Berkeley could become the first city in the nation with public financing of local elections if voters approve the proposal supported by Mayor Tom Bates and at least two city councilmembers for the November ballot. 

In approving the idea in principle on a 6-2 vote, Commissioners suggested that public financing might begin with the mayor’s and councilmember’s offices and later expand to school board races and other citywide offices. 

Bates and Councilmembers Linda Maio and Dona Spring promoted the idea at last Thursday’s meeting of the Fair Campaign Practices Commission. 

According to the nonprofit, Washington, D.C.-based Public Campaign organization, public financing of political campaigns are currently in effect in Arizona and Maine, and has been authorized in New Mexico, North Carolina, Vermont, and Massachussetts. 

At the same meeting, commissioners expressed little interest in a proposal to raise the individual campaign contribution limit in Berkeley elections from $250 to $500—letting the idea die without a formal vote or even a discussion. 

Bates suggested that a public campaign program could be financed by a $1 to $3 hike in parking ticket fees. While that suggestion evoked some skepticism from commissioners, they agreed that the money had to be raised somewhere, and left it up to City Council to fill in the details. 

While a city public campaign financing law could be authorized by a two-thirds vote of both the council and the Fair Campaign Practices Commission, Bates says he prefers bringing the matter before voters in a referendum. City Clerk Sherry Kelly said that for a measure to be ready for the November ballot, city staff would have to start drafting a detailed proposal this winter. 

Jim Ferguson, East Bay coordinator for Common Cause, told commissioners that Berkeley campaign expenditures have “shown a significant increase” over the past two elections, offering a chart that showed “the biggest [election] spender in the 2002 [Berkeley elections] was 50 percent higher than the previous high” (jumping from under $50,000 to more than $70,000), and “the lowest spender in 2002 was higher than two thirds of the candidates in previous elections.” 

Calling Berkeley races “godawful expensive,” Bates rejected “tinkering with the existing campaign finance system” by raising individual campaign contribution limits and told commissioners that “we need to scrap the whole thing. Most incumbents don’t want to change the laws under which they get elected, but our system is too out of whack, we need to change it.” 

Maio said that while she’s been interested in running for mayor for some time, she’d have to take out both a second mortgage and dip into her retirement savings to compete in a campaign. Calling the campaign costs “daunting,” the UC Berkeley retiree said, “I’m not a lawyer who can rely on fees from big cases.” 

Spring said she supported the public financing proposal “beaus it will probably give more candidates a competitive edge against an entrenched incumbent. As an entrenched incumbent myself, I’m not too happy about that. But I have to look at what’s best for the city as a whole.” 

Peralta Colleges Commissioner Darryl Moore, whose name has been floated as a possible candidate for Margaret Breland’s District 2 City Council seat should Breland decide not to run this fall, called Berkeley campaigns “too expensive...they have become obscene. Good candidates don’t get the chance to run, especially candidates of color.”

TUESDAY, JAN. 20 

Berkeley High School Parent Teacher Student Association invites you to attend the first General Membership meeting of 2004, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the new Library, in the new D Building. Jim Slemp, Principal, will speak, followed by a question and answer period and a tour of the new building. Enter using the Milvia St. entrance.  

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Advance sign-up needed. 594-5165.  

A Critical Look at the Biodiesel Industry at 7 p.m. at BioFuel Oasis, 2465 4th St. at Dwight. Donation of $5-$10 requested. 665-5509. www.biofueloasis.com  

Friends of Strawberry Creek meets from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library’s Meeting Room, 2090 Kittredge St. The meeting will focus on creek-water monitoring with a presentation by Civil Engineer/ 

Hydrologist Ed Ballman.  

Berkeley Garden Club “Jepson Herbarium: Its Purpose and Origin” will be the topic presented by Staci Markos, Public Program and Development Coordinator at 1 p.m. at the Epworth United Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. Non-members welcome. Free. 524-4374. 

Public Hearing on Proposed Cellphone Antennas for the roof of Starbucks Cafe and Barney’s Restaurant on Cedar St. At 7 p.m. in the Berkeley City Council Chambers, 2134 MLK, Jr. Way. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 234-4783. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Slide show of Sweden and Lappland with Jackie Hetman at 11 a.m. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

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

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 21 

Neighborhood Forum with the City Manager and Fire Dept. from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in the Fireside Room, St. John’s Presbyterian, 2727 College Ave. Presentation on the City’s budget at 6:10 p.m. Sponsored by CNA/BANA.  

EmbracingDiversityFilms and the Albany High School PTA co-host the screening of “Daddy & Papa” at 7 p.m. at the Albany High School Library, 603 Key Route Blvd., Albany. A discussion will follow the movie. Free. 527-1328. 

Writers’ Room Coach Training is offered from 7 to 9:30 p.m. for volunteers who would like to help students improve their writing and critical thinking skills. To attend please call Terry Bloomburgh at 849-4134 or email Bloomburgh@sbcglobal.net 

Bayswater Book Club meets to discuss “The Da Vinci Code,” by Dan Brown at 6:30 p.m. at Liu’s Kitchen, Solano Ave. 433-2911. 

Gray Panthers “Trekking into 2004: Where Do We Go from Here?” Bring your ideas and inspiration. At 7 p.m. at 1403 Addison St. 548-9696. 

An Evening with Mountaineer Joe Simpson at 6:30 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters meets the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7:15 a.m. at Hide-A-Way Café, 6430 Telegraph Ave. For information call Fred Garvey, 925-682-1111, ext. 164. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and  

Vigil at the Berkeley BART Sta- 

tion, corner of Shattuck and Center. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

Amnesty International Berkeley Community Group meets the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1606 Bonita Ave., at Cedar St. Join fellow human rights activists to help promote social justice one individual at a time. 872-0768. 

THURSDAY, JAN. 22 

Pro-Choice Rally, to celebrate the 31st Anniversary of Roe v Wade, Meet at 5 p.m. in front of the Powell St. BART station, in SF, for a march to Civic Center. 415-334-1502. 

Prepare for the March 2 Election A presentation on ballot measures by the League of Women Voters, at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Central Library, 3rd floor meeting room, 2090 Kittredge St. 526-5139. 

Winter Back-Country Travel Safety and Survival Tips at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

FRIDAY, JAN. 23 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Chi-an Hu, Visiting Professor, International Law, UCB, on “China’s Role in the United Nations.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $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. 

Docent Training for Berkeley Historical Society, from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Veteran’s Memorial Building, 1931 Center St. 848-0181. 

Literary Friends meets from 1:15 to 3 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. We will discuss the Women’s Movement during the past century. For information call 232-1351. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Players at all levels are welcome. 652-5324. 

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. 655-6169. www.bpf.org 

Overeaters Anonymous meets every Friday at 1:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Church at Solano and The Alameda. Parking is free and is handicapped accessible. For information call Katherine, 525-5231. 

SATURDAY, JAN. 24  

Free Emergency Preparedness Class on Fire Supression for anyone who lives or works in Berkeley, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Fire Department Training Center, 997 Cedar St. Register on-line at www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/fire/oes or call 981-5506. 

Winter Bird Walk Join Chris Carmichael, Associate Director of Collections and Horticulture, and expert birder Dennis Wolff on a morning walk from 9 to 10 a.m. to discover the Botanical Garden’s bird life. Heavy rain cancels. Cost is $10, members free. Registration required. 643-2937. Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. http:// 

botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Winter Color in the Garden 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. 

Cerrito Creek Work Party Help remove blackberries and plant trees on Cerrito Creek north of Albany Hill. Meet at Pacific East Mall, 3288 Pierce St, El Cerrito at 10 a.m. For information email f5creeks@aol.com  

Kids Garden Club Experience the water cycle through our watershed model and see how water effects our garden and you. From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park Cost is $3. Wheelchair accessible. 525-2233. tnarea@ebparks.org   

Salamander Saunter We’ll look for wet weather animals, learn the difference between newts and salamanders, and see what they are doing at this time of the year. From 2:30 to 4 p.m. in Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. 525-2233. tnarea@ebparks.org 

Berkeley Copwatch Orientation: Know Your Rights! Join us for this hands-on workshop including: What rights we have when we are stopped, what to look for when someone else is getting stopped, keeping safe while observing police and more. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. This event is free and open to the public. 548-0425. 

Share Your Gear Party Your recycled sports equipment can help keep children playing. Donations accepted from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Sports4Kids Swap Shop, 2095 Rose St., between Shattuck and Henry. 868-1591. 

Bauman College Open House Visit the new Berkeley campus and learn about classes in holistic nutrition and culinary arts, 3 to 6 p.m. at 901 Grayson St., at 7th. 800-987-7530.  

Veg 101: Compassionate Living Workshop A one-day workshop introducing the many reasons why vegetarianism is a healthy, environmental, and compassionate diet. From 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Berkeley Public Library Main Meeting Room, 3rd floor, 2090 Kittredge St. 925-487-4419. www.generationv.org/veg101  

Yoga for Seniors at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St., on Saturdays from 10 to 11 a.m. Open to non-members of the club for $8 per class. For further information and to register, call 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, JAN. 25 

Introduction to Homebrewing Biodiesel Learn the basics of making biodiesel, and see the whole process from testing the veggie oil, brewing the biodiesel, washing it, filtering it, and putting it in your vehicle. Bring a dish to share for a potluck lunch. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cost is $10-$20 sliding scale. RSVP by email to jenniferradtke@yahoo.com for directions and more details.  

Berkeley City Club free tour from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tours are sponsored by the Berkeley City Club and the Landmark Heritage Foundation. Donations welcome. The Berkeley City Club is located at 2315 Durant Ave. For group reservations or more information, call 848-7800 or 883-9710. 

Tibetan Peace Ceremony at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, JAN. 26 

Fitness for 55+ A total body workout including aerobics, stretching and strengthing at 1:15 p.m. every Monday at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5170. 

Tea at Four Enjoy some of the best teas from the other side of the Pacific Rim and learn their cultural and natural history. Then take a walk to see wintering birds and dormant lady- 

beetles, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Registration required. Cost is $5 for residents, $7 for non-residents. Wheelchair accessible. 525-2233. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

ONGOING 

Young People’s Symphony Orchestra misses its alums! As our nation's second oldest youth orchestra, based in Berkeley, YPSO is in possession of a treasure trove of memorabilia dating as far back as 1936. To preserve and share these photographs, letters, programs and other interesting materials YPSO is creating a Digital Online Museum. If you participated in the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra please contact David Davis at davisde@yogashorts.com or 543-4054. 

Support the Berkeley Public Library On-line Auction Visit www.bplf.org and bid to name a character in a work by Michael Chabon, have dinner with Elizabeth Farnsworth and Khaled Hosseini, let Bill Schechner tell your story, work with Adair Lara on a memoir, hear Maxine Hong Kingston at your book club, and much more. 981-6115. 

Learn About Howard Dean and see why he is our best bet against George Bush. Alameda County for Dean is sponsoring a series of informational gatherings at private homes throughout the county. Experienced campaign volunteers will present Dean’s positions and achievements, and can answer your questions. Call 548-8414 or go to www.eb4dean/houseparties for the time and place best for you! 

Freedom From Tobacco A free quit-smoking class offered by the City of Berkeley Tobacco Prevention Program on six Thursday evenings from 6 to 8 p.m., Jan. 22 to Feb. 26, at the Central Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. To enroll please call 981-5330 or e-mail at quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us.  You will receive a confirmation of your registration.   

Albany Berkeley Girls Softball League offers an exciting opportunity for East Bay girls in grades 1-8 to learn softball, make friends and have fun! Registration starts in January; the season runs March 6 through June 5. For information call 869-4277. www.abgsl.org 

Vista Community College Classes in Computer Software begins Jan. 15. Enrollment is open through Jan. 24. Register on-line at www.peralta.cc.ca.us or at 2020 Milvia St., or call 981-2863. 

Creating Economic Opportunities for Women offers training programs for immigrant and refugee women. Orientations held during January, at 655 International Blvd., 2nd flr. Call 879-2949. 

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

Acting and Improv Classes for Adults begin Sun. Jan. 25. Cost is $290 for 8 wks. On- 

going classes for children and teens. Verna Winter Studio, 1312 Bonita Ave. 524-1601. 

Tae-Bo, a cardiovascular workout composed of kick punches and stretches will be offered at Frances Albrier Recreation Center, 2800 Park St., on Tuesdays & Thursdays, 6:30-7:30 p.m., beginning Jan. 13. Cost is $20 per month or $4 drop-in. For information call 981-6640.  

CITY MEETINGS 

Council Agenda Committee meets Tues. Jan. 20, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St., Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/city 

council/agenda-committee 

City Council meets Tues., Jan. 20, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wed., Jan. 21, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Katherine O’Connor, 981-6601. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/humane 

Commission on Aging meets Wed., Jan. 21, at 1:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Lisa Ploss, 981-5200. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/aging 

Commission on Labor meets Wed., Jan. 21, at 6:30 p.m., at Berkeley Work-Source, 1950 Addison St., Suite 105. Delfina M. Geiken, 644-6085. www.ci.-berkeley.ca.us/commissions/labor 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs. Jan. 22 at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Oscar Sung, 981-5400. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/housing 

Parks and Recreation Commission meets Mon., Jan. 26, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Deborah Chernin, 981-6715. ww.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/parksandrecreation 

Solid Waste Management Commission meets Mon., Jan. 26, at 7 p.m., at 1201 Second St. Becky Dowdakin, 981-6357. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/solidwaste

We’ve all read “Dear Abby” and “Miss Manners,” but now I think it is time for Berkeley to have its own “Ask Mayor Tom” column.  

I may not be the best source for questions about etiquette or troublesome in-laws, but I can offer suggestions, and advice about issues facing our city. There is no doubt in my mind that offering the opportunity for the Berkeley community to present their ideas, concerns, and questions will help me do a better job and hopefully become a useful venue for people to have their concerns addressed. 

If you have a question or an issue you would like covered in this column, please drop me a note (my contact information is at the bottom). I will answer as many of the submissions as space will allow. I’ll also reach out to experts and others in the community that might be able to shine some light on an issue.  

As this is my first column, I’ll start off by providing a quick update on what I’ve been working on recently.  

The Budget. Unfortunately, the city’s budget crisis continues to be the single most important issue facing us. We’ve taken several steps to get ahead of the problem, but there will certainly be difficult, controversial, and painful choices to be made over the next several months. On Jan. 27, the city manager will present options to the City Council for making 20 percent across the board cuts to city departments and programs. We all hope that the cuts will not be that significant, but it is best to begin planning for the worst-case scenario.  

Berkeley’s Champions for Kids. This has been my top priority during my first year in office and, working with a lot of dedicated people, I think we really are making a difference. For example, we launched Berkeley Champions for Kids—a three-pronged program that includes new volunteer recruitment and coordination efforts, a city employee release time initiative, and a new workplace giving program to fund important after school and other programs. In addition, the city and the school district have worked to improve coordination on a whole range of family support and health services. My website has more information about these and other initiatives.  

A Better Development Process. There are few things in Berkeley more contentious than decisions about development and land use. That is why the mayor’s 14-member Task Force on Permitting and Development surprised so many people by finding common ground in its 72 unanimous recommendations for improving Berkeley’s process for approving residential, commercial, and large-scale development. Recommendations covered everything from better notification of pending projects, to concrete timelines for city staff and commission reviews, to making it easier for new businesses to open and expand in Berkeley. The City Council will consider an implementation work plan next month. In the meantime, feel free to read the entire report on my website. 

Downtown Development. Big changes are in the making for Berkeley’s downtown. UC Berkeley’s planned 200-room hotel and museum project at Center Street and Shattuck Avenue has received a lot of attention, but there are a number of other projects underway or being discussed – from Vista College to Library Gardens. As a community, we need to plan around issues of streetscape, traffic, parking, and transit. One of my top goals this year is to engage in a community process to work through these important design and transportation issues. 

New Playing Fields. Pull those soccer balls out of the garage! Last month, the City Council officially joined with four neighboring cities to jointly oversee the construction and operation of up to five new playing fields off Gilman Street in Albany. Assuming state funding comes through as hoped, at least a few of the fields should be ready in the next year or two. I would like to thank the city staff, members of Citizens for the Eastshore State Park (CESP), and the Association of Sports Field Users (ASFU) for their ongoing work on this important project. 

I look forward to receiving your questions, comments and suggestions. 

Please send questions, concerns, and ideas that you’d like to see discussed in this column to “Ask Mayor Tom,” 2180 Milvia St., Berkeley, 94704, or by e-mail to mayor@ci.berkeley.ca.us. Fax: 981-7199. Phone: 981-7100. Website: www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/mayor.  

Editor’s note: The opinion pages are open to all contributors writing on topics of interest to greater Berkeley, and we are pleased to include Mayor Tom Bates among them. Readers may send their ideas and opinions about anything on these pages directly to the contributors, as Mayor Bates suggests, but they are also welcome to submit their comments on what appears here to the Daily Planet for publication (opinion@berkeleydailyplanet.com).  

Most of us celebrate an important anniversary by remembering the best of the years we are marking. Not so for the ever-adventurous Berkeley Symphony Orchestra and conductor Kent Nagano. For their Wednesday evening concert (Jan. 21) at Zellerbach Hall on the UC campus, Nagano and the BSO will continue to celebrate the conductor’s 25th season with the orchestra by exploring new musical directions.  

The 8 p.m. concert will feature some outstanding guest artists, a spotlight on the orchestra’s growing connection to the contemporary music of Japan, and an instrument you don’t normally expect to hear at an orchestra concert, the electric guitar. 

The orchestra will perform the American premiere of La Corde du Feu (“Fire Strings”), a concerto for electric guitar and orchestra by Ichiro Nodaira. Nodaira, one of Japan’s leading contemporary composers, writes in an eclectic style that incorporates everything from ragtime to the latest avant garde techniques. He has become one of Nagano’s favorite composers in recent years, with the BSO performing several of his recent works. 

La Corde du Feu was written in 1989, and reconceived on a larger scale in 2002. The new version was premiered in Tokyo that year with Nodaira conducting and electric guitar virtuoso and former Frank Zappa sideman Steve Vai performing as soloist. 

For the Berkeley program, the soloist will be guitarist David Tanenbaum. Tanenbaum, who lives in Berkeley and directs the guitar program at the San Francisco Conservatory, is celebrated as one of America’s finest classical guitarists. This concert is a rare occasion for the guitarist, who regularly premieres new works but seldom performs on the electric guitar. The work’s enhanced electronics will be provided by UC Berkeley’s renowned Center for New Music and Audio Technologies. 

Continuing the surprising focus on the guitar, the orchestra will also present the world premiere of the Concerto for Two Guitars and Orchestra by the Symphony’s composer-in-residence, Naomi Sekiya. Sekiya has quickly emerged as one of the leading younger Japanese composers in recent years, winning several international competitions. The soloists will be Duo ASTOR, the young French/Spanish team of guitarists Gaelle Chiche and Francisco Bernier.  

The duo, who met Sekiya in Italy, has been working on the piece since mid-summer and say it is one of the more challenging they’ve played. To her credit, they also say that is the best calibrated piece they’ve performed. 

“Guitar is such a soulful instrument that balance is a really important,” said Sekiya, who had to tone down the orchestra during the guitar parts.  

Both Chiche and Berneir say they are excited to play with the Berkeley Symphony. They are also a little star struck about playing with Nagano, even though they’ve performed around the world. 

“We’re quite nervous, you don’t have many chances to play with an orchestra, and Nagano is so famous.”  

Performance goers are also in for a little theatrical treat when the two play. Having practiced so much together they’ve created a vibrant energy that adds to the music, swaying as they cradle their guitars. The intense exchange of glances as they play can easily distract the listener but in the end adds to ambiance.  

The orchestra will turn to the classics to finish the program, but again Nagano will take a creative approach. In addition to conducting Mozart’s rarely performed Symphony No.19, he’ll lead the orchestra in a new edition of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 that reflects recent research into the composer’s original manuscripts. 

Daily Planet reporter Jakob Schiller contributed to this article.

TUESDAY, JAN. 20 

THEATER 

Shotgun Players, “The Death of Meyerhold,” through Jan. 23 at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Thurs. - Sat. performances at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 7 p.m. Tickets are $12-$18, available from 925-798-1300. 704-8210. www.shotgunplayers.org 

FILM 

Alternative Visions: Animation and Anti-Animation at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Molly Ness, a Teach for America alumna, discusses “Lesson to Learn: Voices from the Front Lines of Teach for America” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Poets Gone Wild an evening of open mic poetry at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tom Rigney and Flambeau at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson with Cheryl McBride at 8 p.m. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Claus Bossier-Ferrari & Teja Gerken, acoustic guitar, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

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

Dayna Stephens House Jam at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $5. 649-8744.  

www.thejazzhouse.com 

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 21 

CHILDREN 

Preschool Storytime, a program introducing books and music to promote early literacy skills, at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library West Branch, 1125 University Ave. 981-6270. 

EXIBITION OPENINGS 

Ant Farm 1968-1978, an exhibition exploring the renegade and radical vision of the ‘70s art and design group, at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. Exhibition runs to April 26. Gallery hours are Wed.-Sun. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thurs. 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

FILM 

Film 50: “Introduction to Film Language” at 3 p.m. and Ant Farm: Video Screening at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Travel Book Series Harry Pariser introduces “Explore Costa Rica” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble.  

The Whole Note Poetry Series with Jesse Beagle at 7 p.m. at The Beanery, 2925 College Ave., near Ashby. 549-9093. 

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.starryplough.com 

Rabbi Michael Lerner introduces “Healing Israel/Palestine: A Path of Peace and Reconciliation“ at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. Co-sponsored with the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Symphony, “21st Century Guitars,” at 8 p.m., Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 p.m. at the Haas Pavilion. Tickets are $21-$45, available from 841-2800. www.berkeleysymphonyorg.  

Wisdom, Hip Hop/Conscious Roots, at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

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

Whiskey Brothers perform old-time and bluegrass at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Mark Wright Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

THURSDAY, JAN. 22 

FILM 

Victor Sjostrom: “Terje Vigen” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Vijay Vaitheswaran, energy and environment correspondent for The Economist, describes “Power to the People: How the Coming Energy Revolution Will Transform and Industry, Change Our Lives, and Maybe Even Change the Planet,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Carla Blank introduces “Rediscovering America: The Making of Multicultural America, 1900-2000” at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 843-3533. 

Curator’s Talk: Ant Farm with Constance Lewallen at 12:15 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 

Lisa Lenard-Cook reads from her novel “Dissonance” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Word Beat Reading Series with Anna Mae Stanley and Tim Donnelly at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. 526-5985, 205-1749.  

Guy T. Saperstein introduces his memoir, “Civil Warrior: Memoires of a Civil Rights Attorney” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

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

Sam Bevan Band, The Saul Kaye Band, Pat Jordan at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Mas Cabeza at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill, Irish music violin and guitar duo at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $19.50 in advance, $20.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Moore Brothers, folk singers at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $5. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

FRIDAY, JAN. 23 

CHILDREN 

Chinese New Year Celebration at 10:30 a.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-3635. 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Light my Fire” an exhibition by 10 Bay Area glass artists. Reception from 5 to 7 p.m. at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. Exhibition runs until Feb. 21. 843-2527. www.accigallery.com 

THEATER 

Actor’s Ensemble of Berkeley, “Helen of Troy (Revised),” written by Wolfgang Hilesheimer, translated and directed by David Fenerty opens at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck at Berryman, and runs, Fri. and Sat. evenings through Feb. 21. Admission is $10. 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org 

“Yellowman” by Dael Orlandersmith, directed by Les Waters, opens at the Berkeley Repertory Theater, 2025 Addison St., and runs through March 7. For ticket information call 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

FILM 

Mann’s World: “The Furies” at 7 p.m. and “Side Street” at 9:10 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Anne Sofie von Otter, Swedish mezzo-soprano, at 8 p.m. in Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$56 available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Berkeley High Jazz Ensemble at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $5. 649-8744.  

www.thejazzhouse.com 

Oakland East Bay Symphony with Michael Morgan, conductor performs at 2025 Broadway, Oakland. 625-8497. www.oebs.org  

Rose Street Women perform at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$10. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill, Irish music violin and guitar duo at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $19.50 in advance, $20.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Double Standards, jazz duo, at 7 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

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

All Ages Show with The Phenomenauts, Three Bad Jacks, October Allied at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com  

The Quails perform indie-punk at 9 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $7, available at the door. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Mimi Fox at 8:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

CV1 at 9 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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

Evaporators, The Clarendon Hills, System and Station at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St.Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SATURDAY, JAN. 24 

CHILDREN 

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

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“The Art of Nature” featuring Inge Behrens, Andrea Markus and Vickie Resso. Reception from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at 4th Street Studio, 1717D 4th St. Exhibition runs to Feb. 10. 527-0600. www.fourthstreetstudio.com 

FILM 

Mann’s World: “Border Incident” at 7 p.m. and “The Black Book” at 8:50 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Rhythm and Muse, a benefit for Berkeley Public Swimming Pools with poets Summer Brenner, Adam David Miller, Gael Alcock, Eliza Shefler, and Yassir, at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Dr. Dean Edell discusses “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Healthiness: Dr. Dean’s Commonsense Guide for Anything That Ails You,” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

San Francisco Early Music Society, American Baroque, presents “Uncommon Grounds” a concert of new and baroque music built over ground basses, at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $22 for SFEMS members and seniors, $25 for non-members, $10 for students. 528-1725. www.sfems.org 

The Novello Quartet performs Boccherini, Haydn, and Foerster at 8 p.m. at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Suggested donation $10-$20. 415-794-1100.  

Music from Around the World, a benefit concert for Middle East Children’s Alliance, featuring The Dunes, North African music with jazz/rock grooves, Pachasiku, traditional music from the Andes, and The Brass Menagerie, a Balkan brass band. At 8 p.m. at International House, Piedmont Ave. at Bancroft. Tickets are $25 at the door. 548-0542. 

Piedmont Choir performs at 3 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $10-$12. 547-444, ext. 4. 

Trinity Concerts Chamber Music with Amari Barash, Carlberg Jones, Lynn Schugren at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. 549-3864.  

Christin Hablewitz and her Musical Friends perform chamber music from classical to contemporary at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $5-10. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Paco de Luciá, flamenco and jazz guitar, at 8 p.m., Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $24-$48, available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Natural Vibrations and One Groove with guest McMarty Dread at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Naked Barbies at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Ancient Future, world fusion music, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Sliding scale donation $8-$15. 649-8744.  

www.thejazzhouse.com 

The Scramblers, High Speed Scene, Good for You at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Quartet San Francisco at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10-$15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

International Guitar Night with Pierre Bensusan, Andrew York, Guinga and Brian Gore at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50 in advance, $18.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Michael Bluestein at 8:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Shelley Doty, singer, songwriter, guitarist at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Babyland, Midnight Laserbeam, Apocalipstick, Drk Sct Lv, Giant Haystacks 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. 

Rory Snyder Group at 9 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 

SUNDAY, JAN. 25 

CHILDREN 

Baba Ken and the Nigerian Brothers at 3 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $6 for adults, $4 for children. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

FILM 

Victor Sjostrom, “The Outlaw and His Wife” at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ant Farm: Guided Tour at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 

Women of Berkeley Lecture Series “Ocean View: Past and Present” with author Barbara Gates and historian Stephanie Manning at 3 p.m. at the Berkeley History Center, 1931 Center St. 848-0181. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc/ 

“Re-Imagining Collections” a panel discussion in conjunction with the Judah L. Magnes Museum’s “Brought to Light,” featuring curators from three Bay Area museums reflecting on how to re-imagine intellectual and educational content of collections. From 2 to 4 p.m. at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St. Free with museum admission. 549-6950. www.magnes.org 

Robert Guter, Lee Williams, Jean Stewart and Marsha Saxton read excerpts from “Voices from the Edge: Narratives about the Americans with Disabilities Act” at 3:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Poetry Flash with Carrie St. George Comer and Brian Teare at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Dennis E. Anderson will show slides and introduce “Hidden Treasures of San Francisco Bay” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Live Oak Concert with Bill Ludke, piano, Elizabeth Durand, soprano, Aurelio Viscarra, tenor, at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center in Live Oak Park. Tickets are $8-$10. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Chamber Music Sundaes San Francisco Symphony musicians and friends perform Beethovan, Bartok, and Schumann, at 3:15 p.m. at St John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $7-$18, available at the door. 415-584-5946. 

Paco de Luciá, flamenco and jazz guitar, at 7 p.m., Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $24-$48, available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Piedmont Choir performs at 3 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $10-$12. 547-444, ext. 4. 

A Night of Egyptian Dance Music with Alexandria and the Newar Eastern Dance Company at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Hurricane Sam, boogie woogie, blues and r&b piano 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 

Claudia Villela and Ricardo Peixoto, old roots, new language at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazz- 

school. Cost is $20. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

MONDAY, JAN. 26 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

Indira Martina Mesihovic “Mind LineScapes” paintings and Jacob Stewat-Halevy, “The Myth of the Homunculi” paintings, opens at the Worth-Ryder Gallery, UC Berkeley. Reception from 4 to 6 p.m.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Sandra Scofield introduces her new memoire, “Occaisions of Sin” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

“The Way Things Are” A Conversation with Huston Smith on the spiritual life at 7:30 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Co-presented by Pacific School of Religion, First Congregational Church of Berkeley, and Cody’s Books. This is a pre-conference event for Pacific School of Religion’s Earl Lectures. $10 suggested donation at the door. For more information, call 848-3696, ext. 23. 

Bob Guter and John R. Killacky, editors, read from “Queer Crips: Disabled Gay Men and Their Stories” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

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

On the eve of the Iowa caucuses, Berkeley, in all her splendor, turned out en masse Sunday evening to hear four Bush-bashing media icons. 

“Unraveling the Lying Liars of the Bush Dynasty,” a benefit supporting KPFA and Global Exchange, featured three best-selling authors—Al Franken, Paul Krugman and Kevin Philips—hosted by Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman. 

The show drew over 3,000 people to the Community Theater and sold out a week in advance as everyone scrambled to see the first-ever convergence of three high-profile progressive writers. 

The ensuing show left the crowd sometimes rolling in the aisles in laughter, sometimes glued to their seats throughout a two-and-a-half-hour event that featured individual presentations by each speaker followed by a Goodman-led roundtable discussion. 

Franken, co-founder and an original member of Saturday Night Live and author of the best selling book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, a Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, wooed the crowd with his charismatic wit, lobbing hits at Ann Coulter, Bill O’Reilly, Fox News, and President Bush, his four favorite targets. 

“If you could ask Ann Coulter one question, what would it be?” asked Goodman during the roundtable discussion. 

“Why are you such a bitch!?,” replied Franken to rolling laughter. 

“We went to Orange Alert the other day. It’s the highest alert where Bush still encourages you to go to the mall. If it had been red he would have said stay home and shop on-line.” 

Interspersed within the jokes were stories of what Franken does best—catching Coulter, O’Reilly and others in their lies. 

The show had its own touch of added comedy when the microphones failed during the roundtable discussion, continually cutting off Franken’s punchlines and leaving him red-faced. The large numbers also added to the chaos, particularly as the show opened up and the crowd ran like frenzied teenagers for the best seats.  

After Franken came Paul Krugman, New York Times columnist and Princeton professor of economics. In his segment Krugman answered the question many in the crowd wanted to ask: How could he, a progressive, work for the Times? The bottom line, he said, was that his columns sell papers and he knows he can return to his job as a professor if he’s ever fired.  

The real crowd favorite however, was Kevin Philips, author of the American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush. Philips, once chief political analyst for the Nixon administration and still a self-described moderate Republican, stole the show. Offering a series of examples connecting the Bush family to the crisis in the Middle East, he cited Bush Jr. and Sr.’s involvement in the arming and then disarming of Iraq as he mapped the family’s push towards dynasty. 

After the show, Bob Baldock one of the organizer of the events and public events coordinator for KPFA, said he hoped the event would act as a catalyst for the new social movement that has begun to take shape as the country nears the primaries. 

“This [event] will have legs,” said Baldock, who has organized over 200 events for KPFA. “People don’t want to sit at home and watch the TV, they want to be active. We’re building community, people are starved for it.” 

Goodman, whose team of assistants were selling the newly released Democracy Now DVD, quickly agreed in a backstage interview that the event resulted from a growing movement of those ready to insure change.  

“I think people across the political spectrum are fed up and want an alternative… If this were a larger space there would have been thousands more.” 

Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Global Exchange, neatly summarized the event afterwards: “I think [this event] shows the energy to get rid of Bush, there is hunger for coming together, to talk, people could have staid for hours. People want to get down and dirty. [Berkeley] is a very special community. It’s a community that can play a key role in the debate. It is here in Berkeley that you get a sense for the power that is latent in other communities. If we can come together in Berkeley, that will say a lot about whether we can come together nationally.”  

For those who missed the show, it will be aired on Democracy Now and on upcoming World Link TV segments and will also be given to MoveOn.org.

The University of California recently released its Notice of Preparation (NOP) for an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on the next Long Range Development Plan (LRDP), which will “present a framework for campus land use and physical development to meet the academic goals and objectives of UC Berkeley through the year 2020.” 

When the university prepares an EIR, we know we’re in for a major spurt in construction and campus expansion. In fact, major construction sometimes proceeds without an EIR, as we’re witnessing in the case of the Molecular Foundry. 

Side-by-side with the LRDPs and the EIRs, the university is nurturing the New Century Plan (NCP), whose second most-important stated goal is “to ensure that each new investment preserves and enhances our extraordinary legacy of landscape and architecture,” and whose Strategic Academic Plan lists as its first principle “Limit Future Growth.” 

An important component of the NCP is landscape preservation, where the first strategic goal is “protecting significant natural areas and open spaces from further development,” and for which Policy 2.1 was created to “ensure no new projects intrude into the landscape preservation zones, as defined in the Design Guidelines.” 

In the campus architecture component of the NCP, one of the stated strategic goals is “ensuring new buildings enhance the spatial and architectural integrity of the classical core.” 

These and other noble goals pepper the NCP, while all the while mega-construction proceeds at full-tilt and planning for further expansion continues unabated. 

The recent NOP gives us a tidy demonstration of campus planning schizophrenia, embodied in the proposal for the Chang-Lin Tien Center for East Asian Studies, tacked onto the 2020 LRDP although it should have been part of the current LRDP (which runs through 2005). 

The NOP states: “The Tien Center is envisioned as a composition of two rectangular buildings. Phase 1 will be located at the south base of Observatory Hill on the site of the existing parking lot, facing Memorial Glade and Doe Library, and aligned with the central axis of the Glade. Phase 2 will be sited at the west base of Observatory Hill adjacent to Haviland Hall, oriented 90° to Phase 1.” 

The LRDP siting plan differs considerably from the plan displayed on the Tien Center website and the University Library website, where Phase 2 of the Tien Center is located on the east flank of Observatory Hill, near McCone Hall. 

Why is this difference in siting important? Because it affects two key resources on campus—Haviland Hall and Observatory Hill—and is directly at odds with the New Century Plan’s stated goals and policies. 

Haviland Hall (1924) is one of the campus’s architectural treasures. Designed by John Galen Howard, it was designated a City of Berkeley Landmark in 1981 (the bulk of the campus Landmarks were designated in 1988). It is number 82002161 on the National Register of Historic Places, added in 1982. 

Among the major academic buildings on campus, Haviland Hall is the most secluded. On all four sides, it is surrounded by landscaped open space, much of it consisting of dense tree and shrub plantings. On the eastern side of Haviland lies the historic Observatory Hill, home to a variety of native species, including Manzanita (Arctostaphylos spp.), Pacific Madrone (Arbutus Menziesii), Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia), and California Buckeye (Aesculus Californica), as well as to remnants of the old Students’ Observatory. 

A significant portion of Observatory Hill would be excavated and its nature areas sacrificed if Phase 2 of the Tien Center is built next to Haviland Hall. Adding insult to injury, the campus preservation zones plan treats the Tien Center as a fait accompli, making believe that the green area that still exists on the west flank of Observatory Hill is already gone and therefore not in need of preserving. So much for “protecting significant natural areas and open spaces from further development.” 

Haviland Hall itself is doomed to be overshadowed by the considerably taller Tien Center buildings (according to the NOP, “each building will be roughly 75 feet in height above the existing ground plane”). McCone Hall is several stories higher and can handle the competition (it’s also no beauty queen and possesses no historic significance). Haviland, situated on lower ground, will be severely overwhelmed and trivialized. It will no longer be visible from the steps of Dow Library or from the Campanile esplanade. This flies in the face of Policy 3.1 in the Campus Architecture Strategic Goals: 

“Projects within the Classical Core shall enhance the integrity of this ensemble, and complement rather than compete with existing historic buildings.” 

Building on Observatory Hill is not consistent with the goals of the New Century Plan. If I may make a modest suggestion to the campus planners, sometimes moving a department is preferable to adding yet more buildings to an already overcrowded campus. If the School of Social Welfare were to move to another location, Haviland Hall itself could make a fitting and stately new home for the Tien Center. 

Daniella Thompson is the webmaster for the Berkeley Landmarks website.

Paradise is only a few miles or so north of Berkeley, but the parking lot may be full so give yourself a little extra time. 

This particular promised land is disguised as “Pacific East 99 Ranch Mall.” The Pacific is of course to our west, so the name itself is deceptive. 

As for the “99” various authorities ascribe portents of longevity and good luck to the number in Chinese, and in fact the chain, which started in Southern California, is growing. 

However, “ranch” can only be understood as genuine American realestatespeak. It is doubtful that any piece of property in the greater Bay Area less resembles a ranch, but this is completely consistent with, for example, developments called “Rio Vista Rancheros” in which too many homes are squeezed onto tiny tracts of land that has neither river nor views available. 

But all these concerns dissolve once you enter the mall—and find yourself, like Dorothy newly descended from the tornado, in another world. 

Here is the mysteriously named “168 Restaurant” as well as the more informative Phuping Thai, Shanghai Gourmet, Pacific East Seafood, Coriya Hot Pot City, VH Noodle House, and more.  

Of course, there are further mysteries within. 

One tiny shop offers, according to its multilingual posters, 30 milk teas including mocha, 30 black and green teas including hot passion fruit, 30 icy smoothies (among them pina colada), 30 juices, including avocado juice with milk and watermelon juice with milk, coffee, eight flavors of ice cream, and “giant toast” with sesame, peanut or garlic butter or strawberry jam. One handwritten sign taped to one side offers “fresh sushi 50 percent off after 8 p.m..” 

All is not food. The “Just In Shop” features fashion (newly arrived?). A Korean-American ginseng store features the root in many incarnations, as well as tea sets and other accessories. “Crystal Land” has thousands of tiny crystal figures. Wind-up pets, fresh royal jelly and bee pollen, preserved fruits, and gewgaws of all sorts are on display. 

A beauty parlor features “Vitaviv” with drawings of a cartoon figure energetically applying Vitaviv to various parts of the body. 

With the right amount of money, you can have your picture taken and reproduced in a sheet of tiny postage stamp images.  

There is a Charles Schwab office, open weekdays. 

One restaurant is featuring “shepherds purse and pork in clay pot.” One wonders nervously what a shepherd’s purse might be. 

But the heart of the center is the market itself, with row upon row of arcane products—or familiar ones in bewildering variety. A stroll down the noodle aisle reveals, among other delights, elephant rice stick, kimbo dried imitation noodle, long life sliced rice stick, bon pho rice stick, new jam rice stick (medium, large or small), spring roll skins, Japanese style noodles, sei men, chow mein, soroban, soba noodles, dry noodles yellow, egg noodles, Chinese noodle, buckwheat noodle, flour vermicielli, packaged noodles with sauce, abalone flavored noodles, ribbons, green bean sauce noodles, green bean thread noodles...Fresh noodles fill another, refrigerated case. And if you prefer Golden Grain macaroni, that’s available too (in the exotic foods section?). 

Frozen soy beans share space with a frozen whole goose, near a frozen silky (Hmmm...looks like a chicken soaked in soy). 

Produce always includes at least one surprise, among the many kinds of greens, the durian looking like some kind of lethal weapon, pomelos and passion fruit. Today’s wonder is banana buds at $1.99 a pound—enormous and a beautiful color, though it is difficult to see what is or could be edible. 

Fishes and sea creatures of every cut, size, shape and description are available, and will be prepared to your liking—even if your liking is to have the whole fish deep fried, a kettle of boiling oil awaits. Live crab is a traditional ingredient of the new year feast. 

One could easily spend a day, even a weekend. Over in one corner of the market, a cafeteria offers colossal servings for ridiculously low prices. Free sample givers offered two kinds of soup and a warm (but formerly frozen) black bean cake.  

Because it is almost New Year, there are thousands of red-wrapped boxes of treats: dried fruit, salty fried flour, rice cake, ginger candy, etc. etc. etc.  

Outside the main building is a separate restaurant called Daimo. It may be outside because it is closer to chaos than an ordinary mall could tolerate. Its chefs work in a gleaming kitchen to produce an astonishing variety of dishes. Waiters and waitresses talk to each other over cell phones, and when things are especially busy you may not see the same waitperson twice. Tanks high in one corner hold fish and other sea creatures ready to be dispatched at your order. 

Somehow it all seems to work, usually, although there can be language problems. It is a good place to try something you’ve never heard of. Far more often than not, the food passes the test proposed by the late Dr. Y.R. Chao, a prominent linguist:  

“To test whether the cooking has been done properly, observe the person served. If he utters a voiced bilabial nasal consonant with a slow falling intonation, it is good. If he utters the syllable ‘yum’ in reduplicated form, it is very good.”

Berkeley schools have come a long way in the past six months, according to a progress report issued by state auditors. 

The 200-page document, released last week by the state’s Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team (FCMAT), commended Berkeley Unified School District for tackling several of its administrative shortcomings—including its special education program and finance systems—in the six months after auditors issued their scathing initial report. 

All five operational areas—Community Relations, Personnel Management, Pupil Achievement, Financial Management and Facilities Management—showed improvement, with finance, long the district’s Achilles heel, singled out for special praise. 

“They’ve done good work. You can see the change in their culture,” said FCMAT Management Analyst Roberta Mayor. 

School officials cautioned against reading too much into improved scores, considering that many of the 98 standards FCMAT decided to review in the progress report had already been identified by the district for reform and that FCMAT had incentive to grade low in the on the initial audit so scores can rise. 

“Any consultant wants to show that they made an impact,” said Facilities and Maintenance Director Lew Jones. “If the choice [on the initial report] is to give you a two or a four, they’ll give you a two so they can jump from two to six really quickly.” 

A look at FCMAT’s website reveals that of the four districts to receive six-month progress reports all but one—West Fresno Elementary—showed across-the-board improvement similar to Berkeley’s. 

FCMAT itself faces an audit ordered by Assembly Education Committee Chair Jackie Goldberg (D-Los Angeles) to review oversight issues as well as its effectiveness in helping districts stave off bankruptcy. 

The agency has faced local criticism after failing to keep Oakland Unified solvent and under local control. 

Berkeley Unified Superintendent Michele Lawrence said she was pleased with the progress demonstrated in the latest report and said FCMAT intervention had been positive for the district as it pared down its deficit from $6.5 million to $2.4 million over the past year. 

“We had many systems and processing areas that had deteriorated over time,” she said. “This gives the community confidence that we’re getting out from under our financial problems.” 

The report is the first of four follow-up evaluations scheduled after FCMAT issued a 740-page comprehensive review last year. Each progress report will review the district’s progress towards implementing around 100 of the 472 standards measured by the initial audit. Berkeley faces no penalty if it fails to improve its score or implement standards. 

The audit was funded from a 2002 bill authored by former Assemblywoman Dion Aroner (D-Berkeley) that forgave Berkeley Unified $1.1 million owed the state for filing late paperwork in 2000, and poured $700,000 towards the audit, with the rest allocated towards helping the district implement FCMAT suggestions. 

FCMAT analyst Mayor said Berkeley Unified had “made tremendous gains” at installing systems and processes to monitor its budget. The report also credited the much-maligned Special Education program for reforming students’ education plans to conform to state law and developing systems to promptly place students into appropriate courses, though it warned the program continued to burden the general fund. 

Berkeley Unified was also commended for standardizing curriculum throughout its schools and improving the dissemination of information, though auditors wanted to see plans for increased student participation on mandated tests and parent outreach. 

On a grading scale from 1 to 10, Community Relations rose from 5.67 to 6.03, Personnel Management 4.40 to 4.71, Pupil Achievement from 4.30 to 4.96, Financial Management from 3.08 to 3.88 and Facilities Management from 5.75 to 6.08. 

Sentiments towards FCMAT vary throughout the district. Dan Lindheim, co-president of the Berkeley Schools Excellence Project Planning and Oversight Committee, questioned why the state required such an extensive study, costing hours of staff time, for essentially a financial management problem. 

“Look at pupil achievement,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of bright people in Berkeley looking at the achievement gap for long time. I’d be surprised to see a consultant come in and say just do XYZ and the problem will be solved.” 

However Tina Brier, director of classified personnel, said FCMAT consultants did more than just help her prioritize reforms and set deadlines for implementation. “The consultants gave us a lot of ideas of how to fix some things. Some were jewels,” she said. “You don’t hear about that part of things.”

OAKLAND SCHOOLS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Congratulations to the Daily Planet on J. Douglas Allen-Taylor’s columns covering Oakland School Trustee Randolph Ward’s threatened school closures. The columns make clear that Ward’s plan for Oakland is to degrade, downsize, and privatize Oakland’s public schools.  

Ward should be removed and the people of Oakland should regain our democratic right to elect a school board that is accountable to us. As the turnout of 1,500 to protest Ward’s announced school closings last Thursday showed, the community of Oakland cares deeply about the future of its youth, and will not allow that future to be degraded. 

I was one of the activists who organized the protest against school closings, and publicized Ward’s affiliation with the right-wing anti-affirmative action, anti-immigrant American Independent Party (AIP). Ward tried to dodge the anger of Oakland’s students, teachers, and parents by claiming he joined the AIP by mistake. I view his claim with skepticism.  

In 1998, while trustee of the predominately Latino Compton schools, Ward implemented the anti-immigrant Unz Initiative (Prop. 227) in the harshest manner possible, dictating that classrooms in Compton use “English only” 90 percent to 98 percent of the time. His policy—perfectly mirroring the anti-immigrant, anti-affirmative action positions of the AIP and praised by the right wing National Review (Oct. 12, 1998)—was in stark contrast to virtually every other majority Latino district in California.  

These were the actions of a conscious conservative who chose to impose the harshest possible educational conditions on Compton’s Latino students. Randolph Ward is a would-be dictator whose corporate style downsizing plan threatens the future of public education in Oakland. Randolph Ward must go. 

Mark Airgood 

Oakland Teacher 

Equal Opportunity Now  

Caucus  

• 

CANNABIS CLINIC 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you for your front page article “City Kills Nonprofit Center Move, Cites Cannabis Clinic Concerns” (Daily Planet, Jan. 13-15). Proposition 215, the Medical Marijuana Referendum, was approved in 1996 by 85 percent of Berkeley’s voters I believe, so this story deserves attention. 

Also, I especially appreciated included in the story the cogent, insightful, and pertinent comments by Councilmember Kriss Worthington and Reverend Mark Wilson of McGee Avenue Baptist Church. I would like to mention some information that was overlooked. James Church of the Berkeley Community Resource Center applied for the nonprofit business license. Cannabis Buyers Cooperative of Berkeley (CBCB) is a member of BCRC. Furthermore the founder of CBCB, James Blair, is himself disabled (a recovering quadriplegic). CBCB operating for the past seven years has never had a robbery. The University Avenue “pot distribution” cooperative was shut down before 2003, not last year.  

I question the actions of Permits and Zoning. From what I have heard, CBCB, acting on the advise of Councilmember Dona Spring, was planning to apply for a medical marijuana permit after the nonprofit business permit had been issued to BCRC. How could planning not know that CBCB would dispense medical marijuana after the permit process was completed when CBCB has been operating so long with city approval? On what possible legal grounds was this non-profit business permit revoked? 

I am fortunate enough to be a college graduate, and after dealing with the zoning and Zoning Adjustments Board myself a few years ago in a neighborhood matter, I found the process to be difficult and complex, not always clear-cut or easily understandable. Personally, I am very sensitive to neighborhood concerns, as well as the importance of marijuana as a medicine for many patients. The mayor and City Council should consider and adopt a revised medical marijuana initiative which has been recommended by the existing medical marijuana dispensaries in Berkeley. I look forward to our community, public officials, and city employees taking a truly fair and balanced approach to the distribution of medical marijuana.  

Charles Pappas 

• 

IRV DEBATE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In a recent op-ed piece, (“Rush to IRV Ballots Raises Troubling Questions,” Daily Planet, Dec. 26-29), Berkeley City Councilmember Gordon Wozniak announced his opposition to an upcoming March, 2004 Berkeley ballot measure—Measure I—that will allow Berkeley citizens the opportunity to vote yes or no on possibly implementing an Instant Runoff Voting voting procedure (ranking candidates by “first choice,” “second choice,” “third choice,” etc. on a ballot) for future city candidate elections. 

Contrary to Mr. Wozniak’s claims, IRV is a very simple, straightforward voting process that has been used successfully in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Ireland for decades. Ireland’s president is selected using IRV voting. The City of London uses IRV voting to select its mayor and city council offices. 

Several dozen eastern US cities, including Cleveland and Cincinnati, used IRV voting for local elections from the 1940’s through the 1960’s. IRV voting is currently an election option in Santa Clara County, the City of San Leandro and for special elections in Oakland. 

After its citizens voted overwhelmingly to pass a ballot measure mandating its use, San Francisco’s voters are set to use IRV voting in the November, 2004 general election. Berkeley’s upcoming March, 2004 IRV ballot measure is directly modeled on San Francisco’s successful IRV initiative. 

In his article, Mr. Wozniak erroneously states that “no voting machine can handle mixed traditional and IRV voting” on the same election day. Mr. Wozinak’s remarkable claim is directly contradicted by the fact that San Francisco—with hundreds of thousands of voters—is set to conduct its November, 2004 election using traditional and IRV voting procedures simultaneously. 

This dual voting technology already exists and will be operational for San Francisco’s November, 2004 Board of Supervisors elections. The company Election Software and Services (ESS) is the provider of San Francisco’s dual traditional/IRV voting machine technology.  

What is deeply disconcerting—and cynical—about Mr. Wozniak’s opposition to Berkeley’s Measure I is that Mr. Wozniak originally voted against allowing Berkeley citizens themselves the right to vote yes or no on the IRV ballot measure. 

As a City Councilmember, Mr. Wozniak voted against placing Measure I on the March ballot—in effect, pre-empting the ability of Berkeley’s voters to decide the merits of the issue for themselves. 

Given the political dynamics of Mr. Wozniak’s own 2002 City Council District 8 election—when he was one of four District 8 candidates at the time—it is possible to conclude that Mr. Wozniak’s personal opposition to IRV likely stems from the concern that he could be vulnerable if IRV voting is used in a future District 8 election. 

In his November, 2002 City Council election, as one of four candidates, Mr. Wozniak received less than a majority of all votes cast, and only managed to win his office during a low turnout, runoff election 30 days later in December. 

Under Measure I, IRV voting will avoid the need for a second, low turnout election which typically costs the City of Berkeley hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

IRV voting insures that elected representatives have majority voter support—50 percent or more—during an election once ranked votes (”first choice,” “second choice,” etc.) are fully tabulated.  

Chris Kavanagh 

• 

MORE IRV DEBATE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

No wonder City Councilmember Gordon Wozniak has been going on an obsessive rampage against instant runoff voting—which is set to be on the Berkeley ballot March 2 as Measure I. He knows that he would not be on the City Council today if IRV had been in place.  

In the 2002 City Council race for District 8, progressives split their votes between candidates Andy Katz and Anne Wagley. A December run-off that was entirely vote-by-mail pitted Gordon Wozniak against Andy Katz (a 22-year-old graduate student), during the week after Thanksgiving Break and before Final Exams.  

As someone who worked tirelessly to get the student vote out in that election, the task of getting students who had not mailed in their absentee ballot to go to City Hall when they had a million other things on their minds proved far too daunting. Voter turnout in the student precincts declined substantially between November and December, totally disenfranchising a large portion of District 8 residents. 

I hope Councilman Wozniak will admit that the motive behind his campaign against a common-sense reform is that he knows he benefits from low turnout runoff elections where most students don’t vote. 

Paul Hogarth 

Berkeley Rent Board Commissioner 

• 

MALCOLM X FLOOD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I would like to know the superintendent’s response on the Malcolm X flood and why there is no better oversight on the maintenance committee, especially after the resignation of these key maintenance committee members. I have just read Yolanda Huang’s letter (Daily Planet, Jan. 16-19), which quotes the meeting minutes. I find it appalling that there seem to be no checks and balances system in place.  

Did the superintendent personally get involved then when these resignations took place? It seems to me, as a parent whose daughter attends kindergarten at Malcolm X, the responsibility of the flood (which sounds like it could have been entirely avoided with consistent preventative maintenance) falls squarely on her shoulders. 

What kind of systems are being put in place now by the superintendent to avoid this from happening again? 

Catherine Huchting 

• 

XXXXXXXXXX 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I suggest a different approach to Gov. Schwarzenegger in dealing with the Indian tribes to balance the budget.  

If talks are going nowhere with the tribes, I suggest that we erect toll booths. Maybe we don’t own the tribal property the casinos are on. But we sure own the property outside the casinos. I suggest we set up toll booths and charge $10 per person to go onto Indian property. This will help bring in hundreds of millions towards the deficit. 

John Ramirez 

San Diego 

It’s not every day a high-ranking Bush Administration official pays Berkeley a visit. So when President Bush’s homelessness czar Philip Mangano shuffled into a shelter Friday wearing a sharper suit than the TV reporters following his every move, people took notice. 

“People were treating him like a movie star,” said Cleo Smith, one of several shelter residents to approach Mangano. “I don’t think this means Bush will give us any more money.” 

That’s not necessarily the case, said Mangano, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness—who, along with Mayor Bates, made a brief pit stop at Berkeley’s Veterans Building as the last leg of a Bay Area visit to pitch the development of 10-year plans to end chronic homelessness. 

“I’m at the budget table. We’re constellating the political will to make this happen,” he said, pointing to a nine percent increase last year in federal spending on the homeless.  

With fresh funding comes new directives. While the Clinton Administration focused on providing the homeless with a web of services, Mangano wants to shift money away from services and towards housing, a policy he said worked while he directed a homeless advocacy group in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

“We have to give the customer what he’s asking for,” Mangano said. “When you talk to people on the street, they don’t want pills, they want a place to live.” 

Berkeley officials backed Mangano’s policies, but questioned his administration’s sincerity. 

“My strong fear is this is a fig leaf of compassion from an administration whose objective is to destroy the federal government as we know it,” said Berkeley Housing Director Stephen Barton. 

At a meeting before the shelter visit, Barton asked for more money and urged Mangano to loosen restrictions on Section 8 housing grants so Berkeley could better fund programs that combine housing with support services. 

A Section 8 voucher won’t work in most cases, Barton said, because the chronically homeless don’t get counseling, mess up and get evicted. He estimated that with greater spending flexibility and about $5 million more in federal funds—on top of the roughly $9 million Berkeley and its care providers already receive—the city could end chronic homelessness within four years. 

Alameda County has already started work on its 10-year plan, scheduled for completion in the fall. County Homeless Continuum of Care Coordinator Megan Schatz said neighboring counties will align their plans so homeless have no incentive to cross county lines for better service and that in addition to building more supportive housing for chronically homeless, Alameda will address housing for AIDS patients and tackle some of the chief feeders of homelessness—prisons, foster care, and psychiatric hospitals. 

A countywide survey conducted last year counted 835 homeless people in Berkeley, about two-thirds labeled chronic. That was about 200 fewer than previous estimates. But Robert Long who runs services for Berkeley’s homeless at the shelter said he’s seeing on average as 140 per day, up significantly from several years ago. 

“For every one we get into permanent housing there are two more to take their place,” he said. “I’d love to go out of business, but I don’t think in 10 years this is going to be a thing of the past.” 

For those who want to see Mangano succeed, they can only hope the charm he displayed Friday works as well on Republicans in Washington.  

Strolling through the shelter he pressed the flesh of residents and crashed a group session for recovering addicts, proclaiming, “Man I thought this was the Oakland Raiders. You guys look like the Oakland Raiders.” When a member told him they had “become like a family,” he said, “That’s what I meant, you guys look like a team.” 

Shortly thereafter when Cleo Smith assailed Bush, Mangano protested, “We can’t be partisan on this. We can see the end of homelessness, but we won’t solve it if we divide into Democrats and Republicans.” 

Smith shook his head, prompting Mangano to end the conversation saying, “Pray for your president. He needs your help. You don’t have to like him to pray for him.” 

A 20-year-old UC Berkeley women’s basketball player died Monday at Kaiser Medical Center, and university officials say the probable cause is bacterial meningitis. 

Alisa Marie Lewis, a junior from Spokane, Washington, was rushed to the emergency room Monday morning with a severe headache, rash, and flu-like symptoms, according to the University’s Media Relations Department. 

Lewis’s team members and coaches were informed of her death at a meeting later in the day, where school officials provided counseling and health information. They were told the diseases is rare and not spread through casual contact. 

A final determination of the cause of death is pending. 

Lewis, a graduate of Fairfield High School in Northern California, was a scholarship student who lived in off-campus housing.

In hopes of creating a new approach to community involved development in Berkeley, developers, neighbors and city staff will meet Thursday to discuss plans for a proposed mixed-use redevelopment of a University Avenue auto lubricant shop.  

A disputed interpretation of a state law that requires more density in new developments to allow for affordable housing has led to frustration for neighbors and city staff. Some homeowners, opposed to increased housing density and taller buildings along University Avenue, believe city staff isn’t doing enough to represent residents when it comes to the proposed redevelopment. 

City staff, however, contends that a recent state law requiring more affordable housing for new developments forces them to accept what developers want to build at the Tune-Up Masters site, located at 1698 University Ave. 

The crux of the issue is that the state law mandates a 25 percent density bonus for new developments in order to provide more affordable housing. Developers can build more than the maximum developable area allowed by local zoning and can construct higher buildings closer to property lines because of the law. 

Before the law was passed Berkeley already required a 20 percent bonus for affordable housing. Now planning staff says that the city must make added concessions for affordable units, to the detriment of some neighborhoods, according to residents. 

Tune-Up Masters neighbors like Michael Popso believe city staff can come up with more creative ways to represent residents while satisfying developers’ financial needs. They would like to see the city try to get a state exemption for its affordable housing efforts, Popso said, or at least push for re-examination of the state density bonus law.  

“It feels like staff is guiding developers to five stories,” he said. “The city is not defending residents.”  

University Avenue corridor residents, city staff and the developers met last week to discuss the plans and to air frustration over a seven-year-old University Avenue Strategic Plan that has languished. Members of the Addison Allston Roosevelt California Neighborhood Group called the meeting to ask city planners why the strategic plan isn’t being applied to this development.  

Despite the fact that the strategic plan has guidelines that dictate building heights along the University Avenue corridor, state law pre-empts the plan at present, said City Planner Mark Rhoades. Where four story buildings are supposed to be the maximum, five stories are allowed because of the density bonus. 

The University Avenue Strategic Plan is finally being revisited after Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmember Linda Maio recently called for the city to develop new zoning code to implement the plan, which was adopted by the City Council in November 1996. Until then, some residents fear, projects that are inconsistent with the plan’s guidelines will continue to be proposed and built, if state affordability law can override the current Berkeley zoning standards. Tune-Up Masters is one such project. Because the plans for redevelopment of the site were complete before the renewed interest, the guidelines would not apply, Rhoades said.  

At the meeting, Kwan Lam Wong, the architect, presented what he called a “a more neighborhood friendly design.” City planners asked him in August to come up with a design which was no more than 5 stories high. A 50-foot five-story mixed-use building is now proposed, with 32 residential units in a 28,516-square-foot space. A 43-foot four-story alternative was also presented, consisting of 33 residential units in a 28,958-square-foot building. The previous design was 62 feet tall, with 38 residential units. It had a smaller area, by a few hundred feet. 

Thursday’s experimental workshop will take place at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers at Old City Hall before the Zoning Adjustments Board meeting. The workshop was born out of the Mayor’s Task Force on Permitting and Development, at the suggestion of neighborhood activist Sharon Hudson, who was an observer of the Mayor’s Task Force. She does not live in the immediate vicinity of the Tune-Up Masters site. 

At the workshop the developers, Quality Bay Construction, will make a presentation on the two updated design proposals. A question-and-answer and comment period will follow. 

Organizers say they want the workshop to alleviate the acrimony between stakeholders, while avoiding a “rubber stamp” approval by the Zoning Adjustments Board. If successful, the workshop will bring “a new day for Berkeley,” Hudson said.  

The idea comes, Hudson said, because of developers’ complaints. After maneuvering through the review process, many were frustrated to have the Zoning Adjustments Board put a stop to the plans. With an earlier review at the workshop, the Zoning Adjustments Board can get a sense of where the project is, what the concerns are and what would make the project more acceptable to neighbors, developers and city staff, Hudson hopes. It also diminishes the “unfair advantage” these developers enjoy over laymen neighbors.  

“It’s not the most intelligent thing to let the most important board or commission go last,” Hudson said. Nonetheless, “how much of a problem this actually is for developers, is probably an arguable question.”  

But the workshop concept doesn’t come without some potential future pitfalls, Hudson said. One is a buy-in from the Zoning Adjustments Board and staff. Part of that has to do with developers thinking that what is advice could be construed as approval. With more time and money invested in the project, and the misperception of approval, the board might be forced into accepting a proposal that isn’t the best for neighbors, Hudson thinks. 

As it stands, the system (and its inefficiencies) gives neighbors more time to organize and learn the laws concerning redevelopment in their area, she said. This inefficiency levels the playing field of what is often an adversarial situation, Hudson said. With this presentation pushed up in time, neighbors still might not have enough time to prepare.  

This is probably not as likely in the case of Tune-Up Masters site, she said. Developers submitted a proposal and received staff design review before plans were sent back to the architect last August. 

Aaron Sage, the city’s project manager for 1698 University Ave., said that the Planning Department strives to do what’s in the city’s best interest. He acknowledged, however, the frustration of both residents and city staff.  

“If I lived two houses down from this site I would be very frustrated,” he said. “Given our interpretation of state law and application of state law, this is the size of building we must accept. We don’t want five stories up and down the avenue.”  

Resident Robin Kibbey said she was surprised that the proposed building is roughly the same size as the original design submitted in August. She worries that the workshop is “illusory” because the project has already been decided.  

“The staff talk about doing something [with the University Avenue Strategic Plan] but where’s the real action?” she said. 

In the interim the strategic plan will be a work item on the Planning Commission’s agenda next month, Mark Rhoades said. A staff report will indicate the strategic plan and the zoning ordinance are not consistent.  

“I am somebody! We can be the dream!” chanted the students led by third grade teacher Kim Burton at the Washington Communication and Technology Magnet School Jan. 12 as they celebrated the 75th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday. 

“Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was an amazing human being. We all know he fought long and hard so that African Americans and all Americans would have equal rights.” 

The special multi-media assembly organized by Burton and other teachers at the school also recognized the nine winners of the school’s Martin Luther King Jr. essay contest for third through fifth graders—one of which is reproduced in today’s paper. 

Burton said the contest, which comes at the beginning of the school’s upcoming Civil Rights curriculum, was meant to ground the leader’s message in the lives of the students by forcing them to think and write about how and why their lives relate to his. 

Asked to reflect on one of three quotes from Dr. King—“Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that,” “Love is the key to the problems of the world,” and “Sooner or later, all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together”—the winners were chosen on their ability to take the quote apart and apply it to their own lives or the modern world. 

Fifth-grader De’Janae Russell was chosen for the following essay. 

—Jakob Schiller 

An Essay in Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

By De’Janae Russell  

I agree with Dr. King’s quote “Hate cannot drive out hate.” Because love is the only thing that can do that. Everyone should be treated in the same way no matter what color their skin is. Dr. King wanted white people and black people to be able to share things and let black kids and white kids play together and go to the same schools. He always told other people to solve their problems in nonviolent ways. Dr. King made a lot of speeches. When he said his “I Have A Dream” speech, 250,000 people listened to this speech in 1963. Dr. King helped black people by changing some of the unfair laws. Dr. King helped change the bus law that black people had to sit at the back of the bus and white people could sit where they wanted to. He also went to hospitals to make all of the sick people feel better. I think that Dr. King was a very brave man because he did a lot of brave things in his life to make the world a better place. I think that Dr. King did the right thing by changing the unfair laws because everyone should have equality. I think Dr. King was a great person and a good leader. Dr. King always tried to do the right thing by helping other black people. Dr. King is very famous today because in the past he has helped black and white people stop fighting and now people can have their own freedom. Because of Dr. King black people can go to any hotel, restaurant, bathroom, water fountain, beach, vacation place, school, store, and now black people can have any job that they want. It does not matter what color your skin is because everyone’s skin color might be different from everyone else’s skin. Dr. King always stood up for his rights and other black people’s rights because black people should have their own rights too. White people should not judge black people by the color of their skin. If Dr. King wasn’t born, there would be a lot of war in the world. Dr. King was an excellent example for showing people how to do nonviolent things because he wanted peace on earth, and he did not want war. He used words, marches, speeches and bus boycotts to solve problems, not cannons. 

“You forgot the worm,” said Irit. 

“What worm?” I asked.  

“The worm in the story about the onions and oranges. I told you that it was a worm that lived in the onion and never got to taste oranges.” 

“Jeez,” I said. “I forgot all about the worm. How could that be?” 

Irit was referring to a tale she had told me at a dinner party about how a worm who tastes only onion thinks it is the sweetest taste in the world, until the day he/she/it gets to eat an orange. I had written an essay about Irit’s story and I had e-mailed it to her for her approval. 

“I’ll change it,” I said. 

“Don’t bother,” answered Irit. “I like it the way it is, except you made me sound old. I never peer over my glasses.” 

“You think that makes you sound old? I’ll change it.”  

“No,” said Irit. “Leave it as it is. You got the essence right and that’s what matters. Really, I don’t know where I learned that orange-onion-worm story. I’d like to find out.” 

“We can do a Google search,” I suggested. 

“I already have,” said Irit. “I put in “worm + onion + orange”. Then I tried “onion + orange + worm”. And then I tried “orange + worm + onion”. It was no use. I got millions of hits and none of them were right.” 

“Did you try Yiddish proverbs, Jewish folktales, Israeli stories?”  

“Yes, all of them.” 

“Listen,” I said. “I’ve got a friend in Israel who knows about these things. I’ll e-mail him and see if he remembers anything about onions, worms and oranges, okay?”  

“That would be great. And while you’re at it, can you find out about the monkey and the glasses?” 

“The monkey and the glasses?” 

“Yes. It was my favorite story while growing up in Jerusalem. The monkey wanted a pair of glasses and when he finally got them he put them on his feet, his knees, his tail and his head, but he never figured out how to use them. The moral is something about you don’t need to accumulate things that you don’t know how to use.” 

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll see what I can find out about the worm, the onion, the orange, the monkey and the glasses. Anything else?” 

“Yes,” said Irit. “Don’t make me sound like I’m fat when you write about me, okay?” 

“Did I make you sound fat?” I asked. 

“No,” said Irit. “I’m just warning you.” 

When I got off the phone I e-mailed my friend Ephraim in Haifa. Ephraim is 81 years old, a Holocaust survivor, a 1948 freedom fighter, a former kibbutz resident, a scholar of the Old Testament. If he didn’t know about the onions, oranges, monkeys, worms and glasses, then nobody did. 

I received an answer from Ephraim within 24 hours. “The worm is in a horseradish,” said his message. “He thinks that the horseradish is the best place to be. There are no onions in this tale though your friend got the gist of the story right.” 

I called Irit. “You forgot the horseradish,” I told her.  

“Ohmigod!” shouted Irit. “But of course! How could I have forgotten the horseradish?” 

“I don’t know,” I answered. “Maybe the same way I forgot the onion?”  

“You didn’t forget the onion,” corrected Irit. “You forgot the WORM.” 

“Yes, you’re right. I forgot the worm.” 

“What did your friend Ephraim say about the monkey and the glasses?” 

“He didn’t,” I said. “He must have forgot.” 

“You know, there is an old proverb about forgetting important details. I just can’t remember it right now.” 

“Good,” I said. “Keep it to yourself with the worm, the horseradish, the oranges, onions, monkeys and glasses. I’ve had about all I can stand on this subject.” 

“Me too,” said Irit. “But remember, don’t make me sound fat.” 

“Of course,” I assured her. “How could I possibly forget?” 

Footnote: Further searching on Google discovered the following: “To a worm in a horseradish, the whole world is a horseradish.”—Yiddish Proverb [Also considered Hasidic Proverb] 

“The Monkey and the Spectacles,” By Ivan A(ndreyevich) Krylov, 1769-1844/Russia. 

Found in: Ride the East Wind: Parables of Yesterday and Today, ed. Edmund C. Berkeley, New York: Quadrangle 1973. 

It’s still hard to believe birding has become so mainstream. We used to be considered eccentrics—caricatured at best as bores (remember John McGiver in Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation?), at worst as wimps.  

No longer. 

Now there are 71 million of us, a multi-billion-dollar market for binoculars, spotting scopes, field guides, magazines, software, feeders, seed, guided tours. And there’s a year-long calendar of festivals and other special events, tied to the natural calendar of the birds’ movements north and south: Godwit Days in Arcata, Lodi’s Sandhill Crane Festival, the Aleutian Goose Festival in Crescent City, and others at Los Banos, Morro Bay, and the Salton Sea. 

One of the most successful of these events, the San Francisco Bay Flyway Festival, takes place this weekend (Friday through Sunday) in Vallejo. This will be the festival’s eighth year, and it keeps growing. Coordinator Myrna Hayes estimated 5,000 or 6,000 attended in 2003. 

The free festival is centered on the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard, with field trips to outlying areas. There’s something here for all levels of birding expertise and degrees of interest. At the Family Wildlife Exploration and Birding Expo (Saturday and Sunday only), over 50 environmental groups and public agencies will have informational exhibits, along with binocular and scope vendors.  

The Expo will also feature visits by live birds of prey, a duck decoy carving demonstration, a Native American intertribal Red Tail Drum performance, readings by author Stephen Ingraham, and a showing of the film Winged Migration. Eighteen walking tours on Mare Island take visitors to areas not yet open to the public, including the historic shipyard and St. Peter’s chapel with its Tiffany windows. 

The Festival’s field trips cover a wide range of mostly North Bay bird habitats. In keeping with this year’s spotlight on the Napa River, designated a Globally Important Bird Area, there will be guided river cruises to a reclaimed marsh. Early birders can sign up for a 5:30 a.m. rail-ing tour, for a chance to hear—and with luck, see—these secretive birds in their marshland haunts. 

For raptor fans, Sonoma City Councilman Dick Ashford will lead several tours to normally off-limits Skaggs Island where multiple species of wintering hawks can be found. (Due to anticipated high demand, participants in the Skaggs Island trips will be chosen by lottery). Farther afield, there’s a banding demonstration at the Coyote Creek Field Station at Alviso and a hike at Rush Creek Marsh near Novato. 

Three of the Flyway Festival’s events combine birding with another Bay Area obsession. A Friday morning outing includes a visit to the Napa-Sonoma Marsh Wildlife Area, followed by wine-tasting at Acacia Vineyards. A presentation on sustainable vineyard management at Bouchaine Vineyards is scheduled for Friday afternoon. On Sunday, participants can tour the Viansa Winery’s restored wetlands, the subject of Kenneth Brower’s The Winemaker’s Marsh. 

This sounds like a great way to celebrate the annual spectacle of migration, which brings hundreds of thousands of ducks and geese and over a million shorebirds to San Francisco Bay.  

For more information, visit the Festival’s website (www.sfbayflywayfestival.com) or call (707)649-WING or (707)557-9816.

A proposed reorganization of the City of Berkeley’s 49 commissions, advisory boards, and task forces surfaced at this week’s Council Agenda Committee meeting, sparking immediate statements of alarm and concern from commissioners and councilmembers. 

In answer to a question by Councilmember Miriam Hawley about the status of a proposed plan to bring commission reports through the Agenda Committee, Assistant City Manager Arietta Chakos instead reported on a broader proposal which she said was currently being worked on by the city manager’s office. The proposal suggests eliminating some boards and commissions, consolidating others into subcommittees of what Chakos called “super commissions,” and changing the meeting schedules of some of the “non-judicial” commissions from monthly to quarterly. Chakos did not provide details of which commissions were being considered for the changes. 

Chakos, who did not return calls for this article, said during the meeting that the proposed changes would be presented to City Council at its Jan. 27 meeting as part of City Manager Phil Kamlarz’ report on budget cutting proposals. Cisco deVries, aide to Mayor Tom Bates, told the Daily Planet that he did not believe that the proposed reorganization was requested by City Council, but was initiated by the city manager’s office. 

Peace and Justice Commission member Elliot Cohen, who said he’d heard rumors about the proposal as far back as mid-December, said that the worst part of the plan would be its effect on citizen participation in Berkeley government. “At City Council, unless there is a public hearing, only 10 citizens get the right to speak, and that is decided by lottery. At non-judicial commissions, at least the ones I’ve observed and the one I sit on, anybody who wants to speak gets to speak. Commissions, therefore, are the only avenue of government in the city of Berkeley where a citizen can go before a public official and make an oral presentation and be heard. It’s the only place that it’s guaranteed to happen. By getting it heard at commission, you get the chance to have the issue put on the City Council agenda. So the ability to speak before commissions is the only way a citizen has of directly addressing city government, other than writing a letter. I think that’s an important right, and I think it’s being taken away from people.” 

Asked about the proposal following Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Councilmember Kriss Worthington said he thought the idea was a mistake. “Participatory democracy through the commissions is one of the things that makes Berkeley unique,” Worthington said. 

Worthington said the commission proposal sounded suspiciously like a reprise of attempts in earlier years by moderate Councilmembers to do away with some commissions by simply refusing to appoint members.  

Councilmember Dona Spring was more blunt. “I think this is an attempt to dismantle the great Berkeley commission system, and to get commissions under the thumb of the Agenda Committee,” Spring said. “They’re trying it gradually, little by little. It’s very demoralizing. In fact, we soon will be able to do away with City Council altogether, and just have the Agenda Committee rubberstamp the Mayor’s decisions. The whole thing made my blood run cold. I plan to fight it.” 

Spring said she expects the proposed reorganization will affect every commission except those that are “not secured by voter approval, such as the Police Review Commission, the Zoning Board, and the Fair Campaign Practices Commission.” 

Emily WilWilcox, chairperson of the Commission on Disability, noted that the issue of commission consolidation or elimination had not been presented to her group recently, and added that she could not see any circumstances in the near future where her commission could be eliminated or the work curtailed. “So many of our issues have not yet been integrated into other commissions and into the mind-set of many of the staff people,” Wilcox said.  

“While we have this one label—disability—in our title, the issues that come before us relate to everything else that happens in the city. It would be fair to say that if you randomly name another commission or board in the city, you would see that we have an interest in every topic that every other board is covering. When it comes to the Disaster Council, for example, there are special needs for people with disabilities where our input is important. The same thing with transportation, planning, housing, community health. Every aspect of the city is something that we have an interest in. We’re still trying to make sure that accessibility for the disabled is included as we move forward.”  

Wilcox noted the recent passage by Council of a measure to authorize wheelchair-accessible taxis as a good example. Wilcox said that “while the item sat on the Transportation Commission’s future agenda for quit a long time, we never could convince them to place it on their current agenda. I finally contacted them and told them they could take the wheelchair-accessible taxi issue off their agenda altogether, since we’d finally gotten it through City Council.” 

Another member of the controversial Peace and Justice Commission, which Councilmember Worthington believed might be one of the major targets of the reorganization, also argued against the plan.  

“One of the things that some city leaders tend to forget about when they talk about commissions is that this is hundreds of citizen volunteers doing a great deal of work, much of which would otherwise have to be done by city staff, and by the Council and the mayor,” P&J member Steve Freedkin said. “As Council and the city manager’s office think about any improvements in the commission system, they need to be very careful not to lose that benefit. Under the guise of trying to save a few dollars, they could end up costing a whole lot more. City staff would then be required to handle a lot of the issues that currently get handled by the commissions.” 

Freedkin added that downsizing P&J would be of little economic benefit to the city because the commission’s costs are “virtually nothing. Our staff person is a salaried city employee who does his work for our commission simply by working extra hours for which he doesn’t get compensated. So there’s no savings to be had by cutting back on our commission.” 

FRIDAY, JAN. 16 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Otto J. M. Smith, Prof. Emeritus, Electrical Engineering, UCB, on “There is Still Hope.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $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. 

Docent Training for Berkeley Historical Society, from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Veteran’s Memorial Building, 1931 Center St. 848-0181. 

End the Nightmare; Bring Back the Dream! Participate in continuous readings of Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence,” in front of the Oakland Federal Building, 1302 Clay St. near the 12th St. BART station.  

Applying Earth Charter Principles in Daily Life An interactive workshop with Ellis Jones, co-author of “The Better World Handbook,” at 6 p.m. at the Fellowship of Humanity, 390 27th St. Suggested donation $15. 655-8252. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at the berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Players at all levels are welcome. 652-5324. 

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. 655-6169. www.bpf.org 

Overeaters Anonymous meets every Friday at 1:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Church at Solano and The Alameda. Parking is free and is handicapped accessible. For information call Katherine, 525-5231. 

SATURDAY, JAN. 17 

Berkeley Alliance 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 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class on Basic Personal Preparedness for anyone who lives or works in Berkeley, from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Fire Department Training Center, 997 Cedar St. Register on-line at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes or by calling 981-5506. 

Lost Waterfall in Winter Hike about 3.5 miles from the Nature Area around Lake Anza along the swollen creek and find out what animals live there and the history of the lake. Pack a snack and dress for possible muddy and wet weather. From 2 to 4:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. 525-2233. tnarea@ebparks.org 

Mini-Gardeners Explore Dirt We’ll dig through our soil and compost to help our plants, and maybe find some creepy crawly friends. Dress for a mess! Ages 4-6 years. Cost is $3. Registration required. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Cost is $3. Wheelchair accesiible. 525-2233. tnarea@ebparks.org  

Pruning and Winter Care for Healthier Roses, 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. 

First Annual Crab Feed and Auction presented by Communication, Arts and Sciences Program of Berkeley High School, from 5 to 9 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Cost is $35. Service graciously provided by CAS Students. For ticket reservations and/or Auction donations, please e-mail your request to sstier@acgov.org  

African-American/African Dialog If you consider yourself of African descent and would like to participate in a dialogue between African-American and African immigrants, please join us from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Downs Memorial United Methodist Church, 6026 Idaho St . near San Pablo and 60th, Oakland. Please RSVP to 527-4099. 

Shamanic Journeying Meditation using earth’s power centers, plant and mineral energies, Native American medicines, and concepts and principles from different meditation traditions around the globe, at 9 a.m. Free. For information and directions call 525-1272. 

Oakland Chinatown Lunar New Year Bazaar from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 9th and Franklin Sts. in Oakland. Also on Sunday. 

California Writers’ Club Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pamada discus how to find an agent at 10 a.m. at Barnes and Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-3635. 

Yoga for Seniors at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St., on Saturdays from 10 to 11 a.m. Open to non-members of the club for $8 per class. For further information and to register, call 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, JAN. 18 

In the Name of Love, a tribute and 75th birthday celebration honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at 7:30 p.m. at the Calvin Simmons Theater, 10 Tenth St. Oakland. Tickets are $12-$20 available from www.ticketweb.com or 866-468-3399. 

“Unraveling the Lying Liars of the Great American Dynasty” with Paul Krugman, Al Franken, Kevin Phillips and Amy Goodman at 7 p.m. in the Berkeley Community Theater, 1930 Allston Way at Milvia. Tickets are $15 in advance and are available at Cody’s Books. 

Tibetan Buddhism, Erika Rosenberg and Paul Brumbaum on “Engaging the Challenges of Life and Work” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

Eckhart Tolle Talks on Video, free gatherings 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. EdScheuerlein@aol.com  

MONDAY, JAN. 19 

City Offices Closed - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 

Martin Luther King Jr. Rally Join in a multi-cultural Peace Celebration in honor of the 75th Anniversary of Dr. King’s birth, with Danny Glover, Barbara Lee, and local performers, at 10:30 a.m. at the ILWU Warehouse Union Hall-Local 6, 99 Hegenberger Rd, Oakland. 638-0365. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, JAN. 20 

Berkeley High School Parent Teacher Student Association invites you to attend the first General Membership meeting of 2004, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the new Library, in the new D Building. Jim Slemp, Principal, will speak, followed by a question and answer period and a tour of the new building. Enter using the Milvia St. entrance.  

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Advance sign-up needed. 594-5165.  

A Critical Look at the Biodiesel Industry at 7 p.m. at BioFuel Oasis, 2465 4th St. at Dwight. Donation of $5-$10 requested. 665-5509. www.biofueloasis.com  

Friends of Strawberry Creek meets from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library’s Meeting Room, 2090 Kittredge St. The meeting will focus on creek-water monitoring with a presentation by Civil Engineer/Hydrologist Ed Ballman.  

Berkeley Garden Club “Jepson Herbarium: Its Purpose and Origin” will be the topic presented by Staci Markos, Public Program and Development Coordinator at 1 p.m. at the Epworth United Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. Non-members welcome. Free. 524-4374. 

Public Hearing on Proposed Cellphone Antennas for the roof of Starbucks Cafe and Barney’s Restaurant on Cedar St. At 7 p.m. in the Berkeley City Council Chambers, 2134 MLK, Jr. Way.  

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 234-4783. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Slide show of Sweden and Lappland with Jackie Hetman at 11 a.m. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

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

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 21 

Neighborhood Forum with the City Manager and Fire Dept. from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Fireside Room, St. John’s Presbyterian, 2727 College Ave. Sponsored by CNA/BANA.  

EmbracingDiversityFilms and the Albany High School PTA co-host the screening of “Daddy & Papa” at 7 p.m. at the Albany High School Library, 603 Key Route Blvd., Albany. A discussion will follow the movie. Free. 527-1328. 

Writers’ Room Coach Training is offered from 7 to 9:30 p.m. for volunteers who would like to help students improve their writing and critical thinking skills. To attend please call Terry Bloomburgh at 849-4134 or email Bloomburgh@sbcglobal.net 

Bayswater Book Club meets to discuss “The Da Vinci Code,” by Dan Brown at 6:30 p.m. at Liu’s Kitchen, Solano Ave. 433-2911. 

Gray Panthers “Trekking into 2004: Where Do We Go from Here?” Bring your ideas and inspiration. At 7 p.m. at 1403 Addison St. 548-9696. 

An Evening with Mountaineer Joe Simpson at 6:30 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters meets the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7:15 a.m. at Hide-A-Way Café, 6430 Telegraph Ave. For information call Fred Garvey, 925-682-1111, ext. 164. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and  

Vigil at the Berkeley BART Sta- 

tion, corner of Shattuck and Center. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

Amnesty International Berkeley Community Group meets the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1606 Bonita Ave., at Cedar St. Join fellow human rights activists to help promote social justice one individual at a time. 872-0768. 

THURSDAY, JAN. 22 

Pro-Choice Rally, to celebrate the 31st Anniversary of Roe v Wade, Meet at 5 p.m. in front of the Powell St. BART station, in SF, for a march to Civic Center. 415-334-1502. 

Prepare for the March 2 Election A presentation on ballot measures by the League of Women Voters, at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Central Library, 3rd floor meeting room, 2090 Kittredge St. 526-5139. 

Winter Back-Country Travel Safety and Survival Tips at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

ONGOING 

Young People’s Symphony Orchestra misses its alums! As our nation's second oldest youth orchestra, based in Berkeley, YPSO is in possession of a treasure trove of memorabilia dating as far back as 1936. To preserve and share these photographs, letters, programs and other interesting materials YPSO is creating a Digital Online Museum. It is our hope that this archive will connect people with Berkeley’s collective history and community. If you participated in the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra please contact David Davis at davisde@ 

yogashorts.com or 543-4054. 

Support the Berkeley Public Library On-line Auction Visit www.bplf.org and bid to name a character in a work by Michael Chabon, have dinner with Elizabeth Farnsworth and Khaled Hosseini, let Bill Schechner tell your story, work with Adair Lara on a memoir, hear Maxine Hong Kingston at your book club, and much more. 981-6115. 

Freedom From Tobacco A free quit-smoking class offered by the City of Berkeley Tobacco Prevention Program on six Thursday evenings from 6 to 8 p.m., Jan. 22 to Feb. 26, at the Central Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. To enroll please call 981-5330 or e-mail at quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us.  You will receive a confirmation of your registration.   

Albany Berkeley Girls Softball League offers an exciting opportunity for East Bay girls in grades 1-8 to learn softball, make friends and have fun! Registration starts in January; the season runs March 6 through June 5. For information call 869-4277. www.abgsl.org 

Vista Community College Classes in Computer Software begins Jan. 15. Enrollment is open through Jan. 24. Register on-line at www.peralta.cc.ca.us or at 2020 Milvia St., or call 981-2863. 

Creating Economic Opportunities for Women offers training programs for immigrant and refugee women. Orientations held during January, at 655 International Blvd., 2nd flr. Call 879-2949. 

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

Acting and Improv Classes for Adults begin Sun. Jan. 25. Cost is $125 for 8 wks. On- 

going classes for children and teens. Verna Winter Studio, 1312 Bonita Ave. 524-1601. 

Tae-Bo, a cardiovascular workout composed of kick punches and stretches will be offered at Frances Albrier Recreation Center, 2800 Park St., on Tuesdays & Thursdays, 6:30-7:30 p.m., beginning Jan. 13. Cost is $20 per month or $4 drop-in. For information call 981-6640.  

CITY MEETINGS 

Council Agenda Committee meets Tues. Jan. 20, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St., Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/city 

council/agenda-committee 

City Council meets Tues., Jan. 20, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wed., Jan. 21, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Katherine O’Connor, 981-6601. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/humane 

Commission on Aging meets Wed., Jan. 21, at 1:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Lisa Ploss, 981-5200. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/aging 

Commission on Labor meets Wed., Jan. 21, at 6:30 p.m., at Berkeley Work-Source, 1950 Addison St., Suite 105. Delfina M. Geiken, 644-6085. www.ci.-berkeley.ca.us/commissions/labor 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs. Jan. 22 at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Oscar Sung, 981-5400. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/housing

QUALITY OF LIFE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I would like to thank Fred Dodsworth for the fine article he wrote on Healing Muses, our nonprofit organization which brings healing music to Bay area hospitals, hospices and convalescent homes “Musician’s Cancer Struggle Inspires Hospital Programs,” Daily Planet, Jan. 9-12). Not only did his story introduce the readers of the Daily Planet to our project, but it gave exposure to our upcoming weekend fund-raising concerts, and drew new audience members who had read the article. 

Fred was a very skilled interviewer, and it was a pleasure working with him. I hope the Berkeley Daily Planet will continue to feature stories on people who are involved in service projects which bring quality of life to our community. 

Eileen Hadidian 

Director, Healing Muses 

• 

MALCOLM X FLOOD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It was no surprise that there was an expensive flood at Malcolm X, due in part to the district’s failure to do simple preventive maintenance such as to remove leaves clogging drains.  

Despite three years of funding of almost $12 million since 2000 from our parcel tax, Measure BB, the maintenance department has been unable to move from putting out fires to doing the real job of maintenance, which is preventive maintenance. As the saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” The cure for flooding at Malcolm X is estimated to be at least $44,000, while a simple half hour of raking leaves would probably have prevented the flooding.  

Last fall, no one on the existing maintenance oversight committee volunteered to be the chair. The existing co-chairs resigned. The “unofficial minutes” states some of the reasons for the resignation are: “The committee seems to have made little progress...the committee is still talking about cleaning bathrooms, pulling weeds and fixing irrigation systems; the department is still struggling with...manpower and hiring; the facilities departments are politicized, protect their own interests and bank accounts or funds, and do not work together as a unit to perform in our schools the way the district should. Construction standards seem to be no one’s bailiwick.”  

Three years ago, the superintendent set out on a course to stifle and limit citizen oversight, throwing out a plan which took three years to develop, stating that she knew how to run maintenance. Well, $12 million later, the superintendent’s plan is a mess. Plus, BUSD has conducted no audits as required by Measure BB.  

We in Berkeley are generous, especially when the specter of little children are raised. We have been told that Berkeleyans never turn down a school spending measure. Therefore, BUSD has now turned into a cash cow for administrators, who keep giving themselves large raises while laying off teachers and closing school libraries. These school administrators have never had to be effective, efficient, or even accountable. BUSD school board members received a 30 percent raise last year.  

If after $12 million they can’t even clean bathrooms and rake the leaves, it’s time to cut off the money supply.  

Yolanda Huang 

• 

GUTTING EDUCATION 

To Gov. Schwarzenegger: 

In the same week we read (1) Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina insisting that Silicon Valley will continue sending jobs overseas until California schools can turn out properly educated workers, and (2) our great University of California is, in the words of Chancellor Robert Berdahl, “now over a billion dollars short of the ‘partnership’ we had with previous gubernatorial administrations,” with “more and more, phrases like ‘restricting enrollment,’ ‘massive fee increases,’ and even ‘privatization’ in the air.” 

We simply must not allow budget cuts that would gut our education system, from preschool through the nation’s best public university. 

Our institutions of higher education drive our economy, and they define—they deliver—on the promise of California as the land of opportunity. To stand by and let them be gutted now would be like toppling the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. 

The founders of the University of California chose their motto well: fiat lux. Let there be light! 

Trina Ostrander 

Executive Director,  

Berkeley Public Education Foundation 

• 

DEVELOPMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was happy to see Victor Herbert’s response to my commentary on the development task force (Letters, Daily Planet, Jan 9-12), because he brought up issues I didn’t have space to cover in my commentary. 

First, Mr. Herbert is completely correct in saying that the planning staff treats small applicants (homeowners) differently than it treats large developers. Homeowner applicants who want to make relatively harmless improvements to their property find themselves in a bureaucratic obstacle course, due as much to staff as to “grumpy neighbors,” while staff routinely gives away the store to large developers—especially the city’s “favorites” on both the for-profit and non-profit side. (In explanation of this, one long-time planning observer commented simply: “They facilitate projects that increase density.”) In any case, the task force cited this homeowner frustration and tried to address it. I myself recommended easing their burden by eliminating their hefty public hearing fee—while maintaining the safety net of public review in most cases—and I was happy to see that the task force recommended exploring this possibility. But it seems that many people, including a majority of the ZAB, sometimes forget that zoning was created to protect the public interest—and neighbor’s rights—by limiting private property rights. 

As to Polly Armstrong’s role, Mr. Herbert is wrong. Ms. Armstrong had the power to eviscerate the task force’s statement on staff culture precisely because the recommendations had to be virtually unanimous. I wrote it the way it happened. However, though I disagree with many of Ms. Armstrong’s ideas, I thank her and all others for their volunteer work on the task force. In fact, while the task force was considering ways to help commercial developers, Ms. Armstrong was the only member who provided this reality check: Residents close to commercial districts may not appreciate the intensification of commercial parking demand at the expense of neighborhood parking! 

Mr. Herbert is also wrong in describing observers as “de facto members” of the task force. Real members of such groups have the official right to “sit at the table,” to speak, and to affect group output, as Ms. Armstrong did. Luckily, Mr. Herbert displayed a much better understanding of power when on the task force than he did in his letter. 

Sharon Hudson 

• 

NO SAFETY FOR WALKERS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

When we think about our concern with public safety, we think of crime and fire, but rarely about traffic safety. To increase public safety, Berkeley spends a majority of its budget on crime and fire prevention. Fire and crime deaths have been significantly reduced, and in some years stand at zero. With an appropriate investment, it’s proven that we can effectively reduce a public danger. 

There are well-documented but overlooked public dangers—notably to pedestrians. Although more than 20 pedestrians have died in the last decade, we have yet to make a comparable investment in reducing traffic dangers.  

The very idea of pedestrian safety has been absent from our thinking. Even though we know the walker is the mineshaft canary for our street livability, we never think about protecting the walker or the walking environment.  

North Shattuck, with four fatalities in the past decade, got a plan but no improvements. In Central Berkeley, with its rapidly developing transit corridors, it’s entirely unsafe to walk. Not only are the most dangerous intersections in the East Bay right here in the downtown area, but the most dangerous residential streets in the city (Addison and Allston) are here too. Won’t it get worse as thousands of new residents and hundreds of new businesses locate along our developing transit corridors?  

As a community, we need to start considering pedestrian needs. There is much we could do that many other communities have already been doing: Prosecute the deliberate or reckless miscreants, invest in infrastructure danger prevention and raise the public’s awareness of dangers—creating risk reduction for all of us. It’s a proven public safety strategy. Berkeley can spend an adequate share increasing the public safety for all of us on city streets. 

Please join us in making Berkeley safer for all—safe enough for walking. 

Wendy Alfsen,  

Walk & Roll Berkeley 

• 

INSTANT RUNOFF VOTING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Gordon Woznick’s Dec. 26 commentary critical of Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) was filled with misrepresentations and factual errors.  

Mr. Wozniak opposes an upcoming March, 2004 Berkeley ballot measure—Measure I—that will allow Berkeley citizens the opportunity to vote yes or no on approving an IRV voting procedure (ranking candidates by first choice, second choice, third choice, etc. on a ballot) for future city candidate elections. 

IRV is a very simple, straightforward voting process has been used successfully in Australia, New Zealand and Ireland for decades. Ireland’s president is selected using IRV voting. The City of London uses IRV voting to select its mayor and city council offices. IRV voting is currently an election option in Santa Clara County, the City of San Leandro and for special elections in Oakland. 

After citizens voted overwhelmingly to pass a ballot measure mandating its use, San Francisco’s voters are set to use IRV voting in the November, 2004 general election. Berkeley’s upcoming March, 2004 IRV ballot measure is directly modeled on San Francisco’s successful IRV initiative. 

In his article, Mr. Wozniak erroneously states that “no voting machine can handle mixed traditional and IRV voting” on the same election day. Mr. Wozinak’s remarkable claim is directly contradicted by the fact that San Francisco—with hundreds of thousands of voters—is set to conduct its November, 2004 election using traditional and IRV voting procedures simultaneously.  

This dual voting technology already exists and is set to be operational for San Francisco’s November, 2004 Board of Supervisors elections. The company Election Software and Services (ESS) is the provider of San Francisco’s IRV voting machine technology.  

What is extremely disconcerting—and cynical—about Mr. Wozniak’s opposition to Berkeley’s Measure I is that Mr. Wozniak originally voted against giving Berkeley citizens themselves the right to vote yes or no on the IRV ballot measure. 

As a City Councilmember, Mr. Wozniak voted against placing Measure I on the ballot—in effect, pre-empting the ability of Berkeley’s voters to decide the merits of the issue for themselves. 

Given the political dynamics of Mr. Wozniak’s own 2002 City Council District 8 election—when he was one of four District 8 candidates—it is possible to conclude that Mr. Wozniak’s personal opposition to IRV may stem from the concern that he could be vulnerable if IRV voting was used in a future District 8 election.  

In his November, 2002 City Council election, as one of four candidates, Mr. Wozniak received less than a majority of all votes cast, and only managed to win his office during a low turnout, runoff election one month later in December.  

Under Measure I, IRV voting will avoid the need for a second, low turnout election which typically costs the City of Berkeley hundreds of thousands of dollars. IRV voting insures that elected representatives have majority voter support (50 percent or more) in an election once votes are tabulated.  

Chris Kavanagh 

• 

SPRINT ANTENNAE 

Dear Mayor Bates and City Councilmember, 

It’s important to stay focused on the real issue here. Sprint has requested a use permit for an entirely new installation on a thriving commercial street surrounded by houses, apartments, and businesses. This application is for a use permit, and is therefore a : zoning decision. Deciding whether to grant the use permit is a political, social, and environmental decision, not a technical one. It doesn’t matter whether Sprint has correctly gone through the required steps to request a use permit. What matters is whether the residents and merchants in the area want this entirely new operation in the middle of their neighborhood.  

The cell phone companies have been very skillful in promoting these requests for use permits as though they have some protected or special status due to FCC regulations, but this is simply not true. Berkeley is already in full compliance with all FCC regulations and requirements because of the number and widespread location of transmitting antennas throughout the city. 

This is the first test of Berkeley’s Transmitting Antenna Ordinance, which was created so that the city could manage and control the placement of these installations, with essential input from residents and merchants. If you grant this permit against the virulent opposition of those living and working nearby, it will be a signal to the industry that they can build these antennas anywhere, with no control by either city staff or City Council. It will be clear that the ordinance you passed was a sham, intended only to mislead the citizens into believing that you cared. 

This request for a use permit should be treated like any other, with deciding weight given to the residents and businesses that already exist in this very successful neighborhood. Sprint is asking you to alienate your own constituents to approve this installation. You know that the neighbors and merchants are united in their opposition, and there will be in an uproar if you grant this permit. And for what? Simply so that Sprint can have yet another installation in an area where they already have three nearby. 

There are many other sites available throughout Berkeley that would not be so controversial, and the ordinance was specifically designed to encourage companies to build their installations in areas that are acceptable to the citizens of Berkeley. You can send a clear signal to the cell phone companies that they must work with the citizens instead of against them by denying this permit. 

Kevin Sutton  

• 

FOUNDRY PROJECT 

Dear Mayor Bates and City Councilmembers:, 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and the UC have announced that site preparation for the construction of the Molecular Foundry will begin this week.  

How is it possible that this project can go forward without the entire LBNL expansion project first going through an Environmental Impact Review process? How is it possible that this project can go forward before we have solid scientific proof that there are no harmful environmental impacts or health effects from the research that will be conducted at the Foundry? How is it possible that this project can go forward when the Lab site has existing buildings that can no longer be used because they have been contaminated by previous research activities? 

Why do we allow the LBNL and UC to continue to devour the landscape within our city limits and its fragile watershed? Why does the financial burden of supporting the university (fire, infrastructure, police, etc.) fall on the shoulders of the city while the lab and UC enter into profitable licensing agreements with industry while we cut public health services for the poor and contemplate reducing fire and public safety budgets? 

The UC and LBNL continue to encroach further into our diminishing natural environment and into our downtown, draining our city’s coffers of resources we desperately need, and we seem only able to shrug our shoulders and to hope for the best. It’s time we did more. 

Tom Kelly  

• 

DOWNTOWN PARKING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

While riding a bus to downtown, I read the barrage of pro-parking letters in the Jan. 13-15 edition of the Daily Planet. One of them assured me “the simple truth is people drive their cars when want to shop, eat or have a good time.” Another stated that parking is a “fundamental use facility.” None of them mentioned buses. 

I got off my bus, and while waiting to cross Shattuck, watched the cars crawl along. Some of them were probably circling in search of a parking space. I didn’t need a parking space. 

Sure, if all these people insist on driving, each alone in his personal vehicle, they’ll each need a parking place. But is there really no alternative to coming downtown in a car? Having just gotten off a bus, the answer seemed obvious to me. 

Major cities in Europe have discovered that a boom in downtown business results when parking is replaced with shops and public spaces to walk and sit. Berkeley’s BART Plaza gives a hint of this pedestrian ambiance. Across the street, I could see the tables of the sidewalk cafes on Center. 

Shopping is a pedestrian activity. Even at the big suburban malls, people park their cars and stroll among the shops. People might need a car to haul packages. Instead of parking, how about delivery services? Delivery might be a lot more profitable than parking. 

On my way back, while waiting for my bus, I watched all the other buses pass through downtown Berkeley, bound for various destinations. I counted cars carrying more people than the driver—less than 10 percent of them. A single bus can carry 40 people, seated. 

Back on the bus, I read another Planet letter. This one complained that unless there are more parking spaces, the homeless will dominate downtown in the evenings. Well, there sure are a lot of homeless, but they aren’t filling the parking spaces. In fact, in the evenings, with the all-day parkers gone, I’m told that there are plenty of parking spaces. 

I was riding one of the new Van Hool buses, very nice. I’m told that all new buses are purchased entirely from Federal grants. Evidently Federal grants don’t take care of the homeless. 

Should buses be relegated to people too poor or disabled to drive a car? Do developers have an obligation to provide the city with parking? Should we build parking garages towering into the sky and burrowed into the earth? 

Why such fixation on cars and parking? We can live so much better. Do we care about housing, about congestion, about getting sick from polluted air? The herds of cars are a major contribution to global warming. 

As the bus rolled along, I read another letter, bemoaning the loss of parking due to the Library Gardens housing project. It described parking as part of our “civic heart.” I thought housing was the heart of any city. 

Steve Geller 

• 

TECHNICOLOR SECURITY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The war on terror has grown color conscious. Three of the five colors (green, white, yellow, orange and red) used by the Department of Homeland Security to put the public on security alert are now used to assign a “risk score” to people boarding airplanes: green = low, yellow = unknown, red = high.  

I wonder if Secretary Ridge and his minions take into account the very real problems and ambiguities that may result from mixing the colors on their security risk palette. For instance, a green coded air passenger traveling on a red day produces a brown risk. Likewise, a red passenger traveling on a green day produces a brown risk. 

Furthermore, if days and people can be assessed for risk why not places. For instance the Golden Gate Bridge would be red but the local golf course white. 

And why stop there? The seriousness and complexity of the situation requires more subtle, nuanced treatment. Ought not age, gender, religion - in short, all those attributes about which discrimination is prohibited—contribute to the procedure for evaluating risk? Surely a teenage girl merits a spring-like green while her grandmother boarding the plane with her deserves a dark hued, forest green.  

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo 

• 

FOCUS ON ME 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

An advertisement from the YMCA has the headline “This year, I resolve to take care of ME—in mind, body and spirit.” Then, after explaining how nice it is to be a member of the YMCA so you can exercise, do Yoga, or soak in the Jacuzzi, the ad concludes: “This year, there’s one thing that’s not falling off my priority list—ME!” (Daily Planet, Jan. 9).  

I guess this ad explains the YMCA’s attitude toward downtown parking. I don’t care how much damage I do to the environment. I don’t care how much damage I do to the city. I just care how convenient it is for ME! 

This attitude may help you take care of your body, but I doubt if it does much good for your mind or spirit.  

Charles Siegel 

Christmas shoppers on Fourth Street this past month who caught the mellifluous strains of Miles Davis wafting through the air were surprised to find that they did not come from a store playing a CD a little too loud but instead from the golden horn of 13-year-old Nate Schneider, performing his renditions of the late, great trumpeter’s tunes.  

Nate, a seventh-grader at Martin Luther King Middle School, left many a shopper smiling as he sat outside in the cold on four December days to raise money for the Berkeley Unified School district music programs, victims of a $138,000 budget cut this year that left a district well-known for its music programs scrambling to make do.  

The concerts, which helped raise $325.26, were part of Nate’s obligatory community service in preparation for his upcoming bar mitzvah when he turns 13 in June. All of the money collected will be donated to the Berkeley Public Education Fund, which will in turn route the money to the district’s ailing programs. 

“I had to do some kind of project for my bar mitzvah and I didn’t want to do something ordinary,” said Nate. “I also wanted to get some experience as a musician—to throw something out there and see what people thought.” 

Since 1994 Berkeley middle school and elementary students have been the beneficiaries of the Berkeley Schools Excellence Program or BSEP, a parcel tax passed in 1994 to fund district programs including music. 

But with the ensuing inflation, the monies raised from the tax aren’t enough to meet the music program’s needs. Consequently, several of the schools saw their five day-a-week programs diminish to three, two music teachers positions were cut and fourth-graders lost their instruments. 

And while Nate might not pay attention to the numbers, he saw the impact of the cuts at school and decided to do his part to protect the programs. 

“When you see our band room, you see broken down chairs and music stands and worn out instruments. It was something that was also directly affecting me,” he said.  

Nate, who currently plays with the Martin Luther King Middle School Band and the Marty Wehner ensemble at the Berkeley Jazz School, says he eventually aspires to play with the renowned Berkeley High Jazz Band. He’s been interested in music since fourth grade when he started playing the recorder and quickly developed an interest in jazz after seeing performances in New Orleans on a family vacation.  

Afterwards he came back and started tootling around on his own recorder, teaching himself how to improvise in an effort to copy what he’d heard. 

“I’d like to think I was the first jazz recorder player,” said Nate. “I must have sounded pretty funny then.” 

In fifth grade, he was able to choose a larger instrument and quickly picked the trumpet after writing a report on Louis Armstrong for Black History Month. He says he had also been reading a lot about Miles Davis in the A-Z Jazz History book and it wasn’t long before he discovered his parent’s copy of Kind of Blue, quickly falling in love. 

“I was hooked on him immediately,” he said. 

His dad says that ever since, all Nate’s done is read about and play Miles Davis. “It’s been all Miles all the time,” he said. “He’s become the foremost authority on him.”  

Nate is scheduled to play several more times in a continued effort to raise more money and his parents have also scheduled a jam session of sorts for this coming weekend, inviting parents and some of Nate’s friends who are quickly becoming jazz aficionados. 

In the meantime, Nate has captured the hearts of others who are struggling alongside him to try and save the Berkeley music programs. 

“I think it’s a great effort,” said Trina Ostrander, executive director of the Berkeley Public Education Foundation and also one of the shoppers down on Fourth Street who happened to wander into Nate’s performance. And while it’s not $138,000 she said “it’s enough to really make a difference.” 

Those interested in contributing to Nate’s efforts can mail donations to the Nate Schneider Bar Mitzvah Project, 1233 1/2 Henry Street, Berkeley, CA, 94709. Checks should be made payable to the Berkeley Public Education Foundation/Music Program.

FRIDAY, JAN. 16 

CHILDREN 

Martin Luther King Birthday Celebration at 10:30 a.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-3635. 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

Elizabeth Valoma, paintings, at North Berkeley Frame and Gallery, 1744 Shattuck Ave. Reception 5:30 to 8 p.m. Exhibition runs to March 13. 549-0428. 

THEATER 

“Dido and Aeneas,” a fusion of opera and fire arts, presented by The Crucible, with artists from San Francisco Opera and American Bach Soloists, with hors d’oeuvres and silent auction at 6:30 p.m., performance at 8 p.m. 1260 7th St. Oakland. Tickets are $125 and are available from 444-0919. 

FILM 

“Boondock Saints,” about two Irish brothers in South Boston who take justice into their own hands, 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 

Victor Sjostrom: “The Phantom Chariot” at 7 p.m. and “The Wild Strawberries” at 9:25 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston reads from her new book, “The Legend of Fire-Horse Woman” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. www.codysbooks.com 

Gavin Menzies introduces his historical narrative, “1421: The Year China Discovered America,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. www.codysbooks.com 

Dennis Bernstein will read his poetry at the Fellowship Café & Open Mic, 7:30 p.m. at Fellowship Hall, Cedar and Bonita Sts. A donation of $5-$10 is requested.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley High’s Dance Production at 8 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Allston and MLK. Tickets are $5 for students, $10 for adults, available at the door. Come early, shows sell out! 644-6120. 

Benefit for the Interfaith Pagan Celebration with Tempest and Avalon Rising at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10-$15. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. A special lecture by Frankie Manning, the Ambassador of Lindy Hop at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Omeyocan Urban Fusion at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Under the Radar, a night of poetry and electronic pop at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$10, no one turned away for lack of funds. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Rachel Garlin and friends perform contemporary folk 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 

Jackie Ryan at 8:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Velvet Teen, Plus Ones, Addicted to Fiction, Squab, Four Days Late 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. 

Nathan Clevenger, Group West and The Lost Trio perform modern jazz at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Silding scale donation of $8-$15 requested. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

André Sumelius at 9 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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

SATURDAY, JAN. 17 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Gerry Tenney 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 

THEATER 

“Dido and Aeneas,” a fusion of opera and fire arts, presented by The Crucible, with artists from San Francisco Opera and American Bach Soloists, at 8 p.m. 1260 7th St. Oakland. Tickets are $25 and are available from 444-0919. 

FILM 

Mann’s World: “Desperate” at 6 p.m., “T-Men” at 7:35 p.m. and “Raw Deal” at 9:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley High’s Dance Production at 8 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Allston and MLK. Tickets are $5 for students, $10 for adults, available at the door. Come early, shows sell out! 644-6120. 

Hip Hop Forever, presented by Youth Movement Records, at 8 p.m., at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Samba Ngo and the Ngoma Players, perform African-rock-funk-jazz fusion at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Flamenco Spirit with Yaelisa and Caminos Flamencos at 6 and 9 p.m. at Cafe de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $35-$40 and includes dinner. For reservations call 843-0662. www.cafedelapaz.net 

Spezza Rotto, the Mass, Three Piece Combo at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

www.starryploughpub.com  

Darryl Henriques, satire and social commentary at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $17.50 in advance, $18.50 at the door. 548-1761. 

www.freightandsalvage.org 

Pat Carroll, contemporary jazz, at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10-$12. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Pick Pocket Ensemble performs European café music at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Eileen Hazel, with special guests Helen Chaya and Sumir Rawal, at 7 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Libby Kirkpatrick and Erika Luckett 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 

Roy Henderson Quartet at 9 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 

Scott Amendola at 8:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Wrangler Brutes, Jewdriver, Shemps, Orphans, Onion Flavored Rings at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, JAN. 18 

FILM 

Screenagers: 6th Annual Bay Area High School Film and Video Festival at 2:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Al Franken, Paul Krugman, Kevin Phillips and Amy Goodman present “Unraveling the Lying Liars of the Bush Dynasty” at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Community Theater on the Berkeley High Campus. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door, and are available at Cody’s Books or www.cityboxoffice.com 

Poetry Flash with Eve Wood and Rafaella Del Bourgo at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Mary Tolman Kent remembers her eighty years in Berkeley in her family memoire, “The Closing Circle” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Itzhak Perlman, violin, at 3 p.m., Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $34-$86, available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

California Revels, “Freedom’s Journey and the Song” Wendell Brooks, Thena Berry, and Kent Overshown explore the theme of freedom as expressed in African American folk songs from slavery through ragtime and the Civil Rights Movement. At 2 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children, available from 925-798-1300. 

“In the Name of Love” a musical tribute to Martin Luther King with the Oakland Jazz Choir at 7:30 p.m. at the Calvin Simmons Theater, Oakland. 287-8880. www.oaklandjazzchoir.com 

Organ Recital with David Dahl on the Brombaugh pipe organ performing Bach, Mendelssohn, Clerambault, Dahl, Vivaldi/Walther at 4 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. http://stjohns.presbychurch.net/Music/organ 

Elizabeth Caballero, soprano with Leesa Dahl, piano, perform arias by Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi and songs by Fauré and Turina, at 7 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church; 2727 College Ave. 658-3298. 845-6830. www.caballerorecital.tk  

Domingo de Rumba Community participatory event for those who want to play, sing or dance, at 3:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Israeli Golden Oldies Folk Dance from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5. Bring potluck drinks and snacks. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Flamenco Open Stage featuring Grupo Andnaza at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

ACME Observatory Contemporary Performance Series presents Vorticella and Three Trapped Tigers at 8:15 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donations accepted. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

M-Pact, rockin’ a cappella 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 

Lavay Smith and her Red Hot Skillet Lickers at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $20. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Over My Dead Body, Find Him and Kill Him, The Mistake, Lights Out at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

MONDAY, JAN. 19 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Kevin Phillips discusses “American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Francis D. Adams and Barry Sanders discuss “Alienable Rights: The Exclusion of African Americans in a White Man’s Land, 1619-2000” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Wild Fermentation Book Tour with SandorKraut Learn how to make healthy fermented foods such as miso, sauerkraut, and wine at 7 p.m. at the Long Haul, a reading room, library and community center in South Berkeley located at 3124 Shattuck Ave. Donation of $3-$5 requested, no one turned away. Wheelchair accessible. 540-0751. www.thelonghaul.org 

Poetry Express, theme night: Other People’s Poems, from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

TUESDAY, JAN. 20 

THEATER 

Shotgun Players, “The Death of Meyerhold,” through Jan. 23 at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Thurs. - Sat. performances at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 7 p.m. Tickets are $12-$18, available from 925-798-1300. 704-8210. www.shotgunplayers.org 

FILM 

Alternative Visions: Animation and Anti-Animation at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Molly Ness, a Teach for America alumna, discusses “Lesson to Learn: Voices from the Front Lines of Teach for America” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Poets Gone Wild an evening of open mic poetry at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tom Rigney and Flambeau at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson with Cheryl McBride at 8 p.m. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Claus Bossier-Ferrari & Teja Gerken, acoustic guitar, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

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

Dayna Stephens House Jam at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $5. 649-8744.  

www.thejazzhouse.com 

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 21 

CHILDREN 

Preschool Storytime, a program introducing books and music to promote early literacy skills, at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library West Branch, 1125 University Ave. 981-6270. 

EXIBITION OPENINGS 

Ant Farm 1968-1978, an exhibition exploring the renegade and radical vision of the ‘70s art and design group, at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. Exhibition runs to April 26. Gallery hours are Wed.-Sun. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thurs. 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

FILM 

Film 50: “Introduction to Film Language” at 3 p.m. and Ant Farm: Vidoeo Screening at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Travel Book Series Harry Pariser introduces “Explore Costa Rica” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble.  

The Whole Note Poetry Series with Jesse Beagle at 7 p.m. at The Beanery, 2925 College Ave., near Ashby. 549-9093. 

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.starryplough.com 

Rabbi Michael Lerner introduces his new book, “Healing Isreal/Palestine: A Path of Peace and Reconciliation“ at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. Co-sponsored with the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Symphony, “21st Century Guitars,” at 8 p.m., Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 p.m. at the Haas Pavilion. Tickets are $21-$45, available from 841-2800. www.berkeleysymphonyorg.  

Wisdom, Hip Hop/Conscious Roots, at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

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

Whiskey Brothers perform old-time and bluegrass at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Mark Wright Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

THURSDAY, JAN. 22 

FILM 

Victor Sjostrom: “Terje Vigen” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Vijay Vaitheswaran, energy and environment correspondent for The Economist, describes “Power to the People: How the Coming Energy Revolution Will Transform and Industry, Change Our Lives, and Maybe Even Change the Planet,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Carla Blank introduces “Rediscovering America: The Making of Multicultural America, 1900-2000” at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 843-3533. 

Curator’s Talk: Ant Farm with Constance Lewallen at 12:15 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 

Lisa Lenard-Cook reads from her novel “Dissonance” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Word Beat Reading Series with Anna Mae Stanley and Tim Donnelly at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. 526-5985, 205-1749.  

Guy T. Saperstein introduces his memoir, “Civil Warrior: Memoires of a Civil Rights Attorney” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

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

Sam Bevan Band, The Saul Kaye Band, Pat Jordan at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Mas Cabeza at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill, Irish music violin and guitar duo at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $19.50 in advance, $20.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Moore Brothers, folk singers at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $5. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Berkeley schools will take home a $700,000 windfall from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s education budget, district officials said Wednesday. 

“It was more than we expected, but certainly not a cure-all,” said Deputy Superintendent Eric Smith, adding that the district would still need to make further cuts to erase an estimated $2.4 million operating deficit and balance next year’s budget. 

Smith, who is working on a fiscal recovery plan to get the district out of the red and back in the good graces of the county office of education, declined to speculate on future cuts, but said that even if they balanced this year’s budget, additional cuts would be needed next year to offset rising labor and health care costs. 

Last year, facing a $6.5 million deficit, the district cut over 50 teaching positions, and increased class size for fourth, fifth and ninth graders. 

Superintendent Michele Lawrence said the district probably won’t need to temporally pink-slip hundreds of teachers this March—as they had the previous two years—but added this would “not be a year without pain.” 

Schwarzenegger announced his $59 billion education budget last week after striking a deal with education lobbyists to increase K-12 spending by $1.9 billion—$2 billion less than schools were scheduled to receive under Proposition 98, a ballot measure passed in 1988 that guaranteed public schools a large portion of the state budget.  

Aware that the state faced a $14 billion budget shortfall, however, Smith said he never counted on receiving an extra dime from Sacramento. “I was basically bracing myself for more mid-year cuts,” he said. 

Berkeley is hardly the big winner in the school budget equation. Just under one-third of all new funding is set aside to pay for enrollment growth—off limits to Berkeley, which has seen enrollment declines in recent years. 

On the positive side, Berkeley will be in line for new books after Schwarzenegger proposed restoring $188 million in instructional material cuts made last year by former Gov. Gray Davis. 

The budget is hardly set in stone. New funding would unravel if voters reject two March ballot initiatives authorizing a $14 billion state bond and requiring the state run balanced budgets and maintain cash reserves in future years. 

The legislature will also get a chance to weigh in, though Assemblymember Loni Hancock said she didn’t expect her colleagues to fight for more K-12 funding since education activists had already compromised with the governor. 

Schools will not be repaid the $2 billion lost this year, but Schwarzenegger’s budget proposes restoring education funding to levels mandated by Proposition 98 within a few years. 

Hancock, though, cautioned against those proclaiming education as the big winner in the budget shakedown, fearing schools would never get the money their still owed if Republicans didn’t yield on taxes. 

“We’re still talking about a $2 billion cut,” she said. “If people think this is only a deferral I’d say ‘dream on.’”  

Kevin Gordon, executive director of the California Association of School Business Officials, praised the compromise as necessary to protect education from legislators who would have wanted steeper cuts. 

“Considering the devastating cuts on the health and human services side, it would have been an impossible choice for a lot of Democrats in the legislature and some may have opted for fewer cuts on the other side and more to education,” he said. 

Berkeley could win slightly more control of its finances if the legislature approves the governor’s plan to hand over $2 billion in funding currently dedicated to 22 programs, mostly for bus service and teacher development. 

But Robert Manwaring, K-12 director for the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, said such reforms often die as legislators fight to save their pet programs. “We’ve proposed this reform four or five times,” he said. “In that time period the number of programs went from about 20 to almost 100.

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was pleased to read your editorial lauding the arts in Berkeley public schools (“Local Arts Deserve Support,” Daily Planet, Jan. 9-12). Several upcoming events will showcase Berkeley students as part of a countywide “Art IS Education” celebration. The Performing Arts Showcase on Sunday, March 28 from 1-4:15 p.m. in the Community Theater will feature music, dance, and theater performances by students from all Berkeley schools, and an exhibit of visual art by Berkeley High students will be on display in the lobby. The citywide Youth Arts Festival taking place at the Berkeley Art Center March 3 through April 3 will feature an exhibit of visual art by Berkeley students in kindergarten through eighth grade, as well as a number of live student performances. An opening reception will take place on Wednesday, March 3 from 5-7 p.m. All these events are free and open to the public. More details will be available soon on the BUSD website. 

Readers may wonder how arts education has survived in Berkeley schools in these hard economic times. The people of Berkeley have been ahead of the curve in recognizing that the arts are an important part of a well-rounded, high-quality public education, and they’ve been willing to make a financial commitment in support of these ideals. When voters overwhelming approved renewal of the Berkeley Schools Excellence Project (BSEP) tax measure in 1994, a portion of the funding was specifically earmarked for elementary school instrumental music instruction, which was on the brink of extinction. Beyond the money earmarked for music, other BSEP funds have helped keep the visual and performing arts alive in Berkeley schools. 

Berkeley High School continues to have a strong arts program—though it no longer has the three choirs that alumna Lorraine Hunt Lieberson remembers so fondly—but arts offerings at the elementary and middle schools vary widely from site to site. Hardworking teachers and part-time specialists do what they can to expose children to the arts, but funding has not supported the implementation of an articulated arts curriculum based on the Visual and Performing Arts Standards set by the Department of Education. Offering solid, sequential arts instruction has become even more important now that the UC system has added a visual and performing arts component to its admissions requirements. 

Soon BSEP will be up for renewal, and Berkeley voters will once again have an opportunity to demonstrate their support for arts education at the ballot box. Members of the community are gathering in coming months to re-write BSEP, and the Berkeley Arts Education Steering Committee and other arts advocacy groups will be working to make sure that it provides needed support for all the visual and performing arts. If readers are interested in learning more, I encourage them to contact Suzanne McCollough, the BUSD Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator (itself a hard-fought-for and still tentatively funded position) at 644-8772. 

I attended Berkeley public schools, and the outstanding arts programs to which I had access led me directly to my college education and professional career, as they did for a number of my peers. While only a few students find their vocations through the arts, all are given an outlet for creative expression, gain new knowledge and abilities, and build crucial communication and problem-solving skills that can improve their scholastic performance—benefits that last a lifetime. I hope that forward-thinking Berkeley voters will preserve and improve arts education in our public schools through their continued support of BSEP. 

Michele Rabkin 

Member, Berkeley Arts Education Steering Committee 

“Virgil struck the chord of modern passions, and it vibrated more powerfully then the minstrel himself expected.” 

John Conington 

The Aeneid was a blockbuster in its day. Virgil wanted it burned at his death, as he hadn’t completed all 12 volumes, but nobody listened. Embraced as the essential epic of the Roman people, The Aeneid resurfaced during the Enlightenment, when it became a hit for the second time. 

There have been more than 60 operas to date inspired by the lover’s tale that twines through the book, but Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas is the one that’s still here. Who knows if it will match the original text for staying power (2000 years is setting the bar pretty high) but The Crucible, with the assistance of the San Francisco Opera and their gifted Adler Fellows, will stage Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas this weekend here in Oakland. Don’t I keep saying you don’t have to leave home? 

The Crucible is a metal shop and sculpture studio—a foundry, to use the old-fashioned term, and a nonprofit, to use a newer one. They offer classes in metal work. This might seem an odd place to put up an opera, and it is. But there’s a connection to Virgil’s story. Dido is queen of Carthage, invested in making the city as productive as she can. In The Crucible’s version, sparks fly in Carthage, and hot metal runs in all directions, a metaphor for Dido’s passion for Aeneas, and the general emotional pitch of things. 

Director Roy Rallo and producer Sturtz have worked hard to make this a compelling production, and the union of their two enterprises promises to be a provocative one. Rallo has done a lot of innovative work as a director with Long Beach Opera, and ruffled some feathers locally with a show he did at the Magic Theater last year (also with SFO’s Adler Fellows). He’s not afraid to take chances, and neither, apparently are his protégés, as there will be cauldrons of boiling metal on hand as the lovers and their entourage let fly with endearments and fury. 

By the way, just to put to rest an obvious concern, I’m told the pyrotechnics take place under a 75-foot ventilation hood: a backdrop for the action.  

Can we digress for just a moment? I’d like to know if you go to the opera. And, if not, why not. There was commentary in the New York Times last week about the astronomical price of tickets to the Metropolitan. Our own San Francisco Opera is not geared to those surviving on a bike messenger’s salary. But somehow I don’t think this gets to the heart of the matter. After all, Rolling Stones tickets get scalped for four figures. 

It seems to me what is more germane is that John Q. Public has almost no exposure to the tradition that is opera, or to our classical music tradition in general (I say “our” tradition because, despite popular misconceptions, there are plenty of American operas). The argument is that if there’s no one around you who is conversant in a particular tongue, there’s not much chance you’ll learn to delight in it. Locally, other than Sarah Cahill’s Sunday night show on KALW, there is a complete vacuum as regards contemporary classical music on the radio dial. And you won’t find out anything by reading People Magazine or watching TV.  

It seems to me that the rise of Clear Channel, Viacom, and Disney has led to what we could call the Diaspora of Western Classical music—a virtual erasing of this cultural legacy. 

This is not dismaying in some abstract, ideological way. It means that hours, days, weeks worth of beautiful, unique music by hundreds of brilliant composers is unavailable except to those that have somehow lucked onto an initiation. For young people, whose notions of hip are often tied to the herd mentality, the problem would seem unassailable (and problem it is: SFO cut its budget by a third last year). Yet the success of Michael Tilson Thomas’ “Mavericks” series with the San Francisco Symphony demonstrates that it doesn’t take a lot of spin to portray composers of modern music as hip. They are. 

Meantime, against all odds, the Oakland Metro and the Berkeley Opera seem to be drawing those with an eye for spectacle and an ear for the new. It will be ironic, and more than a little wonderful, if the East Bay is shaping up to be a haven for this battered art. 

Purcell’s opera is not young, but it is held in high regard, considered the best of Purcell’s stage works, and—by some—the best opera to come out of the 17th century. You can make up your own mind this weekend at The Crucible. 

There’s an opening night Gala on Friday, Jan. 16 (with art auction, champagne, after-show performances by Mark Growden and others), festivities to begin at 6:30 p.m. On Jan. 17 the ticket prices come down, and the show starts at 7:30 p.m. All of this at The Crucible’s 48,000 foot warehouse space in Oakland at 1260 Seventh St. 444-0919. 

Clark Suprynowicz is an opera composer.

Hoping to revive condominium construction in Berkeley, City Council approved amendments to the city’s inclusionary housing ordinance at Tuesday night’s Council meeting. The fractious and often-confusing debate on the housing laws included two last-minute amendments by Mayor Tom Bates that, if they had been adopted, might have taken condominiums out of the reach of moderate income Berkeley residents altogether. 

At the same meeting, under fire from residents from across the city, Council backed off a controversial proposal that would have set aside 21 new on-street parking spaces for the exclusive—and free—use of the city’s parking enforcement employees. 

Berkeley’s inclusionary housing law, one of the first in the country when it was originally passed, requires any new residential construction of five or more units to set aside 20 percent of those units to be either rented or sold at prices that make them affordable to what is described as low-income families. The approved amendments would allow modest increases in the price developers can charge for the subsidized units, as well as the price low-income owners are allowed to ask for when they want to sell their units. Low income as defined in the ordinance is 80 percent of the Area Median Income, or roughly $64,000 for a family of four. In instances where an inclusionary unit is bought by a qualifying family, Berkeley’s ordinance also limits the price such owners can ask if they decide to sell their homes. Resale of such low-income units is restricted to buyers who qualify under the city’s income guidelines.  

City leaders had hoped that the original inclusionary ordinance would, among other things, promote condominium ownership by Berkeley residents. Developers contend that the ordinance has made condominium development economically unfeasible in Berkeley because the below-market price of the low-income units are subsidized by the sale of the market-rate units. Berkeley Housing Director offered Council an example of the problem that stymies condo development when he noted that under the old rules developers might spend $200,000 to $250,000 to build inclusionary units that can only be sold for $150,000 to a qualified, moderate-income buyer. The remaining $50,000 to $100,000 in costs would have to be recouped through the sale of the non-inclusionary units. Berkeley’s Housing Department reports that since 1995, no condominiums have been built in Berkeley without city loans. Tuesday night’s proposed amendments were designed to correct that problem.  

Housing Director Barton said that several developers had expressed interest in building condominiums in Berkeley if the proposed changes went into effect. “Developers are happy with the ordinance,” Barton said. “They believe this will be the difference between going forward with condominium projects in Berkeley and not going forward.”  

In a telephone interview a day after the Council meeting, Councilmember Linda Maio said that under the new ordinance “the homebuyer gets more appreciation for their unit, so that they can, in fact, step up to the next level of real estate ownership when they sell their unit. It’s also more of an incentive to the developer to build condominiums, because they have fewer restrictions.” 

The amendments seemed destined to win quick approval until Mayor Bates threw in two suggested amendments. The first Bates amendment would have raised the allowable income of an inclusionary unit buyer from 80 percent of the Area Median Income to 100 percent, and the second proposed allowing allowing the buyers of such inclusionary units to be able to turn around and sell the units to anyone they wanted, even if the buyer was not of moderate income. 

“I don’t like those kinds of constraints, I’m sorry, ” Bates said. “Maybe I’m a free-market person, but when it comes to this, I just don’t think it works.” 

But raising the buyers’ income limit from 80 percent to 100 percent of Area Median Income (AMI) would probably mean that the lower-income buyers would not be able to compete for the units, in effect undercutting the intended effect of the inclusionary ordinance. When the mayor proposed removing the 80 percent of median requirement for initial buyers, Maio said “that was when we got a little concerned and looked over at [City Attorney] Manuela [Albuquerque].” 

Commenting on the mounting confusion, the city attorney said that, “unfortunately, the Councilmembers are talking about three separate issues interchangeably.” Albuquerque eventually ruled that the mayor’s proposed change was so substantial that it could not be decided upon by Council without proper notice to the public, killing consideration for Tuesday night. Asked if the elimination of the 80 percent requirement was a good thing or a bad, Maio said, “I was one of the people who was alarmed by that.” 

The meeting was punctuated by intense consultations between Councilmembers, Albuquerque, and Barton.  

And after the meeting, Councilmember Kriss Worthington said that the practical effect of the mayor’s proposal eliminating restrictions on resale of the inclusionary units “would set up a speculation market; if the low-income buyers were able to turn around and sell their inclusionary units to high-income buyers, we would probably eventually end up with no inclusionary units being owned by low-income people.” 

After a long debate that moved continuously between Bates’ proposals and several questions by Councilmembers about interest rates and market prices, the original ordinance as proposed passed 5-3, with Councilmembers Hawley, Olds, and Wozniak voting against the amendments. The three Councilmembers indicated that their disagreement was not with the ordinance itself, but with the sunset provision that mandated that Council must come back in two years and approve the ordinance all over again if it wants it to continue; Hawley, Olds, and Wozniak wanted a less restrictive review of the law in two years. Bates’ proposed amendments, as well as proposed amendments to market inclusionary condominium units to public employees and to make them better accessible to disabled citizens, will go first to the Housing Advisory Commission, then to the Planning Commission, for discussion. 

Meanwhile, a proposed city plan to create 21 new on-street parking spaces near the Ashby BART staion—and then set them aside exclusively for the use of the city’s parking enforcement employees—crashed and burned at Tuesday night’s meeting. 

In background material signed by Assistant Transportation Manager Peter Hillier, the rationale for the free street parking set-aside for parking enforcement officers was that “because the city has provided [free] parking to these employees in the past, we agreed to find alternative parking sites in the vicinity” of the parking enforcement facility on Martin Luther King Jr. Way. In addition, Hillier wrote that “continuing [dedicated free parking] will improve employee morale and promote on-time arrival at work.” 

Nearby residents were incensed, pointing out the irony that the city employees charged with giving out tickets to illegal parkers were getting a no-ticket on-street parking deal for themselves. 

“I don’t think city agencies should be taking common property of the public to provide parking spaces for their employees,” neighborhood activist Robert Lauriston told Council. And Pamela Speich, a member of both the LeConte Neighborhood Association and the Residential Parking Permit Advisory Committee, added that “it’s unconscionable that the city should provide free parking for its parking enforcement officers.” 

Council unanimously pulled the item from the consent calendar and formed a three-member Council subcommittee to study the matter and come back with recommendations. 

With cheers and chants, 21 Californian “Deaniacs” boarded the eastbound 9:35 a.m. Amtrak train in Emeryville last Tuesday. They were headed for Iowa, where they will be doing volunteer work for Howard Dean through Monday evening, when Iowa Democrats will gather at 1,993 precinct caucuses around the state to choose their candidate for president.  

As the first chance to pick up delegates to the party conventions that will be held this summer, the hotly contested Iowa caucuses are being scrutinized around the nation. Other campaigns are also bringing in supporters from out of state. On Jan. 7 a delegation of Iowa-bound Californians for Kucinich caught the same Amtrak train in Emeryville.  

The Dean organization says it has 3,500 volunteers working in Iowa as part of an effort called “The Perfect Storm.” Each of the 21 travelers at the Emeryville station sported a big red-white-and-blue button that bore the wearer’s first name and the words “California Gets on Board for the Perfect Storm—Helping Dean in 2004.” Many of the 40 or so Dean supporters waiting for the train were wearing the campaign’s signature dark blue sweatshirts, their backs emblazoned with slogans such as “Want Your Country Back?” and “You Have the Power.”  

Also present was “Flat Howard,” a life-size, black-and-white photograph of the candidate mounted on foam core board and strategically displayed high above the crowd or posed next to supporters. He, too, got on board the train.  

According to the trip coordinator, Vicki Cosgrove, 50, a resident of Castro Valley, the 21 Californians riding the rails to Iowa range from 18 to 62 years in age and come from places as varied as Arcata, Tehachapi, Livermore and San Jose. Three of her fellow passengers are from Berkeley—Gene Tanke, Renee Manrique and Lynn Davidson. Two other Berkeleyans, Paul Spitz and Mal Burnstein, are flying to Iowa on Thursday.  

The train is scheduled to arrive in Osceola, Iowa, at 8:06 a.m. on Thursday morning. The Dean volunteers will be met at the station by four vans that will take them into Des Moines for induction and training. From there they will be dispersed throughout the state to walk door-to-door, make phone calls or whatever else suits the campaign’s needs and their skills.  

It’s going to be cold: The weather forecast for Des Moines for this weekend puts the highs in the 30s, and parkas and snow boots were in evidence at the Emeryville train station. So were sleeping bags and pillows. Some people will be staying in motels, others in private homes, and still others at one of fifteen “Dean camps”—winterized YMCA camps. The application form on the Dean for America website asks prospective Perfect Storm participants if they’re willing to sleep on the floor.  

Conversations with some of the Iowa-bound train riders suggested that these people would be willing to sleep just about anywhere. Their motivation consists of equal parts fury at the Bush administration and commitment to Dean. “We’ve got to get rid of Bush,” said Lynn Davidson, 55, from Berkeley. Praising Dean, others spoke of his candor, his intellect, his responsiveness and his positions on the war in Iraq, health care and other major issues.  

But what’s striking about these Dean supporters, beyond their disgust with the current administration in Washington and their enthusiasm for their candidate, is their relative newness to politics. There are exceptions: Mal Burnstein is a lifelong activist. But until recently, most of the others did little more than vote. Michael Goble, 18, was too young to do even do that in the last presidential election. Since joining the Dean campaign, Goble and others have hosted teleconferencing house parties, attended the public get-togethers known as meetups, blogged the burgeoning Dean websites and decided to donate a week of lives to full-time, out-of-state politicking.  

After the train pulled out of the station, I spoke briefly with Paul Spitz, the coordinator of East Bay for Dean. Describing a groundswell of support, Spitz cited last weekend’s sixteen Meetups in the East Bay involving 300 people. Over 80 showed up at Saysethea Restaurant in Berkeley alone. “This shows that anybody who thinks Dean is just about the Internet or anger isn’t paying attention,” he said. Spitz pointed out that except for Gephardt, the other contenders all have websites and blogs—and, in some cases, better-looking ones at that. “Their campaigns aren’t taking off like Dean’s,” he said, “because they don’t have the candidate.” 

After the train pulled out of the station, Paul Spitz, the coordinator of East Bay for Dean, described a groundswell of support. He cited last weekend’s sixteen Meetups in the East Bay involving 300 people. More than 80 showed up at Saysethea Restaurant in Berkeley alone. “This shows that anybody who thinks Dean is just about the Internet or anger isn’t paying attention,” he said. Spitz pointed out that except for Gephardt, the other contenders all have websites and blogs—and, in some cases, better-looking ones at that. “Their campaigns aren’t taking off like Dean’s,” he said, “because they don’t have the candidate.” 

Despite requests from a host of elected officials and one community religious leader, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business Dean Tom Campbell refused to honor the long standing boycott of the Claremont Resort and Spa, positioning the school as the last large business to patronize the resort.  

The requests were formally delivered to the dean last Friday by Berkeley Councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Linda Maio, Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, former assemblywoman and now legislator in residence at UC Berkeley Dion Aroner, and Pastor Ron Pickel from the Berkeley Seventh Day Adventist Church during a meeting organized by the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) Local 2850.  

The Claremont, which has been ensnared in an almost two-year battle over two expired union contracts and a new organizing effort by Spa employees , recently suffered large business losses when both the Cal football team and Kaiser Permanente, the HMO giant, shifted their business to other union hotels in the area. 

“Our aim was to get [Campbell] to join us in sending a message to the [Claremont owners] that they need to treat the employees fairly,” said Councilmember Maio.  

According to Maio and the others present at the meeting, while Dean Campbell seemed receptive, he declined to move forward on their request.  

“I’ve thought all along that they should not be aiding and abetting a labor dispute,” said Aroner. “They’re supposed to be an example of good labor practices.” 

Efforts to contact Campbell were unsuccessful but the business school’s Chief Operating Officer Teresa Constantinidas released the following statement about the meeting: 

“It is the Haas Business School’s position that it is best for the school not to take sides in the union dispute with the Claremont Hotel. As a result, the school has not changed its business with the hotel, neither increasing nor decreasing as a matter of policy. Dean Campbell has met with students, religious leaders, union leaders and public officials and continues to communicate with them to foster a better understanding of both sides of this issue.” 

According to HERE Local 2850, the boycott, which is going into its twenty-second month, has resulted in large business losses. Claire Darby, an organizer with HERE Local 2850 said the union has seen reports that say business is down 75 percent from last year, a number the Claremont refused to comment on. She also said the resort suffered large losses over the holidays booking only 250 reservations; down from 1200 last year. 

The union and the Claremont are set to re-enter negotiations on Jan. 19 and 20.  

The union also reported that the Claremont found itself in trouble over the holidays when the National Labor Relations Board served the resort with an Unfair Labor Practice violation for issuing a memo to Spa workers which prevented them from talking badly about management or other workers on the job. 

Four days after the NLRB ruling, spa worker Kathryn Fairbanks was suspended for speaking with a supervisor about what she thought was unfair treatment by her manager. She was then fired over another incident involving a mistaken identity, prompting a delegation of union representatives, concerned students and elected officials to convene at the resort and demand that she be reinstated. According to the union a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle also called about Fairbank’s termination and the following day she was reinstated.  

Councilmember Worthington said he was disappointed with the way the Claremont treated the delegation, requesting they meet outside in the rain. When he refused and went inside, security told him he would be arrested and proceeded to call the cops, who came but did not arrest him. 

“If they treat elected officials that way it’s no wonder they have problems with their employees,” said Worthington. “I was astounded they would expect us to stand outside.” 

Claremont representatives refused comment on the incident concerning Fairbanks but eventually released a statement, saying “It would be inappropriate and disrespectful of their privacy for us to discuss the disposition of any disciplinary action...we respect [the rights of employees] to be involved in union activities and to voice their opinions.” 

Attorneys for the Berkeley Unified School District last week asked a judge to toss out a lawsuit that threatens to end racial balance in its elementary schools. 

The preliminary motion to dismiss is a long shot, acknowledged Jon Streeter, the attorney defending the district free of charge against a suit brought by the Pacific Legal Foundation. 

The well-heeled conservative group has charged the district’s student assignment policy, which tries to balance elementary schools by race, violates Proposition 209—a 1996 voter initiative precluding racial preferences in public education. 

In 2002 they won a similar case forcing Huntington Beach to scrap a student transfer program based on race, which they argue should hold for Berkeley as well.  

Judge James Richmond could rule on the motion as early as a hearing scheduled for Feb. 20. If he opts to deny, both sides will present written expert testimony before possibly heading to trial. 

In his brief, Streeter argues the California Fourth District Court of Appeals Judge erred in the Huntington Beach decision when he held that Proposition 209 overruled an earlier amendment to the state constitution that gave districts express permission to integrate schools. 

A court is bound to harmonize conflicting constitutional provisions instead of choosing a line of authority, he said. 

In a more novel argument, Streeter wrote that a law signed by former Gov. Gray Davis just before he was removed from office safeguards BUSD policy. He contends that the statute binds Proposition 209 to the definition of “discrimination by race” contained in a 1994 treaty signed by the U.S. The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination upholds laws protectng minority groups which otherwise could lose fundamental rights.  

The PLF would likely argue that the legislature has no power to override a state constitutional amendment, Streeter said, but he maintains that since the state constitution has conflicting views on school desegregation, an international treaty, like a supreme court ruling, would be the trump card. 

“This issue has been lurking under the radar screen,” Streeter said. “If the judge rules the argument is correct it will blow a bigger hole in 209.” 

Berkeley school officials are scheduled to unveil a new school assignment policy at Wednesday’s board meeting. Streeter would only say he consulted on the new policy which is expected to add socio-economic factors to race in determining elementary school placements.

Let’s say you are a Hispanic female. You have an account at a local bank. You walk into the bank to deposit a check made out to you by your stockbroker. The bank teller suspects that the check is phony. It is a large check and the fact that you are Hispanic makes the teller suspicious. Also there is a smudge on the check. The teller calls the broker and is told that the check is phony. The manager then calls the broker back and is told the check is valid. Still, nobody calls the police and tells them not to come. The police come and detain you. 

In front of other customers, the police spreadeagle you, pat you down, handcuff you and ask questions such as, “Did you come here in a stolen car?” and, “Are you carrying weapons?” This is all after the broker has told the bank that it has made a mistake and that the check is good. After an investigation of about 20 minutes the police release you. 

You are deeply humiliated by the experience, you feel that you have been slandered, arrested on a false report and treated like a criminal in front of bank employees, other customers, and the public. You believe that this treatment was engendered, in part at least, by your Hispanic background, that the bank would not have done this to an Anglo customer who came in with a stockbroker’s check. You sue and are prepared to prove this in court. What can you collect from the bank for having put you through this treatment? 

Surprisingly, the answer is absolutely nothing. 

On Jan. 5, the California Supreme Court decided a case with the above facts, Hagberg v. California Federal Bank, and came to the sweeping conclusion that all reports to the police are absolutely privileged. That means that anyone reporting any criminal activity to a police department cannot be sued for it, no matter how false and defamatory that report is. Apparently, if the person is prosecuted in court, he or she can sue for malicious prosecution. But Hagberg was not prosecuted. She was arrested, handcuffed, then let go. Even the fact that she claimed that she was denied her civil rights under the California Unruh Civil Rights Act did not allow her to sue the bank. Chief Justice George was of the opinion that the absolute privilege to make a police report would foster free communication between citizens and law enforcement authorities whose responsibility it is to investigate wrongdoing, and this outweighed the aggrieved citizen’s interest in being compensated. 

Although it would not be possible for the aggrieved customer to sue, someone making a knowingly false police report can be criminally prosecuted under the Penal Code section 148.5. The fact that this is a crime should deter most such false reports, according to the California Supremes, which, in any event did not see that false reports “present a widespread problem.” However, it is up to the District Attorney to charge someone with making a false police report, and, unless it was very serious and public (such as falsely reporting a missing winning lottery ticket) the District Attorney well might let such a report ride. 

Because the court announced that the privilege and the immunity from a lawsuit was absolute, we can take the facts a little farther down the slippery slope the court built in Hagberg. Suppose an African-American entered a convenience store at Haystack Corners, California. He is driving somewhere else, and his intent is to buy a soda and a bag of potato chips and go on his way. Unknown to him, the manager of the convenience store is the leader of the local Ku Klux Klan and hates African-Americans. The manager calls the police, and knowing that the customer is simply trying to buy some soda and chips, makes a false report that the customer has tried to rob the store. The police come and, shotguns out, arrest the customer, take him to jail and hold him there over a weekend before he is arraigned to face charges in court. Just before the arraignment he is let go and no charges are brought. According to the California Supreme Court in the Hagberg case, there would be no lawsuit possible in this instance either. 

One matter the court did not consider, probably because it was not brought up by the parties, was whether such a false report, based in part on race, would violate Federal Civil Rights act of 1964 which provides equal access on the basis of race to places of public accommodation. The federal civil rights laws would trump state law immunities because of what is known as the “supremacy clause” of the United States Constitution. If the false report did violate the federal laws, the California Supreme Court could not prevent someone from suing under those laws. In Hagberg, the plaintiff did not choose to file her lawsuit under federal law. 

Surprising to some observers was the fact that the dissent in this 4-3 decision was written by Justice Janice Rogers Brown, who is viewed as a far right wing justice, who is on the short list of those who might be nominated to the United States Supreme Court by President Bush when a vacancy arises, and whose nomination to a federal court of appeal has thus far been derided and blocked by Democratic senators. She is viewed, with some justification, as a judicial extremist out to enact the conservative agenda of the current administration. Be that as it may, Brown wrote regarding this decision: “The ramifications of an intentionally false report of suspected criminal activity to police are enormous. Citizens arrested pursuant to such a report will be stigmatized, and forever thereafter have to note the arrest on job, credit, and housing applications. Assertions that the charges were dropped, and of ones actual innocence, will likely fall on deaf ears. Under the majority’s conclusion today, such falsely accused individuals will have no opportunity to clear their name, or seek compensation for economic loss in defending the charges or loss to their reputation.” 

Score one for the far right wing. 

Paul Glusman is a Berkeley lawyer practicing primarily in the areas of employment and insurance. 

Beyond the political posturing on all sides about President Bush’s proposed immigration reform, the long lines and anguished waiting of would-be immigrants in the system shows that the process of granting documentation to newcomers has ground to a virtual halt.  

Bush’s proposal, if implemented, would send millions of additional applications into a blocked pipeline.  

The paralysis that has gripped the immigration system after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, is mind-boggling: a report by the GAO (the investigative arm of Congress), released the day after Bush’s proposed temporary worker program, showed that the backlog of applications pending before immigration authorities grew from 2.3 to 6.3 million in the last two years.  

Immigration attorneys call it the “No” mentality: procedures take twice as long to process since the process came to a virtual halt, and applicants for visas, legal residency, work permits or citizenship are more likely to be rejected. Lines are growing longer by the minute, they say, even after Congress raised the fees on immigration processes and invested $160 million during the last two years to chip away at the backlog.  

Before 9/11, Bush had promised to bring the time spent processing applications for permanent residency down to a maximum of six months, or 30 days for temporary visas. After that, “everything came to a dead halt,” says Los Angeles immigration attorney and former immigration prosecutor Carl Shusterman. “We’re waiting two to three years for green cards and seven or eight months for temporary petitions. They’re looking for any reason to deny applications.”  

Part of the problem was the dismantling of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the creation of the new Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BICE) under the banner of a huge new bureaucracy: the new Department of Homeland Security.  

The immigration authorities’ new focus as a key part of the “fight against terror” took its toll on the processing of immigration benefits and created increased suspicion of foreigners.  

The president proposed a temporary worker program that would grant three-year permits to work and travel in the United States with one opportunity to renew. If a worker wants to apply for legal residency, according to the president, he could do so by normal channels, meaning he will have to apply for residency through a family member who is already a citizen or resident, or through a labor-certification process.  

According to experts, with the current backlogs and even with some increase in the ceiling of annual visas allowed for immigrants, the process can take many years, especially for nationals of countries like Mexico, who face an even longer line. By that time, the temporary worker’s permit could expire, requiring him or her to leave the country.  

“We’re concerned people are getting confused they can get a green card out of this,” says Cecilia Muñoz, Vice President for policy of the National Council of La Raza, a national Latino civil rights organization based in Washington, D.C.  

Muñoz notes there are approximately 5,000 visas available each year for unskilled workers, while there are about 8 million undocumented workers in the country.  

“They haven’t said they will dramatically increase the number of visas available, and that’s the only way (Bush’s proposal) could work,” Muñoz says.  

The president has promised a “reasonable” increase in the annual limit of legal immigrants, but experts argue that, to accommodate the demand, the increase would have to be dramatic.  

“It would have to be a huge, significant increase to make this a positive program,” says Jean Butterfield, spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).  

“The whole system needs to be revamped. It’s got to be comprehensive reform. We need more numbers, more flexibility and higher visa quotas for certain countries like Mexico, India and Philippines,” says immigration expert Dan Kowalski. “We need a new attitude, a new view.”  

Many question whether, in an election year, Bush will push Congress to pass real, effective immigration reform. His proposal has been criticized both by the conservatives of his party and by the Democrats, who deem it insufficient.  

Democrats, according to insiders, are “shocked” that the president threatens to take yet one more issue from them with a bold political move designed to win the hearts of Latino voters.  

Many immigration experts now recognize that Bush’s statements praising the undocumented immigrants as workers who come to the United States primarily to make an honest living, as well as his condemnation of the current immigration system, are important steps in the right direction.  

“We couldn’t invest $20 million in a pro-immigrant campaign that could do what he just did for the image of the undocumented worker,” says Frank Sharry, executive director of National Immigration Forum, an organization that initially was critical of the plan and now has shifted position and will work to improve the proposal. “The principles are lousy, but the megaphone is amazing.”  

All immigrant advocates agree on one point: Real reform of the system means a clearer path to permanent residency and citizenship for the millions of workers who want not just a chance to make a living, but also a new life in the United States.  

PNS contributor Pilar Marrero is political editor and columnist for La Opinion newspaper in Los Angeles.

Cyclist Shot 

A 20-year-old man was shot in the leg and robbed while riding his bicycle to a relative’s house just after midnight Wednesday on Martin Luther King Junior Way and 62nd Street. 

The victim, whose name is being withheld, was taken to Highland Hospital and didn’t suffer life-threatening injuries, Berkeley Police spokesperson Kevin Schofield said. 

At 12:13 a.m. the gunman jumped at the victim from nearby bushes and tried to pull him off his bike, The victim broke free, at which point the assailant shot him in the leg knocking him to the ground. 

The man then took the victim’s wallet and drove off in a gold four door sedan. He is described as a light skinned African American male, 5-foot-10, approximately 150 pounds, with a slight build, gold teeth and four-inch dreads. 

Angry Man Busts Couple’s Front Door 

A drunk man saw a woman park in front of her house on the 2100 block of Tenth Street Sunday evening and followed her up the stairs to her apartment. 

The woman hurried inside and closed the door, while the man demanded to be allowed inside. According to the woman’s husband, the man began kicking their door so hard he broke the lock, locking the couple inside. 

Eight police officers arrived and arrested Dale Norris, 36, of Oakland. Since the couple remained trapped inside, they positively identified Norris by poking their heads out of their daughter’s bedroom.  

Residents Nab Burglar 

Roommates at a house on the 2700 block of Hillegass Avenue overwhelmed a burglar they found with two bags full of their belongings Wednesday afternoon. They detained him until police came and arrested Austin Patten, 23, of Berkeley.

The Bush-Cheney political operation is working with business groups to help President Bush overcome the impact of pro-labor coalitions that have sprung up since the enactment of campaign finance reform legislation.  

The business groups have devised an ambitious plan to counteract the anti-Bush forces that have already mustered a $10 million dollar pledge from Wall Street financier George Soros.  

Ken Mehlman, who left his post as White House political advisor last year to oversee the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign, is playing an important role in organizing the new effort.  

Now that the law bars the use of most forms of so-called soft money in election campaigns, a large segment of the business community appears to be turning more and more to a labor union model that entails direct advocacy among employees, some of whom also could be union members.  

The campaign finance laws require the group to maintain at least a semblance of nonpartisan independence, but there is no question that it favors Bush’s re-election in November.  

For the last several months, trade associations have been working on collaborative plans to influence employees within their respective industries and to get them to the polls in the hope of electing pro-business candidates. They plan to hold a “summit meeting” soon to formalize their respective roles.  

But it is already evident that there are two prongs to the plan to boost the political impact of business in this election year. The first calls for informing employees about pro-business issues that affect them and encouraging them to vote for pro-business candidates.  

The second calls for rounding up endorsements from the heads of non-partisan trade and business associations for Bush.  

In addition to advancing the presumed benefits of the administration’s economic policies to their workers, the effort will be bolstered by endorsements from a separate group of industry leaders supporting the Bush-Cheney ticket. They plan to communicate their political preferences through a group that one Bush ally called “[business] association CEOs for Bush.”  

Although business groups have been begun to focus more on voter mobilization in recent years, the current efforts reflect a higher level of sophistication and urgency—in large part because of the passage of campaign finance reform. This is likely why Mehlman is personally involved in the effort.  

Mehlman has met with the organizers of the business voter-mobilization effort. To demonstrate their nonpartisan colors, they have also offered to meet with Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Terry McAuliffe.  

For their part, Democrats are suspicious of the group’s motives and ultimate allegiances.  

DNC Communications Director Debra DeShong said that after inquiring on the subject she could find no one at the committee who had been contacted by the coalition.  

“Our researchers said all these people are big Bush supporters and definitely right-leaning,” said DeShong.  

Mehlman has pushed the heads of nonpartisan trade associations to join the pro-Bush group.  

Thomas Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute, said Mehlman is playing a key role in organizing “association CEOs for Bush.” Kuhn, a 1968 Yale classmate of Bush, is also a so-called GOP “Pioneer” who has raised more than $100,000 in hard money for Bush-Cheney campaign.  

Kuhn noted his trade association would not endorse Bush. It will, however, join in the large get-out-the-vote effort that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has already launched with other groups.  

Kuhn acknowledged that by personally endorsing Bush, he could influence how employees in member companies vote.  

Another trade association head close to Bush who asked not to be identified by name noted the obstacles that now prevent business and trade groups from openly supporting Bush.  

“The overwhelming majority of [business] executives and association CEOs are not in a position to deliver their institution as an endorsing entity,” said the lobbyist. “Many groups will not even do candidate comparisons. They will only encourage their people to be informed, be registered, and actually vote.”  

The lobbyist added that a group such as “association CEOs for Bush” did not exist in 2000, a campaign that billed itself as an outside-the-Beltway insurgency.  

David Rehr, president of the National Beer Wholesalers Association, is yet another trade association head who has personally done a lot to support Bush. His group will also forgo making an official endorsement. However, Rehr said he would likely join association CEOs for Bush.  

“I don’t think there is any trade association that is going to say to its members, ‘Vote for the president’ because it triggers all the campaign finance laws,” said Rehr, also a “Pioneer” fundraiser who has raised over $100,000 in individual contributions for the Bush-Cheney reelection drive. “But [associations] have a constitutional right to say to their members how [candidates’] positions will affect them.”  

During the beer wholesalers’ annual convention in Las Vegas, Rehr addressed 3,600 members on policy issues. Behind him and the speaker’s podium, Bush’s picture was projected on a large screen.  

The voter mobilization effort has been spearheaded by seven major trade associations: the Associated General Contractors, The Business Roundtable, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, the National Federation of Independent Business, the National Restaurant Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  

Jade West, with the wholesaler-distributors, who is helping to organize the effort, said that between 60 and 65 trade groups have joined the effort, which will allow member groups to exchange ideas on how best to inform their business employees on issues related to their industry, encourage employees to register to vote, and show them how to obtain absentee ballots.  

West said Mehlman is not directing the group.  

“It’s more of a testament to Ken Mehlman’s smarts that he recognizes that this is something that can be helpful to them without being a part of them because we have to be independent.”  

This article originally ran in The Hill. 

Come November Berkeley voters could be asked to start the ball rolling on the legalization of prostitution in California. 

On Thursday a Berkeley-based sex worker advocacy group filed papers to place a non-binding resolution on the city’s November ballot calling on the state legislature to repeal laws against selling sex. 

Supporters have 180 days to collect 3,000 signatures for the resolution to go before Berkeley voters. 

The Berkeley initiative is part of a statewide drive by the Sex Workers Outreach Project to drum up popular support for an overhaul for the state’s prostitution laws, which they say unfairly target women, instead of pimps and johns. 

“We know we won’t get Sacramento’s attention unless we show we have the support of the communities,” said SWOP Director Robyn Few. 

Similar ballot drives are planned for Oakland and Los Angeles. Few also expected the resolution to pass the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. 

—Matthew Artz

State-appointed Oakland School Administrator Randolph Ward says that when he first got to California some years ago, he intended to register to vote as an independent. Instead, he says that by mistake, he ended up checking the box on the California Voter Registration Form for the American Independent Party, the party originally formed in 1968 to advance the presidential candidacy of the anti-black segregationist George Wallace. “Who the hell knows what that means?” Mr. Ward told the Oakland Tribune this week, the “that” referring, presumably, to the American Independent Party. Well, actually, a lot of us who were around in the ‘60s know what that means. Let’s hope that during Mr. Ward’s several years as a schoolteacher he was not called upon to instruct in modern American history. 

In any event, the other night Oakland School Board Member Gary Yee asked Mr. Ward to give a guarantee to the Oakland community, and got an interesting response. What Mr. Yee asked Mr. Ward to do was to guarantee that Mr. Ward will not sell any of the five Oakland public schools he (Mr. Ward) is proposing to close down at the end of the school year. 

Mr. Yee’s request came at the end of the end of that public hearing at the Paul Robeson Administration Building at which Mr. Ward invited parents, students, teachers, and administrators from 11 Oakland elementary schools to come out and say why their particular school should not be one of the five he wants to close down.  

Predictably, more than a thousand Oakland citizens showed up, so many that most of them had to wait on the sidewalk outside, since the Board Room only allows about 150 people at a time. Angry at the way they were being treated but determined to speak, the Oakland folks filed into the Board Room and took their turn at the podium and made their cases, many of them giving detailed information about test scores and innovative programs and community support. Hour after hour they came, long into the night. The next day, Dr. Ward released the list of the five elementary schools he was proposing to close (Burbank, Foster, John Swett, Longfellow, and Toler Heights), which is a really short time to do an intelligent job of paring down a closure list from 11 to five, which leads one to believe that either Mr. Ward already knew which schools he was going to try to close, and it didn’t really matter what those hundreds of people came out to say, or else he just sat around the next morning and pulled names out of a hat. You choose which one you think happened. Mr. Ward has not yet supplied us with the details of his final selection process. 

Equally murky is Mr. Ward’s publicly-stated reasons as to why it is necessary to close any Oakland public schools at all. 

We are told that it is a cost-cutting measure, though exactly how much money it will save us, and in what ways, seems to be a moving target. Mr. Yee says that when Mr. Ward first came up with the school closure idea, Mr. Ward gave no cost-saving figure at all, so Mr. Yee figured up the potential savings himself at $1.5 million, which he said he got from adding up the administrative costs to run five schools. Last week, however, the Chronicle put the potential cost-saving figure at $2 million, based upon Mr. Ward’s report of a $400,000 cost to run each school. The Bay City News reported the potential cost savings at “an estimated $2.8 million annually,” without saying who did the estimating. But, of course, the cost of running a school is not necessarily the cost one will save by closing it. Does Mr. Ward’s estimates, for one example, include the salaries of the teachers? If they are not going to be fired (and presumably Mr. Ward can’t fire the teachers at the closing schools because they’ll have to be transferred over to the schools where the students from the closed schools are moving), then those salaries can’t be included as part of the savings. 

In the absence of any detailed analysis of the financial aspect of these proposed school closures—and if there is such an analysis, Mr. Ward hasn’t released it to the public—we are left with such open questions, and widely varying estimations of what, if anything, might be saved. 

Good luck, too, at figuring out why these particular five schools ended up on the final hit list. Is it declining test scores, or declining enrollment? At different times, in recent days, Mr. Ward has said one or the other. If declining enrollment is the problem, one might speculate that the steep drop in enrollment in Oakland’s schools this year came in part because the turmoil over the school takeover last year, and, if that is the case, then the turmoil over Mr. Ward’s proposed school closure plan is most likely to cause more parents to take their children to other school districts, leading to more reasons to close schools. This might go on merrily in a dwindling downward spiral, until only Mr. Ward remains as the only school employee around to cut himself a last check, at our expense, and then turn off the lights at the Paul Robeson Administration Building. Which would then be sold. 

Which leads us to speculation going around Oakland that these school closures are part of a plan by developers to buy up these newly-vacant school properties for their own profit, and, therefore, Mr. Yee’s request that Mr. Ward ward off such rumors by publicly guaranteeing that the school properties will not be sold. “I have said it many times before, but I’ll say it again,” Mr. Ward replied. “I have no intention of selling any school properties.” Having learned of other odd things resulting from Mr. Ward’s intentions (see the first paragraph, above), Oakland is not reassured. 

Residents spoke out Wednesday against a police proposal to return German Shepherds to the force more than a quarter century after they were banned. 

“This is the wrong time in America for Berkeley to take a step backwards,” said civil rights attorney Osha Neumann, one of 13 people to question the plan’s fiscal and political implications at the first of three forums to be held by the Police Review Commission. Follow-up forums are secheduled for Jan. 28 at the North Berkeley Senior Center and Feb. 11 at the West Berkeley Senior Center, both at 7 p.m. 

Following the final hearing, commissioners will make a non-binding recommendation to City Council, which has the final say. 

BPD Capt. Stephanie Fleming tried to allay fears, saying the dogs would 

be trained to bark, not bite, and would never be used for crowd control or 

demonstrations. 

Berkeley has few open scars from police dog violence since the force did away with them in the early 1950’s as a cost-cutting measure. Various efforts to reintroduce dogs were met with sharp opposition, leading to an outright ban in 1977, modified by City Counci in 1982 to allow use of other cities’ dogs in special circumstances. 

The current proposal was hatched during an election time meeting between Mayor Tom Bates and the Berkeley Police Association—an organization which later endorsed his rival. 

Those opposed to the plan stressed the city’s risk to liability lawsuits during a budget crunch. “These animals are going to take somebody’s job away,” said Berkeley attorney and former PRC Commissioner Jim Chanin who has represented police dog bite victims.  

“If [the police] do this, I’ll be watching and waiting,” he said. “They’ll use them at their peril.” 

—Matthew Artz

Many buyers want to buy a house that needs some work so they can quickly gain “sweat equity.” About half of the buyers I work with say this during our initial consultation, but many soon find that painting the interior walls is what they really meant. 

However, if you have a handy bone, and aren’t afraid of getting dirty, there are some keys to buying a good “fixer.” First you need to find the right kind of ugly. Some houses are just ugly to the core, with all the architectural charm of a box of saltines. This is the wrong kind of ugly. The right kind of ugly is a house that was originally lovely but has suffered the neglect of time, or in some cases, just plain bad taste. 

Certain projects may be too overwhelming to make it worth the sweat, such as replacing a crumbling foundation or 25 aluminum windows. Others are relatively simple like re-roofing, refinishing floors and installing new plumbing and electrical fixtures. (Don’t forget to get permits from the city when required.) 

When choosing an ugly house know your limits, both financial and emotional.  

When looking for a fixer, my motto is always the uglier the better. I love to find a house that hasn’t been painted for 40 years, has hardwood floors hidden beneath old pink carpet, and layers of dusty drapery that must house flocks of bats and moths. It is especially rewarding to find hideous furniture, piles of old newspapers, and a toilet moldy enough to stave off competitive bidding. 

• Look for a house with good bones. Hope to find the original floor plan unaltered. Berkeley is full of old bungalows that were perfectly designed with timeless elegance. Some things just can’t be improved upon! If the house still has single-pane windows, hope to find the original wood sashes. Sometimes you get lucky and there is little to no dry rot, just weathered paint. 

Frequently Berkeley homes have beautiful woodwork hidden beneath coats of paint. I have had so many clients say they want to strip the paint and reveal the original wood. While the result may be stunning, proceed with caution. Old paint almost certainly contains lead and should be handled very carefully. 

If the wood is painted it is not a crime to paint it again, which will brighten any room. (If you are lucky enough to find an ugly house with original wood exposed, please do not paint it!) 

• Get permission to look beneath carpet to see the condition of the floors. Painted wood floors can be easily sanded and refinished, producing a glowing result. Sometimes you find unexpected treasures such as mahogany inlays. Also look out for original hexagonal tile hidden beneath sheet vinyl in kitchens and baths. 

• Try to find an ugly house on a beautiful street. Check to see how the neighbors are maintaining their property, and hope they keep it up after you move in.  

• Go treasure hunting in the yard. Frequently wonderful mature plants are hidden behind walls of weeds and rusting lawn furniture. Almost any plot of earth can be transformed into a sanctuary, but it helps to have some trees and shrubs already settled in. You may also find that missing door knob or fireplace andirons hanging around outside. 

• Arrange inspections. Be sure to have a complete home inspection by a reputable inspector. Trust your agent to recommend a good one and be willing to pay top dollar for your inspection. Get a sewer inspection. Many Berkeley sewer lines are original clay and have cracks and root intrusions. It is also advisable to have the chimney inspected for safety. Chimney repairs can be costly, so it is good to know what you are dealing with. 

• Use the inspection period to get bids for the work you can’t complete on your own. The ugliest houses often need new roofs ($5,000-$7,000), new furnaces and ducts ($5,000-$6,000), new exterior paint ($5,000-$9,000), electrical upgrades ($3,000-$6,000), new pipes ($5,000-$10,000) and new sewer lines ($2,000-$3,000). Also you can start identifying replacement fixtures and appliances that will work with the vintage of the house. 

If you aren’t scared off after you have complied this data, then roll up your sleeves and go for it. Assume everything will cost more than you expected and will take twice as long as you predicted. Also keep in mind that you can always hire help. Good electricians and plumbers can make molehills out of mountains. 

Over time you will have a beautiful new home and the satisfaction of having restored a small piece of history. Your house and your neighbors will be thrilled. 

Heather Sittig is a Berkeley real estate broker.

It all started when my wife Lisa tried to renew her California driver’s license. Easy, you think? Read on. 

Lisa didn’t receive the DMV renewal form in the mail, so she made an appointment at her friendly local office. She arrived on time, waited in the wrong line for a few minutes and in the right line for an hour, and approached the window at last, thinking that the ordeal was almost over.  

In fact, it had barely begun.  

“You can’t renew your license,” said the friendly clerk. “The name on your license is different from the name on your social security number.” 

My wife explained. Her married name—our name—is on her driver’s license. However, 30 years ago or so, she was married to someone else, so she obtained her social security number in that name.  

She asked the clerk why this was a problem now, after years of trouble-free renewals of her driver’s license.  

“Things are different now. September 11.” 

All she had to do to renew her license was to bring in a copy of her divorce decree from her first marriage and her marriage certificate from her second marriage. 

Unfortunately, she doesn’t have either document. 

In that case, the clerk said, she should call Social Security. They would tell her the next step. 

After an hour or so on hold, she finally got someone from the Social Security office on the phone.  

Write to the California Department of Vital Records, he said, enclosing a check for each document, and they would send her what she needed. She wrote as directed. A month later, she received a packet from Vital Records. Ah, she thought, no more driving without a license. No more heart-in-mouth whenever she sees a police cruiser. 

Wrong again. “You should know that our processing time can take up to 2-3 years,” the Department’s letter informed her—not weeks, not months; years. The letter also pointed out that she could get copies of the required documents much faster from the courts that issued them.  

Both the divorce decree and the subsequent marriage certificate were issued in Los Angeles. I’m a lawyer, and I’m used to dealing with court clerks, so I offered to take over the job. I started by calling the family law section of the Los Angeles County Superior Court in Torrance. It only took 20 minutes or so of busy signals before I got through, but the news was discouraging. Because the divorce was in 1982 or ‘83 (Lisa wasn’t even sure of the year), the files were no longer active. I would have to call Archives. 

No sweat, I thought, I can do that. It took me 90 minutes or so of determined re-dialing, but I finally got someone in Archives to answer the phone. Yes, he said, they had the records of the divorce. What was the case number? My heart sank. I didn’t know the case number. 

The clerk chuckled. (I tried to chuckle too.) “That’s OK. You’ll have to call the Index Department. They can get it for you. Then you call back here. I’ll give you their phone number.” 

He actually gave me two numbers. The first told me I had reached a number that had been disconnected, and I’ve been calling the second number ever since (I keep pressing the re-dial button as I write this). Every time, I get a busy signal. Every 10 calls or so, just to tease me, I get a ring. It rings, and it rings, and it rings some more. Then it changes to a busy signal again.  

And there the matter stands. Lisa is out just now, driving to Berkeley Bowl without a license. I am at my desk, pressing the redial button. At least we have the consolation of knowing that barriers are in place to foil the would-be terrorists among us—especially 50-ish blondes. We may be frustrated, but we feel ever so much safer.

The new three-antenna Sprint Wireless Communication facility proposed for the corner of Cedar Street and Shattuck Avenue—one of those Freddie Kruger-like city issues that never seem to die or quietly go away—is back on City Council’s agenda for another go-round at tonight’s regular meeting (Tuesday, Jan. 20). 

The issue has sharply divided Berkeley residents, with some welcoming more towers to improve cellphone reception, others yearning to kill a facility they believe will create adverse health effects. 

City staff members claim that all health issues are beyond the scope of Berkeley ordinance, subject only to federal law. 

The facility was originally approved by the Zoning Adjustments Board in late 2002, survived two appeals by disgruntled neighborhood residents, and has been stewing around City Council since last spring, suffering three separate postponements of public hearings while awaiting an outside consultant’s report. With the feasibility report on the Sprint facility now in hand, city staff says it is ready to move forward for Council to make a decision. 

In his report to Council, City Manager Phil Kamlarz writes that “the independent consultant...confirmed that the project meets all [Federal Communications Commission] requirements and is needed to provide adequate coverage to Sprint customers within the area. ... The project satisfies the city’s requirement.” 

In other action for tonight’s meeting, Council is soliciting public comment on Comcast’s proposed cable rate increases in the city. 

At its 6:45 Berkeley Redevelopment Agency special meeting, Council will consider approval of a 22-year extension of the ground lease for the land beneath the Ocean View Gardens Apartments. 

The California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) current holds a separate loan agreement and a Section 8 housing contract with the Delaware Street low income housing project, but those are scheduled to run out in eight years. 

AF Evans management company of Oakland, which owns and operates Ocean View, wants a new loan from CalHFA, and the Berkeley city loan renegotiation is necessary to ensure it. AF Evans says without the renegotiations, Ocean View could change to moderate-income or market rate housing when the CalHFA agreement runs out in 2012. 

City Manager Phil Kamlarz has approved the loan renegotiation.

“The business part of Berkeley lies west of the campus, the center of the shopping section being enormously wide Shattuck Avenue, which is desolately ugly as it takes its way southward towards Oakland. The few shopping blocks in the center of town have some very good-looking buildings, a few in the modern streamline type that are as successful as any to be found anywhere, but no effort has been made to achieve a harmony. One lone skyscraper sticks up like a sore thumb, increasing the similarity at night, when what is an untidy-looking scaffolding by day transforms itself into a flaming red sign. The decent and considerate skyline of the street is made to suffer, as well as the view from every house on the hills behind. An achievement not only in bad taste but in poor psychology, for many a Berkeley citizen rages against the insult to the city’s beauty.” 

As the French say, plus ça change, plus la même chose—the more things change, the more they remain the same. The above quote is from now out-of-print Romantic Cities of California, written in 1939 by Hildegarde Hawthorne, a Christmas present found for me at the flea market by my daughter. The new candidate for the Insulting Sign award is on the Power Bar building, and the newest Sore Thumb is the Gaia Building (soon to be joined by The Golden Bear Double-Marriott if we aren’t careful), but the principles remain the same. Berkeley citizens still rage at will against insults to the city’s beauty, and other forms of stupidity. 

Current case in point: Eddie Bauer’s departure. We hate to say we told you so, but we told you so. Last issue, the Planet printed excerpts from a remarkable file of contemporary citizen letters which pointed out, step by step, what was going wrong with the Eddie Bauer project. It should be required reading for every first-year planning class, though it probably won’t be.  

Berkeley citizens, all kinds of Berkeley citizens, myself among them, told Mayor Dean and Councilmembers that it was a colossal mistake to allow a popular downtown restaurant, the only one open for the after-movie crowd, to be squeezed out for a mall store which would never succeed in Berkeley. It was a huge error (and We Told Them So) to allow one of the few surviving turn-of-the-century buildings which lent a bit of character to Downtown Berkeley to be demolished by stealth. Even the old building’s 1941-remodelled streamlined façade was more interesting than the bland Walnut Creek faux-moderne ticky-tacky structure which replaced it.  

In that first-year planning class which will never happen, particular study should be given to the role of City of Berkeley employees in perpetrating this outrage to civic sensibilities. When Eddie Bauer closed, the Acting Manager of Economic Development said that “We think it will be easier to do a transition from Eddie Bauer to some other clothing store because of the improvements already made in the building.” Wrong. It would be easier to get a distinctive and successful tenant for a distinctive Berkeley-style building. For examples, look at some of our most successful businesses, located in interesting restored buildings: Rasputin’s, the Cheese Board, the Downtown restaurant, even Orchard Supply Hardware, and of course, par excellence, all of Fourth Street. Tenants like Eddie Bauer who want a mall ambience can and do go to the real malls. 

And then there’s the damage done to the civic fabric by the well-documented irregularities in the Planning Department’s administration of permit rules which turned rehabilitation into demolition. Much of the current citizen anger with the planning process can be traced back to the transparent cynicism with which city employees greased the skids for architect Marcy Wong and Eddie Bauer. It is disheartening to note that newly re-hired Planning Director Dan Marks was the original planner of record for the Bauer project, but perhaps he’s learned something from the experience. 

Public outrage over a series of successive perversions of planning (can you say Gaia?) bubbled to the surface at recent meetings of the Mayor’s Task Force for Permitting and Development. It has taken its toll in the unexpected coalitions which have formed to oppose what might prove to be an unavoidable increase in property taxes. Questions about taxing new developments have made things worse. If citizens feel that they can’t trust government, they don’t want to pay for it—it’s that simple.  

There are many current opportunities for city government to dig itself even deeper into the big muddy. The proposal to demolish the Blood House on Durant for yet another Big Ugly Box for luxury students is one prospective pitfall. More, among many: the University’s downtown hotel scheme, the Ed Roberts Campus, University Avenue developments, including West Campus…it’s a long list. 

On the other hand, elected officials and city staff could choose to show that they’ve learned something from the Eddie Bauer debacle and will pay more attention to citizens in the future. They would be wise to do so, especially if a tax vote is in the offing.  

Becky O’Malley is executive editor of the Daily Planet.