The Week

Jakob Schiller: 
          James Valdez and friends ponder the future at UC.…
Jakob Schiller: James Valdez and friends ponder the future at UC.…
 

News

Council Threatened With Med Pot Initiative

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Friday April 23, 2004

Berkeley’s medical cannabis advocates issued a clear threat to the Berkeley City Council at last Tuesday night’s (April 20) regular meeting: If the council doesn’t pass Councilmember Kriss Worthington’s medical marijuana plant increase measure next week, the activists will go to the voters next November with a ballot initiative that would potentially make Berkeley the most pot-friendly city in California. -more-


Minority Students Blast UC Admissions Policies

By JAKOB SCHILLER
Friday April 23, 2004

  Students from five student-run outreach and retention centers on the UC campus gathered in front of California Hall on Thursday afternoon to express their frustration over the state of recruitment and enrollment for minority students at the university, and to present a list of demands to correct what they feel is the problem. -more-


Board Signals BSEP Ballot Vote in November

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Friday April 23, 2004

Without taking a formal vote Wednesday night, directors of the Berkeley Board of Education vaulted ahead of their superintendent and left no doubt that they will present voters with a November ballot initiative that could raise property taxes by as much as $12 million. -more-


NLRB Decision Could Reverse Berkeley Bowl Union Defeat

By JAKOB SCHILLER
Friday April 23, 2004

Six months after losing their union election battle on a disputed 119-70 vote, Berkeley Bowl workers might still get union representation. -more-


BUSD Proposes New Field for East Campus

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Friday April 23, 2004

Four years after it struck out in its bid to close a block of Derby Street to build a baseball field in South Berkeley, the Berkeley Unified School District is proposing a far more modest field of dreams. At least for now. -more-


Last Chance for Public Input on City Arts and Culture Plan

Richard Brenneman
Friday April 23, 2004

The public gets one last chance Saturday to discuss the Civic Arts Commission’s proposed Arts and Culture Plan element for the city’s General Plan during a 4 to 6 p.m. session in the Berkeley Art Center in Live Oak Park, 1275 Walnut St. -more-


People’s Park Can Still Be Trusted at 35

By Richard Brenneman
Friday April 23, 2004

What do the Fleshies, the Funky Nixons, the Fat Chance Belly Dance Troupe, the Willy Bologna Circus Show and the Chirgilchin Tuvan Throat Singers all have in common? -more-


Hotel Task Force Completes Report; Final Meeting to Discuss Creek

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Friday April 23, 2004

The 25-member Berkeley Planning Commission task force charged with making recommendations about the proposed UC Berkeley hotel and museum complex holds its final meeting Tuesday. The meeting, which begins at 1 p.m., will be held in the second floor Sitka Spruce Room of the city Permit Service Center at 2120 Milvia St. -more-


Briefly Noted

Staff
Friday April 23, 2004

Feds, Oakland Settle 1990 Earth First! Bombing Suit -more-


Police Blotter

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Friday April 23, 2004

Alleged Sexual Batterer Arrested With Help of UC Police -more-


UnderCurrents: Thoughts Following the President’s Press Conference

J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR
Friday April 23, 2004

There is no textbook template for leadership in difficult times. Lincoln, we are told, suffered through doubt and depression throughout the years of the Civil War, walking the nighttime White House halls like a lanky wraith, agonizing over every decision and adverse turn of events. Truman, on the other hand, reportedly gathered all his facts in front of him, made up his mind, gave his orders, and slept in peace. Eisenhower, we are told, wrote in advance two short speeches to announce the events of the D-Day invasion of the French coast, to cover both possible outcomes. One of them—accepting personal responsibility for the defeat of the Allied forces at Normandy and the deaths of thousands of brave men—stayed in his pocket. Nixon sent Henry Kissinger in secret to China, ending the Cold War world as we heretofore knew it, breaking all our old assumptions with one swift blow like a hammer striking—cracking—shattering rock. Whether we agree with all of their actions or not, these men are remembered as firm, resolute American leaders when the time came for action, guideposts by which all future leaders might be measured. When told by one of his generals following the fall of Richmond that Lee was fleeing west with his command and “if the thing be pressed” the Army of Northern Virginia might be overrun and the long national nightmare brought to an end, Lincoln wrote back a simple, one-line note: “Let the thing be pressed.” One can almost hear the taking of the long breath, see the sad hounds-eyes’ slow blink, before the scratch of pen on paper. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Friday April 23, 2004

FRIDAY, APRIL 23 -more-


Letters to the Editor

Friday April 23, 2004

GARDENING -more-


Readers Respond to Palestine Cartoon

Friday April 23, 2004

Editors, Daily Planet: -more-


From the Cartoonist

By JUSTIN DeFREITAS
Friday April 23, 2004

It’s been said that a political cartoon has about eight seconds to make its point before the reader moves on to other things. Therefore the cartoonist must communicate in a language consisting of symbols, caricatures and archetypes—figures and concepts that are easily and immediately recognizable. -more-


The Promise and Challenge of Berkeley’s Creeks

Friday April 23, 2004

Berkeley’s beautiful creeks have been receiving a lot of attention lately. The good news includes the start of a million-dollar state-sponsored restoration program on lower Codornices Creek; the elimination of the sewage leaks that were contaminating Bla ckberry Creek as it runs past Thousand Oaks Elementary school; and the all-volunteer restoration project at Strawberry Creek Lodge that is the joy of its residents. -more-


What Berkeley’s Creek Ordinance Does and Doesn’t Say

Friday April 23, 2004

What Berkeley’s Creek -more-


Notes From The Underground: Twenty-Five Years Singing the Same New Song

C. SUPRYNOWICZ
Friday April 23, 2004

Friday, April 23—that is to say, tonight—Volti celebrates its 25th anniversary with a concert at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Berkeley. Once known as the San Francisco Chamber Singers, Volti is one of the few professional vocal ensembles in the Bay Area that regularly presents contemporary repertoire (in fact, I count one other: Chanticleer). -more-


‘Antigone’ Combines Greek, Chinese Tragedies

By BETSY HUNTONSpecial to the Planet
Friday April 23, 2004

Aurora Theatre is presenting an impressively staged world premier of San Francisco playwright Cherylene Lee’s Antigone Falun Gong. Lee may well be remembered from TheatreWorks’ production last year of The Legacy Codes. -more-


Arts Calendar

Friday April 23, 2004

FRIDAY, APRIL 23 -more-


Muralist Marks a Vivid Life On Local Walls

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Friday April 23, 2004

Anyone who’s driven past Essex Street on Shattuck Avenue in South Berkeley in recent months has delighted in the stunning underwater scene emerging on the exterior walls of The Octopus’s Garden at 3039 N. Shattuck, Erin Janoff’s tropical fish and aquarium store. -more-


City Council To Tackle Ex Parte Rule Reform

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday April 20, 2004

A controversial City Council rule that Councilmember Kriss Worthington called the “largest restraint to free speech in Berkeley history” could be history itself shortly after a public hearing at tonight’s (Tuesday, April 20) City Council meeting. -more-


Public Hearings, Budget Cuts on Council Agenda

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday April 20, 2004

Tonight (Tuesday, April 20) is public hearing night for the Berkeley City Council. Aside from the much-anticipated hearing on ex parte communications (see accompanying story, above), residents will also get a chance to weigh in directly on proposals for the allocation of public housing funds, a new police youth service counselor, higher park fees, a new parking rate plan for the Center Street garage, and the first of several fee hikes targeted at closing the city’s $10 million deficit. -more-


Local Protest Supports UN Strike

By JAKOB SCHILLER
Tuesday April 20, 2004

As Tibetan hunger strikers moved into their sixteenth day in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York, a small group of Bay Area residents turned out Saturday in downtown Berkeley to show their support by staging their own one-day strike. -more-


Neighbors Claim $110,000 in Le Chateau Damages

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday April 20, 2004

Fed up with what they say is more than 25 years of strewn trash, raucous parties and a plague of vermin, 22 neighbors earlier this month filed small claims court suits totaling $110,000 against Le Chateau, UC Berkeley’s most notorious student housing cooperative. -more-


Students Fear UC May Put More Restrictions on Hearing Rights

By JAKOB SCHILLER
Tuesday April 20, 2004

In the upcoming weeks, UC Berkeley officials will be meeting to finalize changes to the student code of conduct that could prevent students from having legal representatives during on-campus hearings. The potential change in policy leaves many students worried about their due process rights on a campus well-known for civil unrest. -more-


Briefly Noted

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Tuesday April 20, 2004

Student commission captures honor -more-


Police Blotter

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Tuesday April 20, 2004

Road Rage Leads to Berkeley Shooting -more-


City Will Test Emergency Sirens Thursday

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Tuesday April 20, 2004

When the air raid sirens shatter Berkeley’s daytime calm this Thursday and next, don’t worry. It’s only a test. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday April 20, 2004

TUESDAY, APRIL 20 -more-


MoveOn Bakes On For Kerry

Jakob Schiller
Tuesday April 20, 2004

From Susan Parker: Berkeley Bay Festival Provides Many Forms of Fun

Tuesday April 20, 2004

Recently, after two decades of living in the East Bay, I finally got on a sailboat and cruised out beyond the Berkeley Municipal Pier. My friend Martin had bought a 17-foot dingy complete with two sails and some life jackets. He invited me on his maiden voyage through the jetties of the Berkeley Marina. I was hooked. -more-


City Council Should Scrap Ex Parte Rule

By Antonio Rossmann
Tuesday April 20, 2004

Tonight (April 20) the City Council has the chance to moderate Berkeley’s extreme rule prohibiting any communication between citizens and council members on land-use permitting matters, and bring Berkeley into line with practices that generally prevail throughout California. For many years the council has operated under its self-imposed rule that categorically forbids councilmembers “to discuss with any member of the public the facts of any [land use application] which may probably be the subject of public hearings by the City Council.” -more-


City Should Follow John Kerry’s Lead On Middle Class Taxation

By BARBARA GILBERT and VIKI TAMARADZE
Tuesday April 20, 2004

Unlike the City of Berkeley powers that be, the Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry understands the financial plight of the middle class and is seeking to reduce its tax burden. -more-


Plain Roots

By CAROL DENNEY
Tuesday April 20, 2004

Some of Berkeley’s roots are grand structures built by wealthy people, people with the leisure and capital to chart grand designs through their acreage, and whose praises are sung by architects and historians alike. -more-


Letters to the Editor

Tuesday April 20, 2004

NATIONS AT WAR -more-


Correction

Tuesday April 20, 2004

Due to a production error, a word was omitted from Merrilie Mitchell’s letter (“Mean to the Extreme,” Daily Planet, April 16-19). The sentence should have read “And [Shirley] Dean is honest—amazing— considering our political leaders who ‘speak with forked toungue.’”0 -more-


The Bloody Beginnings of People’s Park

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Tuesday April 20, 2004

A recently-revealed account of the founding of People’s Park, the south-of-campus former political battleground which celebrates its 35th birthday today as the archetype of ‘60s radicalism, alleges that it actually came into being not as an anti-war or free-space protest but because two lovers wanted a place to carry on their secret tryst. -more-


The Rep’s ‘Irma Vep’ Is More Than Just a Drag

By BETSY HUNTON Special to the Planet
Tuesday April 20, 2004

It seems a little unfair that so many reviewers and their ilk have blown the best joke of them all in Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s hilarious new production The Mystery of Irma Vep. -more-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday April 20, 2004

TUESDAY, APRIL 20 -more-


A Woodpecker Who Never Met His Namesake

By JOE EATON Special to the Planet
Tuesday April 20, 2004

Is it just me, or are there more Nuttall’s woodpeckers in the Berkeley flatlands than there used to be? Maybe I’d just been missing them—my battered copy of Joseph Grinnell and Margaret Wythe’s Directory to the Bird-Life of the San Francisco Bay Region, published in 1927, lists the species as resident in Berkeley. But there was a time when most of the woodpeckers I saw here were downies, and spotting a Nuttall’s was a rare event. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday April 20, 2004

TUESDAY, APRIL 20 -more-


Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: Death Penalty Foes Hang Tough

By Becky O’Malley
Friday April 23, 2004

Looking across the bay from Berkeley to the drama around District Attorney Kamala Harris’s decision not to seek the death penalty for the young tough accused of killing an undercover San Francisco police officer, I am struck by how much times have changed, and at the same time how much things remain the same. A central argument of the early suffragists was that when women had the vote and were elected to public office their decisions would be more humane and thoughtful. From my perspective, Kamala Harris seems to embody that image of the woman as leader: humane, because she recognizes that nothing would be gained by executing a young person who seems to have acted without premeditation, using a weapon he should never have been able to buy, against a challenger that he may not even have known was a police officer; thoughtful, because seeking the death penalty would be an expensive and pointless symbolic gesture, since San Francisco (as well as Alameda County) juries almost never vote for death sentences. -more-


Editorial: Hydra-Headed Hamas

Becky O’Malley
Tuesday April 20, 2004

The ancient Greeks told stories about the history of the world as they knew it which are still a useful way to predict what will happen to humans in the modern world. Hercules, half man and half god, was one of the central figures in Greek mythology. Like Superman in the 20th century, he dedicated his career to stamping out evil wherever he found it. One of the labors, or heroic tasks, of Hercules was killing the legendary Hydra. -more-