dozen innocent Israeli citizens up. 

At least Mr. Harris, despite his calls for “human rights,” didn’t deny what Joshua Hammer found when he investigated the ISM for his Mother Jones piece: that 

a good number of ISM members “embrace” Palestinian homicide bombers as freedom fighters. Were he being truthful, this is something Mr. Harris could hardly deny and therefore, he didn’t.  

And neither Mr. Harris nor Mr. Brechin deny that the ISM sent photos to Reuters of Rachel Corrie, saying that they were taken just prior to her death when in 

reality they were taken several hours before, thereby alienating much of the international press. They can’t pretend the ISM tried to lie to the world because  

through Reuters, we now know this to be a matter of public record. 

Finally, Harris and Brechin call Rachel Corrie’s death “murder,” despite the fact that the primary witness—a fellow ISM member—says it may well have been an 

accident. 

Of course, like a vocabulary-challenged teenager who absolutely must utter the “F-word,” Mr. Brechin can’t resist tossing in that old Pravda cliché, “Zionist 

imperialism.” Such language will do fine affirming his affinity with ideologues like the ISM, but like Mr. Harris, Brechin’s willingness to eschew facts for slogans confine him and his comrades to the bargain basement of Berkeley’s pamphlet-brained. 

A question for our fine progressive City Council majority: If you are going to take up the case of Rachel Corrie, how could you ignore the fact that 43 Americans have fallen victim to Palestinian suicide bombs? Is that not also worthy of investigation? Why not? It couldn’t be because they were Jews, could it? 

Dan Spitzer 

The 7th Annual Arab Film Festival winds up its Bay Area run in Berkeley Sunday, with screenings and a closing night party at UC Berkeley’s Wheeler Auditorium Film. 

Films slotted for Sunday include “Planet of the Arabs,” “Lord’s Song,” “Souha Surviving Hell,” “Meantime in Beruit,” “Under the Sky of Baghdad,” and “Forget Baghdad.” The closing party will also include a performance by Yuri Lane, a rising beat-box performer from San Francisco who is currently on tour performing his beat-boxed theatrical production, “From Ramallah to Tel Aviv.” 

Event organizer Tariq Elaydi said that this year the festival has tried to open its doors to a wide variety of films, including those of a more artistically experimental nature. The ones that will be screened at Wheeler Auditorium, however, are more political—meant to attract Cal students who organizers know have a history of political involvement. 

Elyadi said he also wanted to provide opportunities for younger people to be exposed to what has become a growing Arab and Arab American film scene. 

“We wanted to bring a whole new generation of people in and introduce them to Arab films, especially here at Berkeley because of its political history,” Elaydi said. 

The night’s closing film, the widely acclaimed “Forget Baghdad,” tells the story of four Jewish Iraqis now living in Israel, documenting their lives as part of a society where even though they belong to the religious majority, they still face discrimination because of their ethnicity. 

In an attempt to examine the “clichés of ‘the Jew’ and ‘the Arab’ in the last hundred years of cinema,” Elaydi says that the film does an excellent job of exposing Israeli prejudice against Arabs, in a very “subtle and convincing” way.  

The festival has grown every year, but Elaydi says it has also faced a number of hardships, and in the post 9/11 era, organizers have had to deal with fear and discrimination targeting Arabs. 

Elyadi said the festival itself hasn’t been scapegoated, but people occasionally have to be escorted out of films for making disruptions, and many festival donors have asked to remain anonymous so their names aren’t associated with any of the films. 

Overall, Elaydi said the festival has been a success, drawing large crowds in San Francisco every night. Berkeley was slow during the first round of films partly because the screenings were held on the day of the USC vs. Cal football game. For closing day, organizers encourage people to turn out to attend what Elaydi promised will be an astonishing lineup, then stay for Yuri Lane’s performance. 

Films will run starting at 2 p.m. and Forget Baghdad screens at 7:15 p.m. The closing party will start after the film, around 10 p.m. 

For more information on the films and times, and to buy tickets, go to www.aff.org.

The conservative legal foundation sponsoring a lawsuit challenging race-based desegregation in Berkeley public schools is now taking aim at the UC Berkeley student government. 

Sacramento-based Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF)—at the request of the Berkeley College Republicans—is considering a suit against the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) for using compulsory student fees to fund a campaign against Proposition 54, the Oct. 7 ballot measure that would bar race-based research in California. 

“A lawsuit is a good possibility,” said PLF lawyer Greg Broderick. “Right now we’re looking into it. There’s not a lot of clarity about what happened.” 

Both university and student government officials have been tight-lipped this week as administrators continue to investigate if the Graduate Assembly (GA) and the ASUC violated university rules by earmarking $35,000 in GA funds—some from compulsory student fees—for the “No on 54” campaign operated out of ASUC offices. 

The university is reviewing the legality of its rules prohibiting student governments from funding ballot initiatives with mandatory student fees, as well as investigating if the earmarked funds were actually spent. 

Andrea Irvin, president of the Republicans, said the organization has pursued the lawsuit to send the ASUC a message. “We’re saying this isn’t right. We’re going to hold you accountable for how you use student fees.”  

Broderick said a lawsuit would seek to guarantee a refund for students who opposed the spending and require the ASUC to implement administrative safeguards to prevent future funding of partisan politics.  

He said the PLF would not seek to strip the ASUC of its nonprofit status, which would harm its ability to raise and spend funds. “We’re not interested in destroying the ASUC,” Broderick said. “We just want to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” 

He said that, depending on the evidence, a case could go before a state or a federal judge. The PLF will pursue the case free of charge to the Republicans. 

Broderick said a lawsuit would be predicated on evidence that the ASUC had spent the money allocated by the Graduate Assembly. The “No on 54” campaign bought posters, pins and stickers, but ASUC officials said that money came out of supporter’s pockets, and that the GA funds which were meant to reimburse them had not been tapped. 

The Republicans have sought access to the GA’s financial books, but Irvin said the GA has so far ignored a Freedom of Information request. She added that the Republicans might sue the GA to open their books if they refused a second request. 

GA officials did not return the Planet’s phone calls. 

The PLF filed a public records request with UC Berkeley’s Office of the Chancellor this week, Broderick said, and is awaiting a response. Any lawsuit would be based on UC’s assumption that since the ASUC is an official unit of the university, it must abide by the school’s neutrality clause that prohibits the university or any of its agents from lobbying for ballot measures or campaigns, Broderick said. 

April Labbe of the University of California Student Association (UCSA) said Broderick and university officials are misconstruing the relationship between the ASUC and the university. She said the university regents made the ASUC a unit in 1972 so that ASUC full-time employees could get the same benefits offered to university employees. 

The university, she said, has interpreted the designation strictly in this case, but in its policies has stressed that student government actions did not reflect positions held by the school. 

ASUC officials argue that they are not an arm of the university and insist that a 2000 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed the University of Wisconsin to permit student groups to use compulsory fees to fund campaigns shows that if California did the same it would not be violating any laws, as university officials have claimed. 

UC Berkeley counsel Michael Smith is reviewing the students’ arguments and will report to school administrators by early next week. He said his investigation has been hindered because the briefs offered by the students failed to say if the ASUC had spent any of the money allocated by the GA. 

Smith said he doubted that litigation would be needed to settle any issues between the ASUC and the university. “I hope they can work it out,” he said.

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In reviewing the history of Panoramic Interests’ 1950 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way project I ran a across a curious property transaction. As reported by the County Assessor, 1950 MLK (parcel 057-2060-001) was sold in February 2001 by its long-term owners to Aldar Investments at a transfer price of $2,650,000. Aldar Investments (Avi Nevo, Sole Director) held the property for 14 months, and then sold it on April 30, 2002 to 1950 MLK, LLC (Patrick Kennedy, Agent for Service) at a transfer price of $5,700,000. This represents a gross profit of $3,050,000 on an unknown investment by Mr. Nevo. What is so curious is that this transaction took place not between a rube and a city slicker, but between arguably the two most astute developers in Berkeley.  

This transaction has increased the land-cost basis of a project at 1950 MLK from $13,750 to $28,500 per unit (assuming 200 units). While this increase may in fact reflect a true doubling of land values along University Avenue over a 14 month period, it is also important to remember that land-cost is one of the major drivers of increases in density for affordable housing projects. Unlike in our world, where a homeowner, landlord, or developer who overpays for land is forced to eat their mistake, a developer of affordable housing project who overpays becomes eligible for additional ‘concessions’ on density and open space to make the project “feasible,” thus transferring the consequences of their bad judgment to the public at large, and the neighborhood in particular. 

We have all heard of “virtuous circles,” where positive change reinforces positive change. At first glance this is what we have here, a circle where land value drives increased density, which in turn increases land value, ad infinitum. Unfortunately I fear that what we really have is a development death spiral where Berkeley’s quality of life increases housing demand, which drives increased development and density, which will inevitably destroy our quality of life. Will the people of Berkeley let developers continue to build their over-sized mixed-use buildings until only those who can tolerate the traffic, noise, and lack of community along Berkeley’s transit corridors will be willing to live and shop here? 

When Mr. Kennedy’s project moves beyond the planning stage the city will be given the details of this transaction if he requests anything beyond the mandated 25 percent density bonus and a single zoning concession. I look forward to the city’s review of this transaction so they can assure the public that it was not an attempt to inflate the land-cost basis of this project, and that Mr. Nevo has no continuing interest in this project or any of Mr. Kennedy’s projects. 

Stephen Wollmer

The union representing the 10,000 teaching assistants, readers and tutors of the University of California system announced late Thursday that they would stage a one-day walkout Friday to protest what they called unfair labor practices at the school. 

United Auto Workers Local 2865 and the university began negotiations in March, the union said, and in the intervening months the local has filed 64 unfair labor practice charges alleging that the university has been bargaining in bad faith. 

The action comes only two days after Robert Dynes was installed as the new UC President. Local 2865 President Dan Lawson said “I hope it’s not a sign of things to come.” 

The union claims that UC caused talks to break down when the UAW contract expired on Sept. 30 by attempting demand that the UAW local abandon any right to support lawful picket lines thrown up by other UC unions. 

“ It is unacceptable to single out the UAW and treat us differently,” said Rajan Mehta, a UAW Bargaining Team member from UC Berkeley. “Moreover, if the UC administration truly wants to stop sympathy strikes, it should stop its unlawful and uncooperative labor relations practices that give rise to primary strikes.”

When Lucie Buchbinder brought the Bread Project to town last April, she joined the ranks of food visionaries who’ve made Berkeley famous for culinary innovation infused with a passion for justice. 

Like Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse and Edible Schoolyard and Frances Moore Lappe’s “Diet for a Small Planet,” the Bread Project is dedicated to the deceptively simple idea that food should be good. It should taste good. It should look good. It should be good for you. And it should be good for other people—namely, those who grow and prepare it.  

Honoring all these goals, the Bread Project is a non-profit organization whose mission is to help people escape poverty by teaching them not only a trade—baking—that will lead to a career but also the skills that will help them find and keep a job. The program operates in two venues—the San Francisco Baking Institute in South San Francisco and the Berkeley Adult School. 

Just a year-and-a-half-old, the Bread Project has received awards from Alameda County Social Services for innovation in sustainability and from Sustainable San Mateo County for contributing to the social sustainability of San Francisco County, along with Supervisorial, State, and Congressional commendations.  

Buchbinder, the project’s co-founder and executive director, talked about the project against a background of industrial-strength kitchen clatter and bustle in the Berkeley Adult School cafeteria.  

“The Bread Project got started,” says Buchbinder, “when my friend Susan Phillips and I, who were both involved in the development and management of subsidized housing, realized that our tenants needed jobs, and that most of them lacked training….We did some research and discovered that baking was a rapidly growing activity in the Bay Area. All these artisan breads were suddenly becoming popular, and supermarkets were building in-house bakeries.” 

Baking suited the needs of their prospective students. 

“You don’t need to speak perfect English; you don’t need an academic background—you don’t need to have a high school education even; you don’t have to have great skills to begin. All you have to have is a real interest in food,” Buchbinder said.  

The Bread Project opened its doors in South San Francisco in January 2001 and in Berkeley in April 2003. The program has an annual budget of $240,000--$180,000 in South San Francisco and $60,000 a year in Berkeley—less here because the school district pays the teachers’ salaries and provides the kitchen, utilities and telephones at no charge. 

Financial support has come from individual donors, foundations, corporations and private and public agencies, including Alameda County Social Services, Oakland Youth Employment Partnership, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, Wells Fargo, the Cisco Foundation, and the Walter & Elise Haas Foundation. 

The course is free to the students. Project director Buchbinder is a full-time volunteer. She and Assistant Director Lily Divito work out of a tiny room off the Adult School kitchen lined with racks of baking supplies.  

A visitor to the Bread Project finds the Adult School’s cavernous cafeteria filled with the sweet smell of freshly baked sticky buns and the kitchen alive with students in long white aprons, measuring and mixing ingredients, setting dough to rise, checking bread in the oven and cleaning up while Charlotte McDuffie stretched hard roll dough over her fingers to see if it had risen enough to go into the oven. 

She was “looking for the gluten window.” “If I can see my fingers, and it looks nice and silky without tearing, it’s ready”—as, she decided, this batch was.  

Around the corner, head teacher Betsy Riehle was conferring with another student over one of the kitchen’s giant Hobart mixers. “Every mistake you’ve made,” she told him, “I’ve made already.” 

In this case, the error was having set the mixer at too high a speed. Riehle described how early in her career, she had once done the same thing and ended up covered with sugar.  

Riehle is the bakery manager at the Fat Apple shops in Berkeley and El Cerrito. During a break she talked of the challenges of teaching at the Bread Project. 

“People have this image of baking from the Food Channel,” she said, “that it’s snazzy and fun and a lot of glory. And the reality is it’s hard work and a lot of repetition. A few people are famous and everybody else is just slugging it out day to day. I like that aspect; I have no desire to be famous. I stress that a lot in my class. I think there’s a dawning realization as the class proceeds that it’s not quite how they imagined it. Some of them love it even more, and some of them don’t like that direction.”  

Riehle learned her trade at the Dunwoodie Institute in Minneapolis, recently closed, but, she said, for fifty years the top school for American retail baking.  

“When I went to school I was very fortunate to have terrific instructors. I feel as if I’m maybe giving something back to the profession.” And she feels lucky to be returning the favor at the Bread Project. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for these people. A lot of them have very difficult situations. They have child care issues, it’s difficult for them to have money for bus fare to get here.” 

What drives them, she says, is that “a lot of them want to get a new start in their life.”  

In Berkeley about half the students are recruited at the Adult School through the project’s flyers and its baked goods. Others learn about the course through the Community Re-Entry Program of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office or the Alameda County Housing Authority. 

“We do outreach to homeless shelters,” says Buchbinder, “and to the one-stop centers for the unemployed such as CalWorks.” The students include people in recovery programs, incarcerated individuals on work furlough, people who are getting off welfare, immigrants and dislocated workers.  

One requirement for admission is a minimal command of English; students must be able to read the recipes and follow what a teacher says. Applicants must also be drug- and alcohol-free, without prior back injury and able to lift fifty pounds. 

School begins at 8 a.m. with a one-hour class, followed by baking for the rest of the day. 

“They have to be able to stay on their feet eight hours a day with just two breaks and a lunch hour,” explains Buchbinder, “because that’s what they’re going to face on the job.”  

They also have to be punctual. “They get dinged if they’re not on time.” Given these demands, I imagined that most of the students would be younger people. Not so. “We have students from 18 to 76,” Buchbinder told me. “And we have quite a few students in their 50s who’ve been laid off from Silicon Valley or who are recent immigrants and who want jobs.”  

Just as important as the culinary lessons is the education in life skills and job readiness. Bread Project students learn about where bakers work (it’s not just in the artisan bakeries dear to many Berkeley residents.) Says Buchbinder, “There are 25 different places where bakers can be employed, many places they wouldn’t think of looking, including airports, airlines, shipping lines, yachts, personal staffs, culinary temporary agencies, school districts, hospitals, prisons, jails.”  

They also learn how to get a job. Before the end of the class, each student must fill out perfect applications for bakery jobs at Safeway, COSTCO and Whole Foods--places where most of them can get hired with good entry-level benefits. 

“They learn about what to look for,” says Buchbinder. “It isn’t just the wages; it’s the benefits you get with them. We always have a representative from the Bakery Union. And for those that want to start their own little businesses, we have outside speakers coming from the Oakland Business Development Corporation. And we have someone from the Alameda County Housing Authority’s Self-Sufficiency program to talk about career development.”  

Applicants must be willing and able to accept employment in the food industry upon graduation. They must also be prepared to cooperate with program staff in a one-year follow-up of their employment careers. So far, over 100 very low-income men and women have been served. To date, 96 percent of those enrolled have graduated, 78 percent have found jobs, and a year after graduating 61 percent are still working.  

These numbers will grow, if Lucie Buchbinder has her way. She’d like to open a third Bread Project venue in the East Bay. 

“There’s such a need in East Oakland and in Richmond for this kind of program,” she says. She’d also like to start a café-bakery where her students can get internships and employment.  

On Saturday, Oct. 4, a High Tea to benefit the Bread Project will be held at 12 El Sueno in Orinda from 3-5 p.m. For more information, call 644-4575.  

The aptly named Killer Tomatoes, a Bay Area advocacy/watchgroup, will take to the streets Friday to protest the appearance of U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman at the City Club in Berkeley, where UC Berkeley’s Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy will honor her as the 2003 Alumnus of the year. 

Tomato member Mary Bull said she finds Veneman’s honor quite ironic, since she represents what Bull calls the most important flaw in American public policy: Corporate influence. 

Before her appointment to the Bush cabinet, Veneman was a member of the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council, which Bull said is funded by food and agribusiness giants Cargill, Nestle, Kraft, and Archer Daniels Midland. She was also a director of Calgene, a subsidiary of Monsanto, one of the leading developers of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs).  

Calgene, coincidentally, is the company who developed the ill-fated frost-resistant Flavr-Savr tomato made from spliced fish and tomato genes that the killer tomatoes took their name from. 

“It’s so ironic that they would honor her with a public policy award, when she used to serve all these multinational corporations,” said Bull. 

The Killer Tomatoes say the international food production and processing conglomerates Veneman formerly represented are responsible for a host of problems including promotion of free trade agreements such as NAFTA and GATT which they say are destroying regional economies and the global environment. 

“If the U.S. cannot continue to strong arm the Third World into opening their fields, and Europe into opening their markets, companies like Monsanto are going to lose their shirts,” said Bull. “We’ve sold out souls, and we want to say ‘wake up America.’ The Killer Tomatoes are out to loosen the stranglehold.” 

The event starts at 6 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. and the group promises that all attendees are in for a show which will include free cherry “killer tomatoes” and possibly “Killer Bloody Marys,” made from GMO tomatoes. 

For more information on the Killer Tomatoes, 415-509-1188.

Foiled Robbery 

An alert AC Transit bus driver prevented a burglar from stealing a $7,000 plasma television from a stereo store on the 900 block of University Avenue. 

According to police, the bus driver spotted the burglar inside the well-lit, closed store at 8:51 p.m. Saturday while he was driving his route. He called Berkeley Police, who surrounded the store only to find that the robber had fled from the premises—leaving the television behind. Police said the robber had entered the store by breaking through sheet rock and a window. They hope to use store surveillance film to identify the culprit. 

Police Chase 

A man driving with his lights off led police on a chase before he crashed into a parked car. According to police, an officer spotted the motorist at 3:55 a.m. Wednesday morning. When the officer signaled for the driver to pull over, he tried to flee and the officer pursued him to Harrison and Mable Streets, where the he fled the moving car and took off on foot. The officer parked his cruiser, then chased and apprehended the suspect, whose vehicle had crashed into a parked car. Police arrested Onyea Nwaonumah, 19, of Berkeley for resisting arrest, evading a police officer, driving without lights, driving without a license and violating probation. 

Purse Snatch 

A thief on a bicycle yanked a woman’s pocket book off her shoulder, and made off with several hundred dollars, police said. The woman was walking on Center Street between Milvia Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way at 2:33 p.m. Wednesday when the robber cycled beside her and grabbed her pocket book. She chased after him towards Milvia briefly, but then turned around and ran into the Police Station at MLK and Center. Police have not found the robber. 

Police Seek Witness 

Police are trying to find two men who robbed a woman at gunpoint and are urging a key witness to step forward with information. According to police, two men approached a woman at the intersection of Woolsey and Tremont Streets Saturday, Sept. 13. One pulled out a handgun and demanded her purse. The woman complied and the two men fled. 

Police say a woman carrying a guitar and riding her bike saw what happened and aided the victim, but didn’t stay around long enough to give police an account of what she saw. Police urge her to contact them with any information at 981-5742. Refer to case #03-52706.

Crews from the University of California were scheduled to cut down a grove of nearly 12 acres of eucalyptus trees at the head of Claremont Canyon Friday in a move campus officials said is designed to prevent wildfires in the hills. 

According to UC spokesperson Carol Hyman, the grove that occupies a low saddle on the slope of the East Bay Hills is a serious fire danger because it sits in a natural funnel that directs hot easterly Diablo winds down through dense chaparral in Claremont Canyon. 

The university planned the cutdown as part of its effort to reduce fire danger in the canyon and make the UC property safer and more attractive. 

The deforestration is being carried out in cooperation with East Bay Regional Parks, East Bay MUD and the City of Oakland in a collaborative effort to reduce the danger of wildfires. 

The work site for the project is the intersection of Claremont and Grizzly Peak boulevards. 

Hyman said the area being cut has been the site of several recent suspicious fires.

The Chief Financial Officer at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory was placed on administrative leave last week after a routine audit uncovered faulty bookkeeping practices. 

Lab officials said the mistakes are purely unintentional and that there is no evidence of fraud. 

The move heightens concerns about the operation of national laboratories run by the University of California in Berkeley, Livermore and Los Alamos, New Mexico. 

Last November scandal erupted at Los Alamos National Laboratory after investigators found that computers had been stolen and two building managers had billed thousands of dollars in hunting and camping equipment to the lab. Eighteen lab officials including the director were fired in the aftermath of the scandal. 

Berkeley Lab spokesperson Reid Edwards said any errors uncovered in the audit performed by Pricewaterhouse Cooper were “nowhere near the magnitude” of Los Alamos. 

“Our bookkeeping practices made it impossible for the auditors to finish the audit,” he said. Among the mistakes, Edwards added, lab accountants charged expenses to the wrong accounts.  

The errors were grave enough to convince UC officials to place lab Chief Financial Officer William A. Wasson on administrative leave while the university continues to inspect lab accounting procedures. Wasson, who Edwards said had been with the lab for a few years, faces a range of possible penalties from dismissal or suspension to a letter of concern. 

UC enlisted Livermore Laboratory Deputy Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Fernandez to sort out the accounting discrepancies and prepare the lab audit, which has still not been completed. 

“One of the nice things about managing three laboratories is that we can call on somebody when we see they can clearly help us,” said UC spokesperson Chris Harrington.

The National Labor Relations Board announced it will hold a January hearing to determine if Berkeley-based non-profit Building Opportunities for Self-sufficiency (BOSS) violated labor laws when it imposed higher health care costs on their unionized work force. 

The California Professional Employees Union, Local 2345 filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the NLRB in July, charging that BOSS illegally increased charges workers pay for health care after the labor contract expired. Should the NLRB rule in favor of the union after a January hearing, BOSS would have to restore benefits to their previous level. 

When the union’s three-year contract ended in July, BOSS, claiming financial hardship, changed health plans, raising employee doctor’s visit copayments from $0 to $15 and prescription drug copayments from $5 to $10. 

“The percentage increase over the previous plan is astronomical,” said union spokesperson Chris Graeber. 

BOSS Executive Director boona cheema said she had alerted the union that health costs would rise and that decreases in funding would force BOSS to tighten its belt. 

Graeber said the union rank-and-file would consider the latest BOSS contract proposal next week, but that union leadership had recommended rejecting the offer, which he said offered no pay raise. The previous labor contract that expired in July granted workers three percent annual raises over three years. 

cheema warned a ruling in favor of the union could have drastic repercussions for the nonprofit. “I’ll have to shut down many of the programs and lay off many people,” she said.

A wing of the Franklin Preschool, which burned in a suspected arson last month, will need to be demolished, said Lew Jones, director of facilities for the Berkeley Unified School District. 

The fire gutted two of the school’s five classrooms, but nearly all of the approximately 125 students were back at the school within a week, filling up the three remaining classrooms and a portable classroom that was pressed into service. 

The preschool is not located at the same site as the Franklin Elementary School. 

Jones said he was working with a hazardous materials specialist to make sure that demolishing the building would not release harmful chemicals into the air, and that he hoped to have the ruins gone “sooner rather than later.” 

After meeting with the district’s insurers this week to begin discussions on determining the cost for a new wing to the school, Jones said any part of the replacement costs that exceed the insurance estimate would be covered by Measure AA, which earmarks money to pay for rehabilitating school buildings.  

Jones didn’t expect a new wing to be completed for a couple of years. 

District Spokesperson Mark Coplan said the federal Head Start program has loaned Franklin students paper, paint, pencils, chairs and tables to replace items lost in the fire, and Oakland-based Link to Children has offered counseling to comfort grieving students. 

Police are still investigating the fire, which was set Saturday, Sept. 13., when someone jumped the school fence and lit combustibles—possibly paper—outside the wooden north wing.

NEW ORLEANS—All my friends are so pleased these days that the state of California is out-circusing Louisiana. “Louisiana politics ain’t so bad,” they say. “Look at Arnold.” That’s when I remind them of just what a sideshow our traditional political circus can be. Or a veritable zoo, even. 

I should know. Arnold Schwarzenegger may look and sometimes act like a gorilla, but it’s my father, Rodney Fertel, “The Gorilla Man,” who ran for mayor of New Orleans in 1969 on the platform that the Audubon Zoo needed a gorilla. 

My father’s family made most of its money in real estate, so he was in a position to play when he wanted to. And for the people of New Orleans, his sense of fun was his primary political asset. To them, a man who campaigned in a safari outfit, even sometimes in a complete gorilla suit, was sending up the clowns who ran the Third World banana republic that was their home. 

His campaign manager was named Black Cat Lacombe, a local racetrack promoter straight out of a Damon Runyon story. Allen LaCombe was called the Black Cat, he was happy to tell you, because he lost at everything. Legend has it that during a stint as a newspaper handicapper he selected nine winners one day in his column, then bet against each one of them. 

When he wasn’t promoting horseflesh, the Black Cat was promoting himself, always in it for laughs, a perennial candidate for whatever office was up for grabs. When he ran for governor in 1959, the Black Cat was invited to a dinner honoring Robert F. Kennedy, who was stumping for his brother JFK. Sitting at the head table with Kennedy and the other bigwigs, the Black Cat sported on his rented tuxedo a campaign button the size of a saucer that read, “Use Your Dome, Vote LaCombe.” 

It was because of this campaign against incumbent Gov. Earl Long in 1959 that A.J. Liebling came to immortalize the Black Cat in his masterpiece about Louisiana politics, “The Earl of Louisiana.” Leibling records the following exchange, overheard at a local bookie joint conducted in what we call here an Irish Channel brogue that sounds pretty much like Brooklynese: 

“A customer came over from the bar and said to the Black Cat, ‘I’m going to vote for you, governor; you’re better than them other sonsabitches, anyway.’ 

“‘What precinct you vote in?’ the candidate asked and, after the man told him, said, ‘Well I’m going to look at the returns Sunday, and if I don’t have one vote in that precinct I’ll know you’re a lying sonofabitch.’” 

The Black Cat didn’t make it to the governor’s office. Uncle Earl won the campaign, but then lost the war. Soon after returning to the governor’s mansion, his wife had him put in the state insane asylum. She tired of his publicly gallivanting with Bourbon Street stripper Blaze Starr. Of course in California, Blaze might be running for governor herself. 

In the next election, the Black Cat lowered his aim and ran for New Orleans mayor. This time he claimed he was qualified to serve the Crescent City because he “nearly went to high school.” He got 129 votes, which makes my father’s 308 votes a decade later look like a landslide. 

A perennial loser like the Black Cat is probably the last man you’d choose to run your campaign—unless your goal, like my father’s, was political surrealism rather than the mayor’s office. 

The culinary center ring of this political big-top was run by my father’s long-divorced wife and my mother, Ruth Fertel. Her New Orleans restaurant, the original Ruth’s Chris Steak House, has for decades been the place of choice for red-meat politics. The day before votes are cast, it’s a hotbed of deal-making and handicapping. The day after, it’s payback time, with winners eating steak and losers, red beans and rice, cooked for many years by my mother’s hand and sold for the price of a steak. 

Polling 308 votes, Dad was one of the red-beans guys. But he won a mock election at the University of New Orleans. Kids know a good joke on their elders when they see one. It was the 1960s, and maybe this was some more of that street theater they’d seen on the six o’clock news. Maybe the Gorilla Man was related to Abbie Hoffman, that other latter-day surrealist. You know: “Steal This Campaign.” 

Gorilla Man the thing Dad was proudest of is that after his landslide he went out and found not one, but two baby lowland gorillas for sale. He brought them back to the zoo, where they were a popular attraction for years. 

Dad named them Red Beans and Rice. And then he announced that he was the only candidate in history who had kept all his campaign promises even though he’d lost. 

So far, California’s gubernatorial hopefuls, however entertaining they may be, have shown little indication of proving so generous. 

PNS contributor Randy Fertel teaches English Literature at Tulane University. He is working on a memoir about his parents and New Orleans.

As someone who organized Chinese Americans to protest the treatment of Wen Ho Lee—the Los Alamos scientist accused of spying and who was later exonerated—I already see parallel patterns emerging in the arrest of Capt. James J. Yee, a Muslim U.S. Army chaplain at Guantanamo Naval Base. 

The first similarity is the treatment of both men’s families. Yee’s surprise arrest by the FBI at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Fla., reportedly on charges of espionage, left his wife completely in the dark. Whoda Yee waited, “extremely worried,” for hours at the Seattle-Tacoma airport, and didn’t learn of her husband’s fate until a few days later. She has yet to speak with him. 

Wen Ho Lee and his relatives, friends, and colleagues across the country were kept in the dark for nine months as they endured an intimidating FBI investigation prior to Lee’s indictment on Dec. 10, 1999. Then, for nine more months, Lee was kept in solitary confinement in a federal detention facility in Santa Fe, N.M. Such inhumane and unconstitutional treatment is inexcusable. 

Second, the order to arrest Capt. Yee, according to the Washington Times, came from “the highest levels” of our government. That suggests a well-planned and calculated move on the part of the government to control and shape public perception of the case. In Lee’s case, the decision to indict him was made at a White House meeting that included National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, Attorney General Janet Reno, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, CIA Director George Tenant and FBI Director Louis Freeh, among others. Exactly who participated in the decision to arrest Capt. Yee remains unknown. 

Third, as in the Wen Ho Lee case, the government has chosen to prosecute Yee first through the nation’s news media, primarily through leaks. As with Dr. Lee, government sources leaked the story to a newspaper—this time, the extremely conservative and administration-friendly Washington Times. 

The timing of the leak appears to be strategic. Anti-Muslim sentiment still runs high since Sept. 11, 2001, and the Bush administration recently launched a high-profile campaign against China, which it blames for the loss of nearly 3 million jobs since Bush assumed the presidency (China’s undervalued currency is held responsible). 

Yee is both Chinese American and a Muslim. The cases of Yee and two other arrested Americans who worked at Guantanamo provide a clever diversion calculated to heighten Americans’ sense of vulnerability and further incite anti-Muslim and anti-Chinese sentiment at a time when many Americans and lawmakers in Congress are beginning to question Bush’s costly military occupation of Iraq. 

Capt. Yee was caught with “classified documents that may have included sketches or diagrams of Guantanamo’s high security prison Camp Delta, along with lists of detainees and their interrogators,” according to WABC reporter Cheryl Fiandaca and the Washington Times. But the true nature and contents of these “classified documents” has yet to be disclosed. 

During the Wen Ho Lee case, anonymous government sources went so far as to say that Lee had in his possession the “crown jewel” of the American nuclear arsenal, information that, if shared with America’s enemies, risked the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans. FBI agents later apologized in court for making such false statements to the media and to the court. 

So far, most media, perhaps having learned a lesson from the Wen Ho Lee case, are being more cautious. Capt. Yee has been described as a loyal American, a devout Muslim and a caring family man. 

We do not yet know precisely what Yee did or did not do in Guantanomo, or whether he did or was asked to do anything beyond his authorized religious duties. Nor do we know if he had uncovered unauthorized or even illegal information or activities at Guantanamo Bay. Either scenario could precipitate the harsh treatment he has been subjected to since Sept. 10. 

All Americans, however, are entitled to the rights guaranteed by the U.S. constitution. Instead of engaging in prejudicial leaks, the government should disclose precisely its charges against Capt. Yee. 

The Yee leaks are just as bad as the disclosure of the identity of the CIA officer whose husband is former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson. Capt. Yee should be given competent legal representation, including civilian lawyers, throughout the investigation and trial. 

Politicians, especially Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, must stop their political grandstanding. Some are acting as if Capt. Yee has already been tried and pronounced guilty, when in fact he has yet to be charged with any violation of civil, criminal or military law. 

Wen Ho Lee was subjected to similar partisan political lynching for two years. He was unjustly smeared by FBI leaks and unproven allegations, and subjected to cruel and unusual punishment without a trial. His case ended with all serious charges against him being dropped and a rare apology from the court. Because Capt. Yee is both a Chinese American and a Muslim American, we need to be vigilant in defending his rights. Like all Americans, he must be considered innocent until proven guilty. 

PNS contributor L. Ling-chi Wang is professor of Ethnic and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

California Democrats woke up to a nasty shock this week—the (possibly growing) possibility that Arnold Schwarzenegger could actually become the next governor of this state. In one of the most Democratic-leaning states in the nation, how could this happen? Credit California Republicans with some pretty good generalship. But also note a series of rolling Democratic Party mistakes, compounding exponentially, each one rising upon the last until it seems that only a last minute miracle can save the election.  

Five days from now, if the recall is defeated or if Cruz Bustamante wins the governorship, few newspapers are going to bother to talk about any Democratic Party errors. On the other hand, if Schwarzenegger wins, getting a word in edgewise about “what went wrong for the Demos” will be like trying to merge onto 880 at 5:15 p.m. So me, I’ll get my digs in early. Here are my Four Major Mistakes Why The Recall Got Out Of The Democrats’ Hands (even if the Democrats eventually end up winning by fate or luck): 

Mistake #1: Ignoring Angry Democrats  

During the early days of the recall—first, when the petitions were being circulated and later, when the recall had been certified—Democratic Party leaders portrayed it as part of a Republican plot to steal elections—a plot going back to 2000. That helped to rally hardcore Democrats, true. But it failed to win over that small, solid core California Democrats who were angry with Gray Davis about being the governor of the big donors, and about his actions (or, more properly, his inactions) at the height of the energy crisis. 

So angry, in fact, that they were willing to sign the recall petitions, and vote “yes” on the recall ballot. That core of angry Democrats—10 to 15 percent of the total?—were the sole reason why the recall ever had the chance. If the Democratic Party had a plan to address their concerns, it never showed up during the recall campaign.  

Mistake #2: Dithering At The Beginning 

In the first weeks after the certification of the recall petition, the California Democratic Party accepted the Gray Davis strategy that the way to beat the recall was to keep any Democrat off the ballot. Good for Davis, sure, because it would force Democrats to choose between the unpopular Gray or the evil, election-stealing Republicans. Bad for California Democrats, if they wanted to keep the governorship in Democratic hands. 

Then, when it became increasingly clear that Davis might lose the recall, Democratic leaders spent another couple of fruitless weeks trying to convince Senator Diane Feinstein to enter the race, even though she made it quite clear that she was not interested. By the time Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante got settled on as the Democratic candidate, critical time had been wasted, momentum lost.  

Mistake #3: Missing (Again…See Mistake #1) What The Recall Was All About 

The underlying disaffection about Gray Davis is the perception that he is the governor of big money donors. But the recall was made possible primarily by citizen anger over the budget: How did we go from comfortable surpluses to huge deficits and cuts? 

Like an angry father looking at his pregnant teenage daughter, Californians counted the months back to the energy crisis and saw two possible culprits: the oil companies who juked California out of billions of dollars by manipulating the deregulated energy market, or the governor (Gray Davis) who did practically nothing until our money was well on its way to Texas. 

The Republicans made this an election about Gray Davis. The Democrats should have made it an election about how the Republicans deregulated the energy market, thereby letting big oil rip us off. But to do so, they had to back a candidate who could say, yes, Gray Davis should have done more to get us out of the mess, but it was Pete Wilson Republicanism that got us into that mess in the first place. 

But by dithering around in the beginning of the recall campaign (see Mistake #2), the Democratic Party never coalesced around a candidate (Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi? State Treasurer Phil Angelides? State Attorney General Bill Lockyer?) who might have run such a campaign. Instead, the Democratic Party, by default, got stuck with one of the worst imaginable candidates: Cruz Bustamante, who was a mistake all by his lonesome.  

Mistake #4: Running The Wrong Candidate 

Why was Bustamante such a bad candidate? 

First, he lacked the public passion to put (as General Lee used to say) fire on the Republican hills, which Democrats needed to take the attention away from Gray Davis (think Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan at their best). 

Second, in his various big donor fumbles throughout the campaign, Bustamante reminded Democrats too much of the things about Gray Davis that many Democrats despise. 

Third, and maybe most important, Bustamante was estranged from the one constituency that a California Democrat absolutely needs to win statewide office: African-Americans. 

In late September, Bendixen & Associates conducted a poll that showed Bustamante was the choice of only 17 percent of African-American voters, the most loyal and lockstep of Democrats.  

Five days before the recall, Democrats can still win. But it will have to be in spite of—not because of—its state party’s strategies. This has been a bumble from beginning to almost-end.

Back in 1853, just half a decade after the Gold Rush overran Spanish/Mexican California, American settlers came to the western shore of the future Berkeley and established the little settlement of Ocean View on the fringe of Jose Domingo Peralta’s land grant ranchero. 

In that same year Alameda County was formally created and county officials had the future Berkeley’s first street, the Contra Costa Road—later San Pablo Avenue—surveyed.  

Down in Oakland, the beginnings of the private College of California—later to become part of the University of California—were also being organized in the momentous year of 1853. 

Pull these and other strands of local heritage together and you’ll find the beginnings of Berkeley.  

This fall, there are several free or inexpensive events—lectures, walking tours, classes, exhibits—to help you explore that history, and other aspects of local heritage. 

Ocean View’s 150th Anniversary 

The first week in October starts an ambitious schedule of no less than eight special lectures and events organized by Stephanie Manning and Barbara Gates to celebrate and explain the history of Ocean View. 

Ocean View was founded in 1853 when Captain James Jacobs brought his family to the undeveloped waterfront and built a dock for his freight-shipping sloop at the foot of what is now Delaware Street. 

Nearby that same year another former sea captain, William Bowen, built a small inn and stagecoach stop on the shoreline road, inland from the Jacobs wharf. 

According to Manning, these two establishments marked “the beginning of a new era characterized by large pioneer families and entrepreneurial spirit brought to California by the Gold Rush.”  

Factories, churches, a school, and substantial and modest Victorian homes soon dotted the Bay shore. In 1878, the area became part of the new town of Berkeley. 

The Ocean View events, which begin today and continue weekly through Nov. 20, include lectures, tours, and panel discussions that discuss the environment of the Berkeley area before urban development, the natural history of San Francisco Bay, and the heritage of the native Ohlone who left one of their largest shellmound/settlement sites in Berkeley. 

Also explored are the various ethnic migrations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that shaped the character of Ocean View/West Berkeley, the 1970s neighborhood struggle to save Ocean View from becoming an industrial park, the coming of artists live-work studios, and future planning. 

Scheduled presenters include Professor of Anthropology Kent Lightfoot from UC Berkeley, retired USGS engineer and San Francisco Bay expert Ken LaJoie, local creeks advocate Carole Schemmerling-Selz, naturalist Beverly Ortiz, native Ohlone Lisa Carrier, landscape ecologist and historian Robin Grossinger, and program organizers Manning and Gates. 

Several of the events will be held in historic buildings, including: Workingman’s Hall (used as the first town hall after Berkeley incorporated in 1878); one of Berkeley’s oldest houses of worship, the Church of the Good Shepherd; Spenger’s Fish Grotto; and Finn Hall, one of two community centers built by Berkeley’s large and vigorous Finnish immigrant community in the early 20th century. 

Tickets are $10 per event, or $45 for the series. However, Manning emphasizes that no one will be turned away for lack of money. The lecture series is co-sponsored by the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association and Berkeley Historical Society.  

Berkeley History Class 

Professor Charles Wollenberg of Vista Community College is reprising his “Berkeley: A City in History” course this Fall.  

It “puts the present into a historical perspective,” says Wollenberg. “You begin to understand Berkeley in the context of its past.” 

The one-credit course started Wednesday, Oct. 1, and includes seven Wednesday evening lectures (7-9 p.m.) at the Central Berkeley Library. 

Wollenberg, a Berkeley native, whose family once had Bernard and Annie Maybeck as neighbors, is the author of several books about local and California history.  

Each week there’s a different guest speaker, including publisher and author Malcolm Margolin, Peralta Community College District Trustee Darryl Moore, Bob Schildgren, former editor of the Berkeley Co-op News, and Marty Schiffenbauer, one of the authors of Berkeley’s Rent Control Ordinance. 

Although Vista College policy frowns on regular class attendance by those not formally enrolled, this course is held at Berkeley’s Central Library community room, where the public is welcome at events. Translation: If you want to be a regular at the lectures, it’s best to sign up for the class through Vista; if you want to drop in for a lecture or two, no one is likely to ask you to leave. 

Historical Society Walking Tours 

Two or three times each year, the non-profit Berkeley Historical Society organizes Saturday morning walking tours. The fall schedule is already underway, but you still have time to catch coming attractions. Don’t wait to make reservations, though; one tour is already sold out. 

Tours include a walk through the UC campus highlighting buildings and programs created by and for university women, an unusual tour of the Gilman Street Industrial Area, visiting several old buildings and sites reborn in recent years as a custom woodworking factory, a social services center, and Berkeley’s newly minted Municipal Skate Park and adjacent playing fields.  

Later in October, historian Paul Grunland who has led several tours in the north Berkeley Hills, guides a “Boundary Walk” tour along the 1853 border between Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.  

The tour schedule finishes with a “bonus tour” visiting housing projects recently constructed in downtown Berkeley by Panoramic Interests; participation is limited to those subscribing to at least three of the earlier tours. 

Most (but not all) tours start at 10 a.m. and last approximately two hours, led by volunteer guides. Tours cost $8 each for BHS members, and $10 each for the general public; the number of participants is limited. Information on starting points and other details is available to those making reservations. 

BHS members can purchase “season tickets” for $30; membership is $20 individual, $25 for family.  

Greene & Greene Houses 

“Evening on Piedmont Avenue,” a benefit organized by the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, offers a rare opportunity to explore a magnificent Arts and Craft home. 

The architects Greene & Greene designed better known “ultimate bungalows” in Southern California, but Berkeley has one of their best in the Thorsen House, built in 1909, and now owned and cared for by the Sigma Phi fraternity. 

On the evening of Friday, Oct. 17, you have a chance to see the superb interior of the house, with its intricate hand-crafted wood finishes and stained glass. The event includes a dessert reception at the house and a documentary film about the architects. 

(Steven Finacom is a local resident and historian. He is a volunteer board member of the Berkeley Historical Society and Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, organizational sponsors of some of the events described in this article, and will be a guest speaker at the Vista College Berkeley history course.) 

Friday, Oct. 3: Ocean View anniversary event #1. 7 p.m. at Finn Hall on Tenth Street, north of Hearst. Dr. Kent Lightfoot, anthropologist, and publisher and author Malcolm Margolin, speaking about the natural character and native American life and culture of the area that became Berkeley. $10 at door, $45 for the series. 

Friday, Oct. 10: Ocean View anniversary event #2. 7:30 p.m. at Spenger’s Fish Grotto, the ballroom. Landscape ecologist Robin Grossinger of the San Francisco Estuary Instate and Carole Schemmerling-Selz, talking about Berkeley’s creeks and early natural landscape. $10 at door, $45 for the series. 

Saturday, Oct. 11: BHS walking tour, “Gilman Street Industrial Area”, led by several guides, including Berkeley’s Parks Director Lisa Caronna. 10-12. $10 (discount for members). 

Sunday, Oct. 12, 3-5 p.m.: “Afternoon Tea” at the Berkeley History Center, celebrating Berkeley’s women’s club movement. Talk and slide show by Carol O’Hare, editor of “Jailed for Freedom”, on the movement to bring women the vote. Free, but call (510) 528-3284 for reservations.  

Thursday, Oct. 16, 7:30 p.m.: Ocean View anniversary event #3. Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont. Program by naturalist Beverly Ortiz on Ohlone Indian culture, in a park setting similar to the original character of the wetlands that once lined Berkeley’s shore. $10 at door, $45 for the series. 

Friday, Oct. 17, 7:30 p.m.: “Evening on Piedmont Avenue” at the historic Thorsen House, 2307 Piedmont Avenue (at Bancroft). $35 per 

person, including reception and film documentary on the architects. Make reservations with BAHA. Contact information below. 

Saturday, Oct. 18, 10-12 p.m.: BHS walking tour, “Boundary Walk”, along the northern edge of Berkeley, led by Paul Grunland. $10 (discount for members). 

Saturday, Oct. 25, 10-12 noon: Ocean View anniversary event #4. Meet at Spenger’s Parking Lot, Fourth and Hearst. Walking tour of old Ocean View’s architecture, history, and shellmound site, led by west Berkeley activist and historian Stephanie Manning. $10 for tour, $45 for the series. 

Saturday, Oct. 25, 10-12 noon: “Paths of Northernmost Berkeley”, sponsored by the Berkeley Pathwanderer’s Association. Meet at Ensenada and Portland Avenues. For more details, call Marilyn Siegel 549-2906 & Mardi Mertens 849-1142, or visit the BPWA website at www.berkeleypaths.org. Walk is free. 

Thursday, Oct. 30, 7:30 p.m.: Ocean View anniversary event #5. Church of the Good Shepherd, Ninth and Hearst. Talk by Barbara Gates, Ocean View resident and author of “Already Home”, a west Berkeley memoir. Remarks by Stephanie Manning and by the historian of the Church, which is one of Berkeley’s oldest houses of worship and was recently restored. $10 at door, $45 for series.  

Saturday, Nov. 1. 10-12 noon: BHS Bonus Tour. “Changing Face of Downtown Berkeley”, tour of housing developments by Panoramic Interests (Free to those who have attended 3 other BHS tours in the Fall series.) 

Saturday, Nov. 1: BHS bonus tour, “Behind the Scenes at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum and the Bancroft Library”. SOLD OUT. 

Thursday, Nov. 6. 7:30 p.m.: Ocean View anniversary event #6. Program on the ethnic migrations that have shaped West Berkeley since the late 19th century. Location and speakers to be announced. $10 at door, $45 for series. 

Thursday, Nov. 13: Ocean View anniversary event #7. History of San Francisco Bay, by retired U.S. Geological Service engineer and historian Ken LaJoie. Time and location to be announced. $10 at door. $45 for series. 

Thursday, Nov. 20, 7:30 p.m.: Ocean View anniversary event #8. Location to be announced. Panel discussion of the 1970s neighborhood struggle to save Ocean View from becoming an industrial park, and the subsequent changes in the neighborhood. Several panelists. $10.00 at door, $45 for series. 

For further details and reservations for the BHS (Berkeley Historical Society) events noted above, go to www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc/ or call BHS at 848-0181, or visit the Berkeley History Center, 1931 Center St., between 1-4 p.m., Thursday-Saturday. Reservations required for tours. 

For details on Professor Wollenberg’s “Berkeley: A City in History” Vista College course, go to the Vista College Web site, www.vistacollege.edu/ and follow the links to “Classes,” “Class Schedules-Vista,” “History,” and “Berkeley,” or visit the Berkeley Public Library History Room online at www.infopeople.org/bpl/system/histrm.html where the on-line class text is located. 

For Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association events, call the BAHA office at 841-2242. 

For events in the special Ocean View lecture series, order tickets by mail from BAHA, P.O. Box 1137, Berkeley, Ca. 94701. Tickets $10 at door, $45 for series of eight events. For further information on the series, call Stephanie Manning at (510) 841-8562, or e-mail bahaworks@yahoo.com.

Mayor Tom Bates’ Advisory Task Force On City Revenue has recommended that the mayor should support a $250 per year parcel tax increase referendum to be placed on the March 2004 ballot in order to make up for falling city revenues—the same type of bond measure called for in a recent survey of Berkeley voters. 

If accepted by the mayor, the recommendation is scheduled to be presented to City Council at its Oct. 14 5 p.m. public working session. 

Representatives of the city manager’s office were scheduled to meet with City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque immediately after the task force meeting to work out the legalities of the parcel tax, and Mayoral aide Cisco DeVries said he expected to have a detailed, written task force report on bond measure recommendation available to the public by the end of next week. 

The City Revenue Task Force was assembled four months ago by Mayor Bates to determine what, if any, new taxes are needed to make up for what has been projected as a $27 million budget shortfall by 2008. 

The task force is chaired by former Assemblymember Dion Aroner and includes, among others, energy consultant Cynthia Wooten, Solid Waste Management Commissioner Jay Miyazaki, and political activist Dan Lindheim, as well as mayoral aide DeVries, Deputy City Manager Phil Kamlarz and City Clerk Sherry Kelly. 

The task force is scheduled to dissolve once a formal report is delivered to the mayor. 

The panel is also recommending that the March bond measure ballot measure include a spending oversight committee, a five-year sunset provision, and concentrate specifically on preventing cuts in the city’s fire services. 

Task force members stressed that they did not think Berkeley voters would support a new tax if it did not include some guarantee that service levels would not be reduced. 

The group decided not to wait to put the bond measure on the November 2004 ballot after learning that it would conflict with other bond measures scheduled for that date. 

The task force also discussed other methods of raising funds to meet the immediate budget shortfall besides a parcel tax, including seeking revenues from UC Berkeley and the Lawrence Laboratory and raising other city fees, but decided that these should be part of a long-term discussion of the health of the city’s finances. 

The task force will meet again Oct. 23 at 2:30 p.m. in the Milvia Street City Office Building. With the completion of its bond measure recommendation to the mayor, the task force is scheduled to disband following the Oct. 23 meeting.

Burglar Cornered in Car 

Police arrested a man for attempted auto burglary after the owner of the car and his friends trapped the suspected burglar inside the car. According to police, someone forced through a window of a car parked on the 2500 block of Etna Street Wednesday at 9:46 p.m. The owner heard someone outside, saw the man inside the car and the owner and his friends surrounded the car, holding him until police arrived. Police arrested Daniel Kiehn, 20, of Berkeley. 

Prowlers 

Police arrested a 44-year-old man and a 13-year-old boy Sept. 29 after a purse was reported stolen from a home on the 900 block of Hearst. According to police, the resident couldn’t find her purse, which she had left near a sliding glass back door that she found open. As she continued to search, she heard her car alarm go off and spotted two people standing by her car. She called the police and started following the pair as they casually walked away. When she pointed them out to police, officers arrested the pair on suspicion of burglary. The purse was eventually found near the car where the pair was standing. 

Robbery 

The resident of a home in the 1500 block of Oxford Street was sitting in his back yard last Wednesday afternoon while a robber entered the dwelling through the front, making off with a laptop computer and cash. According to police, the victim said he then saw a suspicious looking man walking past him on Oxford and when he went back inside his home, he found the front door pried open and his computer and $700 cash missing. Police have no suspects.

Sorry. It will certainly look like bad taste to some if the Daily Planet allows itself a bit of a gloat over the results of the city’s likely voter survey. But we can’t resist saying, humbly but loudly if that’s possible, We Told You So. What was the first task force appointed by Mayor Bates? The one on the permitting process. And what comes in dead last on the list of voter concerns? The permitting process. And second to last: new housing, also a part of the task force’s charge. So why have almost eight months, uncounted hours of paid city staff time (and unpaid but still valuable volunteer time) been spent on (and we really hate to sound like a broken record) fixing what’s not broke? 

One problem is the constitution of the task force. The mayor, or whoever picked the list of participants on his behalf, was not bound by Berkeley’s fair representation ordinance, which requires more permanent bodies such as commissions to have members chosen by all of the city’s elected officials on a pro rata basis. If the members were answerable to City Council, who in turn are accountable to the voters, they might have a better idea of what Berkeleyans think. Instead, the majority of the members seem to have been chosen because of their connection with development interests, and two of them don’t even live in Berkeley. Anyone who knows anything about campaign finance shouldn’t be surprised by this, since it’s a cliché among those who study such things that the building industry and its allies are always big time political contributors. This is one of the perennial arguments for public financing of elections. Let’s hope Arianna’s Huffington’s Clean Money initiative has a remedy for this problem. 

Another problem with the task force is that even the best intentioned participants started out with very little knowledge of how things actually work in Berkeley. An unconscionable amount of time was spent on explaining things like the difference between a building permit and a use permit. Maybe the remedy would have been to start out with a crash course on how the permitting process actually works, with a pre-test and a post-test to make sure everyone got it. The discussion of the Landmark Preservation Ordinance was a particularly embarrassing display of pooled ignorance coupled with special interest lobbying. It might have been nice if the task forcers had at least read the ordinance before they started critiquing what they thought was in it, or if any member of the Landmarks Commission had been invited to the meeting to answer questions.  

On the other hand, even though Berkeley voters are not particularly interested in new housing per se, they placed homeless services high on their list of concerns, not far behind services for the elderly and disabled. It’s not too much of a jump to suggest that most of us would like to see people who are now homeless decently housed if possible. It’s just that we don’t think that it’s necessary to expedite the production of another thousand units of luxury student housing under the pretext of providing a very few low-income units in each big building. 

There’s one question which wasn’t asked by this survey. Would citizens support the city’s building a reasonable number of carefully targeted units directed specifically at the neediest part of the population? If it were asked, the answer would undoubtedly be yes, based on the strong affirmation by survey participants of their willingness to support services for Berkeley residents who need them. Maybe it’s time for the mayor to convene a task force on housing the homeless. 

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