A champion of Berkeley rent control was ordered last week to pay his former tenants more than $100,000 in restitution by the very rent board he campaigned to create. -more-
The Peralta Community College District and the City of Berkeley have reached a settlement on parking mitigations owed to the city by Peralta, giving the district the green light to start construction on its new downtown Vista College campus. -more-
As someone who has lived in Berkeley for 29 years, I am annoyed by the continuing manipulation of our local electoral system. Berkeley ballot measures in recent years have changed the election date, replaced at-large city council elections with district elections, changed the vote total needed to win from 50 percent to 45 percent, and changed council terms from four years to two years and back to four years again. But of all these changes, the Instant Runoff Voting proposal—Measure I on the ballot, is the most sinister and anti-democratic. -more-
Despite misgivings by several commissioners, Berkeley’s Civic Arts Commission voted 6-3 Wednesday night to endorse a major Seagate Properties project for downtown Berkeley. If it eventually passes full city approval, the 149-apartment, mixed-use complex would replace four Center Street buildings between the City Center Garage and the Wells Fargo Annex. -more-
In what has become a school ritual almost as common as an afternoon assembly, students at Berkeley’s Malcolm X Elementary headed for dry ground upstairs after Wednesday’s torrential downpour flooded their classrooms for the second time in two months. -more-
At a Wednesday night Berkeley School Board meeting this week, with Chez Panisse owner Alice Waters sitting beside board members, district brass pledged to tackle one of their most foul problems—bad food. -more-
Those observers who believe in the old Thomas Jefferson adage that “the government is best which governs least” would have been tickled to death with Berkeley City Council last Tuesday night. The council managed to adjourn before 8 p.m., with the bulk of the hour-long meeting taken up by public comment. And if Councilmember Miriam Hawley had not stopped to ask a couple of questions about an off-street parking ordinance, the council would have gotten by without discussing a single item. -more-
Friends of Fred Lupke—the Berkeley disabled activist killed in a traffic accident last year—will gather at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday at the third floor Community Room of the Berkeley Library’s Main Branch, 2090 Kittredge St. to celebrate his life and work. -more-
Police Review Commission Holds Off On Police Dog Vote -more-
I have often said that in the 16 years since I’ve been back in my home town—almost all of them living in Oakland’s District 7—I have never actually seen my councilmember inside the boundaries of my district. That takes in three separate councilmembers: L eo Bazile, Dezzie Woods-Jones, and now Larry Reid. For the record, I am not claiming that none of my councilmembers have never set foot in the district. Just not in the places where I frequent, during the times that I frequent them. And I am also not clai ming that they are purposely avoiding me. It just so happens that I ain’t happened up on them, is all. -more-
Three measures touted as electoral reforms will greet Berkeley voters when they confront their electronic voting machine touchscreens next Tuesday: two propositions designed to transform the way they vote and a third that would change the way candidates make it on the ballot. -more-
Wondering what to do with all those unwanted holiday presents? Tired of negotiating the clustered clutter that’s filling up your garage? Wondering what to do with your old camera now that you’ve gone digital? -more-
Jesus Diaz pats a callused palm on the smooth, stretched head of a drum. The sound of it, a single beat, reverberates across the mostly-empty La Peña rehearsal space. It is answered, almost immediately, with booming percussion from the flock of accompanying drummers. -more-
Rosario Marín is betting that the California Republican Party is ready to nominate a pro-choice, anti-illegal immigration and anti-tax hike Mexican immigrant to go against Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer in November. After all, Californians just elected a pro-choice immigrant Republican governor. -more-
Armed with a camera and a curious eye, Daily Planet reporter Richard Brenneman strolled along four blocks of a Berkeley street recently week in search of interesting visual discoveries that might escape the ordinary hurried pedestrian. The photographs on this page represent the first selection of his findings, and more will follow in future editions. Guess as many as you can. Free Berkeley Daily Planet T-shirts await the first five readers to correctly identify the street addresses where each photograph was taken. Send your responses to the Daily Planet Photo Contest, Berkeley Daily Planet, 3023A Shattuck Ave., Berkeley 94705, or e-mail to news@berkeleydailyplanet.com. Deadline is 5 p.m., March 12. -more-
Sunday night found more than 30 friends and family members of Berkeley teenager Miguel Caicedo gathered beside a Bancroft Street memorial in his honor at the spot where he died a little more than two days before. Candles bearing the images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary illuminated empty bottles of whiskey, cans of Budweiser, stuffed animals and a red bandana. -more-
Berkeley developer Panoramic Interests owes the city another $200,000 in taxes on four properties the firm built and manages—and the city’s Finance Department is implementing procedures to ensure that such properties don’t slip under the tax radar again. -more-
The March 2 election date is fast-approaching and many Berkeley voters have already received their absentee ballots. So many of you have called me and asked my opinion about Propositions 57 and 58, that I am distributing the remarks I gave on this subject to the Berkeley Democratic Club earlier this month. -more-
Yesterday, while I was attending a memorial service at the University of California, a tragedy was happening in my own neighborhood. A happy-go-lucky teenager rode a go-cart down an alley onto Bancroft Avenue, right into the path of an oncoming truck. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Highland Hospital. Sixteen-year-old Miguel Caicedo was the beloved cousin of the African American student who walks my dog, and he used to pass by my house frequently. -more-
One of the most prolific non-profit developers in Berkeley is calling it quits, at least temporarily. And at least from non-profit developing. -more-
In an escalation of the labor dispute that has engulfed southern California for almost five months, the California Labor Federation this week announced an official boycott of all Safeway stores throughout the state. Safeway is the largest of the three supermarkets at which Southern California workers have been striking for several weeks. -more-
Having successfully navigated the potential roadblocks at Berkeley’s Transportation Commission, AC Transit’s controversial plan to keep its buses from getting bottlenecked on Berkeley’s streets is now set for environmental review. -more-
With one of its more controversial decisions behind it—last week’s long-awaited vote on the North Berkeley Sprint facility—and difficult budget-cutting choices coming up, the Berkeley City Council will be lifting a light load at tonight’s meeting (Tuesday, Feb. 24). -more-
An Alameda County Superior Court Judge is expected to rule next week on a lawsuit seeking to invalidate a Berkeley school desegregation plan. The plan assigns elementary students to schools based partly on race. After a 30 minute hearing last Friday, Alameda County Superior Court Judge James Richman declined to decide immediately on a motion filed by the Berkeley Unified School District to dismiss the suit. -more-
A small majority of Haitian Americans believe Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide should remain in office despite an armed uprising and opposition protests demanding his resignation, a new poll shows. -more-
Why can the large national chain store afford to offer lower prices than the locally owned small business? Taxes are part of the answer. Small businesses pay too much in taxes, and big businesses pay too little. Why should Annie’s Family Restaurant pay a higher share of their revenue than McDonald’s? -more-
In his new book “American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush” (Viking, $25.95), historian and political commentator Kevin Phillips, a populist social critic who has decried the growing gap between rich and poor, writes a scathing assessment of the four-generation Bush dynasty that includes the forty-third President George W. Bush. Phillips follows the Bush family preoccupations with the finance industry, oil and covert operations, and the scandals they have been attached to, from Iran-Contra to Enron. -more-
At the front door of a modest bungalow in the Richmond flatlands, a robust young man greets me warmly. His name is Jesse Graham, and his mother, local author and resident Meredith Maran, has recently published a non-fiction book entitled Dirty, A Search for Answers Inside America’s Teenage Drug Epidemic. In Dirty, Maran follows the daily struggles of three teenage drug users as they navigate through high school, the juvenile justice system, and various recovery programs. Interspersed throughout the book are glimpses of Jesse’s own turbulent teen years and Maran’s fight to keep her son safe, in school and out of jail. -more-
All too often these days, regret is publicly expressed about historic buildings or urban blocks that used to lend charm and character to their cities but have been needlessly demolished, often replaced by impersonal structures that contribute little to local atmosphere and identity. -more-
The Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) will decide on Feb. 26 whether to demolish the 1891 Ellen Blood House at 2526 Durant Ave., a City Structure of Merit, to make way for a new project. -more-
It’s happened every one of the 30 Februarys that I’ve lived here: The first flowering plums bloom in my neighborhood, and I remember why I endure gray, muddy winter. There are a few days of teasing, when the plum behind the recycling yard starts to show white, and then a few more scattered trees join it, and almost immediately the pink plums add their note, almost too sweet. The one that reaches over the back fence starts scenting up the yard and dropping petals over the car, so when I back out and take off down the street I leave a merry trail of mud from the tires and confetti petals from the roof, the hood, the windows. Even on a gloomy day it’s weirdly, bridally festive. -more-
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