On a night when Berkeley City Councilmembers deliberated a host of potential November ballot measures to shore up a $10 million budget deficit, council action made it likely that two other electoral choices will come before city voters this November. -more-
The loss of 11 students is just a drop in the bucket to most college student organizations. But for the Native American Recruitment and Retention Center (NARC) at the University of California, it is enormous. -more-
In a 7-0 vote, a state voting panel decided Wednesday to allow 10 counties, including Alameda, to continue using their touchscreen voting machines provided those counties also supply all their polling places with paper ballots for any voters who choose to use them. -more-
The Berkeley Planning Commission’s UC Hotel Task Force wrapped up their last official business Tuesday, adopting the last of their recommendations on the biggest project to ever hit downtown Berkeley. -more-
One of Berkeley’s largest and most fiscally troubled nonprofits is back in hot water with its labor union. -more-
University Avenue neighbors, who for years, to no avail, have been pushing for a change in zoning rules to limit the size of new buildings on the avenue, now have two new proposals drafted to address their concerns. -more-
Berkeley’s John Muir Elementary School was one of just three schools in Alameda County and 214 statewide to receive the prestigious Title I Academic Achievement Award, the State Department of Education announced Tuesday. -more-
Knowing your way around a particular town is like knowing your way around the English language: Just because you’re fluent doesn’t mean you can name all the working parts of a toilet or trade bons mots with an Oxford don. And just because you’ve lived in a town on and off for over 10 years, as I have in Berkeley, doesn’t mean you really know it as well as you might think, if at all—a fact I found out upon returning this year to Berkeley as the father of a newborn little girl. -more-
One of the more interesting things about living in Oakland in the Jerry Brown years is never quite knowing where our mayor is going to turn up. Lately Mr. Brown has been on cable television, hawking cars for the merchants at Oakland’s Auto Row, complaining that two-thirds or thereabouts of Oakland residents who have recently bought new cars have chosen not to do so in the city in which they live. -more-
Residents from all neighborhoods in Berkeley have come together around the city’s current budget crisis as evidenced by their active participation at various City meetings. This is a Preliminary Statement that, in expanded form, was sent to all members of the City Council to respond to various proposals that have been put forward to date. -more-
Is your concern for the environment a spectator sport? Or does it go beyond sporting a bumper sticker? A butterfly in Brazil can affect the climate here; what will happen if you turn off your kitchen lights? -more-
There’s a totally smashing production by TheatreFIRST at the Berkeley City Club which you need to rush over to see. Although it’s been extended through May 9, that still doesn’t give you much time. Missing the opportunity to see this South African work would be a definite loss. (We deeply regret that a communications failure kept us from reviewing the play earlier in the season). Mooi Street Moves isn’t produced in the U.S. too often. The only previous presentation here was in 1993 at the MetroStage in Alexandria, Virgina. In any case, it is hard to believe that it could be done with greater skill and talent than what we can see in this sterling production. -more-
One of the advantages of living in a university town is that dramatic performances by not only visiting professionals but talented locals are frequent events, often in unique surroundings. -more-
Berkeley began as a blend of countryside, farmland, waterfront settlement, and academic village. By the end of the 19th century the town was still small, but featured neighborhoods of both stately and modest Victorian residences. Such homes were the glory of Berkeley a century ago. -more-
After adopting a few last-minute amendments, the Berkeley Civic Arts Commission Wednesday night wound up its five-year effort to create an Arts and Cultural Plan for the city. -more-
In the Tuesday, April 27, story on the Arts Commission’s last public input session (“Arts Commissioners Call For Public Input,” Daily Planet, April 27-29), remarks by Berkeley Arts Center executive director Robbin Henderson were incorrectly attributed to city staff member Mary Ann Merker. -more-
Sweet potato recipes invariably seem overburdened with other ingredients, causing one to wonder whether we dislike the natural taste of vegetables so much that we go to great lengths to hide it. -more-
In advance of their eighth and final session today (Tuesday, April 27), members of the Planning Commission Task Force on the proposed downtown UC Hotel complex are looking over the first draft of the report they’ll give the City Council in early June. -more-
West Berkeley, the proposed nine-story Seagate Building and the need for more performance and exhibition space dominated audience concerns Saturday when Civic Arts Commissioners called for public comments on its proposals for the Cultural Element of the city’s General Plan. -more-
The people at Berkeley High think the newest addition to their school has a lot going for it. On Sunday they gathered to share their exuberance with the entire community. -more-
Berkeley voters will get some clues about the future state of the city’s financial affairs tonight (Tuesday, April 27) when the City Council considers an array of potential November ballot measures to help plug a $10 million budget deficit. In addition, the council is scheduled to take a first look at reforming the city’s campaign financing rules. -more-
Something like a close cousin, St. Joseph the Worker Church fits right into the heart of Berkeley. The church is a reflection of a community with a unique history and strong commitment to social justice and equality. -more-
Piano tuner Ben Treuhaft says he started sending pianos to Cuba in 1995 “as sort of an enema to [then-President Bill] Clinton’s Cuba policy, but somehow his Commerce Department gave their approval.” -more-
Every spring I head for Alamos, a pink-adobed, cobblestoned village tucked against the western slopes of the Sierra Madres in the state of Sonora, Mexico. It’s a pinprick spot on the map, located at the end of a narrow, two-lane road. The way to Alamos was paved in 1962. Before that it was just a rugged, pot-holed dirt track through miles and miles of high Sonoran desert. -more-
The increasing development by UC Berkeley beyond its traditional boundaries and its resulting encroachment on the city’s central business district and adjacent neighborhoods has been accelerating at an alarming rate. New and proposed construction will require untold additional city services, including fire and police protection as well as public works expenditures. -more-
El Cerrito’s City Council is putting the finishing touches on a new view ordinance. Will view-deprived property owners get to preserve and restore views via an ordinance “with teeth,” as in Tiburon? Or, will tree lovers achieve an ordinance geared to compromise, as in Berkeley? El Cerrito’s past ordinance implied a right to views. This worked when downhill neighbors read it the same way. But when tree owners dug in their heels, and disputes went for resolution to a “Tree Commission,” it showed the rules weren’t suited for a clear-cut court decision, pun intended. -more-
Fact: In the United States over 550,000 children are in foster care. Over 150,000 of them are awaiting adoptive placements. -more-
Saturday April 24 was a hot day for a garden makeover, or any other strenuous outdoor activity. But approximately 30 volunteers turned out to help transform the grounds of Chaparral House, a skilled nursing facility at Allston Way, under the auspices of Rebuilding Together. -more-
To Bolivian-born author Edmundo Paz Soldan, Berkeley is a magnifying glass through which he examines the world from which he came. -more-
The just-published Quick Index to the Origin of Berkeley’s Names delivers on the promise of its title, offering in 28 pages a definitive account of the reasons behind the names of the city’s streets, creeks, walks, paths and parks. -more-
A cascade of doubts over the Iraq war has been resurfacing in U.S. Latino media, coinciding with the recent announcement that Honduras will join Spain in withdrawing troops from Iraq amid escalating violence. -more-
I have a love/hate relationship with fruitless mulberry trees—in fact, I have a love/hate relationship with the individual outside my house. It shades a big south-facing window quite nicely in summer, then drops its leaves so we get some much-needed sun in winter. It gives me a bird’s-eye view of birds, when the local robins and finches and chickadees hang out in it, and it provides a customary perch for Himself, the Anna’s hummingbird that rules our front-porch feeder. When we’re lucky and get the right sequence of weather in fall, the whole street glows a glorious yellow, between the trees and their runway carpet of fallen leaves. It has a friendly, leafy presence, and aesthetically, the row of them on our street is one of the best things about it. -more-
Recent discussions before the Civic Arts Commission and in these pages remind me of what I learned in my stint in the 1970s as an intern at the California Arts Council, when Jerry Brown was still playing his Governor Moonbeam role and I was a law student. The council’s executive director was the redoubtable Eloise Pickard Smith, a painter and political activist. Among the illustrious commissioners were actor Peter Coyote, poet Gary Snyder and Luis Valdez, founder of El Teatro Campesino. Watching from the sidelines as these politically savvy artists allocated public funding for the arts taught me many lessons. The most surprising thing I learned was how much many members of the public hate public art. Or rather, how much they hate certain kinds of public art. Or most specifically, how they actively dislike large non-representational sculptures plopped into public spaces. We got letters, we got lots and lots of letters, almost all complaining about such installations. -more-
It wasn’t easy, but the Daily Planet managed to get an advance look at the Planning Commission’s agenda and packet for Wednesday. Among the items we noticed was a proposal from the planning director to raise fees on most planning and zoning permits by 10 percent “to cover higher cost-of-living, equity and fringe benefit rates.” Also, he wants to place a 15 percent surcharge on discretionary applications to pay for “the cost to maintain the General Plan and the Zoning Ordinance.” -more-
