Baily Hopkins is no senior-year slacker. The Berkeley High student plays violin in the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra, will perform in the upcoming student performance of Anything Goes, just finished field hockey season, and next month will lead her Boy Scout crew to Nicaragua. 

Yep, Boy Scouts. 

Needless to say, from the pink headband wrapped around her hair to the pint-size rainbow knot affixed to her uniform, Bailey is not your typical scout. 

“I used to be a Girl Scout but that was like, ‘Let’s go learn to sew, let’s go learn to knit,’” she said. “In the Boy Scouts there’s so much more emphasis on the outdoors and sports. It’s the total opposite of Girl Scouts.” 

Hopkins is a Venture Scout—a co-ed Boy Scout outfit that organizes into crews, not troops, and focuses on outdoor sports like rock climbing and kayaking. 

A friend turned her on to Berkeley’s Crew 24 three years ago, and she’s been hooked ever since she went on a Boy Scout camping trip to New Mexico. “Everything was focused on being rugged and going a few days with the same food and crap floating in your water,” she said adding that she felt fully accepted by her fellow scouts.  

The experience as one of five girls in her 12-member crew has meant the world to her, even though it hasn’t made her the coolest kid in school. 

“I like being part of an organization of people who enjoy helping the community,” said Bailey, who, along with fellow scouts, helped replant the garden at Cragmont Elementary School. “It’s given me a whole new look on the outdoors. Backpacking was something I did with my family. I was never aware of the connection between the outdoors and my peers.” 

Still she doesn’t wear her scout shirt at Berkeley High. “I tell my friends, yeah, I’m a Boy Scout...I really sound like such a dork,” she said glancing at the ceiling of her house. “Some people look down on me. They say, ‘Oh you’re one of those people who don’t like gays.’” 

Scouting is rarely “cool” in cosmopolitan areas, but the Boy Scouts took an especially tough beating in Berkeley two years ago when a visiting troop of Japanese Scouts found themselves as cannon fodder in the feud between then Mayor Shirley Dean and Councilmember Kriss Worthington.  

The Boy Scouts of America’s policy excluding gays figured prominently in the wrangling that eventually kept the Japanese Scouts from meeting the mayor at city hall. 

Hopkins’ crew—along with local Cub Scout Pack 30—are the first to openly reject the ban on gays but remain in the scouting movement. 

They are also the first to receive the Rainbow Knot from Scouting for All, a pro-gay group comprised of current Boy Scouts and former members banished for opposing the national organization’s stance on gays. 

“Ten years from now I think the scouting world will look back on itself and say, ‘How could we have done this?’” Hopkins said. 

“We didn’t just want to stop scouting and be our own little cult,” she added. “We want to do all we can to see that scouting can be available for everyone. If we just said ‘we’re out of here,’ that’s just as bad, because then we’re not helping anyone.” 

Hopkins can do more than help; she can lead. Her fellow scouts elected her—a veteran of the 2002 trip to Panama and the best Spanish speaker of the bunch—senior patrol leader of the eight-person contingent from various local scout troops flying to Nicaragua Dec. 30 for the Central American Camporee. 

The biannual event draws thousands of scouts from Central American and neighboring countries for a five-day campout, filled with cultural exchanges and opportunities to do charitable work. 

Hopkins’ group—which will include one other girl—is the only one from the U.S. that chooses to attend the event.  

On her last trip south of the border, Hopkins struggled to communicate with the predominantly Spanish-speaking scouts, but now as an AP Spanish student, she hopes her interactions will be more meaningful. 

While language might still be a barrier, gender certainly won’t be. Central American countries don’t have Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, only Scouts. 

“We’re the weird ones who put the guys outdoors and the girls inside,” Hopkins said.  

Her fellow scouts are preparing twelve tents to donate to other troops, as well as gifts for street kids in a village they plan to visit. But perhaps most important for Hopkins and her cohorts is to make amends for the skit they performed two years ago in Panama. 

Not aware that they’d have to perform or that their skit was supposed to reflect their culture, they took a page out of elementary school and performed Minty Fresh—a skit that had each person line up brush his teeth, spit into a cup, which the last person in line drank from. 

When scouts from other countries preceded them to the stage wearing elaborate costumes, dancing to folk songs, the embarrassment set it. “We were thinking, everyone’s just going to think Americans drink spit.” 

This year’s skit involves baseball—Nicaragua’s national game—but in an ode to Panama, a spit ball will factor heavily into the production. 

If this trip is anything like the trip to Panama, Hopkins can’t wait. 

“Last time was a really amazing experience,” she said. “We really got an idea of the culture and the people there.”

TUESDAY, NOV. 11 

Veteran’s Day - City Offices are Closed 

Berkeley Honors Veterans in Martin Luther King Civic Center Park at a ceremony at 11:11 a.m. the same time when the guns fell silent in 1918 to end World War I. Country Joe McDonald, a Navy veteran and Vietnam era anti-war singer/ 

songwriter will host the event. 

“Tribute to Veterans” Spenger's Fresh Fish Grotto offers retired military personnel a complimentary lunch or dinner entrée. 1919 Fourth St. 845-7771. 

Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters (BACH) meets at 7 p.m. at the Rockridge Library, 5366 College Ave., near Rockridge BART. 835-6303.  

“A Blistered Kind of Love: One Couple’s Trial by Trail,” written in alternating voices by Angela and Duffy Ballard, covering the couple’s adventures in the wilderness, at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 843-3533. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers We are a few slowpoke seniors who walk each Tuesday, meeting at 9:30 a.m. in the Little Farm parking lot. 215-7672.  

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Blood pressure checks will be given by Dr. Helen Christensen. 845-6830. 

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

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 12 

“Berkeley’s Future History” with panelists Becky O’Malley, Executive Editor of the “Berkeley Daily Planet,” Patrick Kennedy, Berkeley developer, and Darryl Moore, Peralta Community College Trustee, at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge. 981-2924. 

Biodiesel 101 - A Clean Homegrown Alternative Fuel panel discussion about an alternative fuel from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave., near Dwight Way. Sponsored by East Bay Biodiesel Internship, a homebrewer co-op. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Iraqi Women Today, Amal Al-Khedairy and Nermin Al-Mufti, will speak at Mills College, Student Union, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., at 7:30 p.m. Sponsored by the Women’s Leadership Institute. 430-2019.  

Government Information and Participation, a workshop on how to use the City of Berkeley website and obtain information, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Central Library, 3rd floor electronic classroom. Sponsored by the City Clerk Dept. 981-6900. 

The Truth About the Meat and Dairy Industries with Lauren Ornelas of Viva!USA, a nonprofit vegan advocacy organization that campaigns on behalf of animals. At 7 p.m. at 2326 Tolman Hall, UC Campus. www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~boaa 

Fun with Acting class meets at 11 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Free, all are welcome. 985-0373. 

The Women’s Reader Theater will present “Changes and Challenges” at 1:30 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190. 

Bayswater Book Club meets at 7:30 pm at Liu's Kitchen, 1593 Solano Ave. 433-2911. 

Cancer Hope: Bridging the Gap Between Here and Hope with Karen M. Cooper, R.N., Holistic Health Education, at 6 p.m. Pharmaca Integrative, 1744 Solano Ave. 

Prose Writers Workshop We're a serious but lively bunch whose focus is on issues of craft, at 7 to 9 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut, at Rose. For information call 524-3034. 

Free Marketing Workshops, sponsored by Sisters Headquarters, for women entrepreneurs, every Wed. from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 643 17th St. Oakland. For information call 238-1100. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities. 

com/vigil4peace/vigil 

Amnesty International Berkeley Community Group meets at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1606 Bonita Ave., at Cedar St. 872-0768. 

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

Community Dances, traditional English and American dances, at 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. 

THURSDAY, NOV. 13 

“Food: From Ground to Table” with Judith Redmond of Full Belly Farm, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Rd. Part of the series of Topics in Ecology, Theology, and Ethics: Land and Agriculture. 649-2560.  

Equal Education “A Call to Action” on the unfulfilled promise of equal education, with Elaine Jones, President of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, at 4:30 p.m. in Boalt Hall’s Booth Auditorium, UC Campus. 642-6969. 

“A Path of Refusal and Building Peace in the Middle East,” with Amir Terkel and Ceclie Surasky from A Jewish Voice for Peace, at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Gray Panthers, 1403 Addison St. 548-9696. 

Berkeley-Albany YMCA 100th Anniversary at 6:30 p.m. with a silent auction, dinner and awards ceremony at the Doubletree Hotel at the Berkeley Marina. Tickets are $75 and are available from 486-8406.  

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

So How’d You Become an Activist? with Dennis Bernstein, KPFA Radio investigative reporter, and host of “Flashpoints” and K. Ruby, founder and director of Wise Fool Puppet Intervention, at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St., at Bonita. Suggested donation $5. 528-5403. 

Gary P. Scott, international mountain guide, introduces “Summit Strategies: Secrets to Mastering the Everest in Your Life” at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave at Rose. 843-3533. 

Conflict Resolution Workshop with Armand Volks and Liliane Koziol at 7:30 p.m. at International House, Home Room, Piedmont and Bancroft Aves. 642-9460. http://ihouse.berkeley.edu 

Grizzly Peak Flyfishers hosts a program on fly fishing the Missouri River in Montana. Trapper Badovinac, a professional guide and author, will present a slide show from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Kensington Community Center, 59 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-0428. 

East Bay Mac User Group meets from 6 to 9 p.m. in the 3rd floor Community Room, Berkeley Central Library, 2090 Kittredge St. No admission or membership charge. http://ebmug.org 

FRIDAY, NOV. 14 

“Ecuador and the Price of Oil,” a film screening and panel discussion, at the Free Speech Movement Café at Moffitt Library, UC Campus, from 6 to 8 p.m. fsminfo@library.berkeley.edu 

“Rekindling the Spirit of Brown v. Board of Education,” a conference on the journey from the vision of Brown to today’s debates over “minimum education” standards, beginning at 9 a.m. at Boalt Hall’s Booth Auditorium. 642-6969. 

“Life and Debt in Jamaica” a discussion of the price paid by Jamaica for seeking help from the IMF during the 1970s, by Stephanie Black, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Vista College Annex, Room 120, 2075 Allston Way. 

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 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Rita Maran, Lecturer, Peace and Conflict Studies, UCB, “Take Another Look: The United Nations Today.” 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. 

Overeaters Anonymous meets at 1:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Church at Solano and The Alameda. 525-5231. 

SATURDAY, NOV. 15 

Berkeley Association of Neighborhood Associations meets at 9:15 a.m. in the Sproul Room, St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 587-3257. www.berkeleycna.com 

Pond and Creek Restoration A 2-mile hike and work party in the San Pablo Creek Watershed, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. We will visit various restoration sites to see what has worked and what hasn’t. Then we’ll plant natives and do our own erosion control experiments. Cost is $25 and pre-registration required. 231-9430. www.aoinstitute.org 

Seed Saving Workshop Learn the importance and methods of saving seeds from the garden. Heavy rain cancels. From noon to 3:30 p.m. at Wildheart Gardens, 463 61st St., at Telegraph. Suggested donations $10. 658-9178.  

Alternative Building Materials: Cob and Strawbale workshop from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Two natural building methods are currently undergoing renewed popularity. Cost is $75. Held at the Building Education Center, 812 Page St. 525-7610.  

Green Living Series: Non-Toxic Pest Control Find ways to deal with common pest problems without harmful pesticides, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $10 EC members, $15 general, no one turned away. 548-2220, ext. 233.  

Worm Vericomposting, with Gige Coba, Alameda County Waste Management. Composting with worms is an exciting way to turn your kitchen scraps into a fast-release rich soil amendment. You and your children will love this class, held at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. 

How the Federal No Child Left Behind Act Impacts Local Schools and Children with Assemblywoman Loni Hancock from 10 a.m. to noon at Stanley Middle School 3455 School St., Layfayette. 559-1406. 

“Hope Rises from the Ashes” A Vietnam Veteran describes the rebuilding of Mai Lai, at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Friends Meeting, 2151 Vine St. Sponsored by American Friends Service Committee and Veterans for Peace. 

Argentine Tango Fundamentals Four class series on Saturdays from 10:30 - 11:45 a.m. at the Berkeley Tango Studio. Cost is $15 per class or $50 for the series, teens or full-time students $10 per class or $35 series. Call Stella at 655-3585 for directions or more information. 

Natural Approach to Pain Management from 10:30 a.m. to noon at Pharmaca Integrative, 1744 Solano Ave. 

“Ruthie & Connie: Every Room in the House,” dinner, Havdalah and movie at 6 p.m. Congregation Beth El, 2301 Vine St. Cost is $5. 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class on Shelter Operations 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. 

California Writers’ Club meets to discuss the art of storytelling and reading out loud, with Diane Kuzdry Bunnell at 10 a.m. at Barnes and Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-0861.  

Yoga for Seniors from 10 to 11 a.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. Open to non-members of the club for $8.00 per class. For further information and to register, call Karen Ray at 848-7800. 

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, NOV. 16 

Seed Games and Art Projects for Children Play seed guessing game and make seed mosaics, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in the Play Area in the east end of People’s Park, Haste St. above Telegraph. Free. 658-9178.  

Bird Walk, sponsored by Citizens for the Eastshore State Park and the Golden Gate Audubon Society. Meet at 9 a.m. at the large bird sculpture at the end of Buchanan. Bring binoculars, snacks and plenty of water. Wear sturdy walking shoes, a hat and sunblock. For more information call Tina, 848 - 0800, ext. 313.  

“Libraries: Knowledge Providers or Censors?” a panel discussion with Daniel Greenstein, president, the California Digital Libraries Initiative; Anne Lipow, director of the Library Solutions Institute; and Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Achive, at 6 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Sponsored by Berkeley Cybersalon. www.berkeleycybersalon.com 

Tibetan Buddhism, Open House from 3 to 5 p.m. Erika Rosenberg on “Healing through Compassion,” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, NOV. 17 

Public Scoping Session for Lawrence Berkeley Lab’s 2004 Long Range Development Plan at 6:30 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center. The Draft Enviromental Impact Report is available at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St., 2nd Floor Reference Desk, and at www.lbnl.gov.Community/env-rev-docs.html 

“How to Build and Repair GREEN” with Ed Gulick of the Green Resource Center at 3 p.m. at Berkeley Gray Panthers, 1403 Addison St. 548-9696. 

Priority Africa Network, “Fighting to Live,” a talk by Zackie Achmat, founder of South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) which mobilizes support for access to treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS, and Nonkosi Khumalo, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Laney College, 900 Fallon St., Oakland. Donation $10. No one turned away. Proceeds from this event go to TAC's new treatment campaign. 527 4099. priorityafrica@yahoo.com 

Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Pauley Ballroom, MLK Student Union, UC Campus. Appointments recommended, and can be made by visiting www.beadonor.com (sponsor code = UCB) or call 1-800-GIVE LIFE. 

Friends of Strawberry Creek will meet at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library Public Meeting Room, 2090 Kittredge. Please note this is a change of location. For more information email bjanet@earthlink.net, jennifemaryphd@hotmail.com, caroleschem@hotmail.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. 

ONGOING 

Current and Former Department of Energy Employees and Contractor Employees A joint U.S. Dept. of Energy and U.S. Dept. of Labor Traveling Resource Center will be in the Bay Area to assist current and former DOE and DOE contractor employees file claims under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act. The Traveling Resource Center will be at the Sheraton Four Points Hotel, 5115 Hop- 

yard Rd., Pleasanton, on Nov. 18 and 19, from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. For further information or to make an appointment to meet with a counselor please call, toll-free, 866-697-0841.  

We Give Thanks Month, Berkeley restaurants, Bar-Ristorante Raphael, Cold Stone Creamery, Downtown, La Note, Semi-Freddi’s, Skates, and Spengers will donate a portion of their proceeds to Berkeley Food and Housing Project during the month of November. 

City of Berkeley Commissioners Sought If you are interested in serving on a commission, applications can be downloaded from 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/general.htm#applications or contact the City Clerk Department, 2180 Milvia St. 981-6900.  

Personnel Commissioner Sought for Alameda County School Board Responsibilities include administration of the Merit System. Meetings once a month. Applications must be received by Nov. 28. For details please contact Alameda County Office of Education, 670-7703. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Commission on Disability meets Wed., Nov. 12, 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., Nov. 12, 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., Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. at 1901 Russell St. Jackie Y. Griffin, 981-6195. www.ci.berke- 

ley.ca.us/commissions/library  

Planning Commission meets Wed., Nov. 12, 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., Nov. 12, 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., Nov. 12, 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., Nov. 13, 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, Nov. 13, 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., Nov. 13, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/zoning 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meets Mon., Nov. 17,  

at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers, Pam Wyche 644-6128 ext. 113. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/rent 

Council Agenda Committee meets Mon., Nov. 17, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St., Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/agenda-committee

• 

CLEAN AIR 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am dismayed that our City Council, which one would hope would be concerned about our air quality and the increased numbers of cases of asthma in children, voted for the cutting of more than 100 trees in the Berkeley Marina. It will be a long time before the twigs that are planted in their stead are capable of cleaning the air as effectively as the mature Monterey pines they are replacing.  

Jeanne Burdette 

• 

UNSAFE SIDEWALKS  

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The other day I walked down the street on Ashby in Berkeley, hardly able to navigate the broken sidewalk with my cane; where my friend Fred Lupke in his power wheelchair avoided the impassable way by going out into the street and was struck by a motorist, thrown 55 feet and killed. Weeks later the sidewalk is still in need of repair. Why not create jobs hiring people to repair broken sidewalks and fill in the many potholes in the cities of Oakland and Berkeley. It worked before with the WPA project, why not again? 

Frances Breckenridge 

• 

SCHOOLYARD FIGHT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I believe taking the word of real estate developers with same grain of salt as one would for lawyers, politicians and those folks who always seem to call us up when we are sitting down to dinner trying to get us to buy something. I have never met this chap Patrick Kennedy nor do I have any association in any way with him, but your constant harping on this poor fellow actually has me feeling sorry for him. In my opinion Ms. O’Malley and Douglas Allen-Taylor have let this matter of Mr. Kennedy’s perhaps owing some back taxes get  

personal whereas I believe  

that in the final analysis to Mr. Kennedy this matter is about business and I doubt the $250K or whatever is going to make or break him. And if childishness was taking place in a schoolyard as opposed to what I regard as an otherwise excellent publication, I believe just about any grade school kid would recognize in fact at this point Mr. Kennedy has gotten the best you two. And I will bet you a cup of coffee at one of Berkeley’s many excellent cafes that he is sitting at home have a good old time at your expense not too worried if he is going to pay up or not. And I’ll bet you a second cup of coffee that you will refuse to print this article too. 

Steve Pardee 

• 

HEIGHT LIMITS  

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I found it hard to believe Sharon Hudson’s claim that the Urban Land Institute says  

“primary buildings in walkable neighborhoods shall not exceed 35 feet” (Planet, Nov. 7), so I looked at their web site.  

I could not find anything about this height limit. But at the top of the list of winners of their 2003 Awards for Excellence, I found Millenium Place in Boston, two 35-story high rises with five levels of underground parking, which the ULI says “has reestablished the vitality of the surrounding streets.”  

Maybe Ms. Hudson misread the ULI's guidelines for walkable neighborhoods, and they actually said that primary  

buildings “shall not exceed 35 stories.”  

I myself believe in traditional urban design. Older European neighborhoods, with a six-story height limit for fabric buildings, are filled with vitality and are also human scale.  

We certainly don’t need  

inhuman 35-story monoliths 

like Millenium Place to create vital neighborhoods. But we obviously do need height limits greater than 35 feet to give Berkeley more vital, more pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods.  

Charles Siegel 

• 

OPEN SPACES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The 11/4 Editorial (Southside Needs Public Space) is spot on. Berkeley citizens need to preserve our precious, threatened public space—be it the flea market, recycling center, community gardens, or parks. We need to nudge BUSD to include adequate public open space in their redevelopment plans. I would add that Berkeley should be looking at long term planning to expand our network of parks and gardens, with multi-unit housing developers footing 

the bill. Berkeley is adding thousands of new residents with no plans for additional open space and no requirement for developers to pay for new open space. Typically, today’s multi-unit developments contain a large number of tiny units, with on-site open space requirements being reduced or exempted. This is a recipe for increased pressure on our open space network. 

Much of Berkeley’s park (and pathway) system was donated by foresightful real estate companies. Today’s developers are increasing density dramatically with no contributions to our open space system. Developers 

don’t have land to donate,  

but they could be required to contribute a substantial open space fee for each new unit  

of housing. 

In recent years, Berkeley has missed out on open space opportunities (Presentation High, Napoleon Bonaparte Byrne property) for lack of money and planning. There are still a few opportunities, albeit expensive, if the City had a funding source. 

Multi-unit developments should be allowed only if they contribute to a more livable city. Paying their way for open space is part of the solution. If readers have a personal interest in making this happen, they can contact the letter writer at sswanson@ eminentsoftware.com. 

Stephen Swanson 

President, Berkeley Partners  

for Parks (for identification only, the views expressed above may not be BPFPs)

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one of an ongoing series of articles by UC Berkeley journalism students on the paths of Berkeley. 

By CARRIE LOZANO 

Special to the Planet 

Indian Rock Park in North Berkeley was founded in 1917, but its history dates back 11 million years.  

Geologists had long theorized that the boulders straddling Indian Rock Avenue in the Berkeley Hills originated from a volcano as long as 200 million years ago in what is now Robert Sibley Regional Preserve in Oakland. But recent findings about the rocks’ age call this theory into question. 

Lin Murphy, 59, a retired lawyer with a master’s degree in geology, has been studying the rocks since the late 1990s. She was the first person to date them using a uranium-lead process at the U.S. Geological Survey.  

Her research revealed that the rocks are much younger than previously thought. “It was a total rethinking of this rock,” says Murphy from her home in Boulder, Colo. “Everybody had lumped the [North Berkeley] rocks together, but my research indicated that [Indian Rock] was different.” She found that instead of coming from Sibley Preserve, the rocks had migrated along the Hayward Fault from an area north of Hollister, south of San Jose. 

“I got into it because I’m a rock climber, and people in the area boulder at Indian Rock,” says Murphy.  

Dan Zimmerlin, who runs a preparation program for public school teachers, has been climbing at Indian Rock since 1978. He is currently working on a video project to document a number of the park’s bouldering routes.  

“Indian Rock ranks as one of the top bouldering spots,” says Zimmerlin.  

“After climbing a section of rock using all the handholds and footholds available, you try to make it harder by choosing not to use certain holds.” 

The park is also known for its views. Small steps have been carved into various sides of the massive Indian Rock to allow pedestrians easy access to its peak. 

Weather permitting, the top of the rock provides clear views of downtown Oakland, San Francisco, the Bay and Golden Gate bridges, and Mount Tamalpais. 

At sunset, the rocks can get crowded. Children and pets scurry around, while grownups sit or stand and take in the sights, sometimes with beer or wine in hand.  

On the north end of the park, a pathway of ramps and steps cuts down the hill, bordering front porches and side yards. Ending at Solano Street, a busy shopping area, the path provides an alternative to the hills’ windy, often steep streets. 

Graduate student and nearby resident Anne Geiger sometimes uses the path to get to Solano Street or to reach public transportation on Arlington Avenue. “The path is a little quiet. Mostly locals,” says Geiger. As for the park, “It’s community building,” she says.

By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 

A week after it was issued to the public, a City Manager’s report on more than $250,000 in mis-taxed properties in the city of Berkeley has raised as many questions as it answered. 

The eight-page “Escaped Property Tax Assessments” memo from Acting City Manager Phil Kamlarz was prepared for Mayor Bates and the City Council last week following questions raised by citizens and the Daily Planet that two properties of prominent Berkeley developer Patrick Kennedy were not being billed for Berkeley fees and assessments. 

The Kamlarz memo named 10 properties that either were under-taxed by the city or may have been mis-taxed, including four properties developed by Kennedy’s Berkeley-based Panoramic Interests company. The original question was raised at City Council two weeks ago concerning the Kennedy-developed Gaia Building on Allston Way. 

The inquiry thus far has focused on systems failures within the way the City of Berkeley bills its property fees and assessments. There have been no allegations of fraud by the property owners themselves. 

The questions concerning the Kamlarz escaped taxes memo surround the nature of an agreement reached in the last two weeks between the city and Kennedy on his mis-taxed properties, as well as how a branch bank office on Shattuck Avenue owned by the Bank of America came to be assessed as a parking lot rather than as a commercial building. 

Kamlarz wrote in the memo that “Mr. Kennedy and staff have met and reached agreement on the square feet to be taxed for each property, the dollar amounts calculated related to each, and the total amount due by property.” That raised questions that the city was negotiating with Kennedy on the size of his property tax assessments and fees. 

But both Kamlarz and Berkeley Revenue Collection Manager Heather Murphy said in separate telephone interviews that this was an incorrect impression. Kalmarz said that there was “no formal agreement” between the city and Kennedy. 

Murphy speculated that the confusion may have come from the language of the memo itself. 

“When I read the [Kamlarz] report [and the term ‘agreement’] I said, ‘Oooh, that doesn’t sound good,’” Murphy said. “Why did we use that term?” 

But the Revenue Collection Manager also used the term “agreement” several times in the interview to characterize what occurred in recent days between city staff and Kennedy concerning the Gaia Building assessments, though the exact terms of that agreement remain unclear. 

According to Murphy, at her direction, one of her staff members from the Revenue Collection Office took measurements of the Gaia Building after the controversy over the escaped assessments surfaced and her office was directed to investigate the matter. 

“My staff member came up with what the actual square footage of commercial property is, and what the actual residential property is, and then what are the parking spaces. Based on that agreement as to what that square footage is, we came back and determined what [the Gaia Building’s] assessments were,” she said. 

“It wasn’t like we made any negotiated agreement on what’s residential and what’s commercial and what’s parking. We came to agreement as to what the square footage was and how it would be taxed. [Kennedy] was taxed according to what that calculation came out to be.” 

Murphy said her office will assess the Gaia Building at 65,950 square feet of residential space, 10,767 square feet of commercial space, and 7,898 square feet of parking lot. 

Kamlarz said that city Finance Director Fran David is still working with Kennedy on such issues as when the building permits were finalized and when the building was actually occupied. Kamlarz also said discussions with developers over the actual square footage of buildings were not uncommon in Berkeley, emphasizing that Kennedy “did not get any special treatment different from any other taxpayer in similar circumstances.” 

“Usually, cities measures improvements for taxable purposes based upon lot size,” Kamlarz said. “Berkeley bases it upon square footage. When we first [started doing this] in 1980 we had a zillion complaints. 

“Sometimes there’s a difference in what they have in the records in the permit center for gross square feet and what may be taxable, and you have to reconcile that. Many times when we first did this stuff, we had to go out and measure almost every lot that we got a complaint on. It took us two or three years to go out and measure everyone’s square footage. So discussions with a property owner to reconcile these differences is not unusual.” 

Kamlarz said that no formal, written agreement has yet been reached with Kennedy on the Gaia Building back assessments, nor has a schedule been formalized on paying the back assessments. 

As for the Bank of America branch, the Kamlarz memo noted that its correct assessment “was missed in the past few years due to a staff data entry error, which inadvertently...tied the address to the parking lot rather than the building.” 

The bank branch is located on the corner of Shattuck and Henry in North Berkeley. A chart included with the memo indicated that the error took place somewhere between the 2000-01 and 2001-02 tax years, and that the Bank of America would be back billed for a total of $19,260 for the past three years. By law, parking lots are not billed for all city fees and assessments. 

However, a review of building permits pulled for the property could not determine why city staff would have had a reason to make changes in the assessment rate in either 2001 or 2002. City records show only that a new awning and a flower stand were built at the branch during that time. 

The current Bank of America branch building was built in 1978, replacing an older branch building next door. The older Bank of America building was then razed to make room for an expansion of the bank’s parking lot. 

While the branch address is listed at 1536 Shattuck, the bank building and parking lot parcels include two other addresses on Shattuck and two on Henry Street. These “orphan addresses,” as they are called by city staff, are addresses of original buildings, no longer existing, which were consolidated into the Bank of America property. 

Possible confusion surrounding these “orphan addresses” may have contributed to the error in the building’s assessment.  

But the real problem, according to City Auditor Ann-Marie Hogan, “appears to be due to a failure of internal controls.” The City Auditor is an elected official and is independent of the City Manager’s office. 

“The city’s assessment system shouldn’t allow a data entry error to delete a parcel,” Hogan said. “It should make it difficult to delete a parcel from the tax rolls. And when any staff member is deleting a parcel [such as apparently occurred in the Bank of America situation], an exception report should go to their manager making clear why it was done. On the face of it, that kind of internal control is not in place on a parcel deletion in the city of Berkeley.” 

Hogan pointed out that the City Auditor’s office has pointed out such failures of internal controls to the City Manager’s office as far back as 1994. 

Such internal controls should mandate that “only certain specified people have the ability to delete and add parcels,” the City Auditor said, adding that “you want to make sure that any parcel deletion is documented. You want to make sure that anyone who uses a password to delete passwords doesn’t loan their passwords to anybody else. In addition, you want to have all these procedures documented. These were [the City Auditor’s] audit recommendations way back in the early 90’s [when other escaped parcels were found].” 

Hogan pointed out that this is not a new problem in Berkeley. In a 1996 memo addressed to then-Mayor Shirley Dean and Berkeley City Council concerning an audit of the city’s Clean Storm Water property assessment program, the Auditor wrote that “the Auditor’s Office has issued five reports [between 1994 and 1996] regarding significant loss of revenue because of internal control weaknesses related to billing [by the City of its Clean Storm Water assessments]. 

“These weaknesses include failure to properly document billing systems and to perform billing procedures, to reconcile data, to ensure integrity of databases, and to exercise adequate oversight. Lack of timely implementation of improvements recommended by these audits could result in significant loss of revenue to the City because of time limits on collectibility.” 

Because the city cannot capture back fees and assessments that were the city’s own error beyond three years, the recent Kamlarz escaped assessments memo did not give details of any fees and assessments missed before the 2000-01 tax year. 

In a 1999 memo to the Mayor and City Council entitled “Response To Audit Recommendations,” then-City Manager James Keene wrote that “many of the audit recommendations [including the Clean Storm Water recommendations] have been addressed. ... However,” he added, “accuracy of the City’s square footage data remains a major unresolved item...” 

Hogan says that other than from the assertion contained in the 1999 Keene memo, she doesn’t know if the city is implementing her recommendations for tightened internal controls. Hogan said that her office would probably formally again address the issue of internal controls for city property tax assessments in its Year 2005 Audit Plan. 

Discussion of the Kamlarz memo, originally scheduled for Council’s Nov. 4 meeting, was held over until Nov. 25 at the request of Councilmember Dona Spring. Spring said she had several additional questions on the escaped property assessment issue which she wished to be answered by the City Manager’s office before the matter comes before Council.

The call for help came to Berkeley fire stations on Sunday afternoon three weeks ago, and by nighttime a strike team was heading due south.  

They arrived in San Diego before dawn, where they received their orders—protect houses in the Ramona Valley from the raging inferno that was devouring the landscape in a swathe across a front as wide the distance between Berkeley and Petaluma. 

Within two hours they had arrived in the orange-tinged valley and were hunkering down to battle the blaze.  

“Brother let me tell you, it was unbelievable,” Berkeley firefighter John Louzao said. “The flames were 50-60 feet high, just racing over you. 

“It sounded like a freight train coming down the mountain. Fences just burst into flames from the heat. I couldn’t even look at it; it was so hot.” 

Louzao was one of ten Berkeley firefighters sent to fight the Cedar fire—the largest and most destructive of the Southern California wildfires, claiming 14 lives and 2,232 homes.  

Only the 1991 Oakland-Berkeley Hills Fire—which killed 25 people and burned over 3,000 homes—was more destructive. 

But for the firefighters, most of whom had battled the local blaze, there was no comparison. 

“This reminded me of the Oakland fire, but ten times as worse,” said Lt. Kurt Chun. 

Chun led the four-man engine crew—Berkeley’s contribution to a five-engine county strike team. All four men, along with two Berkeley fire safety specialists, had volunteered for a county list for such assignments. Because they were working that Sunday, they got the call. 

Despite coming from different crews the firefighters worked seamlessly. 

In the valley, the strike team chief barked out orders about which houses to protect. The Berkeley engine crew would back into the driveway, rip out any brush that could fuel the blaze, lay down their hoses, soak the house and property, knock down the towering flames, extinguish any burning embers then race to the next house. 

“Houses were burning down right and left,” said Lt. John Anderson, one of the safety officers charged with establishing escape routes in case the fire threatened to overrun the firefighters. If the passageway closed, their packs contained fire-retardant tents as a last-ditch safety option. 

Complicating efforts, Chun said, was that they had to use their hoses sparingly because the engine only carries 500 gallons and they didn’t have an additional water source. 

Still, they saved countless homes that first day—in one instance using a garden hose and an ax to chop down beams of a burning patio and extinguish the fire before it engulfed the house. 

The rush of the first day paled in comparison to the joy of that first morning. With their section of the fire now under control, they spent the night camped in a neighbor’s back yard and awoke to find the neighbors had returned and prepared them breakfast. 

They received royal treatment wherever they went, drawing standing ovations in restaurants, honks of support from drivers and thumbs-up signs from passersby. 

“People were so generous,” Louzao said. “It’s hard to deal with someone saying thanks because it’s awkward to be thanked for just doing our job.” 

They took care of each other as well. 

Anderson recalled a comrade taking a cold pizza delivered by local police and heating it on tiles from a burnt-out house so the firefighters working 24-hour shifts could eat a warm meal. 

The 50-mile-an-hour wind gust that made their first day so challenging soon shifted, making the rest of the week easy by comparison. 

They were sent to protect a trailer park and a Bible camp, spending most of their time clearing brush to prepare for a fire that never arrived.  

“The roofs and gutters got a good cleaning and the trees were trimmed, but that morning the fog came in,” Chun said. 

Their last assignment was their saddest. They were sent to perform mop-up duty in Julian, one of the hardest hit towns—and the place where Novato firefighter Steve Rucker died fighting the blaze the same day that Berkeley firefighters were battling in the valley. 

Rucker’s death weighed heavily on all the firefighters and their families. The media first erroneously reported the victim as an Alameda County firefighter, prompting Berkeley fire officials to call the firefighters’ families to assure them that everyone was OK. 

“It was really somber,” Chun said. “I think it was a reality check to everyone in our strike team that here is someone just as well trained as we were, and that it could have happened to anyone.” 

Julian looked apocalyptic. Lone chimneys rose from the blackened earth beneath a dirty orange sun. “The plants were toast,” Louzao said. 

But by morning, the winds shifted again, bringing cold, humid ocean breezes and even, perhaps miraculously, a little rain. 

The changes reigned in the fire, and when a second Berkeley engine dispatched to relieve the crew arrived, they quickly headed back north. A week had passed and the job was done. 

“I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to help another community,” said Chun, a 17-year veteran of the Berkeley Fire Department. “Isn’t that just like Berkeley, being as humanitarian as we are? It fits us to send help to a community in need.”

Protesters facing three misdemeanor charges after their arrests at the Oakland Port anti-war demonstration last April were cleared of disturbing the peace charges Friday after an Alameda County Superior Court judge told the District Attorney’s office there wasn’t sufficient evidence to sustain the charge. 

It was a short-lived victory for the 25 defendants and their attorneys, for prosecutors promptly substituted a new charge of creating a public nuisance. 

Most of the hearing was consumed by the defense, disputing the new charge—which defense attorney Bobbi Stein called “vindictive.” 

“They could have [filed the charge] originally and they didn’t,” Stein said. “They did it because they got one dropped.” 

Deputy District Attorneys Stuart Hing and Julie Dunger defended the public nuisance charge, saying it was added after a new investigation by the prosecution. 

Defense attorneys, who had originally asked a judge in October to dismiss all charges, expressed frustration after the judge upheld the new charge and sustained the other two charges—failure to disperse and interfering with a business.  

The defense also gave vent during the hearing to allegations that the DA’s office hadn’t provided written discovery and hadn’t cooperated in determining how to pay for copies for the indigent defendants. 

“It’s ridiculous that we’ve had to wait in line for three months to get the discovery,” said Elizabeth Grossman, another of the defense attorneys. “How are we supposed to discuss motions without discovery?” 

The protesters and their supporters continued to demand that all charges be dropped in a case they say highlights the Oakland Police department’s record of abuse and corruption. The case has brought renewed attention to a department already mired in “The Riders” case, where OPD officers have been accused of using excessive force and making false arrests in West Oakland. 

Several participants were injured during the April protest when police fired weapons including wooden dowels, lead-filled beanbags and rubber bullets. 

Protesters say that even though the weapons are labeled non-lethal, police misused the equipment, firing directly at demonstrators instead of deflecting rounds off the pavement and disregarding warnings on the equipment that said direct hits could be lethal.  

Willow Rosenthal, a protester who was hit but not arrested, attended a rally outside the courthouse before the hearing, holding a sign that read “Victim of the Patriot Act” and standing with her pant leg rolled up to display a large scar covering most of her right calf. 

Rosenthal said she doesn’t know what hit her, but the injury left her in debilitating pain for a month. She has undergone two surgeries—including a skin graft—and says she still suffers pain in her knee and ankle. 

She is one of the group of protesters who filed a class action lawsuit against the City of Oakland in June, claiming infringements of their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, assembly and association. 

Kate Sassoon, a UC Berkeley student studying Theater and Biological Sciences, was among those arrested at the April rally. She and her two housemates were apprehended as they backed away when police started firing. Because they had linked arms, she said, they were unable to escape when motorcycle police pursued them, another tactic the protesters are calling abusive. 

“Before we knew if we were tackled to the ground and held face down,” said Sassoon, who spent 15 hours behind bars before her release.  

Sassoon says she won’t pay the fines she and her fellow defendants expect if they are convicted. 

“I’m being prosecuted on charges that are on the books to deter people from using their civil liberties,” she said. 

Stein, Sassoon’s lawyer, said she thought the whole case was ridiculous and that most of those on the defense side thought Oakland Police were pressing charges to divert attention away from their own conduct. 

“It’s absurd that Alameda County is prosecuting these cases,” said Stein. “If this is the county’s attempt to save face, I think it’s a weak one.” 

A new hearing is now set for Jan. 9, where defense attorneys again plan to challenge the charges.

“You’re a risk taker,” said my therapist, staring at me, the eraser end of her pencil pressed to her cheek. 

“I don’t think so,” I said. 

“Yes you are,” she countered. “Look at the things you used to do before your husband’s accident: climbing up Mt. Rainier, skiing across the Sierra, bicycling in Tasmania. You are definitely a risk taker.” 

“Hundreds of people climb Mt. Rainier every year,” I argued. “Lots of people ski across the Sierra. Tasmania is about the safest place on earth. I think it’s all relative.” 

“That’s true,” she said. “But look how you’re living your new life since your husband became a quadriplegic. You’re a risk taker.” 

“And you’re full of baloney,” I thought to myself. “I’m taking my risqué self home and I’m not coming back.” But instead I made an appointment for the following week. I needed help. 

Back home I readied myself for the weekend. My friend Jernae was coming to visit. The daughter of my husband’s live-in attendant, she had entered my life just when I needed someone young, innocent and optimistic to restore my faith in the future.  

“What are we doing this weekend,” she asked as she bounced through the front door.  

“I don’t know,” I answered. “What do you want to do?” 

“I wanna go swimming, rollerblading, ice skating and fishin’,” she said. “Then I wanna go to the movies and eat ice cream.” 

“You know your mom won’t let you go swimming,” I said. “She’ll be mad if we mess up your hair.” 

I took a long look at this week’s hairdo. Every visit it was different. Some days she appeared at our house with two braids tightly attached to her head; other weeks she sported plaits that resembled racing stripes zigzagging behind her ears. 

Sometimes she had six strategically placed ponytails and other times she had hundreds of thin, intricate braids ending with seven heart-shaped pink beads and a small piece of tinfoil. 

On those days I looked forward to the melodic sound of her beads making noise as she moved her head back and forth, but not to the leftovers. After she went home I would find beads all over the house: under the mattress, on the bathroom floor, behind the sofa cushions, out on the porch and buried in the garden.  

“Look,” she said. “If I wear a bathing cap, nobody’s gonna know I went swimming, you dig?”  

“Okay,” I said, “but we’ve got to be careful. I don’t want to get caught.”  

We went to the Willard Pool in Berkeley. She wore a bright yellow bathing cap pulled low over her forehead and a pair of lime green swimming goggles that made her look like a gigantic insect. 

As soon as she jumped in the water the bathing cap flew off. Hundreds of pink beads floated to the bottom of the pool.  

“Uh oh,” she said. “You’re in trouble.” 

“I’m in trouble? What about you?” 

“You’re the one who brought me here. Momma is gonna be mad.” 

We climbed out of the pool and rushed to Walgreens. She told me what to buy and I bought it: special combs and brushes; a big jar of hair goup; tiny black rubber bands and a bag of plastic knockers. We sped home in a panic. 

“Turn on the TV,” she shouted. “Throw some popcorn in the microwave. I gotta be able to watch television and eat while we do my hair.” 

Somehow we managed to put the braids back together, although it was clear that we had messed with something we shouldn’t have. When her mother came to pick her up she screamed. “What’s with the hair? You went swimming after I told you not to. Girl,” she said turning to me, “you’re in trouble now.” 

“I know,” I said. “It’s my fault. It won’t happen again.” 

Jernae and her mother went home. I went back to my therapist.  

“My name is Suzy,” I said when my session began, “and I’m a risk taker.”

A UC Berkeley lecturer jailed in Iran for nearly four months was released Sunday, but will remain in Iran for the time being while the investigation against him continues, a friend said. 

Dariush Zahedi is staying with family members in Tehran after friends and family paid in $250,000 bail to secure his release. 

Zahedi is free to return to his home in Lafayette, said his friend, Rutgers Professor Hooshang Amirahmadi, who spoke to him Sunday. But the lecturer is staying because he hopes to disprove allegations that he went to Iran to foment student protests against the Islamic Republic. 

“His hope is the judiciary will see this as a misunderstanding,” Amirahmadi said, adding that he may return to the United States before the case is resolved.  

Zahedi, 37 and a naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested at his brother’s Tehran office one day after meeting with a pro-reform group in Iran. The meeting coincided with annual student protests commemorating a July 19, 1999, demonstration that was violently suppressed by militias loyal to the ruling clerics. 

Iranian officials accused Zahedi of being a U.S. spy, but Amirahmadi said he was the victim of bad timing: Arriving in Iran during a wave of student protests and increased tensions with the United States over Iran’s budding nuclear capacity. 

“He made a mistake meeting with those people, but he could not be a spy,” Amirahmadi said. 

Zahedi was placed in solitary confinement at Evin prison north of Tehran, where Iranian-Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi died while being held for photographing student protesters. But the Berkeley man told his friend that guards treated him “OK.” 

Amirahmadi and Zahedi are both members of the American Iranian Council, which works to improve relations between the two nations. 

Zahedi, who was to teach War and Peace in the Middle East at Berkeley this fall, is the author of The Iranian Revolution Then and Now: Indicators of Regime Instability, published in 2000. In April, he co-authored an op-ed in Newsday calling for the U.S. “[t]o engage the Islamic Republic in multilateral talks” to diffuse tensions over Iran’s potential nuclear capacity. 

Edwin Epstein, chair of UC Berkeley’s Peace and Conflict Studies program, said news of Zahedi’s release “made my day,” and he was hopeful he would be back teaching in the spring. 

The Iranian Ministry of Justice is continuing to investigate the charges against Zahedi, who could stand trial if new allegations surface. 

Amirahmadi insists that Zahedi is not at risk by remaining in Iran. “The dangerous part has passed already,” he said. “If they had a significant case against him they would not have let him out on bail. He added that remaining in Iran would facilitate convincing the judiciary that he committed no crimes.

A big box Target is coming to Eastshore frontage road near Gilman Street just north of the Berkeley line. At the same time, a proposal is being floated to rezone west Gilman from manufacturing to commercial, to catch the regional retail traffic. Development of this kind will profoundly affect the whole city. 

Imagine the entire length of Gilman below San Pablo lined with shops and chain stores, with one big box down at the freeway, a second near San Pablo, and a third in the middle at Sixth Street. Imagine traffic increased many fold, leaving commutes snarled and traffic problems plaguing the adjacent residential neighborhood. Imagine shoppers tangling with tired commuters desperate to get home. Along the side streets a few manufacturers and artisans still hang on, but their ability to function is severely hampered; quickly rising rents and retail conditions are making them unfeasible, and they all have relocation plans. Imagine the Fourth Street commercial corridor moving inexorably north, toward its manifest destiny of merging with the Gilman mall. 

Why would Berkeley politicians and planners consider development that is hardly distinguishable from Emeryville and El Cerrito Plaza? The answer is simple: Regional retail brings in tax dollars. The city is hurting for revenues, and many politicians and planners ogle West Berkeley as a cash cow waiting to be milked, a politically easy alternative to raising property taxes or cutting services. 

But beyond the immediate costs to the adjoining neighborhood and to the businesses and people being displaced, there are costs and long-term repercussions affecting the whole city that may not be apparent at first.  

West Berkeley plays a unique role in our city. It is a very diverse place, ethnically, socially, and economically, and plays host to numerous ventures that would otherwise be lost to Berkeley. As our only industrial section, it provides jobs with good wage levels for people without advanced degrees. The industrial environment provides shelter and nourishment to a wide variety of uses. Light manufacturers, artists, craftspeople, residents, creative startups, nonprofits, restaurants, and offices share many blocks with a minimum of conflict. Its neighborhoods are home to many of our lower-to-middle income residents, working people from every corner of the world, including an important part of our African American community. West Berkeley—and not the downtown arts district—is the place where our working artists and artisans have their studios.  

The dynamism and creativity coming out of West Berkeley every day benefit the entire city and help maintain its character, although this is scarcely recognized by many who only pass through it on their way out of town. West Berkeley is one of the lungs of our city; cut it out and we lose something of great and irreplaceable value. 

Maintenance of the industrial character of West Berkeley is a key to the perpetuation of our city’s diversity, because manufacturing defines the economic level of the common space in which many other uses thrive. Converting Gilman to a retail strip will trigger a new gentrification spiral to the whole area, and signal a loss of diversity for the whole city. Gentrification is not a tide that lifts all ships but a tsunami that will sweep people with less money out of town. A disproportion of the people shown the door will be ethnic and racial minorities, blue collar workers, craftspeople, and artists. If industries get pushed out of West Berkeley, so will many startups, struggling nonprofits, and lower income families. Gentrify West Berkeley and the city will take a giant step toward becoming just another increasingly sterile upscale bedroom community. 

Yes, the General Fund is hurting, and hard choices will have to be made to bring in new revenues or cut services. And it’s true that manufacturing doesn’t bring in as much sales tax as regional retail. But on the other hand, West Berkeley is currently one of the city’s main economic engines. It provides about a quarter of all jobs in Berkeley, in the most diversified occupations, and generates about 40 percent of all city sales tax revenue, about 30 percent of business license tax revenue, and about 10 percent of property tax revenue. Manufacturing has higher “multiplier effects” than office or retail, generating other local economic activities through its inputs. These multipliers generate tax revenues, but often don’t appear in statistical analyses as credited to manufacturing. It also creates less traffic problems than either retail or office, and traffic problems have a price tag attached. Retail jobs pay a lot less than manufacturing and are almost never unionized; retail has a high percentage of part time workers, and suffers a high employee turnover. 

In its own funky West Berkeley way, Gilman Street today is the center of a successful neighborhood, and manufacturing is the anchor of a diverse economy. What if we convert it for a few magic beans that never sprout? What if the projected regional retail golden goose turns out to be a lame duck? A successful area will have been sacrificed for nothing. During the “new technology” boom of the 1990s some developers wanted to convert large numbers of manufacturing buildings into offices, but were prevented from doing so by the policies of the West Berkeley Plan. If they had been permitted to convert them, when the bust came the city would have been left with blocks and blocks of empty office buildings. 

The issue is not development, but scale, pace, and nature of development. On the one hand, the West Berkeley Plan calls for slow change incorporating the successes of the past, and careful monitoring of the existing mix of land uses. By contrast, some developers are calling for rapid mallization. In the near future the community will be faced with this choice between contending visions for West Berkeley. 

Our city’s uniqueness is more fragile than it may appear, and it is at risk. The character of our town hangs in the balance. Everybody who wants Berkeley to become Emeryville, raise your hand. 

John Curl is a member of the City of Berkeley Planning Commission. 

Right now, the projected all-fund city deficit moves from about $9.4 million in 2004-2005 to $19.6 million in 2008-2009. If the recently-triggered Vehicle License Fee (VLF) increase is somehow repealed, as threatened, the city will lose an additional $6 million annually, bringing the all-fund deficit to about $15.4 million next year and $25 million in just five years. Between now and fiscal year 2008-2009, the cumulative city deficit (excluding the VLF and other potential state impacts) is projected to be $71 million. These figures do not account for other likely losses due to additional cuts in outside fund infusions (foundations and federal and state grants) and additional losses resulting directly or indirectly from the effects of economic recession on our taxpaying residents. 

Clearly, we have an enormous budget problem that will require very painful actions. The city’s increased labor costs are the biggest part of the problem. Labor costs account for about 80 percent of the City budget of $250 million. Due to the recently negotiated labor contracts, the annual increases in city labor costs appear to average out at about $20 million annually for the next several years. Our initial overview of these contracts has convinced us that they are excessive, that our city employees, while generally exceedingly competent, are now being overcompensated, and the labor contracts are the proximate cause of the city’s budget problem. 

We are now in the process of more closely examining these contracts and we hope that our city leadership will do the same. These contracts should be compared to other relevant labor contracts and current practices, and to the actual Bay Area CPI increases. The contract subparts that need closer examination include pay raises, equity adjustments, rapidity of step increases, treatment of overtime, health and welfare benefits, and pension contributions and benefits. This article is a first step in the closer examination.  

City of Berkeley employees, while they may not get rich on the job, enjoy most of the “cradle-to-grave” benefits that have been the hallmark of the Western European welfare states and, in the United States, that are mostly limited to public employees and tenured professors. This comprehensive employment package includes almost total job security, generous defined-benefit pension plans, regular super-CPI adjustments, employer-paid family health insurance that extends beyond retirement, liberal disability and workplace injury policies, excellent working conditions, liberal leave policies, and many other job-related benefits. Meanwhile, huge numbers of Americans, including not a few Berkeley residents, are coping with unemployment, job insecurity, loss of retirement assets, increasing health care costs, and all of the stress and ill effects of economic uncertainty and insecurity. 

There are seven operational city labor contracts plus a manual for unrepresented employees, as follows. All of these items are available online as well as city manager summary reports to Council. 

1. Memorandum of Understanding Between the City of Berkeley and the Berkeley Police Association, July 8, 2001-July 30, 2007 

For city manager summary, see Council item #9, 11/13/01. 

2. Memorandum of Understanding Between the City of Berkeley and the Berkeley Firefighters Association Local 1227 I.A.F.F., July 9, 2000-Jully 1, 2006 

For city manager summary, see Council item #9, 10/22/02. 

3. Memorandum of Understanding Between the City of Berkeley and Social Services Union, Service Employees International Union Local 535, July 7, 2002-June 28, 2008 

Covers about 380 employees in health care, welfare and social service, nursing, library employees, and miscellaneous professional, technical and administrative employees. 

For city manager summary, see Council item #3, 11/12/02. 

4. Memorandum of Understanding Between the City of Berkeley and Public Employees Union Local 1, July 7, 2002-June 28, 2008 

Covers about 160 management and professional employees in all city departments and engineering paraprofessional in Public Works, and Parks, Recreation and Waterfront. 

For city manager summary, see Council item #8, 11/19/02. 

5. Memorandum of Understanding Between the City of Berkeley and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245, AFL-CIO, July 7, 2002-June 28, 2008 

Covers about 20 employees in electrical occupations in Public Works. 

For city manager summary, see Council item #6, 11/12/02. 

6. Memorandum of Understanding Between the City of Berkeley and Service Employees International Union Local 790, July 7, 2002-June 28, 2008 

Covers about 560 employees in manual field operations in Public Works and Parks, Recreation and Waterfront, nonsworn paraprofessionals in the police department, and clerical and paraprofessional employees in most other city departments. 

For city manager summary, see Council item #4, 11/12/02. 

7. Memorandum of Understanding Between the City of Berkeley and the Part-time Recreation Leaders Association (Affiliate of SEIU Local 535), July 7, 2002-June 28, 2008 

Covers about 80 employees in Parks, Recreation and Waterfront. 

For city manager summary, see Council item #5, 11/12/02. 

8. City of Berkeley Unrepresented Employee Manual, Resolution 60,777-N.S., Effective Sept. 26, 2000 (Amended to Jan. 2002) 

Covers confidential executive, management, professional and clerical employees. 

For city manager summaries, see Council item #15, 9/26/00; #16, 6/19/01; #8, 10/22/02; #7, 11/12/02; and #10, 11/19/02. 

Covers confidential executive, management, professional and clerical employees. 

The additional costs of the six-year contracts for the contracts numbered 3-6 above total $83.2 million, and break down as follows: 

3. SEIU Local 535, Nov. 12, 2002 Council meeting: $30.32 million in additional costs (380 employees, $13,300 additional per year for six years). 

4. Public Employees Union Local 1, Nov. 19, 2002 Council meeting: $16.1 million in additional costs (160 employees, $16,800 additional per year for six years). 

5. IBEW Local 1245, Nov. 12, 2002 Council meeting: $1.8 million in additional costs (20 employees, $15,000 additional per year for six years). 

6. SEIU Local 790, Nov. 12, 2002 Council meeting: $35.1 million in additional costs (560 employees, $10,500 additional per year for six years). 

Not included in the $83.32 million above are the amounts for police, fire, and unrepresented employees (contracts numbered 1, 2, and 8). These latter contracts (and related Council items) need to be reviewed to factor in these costs. 

Thus, the new contracts for approximately 1120 (70 percent) of the city’s 1600 employees are costing the city $83.32 million extra in a six year period (average $12,400 annually extra per employee). If the costs of the remaining 480 public safety and other employees are included, the total of extra cost will be about $120 million for a six year period, or $20 million annually (average $12,500 annually per employee). We are already into year two of this cycle. The deficit for year one has been addressed by the normal two to three percent growth in city revenues combined with about $3 million in cuts and some amount of sleight-of-hand. It is clear that normal city revenue growth, serious service cuts, and more sleight of hand will be totally inadequate to address the huge projected deficit. 

So readers, please look at the city’s labor contracts, look at the city’s deficit, and then, please, connect the dots. 

Barbara Gilbert and Viki Tamaradze are co-chairpersons of the Berkeley Budget Oversight Committee.

Michael Baker’s got more in common with Mel Blanc than just initials. For one, they’re both entertainers—although the late Blanc is arguably the more famous, a genuine Hollywood celebrity who created the voices of Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, and a host of other animated characters. 

But Baker’s the man who’ll fill Blanc’s most celebrated Northern California role—one known to a couple of generations of Bay Area residents—as Moo Master for Berkeley Farms Dairy. 

As in “Farms? In Berkeley? Mooooooo.” 

A lifelong Bay Area resident and leader of the Oakland, rock band Slim, Baker recorded his entry in the parking lot of a Berkeley grocery store. 

His effort was named one of six finalists, which were then posted on the Internet for web surfers to listen to and then vote for their favorite. His masterful moo emerged the clear winner. 

Baker, the grandson of a dairy farmer, collected $5,000 and won the role of corporate Mooscaster for the dairy through the end of 2004. 

The 32-year-old singer/songwriter, who grew up in the East Bay and clearly remembers the original commercials from his childhood in the ‘70s and ‘80s, has never done professional voice-over work. However, he is no stranger to the recording studio or the stage. Baker’s band, Slim, has been performing in the area for the last five years, and recently recorded their debut CD, Interstate Medicine, at Berkeley’s famed Fantasy Studios.  

The album features former members of Counting Crows, Third Eye Blind, and Van Morrison and Bonnie Raitt’s bands, and has already broken onto commercial radio playlists. One song from the album, “Sister Rosa,” was recently named a winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest.

A three-way deal between the City of Berkeley, Comcast Cable Communications and a Christian broadcaster at the end of October has resulted in a channel shuffle, with Berkeley’s public access station moving from channel 25 to channel 28 and the local government station from channel 78 to channel 33. 

Everything else remains the same. 

According to Roger Miller, a telecommunications analyst for the city, the switches came after Christian station KTLN—also known as Total Life News—asked Berkeley’s Comcast Cable office to pick up their broadcasts. 

KTLN currently broadcasts over the air on channels 25 and 68 and has been slowly establishing themselves on Northern California cable slots using those same numbers under a federal law that mandates broadcast channels receive the same dial positions on cable.  

The City of Berkeley was also looking for a change, and had asked Comcast to move them off channel 78 because that channel falls into the second tier on the cable network—meaning that only some cable subscribers had access (channel 34 is the cutoff for the first and cheapest tier of cable service). 

So the city swapped 25 for 28 and 33, moving them into the cheap channels. 

Miller said that for the next month, digital cable subscribers will view the programming on 33 even if they are tuned to channel 78. Analog subscribers will find a notice advising them of the switch when they try to tune in. 

KTLN is running a public service announcement on 78, directing would-be public access viewers to that channel’s new location. 

For more information contact Miller at atrmiller@ ci.berkeley.ca.us or 981-6502.

“See! I am dancing. On the edge of 

the world I am dancing” 

Ancient Ohlone Indian song 

The body of indigent Paul Henry Fillman, who was widely known as Jean Paul, was discovered three weeks ago in a tent on the Albany Bulb where he had made his home for the last 10 years. He was 59. 

A political activist and dance enthusiast, Fillman was one of those featured in the 2002 documentary Bums’ Paradise, which tells the story of the homeless community that evolved on the Albany Bulb, a former dump on a roadless, windswept, shrub-covered peninsula with stunning bay vistas. 

The City of Albany evicted the homeless community in the fall of 1999 to make way for the Eastshore State Park. 

Pending a toxicology report, the Alameda County Coroner lists the cause of death as “unknown,” but County Coroner Dan Aperson and Albany Police Lt. Daniel Adams say they found no immediate signs of foul play. 

Police say they don’t know how long Fillman had been dead in his tent before he was discovered by an acquaintance Oct. 15. According to several who knew him, Fillman struggled with addiction to a form of methamphetamine known as “ice,” which is typically smoked. 

In the documentary, Fillman said that he preferred living outdoors and that it was “the only time I’ve ever enjoyed myself.” During the 1999 eviction, the city of Albany provided trailers for Bulb residents to help them with the transition from their tents and shacks into homeless shelters, but Fillman refused to use them. 

“The only box that they have ready for me is the grave, because I’m not getting into any other kind of box,” he said defiantly in the documentary. 

Shortly after the eviction, Fillman quietly returned to the Bulb where he continued to discretely make camp. 

A short, lithe and impish man with an infectious laugh, Fillman had long, graying brown hair, which he wore in a pony tail and usually covered with a beret or a well-worn felt fedora adorned with buttons and pins. 

“He participated in a lot of street theaters and loved music, so his bicycle was always decked out with tambourines, drums and horns,” said former Bulb resident Robert Barringer, known as Rabbit to viewers of Bums’ Paradise. 

“He was also careful about his appearance and would make the trek to the laundromat every month.” 

Fillman loved to dance and was a familiar sight at Askenaz Music and Dance Center on San Pablo Avenue. 

“He would come on Friday and Saturday nights when we usually have African or Reggae shows,” said night manager Larry Chin. “He would dance for hours usually by himself and would never bother anybody. He was a good guy.” 

Barringer said dancing was the thing that Fillman loved most. “He would dance sometimes until 3 a.m. and the next morning he would be refreshed and in an excellent space.”  

Though he was born in Brooklyn and never traveled to Europe, he strongly identified with his French heritage. Once, discouraged with American culture, is said to have presented himself at a French Consulate and demanded to be transported back to his rightful home.  

He believed in political activism and participated in protests at the site of the near nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island in the late 1970s and protests at Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in the 1980s. 

Prior to the Albany Bulb eviction, Fillman was also a constant presence at Albany City Council meetings, vociferous in advocating for homeless rights and—as he explained in the documentary—the “right to exist… somewhere.” 

Nearly everyone who knew Fillman said his overriding passion was to reconnect with his daughter, Grace, who possibly lives in Oakland.  

“He tried to contact her over the years but was not able to,” Barringer said. “More than anything he wanted to get a copy of the film to her and to let her know that he loved her.” 

Anyone who has any personal information about Paul Henry Fillman, is asked contact the Alameda County Coroner’s Bureau at 268-7300. Those who are interested in learning more about the documentary Bums’ Paradise can go to www.bumsparadise.com.

By Clark Suprynowicz 

Special to the Planet 

If you’re looking for something provocative in the performing arts here in the East Bay, you’re too late for “Vocalists and the Musicians Who Manipulate Them” with Amy X. Neuberg. That was this past Tuesday (the 11th) at the Oakland Box Theater on Telegraph. Ditto a rare visit to Yoshi’s on the part of Michael Stevens, a true cult figure in the New York jazz scene, with drummer Gerry Hemingway and bassist Joe Fonda. That was Monday (I am sad to report that Yoshi’s is severing its long-term relationship with Jazz in Flight, tireless producers of the Monday night series. Who will champion local music at Yoshi’s?) 

More things you missed: Bob Geary’s chamber chorus “Volti” (formerly the San Francisco Chamber Singers) did one of their mesmerizing concerts of contemporary choral works at St. Mark’s in Berkeley this past weekend, and the crackerjack Empyrean Ensemble was just at UC Berkeley on Sunday with a program of brand-spanking-new music. 

Don’t despair. If you’re hoping to imbibe a healthy swig of creative music from the frothy stein that is the East Bay music scene, there’s plenty to be had before we’re faced with our annual glut of Messiahs and Nutcrackers. Why not try, for instance... 

Laetitia Sonami, who designs and builds her own instruments. She’ll be at 1750 Arch in Berkeley this Saturday, brought to you by CNMAT, those wacky people over at UC Berkeley who are edging us into a musical future of their own devising, where lasers are used to conduct racks of electronic gear and a concerto may integrate white noise with sampled duck calls. By the way, kudos to our friends at 1750 Arch. We are not living in a time when contemporary artists are growing fat and complacent, so it is heartening to see spaces like this offered up to the community. John Halle was out here from Yale earlier in the year, offering one of his Politics and New Music evenings, the sort of thing that gives polemics a good name. 

Then there’s the CCM Songlines Series at Mills College. On Saturday, Nov. 22, cellist Joan Jeanrenaud and the ROVA Saxophone Quartet will perform music of visiting Milhaud Professor of Composition Annie Gosfield. 430-2296 gets you the details. 

This Sunday (the 16th), music of Anthony Braxton will be performed by Triaxium West over at the Jazz House, the room formerly known as TUVA (3192 Adeline, 649-8744). I once went to see Mr. Braxton when he was teaching over at Mills, there to pick up a score from him for a grant application. He’d gone to see the movie Batman with his son the night before, and they were both in love with the Batmobile. As to his score, Anthony looked it over, seemed about to reconsider, then thrust it out, saying “If they don’t like it, f— ‘em.” They didn’t like it, and Braxton is now at Wesleyan. 

What about some edgy new opera? On Wednesday, Nov. 26, at 8 p.m. at 21 Grand (449B 23rd St. near 19th Street BART station in Oakland, telephone 444 GRAND) Opera Viva presents Noh Body—a neo-dada topless “impropera” in two acts with Aurora Josephson, Jacob Lindsay, and Scott R. Looney. Now that’s definitely not Handel or Haydn. 

Are the members of ROVA the hardest-working guys in show-business? They may be. On Tuesday the 18th, Larry Ochs of ROVA and his friends Ches Smith and Chris Brown are at the Oakland Box Theater at 1928 Telegraph. My vote for new space most worth checking out goes to the aforementioned Oakland Box, next door to Sears in downtown Oakland. With this space, and the Ookland Metro down at the base of Broadway, you might almost forget that California is now 50th in funding for the arts. Of course, dedication and getting paid are not the same thing. But as someone who lives five minutes from these two illustrious dives, it's a pleasure to recommend them. Here's hoping they continue to flourish. 

Speaking of the Oakland Metro, composer Tom Dean's brainchild, they've got a lively agenda lined up for the rest of November, with Oxbow, Azigza, and Glasshouse performing (respectively) Thursday, Friday, Saturday this week. More info on Metro's calendar at 763-1146. 

Back at Yoshi’s, you can go see Pat Martino this weekend, from the 13th to the 16th. I have a soft spot for Pat. Back in my tender youth I heard a Pat Martino record and had that reaction good new music will (I hope) always have in store for us: I said “What IS this stuff?” Then, before John McLaughlin and Paco DeLucia were household names, I’d never heard anybody play the guitar like that. Now the scuttlebutt is that a brain aneurysm sent Mr. Martino on a long hiatus from performing a few years back. He had lost all memory of having learned the guitar. After an arduous process of re-learning the instrument, both he and his amazing fingers are back, and he is touring again. Amazing. 

Just to give equal time to those looking to imbibe Brahms, Handel and Haydn this season, the first out of the gate may well be the University Chorus, who on Sunday December 2 at 3:00 PM will sing Missa Sancti Nicolai (The Saint Nicholas Mass) at the First Congregational Church. 

There’s plenty more coming down the pipeline. I’ve got a message out to Stephen Kent, and I’ll be sending on the news as to the music of India, Tashkent, and the great beyond ... all right here in the yeasty firmament of our own East Bay. 

Go in peace. And if you can’t go in peace, just go.

TUESDAY, NOV. 11 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Music to Your Eyes,” an exhibition of new paintings inspired by classical music, by Dean Hunsaker, at the Addison Street Windows Gallery. Exhibit runs to Dec. 10. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Civic Arts Program. 981-7533. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Paula Gunn Allen decribes a heroine from the Native American perspective in “Pocahontas: Medicine Woman, Spy, Entrepreneur,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

The Whole Note Poetry Series, with Julia Vinograd and Debra Grace Khattab at 7 p.m. at The Beanery, 2925 College Ave. 549-9093. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Cesaria Evora, Cape Verdean chanteuse, at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $24-$48. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Courtableu at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Ken Waldman, Alaska’s fiddling poet, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50 advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

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, NOV. 12 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Chiapas- At the Edge of Light” with photographer Jutta Meier Wiedenbach at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

FILM 

Standby: No Technical Difficulties, Program 2 at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa. 

berkeley.edu 

THEATER 

Senior Readers’ Theatre, “Changes and Challenges” written and produced by a Berkeley feminist group, at 1:15 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center, Hearst Ave. and MLK, Jr. Way. Free. 724-2779. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

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

Ron George introduces his anthology of 26 stories, “The Kindness of Strangers,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Harsha Ram introduces, “Imperial Sublime: A Russian Poetics of Empire” at 5:30 p.m. at University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way. 548-0585. 

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 

Wang Ping will read from “The Magic Whip,” a collection of her poetry, at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert Voice Faculty Recital at the Chevron Auditorium at International House, corner of Bancroft and Piedmont Aves. Admission is free. 642-4864. 

Cesaria Evora, Cape Verdean chanteuse, at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $24-$48. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

NC Blue Connection at 9 p.m. with a West Coast Swing dance lesson with Nick and Shanna at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Terri Hendrix with Lloyd Maines, Grammy-winning “Texas square peg” at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50 advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

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

Muchas Bluegracias, Belle Monroe and Her Brew Glass Boys, Ho’Down Quartet at 9 p.m. at Blakes On Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Sam Bevan Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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

THURSDAY, NOV. 13 

THEATER 

Alchemy Works, “Where There’s a Wil(l), There’s a Play” a collection of short works by, or inspired by famous Wills, at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Theater. Tickets are $10-$15 and are available from 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

FILM 

Exhibiting Signs of Age, screening of “Aging in America: The Years Ahead” at 5:30 p.m. and Margaret Mead Film and Video Festival, “The Day I Will Never Forget” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Meredith Maran reads from her new book, “Dirty: A Search for Answers Inside America's Teenage Drug Epidemic,” in a benefit for Bay Area Community Resources at 7:30 p.m. at Diesel Bookstore, 5433 Colllege Ave. 653-9965.  

Gallery Talk: Ecuadorian Fiestas with Grace Johnson, curator of Latin American ethnography at the San Diego Museum of Man, at noon at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Kroeber Hall, Bancroft Way at College Ave. Free with museum admission. 643-7648.  

Exhibiting Signs of Age, Curator’s Talk with Beth Dungan at 12:15 p.m., Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Going Home to a Landscape: Writings by Filipinas,” with several of the contributors in person, 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 Dorothy Jesse Beagle and Raymond Nat Turner, followed by an open mic, at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. For information call 526-5985 or 205-1749.  

University Press Books Anniversary Party, with Gerald Nachman, author of “Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s,” from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 2430 Bancroft Way. 548-0585. 

Carol Bergman reads from “Another Day in Paradise: International Humanitarian Workers Tell Their Stories” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tim Barsky and Everyday Ensemble, musical theater, 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 

Tin Hat Trio, chamber folk ensemble, 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 

Liberian Schools Benefit with Sia Amma at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10-$20 sliding scale. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Alfonso Maya, CD release concert, at 7:30 p.m., at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Faraway Brothers and Bingo Band at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

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

Scott Hill performs modern jazz at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Sliding scale donation $7-$15. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

CV1 at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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

www.beckettsirishpub.com 

FRIDAY, NOV. 14  

CHILDREN 

Rainbow Fish Storytime at 10:30 a.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

THEATER 

UC’s Department of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies, “Getting Married,” by George Bernard Shaw, directed by Barbara Oliver, opens at 8 p.m. and runs through Nov. 23 at Durham Studio Theater. Tickets are $8-$14 and are available from TicketWeb 866-468-3399. www.ticketweb.com 

Alchemy Works, “Where There’s a Wil(l), There’s a Play” at 8 p.m. See listing for Nov. 13. 

Aurora Theater Company, “Lobby Hero” opens at 8 p.m. and runs to Dec. 21. Tickets are $28-$40. 2081 Addison St. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

Polly's Phat Phollies, A Musical of Generous Proportions, a singing and dancing play by well-know Fat Activist, Judy Freespirit, at 7:30 p.m., Hamilton Hall, 685 14th St. at Castro, Oakland. Tickets are $15-$50, sliding scale, no one turned away for lack of funds. Wheelchair accessible; no scents, please. 836-1153. 

FILM 

Margaret Mead Film and Video Festival, “Thunder in Guyana” at 7:30 p.m. at Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Children Underground,” a documentary about street children in Romania, 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 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble performs at 7:30 p.m. in the Little Theater, 1929 Allston Way. Tickets are $10 general, $5 students and are available at the door. www.berkeleyhighjazz.org 

In Love with the Violin, a concert by Donna Lerew, violin, and Skye Atman, piano, with narrative by actress Donna Davis, at 8 p.m. at First Unitarian Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. Tickets are $10-$15. 525-0302. 524-5203. 

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet performs an all-Balanchine program at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $26-$46 and are available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

The UC Jazz Fall Concert at 7 pm in Chevron Auditorium, International House. Tickets are $5-$10 and may be purchased at the door one hour before the show begins. http://ucjazz. 

berkeley.edu 

Tim Barsky and Everyday Ensemble, musical theater, 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 

Laetitia Sonami, composer, performer and sound installation artist will premiere “The Appearance of Silence,” at 8 p.m. at CNMAT, 1750 Arch St. Cost is $10 general and $5 students. www.cnmat.berkeley.edu 

Moh Alileche performs traditional Amazigh music from Algeria at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Sliding scale donation $10-$15. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Noche de SKAtemoc, with Tokadiscos, La Plebe, Firme and La Banda Skalavera at 9 p.m., at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10 in advance, $12 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Wadi Gad, Cosmo, DJ Sister Yasmin perform conscious roots reggae at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $12. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

20 Minute Loop, Bitesize, Ex-Boys Friends, at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7.  

841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Ned Boynton at 8:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Lost Weekend, western swing big band, 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 

Matt Berkeley Group at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Mood Food, Cosmic Mercy at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes On Telegraph. Cost is $8. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Fabulous Disaster, Butcher & Smear, Pin Up Motel, Whore You 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. 

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

www.beckettsirishpub.com 

SATURDAY, NOV. 15 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Magic Window Puppets, at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Kids on the Block Puppet Show, promoting acceptance and understanding of physical and cultural differences at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shattuck Ave., lower level. Sug- 

gested donation $3. Children under 3 free. 549-1564. 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“The Long Walk to Freedom,” an interactive public art project highlighting the contribution of 28 civil rights activists opens at the African American Museum and Library, 659 Fourteenth St., Oakland, with a reception for honorees from 1 to 4 p.m. Exhibition runs Tue. - Sat. through Dec. 31, noon to 5:30 p.m. 486-2340. 

A New Leaf Gallery/ 

Sculpturesite “New Works” reception from 2 to 4 p.m. Exhibition runs to Dec. 15. Gallery hours are Wed. - Fri. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sat. - Sun. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1286 Gilman St. 527-7621. www.sculpturesite.com 

Kirk Thompson, “Ordinary Nature: Recent Landscape Photography,” from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St. Gallery hours are Mon. - Fri. 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 644-1400. 

THEATER 

Polly's Phat Phollies, A Musical of Generous Proportions, See listing for Nov. 14.  

Alchemy Works, “Where There’s a Wil(l), There’s a Play” at 8 p.m. See listing for Nov. 13. 

FILM 

7th Annual SF Latino Film Festival, “The Lost Reels of Pancho Villa,” plus shorts at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7.50 in advance, $9 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org For information on the Film Festival call 415-454-4039. www.latinofilmfestival.org  

A Short History of Polish Animation, Program 3 at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Multicultural Children’s Picture Books, with readings by three authors, at 2 p.m. at Eastwind Books, 2066 University Ave. 548-2350. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Trinity Chamber Concerts Farallon Brass Ensemble at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Admission by donation, $12 general, $8 students, senoirs, disabled. No one turned away. 549-3864. 

San Francisco Early Music Society presents Classics of the Salon, what Mozart, Hayden and their friends played for each other, at 8 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $22 for SFEMS members and Seniors, $25 for non-members, $10 for students. 528-1725. www.sfems.org 

St. Petersburg String Quartet, at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $42. Tickets for the previously scheduled Zehetmair Quartet concert will be honored at the door. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet performs an all-Balanchine program at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $26-$46 and are available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Choreographers’ Performance Alliance, “Works in the Works” at 7:30 p.m. at Eighth Street Studio, 2525 Eighth St. Cost is $10. 644-1788, ext. 2. 

Tim Barsky and Everyday Ensemble, musical theater, at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$15. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Laetitia Sonami, composer, performer and sound installation artist will premiere “The Appearance of Silence,” at 8 p.m. at CNMAT, 1750 Arch St. Cost is $10 general and $5 students. www.cnmat.berkeley.edu 

Jinx Jones Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Dave LeFebvre Quartet, new music and odd meters, at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Roy Rogers and Norton Buffalo, harmonica and guitar duo, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $20.50 in advance, $21.50 at the door. 548-1761.  

www.freightandsalvage.org 

Amandla Poets, South African township jive, Jamaican reggae and American R&B at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

“Hola! Hands out to Latin America!” a concert by the Berkeley Music Cooperative Players at 3 p.m. at La Peña. Donations accepted to help music teachers in Latin America. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Café de la Paz's 10th Anniversary and Flamenco Celebration featuring Yaelisa and Caminos Flamencos. 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 

Doni Harvey, blues singer and guitarist, performs at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Sliding scale donation $6-$15. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Naked Barbies and The Jolenes at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Stymie and the Pimp Jones Luv Orchestra, Thunderpussy at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes On Telegraph. Cost is $6. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Marcos Silva at 8:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Autanna at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Bananas, I Farm, Stivs, Mermaid-Unicorn, Problem at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926.

Toddler drowned 

Police arrested the mother of an 11-month-old baby boy found drowned in a bucket of water Monday afternoon. According to police, when the baby’s grandfather left the house earlier that day, the baby and mother were on the living room couch. When he returned later, the infant was found head-down in a five-gallon bucket of water. He called 911, and both police and firefighters attempted CPR, but Riheemm Titus was pronounced dead upon arrival at Children’s Hospital in Oakland. 

Police arrested the child’s mother, Tammie Galloway, for felony child endangerment, possession of methamphetamine, and being under the influence of drugs. Police believe the baby either walked or crawled to the bucket in the kitchen and fell in as the mother lay sleeping on the couch. The county coroner performed an autopsy Monday. 

Attempted Robbery 

The cell phone proved mightier than the gun for two Berkeley roommates Sunday. According to police, a man and woman were standing outside their home in the 2800 block of Ellsworth Street a 7:40 p.m. when two men approached them, one pointing a gun at them and demanding money. The woman called 911, and as she was talking to the dispatcher, the would-be robbers fled without stealing anything. A sergeant in the area spotted two men who met the robbers description, but the ensuing block-by-block search failed to locate them. 

Flash Light Fight 

Police arrested a security guard at a Saturday night fraternity party for assaulting a UC Berkeley student. According to police, the security guard was ushering people out of the fraternity house shortly before 1 p.m. in the 2700 block on Bancroft Way when a student resisted, punching him in the face. Police said the guard then whacked the student with his metal flashlight, opening a gash on the young man’s face. Police stationed outside the party and rushed to break up the fight, arresting the security guard was on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon. The security guard has not filed charges against the student, who was not arrested.

High enough and deep enough into the Santa Cruz Mountains to help visitors forget its location between Silicon Valley’s concrete boxes and the touristy tackiness of the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, Felton is a perfect diversion and Excursion. 

Felton is a couple-block town full of mountain folks, big city escapees and present and former Silicon Valley commuters. The surrounding landscape is among the most beautiful on the planet, traversed via winding, narrow roads through the tree-covered Santa Cruz Mountains. 

Henry Cowell State Park, on Highway 9, has 1700 well-preserved acres of large, old-growth redwoods, many of them dating from the days when the Zayante Indians lived in the area. Hikers can enjoy 20 miles of trails and paths, the Redwood Grove and its self-guided nature path, a stand of Ponderosa pine, as well as Douglas fir, madrone, and oak. Trails—ranging in length from 0.4 to 3.3 miles—include Powder Mill Trail Head at the southeast corner of the park on Graham Hill Road, Rincon Fire Road on Highway 9 on the south side of the park, Ox Trail Head on Highway 9 on the west side, and Redwood Grove Trail, a flat, easy loop around the giant redwoods. 

The easiest amble is Redwood Grove Trail, a wheelchair- and stroller-friendly trek that starts near the park’s Nature Center (831-335-7077). Snacks are available at the Gift Shop (831-335-3174). 

Within Cowell Park, cyclists are welcome on Pipeline Road, Rincon Fire Road, Ridge Fire Road, and Powder Mill Fire Road, and horses are allowed on some trails. Parking for horse trailers can be found at Powder Mill Trail Head. 

The San Lorenzo River offers tasty temptations for anglers during steelhead and salmon season (November through February). 

The Roaring Camp & Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad runs historic steam and freight trains through dense redwood forests, Big Trees, Indian Creek, Grizzly Flats, Deer Valley, and one of the most drastic switchbacks in North America via Spring Canyon and Hallelujah Junction and down the hill into Santa Cruz. 

Isaac Graham settled here in the 1830s, attracting like-minded spirits to his wild encampment, which Mexican authorities soon named “Roaring Camp.” Graham developed the first sawmill west of the Mississippi here in 1842, though sparing the Big Trees—which soon became the first officially protected virgin stand of coastal redwoods. 

The Santa Cruz & Felton railroad began hauling tourists between Big Trees and the beach in 1875, and the Santa Cruz, Big Trees & Pacific Railway has been operating along the old route since 1985. Fares run $17 for those 13 and up and $12 for children 3-12. Children under 3 are free. Trains run at 11 a.m. daily, more frequently on weekends. Contact: (831) 335-4484, www.roaringcamp.com. 

Felton Covered Bridge Park occupies part of the original Rancho Zayante Land Grant, and features the highest covered bridge (35 feet) in the western United States, along with lots of grassy picnic area and kids’ playground equipment. Built in 1892, the Felton Covered Bridge served the main route through Felton until it was bypassed in 1938. Today, it’s maintained and supported by the Felton Volunteer Fire Department’s annual July pancake breakfast. 

Hallcrest Vineyards and The Organic Wine Works provide the most fun and interesting winery experiences in the Santa Cruz area. 

Many “organic wines” are made from organically grown grapes, with sulfites and other preservatives added later that can cause allergic reactions in some wine-bibbers. Hallcrest’s Organic Wine Works is one of the few truly organic producers in the United States, making wine from grapes that are both organically grown and processed without sulfites, “in accordance with the California Organic Foods Act of 1990 and certified by the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF).” 

Hallcrest Vineyards was founded in 1941 by Chafee Hall, who made wines from estate-planted White Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. Hall built the winery’s current buildings in 1945, producing his last wine in 1964, when he retired.  

John and Lorraine Schumacher and John’s sister Shirin purchased Hallcrest in September, 1987, restoring the name and the buildings. 

A budding biologist, 13, John Schumacher made his first wine at age 13 from plums plucked from a family tree while his parents were away. He went directly from high school to the U.C. Davis enology program, and today he’s to be found harvesting grapes or driving a forklift around the property. Enjoy their wine cartoon book available in the tasting room. 

Featured wines include Hallcrest Chardonnay, Clos de Jeannine (Rhone style red), Pinot Noir, Veilig, Syrah, Cabernet/Merlot blends, Cabernet Sauvignon; Organic Wine Works Chardonnay, Radical Red, A Notre Terre blend, Carignane, Syrah, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, and Vinotopia Ice Wine. 

Hallcrest Vineyards and The Organic Wine Works, 379 Felton Empire Road, Felton 95018; (831) 335-4441 or (800) 699-9463,www.webwinery.com/Hallcrest. Open 12 noon-5:00 p.m. daily. No tasting fee. Partly wheelchair accessible.  

My favorite restaurant in Felton is the copper-countered Cowboy Diner—a great place to watch sports or cartoons)—with its cowboy décor and chuckwagon cover draping the kitchen pass-through. 

The diner’s “outlaw cuisine” includes cowboy sushi, hot legs of chicken, prawn and mushroom quesadillas ($11), yam cakes ($5), ginger ribs ($14), and unusual large salads. Try the Wastenau of tilapia filet with jalapeno-lemon dressing ($12); the Bang Bang, Bang, with 8 ounces of marinated top sirloin on horseradish slaw ($12); the Big Bleu with charbroiled chicken, gorgonzola and hazelnuts ($9); or pork salad Annie with BBQ pulled pork ($10). A just plain green salad and corn bread is $6. Steaks and burgers are done to perfection, with special lunchtime burgers as low as $5.55, and crowned by the Ol’ Smokey—ground, smoked tri tip with melted cheese ($9). Coleslaw comes mounded on a separate plate with cilantro and basil and a pink marinated cabbage flower on top. Outdoor seating.  

Cowboy Diner, 6155 Highway 9, Felton 95018; (831) 335-2330. Beer and wine. Visa and MasterCard. Wheelchair accessible. 

Slightly south of “downtown” Felton is La Bruschetta, an Italian restaurant featuring Sicilian cuisine with Greek influences from the towns of Ragusa and Siracusa and some attributes of Arabian culture a la Palermo, all cooked from local organic ingredients and free range chickens. 

Chef/owner Luca Rubino creates breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Breakfast includes free range eggs and organic fruits, veggies, grains, flour, and dairy. Lunch features a variety of salads—from calamari and Caesar to oranges (all under $8)—panini, and a wide range of pastas. Dinner pastas are $14-$16, and entrees include swordfish stuffed with capers, black olives, onions raisins and pine nuts; prawns with garlic, capers and tomatoes; filet mignon baked with pancetta, onions, and rosemary, and veal rolled around mushroom and spinach stuffing topped with pecorino cheese (all $17-$20). Good Italian and short local wine list.  

La Bruschetta, 5447 Highway 9, Felton 95018; (831) 335-3337, fax: (831) 335-2556, www.labruschettasc.com. Open 8:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m. daily. Beer and wine. Visa, MasterCard. Wheelchair accessible.

Amidst a growing uneasy restlessness throughout the city over Berkeley City Council’s proposed March money-raising ballot measure, an almost eerie quiet settled over the issue at this week’s Council meeting. Only a handful of citizens showed up to take advantage of what Mayor Tom Bates defined as “Your chance to weigh in on the issue.” 

Meanwhile Council itself tweaked and tinkered with details of the parcel tax measure, trying to find just the right fit to both balance the city’s imminent budget deficit and get past two-thirds of the city’s voters in the spring. 

Mired like most California cities in an escalating series of rolling budget crises, Berkeley is looking at a $9.5 million deficit in fiscal year 2005 that could balloon to $19.5 million in five years. And that doesn’t take into account incoming Gov. Schwarzenegger’s promised repeal of the state Vehicle License Fee and other potential state hits to city income, the net effects of which could be huge. 

Council has until Nov. 25 to give final approval to the language of the parcel tax ballot measure in order for it to appear on the March, 2004 ballot. A two-thirds voter approval is needed to pass the measure. 

On Tuesday night, with an eye towards citizen concerns that it be as serious about making budget cuts as it is about asking for a raise in taxes, Council essentially asked city Budget Manager Paul Navazio and Acting City Manager Phil Kamlarz to divide the current projected five-year deficit in half, with the proposed parcel tax written to take care of one half of the shortfall and Council committing to cut the budget to make up the other half. 

Council also tentatively approved a proposal by Councilmember Kriss Worthington to insert a similar trigger mechanism for any possible state impacts on Berkeley’s budget: For any loss of currently budgeted state money up to approximately $5 million a year, the parcel tax will be automatically increased to cover one-half, and Council will make up the rest in cuts. 

Responding to a complaint coming first from Councilmember Gordon Wozniak, then from other councilmembers, that the parcel tax measure might have been better received if a public hearing had been held, Council set a hearing on the matter for its Nov. 18 meeting. 

Council also agreed to Mayor Tom Bates’ request to hold a closed door session on Nov. 18 to discuss strategies for a renegotiation of the city’s labor contracts. Such a renegotiation may be necessary in order for the city to make the projected budget cuts. At Councilmember Worthington’s insistence, Council also set aside time as well on the Nov. 18 for a briefing before the public on labor contracts. 

During the meeting, Mayor Bates praised “the liberals and progressives” of Berkeley City Council for keeping the city in good fiscal shape in bad economic times, noting the city’s continuing excellent bond rating. 

After the meeting, both Worthington and Wozniak said that Council had not done a good enough job in making a case to the Berkeley public that City Council had already been tightening the city’s budget belt in anticipation of the current fiscal crisis. 

They said that Council has made a total of $6 million in budget cuts over the past two fiscal years. Wozniak said that after taking an e-mail survey of his constituents, he found “about a 50-50 split for an against the measure.” 

Wozniak said that given the fact that his council district has a larger percentage of homeowners than many other parts of Berkeley, the results were consistent with the findings of a recent poll undertaken at the request of the Mayor’s Revenue Task Force. 

Wozniak said he believed his constituents were taking the issue “thoughtfully and seriously,” and noted that a number of people opposed to the parcel tax “came up with some good suggestions for budget cuts that we had not thought of.” 

Mayoral aide Cisco DeVries said a day after the meeting that he believed a large number of citizens “may be waiting to be convinced about the parcel tax. If people had already made up their minds, they might have come out in larger numbers to the Council meeting to voice their opinion. I think that people are waiting to hear the arguments as we get closer to the actual vote. They’re listening.” 

DeVries also fended off criticism that the mayor and Council might have erred in not starting the process earlier to try to convince people for the need of a parcel tax increase, or might have waited to put the measure on the November ballot. 

“I came in here with Mayor Bates (when he was first elected a year ago) and that’s pretty much what we’ve been dealing with, the budget crisis,” DeVries said. “I think what’s happening is that because of an accumulation of events, [the budget crisis] is just now becoming a reality to the citizens. They’re just beginning to engage in it. I’m not certain that this could have happened any sooner. And if we had waited to put the measure on the ballot in November, Council wouldn’t be holding these discussions on it now—there wouldn’t be this sense of urgency.” 

DeVries also said that putting the parcel tax measure off until November would be fiscally irresponsible. “In the event that the measure didn’t pass at that time,” he explained, “we’d have to start making cuts midway into the fiscal year. That would make everything much more difficult.” 

At its Tuesday meeting Council also tinkered with the language of proposed ballot measures that would alter the way elections are conducted in Berkeley, including lowering the percentage a Berkeley candidate needs to win an election outright without triggering a runoff, lengthening the time between the initial election and a runoff, altering the number of signatures needed to land a slot on the ballot and add a filing fee to requirements for candidates who want a slot on city election ballots. 

In addition, Council is considering adding a ballot measure that would authorize Council to consider adopting Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) at such time as it becomes available in Alameda County. 

IRV can’t be implemented without changes in the city charter, the county and state election codes, and in the software installed in the county’s new touchscreen computerized voting machines, according to City Clerk Sherry Kelly. The process would take a minimum of two to three election cycles, she estimates, 

Language for all of these proposed March ballot measures must also be finalized by Council’s Nov. 25 meeting.

FRIDAY, NOV. 7 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Anthony Adamthwaite, Prof. of History, UCB, on “European and American Relations.” 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. 

“War on Terror: A War on the People of the Philippines” at 7:30 p.m. at Marian Hall, St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. 843-2244.  

“Are Americans Still Liberal After all These Years?” with Prof. David Tabb at 7:30 p.m. at Congregation Beth El, 2301 Vine St. 848-3988, ext. 26. 

“Rumi: The Way of the Heart,” with Dr. Andrew Vidich, at 7:15 p.m. St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Sponsored by the Science of Spirituality. 707-226-7703. www.sos-ca.org 

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

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. 496-6000, ext. 135. www.bpf.org 

Overeaters Anonymous meets at 1:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Church at Solano and The Alameda. 525-5231. 

SATURDAY, NOV. 8 

A Walking Tour of Gymnosperms, a diverse assemblage of cone-bearing plants, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Cost is $5. Registration required, space is limited. Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-8155. www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden  

Canoes in Sloughs Join Save The Bay as we explore Arrow- 

head Marsh, one of the Bay’s hidden gems, from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Cost is $25. Pre-registration required. 231-9430. www.aoinstitute.org 

“The Untold Story of the CIA Coup in Iran,” with Cyrus Bina, Professor of Economics at Univ. of Minnesota, Morris Mansour Farhang, Professor of International Relations at Bennington College, and Nikki Keddie, Emeritus Professor of History at UCLA, at 6 p.m. in the Valley Life Science Building, Room 2050, UC Campus. 684-4781. 

Practical Art Fair, from 1 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Article Pract, 5010 Telegraph Ave. 652 7435. www.articlepract.com  

An Unholy Pagan Feast Day of the Antlered One Potluck, with live Tribal Metal, at 8 p.m. at the Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 540-0751. 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class on Responding to Terrorism 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 call 981-5506. 

Government Information and Participation, a workshop on how to use the City of Berkeley website and obtain information, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the Central Library, 3rd floor electronic classroom. Sponsored by the City Clerk Dept. 981-6900. 

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, 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 at 848-7800. 

“Angst in the Moment: An Aesthetic Spirituality of Grief” with Rev. Dr. Cheryl Kirk-Duggan, at 10:30 a.m. at Congregation Beth El, 2301 Vine St. 848-3988, ext. 26. 

SUNDAY, NOV. 9 

Crush Festival, sponsored by the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Radisson Hotel, 200 Marina Blvd. 549-7000. 

David Cobb, Green Party Candidate for President at 5 p.m. at the Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave. Part of a series of “Green Sunday” discussions sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County. 644-2293. 

Basic Computer Use and The Berkeley Public Library Catalog from 1 to 2 p.m. and “Finding It on the Internet” from 2 to 3 p.m. in the Central Library’s Electronic Classroom. Reservations required. Sign up at the 3rd floor Paging Desk or call 981-6221. 

“Jewish Voices of the California Gold Rush: A Documentary History,” with author Ava Kahn, at 10:30 a.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $4-$5. to register call 848-0237, ext.112.  

Tibetan Buddhism, Lama Palzang on “Padmasambhava: Founder of Tibetan Buddhism” 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, NOV. 10 

“Abandoned” an exposé of the results of the 1996 immigration law, with two videos, “The Betrayal of America’s Immigrants” and “Of Rights and Wrongs,” at 7 p.m. Grand Lake Neighborhood Center, 530 Lake Park Ave., Oakland. Wheelchair accessible. $1 suggested donation. East Bay Community Against the War. 658-8994. 

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. 

TUESDAY, NOV. 11 

Veteran’s Day - City Offices are Closed 

Berkeley Honors Veterans in Martin Luther King Civic Center Park at a ceremony at 11:11 a.m. the same time when the guns fell silent in 1918 to end World War I. Country Joe McDonald, a Navy veteran and Vietnam era anti-war singer/ 

songwriter will host the event. 

“Tribute to Veterans” Spenger's Fresh Fish Grotto offers retired military personnel a complimentary lunch or dinner entrée. 1919 Fourth St. 845-7771. 

Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters (BACH) meets at 7 p.m. at the Rockridge Library, 5366 College Ave., near Rockridge BART. 835-6303.  

“A Blistered Kind of Love: One Couple’s Trial by Trail,” written in alternating voices by Angela and Duffy Ballard, covering the couple’s adventures in the wilderness, at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 843-3533. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers We are a few slowpoke seniors who walk each Tuesday, meeting at 9:30 a.m. in the Little Farm parking lot. 215-7672.  

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Blood pressure checks will be given by Dr. Helen Christensen. 845-6830. 

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

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 12 

“Berkeley’s Future History” with panelists Becky O’Malley, Executive Editor of the “Berkeley Daily Planet,” Patrick Kennedy, Berkeley developer, and Darryl Moore, Peralta Community College Trustee, at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge. 981-2924. 

Biodiesel 101 - A Clean Homegrown Alternative Fuel panel discussion about an alternative fuel from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave., near Dwight Way. Sponsored by East Bay Biodiesel Internship, a homebrewer co-op. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Iraqi WomenToday, Amal Al-Khedairy and Nermin Al-Mufti, will speak at Mills College, Student Union, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., at 7:30 p.m. Sponsored by the Women’s Leadership Institute. 430-2019.  

Government Information and Participation, a workshop on how to use the City of Berkeley website and obtain information, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Central Library, 3rd floor electronic classroom. Sponsored by the City Clerk Dept. 981-6900. 

The Truth About the Meat and Dairy Industries with Lauren Ornelas of Viva!USA, a nonprofit vegan advocacy organization that campaigns on behalf of animals. At 7 p.m. at 2326 Tolman Hall, UC Campus. www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~boaa 

Fun with Acting class meets at 11 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Free, all are welcome. 985-0373. 

The Women’s Reader Theater will present “Changes and Challenges” at 1:30 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190. 

Bayswater Book Club meets at 7:30 pm at Liu's Kitchen, 1593 Solano Ave. 433-2911. 

Cancer Hope: Bridging the Gap Between Here and Hope with Karen M. Cooper, R.N., Holistic Health Education, at 6 p.m. Pharmaca Integrative, 1744 Solano Ave. 

Prose Writers Workshop We're a serious but lively bunch whose focus is on issues of craft, at 7 to 9 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut, at Rose. For information call 524-3034. 

Free Marketing Workshops, sponsored by Sisters Headquarters, for women entrepreneurs, every Wed. from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 643 17th St. Oakland. For information call 238-1100. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities. 

com/vigil4peace/vigil 

Amnesty International Berkeley Community Group meets at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1606 Bonita Ave., at Cedar St. 872-0768. 

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

Community Dances, traditional English and American dances, at 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. 

THURSDAY, NOV. 13 

“Food: From Ground to Table” with Judith Redmond of Full Belly Farm, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Rd. Part of the series of Topics in Ecology, Theology, and Ethics: Land and Agriculture. 649-2560.  

Equal Education “A Call to Action” on the unfulfilled promise of equal education with Elaine Jones, President of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, at 4:30 p.m. in Boalt Hall’s Booth Auditorium, UC Campus. 642-6969. 

“A Path of Refusal and Building Peace in the Middle East,” with Amir Terkel and Ceclie Surasky from A Jewish Voice for Peace, at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Gray Panthers, 1403 Addison St. 548-9696. 

Berkeley-Albany YMCA 100th Anniversary at 6:30 p.m. with a silent auction, dinner and awards ceremony at the Doubletree Hotel at the Berkeley Marina. Tickets are $75 and are available from 486-8406.  

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

So How’d You Become an Activist? with Dennis Bernstein, KPFA Radio investigative reporter, and host of “Flashpoints” and K. Ruby, founder and director of Wise Fool Puppet Intervention, at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St., at Bonita. Suggested donation $5. For more information call 528-5403. 

Gary P. Scott, international mountain guide, introduces “Summit Strategies: Secrets to Mastering the Everest in Your Life” at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave at Rose. 843-3533. 

Conflict Resolution Workshop with Armand Volks and Liliane Koziol at 7:30 p.m. at International House, Home Room, Piedmont and Bancroft Aves. 642-9460. http://ihouse.berkeley.edu 

Grizzly Peak Flyfishers hosts a program on fly fishing the Missouri River in Montana. Trapper Badovinac, a professional guide and author, will present a slide show from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Kensington Community Center, 59 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-0428. 

East Bay Mac User Group meets from 6 to 9 p.m. in the 3rd floor Community Room, Berkeley Central Library, 2090 Kittredge St. No admission or membership charge. http://ebmug.org 

ONGOING 

Current and Former Department of Energy Employees and Contractor Employees A joint U.S. Dept. of Energy and U.S. Dept. of Labor Traveling Resource Center will be in the Bay Area to assist current and former DOE and DOE contractor employees file claims under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act. The Traveling Resource Center will be at the Sheraton Four Points Hotel, 5115 Hop- 

yard Rd., Pleasanton, on Nov. 18 and 19, from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. For further information or to make an appointment to meet with a counselor please call, toll-free, 866-697-0841.  

We Give Thanks Month, Berkeley restaurants, Bar-Ristorante Raphael, Cold Stone Creamery, Downtown, La Note, Semi-Freddi’s, Skates, and Spengers will donate a portion of their proceeds to Berkeley Food and Housing Project during the month of November. 

Personnel Commissioner Sought for Alameda County School Board Responsibilities include administration of the Merit System. Meetings once a month. Applications must be received by Nov. 28. For details please contact Alameda County Office of Education, 670-7703. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Council Agenda Committee meets Mon., Nov. 10, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St., Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/agenda-committee 

Commission on Disability meets Wed., Nov. 12, 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., Nov. 12, 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., Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. at 1901 Russell St. Jackie Y. Griffin, 981-6195. www.ci.berke- 

ley.ca.us/commissions/library  

Planning Commission meets Wed., Nov. 12, 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., Nov. 12, 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., Nov. 12, 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., Nov. 13, 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, Nov. 13, 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., Nov. 13, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/zoning

RENTAL LAWS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Claremont-Elmwood Neighborhood Association president Dan Metzger’s commentary critical of the Berkeley City Council’s current parcel tax ballot measure proposal contained one very serious error (“CENA Gives Qualified ‘No” to Proposed Tax Hike,” Daily Planet, Nov. 4-6). 

In his op-ed article, Mr.Metzger states that rental property owners “cannot pass on any proposed parcel tax increase” to Berkeley renters. 

In fact, under the City of Berkeley’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance program, property tax increases—along with over a dozen other city, county and utility taxes, fees, assessments, etc,—are passed through to Berkeley renters as part of the “Annual General Adjustment” regulation. The AGA is the yearly citywide rent increase granted by the rent board to cover rental property operating expenses. 

Under the AGA regulation, all City of Berkeley parcel tax and assessment increases—for libraries, schools, parks, fire, sewer, etc.—are included as part of the yearly AGA formulation. 

Chris Kavanagh 

• 

SMALL SCHOOLS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Over 30 years ago my son entered Berkeley High and was overwhelmed by its size. Then he joined Agora, a small school within the high school. Agora was devoted to the creative arts. There he found a group of friends and an education. 

Nancy Ward 

• 

CHALLENGING W. 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

When the fire broke out in California, Davis was out there on the front lines, putting his money where his mouth is. Schwarzenegger was not. Some leaders are courageous, some are merely dime store cowboys. 

Who among the Democratic candidates would be brave enough to go over to Iraq, talk with our troops and work to get them safely home? 

Kucinich would. Braun. Clark. Sharpton. Kerry. Gephardt. Who else? Graham would have gone. Clinton, Gore—they would have. Jimmy Carter? FDR would have been there, wheelchair and all. 

George Bush—the Commander in Chief of our armed forces—is definitely brave enough to attend hundreds if not thousands of Republican fundraisers on our time clock. He’s obviously brave enough to tell the whoppers that sent our troops to war. But is he brave enough to actually go to Iraq and see firsthand the human suffering and devastation that he alone has created?  

And is he brave enough to attend the funeral of even one American G.I.? 

Jane Stillwater 

• 

NO NEW TAXES 

An open letter to Councilmember Wozniak: 

Thank you for being a voice of reason regarding the upcoming ballot measure to once again raise our hefty property taxes. I would like to see a proposal to close city offices one day a month, as Oakland is doing, to save money. Furthermore, highly paid union employees could have the choice of giving up a portion of their generous salaries and benefits or face layoffs. 

Recently the City of Berkeley agreed to give Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency (BOSS) a cash advance of $100,000 despite their irresponsible use of unqualified persons to do their bookkeeping and accounting which led to a fiscal nightmare. They also used up a $300,000 line of credit because “they didn’t want to let anyone go.” Yet, their union employees rejected future pay raises to keep things afloat. Will Berkeley ever be reimbursed the $100,000 advance? I doubt it. Most likely nonprofit BOSS is not paying Berkeley special taxes and fees in common with many or all Berkeley nonprofits, however irresponsibly managed. 

I am beginning to understand how Berkeley works. The progressive left stays in power by demonizing the small mom and pop landlords, which helps to win the vote of the students and others benefiting by rent control. Students are often highly idealistic and can afford to be since they never have to “foot the bill.” At the same time, multimillionaire developers like Patrick Kennedy get special breaks saving him hundreds of thousands of dollars. Low income homeowners get exemptions from many taxes, which leaves struggling homeowners stuck with the bill. 

On an end note, using the appeal that we must pass the tax increase in order to keep our fire stations open is just too transparent and an underhanded way to take advantage of a tragedy in drought-parched Southern California. Thanks again, 

Robin Wright  

• 

SUPPORT THE FCTC 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

In the midst of strife and division, the nations of the world have come together at the World Health Assembly’s 2003 meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, and unanimously adopted the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)—a groundbreaking treaty aiming to curb the global tobacco epidemic which claims nearly five million lives worldwide each year. Although the FCTC has received 192 signatories, it must be ratified by 40 countries by June, 2004 in order for it to become international law. Should this happen, the FCTC will take measures to protect global public health, including: banning tobacco advertising and promotion; full disclosure of ingredients in tobacco products; and monitoring of tobacco transnationals’ political influence. 

As an intern with the City of Berkeley Tobacco Prevention Program, I urge your readership to take action and contact Senators Feinstein and Boxer, urging them to publicly support the FCTC, and to demand the Bush administration sign the treaty, so that the Senate can ratify it. 

Laura Miller 

• 

RECOMMENDATION 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

If you care about international politics, run don’t walk to see The Revolution Will Not Be Televised at the Shattuck in downtown Berkeley. This amazing documentary was shot in the middle of the (ultimately unsuccessful) right-wing coup last year to oust popularly elected Pres. Chavez of Venezuela. You’ll not only be enlightened and informed—you’ll be in suspense! 

Rhoda Slanger 

• 

ANARCHY AND BOREDOM 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Becky O’Malley may be correct that “anybody with an ounce of anarchism in their blood” felt a kind of clandestine joy at the very public mini-scandal that erupted in San Francisco with “Chris Daly’s one-day coup” earlier in the month (“Muttering in the Ranks,” Daily Planet, Oct. 28-30). If that’s true, it must also be true that anybody with more than an ounce would find the whole thing totally boring—if they paid any attention to it at all. Similarly, the recent governor’s recall election, which was a media delight was ultimately forgotten in the wake of other media events: the firestorms and the impending trial of Scott Peterson.  

These days, the average person of voting age who is interested in the electoral process must know—almost intuitively—that elections are bought and sold by the same people who buy and sell the politicians (and who are becoming the same people who own the electronic voting machines). The policies pursued by elected officials are the ones that never get on ballots (or if they are, their effects are either curtailed or canceled by judges); cabinet posts, judgeships, and the other critical executive appointments have been removed from the electorate from the beginning of the independent (from England) American political process. This process isn’t corrupt; to be corrupted, the system had to have been previously based on justice. 

Anarchism is not just some emotionally based system of morality (despite the ignorant self parodies of most modern day anarchists), a kind of common sense impolite liberalism. Anarchists have consistently been opposed to the electoral shell game, and for plenty of good reasons. The rivalries in the San Francisco city government are as relevant to the lives of anarchists as the medieval arguments about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Those who are interested will find plenty to talk about; those for whom such things are annoying distractions from living will act accordingly. 

If it is humiliating to be ruled by politicians, how much more humiliating is it to choose them? 

C. Boles 

• 

CORRECTION CORRECTION 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Justin Azadivar’s Nov. 4 letter to the editor is even more sloppy and irresponsible than the article he condemns. 

Azadivar states that the article about the recently charged Berkeley students “contained several irresponsible errors”, and yet he can only point out two, not several at all. Of the two errors actually cited, the first is merely a wrong date, and even Azadivar admits it’s a “mere technical” error. And his second “error” is not an error at all, but just a suspicion on Azadivar’s part. He argues that the estimate of more than 4,000 student at the rally where the three were arrested is not true. Azadivar has no proof of this. He does not point to any source that counters that estimate. He just feels that you cannot trust the rally organizers who provided the estimate. 

Two does not equal several. Suspicion does not equal an error. I’d say the definition of irresponsible is condemning a story without backing up the claims. 

Sherman Boyson 

Elia Arce was leading a rehearsal with five artists at San Francisco’s Galeria de la Raza on a recent Thursday evening when a trio of street musicians walked by, playing Mexican Norteño music. 

Arce invited them in. A few hours later they had become part of the performance, and by Friday night they were onstage. 

“I believe so much in process,” said Arce, a forty-two year-old native of Costa Rica, who is directing an experimental theater piece on immigrant identity. Known as the Fruitvale Project, it opens tonight [Friday, Nov. 7] at La Peña in Berkeley, thanks to a grant from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. 

Under Arce’s guidance, five Latino spoken word artists have spent the last eight months in East Oakland’s Fruitvale. They spent the time interviewing residents to find characters who portray the immigrant experience in California, where one in four residents is foreign born. 

Fruitvale itself began with an influx of Germans, Portuguese and Italians in the 19th Century. More recently, Latinos and Asians have moved into this neighborhood that runs east of Interstate 880 in the flatlands of Oakland.  

The cast developed characters around different neighborhood figures, including an older Puerto Rican man, who says he knows every Puerto Rican in East Oakland, a gay Latino hairdresser, and a Cambodian refugee who works as a neighborhood “ambassador,” patrolling International Boulevard and reporting violations.  

“I didn’t tell them, ‘You write about this person and you write about that person,’” said Arce. She told cast members to ask themselves, “What is interesting to you? Then extend it to the community, so that there’s a revelation for you and the audience throughout the piece.” 

Finding the right dialogue was easy for the spoken word artists; it was the acting that came hard.  

Many rehearsal hours were spent getting the artists—who were used to working with words—to focus on their bodies, Arce said. 

“Our bodies are our home,” said Arce, who was 21 when came to the United States and has been directing for 16 years. “There are memories trapped inside our bodies,” an idea she feels is especially important for immigrants “because home is usually somewhere far away.” 

The actors said the process worked. 

“I felt like Elia was the perfect person to lead this, because she gets people to believe in themselves and their own organic process” said Paul Flores, who had never acted, and spent days reviewing tapes of his interviews to create characters like Jose, a 16-year-old Chicano Raiders fan struggling with responsibility, and Joe, a homeless Native American with a drinking problem. 

He said Arce’s technique was unusual.  

“You have to be very patient,” said Flores. “She comes in with a general idea, but the means by which we accomplish our goal isn’t articulated. All of a sudden, we’re lying on the floor in rehearsal for fifteen minutes, asking ourselves what stories are in our knees, what stories are in our shoulder blades.” 

Meditation helped Flores to understand and create his characters. “It’s really important to me to track the dynamic of transition,” he said “I wanted to show how complex their experience was. I wanted to tell the story of how they got there. 

“She pushes you to places where you didn’t think you could go, where you’re not comfortable going at first,” said Pablo Rodriguez, who drew inspiration for one of his pieces from the selfless dedication of the staff of Fruitvale’s Spanish Speaking Citizens Foundation. The workers there reminded him of the “tamale makers” from his youth who made sure that everyone had enough to eat. 

“When I first started working with Elia, the subject was very general,” he said, “she pushed me to talk about personal issues—personal relationships at first and family secrets. It’s been a really cool process where you face some demons from the past, and grow as an artist. I don’t create in the same way I did two years ago because of Elia.” 

Arce has been doing community theater since 1986. In addition to her solo work, she’s worked on productions with HIV positive immigrants in Houston, and the homeless on Skid Row in Los Angeles.  

Six years ago she moved to a cabin in the Southern California desert near Joshua Tree National Monument, where she lives with her dog, cat, and musician boyfriend. 

“The desert has been my spiritual home,” said Arce. “The moment I got there, the connection to the land is immediate, and it’s almost like the land is in charge.”  

She handles preproduction work from her desert home, where she said she has “a computer, a fax machine, all the different gadgets that are necessary to get the work done. You just work at a different speed.” 

Arce said she joined the Fruitvale Project because “of the need to believe we can support each other as colleagues.” 

“It’s a way for me to empower a new generation of Latino artists that is coming behind me, and support them in their development as artists and in their access to more mainstream venues,” she said. 

The Fruitvale Project has had several public showings but remains a work in progress, so none of the cast is quite sure what the show will be like on opening night. 

That’s fine with Arce, who says she’s happy to let the cast decide what works for them. “Every artist’s process of creation is different,” she says. “You never know what’s going to happen until you do it.” 

The Fruitvale Project is showing Friday, Nov. 7, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center as part of the Hecho en Califas festival. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. The next performance is at Fremont High School in Oakland Thursday, Nov. 13, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $1 at the door.

With civil rights in retreat in the wake of the Patriot Act and the prosecutorial zeal of Attorney General John Ashcroft, venerable Berkeley activist/attorney Ann Fagan Ginger has launched a counterattack, starting with a contest to identify the most egregious examples of trampled rights in the Bush era. 

Ginger, founder and director of Berkeley’s well–known Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute, will compile the worst examples into a new book, Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations Since 9/11, which will form the centerpiece of a campaign to regain liberties lost to the war on terror. 

The Institute is offering a $50 reward for the clearest and most accurate description of a domestic post-9/11 human rights violation. 

Ginger said the book will serve as documentation for the Institute’s push to force local, state, and national bodies to respect the international laws protecting human rights.  

Throughout its history, the Meiklejohn Institute has played a leading role in documenting human rights abuses, and chronicled such well-known events such as the Angela Davis case and the Free Speech Movement. 

Ginger founded the Institute in 1965, but she’s been a dynamo on the Left since before the McCarthy period, drawing enough attention from J. Edgar Hoover’s Red Squads to amass a foot-thick FBI file documenting her work for the National Lawyers Guild (which once occupied a spot on the attorney general’s published compendium of subversive organizations), her organizing efforts for the United Electrical Workers, and her famous speech from atop a police car during the days of the Free Speech Movement. 

She’s written books, taught at universities and colleges—including San Francisco State, UC Berkeley and Hastings—and served as the first chair of Berkeley’s Peace and Justice Commission. 

It was law school that brought Ginger to Berkeley 44 years ago, when she started work on her master’s degree at Boalt Hall. Today, at 78, she’s working as hard as ever, pursuing the struggle begun long ago. 

“The Institute and I as a human being have been around a long time, and I am convinced that since 9/11 we have seen the worst violation of civil rights of my lifetime—and that includes the McCarthy period,” she said. 

The upcoming book and the attendant campaign are means to address the crisis. 

Ginger says documentation readily available to anyone leads to the conclusion that the Bush Administration is set on destroying the system as we know it, pushing aside human and civil rights. 

“[People like Assistant Secretary of State Paul] Wolfowitz and [Vice President Dick] Cheney and [National Security Council staffer] Elliott Abrams have contempt for democratic decision-making,” she said. All three are prominent neoconservatives and key figures in the Project for a New American Century, the organizational fountainhead of many Bush foreign and domestic policies. 

“I think there is a plan that has been written out. They have an open plan to destroy the democratic system of government and replace the capitalist system with a fascist military regime with a few monopoly corporations,” Ginger says, adding that she has the documentation to prove it. 

During the McCarthy era—when the State Department refused to give her a passport because of her activism—countless dissidents were illegally jailed, deported, fired, blacklisted, wiretapped and otherwise terrorized. 

“What people don’t realize is the Patriot Act made all of that stuff legal,” she said. “The good news is there is something called the U.N.,” she said. 

Her book will be used to help the United Nations monitor and end abuse by forcing compliance with already existing human rights treaties. 

It’s a complicated strategy, but Ginger spells it out in crisp, well-chosen words.  

First comes the compilation of the reports. Institute staff have already gathered more than 100 incidents from news reports and other sources, and more are coming from the public and through entries to the contest—which officially ends Nov. 10. 

Once the report is published, the Institute will formally submit each violation to the Office of the Inspector General of each government agency involved. 

Inspector General offices are internal enforcement agencies attached to every federal department and are charged with investigating and reporting on governmental fraud and misconduct. 

The Inspector General’s staff of the Environmental Protection Agency recently captured headlines for exposing the serious health risks faced by workers in the ruins of the World Trade Center—dangers long denied in public EPA pronouncements. 

The Meiklejohn Institute will also send its report to Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is responsible for submitting reports to U.N. Committees that enforce the human rights treaties that cover the abuses Ginger cites.  

This is the crucial point in the Institute’s strategy and what she believes is the most effective way to create change through such treaties as the U.N. Charter, the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention Against Torture, and the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination—all signed by a president of the United States and ratified by the Senate. 

Under the Constitution, treaty provisions are legally supreme to any local, state or national statutes, and the government is bound to comply. 

Though the treaties require the U.S. to submit reports to the U.N. committees that govern them, Washington has been consistently late and evasive in fulfilling those obligations, she says. Ginger points out that while the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination—passed by the U.N. in 1969 but not adopted by the United States until 1994—requires signatories to submit a report every two years, the U.S. delayed submission of its initial report until 2001, complying then only because the U.S. knew it would otherwise face a challenge at the upcoming U.N. World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa. 

The Institute’s report will be tailored to augment the mandated reporters and force the secretary of state to comply with international obligations. 

After the reports have been submitted to the U.N. bodies, Ginger says, the next step is for concerned citizens to attend the committee meetings where the U.S. reports are reviewed and increase the pressure on Washington to comply. 

Ginger urges the media to attend and report on the proceedings, which she says would help persuade local, state and federal offices to carry out the U.N. Committee’s suggestions. 

The overall strategy is modeled in part on past campaigns focused on repressive regimes in South Africa and East Timor. 

Ginger notes that even though the Supreme Court ordered school desegregation in 1954, segregation remained widespread because the court lacked a mechanism to enforce their ruling.  

Even in Berkeley, seven more years passed before local schools were finally desegregated, she says, and it was lobbying by concerned citizens—including Ginger, who was prominently involved in the local effort—and not the court’s decision that finally brought change. 

Meiklejohn Institute staff will organize the rights violations they collect into 28 categories. Examples already documented include reports of abuse in prisons, violence against immigrants, and the police response to anti-war protest at the Port of Oakland. 

Ginger says she expects the book to be released early next year, though they haven’t yet found a publisher 

Anyone wishing to submit an instance for the contest can send their example by e-mail to award@mcli.org, by fax to 848-6008 or via snail mail to Box 673, Berkeley, CA 94701-0673. Entries arriving after Nov. 10 will still be considered for the report. 

For more information and to contact the center directly, mcli@igc.org or 848-0599.

FRIDAY, NOV. 7 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

Kathleen Flanigan, “Birds of a Feather,” recent work including furniture. Reception from 5 to 8 p.m. at Epoch Gallery, 2284 Fulton St. 849-4596. 

“Art and Activism” Reception from 5 to 8 p.m., featuring Madonna Thunder Hawk, landscape photographer Justin Carder Black and social commentary painter Joanna Salska. Exhibition runs to Nov. 30. North Gate Gallery, 1862 Euclid. 540-8508.  

THEATER 

Traveling Jewish Theater, “Windows and Mirrors” stories by Paley, Malamud and Biller, at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Theater. Tickets are $20-$24. 415-285-8080.  

Impact Theater, “Macbeth” directed by Melissa Hillman, opens at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. www.impacttheater.com 

FILM 

Margaret Mead Film and Video Festival: “Football, Iranian Style” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Weather Underground,” with a post-film discussion with director Sam Green, producer Carrie Lozano, at 7:30 p.m. at The College Preparatory School, Buttner Auditorium, 6100 Broadway (north), Oakland. Free, but reservations required. 658-5202. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Timothy and Ishmael Reed will host a book signing for both their latest works at 3 p.m. at Vista Community College, 2020 Milvia St., Rm. 1.  

Simon Winchester looks at “The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary” at 12:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Adam Thirlwell discusses “Politics,” a novel, not about politics, but about sexual etiquette and other comedic topics, at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

West Coast A Cappella Showcase, with the UC Men’s Octet and California Golden Overtones at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. Tickets are $8-$10 and are available from 642-3880. www.mensoctet.com 

Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $26-$46. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Stompy Jones plays small band music of the ‘30s, ‘40s, and ‘50s at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Vanessa Morrison and Roberta Chevrette perform indy folk at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$15. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Asylum Street Spankers at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $14. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

The Fruitvale Project, a community-based experimental performance featuring Latino spoken word artists at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10 in advance, $12 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Henri-Pierre Koubaka performs ancient and contemporary mandingo music at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Sliding scale donation $6-$15. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Trio Paradisio, a dinner fund-raiser for the Jazz School, at 8:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Chris Smither, blues-based originals, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50 in advance, $18.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

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

irishpub.com 

Time for Living, Physical Challenge, Tarkaru, Wear the Mark at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Realistic at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

JND, Coby Brown, Shaken at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes On Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

SATURDAY, NOV. 8 

CHILDREN  

“The Wonderful World of Zaal,” a Persian legend, performed by Word For Word, at 3:30 p.m. at the Claremont Branch Library. Free, sponsored by the Friends of the Berkeley Public Library. 981-6224. 

Hillside Players, “Tangled Tales: Wishes, Witches and Weddings,” favorite fairy tales intertwined in comedy, at 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets are $7 for adults, and $4 for children under 12, seniors and students. 2286 Cedar St. 384-6418. 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

Independent Designer Wearables and Accessories brings together twelve of the Bay Area’s most talented independent artists and designers. From 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sun. to 5 p.m. ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527. www.accigallery.com 

THEATER 

Traveling Jewish Theater, “Windows and Mirrors” See listing for Nov. 7. 

Word for Word, “The Killing Blanket” a short story about the Choctaw Nation by Rilla Askew, at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge, at 1 p.m. Free. 981-6139. 

FILM 

A Short History of Polish Animation, Program 1, at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Paul Davidson discusses his research into customer service departments in “Consumer Joe: Harassing Corporate America, One Letter at a Time,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

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

Alan Colmes, co-host of Fox News’s “Hannity and Colmes,” talks about his new book, “Red, White and Liberal,” at 2 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 

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

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Music of Three Worlds Concert, Western, Arabic and African traditions, at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. A conversation with Jacob Needleman will follow the performance. Tickets are $20-$30. 763-2869. www.musicofthreeworlds.com 

Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $26-$46. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Choreographers’ Performance Alliance, “Works in the Works” at 7:30 p.m. at Eighth Street Studio, 2525 Eighth St. Cost is $10. 644-1788, ext. 2. 

Volti “OUR America is Singing!” at 8 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $8-$20 and are available from 415-771-3352. www.voltisf.org 

Dick Hindman Trio, original music, jazz standards and Brazilian favorites at 8 p.m. at the Jazz- 

school. Cost is $10-$15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Industrial Jazz Group performs at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $10-$15. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Green Chimneys at 2 p.m. at Down Home Music, 10341 San Pablo Ave. El Cerrito. 525-2129.  

Lichi Fuentes, CD release party at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12 in advance, $14 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Chris Smither, blues-based originals, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50 in advance, $18.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Peter Tosh Tribute with Andrew Tosh and Sister I-Live at 9:30 p.m., at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Palm Wine Boys perform West African influenced folk at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Donation of $7-$15. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Brazilian Forro Party and Fundraiser for the Capoeira Institute, at 9 p.m. at Café de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck. Cost is $10-$12. 649-1686.  

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

www.starryploughpub.com 

Rhonda Benin at 8:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

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

Thought Riot, F Minus, Affront, Go it Alone at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Rory Snyder, saxophonist, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

The Industrial Jazz Group, showcasing the music of Andrew Durkin at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donations of $6-$15 suggested. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Boys Gone Wild! and 20 Second Cycle at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes On Telegraph. Cost is $8. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Hacksaw to the Throat, Fighting Riley, Kamikaze Vespa, The Hep, Ditch Raymond at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes On Telegraph. Cost is $6. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

SUNDAY, NOV. 9 

CHILDREN 

Hillside Players, “Tangled Tales: Wishes, Witches and Weddings,” at 2 p.m. See listing for Nov. 8. 

EXHIBITIONS 

Art Show on Allston Way, between Shattuck and Oxford from noon to 7 p.m., featuring 30 artists and 15 poets. Sponsored by Jupiter and organized by A. Roberts of Guerrilla Gallery. 

THEATER 

Traveling Jewish Theater, “Windows and Mirrors” at 2 and 7 p.m. See listing for Nov. 7. 

FILM 

A Short History of Polish Animation, Program 2 at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Tangled Roots,” with filmmaker and author Heidi Schmidt Emberling, at 2 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $5. 848-0237, ext. 112.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Gene(sis): Contemporary Art Explores Human Genomics, Curator’s Talk with Constance Lewallen at 1 p.m., and Lecture with Barbara Stafford at 3 p.m. Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Poetry Flash with Jacqueline Berger and Virginia Chase Sutton at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

“Going Home to a Landscape: Writings by Filipinas” with Marianne Villanueva, Barbara Pulmano Reyes, Michelle Macaraeg Bautista, Angela Narciso Torres, and Catalina Cariaga at 3 p.m. at Eastwind Books, 2066 University Ave. 548-2350. 

“Towards an Archeology of the Soul” lecture with Berkeley author/ritualist, Antero Alli, at 5 p.m. at Alaya Bookstore, 1713 University Ave. 548-4701. www. 

verticalpool.com/archeology 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, “Splendori Italiani,” with British soprano Emma Kirkby at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $29-$60. 415-392-4400. www.philharmonia.org 

Jazz/Avant Garde Mass at 10 a.m. at All Souls Episcopal Church, 2220 Cedar St. With Tom Bickley, recorder, Paul Hanson, bassoon, saxophone, Doug Morton, trumpet, John Schott, guitar, Ches Smith, percussion, and Marsha Thomas-Cooke, vocals. 848-1755. 

Life of the Worlds: Journeys in Jewish Sacred Music with Richard Kaplan in Concert at 7:30 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. $10 donation. 848-0237, ext. 112.  

Live Oak Concert with David Ryther, violin, at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. Tickets are $8-$10. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

“Waging Peace” UC Alumni Chorus, featuring songs of nonviolence and reconciliation, at 3 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $10-$15, available from 643-9645 or at the door. www.ucac.net 

Emanuel Ax, pianist, at 3 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$56. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Hawaiian Music Environmental Benefit at 6 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $12. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Bill Amatneek and Charlie Chin, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Aya de Leon, one woman hip-hop show with Bill Santiago’s “Spanish 101” at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $6 for the matinee, $12 for the evening. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Montclair Women’s Big Band, celebrating the release of their first CD, at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

UpSurge, with Raymond Nat Turner and Zigi Lowenberg, performs jazz poetry at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Sliding scale donation $8-$15. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

MONDAY, NOV. 10 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

Worth Ryder Gallery, “Hand Pulled: Independent Work in Printmaking” reception 4 to 6 p.m. 116 Krober Hall, UC Campus. 642-2582. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jim Campbell/Matix 208, Art Technology and Culture Colloquium at 7:30 p.m., Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Page to Stage, a conversation with playwright David Edgar and Frontline/World series editor Stephen Talbot on “Continental Divide” at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison St. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Poetry Express, featuring Dale Jenson and Wendy Brown, from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

Mary Monroe reads from her new novel, “God Still Don’t Like Ugly” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www. 

blackoakbooks.com 

TUESDAY, NOV. 11 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Paula Gunn Allen decribes a heroine from the Native American perspective in “Pocahontas: Medicine Woman, Spy, Entrepreneur,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

The Whole Note Poetry Series, with Julia Vinograd and Debra Grace Khattab at 7 p.m. at The Beanery, 2925 College Ave. 549-9093. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Cesaria Evora, Cape Verdean chanteuse, at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $24-$48. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Courtableu at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Ken Waldman, Alaska’s fiddling poet, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50 advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

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, NOV. 12 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Chiapas- At the Edge of Light” with photographer Jutta Meier Wiedenbach at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

FILM 

Standby: No Technical Difficulties, Program 2 at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa. 

berkeley.edu 

THEATER 

Senior Readers’ Theatre, “Changes and Challenges” written and produced by a Berkeley feminist group, at 1:15 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center, Hearst Ave. and MLK, Jr. Way. Free. 724-2779. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

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

Ron George introduces his anthology of 26 stories “The Kindness of Strangers,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Harsha Ram introduces, “Imperial Sublime: A Russian Poetics of Empire” at 5:30 p.m. at University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way. 548-0585. 

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 

Wang Ping will read from “The Magic Whip, a collection of her poetry, at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert Voice Faculty Recital at the Chevron Auditorium at International House, corner of Bancroft and Piedmont Aves. Admission is free. 642-4864. 

Cesaria Evora, Cape Verdean chanteuse, at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $24-$48. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

NC Blue Connection at 9 p.m. with a West Coast Swing dance lesson with Nick and Shanna at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Terri Hendrix with Lloyd Maines, Grammy-winning “Texas square peg” at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50 advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

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

Muchas Bluegracias, Belle Monroe and Her Brew Glass Boys, Ho’Down Quartet at 9 p.m. at Blakes On Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Sam Bevan Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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

THURSDAY, NOV. 13 

THEATER 

Alchemy Works, “Where There’s a Wil(l), There’s a Play” a collection of short works by, or inspired by famous Wils. At 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Theater. Tickets are $10-$15 and are available from 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

FILM 

Exhibiting Signs of Age, screening of “Aging in America: The Years Ahead” at 5:30 p.m. and Margaret Mead Film and Video Festival, “The Day I will never Forget” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Meredith Maran reads from her new book, “Dirty: A Search for Answers Inside America's Teenage Drug Epidemic,” in a benefit for Bay Area Community Resources at 7:30 p.m. at Diesel Bookstore, 5433 Colllege Ave. 653-9965.  

Gallery Talk: Ecuadorian Fiestas with Grace Johnson, curator of Latin American ethnography ath the San Diego Museum of Man, at noon at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Kroeber Hall, Bancroft Way at College Ave. Free with museum admission. 643-7648.  

Exhibiting Signs of Age, Curator’s Talk with Beth Dungan at 12:15 p.m., Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Going Home to a Landscape: Writings by Filipinas,” with several of the contributors in person, 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 Dorothy Jesse Beagle and Raymond Nat Turner, followed by an open mic, at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. For information call 526-5985 or 205-1749.  

University Press Books Anniversary Party, with author Gerald Nachman, who will present his book, “Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s,” from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 2430 Bancroft Way. 548-0585. 

Carol Bergman reads from “Another Day in Paradise: International Humanitarian Workers Tell Their Stories” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tim Barsky and Everyday Ensemble, musical theater, 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 

Tin Hat Trio, chamber folk ensemble, 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 

Liberian Schools Benefit with Sia Amma at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10-$20 sliding scale. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Alfonso Maya, CD release concert, at 7:30 p.m., at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Faraway Brothers and Bingo Band at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

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

Scott Hill performs modern jazz at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Sliding scale donation $7-$15. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

CV1 at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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

www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Berkeley failed to bill more than $250,000 for what city staff calls “escaped” property tax assessments over the past four years on seven city developments, according to a report given City Council this week by Acting City Manager Phil Kamlarz. 

The report followed a citizen complaint and a later Daily Planet article reporting that at least two buildings put up and managed by prominent Berkeley developer Patrick Kennedy had escaped Berkeley fee and assessment billings for several years. 

Kamlarz’s report didn’t indicate when owners would be billed for the unassessed taxes. 

Four of the properties—the Gaia Building on Allston Way, the Berkeleyan on Oxford Street, Acton Courtyard on Acton Way, and the Artech Building on Milvia Street—were developed by Kennedy’s Berkeley-based Panoramic Interests. 

Kamlarz wrote that a staff investigation had revealed that Kennedy’s companies were underbilled a net total of $163,317 for the four properties since the 2000-2001 fiscal year, including more than $72,000 for the Gaia Building and more than $68,000 for the Berkeleyan. 

Staff also reported that the city had overbilled Kennedy’s company nearly $6,000 on the Artech Building, an amount factored into the developer’s $163,000 bill. 

“Mr. Kennedy and staff have met and reached agreement on the square feet to be taxed for each property, the dollar amounts calculated related to each, and the total amount due by property,” Kamlarz wrote. 

The other three properties on the “escaped assessments” list included Oak Court Apartments on Allston Way, developed by Berkeley developer Avi Nevo ($39,521 in unbilled assessments over the past two years), the Renaissance Apartments on University Avenue ($45,859 in unbilled assessments over the past four years), and the Bank of America Building on Shattuck Avenue near Andronico’s ($19,260 in unbilled assessments over the past three years). 

The Daily Planet told Budget Manager Paul Navazio about the Bank of America building’s possible status as an unbilled property two weeks ago. 

Kamlarz said that the Gaia, Oak Court, and Acton Courtyard buildings have not yet received final Certificates of Occupancy from the city. 

Last month, the city manager’s office, over the signature of retiring City Manager Weldon Rucker, issued a memo to the mayor and City Council indicating that city staff was currently holding off billing property fees and taxes while a building was operating under a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (TCO). 

The October Rucker memo indicated that this policy was now being changed by city staff to bill such properties even before a final certificate was issued. 

According to the Kamlarz report, the Berkeleyan escaped assessments because its permanent Certificate of Occupancy, issued in 2000, “was not correctly entered into the system,” the Bank of America Building was overlooked “due to a staff data entry error,” and the Renaissance Apartment Building was improperly listed as residential, rather than mixed use. Kalmarz said that the Artech Building was improperly listed at the higher rate of commercial rather than mixed use, resulting in the overbilling to Kennedy. 

Kamlarz also listed three properties—a light industrial building at 1101 Eighth Street, a mixed-use commercial-apartment space at 2508 Channing Way, and the Redwood Gardens Senior Citizens apartments on Derby Street—where “significant amounts of either billable or lost revenue” may be discovered. 

A check of the Alameda County property assessment rolls shows that neither of these three properties paid Berkeley fees and assessments for the current tax year. Kalmarz said that there is an additional 121,000 square feet of small new construction, primarily single-family home additions, on which the city may be able to assess unbilled taxes. 

The Kalmarz memo said that city staff would “continue working on improving the various work processes and automated systems” of the city’s tax billings, and would report its progress back to Council “at regular intervals beginning in January 2004.”

A current job recruitment ad for a Berkeley city planner states that in Berkeley, “planners set the pace.” As one who once thought that the citizens and their elected representatives “set the pace” in Berkeley, I ask: Is this marketing hype, wishful thinking, or remarkable honesty from our enthusiastic planners? Is our planning department really a self-directed agency intent on implementing its own vision, an extreme version of “smart growth,” instead of Berkeley’s plans and laws? Let’s see…  

Berkeley’s General Plan states: “It is not the intent of the General Plan to upzone each zoning district to the maximum allowed within the range.” But this is exactly what our planners do—routinely. 

Example 1: The now notorious “flying bungalow” at 3045 Shattuck Ave. Here staff helped the applicant turn a one-story bungalow into a three-story roominghouse design without any public review, even though most expert observers agree that the project should have been sent to a public hearing on several legal grounds. But that might have resulted in a smaller building similar to its neighbors—so why risk it? City Council was not pleased. 

Example 2: Our new planning director, Dan Marks, and others have identified the transition zone between new big buildings on transit corridors and neighborhood homes as an unresolved problem. Does our planning staff have any aesthetically or socially sensitive plan for these areas? Evidently not. In fact, they have harassed and stonewalled a popular, award-winning developer, John Coreris, who specializes in multi-unit townhouses, a type of neighborhood-friendly, affordable, moderate-density development that might be just right for some of these areas. His projects meet all the zoning and smart growth standards, but they are not big enough for our planners, who prefer to place five-story buildings with tiny apartments next to neighborhood bungalows and Victorians, with the inevitable result that the bungalows, the Victorians, and the neighborhoods will all eventually disappear. Since Mr. Marks seems open to good ideas, and since the mayor has recently expressed an interest in better development, I recommend that Mr. Marks and the mayor meet with Mr. Coreris before our “pace-setting planners” drive him out of town completely.  

Example 3: The proposed American Baptist Seminary of the West development on Benvenue Avenue near Dwight Way. This project originally required five use permits and a variance, including: a permit to demolish historical buildings on a valued historical street; a permit to convert large apartments into tiny ones; a permit to introduce offices and classrooms onto an at-risk street slated for residential protection under the Southside plan; a permit to build a new building almost five times the size of the block average; and a variance to avoid residential open space requirements. 

How did staff respond to this grandiose project requiring so many “exceptions” to our local zoning goals? Did they say to the applicant, “I’m sorry, but we cannot endorse this project”? No, they fought ferociously for the project in ways both legal and illegal. A small example of staff’s attitude: Although the building—at 65 feet—is 17 feet taller than the tallest building on the block and twice the height of the average, staff wrote that the size of the building was ”not…out of context with its surrounding neighborhood.” It perverts reality to call such an extreme mathematical outlier “in context.” Then, when it was discovered that the seminary and its project were in gross violation of the Seminary’s existing use permit, staff continued to back the project, although City Council has been less enthusiastic about it.  

Example 4: The seminary neighborhood is a classic walking neighborhood. The Urban Land Institute, a smart growth group, states that buildings “need not exceed 3 stories to accommodate compact development,” and that “primary buildings in walkable neighborhoods shall not exceed 35 feet…” Smart growth urban infill guidelines recommend more open space, more parking, smaller buildings, and greater housing variety than Berkeley’s plans, codes, and decision makers now call for, and staff constantly pushes for exceptions even to our standards. What does this mean? It means that Berkeley, which has for decades been practicing real smart growth, accommodating a much higher density than other Bay Area cities, has now adopted an untested, extreme land use policy, masochistic in the short term and damaging in the long term. Many losses will not only be damaging, they will be irreversible. 

Example 5: The city attorney’s office also has a land use agenda. One of the primary attorneys assigned to land use matters, Zachary Cowan, is past-president and current board member of the Greenbelt Alliance, a group intent on undermining local land use laws. Under these circumstances, how motivated is Mr. Cowan to fight for Berkeley’s land use plans? You decide. More than a few people question whether Mr. Cowan should be handling land use cases at all, given this apparent conflict of interest. 

Example 6: Mr. Cowan has it in for Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO). Why has landmarking become such a hot issue? Because the state has passed a package of anti-neighborhood laws that make it almost impossible to stop bad developments; one of the few remaining tools citizens have to protect their urban environment is the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which is still fairly effective in protecting landmarks. Now extreme “smart growth” forces, backed by self-interested developers, are intent on eliminating this last obstacle to unexamined development. Even though landmarking is only involved in a tiny percentage of developments, and has resulted in some tasteful developments that protect Berkeley’s history, Mr. Cowan is vigorously undermining the LPO. Did City Council ask Mr. Cowan to do this?  

Ironic, isn’t it? “Smart growth” advocates claim to be environmentalists: after all, the whole point of smart growth is to save ecosystems. But CEQA is the original savior of ecosystems—including the urban ecosystem of which humans are a part. Many of us who attended the first Earth Day over 30 years ago are now shocked that people who call themselves environmentalists are fervently committed to circumventing CEQA. Even Mr. Marks (who I hope will be a moderating influence on our planning department) has publicly stated: “We’re going to look for a categorical exemption [to CEQA] for any project.” But CEQA merely requires us to study the environmental impacts of our development plans. So I can only conclude that our “pace-setting” planners don’t want anyone to know the impacts of their plans. I wonder why. Don’t you? 

Sharon Hudson is a neighbor of the Benvenue project.

Score one for the neighbors. After a dogged two-year battle, the American Baptist Seminary of the West has pulled its application to demolish two turn-of-the-century cottages and replace them with a five-story building. 

“This was David versus Goliath,” said David Baker of the Benvenue Neighbors Association (BNA), which fought the project. “I don’t know of any time in the history of Berkeley that renters have risen up to protect their neighborhood against a bad development and won.” 

The seminary told city staff last week that it lacked the funds to conduct the Environmental Impact Report (EIR), City Council mandated last April. 

The EIR, which would have studied the building’s impact on parking and traffic as well as the historic merit of the two cottages, costs between $50,000 and $100,000—too much for a religious school, according to seminary attorney David Levy of San Francisco law firm Morrison & Forester. 

The seminary retains the right to reintroduce the project if it amasses enough money to bankroll the EIR, but will have to start the permit process from scratch. 

“As far as we’re concerned, it’s dead,” said city Planning Director Dan Marks. 

The seminary had proposed three projects at its theological campus in the 2500 block of Benvenue Avenue, four blocks from the UC Berkeley campus. 

Council approved two projects for retrofitting and subdividing student dormitories, but—facing fierce neighborhood opposition—drew the line against the proposed 65-foot building at 2514 Benvenue Ave. 

The project would have included 23 new dwelling units, a 22-bed dormitory, classrooms, offices and a 48-car garage. 

“It was way out of scale and used up most of the open space at the north end of Benvenue,” said BNA President Sharon Hudson. 

For now, the site again belongs to the two cottages—one built in 1899, the other in 1906—that house seminary students and faculty members.  

Levy said it was too early for the seminary to decide if it wanted to stay at the property. “It’s been an expensive and draining process,” he said. 

Seminary President Keith Russell was not available to comment. 

The seminary is expected to move ahead with the two other projects at 2500 and 2508 Benvenue Ave. The project at 2500 Benvenue will add 12 housing units for a total of 24 and the project at 2508 Benvenue will add six units, for a total of 21. 

The two-year battle highlighted the contentious nature of Berkeley development. Neighbors accused the planning department of pushing through the building without giving adequate notice or acknowledging their concerns. 

Opponents of the project also claimed that the Benvenue expansion was nothing more than a profit center for the seminary which had rented most of their class space on the 2700 block of Hillegas Avenue to UC Berkeley. 

Neighbors fought to win landmark status for the cottages last year, but city council rejected the notion because of a state law that forbids the landmarking of buildings owned by religious institutions. 

Marks—who joined the planning department this summer— said he hoped new procedures in the works to notify neighbors earlier about planned developments improve relations between neighbors and his department.

The following letter was read during public comment at City Coucil’s Nov. 4 meeting.  

Honorable Mayor and City Council, 

I come before you tonight to ask for your assistance in bringing an end to the economic trap created by the City of Berkeley’s first-time homebuyers program that utilized HUD funding to provide $20,000 loans as down payment assistance. The laudable goal of providing assistance to low-income Berkeley families has been lost in an outcome that demands returns 10 times that of financing available on the open market. These fantastic returns were realized in part by disclosure practices that left first-time buyers unable to make an informed decision about the risk inherent in the city’s loans that effectively turn our homes into equity stocks. The loans grow at a rate that greatly outpaces the incomes of low-income families, creating an insurmountable debt that holds our homes hostage into perpetuity undermining our property rights. 

Homeowners are responsible for the astronomical maintenance costs of the mostly older rundown homes that often need thousands of dollars in repairs and are loaded with lead paint and other toxics. “Sweat-equity” upgrades work against homebuyer’s by further raising the value of the home. Currently the $20,000 loan on my home has ballooned to $50,000 in just five years. Another family is on the hook for over $81,000! Long-term residents are at the greatest risk to the hidden balloon payment upon repayment of the first mortgage that would likely lead to the loss of the home by then elderly owners. Based on the city loans past performance, it could demand hundred of thousands of dollars by then. 

These terrible loans work at cross-purposes to the mission of low-income assistance. I understand that the city will be considering adopting Oakland’s anti-predatory lending law. I ask that you start your work at home by amending the city’s FHAP loans to forgive the equity stranglehold after between five to 10 ten years as is done in most municipalities, providing for a proper recapture period without abusing low-income homeowners forever. 

Sincerely, 

Kent Brown

There are fewer homeless people in Berkeley than previously believed, according to initial findings released Thursday from an Alameda County homeless survey. 

The survey—billed as the largest ever conducted in the United States—counted 835 homeless in Berkeley and 6,215 countywide. Previous estimates based on the 1990 census had between 1,000 and 1,2000 homeless in Berkeley and between 9,000 and 12,000 countywide. 

Researchers cautioned that the figures are only a snapshot and that during the course of a year, homeless ranks can double or triple. 

“This is good news,” said Megan Shatz, survey coordinator for the Alameda County-Wide Homeless Continuum of Care Council. She attributed the countywide decrease to the construction over the past decade of more than 4,000 beds designed either as permanent or transitional housing for the homeless. 

The eight-month survey cost $241,000—funded by public and private donations—and sent 155 trained community volunteers into 54 of the county’s 473 homeless service centers between January and August to interview 1,461 patrons. 

Interviewers read from a 43-page questionnaire, asking about a range of topics, including employment, substance abuse, income, criminal history and education level—all geared to provide a better understanding of the needs and backgrounds of the county’s homeless. 

One question not included in the survey was where the homeless person had lived before turning to the streets—always a controversial issue in Berkeley, where some attribute the large homeless population to migrants who utilize the city’s expansive array of homeless services. 

Researchers released only broad demographic data Thursday, saying that the analysis of findings from the personal questions won’t be completed until March. 

The survey found that 80.5 percent of Berkeley’s homeless are men, with 46 percent between the ages of 35 and 44 and 96 percent between the ages of 25 and 64. Fifty-five percent are white and 31 percent African American. 

By comparison, males comprised only 53 percent of the county’s homeless population, comprising 56 percent of Oakland’s homeless but only 30 percent in southern and eastern cities. 

Since most of Berkeley’s homeless are single men, the city has far fewer homeless children: six percent of the overall homeless population, compared to 28 percent countywide. 

The survey also revealed that one in five of the county’s homeless—twice the national rate—are classified as chronically homeless, meaning they are single, physically or mentally disabled, and have been homeless for more than a year. 

Berkeley homeless advocates split over the accuracy of the figures, with many insisting that homeless youth—listed as just 0.5 percent of the overall population in the report—had been undercounted. 

“That number is ridiculous,” said Berkeley attorney Osha Neumann, a volunteer who assists homeless youth. “A lot of the kids don’t use the services,” he added. 

Shantz conceded the point, acknowledging that more research is needed to accurately gauge their numbers. 

“Our methodology was based on going to service sites,” she said. “If youth don’t use them, they’re not going to be counted. 

Berkeley homeless advocate Michael Diehl, who conducted some of the interviews, thought the overall Berkeley tally seemed accurate, but suspected that African Americans may have been undercounted.  

He said his experience suggested that African Americans were less likely to agree to be interviewed—and when they did, were likely to give more guarded answers. “There’s a lot of distrust among black homeless when it comes to the white establishment and it’s hard to get around that.” 

City Housing Director Stephen Barton said the preliminary findings suggested that Berkeley was “on the right track” by reorienting services to the most troubled homeless and combining social services with housing assistance. 

The city spends about $1.2 million—three quarters of its homeless budget—on maintaining 250 emergency shelter beds as well as emergency support services such as meals, showers and drop-in centers. The city and its partnered homeless organizations also receive federal grants to reduce homelessness, money which has funded 93 units of transitional housing and 318 units of permanent supportive housing—160 for homeless with disabilities and 158 for homeless with mental illness or substance abuse problems.  

New transitional housing for homeless families is slated to open in 2005 when local nonprofit Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency (BOSS) is scheduled to complete the first phase its expanded Harrison Street shelter. 

Since the early 90s, Alameda County has added 1,692 transitional beds and 2,311 permanent supportive housing beds. Roughly 400 new permanent housing beds are scheduled to open during 2004, Shantz said. 

Surveyors asked respondents which services they had used the past week, their last name and the last four digits of their Social Security number. Researchers then worked backwards through all 473 homeless service agencies, collecting attendance data to eliminate double counts. Anyone who reported sleeping outside their home—whether in a shelter, their car, or a friend’s house—was classified as homeless. 

Countywide, they found that approximately 4,025 marginally homeless people utilized services like soup kitchens. 

Homeless advocates feared that the “good news” could turn sour if local and federal agencies determined that homelessness was on the decline. “As someone who advocates for the great need of [the homeless], I have to be a little concerned about that,” Diehl said. 

But Jane Micallef, community services specialist in the Berkeley Housing Department, said more precise data should help the city and county “to get new resources. 

“I think this is cause for optimism,” she said. “This shows we are getting somewhere. We now know that providing services work and the call is now to augment services to not just manage homelessness, but to end it.”

The aftershocks surrounding former City Manager Weldon Rucker’s September retirement announcement continue to rumble at Berkeley City Hall. 

City Manager Phil Kamlarz consolidated the new chain of command Tuesday by telling City Council that he had picked Lisa Caronna, 51, the city’s director of Parks, Recreation and Waterfront, to succeed him as deputy city manager—a position now established as the training ground for future managers. 

He also promoted Chief of Staff Arrietta Chakos to assistant city manager, making her number three at city hall. 

Caronna’s promotion—she will serve as acting deputy city manager for six months starting Monday— marks the latest leap in her meteoric rise through city government.  

She joined the city in 1995 as a landscape architect in the Public Works Department, moved to the Parks Department in 1996 when that department splintered off from Public Works, and rose to director of the department in 1997.  

Caronna, who has lived in Berkeley since 1971, came to city hall after 20 years at a landscape architecture firm she co-founded. 

“It’ll be a big change,” she said. “We have big challenges ahead of us, and I’ll be here to help Phil Kamlarz work around those issues.” 

The city has still not settled on a temporary replacement to head Parks, and one well-placed source said the eventual successor would likely come from outside the city. 

Kamlarz passed over several more-experienced department heads and city officials in choosing Caronna.  

City officials said the announcement caught them off guard because Caronna had not actively lobbied for the job—but, added one, “The buzz is that everyone is happy Phil picked her.” 

Two well-placed sources said Finance Director Fran David had campaigned hard for the position, and that City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque had thrown her hat into the race as well. 

Councilmembers praised Caronna’s management of Parks, crediting her with improving field maintenance, renovating play areas and finding grant money to pay for refurbishing recreation centers. 

“Lisa’s really low key, but she gets the job done and doesn’t toot her horn around like some people,” said Councilmember Betty Olds. 

“That is a difficult, demanding position,” Councilmember Kriss Worthington said. “Now that she’s risen from one of the junior department heads—that’s a strong testament to her ability to bring people together.  

Caronna’s fans even praised the forthright way she handled perhaps the biggest disappointment of her tenure at Parks—the environmental problems that continue to plague the Harrison Skate Park. Currently park officials must close the facility during rain for fear of underground chemicals seeping into the park. 

“That was a hard project,” she said. “The professional engineering assumptions did not pan out to be true. We made the best decision at the time based on what we were told.” 

Caronna said she is still working out her job duties with Kamlarz, but said the challenge for them would be to get the city government efficiently on limited resources. 

“We kind of did the belt-tightening part. Now we need departments to start talking to each other about efficiencies between departments,” she said. 

The last two deputy city managers—Rucker and Kamlarz—rose to the top job, but Caronna refused to speculate on the prospect of one day becoming the first woman to serve as Berkeley’s city manager. 

“Right now, I’m here to help Phil. We’ll see how it goes after six months,” she said. “This will definitely be a challenging appointment.”

Newspaper thefts 

Copies of the Berkeley Daily Planet and other free newspapers were stolen from West Berkeley news racks Saturday—obstensibly not because of controversial editorial content, but for recycling value.  

Planet employees called police after West Berkeley resident Dale Robinson called to report that—for the second time in the past few weeks—he saw a man empty newspapers from three sites along University Avenue and load them into a truck which was “filled with papers.” 

BPD Officer Rob Westerhoff said he had identified the culprit as a 69-year-old Berkeley man and that he was working to contact him and “reach a resolution.” 

Newspapers fetch three cents for every pound, said John Byes, supervisor of The Buy-Back—a Berkeley recycling plant contracted to receive unread Planets.  

“If anyone comes here, they have to show ID, but if they brought them to Oakland, [the recyclers] probably wouldn’t even trip, they’d just buy the stuff,” Byes said. 

Stealing free newspapers from a stand can be prosecuted under county law, but a law that will make it a city crime as well won’t go into effect until thirty days after City Council passes a second reading of the bill proposed by Mayor Tom Bates, the city’s best-known reformed newspaper thief. The first reading was approved unanimously Oct. 21. 

Attempted Robbery 

A Marin county teenager was arrested for attempted robbery Monday after police said he brandished a three-foot metal pipe and demanded a woman had over her cash. The woman said she was walking in the 2100 block of Dwight Way Monday evening when the 13-year-old confronted her and demanded her money. The woman told her would-be robber she didn’t have any cash, then continued walking. The boy didn’t follow, and the woman called police—who arrived within minutes, arresting the youth.

In a city well-known for opposing wars, Tuesday’s upcoming Veteran’s Day ceremony has been designed to maintain the city’s traditional stance while ensuring that veterans are honored for their service to the community.  

Hosted by the Vietnam era singer/songwriter and Navy veteran Country Joe McDonald, the ceremony at Martin Luther King Civic Center Park begins at 11:11 a.m. Tuesday, the same time the guns fell silent at the end of World War I. 

This year’s ceremony is much larger than those of recent years, in part because of the efforts of McDonald—who approached Mayor Tom Bates to ask for increased recognition for the city’s vets. 

Mayor Bates said McDonald and other vets have been working closely with him on this year’s event. 

“Blaming soldiers for war is like blaming firefighters for fire,” said McDonald. “We are obligated to make ourselves aware of the veterans and acknowledge their service. The ceremony in meant to show our gratitude.” 

Hosted by McDonald, the ceremony will include patriotic music by the Piedmont High School Bagpipers, music by Joey Blake (a veteran and faculty member at Berkeley’s Jazzschool), the laying of wreaths by veterans and family members of currently deployed Berkeley residents, and a ceremonial retirement of old flags by the Color Guard of the UC Berkeley ROTC. 

Two Boy Scout troops, a Venture Scout Crew and a Cub Scout Pack will also participate. 

For more information please contact Calvin Fong at the mayor’s office at 981-7100.

Proponents of the proposed Berkeley Hills firehouse scored a victory Wednesday when an Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled against two homeowners suing to stop construction. 

The firehouse, funded through Measure G, a 1992 $55 million dollar city bond issue, has been mired in the litigation since early this year. 

The firehouse was initially proposed after the Oakland/Berkeley Hill fire tore through the area destroying 3,000 homes, and it had won the support of many neighbors before Peter and Andrea Cuckor filed suit. 

According to Zach Walton, an attorney with Neighbors for Fire Safety—the association formed to help develop the plan—the Cuckors’ suit disputed language in the bond measure that required the new firehouse to be mutli-jurisdictional. Two governmental entities, the City of Berkeley and the East Bay Regional Parks District, are partnered in the station, but the suit questioned whether two participants indeed qualified as “multi.” 

In a second lawsuit, the Cukors are challenging a proposed land exchange between the city and the parks district that must be completed before building can commence on the new site. While most of the building will sit on East Bay Water Company land, the front yard and a path to the building are on park district property. 

The Cukors brought their challenge under Measure L, a Berkeley law that says buildings can’t be erected on public park land or open space without voter approval. 

Walton said that because the proposed property doesn’t yet fall under city control, Measure L does not apply. A hearing on the issue is scheduled for next month. 

Neighbors say they are happy to see progress and hope the station will be completed soon. 

“This is one more legal hurdle out of the way, we are thrilled,” said Barbara Allen, one of the members of Neighbors for Fire Safety. “We need the station for our protection, but we also need it for the protection of all the hill residents for medical and earthquake protection.”

Proponents of the proposed Berkeley Hills firehouse scored a victory Wednesday when an Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled against two homeowners suing to stop construction. 

The firehouse, funded through Measure G, a 1992 $55 million dollar city bond issue, has been mired in the litigation since early this year. 

The firehouse was initially proposed after the Oakland/Berkeley Hill fire tore through the area destroying 3,000 homes, and it had won the support of many neighbors before Peter and Andrea Cuckor filed suit. 

According to Zach Walton, an attorney with Neighbors for Fire Safety—the association formed to help develop the plan—the Cuckors’ suit disputed language in the bond measure that required the new firehouse to be mutli-jurisdictional. Two governmental entities, the City of Berkeley and the East Bay Regional Parks District, are partnered in the station, but the suit questioned whether two participants indeed qualified as “multi.” 

In a second lawsuit, the Cukors are challenging a proposed land exchange between the city and the parks district that must be completed before building can commence on the new site. While most of the building will sit on East Bay Water Company land, the front yard and a path to the building are on park district property. 

The Cukors brought their challenge under Measure L, a Berkeley law that says buildings can’t be erected on public park land or open space without voter approval. 

Walton said that because the proposed property doesn’t yet fall under city control, Measure L does not apply. A hearing on the issue is scheduled for next month. 

Neighbors say they are happy to see progress and hope the station will be completed soon. 

“This is one more legal hurdle out of the way, we are thrilled,” said Barbara Allen, one of the members of Neighbors for Fire Safety. “We need the station for our protection, but we also need it for the protection of all the hill residents for medical and earthquake protection.”

The Berkeley Unified School District Board unanimously approved changes to the site plan of the Franklin Adult School at their Wednesday meeting. 

The revised plan—pushed by neighbors of the proposed school site—reorients the project to face San Pablo Avenue, diverting most school traffic is diverted from residential streets around the school. 

Last week, Caltrans approved a driveway for the site, setting the stage for Wednesday’s board vote. 

The future of a proposed playground at the school remains in limbo, with neighbors planning to meet Nov. 17 to gauge the level of community support.  

—Matthew Artz

A small sandy-haired boy was throwing stones at the master’s recently invented (and highly successful) plow. Benignly Jefferson watched the boy…who was now periously climbing a tree. 

“Your grandson is going to hurt himself,” [says Mr. Burr in the novel of his name by Mr. Gore Vidal.] 

Jefferson flushed deeply. “That is a child of the place. A Hemings, I think.” 

Two hundred years pass. And once again—ignorantly, clumsily—we find the nation stumbling into its recurring barroom-brawl argument on the issue of race, and afterwards, like the average drunk, we will teeter out into the rainy streets, battered, bloody, ought-to-be-embarassed, but not, blearily confident that we have satisfied some nagging responsibility that we wish would simply go away of its own accord. Race? Didn’t we fight that guy last year? 

The latest entry in the Continuing American Dialogue On Race And Other Impertinent Affairs comes in the form of the 2003-04 Presidential campaign. As does all candidates, Mr. Howard Dean, formerly the governor of the state of Vermont, would like for everybody all over to vote for him, and that would be that. But if he were to simply stand up and say, “Hey, everybody, vote for me,” someone, somewhere, would feel left out and offended and look elsewhere for leadership; and so Mr. Dean, like all candidates, must ask for particular votes, each and every one. 

This is not as simple as you might think.  

One can ask for all the African American votes, or all the Latino votes, or all the votes of women or the great working people of this nation. But one never asks for all the white votes these days. There seems to be something tawdry and improper about this particular subject, an uncomfortable reminder of a besotted past that makes folks shuffle and look uneasily over their shoulders as if in anticipation of the appearance of some pale and bony hand. And, so, American candidates must be creative.  

Richard Nixon had his Silent Majority. George Bush the Lesser has his Heartland. Now comes Mr. Dean, telling a reporter for the Des Moines Register Nov. 1, “I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks. We can't beat George Bush unless we appeal to a broad cross-section of Democrats.” 

You’d have thought he’d urinated in public. 

“It is simply unconscionable for Howard Dean to embrace the most racially divisive symbol in America,” says Senator John Kerry of Massachussetts, a rival of Mr. Dean’s for the Democratic nomination. “I would rather be the candidate of the NAACP than the NRA.” 

“He just has the wrong idea about how you should communicate with Southerners,” says a spokesperson for General Wesley Clark, another rival. 

A spokesperson for Senator Joseph Lieberman, a third rival, calls Dean’s remarks “irresponsible and reckless.” 

“I regret the pain that I may have caused either to African American or Southern white voters,” Mr. Dean is forced to admit. He adds that he had been trying to provoke a dialogue on race in America, but admitted that he had “started this discussion in a clumsy way.” 

Admit all you want, Mr. Dean, but that clumsiness long ago got claimed by a larger circle. 

In the recent trial of the Oakland Riders, a group of police who stand accused by the District Attorney of running rampant and roughshod and out-of-control on an African American community, it was widely reported that there were no African Americans on the jury. A majority of the jurors wanted to convict, but three jurors held out. Shortly after the verdict one of the majority faction telephoned Oakland Tribune columnist Brenda Payton and, apparently embarassed at the actions of his own kind, said he’d wished there had been African Americans on the jury, since all of the alleged victims of the cops were black. 

“Without them [meaning African Americans], people like me [meaning white people] were speaking for them [meaning African Americans],” Ms. Payton reports the juror as saying. “I believe them [meaning African Americans] and I know people it’s happened to [meaning police misconduct]. But when I was talking to those three jurors, as far as they were concerned, how would I know?” 

The African American alternate, Ms. Payton reports the anonymous juror saying, would have made a difference, adding, in the juror’s words, “To some, she might have added credibility through personal experience and to those others, she might have shamed them.” 

As if, like Mr. Jefferson’s grandson, it is the job of African Americans to hang around in a tree long enough to shame (other) folks into admitting the actuality of our existence. 

One wonders why my white friends, who, after all, have done many wonderful things down through the ages and contributed many valuable inventions towards the progress of the world, cannot gather among themselves and speak of this as adults might do? Why all the tittering and fumbling about as if someone has passed gas in a middle school classroom? 

“It’s always the darkies, always about the darkies,” laments the Confederate Legislator-General to the British attaché in Gettysburg, the movie, when the attaché inquires about slavery and what the Legislator-General really wants to talk about is matters of more serious merit. 

But the nation and all its inhabitants continue to find it difficult to move on to any other conversation until we have properly finished the first. Still, we wait to see, now, if Mr. Dean’s admittedly clumsy beginnings produces anything more than a polite clucking of his fellow politicians’ tongues.

150 years ago, when the first American settlers were arriving in what would become Berkeley, the area now south of the university campus was a grassy slope with views in all directions and perhaps a few of the Peralta family’s cattle wandering through.  

Even after urban settlement began in the 1860s, visitors encountered only scattered houses, unimproved streets, and farm fields close by. Presumably the scene gave little or no hint of the busy, boisterous, diverse, sometimes troubled but always intriguing, district that would later develop there—Telegraph Avenue. 

On Saturday, Nov. 8, I’ll be leading a free walking tour of the heart of the Telegraph Avenue neighborhood to trace its evolution. 

The tour is sponsored by the Telegraph Business Improvement District, a neighborhood business-based organization that works to improve one of Berkeley’s best known commercial districts. 

Abundant evidence of Telegraph’s multiple layers of history remains if you know where to look, or, more accurately, if you know what you’re looking at. There are interesting stories associated with many storefronts, houses, and even the street signs. 

Today, the neighborhood is most commonly associated with its role as stage set—and incubator—for the 1960s-era protest and social upheaval, which won’t be neglected on the tour. 

But the Southside was also the site of earlier events in local history, from the forced assembly of Berkeley’s Japanese American residents for World War II internment to the establishment of Berkeley’s first European-style coffee house to 1940s Big Game celebrations that got out of hand. The locations and stories associated with those events will also be described. 

Telegraph was shaped by multiple forces and influences as diverse the Trustees of the early College of California—who laid out the neighborhood’s streets and named them alphabetically for great men of science and the arts to help promote a high-toned residential suburb—to the flood of youth who arrived in the 1960s seeking cultural and political nirvana. 

The presence of the university has always ensured a steady supply of customers for the business district. Every generation of students had its favorite hangouts along Telegraph, some of which are still in operation and will be noted on the tour. 

Also, sometimes hidden amidst the storefronts and often converted for other uses, important examples of Telegraph’s early residential heritage remain. These include not only single family houses but also survivors of the era when the Southside contained no UC residence halls but was home to dozens of private rooming and boarding houses catering to students. 

The area was also an important social and cultural center of early Berkeley. 

Several of Berkeley’s first churches were established near or even on Telegraph Avenue and although none of the original buildings remain, the congregations do, occupying monumental edifices erected in the early 20th century. 

The churches are complimented by the buildings of several private clubs, social organizations, and other institutions that found the district next to the university a congenial setting. The neighborhood once boasted not only a large public school on Dwight Way but also one of the East Bay’s more prestigious private institutions, the Anna Head School.  

The free tour begins at 10:00 AM at the university campus at Sather Gate, where Telegraph Avenue once ended. It should last approximately two hours.

The November issue of BDA Update, the monthly newsletter of Berkeley Design Advocates, a group of architects and others who work in the local building industry, has an interesting article on its front page, entitled “From Impalas to Incense”. It reports on a proposal by the Buddhist Church of America to add yet another nonprofit institution to the Southside area. The article reports that the church has bought the old Howard Automobile showroom on the corner of Fulton and Durant, and plans to turn it into a Buddhist Studies Institute, complete with a bookstore, offices, classrooms and dormitory spaces.  

Evidently the church wants to build two additional stories on top of the landmark building, which was restored not too long ago by previous owners who hoped to use it for commercial research and development. The Zoning Adjustment Board vetoed that use, which is probably why the building was sold to the Buddhist Church. A presentation of the church’s plans was well received at BDA’s October meeting, except that audience members thought that too much parking was included (28 cars), and the proposal was criticized for “not maxing out the site”—the building would rise only to three stories, not the four “allowed,” according to author Tony Bruzzone.  

There’s a whole discussion about what’s “allowed” in the remodeling of a designated landmark building, but let’s not go there at the moment. What should be flagged as this proposal enters the public arena is the effect of converting yet another commercial building into a nonprofit use. In other words, if this project goes forward it will be one more part of Berkeley that’s off the tax rolls, at a time when the city is already struggling with the cost of providing city services as revenues decline.  

Citizen watchdogs have been busy calculating, as the deadline for putting new property taxes on the ballot approaches, how much of the city is non-tax-paying property owned by nonprofits. It’s not that citizens don’t appreciate the good works that many of these nonprofits do, but we have a lot of them here already, and more are in the works. On University Avenue, for example, a liquor store (ugly and unpopular) is slated to be replaced by a synagogue for a new congregation, which from an esthetic perspective is a winning plan, but which will mean a loss of taxable property. Next door a restaurant (not ugly or unpopular) is being supplanted by a private school, well-regarded, but another nonprofit. On the south side of campus, the American Baptist Seminary’s plan to add more offices and rental units to their already substantial untaxed holdings has been derailed for the moment by neighborhood objections, but it will certainly be back in another guise. 

These are only a few of the many newer examples. Berkeley has always been hospitable to religious and educational institutions of all kinds, led by the University of California. But we might now be close to reaching some kind of a tipping point. In 1994, a thorough study by then City Auditor Anna Rabkin reported that 35 percent of Berkeley property was untaxed, for a total estimated annual revenue loss of $23.4 million. Reliable observers now estimate that at least 40 percent is off the tax rolls. 

A recent letter from the Claremont Elmwood Neighborhood Association asked for a concerted and systematic effort to negotiate payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT fees) from the major exempt landholders in Berkeley, as is done in other cities in similar circumstances. It also recommended one-time fees for impacts of new developments on the infrastructure, nonprofit developments included.  

Rabkin’s 1994 study reached similar conclusions. Now, almost ten years later, it’s time to revisit her proposals, and this time the city needs to act on them promptly. Berkeley taxpayers (including renters whose rent goes to pay property taxes) can no longer afford to subsidize city services for almost half of our city.  

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

So you’re writing a novel. Or you wish you were writing a novel. Right away, you come up against Virginia Woolf’s famous Hard Saying: “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” Men as well as women have read that sentence, looked around at their living space, and abandoned worthwhile writing projects. 

Now you have one less excuse for not getting down to work. 

Thomas Cooper and Arlene Giordano, proprietors since 1972 of Le Bateau Ivre on Telegraph Avenue, invite writers of all descriptions, as well as people who use laptop computers for lesser purposes, to use their exceedingly comfortable premises as a place to work. 

Not only that, they’ve recently added wireless internet access, and it’s absolutely free, one of only four free wi-fi sites in Berkeley, and the only one on the south side of campus.  

On a sunny day, perhaps you’d prefer to work outdoors. Reception is great at any one of the approximately 20 patio tables. As winter approaches, a spot by the open wood fire inside the charming 1898 cottage, now converted to a café and restaurant, might be more appealing. 

If you get hungry while you work, you can order a bowl of authentic French onion soup. And after you finish a chapter of your novel, you might enjoy an elegant French-inspired dinner, heavy on the butter and cream. 

In deference to modern California tastes, lighter Mediterranean options are also on the menu.  

Even if you’re not up to writing a novel, Le Bateau Ivre would be a good place to stop for a cappuccino after a Telegraph Avenue walking tour. It’s also open late for the after-concert trade coming from Zellerbach. 

Thomas Cooper, known to many regulars just as “Cooper,” is a former merchant seaman who lived in Europe for seven years. When he and Arlene (who is the pastry chef) first had the idea of turning the house into a French restaurant, he wanted to call it simply “Le Bateau,” “the boat.” 

A French friend suggested that it would be even better to call it “Le Bateau Ivre,” “The Drunken Boat,” after a famous French poem by Arthur Rimbaud. The choice has undoubtedly endeared the café to generations of comp-lit majors. 

He and Arlene restored the house, built by a Frenchman named Bel-Audry, when it was on the verge of being torn down in 1971, and added the home-like furnishings and decorations. The chairs, very important for computer users, are substantial used wooden office chairs for the most part, with occasional rarer models like the bentwood café chair that’s 130 years old. Potted plants, period lighting, antique prints and original watercolors by Charlotte Britten and others contribute to the pink-tablecloth ambiance. Music is classy classical, not just top hits but the serious stuff.  

If this sounds too good to be true, it’s not. Cooper doesn’t worry—yet—about freeloaders tying up all of his tables without buying anything. “We have 29 tables inside alone,” he says, and he’s willing to rely on the good manners of free wi-fi users to ensure that they buy enough food and drink to cover his costs with a bit of profit.  

Le Bateau Ivre, 2629 Telegraph in Berkeley, 510-849-1100. Opens at 11:30 a.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, 9 a.m. Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Closes at about 11 p.m., sometimes a bit later. Closed Tuesdays.