Jakob Schiller:
              
              A pair of customers departs the Eddie Bauer store in downtown Berkeley, armed with buys from the store’s closing sale.
Jakob Schiller: A pair of customers departs the Eddie Bauer store in downtown Berkeley, armed with buys from the store’s closing sale.

Page One

Eddie Bauer Closure Poses Issues for Downtown Future

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday January 06, 2004

Though a week has passed since corporate executives announced the upcoming closing of the downtown Berkeley Eddie Bauer store, the reasons for the move still aren’t clear—at least to the public. -more-



Berkeley This Week

Tuesday January 06, 2004

TUESDAY, JAN. 6 -more-



On Berkeley’s No-Input Staff

Paul Rude
Tuesday January 06, 2004

Editors, Daily Planet: -more-



Pirate Radio Beams Unique Sounds to Fruitvale

By Marcelo Ballve Pacific News Service
Tuesday January 06, 2004

OAKLAND—Walking unsteadily across a city rooftop, 26-year-old Wilson Barriga Posada holds an eight-foot radio tower in his arms. -more-



Arts Calendar

Tuesday January 06, 2004

TUESDAY, JAN. 6 -more-



On Berkeley’s No-Input Staff

Paul Rude
Tuesday January 06, 2004

Editors, Daily Planet: -more-



Library Gardens Accord Ruptures Over Parking

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday January 06, 2004

A compromise designed to increase public parking spaces at Library Gardens—a massive housing development slated to replace a downtown parking garage—appears to have stalled, and the project is now set to go before the city’s Zoning Adjustment Board with just 11 spaces set aside for the public. -more-



Librarian Casts Dubious Eye on Library Gardens

By Jane Scantlebury
Tuesday January 06, 2004

The late Fred Lupke spent a great deal of his time and energy in the last two years of his life opposing the Library Gardens development, primarily because of the negative effect he knew it would have on the Berkeley Public Library, an institution he loved and used all the time. -more-



Immigrants Add Spice To Telegraph’s Cafes

By Patrick Galvin Special to the Planet
Tuesday January 06, 2004

Austrian immigrant Arnold Schwarzenegger’s victory in the recent recall election is one the highest profile immigrant success stories in California’s history. Yet immigrant success has been an important contributor to the state’s economic and cultural vitality since long before Schwarzenegger ascension. -more-



Judge Nixes IRV Ballot Suit

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday January 06, 2004

Showing equal amounts of disdain for, impatience with, and incredulity at the arguments of Berkeley activist-attorney Rick Young, Alameda County Superior Court Judge James Richman late last week denied Young’s petition to amend or delete the ballot arguments against Berkeley’s Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) measure. -more-



Letters to the Editor

Tuesday January 06, 2004

NEIGHBORHOOD ANTENNAE -more-



Ousted Writer Settles With Chronicle

By Becky O’Malley
Tuesday January 06, 2004

Veteran Berkeley technology reporter Henry Norr has reached a settlement with the San Francisco Chronicle, which suspended him last April, ostensibly for participating in protests before the Iraq invasion started. -more-



Berkeley Iran Quake Relief Benefit Raises $70,000

By John Geluardi Special to the Planet
Tuesday January 06, 2004

More than 130 people opened their hearts and their wallets during an emotional fundraiser for the earthquake-devastated city of Bam at a jam-packed Santa Fe Bistro Sunday night. -more-



Features

Police Blotter

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday January 06, 2004

Shattered Glass at Amoeba -more-


Bush Remark Derails Iranian Rapprochement

By WILLIAM O. BEEMAN Pacifc News Service
Tuesday January 06, 2004

In one ill-chosen, offhand remark on New Year’s Day, President Bush undercut the immediate possibility of improved relations with Iran, savaging the efforts of his own State Department. -more-


Sweet Christmas Palaver About Onions and Oranges

From Susan Parker
Tuesday January 06, 2004

“What brought you to the United States?” I asked Irit as she stood in my kitchen, drinking a Diet Coke. My nephew Bryce ran into the room laughing, grabbed onto the back of my knees and hid from my neighbor, five-year-old Clyesha, who was chasing him while holding a new doll swathed in a pink blanket. Clyesha had on pajamas decorated with green and red dancing reindeers. On her feet was a pair of fuzzy bedroom slippers. -more-


Family’s Beretta Suit Heads Back to Court

J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday January 06, 2004

An Alameda County Superior Court judge has ordered a quick turnaround in the Beretta unsafe pistol lawsuit, with jury selection in a new trial to begin in Oakland this week. -more-


Berkeley Merchant Reigns Over Indian Food Market

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday January 06, 2004

Whether you’re dining out on piping hot naan or sampling masala paste for your homemade Indian dish, wherever you live in the Bay Area, it’s all but assured that almost every ingredient made a pit stop at a saffron-scented warehouse in West Berkeley. -more-


Globalized Ethnic Cuisine Triggers Mixed Emotions

By SANDIP ROY Pacific News Service
Tuesday January 06, 2004

Growing up in Calcutta, high holidays meant not turkey or ham, but fish. -more-


Editorial

Editorial: Questioning Development

Becky O'Malley
Tuesday January 06, 2004

Holiday gatherings offer a chance to meet new people and find out what’s going on outside of Berkeley. Christmas cards and phone calls from distant friends are another way to get a window on the rest of the world. What I’ve learned this year is that planning issues and answers (or lack of answers) are remarkably similar throughout the country. From a farm friend back east: “We are still enjoying central Pennsylvania although there has been a great spurt of building around here—condominiums and McMansions going up with great abandon on some of the best farmland in the East. Progress marches on! It can’t be any crazier than California, though.” A young friend brought her brother from a midwestern university town to a Christmas party. He’s chair of his local historic preservation organization, and he reports that privately developed high-rise apartments are rapidly displacing the charming turn-of-the-century frame houses that sheltered generations of students with low rents. His major complaint is that easily disproved “affordability” criteria have been used as political cover for buildings which soon turn into high-priced market rate rentals. As a devoted progressive Democratic party activist, he’s particularly unhappy that his recently elected Democratic mayor has turned out to be in the developers’ pocket. Closer to home, some residents of an older East Bay exurb, who call themselves “democratic socialists;” complain that in their town trees are being cut down and potential parkland converted to apartments in the name of “saving the wilderness.” They still believe in what now seems to be an old-fashioned slogan, “think globally, act locally,” and they don’t think that filling up their local open space will prevent tenants of the new developments from moving to condominiums and McMansions on formerly rural lands as soon as they can afford it. Any of this sound familiar? -more-


Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: Questioning Development 01-06-2004

Activist Gerda Miller Dies 01-02-2004

News

Eddie Bauer Closure Poses Issues for Downtown Future By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 01-06-2004

Berkeley This Week 01-06-2004

On Berkeley’s No-Input Staff Paul Rude 01-06-2004

Pirate Radio Beams Unique Sounds to Fruitvale By Marcelo Ballve Pacific News Service 01-06-2004

Arts Calendar 01-06-2004

On Berkeley’s No-Input Staff Paul Rude 01-06-2004

Library Gardens Accord Ruptures Over Parking By MATTHEW ARTZ 01-06-2004

Librarian Casts Dubious Eye on Library Gardens By Jane Scantlebury 01-06-2004

Immigrants Add Spice To Telegraph’s Cafes By Patrick Galvin Special to the Planet 01-06-2004

Judge Nixes IRV Ballot Suit By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 01-06-2004

Letters to the Editor 01-06-2004

Ousted Writer Settles With Chronicle By Becky O’Malley 01-06-2004

Berkeley Iran Quake Relief Benefit Raises $70,000 By John Geluardi Special to the Planet 01-06-2004

Police Blotter By MATTHEW ARTZ 01-06-2004

Bush Remark Derails Iranian Rapprochement By WILLIAM O. BEEMAN Pacifc News Service 01-06-2004

Sweet Christmas Palaver About Onions and Oranges From Susan Parker 01-06-2004

Family’s Beretta Suit Heads Back to Court J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 01-06-2004

Berkeley Merchant Reigns Over Indian Food Market By MATTHEW ARTZ 01-06-2004

Globalized Ethnic Cuisine Triggers Mixed Emotions By SANDIP ROY Pacific News Service 01-06-2004

Diverse Schools Suffer Under Bush Programs By MATTHEW ARTZ 01-02-2004

Berkeley This Week 01-02-2004

Arts Calendar 01-02-2004

Letters to the Editor 01-02-2004

Oakland Exhibit Showcases Compelling Artist By PETER SELZ Special to the Planet 01-02-2004

Berkeley Persians Join To Aid Quake Victims By John Geluardi Special to the Planet 01-02-2004

Berkeley Officialdom Ignores an Impending Danger By PAUL GLUSMAN 01-02-2004

Berkeley Developer Loses Asbestos Judgment Appeal By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 01-02-2004

Don’t Blame City For State’s Woes By Rob Wrenn Special to the Planet 01-02-2004

BART Changes 01-02-2004

Cable Joins Ranks of Oakland Shooting Victims J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 01-02-2004

What’s in a Name? A Raisin Perhaps? By ZAC UNGER Special to the Planet 01-02-2004

City Merchants Tally Holiday Sales By MATTHEW ARTZ 01-02-2004

Open Space Advocate Honored With a Park By JOHN GELUARDI Special to the Planet 01-02-2004