The Week

Erik Olson:
          
          PRO-UNION election observer Eric Freezell expresses his disappointment with the vote result.
Erik Olson: PRO-UNION election observer Eric Freezell expresses his disappointment with the vote result.
 

News

Berkeley Bowl Workers Reject Unionization Bid

By JAKOB SCHILLER
Friday October 31, 2003

After more than four months of intensive organizing efforts, Berkeley Bowl workers rejected unionization effort in a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)-supervised election Thursday. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Friday October 31, 2003

FRIDAY, OCT. 31 -more-


Arts Calendar

Friday October 31, 2003

FRIDAY, OCT. 31 -more-


Visiting the Faculty Club

Friday October 31, 2003

Although the very name “Faculty Club” perhaps conjures images of aloof inaccessibility, the 101-year-old Berkeley campus institution is anything but. -more-


Letters to the Editor

Friday October 31, 2003

TOLERANCE -more-


Berkeley Builder Cited for Asbestos Violations

By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR
Friday October 31, 2003

A prominent Berkeley contractor has been cited for 17 violations of California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal-OSHA) regulations from their renovation of a Hayward commercial building, including the improper removal, handling, and dumping of asbestos material. -more-


Tax Hike, Smart Cuts Only Way Out of Budget Mess

By DION ARONER
Friday October 31, 2003

With all the attention on the budget battles in Sacramento and Washington, the financial crisis facing cities has slipped mostly under the radar. But cities provide most of the front line services used by Californians, and throughout California those city services are on the chopping block. -more-


Unsual Art CollectionAwaits at Faculty Club

By STEVEN FINACOMSpecial to the Planet
Friday October 31, 2003

Considering unusual places to see fine art in Berkeley? -more-


Purify Groundwater, Agency Tells LBNL

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Friday October 31, 2003

Berkeley scored a victory against the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), after a regional regulatory board ordered the lab to implement the highest possible standards to clean up contaminated groundwater at its Berkeley Hills campus. -more-


On A Roll

By CAROL DENNEY
Friday October 31, 2003

I contemplate the depth beneath my stride -more-


Video/Film Festival Screens Treats for All Tastes

By ZAC UNGERSpecial to the Planet
Friday October 31, 2003

Depending on how you look at things, it’s either a wonderful or a terrible time to be an independent filmmaker. -more-


Sit-in Sentences Soon for UC Trio

By JAKOB SCHILLER
Friday October 31, 2003

Following a heated five-hour sentencing hearing Tuesday, three UC Berkeley students—Michael Smith, Snehal Shingavi and Rachel Odes—are waiting to learn what, if any, punishments the university will mandate for their actions during a March 23 campus anti-war protest. -more-


A Memorial Tribute to Roger Montgomery

By MARC A. WEISS
Friday October 31, 2003

My first memory of Roger Montgomery was when I was a graduate student in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley in 1978. I took his class on Community Development. Roger was well-known at the time as being a critic of the infamous federal “Urban Renewal” program that had displaced so many low-income minorities from inner-city neighborhoods during the 1960s that it had been informally renamed the “Negro Removal Program.” Roger had provided expert faculty support to a movement to block urban renewal in the west Berkeley flatlands, and had helped to stop a substantial degree of displacement that would otherwise have occurred. Roger was a passionate political progressive, and he brought his passions into his classroom teaching in a way that I greatly admired. I particularly remember him drawing a picture on the blackboard of the widely heralded urban renewal in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, home to the University of Chicago, and I was struck by the way a policy activist like Roger could think in such distinctly visual images. -more-


Rosa Park Parents Blame Testing, Not School

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Friday October 31, 2003

Berkeley school district officials are preparing for discussions on an administrative overhaul for Rosa Parks Elementary School, after standardized test scores released last week showed that student performance declined. -more-


BFD Fights SoCal Fires

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Friday October 31, 2003

Berkeley has sent seven firefighters and one engine to San Diego to do battle with the most destructive of the Southern California wildfires. -more-


Last Defendant to Plead In Sex Slavery Tragedy

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Friday October 31, 2003

The older son of notorious Berkeley landlord Lakireddy Bali Reddy was scheduled to enter a guilty plea today, Friday, Oct. 31, as part of the agreement that will complete the prosecution of family members for smuggling young Indian girls into the country for sex and cheap labor. -more-


Police Blotter

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Friday October 31, 2003

Under Currents: Perata Displays His Formidable Snooker Skills

J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR
Friday October 31, 2003

Well, you gotta hand it to 9th District State Senator Don Perata. Thanks, in part, to a calendar-challenged Superior Court judge and Attorney General Bill Lockyer (both of whom seem to think that four days equals four years), Mr. Perata has figured out a way to stretch his term limit from the voter -mandated two to a more convenient (for him) three. Now it looks like Mr. Perata, may have simultaneously managed to snooker his toughest opponent out of the race against him. -more-


Behind Every Bad Bush Move Stands Cheney

By JOSHUA MICAH MARSHALL Featurewell
Friday October 31, 2003

In The New York Times the other day, Iraq’s new interim president, Iyad Alawi, thanked Americans for liberating his country and then made a simple request: please bring back the Iraqi army. -more-


Correction

Friday October 31, 2003

Berkeley Path Named for Chronicler of Wild West

By MELISSA NIX Special to the Planet
Friday October 31, 2003

Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series by UC Berkeley journalism students on the paths of Berkeley. -more-


Crescent Path Delights

By CHRIS YOUNG Special to the Planet
Friday October 31, 2003

About 30 years ago, A.J. Ayres and other kids in his neighborhood rode their BMX bikes to Crescent Park, a private park with three inlets in the Park Hills area of Berkeley. The park has served the neighborhood for more than a half-century. He remembers they would stage plum fights there in August, when their ammunition got spoiled and wouldn’t hurt as much. -more-


Developer Cries ‘Libel,’ Planet Stands By Story

Tuesday October 28, 2003

Dear Becky: -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday October 28, 2003

TUESDAY, OCT. 28 -more-


Letters to the Editor

Tuesday October 28, 2003

PROPERTY TAX -more-


Sculptors’ Haven Negotiates Road To City Approval

By Matthew Artz
Tuesday October 28, 2003

They call it the Shipyard, and it’s a lot like Jim Mason’s art—so grandiose and revolutionary that some people just don’t know quite what to make of it. -more-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday October 28, 2003

TUESDAY, OCT. 28 -more-


Tasty Frog Crowded Out Twain’s Leaper

By JOE EATON
Tuesday October 28, 2003

A Berkeley resident of my acquaintance has a bullfrog in her garden pond. She’s not sure how it got there, but it’s been in residence for a couple of years. Usually she just sees its periscope eyes. Sometimes, though, it ventures out of the water, leaving wet frogprints on the pondside tiles. -more-


Rosa Parks Test Scores Lag, School May Face Overhaul

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday October 28, 2003

Fourteen of Berkeley’s 15 public schools scored higher on the state’s Academic Performance Index (API) standardized tests last year than the year before, but the laggard—Rosa Parks Elementary School—had the most to lose and may now face a major administrative shakeup. -more-


Berkeley Election Laws in Need of Reform

By JESSE TOWNLEY
Tuesday October 28, 2003

Our national political system is in the grip of big money interests who flood the political class with virtually unrestricted donations, effectively shutting out all other citizens who are not well-connected professionals, or, in California, successful action heroes. The exorbitant financial costs of national and state-wide campaigns are seeping into the comparatively low-cost democracy of Berkeley. As local races demand more and more fundraising, residents who wish to add a diversity of voices and experiences to our roster of elected officials are being systematically shut out. On top these already rising costs, City Council is considering adding more expenses for candidates of all financial levels. -more-


Workers Rally As Bowl Nears Vote on Union

By JAKOB SCHILLER
Tuesday October 28, 2003

Berkeley Bowl workers and union organizers rallied outside the store Monday, joined by community supporters, elected officials and labor legend Dolores Huerta as part of the last push before Thursday’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) vote on unionizing the store. -more-


Violence Has Become a Political Football

By TERRY DORAN
Tuesday October 28, 2003

Recently we have seen several articles and letters to the editor about violence in our society. The issue is of paramount importance and as long as it exists it must be constantly addressed and discussed. Until justice, equality of opportunity and celebrations of diversity are a reality, violence will continue to haunt us. Violence should never be condoned, and I don’t believe it ever has, in my experience in Berkeley. -more-


Council, Mayor Await Report On Untaxed Building Probe

By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR
Tuesday October 28, 2003

The fallout has begun at Berkeley City Hall following last week’s revelation that two mixed residential-commercial properties developed and managed by prominent developer Patrick Kennedy are not currently being billed for City of Berkeley and Berkeley Unified School District property fees and assessments. -more-


What Would $87 Billion Buy?

By MICHAEL MOORE
Tuesday October 28, 2003

If you can't get through this list without wanting to throw up, I'll understand. But pass it around anyway. This is the nail in the Iraq War's coffin for any sane, thinking individual, regardless of their political stripe (thanks to TomPaine.com and the Center for American Progress). To get some perspective, here are some real-life comparisons about what $87 Billion means: -more-


Students Protest Loss of University Village Units

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday October 28, 2003

When UC Berkeley graduate student Helen Poynton became pregnant during her second year on campus, university housing officials gave her two options: She could move into to a brand new spacious apartment filled with modern amenities or she could rent a unit in a 1960s complex with smaller rooms, fewer amenities and a reputation for mold. -more-


Scientist Mourns Gill Tract’s Demise

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday October 28, 2003

A splendid Indian Summer afternoon couldn’t dispel the dark cloud hovering over Saturday’s harvest festival at the East Bay’s last urban farm. -more-


Police Blotter

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday October 28, 2003

Road Rage Shooting -more-


Community Fund Honors Activists and Programs

By JAKOB SCHILLER
Tuesday October 28, 2003

The Berkeley Community Fund (BCF)’s annual dinner Nov. 4 will celebrate more than a decade of providing financial support for the kind of social and community programs for which the city is so well known. -more-


Bay Area Sikhs Fear 9/11-Inspired Violence

By RAJ JAYADEV Pacific News Service
Tuesday October 28, 2003

SAN JOSE—In the back of the San Jose airport, 30-year-old Farhan Kahn is handing out samosas to the other cab drivers sitting in lawn chairs waiting for their dispatcher to call. Kahn, cabby by day, world-music sitarist by night, is giving his explanation for the never-ending Bin Laden references drivers hear. “Even in the Bay Area people are ignorant,” he says. “They need to watch less movies and more PBS.” -more-


From Susan Parker: One Woman’s True Life Halloween Horror Tale

From Susan Parker
Tuesday October 28, 2003

In the back of my closet hangs a dress that I last wore in 1972. It is a shapeless shift, made of crushed blue velvet with red, yellow and green embroidery embellishing a v-neckline. The same embroidery edges the flared sleeves and matches the ankle-length hemline. It has an East Indian motif. I imagine three decades ago a dark skinned Hindu woman sat at an ancient foot pedal sewing machine matching seams together and hand stitching the flowery trim. -more-


Workers Fight the Wal-Mart-ization of Big Grocery

By Matthew Cardinale
Tuesday October 28, 2003

After working for the Albertson’s supermarket in Irvine, California for 16 and a half years, Susan, 52, has been shut out of her workplace after she and other workers demanded to keep their health care benefits and wages even though their contract was over. -more-


Retired Dean Dies

Tuesday October 28, 2003

Rucker Leaves With Much Praise, Few Regrets

By JOHN GELUARDI Special to the Planet
Tuesday October 28, 2003

City Manager Weldon Rucker’s presence in Berkeley’s government has been so consistent, reassuring and unflappable that when he announced his retirement as of Nov. 1, some city employees broke into tears and many reacted as if the foundation had been suddenly yanked from beneath Civic Center. -more-


Opinion

Editorials

Picketing Janitors Protest I-House Job Conditions

By JAKOB SCHILLER
Friday October 31, 2003

Every day this week, a small group of janitors has picketed UC Berkeley’s well-known International House—home to many of the university’s international graduate students—in response to what they call unfair working conditions and harassment from the building supervisor. -more-


Editorial: Muttering in the Ranks

Becky O'Malley
Tuesday October 28, 2003

Anybody with an ounce of anarchism in their blood felt a secret frisson of delight at San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly’s one-day coup last week. While Real Mayor Willie Brown was junketing in Asia, Mayor-for-A-Day Daly appointed two of the five members of The City’s extremely important Public Utilities Commission, and it looks like the appointments are going to stick. Some who believe in maintaining proper decorum (yes, we do have them, even in Berkeley) profess that they are Shocked, Shocked at Daly’s breach of political courtesy, of course. But that reaction misses the very real reason Daly felt justified in seizing the reins: the winner-take-all system for appointing commissioners in the city and county of San Francisco. Technically, the mayor (whoever that might be at the moment) gets to appoint all of the commissioners. Lately there’s been a nod to the power of the Supes, who can now veto some or all of the appointments, in some circumstances. (Here the Daily Planet must confess to haziness on the exact details. The San Francisco charter is a baroque, much-amended document that makes Berkeley’s somewhat fuzzy charter look crystal-clear.) -more-