Preservationists won a hard-fought battle Thursday when members of the Zoning Adjustment Board made clear that as far as they were concerned, any development at 2526 Durant Ave. would have to include the Blood House. -more-
OAKLAND—The leaders of California’s university and college towns took a step towards easing the financial burden caused by those educational institutions, meeting last Friday in Oakland to begin drawing up a long-range mitigation plan. -more-
A collection of 26 Berkeley residents, including Berkeley High PTA President Lee Berry, requested Friday that the Alameda County Civil Grand Jury investigate financial mismanagement at Berkeley Unified School District’s Food Services Department. -more-
With 2002 election figures showing that Berkeley candidates laid out roughly $720,000 on city campaigns—roughly one-third more than in 1998—the City Council Tuesday will debate a plan to make Berkeley the first city in the nation to fully finance municipal elections. -more-
BUSD Extends Superintendent’s Contract -more-
In the story “Gaia Building Criticized For Lack Of Arts Tenants” (Daily Planet, March 5-8), we reported that “12 of the 91 apartments [in the Gaia Building]... are reserved for tenants who earn 80 percent and less of the median area income.” The information was obtained from a website operated by the Berkeley city manager’s office. Panoramic Interests head Patrick Kennedy has informed us by letter that the Gaia Building currently has “19 units set aside for low-income residents at 50 percent” of the area median income. The 19 unit set-aside figure is confirmed in a newly-released document by the city manager’s office.› -more-
NEW DELHI, India—India’s pro-Hindu ruling party is feeling good. -more-
A Berkeley public transportation advocacy group has appealed to the City Council a use permit granted last month for the planned 176-unit Library Gardens project, slated to rise just west of the public library. -more-
A while back the Berkeley police chased someone over the Oakland border and into my neighborhood. I heard the sirens and screeching tires long before they arrived. When I looked out my front window, I could see cop cars on every corner and others cruising up and down Dover and its side streets. I left my 17-month-old nephew and my 13-year-old friend Jernae safely inside and went out to investigate. There was a police car parked in front of my house. -more-
It’s always awkward to find yourself challenging a sacred cow. So when a revered Bay Area theatre company produces a play by a genius of modern drama and loads it with justifiably respected actors, it’s rather uncomfortable if you think the whole thing is a bust. -more-
Standing on the deck off the third-story studio at his Berkeley home, Khalil Bendib tries to match his pose to that of the Statue of Liberty. Oversized pen in one hand and a fez on his head, he checks an old newspaper photo of the statue to make sure he is holding his head in the right place and stretching his arm up high enough. Like everything Bendib does, he is in the process of creating a spoof by re-imagining a well-known scene and making it his own. -more-
For the last few months a Bewick’s wren has been hanging out in my yard. We hear it much more often than we see it. Its song is one of those I can never seem to associate with the singer (not that my ear for birdsong is all that great; every spring I have to re-learn robin versus grosbeak versus tanager all over again). David Sibley transcribes it as “t-t zree drr-dree tututututututu,” which is supposed to represent a mix of trills and buzzes with a descending pitch. Peterson says it sounds like a song sparrow’s, but thinner. It doesn’t help that the song varies from region to region, and between individuals. Mostly I just wait for the wren—a small brown bird with grayish underparts and a white eyestripe—to show itself. -more-
It’s the biggest mystery swirling through Berkeley City Hall these past few days. What possessed Councilmember Margaret Breland to sack her appointee to the Planning Commission, John Curl, one day before the Wednesday night meeting where Curl appeared set to be elected vice chair of the commission? -more-
The ire surrounding the presidency of George W. Bush officially made its way to the Berkeley City Council Tuesday night when the council voted 8-0, Dona Spring abstaining, to support MoveOn.org’s efforts to censure President Bush. -more-
The project director of the proposed Berkeley UC hotel and conference complex stated this week for the first time, at least publicly, that the massive downtown development project will have to come under the city’s zoning ordinances and permit process. UC Senior Planner Kevin Hufferd told a Tuesday afternoon meeting of the Planning Commission’s UC Hotel Complex Task Force, however, that the hotel would probably exceed the city’s downtown height restrictions, leaving the distinct impression that it is the zoning ordinance itself which will have to give if the project is to go through. -more-
Wednesday morning’s walkout at El Cerrito High School was one protest that left Principal Vince Rhea smiling. -more-
After months of painful debate among parents about letting their young children vote on an issue heavy with racial overtones, students at Jefferson Elementary School will have final say on a controversial petition drive to change the school’s name. But they will participate only from the confines of their homes. -more-
The Board of Education voted Wednesday night to approve the latest incarnation of the Identity and Ethnic Studies (IES) program, Berkeley High’s most maligned class. The move came despite a call for ending IES from the student senate, which claimed it exacerbates racial tension on campus and costs students valuable electives. -more-
A proposal that could change the way Berkeley calculates how much can be built in a single development—and aimed at cutting down the size of future projects—was passed unanimously by the City Council Tuesday night. -more-
Oakland school district officials announced today that they won’t be sending layoff notices to tenured teachers this year. Last year the school district sent layoff notices to 1,160 teachers only to find itself seeking in the summer and fall to rehire them or find replacements. -more-
SAN JOSE, Calif.—Once touted as the centerpiece of the Silicon Valley dream, San Jose now seems to be collapsing from the inside. In the past few weeks: A father was mistakenly killed downtown by a state drug agent, a Sikh man killed three other Sikhs in a park, longtime Bay Area families were threatened with deportation, and growing reports of abuse came out of our Santa Clara Juvenile Hall. -more-
NORMAN, Okla.—Defending his decision to support a constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage, President Bush declared that the “union of a man and woman is the most enduring human institution, honored and encouraged in all cultures and by every religious faith.” -more-
If society is judged by the way it raises its children, what does the present condition of the East Bay’s major school systems say about us? -more-
Since last fall, Berkeley Design Advocates (BDA), a group of architects, planners and developers, has been promoting its vision of a gentrified West Berkeley. -more-
The proposed downtown hotel and conference center poses an unprecedented risk to Berkeley’s unique character. This is not just another development fight, as the stakes are far greater. Defeating this project requires rare unity among longtime combatants in the city’s development wars. -more-
Out of a whole year filled with most improbable and sometimes inelegant arm movements, bow or baton in hand, there is only one Monday when I always come to work with a sore wrist. That’s usually the first or second Monday of February, after the annual weekend of auditions for the Junior Bach Festival, now in its fifty-first year in Berkeley. -more-
Maybe if we all go over to the university and picket Zellerbach Playhouse we can persuade the university’s theater department to extend the run of their present production of Marat/Sade past this weekend. -more-
Let me begin my completely biased and highly arbitrary list of events by telling you about the Oakland Museum Jazz Series. Four days of the week you can grab an inexpensive lunch, sit in the light-filled room that is the dining area, and hear bassist Ron Crotty accompany one of three fine Bay Area pianists who are in rotation there: Brian Cook, Terry Rodriguez, and Bliss Rodriguez. Terry was the fellow playing when I stopped in recently. -more-
Years ago I had a duck who would have killed for a tomato. I almost feel the same way about scalloped potatoes. When the potatoes have grown in one’s garden, the pleasure is doubled. Yet each year I fail to achieve the maximum crop, in spite of having tried nearly every known method of cultivation. Could it possibly be that potatoes have their limits—about two pounds per plant—and never will fill a twenty gallon garbage can with tubers, as is so often stated? -more-
A grass-roots project organized by Berkeley parents and supported by State Assemblymember Loni Hancock will be distributing $66,500 between Berkeley’s 17 public schools on Friday as part of a fundraising drive to help the district which has been hit hard by budget cuts. -more-
The true traveler is he who goes on foot, and even then, he sits down a lot of the time. -more-
Berkeley’s beleaguered Quarter Meal program got an unexpected boost last week from an unexpected source: $2,500 from the student council at a private middle school in the Berkeley Hills. Quarter Meal supporters, which announced it might close this summer due to funding problems, are expressing optimism that the program can be saved for the balance of the year through help from local community organizations. -more-
Okay, the vernal equinox is creeping up on us. It’s light outside when we wake up in the morning, and the birds have launched their spring programming. As noted in these pages, stuff is blooming all over the place. It’s the time when the thoughts of many turn to romance. And, also, when the thoughts of some turn to politics. -more-
