In a memo that City Councilmember Dona Spring calls “shocking” and “the kind of letter that you’d expect from a UC attorney,” the assistant attorney for the City of Berkeley appears to have advised Mayor Tom Bates on strategies to amend Berkeley’s zoning ordinance to fit UC’s needs for the proposed downtown hotel and conference complex. According to Assistant City Attorney Zach Cowan, a “side benefit of including zoning amendments is that we can amend whatever is necessary to bulletproof any City approval.” -more-

TUESDAY, FEB. 17 -more-

TUESDAY, FEB. 17 -more-

From: Cowan, Zach -more-

After more than 30 years of struggle for a home of their own, Vista College officials acknowledge their new campus set to rise in downtown Berkeley is a victim of bad timing. -more-

The California Unemployment Appeals Board ruled recently that Arturo Perez, a produce worker at Berkeley Bowl who was fired last September during an unsuccessful union organizing drive, is eligible for unemployment. Perez who has a charge pending with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) accusing the Berkeley Bowl of firing him illegally, can now use the ruling by the appeals board to boost his claim. -more-

The long-delayed saga of the North Berkeley Sprint cellphone facility comes to a definite close at tonight’s (Tuesday, Feb. 17) regular 7 p.m. city council meeting—that is, unless the council rules against Sprint and the cellphone company sues the city. In addition, the city council will take on several long-range zoning and development issues tonight. -more-

In the first of several scheduled city council working sessions on ways to balance Berkeley’s beleaguered budget, City Manager Phil Kamlarz has recommended four immediate sources of new revenue that, if implemented, could bring in as much as $3.8 million a year to the city. Kamlarz made the proposals at last week’s city council meeting. The city manager has set an April 20 public hearing on the new fees. -more-

A UC Berkeley journalism lecturer’s 32-year-old photograph of future Democratic U.S. Senator and presidential candidate John Kerry has wound up in a forgery that suckered the New York Times. -more-

BAGHDAD, Iraq—Maysoon al-Damluji is a member of an elite club, but one that’s trying hard to become a lot less exclusive. As Iraq’s Deputy Minister of Culture, al-Damluji is one of a small handful of Iraqi women entrusted with real political power in the country today. -more-

The Claremont Resort and Spa suspended three workers last week after they participated in a pro-union rally outside the resort on Tuesday. -more-

Whenever my husband Ralph is admitted into the hospital, those of us who take care of him go a little crazy. And Ralph’s current visit to Oakland Kaiser has almost done us in. Now in his forty-second day in Room 335 of the intensive care unit, we are growing cranky and impatient. -more-

Editor’s Note: Berkeley residents must feel lately like they are pawns in a giant game of Monopoly. Not only have buyers been feverishly bidding up prices on residential properties, it seems that anyone who has the wherewithal to purchase a city lot also wants to buy a building to put on the site. In the last couple of weeks, hotels in particular have been in play in Berkeley Monopoly. The ownership of the landmark Claremont Hotel, just over the Oakland border, will be transferred from Conglomerate A to Megacorp B. Downtown, the Shattuck Hotel will become a single room occupancy facility for international students. In the old days, international students used to stay at the UC hotel on University Avenue, but that’s become an SRO for people in need of help. With downtown’s last big hotel going, the University of California, which has been busy buying up most of the lots on the board in the last few years, now wants to buy itself a big new hotel. None of this action is necessarily bad, but it’s unsettling to many. The Planning Commission has created a task force to study the hotel scheme, which will hold a public forum tomorrow, Feb. 18, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. In preparation for the forum, there was a site tour last week led by a UC planner. The Daily Planet asked attendees to describe what they saw, and these are some responses. -more-

Telegraph Avenue neighbors and merchants are wise to oppose AC Transit’s proposals to take over much of Telegraph, Bancroft Way and Durant Avenue, as the Daily Planet reported on Jan. 30 (”Bus Lane Plans Provoke Telegraph Neighborhood”). -more-

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE -more-

A powerful alliance of police and city hall interests have joined to promote a canine patrol unit. But many are asking, have the alternatives been thoroughly explored? -more-

In August 2001 I’d just taken a buyout from the Contra Costa Times after 18 years reporting and editing, hoping to freelance about topics of personal interest—including historic preservation. -more-

For the group who gathered at the South Berkeley Senior Center (SBSC) last Wednesday, Black History month did not mean reading about times past, it meant reliving them. -more-

Driver Rampages Through Campus -more-

While looking for burrowing owls down at the Berkeley Marina a few weeks ago, I was surprised to run into a pair of black oystercatchers working the riprap along Cesar Chavez Park. Maybe I shouldn’t have been. I’ve always associated these birds with the wave-bashed rocks of the outer coast, but I’ve since read that in Washington State, at least, oystercatchers are beginning to colonize more sheltered shores. Maybe that’s happening in San Francisco Bay as well. -more-