Berkeley gets another sobering look at the reality of the Era Of Diminishing Budgets tonight (Tuesday, March 9) when the director of the Berkeley Public Library is expected to propose laying off 16 employees and closing the main library on Sunday. The proposal will be presented at the City Council’s 4:30 p.m. work session at the Old City Hall, where City Manager Phil Kamlarz will present some $14 million in total proposed budget reductions for fiscal years 2005 and 2006. -more-

The Zoning Adjustments Board will soon have to decide whether or not to overrule the Landmarks Preservation Commission and give developer Ruegg & Ellsworth permission demolish the historic Blood House. -more-

The Grand Old Party has declared war on MoveOn.org’s Voter Fund’s television ads critical of President Bush, and MoveOn founder Wes Boyd is furious. -more-

Just as voters approved a bond measure last week filling AC Transit’s coffers with money for new infrastructure projects, cash shortfalls are once again threatening basic AC Transit service. After eliminating 43 lines last December to close a $50 million deficit, AC Transit now finds itself $17 million in the red and is mulling more service cuts, the sale of its top-of-the-line buses, and another service-saving ballot measure—the third in the last five years. -more-

TUESDAY, MARCH 9 -more-

Elise Blumenfeld’s voice resonates enthusiasm as she guides a reporter through a verbal tour of Berkeley’s newest officially recognized historic district. -more-

With a Target store moving in next door, a resort hotel envisioned a few blocks further north and transbay ferry service beckoning at its shore, Gilman Street—part of Berkeley’s industrial core—is emerging as ground zero in the city’s planning wars. -more-

For almost 14 years, Rebecca Dennison has been fighting one of the world’s toughest fights. Since testing positive for HIV in 1991, Dennison, who is a Berkeley resident, has also become one of the leading advocates for women living with HIV/AIDS. She was honored for her work last Saturday when she was inducted into the Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame. -more-

A group of concerned homeless residents came knocking at the city’s door on Friday, asking officials to help them find a way to keep a temporary shelter at Oakland’s old Army Base open until the weather dries out and warms up. -more-

UC Berkeley and Federal Express have agreed to fund Fulbright fellowships jointly for graduate students denied funding after a FedEx error caused applications to be picked up past the deadline. -more-

Burglar Caught -more-

One of the great modern California folk myths is that African-Americans did not show up west of the Sierra Nevadas until the opening of work for black folk at the World War II shipyards. In fact, African-Americans were migrating into the state in signifi cant numbers as early as the mid-19th century, and in the East Bay had formed a stable, diverse, and well-defined community by the turn of the last century. One of the survivors of that pre-World War II black community—Berkeley native Dorothy Reid Pete—ce lebrated her ninetieth birthday last week. -more-

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN—Although temperatures sometimes drop below freezing, farmers have already planted this year’s opium poppy crop in fields just outside Kandahar city. It’s no secret to the government of interim President Hamid Karzai or the U.S. troops who patrol the area. Opium poppy is virtually the only winter crop. -more-

What’s the first stop you make after spending two months in the west wing of Oakland’s Kaiser Permanente ICU? If you are anything like my husband, Ralph, you go directly to Fentons Creamery and Restaurant, the venerable 110-year-old ice cream institution located just a few blocks up the street from the hospital, but a million miles away in terms of sweetness, atmo, and calorie counts. -more-

ALBANY ZONING -more-

Thomas Jefferson was a slave holder. Allowing a Berkeley school to remain named for him is a tacit, but, powerful statement that owning more than 150 slaves was a minor or excusable part of his legacy. Citing selected pieces of his writing to characterize him as an opponent of slavery goes against the common sense notion that “actions speak louder than words.” To minimize the fact that he bought, sold and worked other human beings for his personal profit is disrespectful to the memory of those for whom slavery was not a concept to be pondered, but a life that was lived. It is equally disrespectful to the memory of the many white Americans of Jefferson’s era who actively resisted the institution of American slavery. -more-

Welcome to the second installment of my “Ask Mayor Tom” column. 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). -more-

Finally, after 25 years as an amateur community opera, the Berkeley Opera has taken a first step toward becoming a small professional company. By presenting Wagner’s Ring at Berkeley’s Julia Morgan Theatre in a three-and-a-half-hour condensed version designed to be produced by small companies, the opera makes this work accessible to the general public at a reasonable price. Jonathan Khuner, the artistic director, took a risk and broke the ground for further explorations in this direction. Cast with professional singers rather than local amateurs, and staged by the brilliant young stage director Mark Streshinsky, with stunning projections by both Streshinsky and Jeremy Knight, the general quality of the production was well above what has previously been seen at the Berkeley Opera. Hopefully it will be the dawning of a new age for this company. -more-

At Berkeley High School, students usually congregate on campus and in the park to laugh, eat lunch and make plans for the weekend. But for many Berkeley High students, recent gatherings include memorials, funerals and grief support groups, as they come t o grips with the accidental deaths of two popular students. -more-

Someone once said that in order to understand the culture and history of a people, you must “flush the johns.” You might also consider visiting a shopping mall. If you’re retail consultant Paco Underhill (a “tall, bald, stuttering research wonk on the cusp of his fifty-third year”), you would spend your time sniffing around 300 malls all across the country, observing American shoppers in their sweatpants and sneakers and taking copious notes. -more-

TUESDAY, MARCH 9 -more-

The ceanothuses are blooming! Ceanothi? Or is “ceanothus” like “moose”—singular and plural? Either way, it’s almost not a street tree, but the plantings on the University Avenue median are too gorgeous right now to let semantics stand in the way. -more-

After racking up 50,000 periods of unexcused absences last year, Berkeley High students are sure to show up Wednesday evening when the school board considers adopting a policy that will automatically lower the grade of chronic absentees. -more-

FRIDAY, MARCH 5 -more-

Berkeley voters ran into a number of glitches Tuesday when the machines that clear voter cards after they are used malfunctioned throughout the day, forcing several precincts to move to paper ballots which quickly ran out and had to be re-supplied by the county. -more-

In the midst of widespread speculation that District 2 Councilmember Margaret Breland will be leaving Berkeley City Council at the end of her term this year, an aide to the ailing councilmember said that Breland will make a decision in the next few weeks on whether she will run for re-election. -more-

Three years after the Gaia Building opened, the first tenant may soon be moving into the ground floor space developer Patrick Kennedy built to help him win city approval to add extra floors to one of the city’s most controversial buildings. -more-

Three years after the Gaia Building opened, the first tenant may soon be moving into the ground floor space developer Patrick Kennedy built to help him win city approval to add extra floors to one of the city’s most controversial buildings. -more-

Berkeley voters, at least those who showed up to the polls Tuesday, won’t need a second ballot to let the city and county know how they feel about Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). By a whopping 72 percent, Berkeley passed Measure I, which—if ever implemented—would allow Berkeley voters to rank candidates by preference in the general election and eliminate the need for costly runoff elections. -more-

All hope is not lost for Berkeley Extension’s English Language Program that was terminated by campus officials in January. -more-

EDITOR’S NOTE: Johnny (last name withheld for his safety), 18, is a former youth reporter with Radyo Timoun (Children’s Radio) 90.9 FM in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. This week rebels looted and burned it along with the Aristide Foundation For Democracy in which the station was located. Johnny told his story to PNS contributor Lyn Duff via telephone from Port-au-Prince. -more-

Police Shoot Dogs -more-

Like most Americans, I find that I know very little about Haiti. -more-

SANA’A, Yemen—The expensive, new U.S. television channel aimed at Arabs in this part of the world, looks like a bust. Since beginning Feb. 14, the station’s limited broadcasting time, tacky promos, and documentaries in English with clumsy Arabic subtitles, have all contributed to a growing sense of disappointment among viewers with the latest, and most expensive, U.S. overture to the Arab world. -more-

INAPPROPRIATE PHOTO -more-

IMPEACH BUSH -more-

In a performance straight out of Alice in Wonderland, Seagate Corporation came before the Civic Arts Commission at our February meeting to deliver a message: “We are here to show you something we do not want you to examine” and “we are asking for your approval which we assure you we do not care about.” And, as if the message were not sufficiently clear, they brought a visual aid in the form of an enormous, expensive, elaborate model of their project and its environs which was designed not to be seen. -more-

Director Doran, you are wrong. -more-

Although interest rates continue to be astonishingly low, the conservative 30-year fixed rate loan seems to be going the way of the Brontosaurus. According to the folks at Cohn’s Loans in North Berkeley, roughly two thirds of buyers are choosing alternatives to the 30-year fixed loans. Buyers are attracted to the low rates and flexible programs offered by adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs). This low cost financing gives consumers greater buying power. -more-

George Thomson, an otherwise sensitive, highly intelligent artist, collects tapes of Perry Mason episodes. (Not that there is anything wrong with that.) Does he see a pinnacle of thespian excellence in Raymond Burr’s work? No, his interest has to do with the similarity between the structure of the TV show and Haydn symphonies: -more-

All right, this is going to sound like heavy duty stuff—and, in a way it is, of course. -more-

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second in a series about people and businesses that make things in Berkeley. -more-

FRIDAY, MARCH 5 -more-

Jazz is more than a passing fancy for Anna De Leon, a singer/composer who is currently wrapping up the mixing of her latest CD. The restaurateur/perfomer also holds two UCLA degrees in painting, and she was president of the Berkeley arts commission for three years. She also holds a law degree and once headed the Berkeley school board. -more-

Sitting in Albany Bowl last Wednesday, watching several life-long friends enjoying their weekly bowling leagues, Nobu Asami remembered a time when bowling was one of the few recreational sports Japanese Americans were allowed to participate in after World War II. -more-

FRIDAY, MARCH 5 -more-

Things you’d never know if you didn’t read the papers…even the local Knight-Ridder-CocoTimes-Lesher-Hills-faux-front offspring that appears in driveways in upscale zip codes from time to time. From the Berkeley manifestation of this conglomerate publishing empire, we learn that our mayor was “frosted” because a memo addressed to him by a city attorney found its way into the Berkeley Daily Planet. Since the mayor’s office didn’t honor us with his comments, we’ll quote the full item from Knight-Ridder’s Berkeley Voice, for those of you who live in the flats and don’t see it: -more-

The pages of the Daily Planet have been full of controversies about what constitutes appropriate speech in the past month or so. To partisans in the various discussions, their own case probably seems unique, but there are common threads which unite them. -more-