One of Berkeley’s largest nonprofits—its survival threatened by accounting mishaps and mounting debt—has asked city and county officials for a helping hand to solve a looming cash shortfall, which some estimates place at $900,000. -more-
It’s hard to imagine enhancing the inherent beauty of a violin or harpsichord until you see what Berkeley’s Janine Johnson can do with one. -more-
Berkeley City Council, at its 5 p.m. working session tonight (Tuesday, Oct. 21), takes its second look at four proposed ballot measures designed to shore up the city’s projected $15 million budget deficit and change the way elections are held in the city. -more-
Every Berkeley resident should be outraged that people in South Berkeley are living each and every day with violent crime. Just imagine having to cope with the ordinary day-to-day stress of raising children, working to earn a living, driving in today’s traffic and maintaining a household plus having to deal with crime and the threat of crime outside of your door. In the last few months, South Berkeley residents have had to live with gunshots in the night, a body dumped on the street, over 20 rounds fired from guns at high noon near a public school, young boys viciously attacked, kicked and beaten by other youngsters, killings related to a drug war stemming from shared social problems with Oakland, a resurgence of drug dealing, hate crimes that go unrecognized and so have little chance of being stopped, and a canceled high school football game because of the fear of violence. -more-
Berkeley and Oakland Police have apprehended nearly all the suspects connected to a series of violent shootings along the South Berkeley-North Oakland border earlier this year, according to officers interviewed after a regional crime prevention meeting Friday. -more-
Patrons of the Downtown YMCA will soon get a sneak preview of Berkeley’s changed parking picture—which some describe as a crunch and others as a matter of lowered expectations. -more-
Rachel Odes, Michael Smith and Snehal Shingavi—the three UC Berkeley students found responsible Oct. 13 for violating two counts of the UC Berkeley student code of conduct during an anti-war protest—have refused to acknowledge any wrong-doing and have announced plans to run a full-page ad in the Daily Californian protesting their convictions. -more-
The Women’s Sports Foundation Monday named Berkeley’s record-setting swimmer Natalie Coughlin and pro basketball player Lisa Leslie as their 2003 Sportswomen of the Year. The awards honor team and individual sport athletes for their achievements from August 2002 through July 2003 and were presented at a ceremony Monday night at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. -more-
EDITOR’S NOTE: President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada resigned late Friday—after this article was written—following massive demonstrations in La Paz. His replacement, former Vice-President Carlos Mesa, said he would heed the demands of the Indians, who comprise the largest segment of South America's poorest nation. -more-
The neighborhood kids were begging me to take them somewhere. -more-
The East Bay has gotten a little more dangerous in the past few months. Without fanfare, the city of Oakland closed the fireboat. Not for a day, not for a week, but indefinitely. Shutters down, tanks empty, the Seawolf is destined for drydock. -more-
Elevating a lowly side dish like coleslaw to haute cuisine status is not for the run-of-the-mill cook—precisely what Roxanne Chan of Albany is not. As a recipe “contester” she spends her days dreaming up ways to make everything from chicken to potato salad in new and exciting ways. -more-
The Berkeley City Council on Tuesday will consider whether it will join a regional governing body that would oversee the development and operation of sports fields throughout the East Bay. -more-
The West Coast’s largest showing of Cuban Poster art, an exhibit called “One Struggle, Two Communities,” is underway at the Berkeley Art Center, highlighting the release of a new book that chronicles the island nation’s rich history of cultural and political posters. -more-
“When the sixties finally ended in Berkeley, sometime around 1994, the only thing left standing from that bygone era was the Cheese Board. Odd that a time and place so thoroughly associated with outrage and rebellion should all melt down into 400 or so tasty blobs of Camembert, Port Salut, and Bleu des Causses. Those of us old enough to remember its first tiny storefront have watched fads in politics, haircuts, nose rings and bread dough come and go, but the Cheese Board stands alone.” -more-
Berkeley school officials tempered optimism about skyrocketing test scores for Berkeley High School students reported in the Daily Planet (“BHS Student Test Scores Soar,” Oct. 14-16) with cautions that the upbeat numbers failed to take into account differing testing populations and the worrisome stagnation of some groups of students. -more-
Critics of former Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean used to say that under her chairmanship, Berkeley City Council meetings used to bog down under the endless partisan bickering until the late hours of the night. -more-
One of the most peaceful, tranquil, calming experiences in Berkeley is about to be unalterably destroyed. -more-
Workers at the Claremont Hotel were joined by scores of supporters Wednesday as they rallied in front of the resort to dramatize their long-running battle to force the Claremont to negotiate new contracts for workers throughout the resort. -more-
Usually when folks speak of being strong supporters of labor I discern an echo of the mantras “I’m a uniter, not a divider,” and “fair and balanced reporting.” With supporters like that, who needs enemies? The Berkeley Budget Oversight Committee’s analysis, though expansive, is shallow and misleading. Several of the statements are factually inaccurate or thinly veiled attacks on labor, charities, and the less privileged. -more-
October is Domestic Violence Prevention Month and Berkeley Police are trying to help a rarely talked about, but significant percentage of its victims—men. -more-
A drug known as “soma” is making a dangerous resurgence among Asian Pacific Americans, according to Michael Kinoshita, manager of Wellness Programs at the Asian American Recovery Services (AARS) in San Francisco. -more-
Governor-elect Schwarzenegger is publicly floating the idea that—to take quick advantage of his electoral popularity while it lasts—he is considering initiating a November, 2004 referendum to ask the voters to put a constitutional cap on state spending. And isn’t that a chilling reminder of the first days of the Jerry Brown era in Oakland? -more-
When the Berkeley Police Department presented its proposal for a K-9 unit with its civilian oversight commission last week, almost a decade had passed since the city last had a police dog. -more-
The latest act in the seemingly ceaseless saga which is Mayor Bates’ Task Force on Permitting and Development is now underway. A “Discussion Draft” of a final report has been posted on the web, and the first of two discussions of it took place last Friday, with a second scheduled for next Friday. Participants included original task force members, selected by the mayor with heavy weighting toward developers, and self-selected residents who regularly attend the group’s meetings. -more-
Went to church again last night, for the second time this fall. Following Rev. Al Sharpton at Allen Temple Baptist Church on the revival circuit, this time the preacher was Rev. Molly Ivins, appearing at Berkeley’s First Congregational under the auspices of Cody’s Books to preach about her latest, “Bushwhacked.” The choir was all there to shout hallelujah—Berkeleyans of all descriptions who couldn’t be counted on to have a civil conversation at a commission meeting in the North Berkeley Senior Center, but who do realize that politics stops at the water’s edge. The water’s edge, in this case, is the easily predictable Bush-Schwarzenegger deal to carve up California and feed it to the corporations, especially the energy czars and the lumber barons. (Entrail readers on the Internet, notably Greg Palast, have seen the auguries in Arnie’s meeting with Enron honchos a couple of years ago.) And on the other shore, we’re on the edge of the deep muddy that is the Iraq occupation. -more-
