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Jakob Schiller:
          
          Taxi drivers Anwar Zadran (left) and Mohammed Zarif outside the North Berkeley BART station.›
Jakob Schiller: Taxi drivers Anwar Zadran (left) and Mohammed Zarif outside the North Berkeley BART station.›
 

News

Task Force Criticized For Lack of Diversity

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Friday May 14, 2004

After three months of relatively smooth sailing, the UC Hotel Task Force struck a reef Wednesday night after Chairperson Rob Wrenn presented the 25-member panel’s final report to the full Planning Commission. With the backing of Commission Chairperson Harry Pollack, Planning Commissioner Jerome Wiggins, who is African-American, blasted the task force as a “hand-picked, non-diverse group of white people” and said that he “couldn’t care less” if it continued. 

The task force was formed earlier this year at the request of the City Council, and under the authority of the city’s General Plan. The task force originally began as a commission subcommittee made up of commissioners Rob Wrenn, Zelda Bronstein and Gene Poschman. It was later expanded with community members nominated by the three-member commission subcommittee and approved by the full commission. It’s purpose is to provide citizen input on the proposed high-rise hotel and museum complex UC wants to build in the two-block area in the heart of downtown Berkeley between Shattuck Avenue and Oxford Street from Center Street to University Avenue. 

But in a debate over the recommendations in the task force’s 14-page report, Commissioner Wiggins virtually exploded at the group’s composition, thundering that “for the people in my community... for you to sit up and talk about diversity is an insult.” 

The problem was, when the task force membership list was originally submitted to the Planning Commission last winter, Wiggins complained of no South Berkeley membership, but then never took the opportunity to put anyone on the task force himself. 

“You were invited to nominate people,” Commissioner Zelda Bronstein told him on Wednesday. “You had an opportunity.” 

Not so, Wiggins retorted. “When the issue came before this group, the issue had already been decided,” he said. “The task force had already been meeting. The train had already left the station.”  

Commission Chair Harry Pollack immediately backed Wiggins, whose vote had given him the majority needed to win his position as chair. “Commissioner Wiggins’ rendition [of the formation of the task force] was correct,” Pollack said. “The task force was set up for one purpose and used for a different purpose.” 

Just what purpose, Pollack didn’t say. 

A flabbergasted Wrenn could only shake his head. 

In fact, while the Planning Commission subcommittee held several general meetings on the hotel complex during the winter in which community residents participated, the task force itself had no formal meeting until after its membership was approved by the full Planning Commission. At the Planning Commission meeting where the task force membership was approved, Wiggins made the same complaint about lack of South Berkeley membership, but then failed to nominate anyone from that area when the chance came. At that same meeting, Commissioner David Stoloff offered a candidate of his own, Erin Banks of Livable Berkeley (the wife of the city’s Current Planning Director Mark Rhoades), who was then accepted by the commission. 

The troubles at Wednesday’s Planning Commission first arose after Wrenn summarized the nine sections of the task force report, ranging from turning Center Street between Oxford Street and Shattuck Avenue into a pedestrian mall to maximizing the project’s economic benefits for the city and downtown business. 

The first shot came from Wiggins, who said that while he had no problems with the single-sentence general recommendations, “I do have a problem with the details. I don’t understand why there has to be that level of specificity.” 

“Reality is in the details,” replied Commissioner Poschman. “The meaning is in the specificity.” 

One such detail provoked commissioner David Tabb, a recommendation that the complex shouldn’t offer free parking for hotel employees, many of whom he predicted would be coming from long distances. “I bristle at that because it seems enormously class-based. . . It seems an enormously upper-middle-class perspective.” 

Bronstein then directed him to another specific, the recommendation that the hotel provide transit passes to their employees. “If you get on the bus, you’re probably not upper middle class,” she added.  

Tabb later offered an apology for the tone of his earlier comment. 

“My guess is that each of us can find an objection to one or more of the specifics,” said Commission chair Pollack. “We should continue this to our next meeting so we can come up with a resolution to convey to the council with the document.” 

Commissioner Tim Perry also said he had problems with the amount of detail in the recommendations, saying that he wanted to “make this a dialogue with the developer rather than a set of demands from the City of Berkeley. We don’t want to kill the opportunity by appearing to be so difficult that they simply go away.” Perry also said he was opposed to letting the task force itself review the developer’s plans, which he said should be presented only to the full commission. 

Poschman disagreed. “The task force is probably the best place for the developer to go initially because we’ve spent hours and hours” looking into the issue. 

When the dust had settled, commissioners voted to continue the discussion until their next meeting, May 26. A few minutes later, Wrenn walked out and did not return for the remainder of the meeting. 


Cabbies Win NLRB Union Ruling

By JAKOB SCHILLER
Friday May 14, 2004
Jakob Schiller:
              
              Taxi drivers Anwar Zadran (left) and Mohammed Zarif outside the North Berkeley BART station.›
Jakob Schiller: Taxi drivers Anwar Zadran (left) and Mohammed Zarif outside the North Berkeley BART station.›

Anwar Zadran is used to not seeing his wife and four children. When he leaves for work, they are still asleep. Often when he gets home, they are already in bed. That’s because Zadran has to spend 10-16 hours a day driving a Berkeley cab in order to make enough money to support his family. 

But things may soon get easier for Zadran. At the end of last month, the national office of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Washington D.C. unanimously upheld a decision by the local NLRB office to allow cab drivers from five different East Bay companies to form a union. In a landmark case, almost 200 drivers will soon start negotiating a contract that will raise their wages, give them health benefits, and help them work a more regular schedule. 

The five cab companies affected include Friendly Cab, Yellow Cab of the East Bay, California Cab, Greyline Cab and Metro Cab, all of which are administered by Friendly Cab. Stationed in Oakland, the cabs serve the greater Bay Area including Berkeley.  

“It’s a struggle just to make it,” said Zadran, who suffers from an irregular heartbeat and confesses that cab driving expenses have kept him from taking a vacation in the past seven years. “But I didn’t have no choice. If I didn’t work my kids will be on the streets. The moment I heard [the drivers got a union] I was so happy.” 

Soon after the decision by the NLRB, the East Bay drivers were able to verify that more that 80 percent of the group voted in favor of the union during an election held in 2002. The new union, which will soon institute collective bargaining with the five companies, is independent and not affiliated with any larger union. 

The drivers also have a civil suit in an Alameda Superior Court asking for back pay for all the years they have worked under the current system. 

“This will be a case cited for years to come,” said Don Jelinek, a former Berkeley City Council member and the attorney who the drivers originally came to for advice. 

“There was a mountain of precedent that we had to overcome,” said Bob Bezemeck, the attorney who ended up representing the drivers before the NLRB. “Employers have so much power over employees under American labor law that for a group of poorly compensated employees to hold together and do this is a tremendous victory. They deserve all the credit.” 

Representatives from Friendly Cab did not return calls concerning the union organizing drive.  

Besides low pay, drivers said they had no job security, no health benefits, no vacation time, and no workman’s compensation. Instead, they said that the cab companies treated them like private contractors, responsible for their own well-being while still under the guise of the cab company. 

Each week, local drivers were required to rent out a car for a fee as high as $900 dollars, according to Jelinek. Drivers said the owner of the cab company set different rental fees for different drivers. The drivers kept all the cab fare received from riders, but were responsible for their own expenses such as gas, airport permits, and bridge tolls. The company usually took care of repairs, but if the cab was in the shop during the middle of their lease, drivers still had to pay the rental fee.  

According to Zadran, when a rock once hit his windshield, the company owner demanded that he pay the both the rental fee and the cost of the damages.  

If the drivers got into an accident, the passengers were covered by the company insurance but not the driver. 

At the same time, employees said they were required to follow a number of rules established by Friendly Cabs, including a ban on independent business. Drivers were not allowed to hand out business cards and develop independent relationships with riders, but were required to respond only to calls from a company dispatcher. In addition, drivers said they were sometimes forced to carry advertising on their cabs, but did not receive a share of the advertising revenue.  

If drivers broke any of these rules the employer could terminate the lease. 

On a good day, the drivers said they made $60-80 after 10 hours of work. On a bad day, they broke even. 

Independent contractors are not normally allowed certain NLRB protections in organizing a union, but the drivers’ attorneys successfully argued that the tight regulations under which they worked made them employees in fact, if not in name. The local NLRB agreed, allowing the drivers to hold a union election last year. But the cab company appealed, keeping the workers from counting the votes until the appeal was heard by the National NLRB. That process took 15 months.  

Almost all of the drivers are immigrants, primarily from Afghanistan, Sudan, Nigeria and India. Several are doctors, engineers, and professors who came to the United States but couldn’t find work anywhere else. Anwar, who left Afghanistan when Russia invaded, worked as a technician for two different computer companies until the dot-com bust. In Afghanistan he worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and in the government offices responsible for passports and scholarships.  

“Its hard,” he said about driving a cab. “But it’s something you have to do, you don’t have much choice. Some people say you’re crazy that you’re still driving, but what can you do?” 

“I used to think in America there was justice,” said Mohammed Zarif, another one of the drivers. “But I’ve learned that if you have money, you can change anything.”  


UC Tax Exemptions Rooted In Law and Court Rulings

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Friday May 14, 2004

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of a two-part series on taxation issues between the City of Berkeley and the University of California. In the May 11 edition, we compared the Berkeley/UC tax relationship with similar relationships in other university cities around the country. 

 

Under federal and California law, all state and federal property is exempt from taxation, as are public libraries and museums, aerospace museums, churches, hospitals, charitable facilities, nonprofit schools and colleges, nonprofit cooperative housing, nonprofit scientific institutions, burial plots and modifications to buildings to accommodate the disabled. 

Berkeley’s biggest non-taxpayer by far is the University of California, and therein lies the rub. 

The key to UC’s place in the realm of taxation can be found in two articles of the California Constitution: 

• Article IX Section 9 grants the University of California system “full powers of organization and government,” including the full control and management of property.  

• Article XIII Section 3 specifically exempts state-owned property from all property tax liability. Two sections of the state Education Code define the UC Board of Regents as a state agency, thus allowing the UC system to qualify for the constitutionally-mandated tax exemption. 

Questions involving special assessments levied to finance specific improvements that serve the university have a more complex history. 

Just what other governments can and can’t do to collect taxes and fees from the university system has been hashed out in a series of court decisions starting with the unanimous 1929 California Supreme Court ruling in the case of the City of Inglewood v. Los Angeles County. 

Three county districts—flood control, sanitation and drainage—tried to collect special assessments from the city, but the state high court unanimously ruled that “while publicly owned and used property is not exempt from special assessments under the constitution or statutory law of this state, there is an implied exemption of such property from burdens of that nature.” 

Under that decision, local governments generally paid for the actual services they received, but not the taxes levied to build the facilities that provide them. 

A series of decisions between 1979 and 1983—most notably another unanimous state Supreme Court ruling in 1981—led the State Legislature to make a change in the way government agencies pay such service fees. 

In two appellate rulings, one in 1979 and the other in 1983, the judges ruled that UCLA was exempt from special assessment fees it had paid under protest to the City of Los Angeles for sewer facilities construction. 

The July 21, 1981, high court ruling in San Marcos Water District v. San Marcos Unified School District laid out the definitive legal standard in striking down the water district’s attempt to assess the school district for a capital improvement fee to improve sewer service: “Because the capacity fee is a special assessment that has not been authorized by the Legislature, we hold that the school district is not required to pay the fee.” 

In the wake of San Marcos, the Legislature enacted California Government Code sections 54999 through 54999.6, “Liability of Public Entities for Public Utility Capital Facilities Fees,” which went into effect in March, 1988.  

The new law specified that the San Marcos decision “should be revised to authorize payment and collection of capital facilities fees” from governmental agencies, though it set a higher standard for fees imposed on school districts, county education offices, community college districts, UC, the CSU system and any state agencies. 

The law places the burden of proof on the taxing agency to justify the costs of the assessments. 

Those statutes were reinforced by Proposition 218, a statewide ballot initiative passed by voters in November, 1996, which mandated that local, state and federal agencies can’t be exempted from special assessments unless they offer “clear and convincing evidence” that they receive no benefit from the improvements financed by the fees. 

An appellate decision in June, 2003, clarified Prop. 218, limiting assessments that can be collected to fees for “provision of water, light, heat, communications, power, or garbage service, for flood control, drainage or sanitary purposes, or for sewage collection, treatment, or disposal.” 

The decision came after the City of Marina sought funds to pay for increased traffic and fire safety facilities needed to meet the needs of the new California State University-Monterey Bay campus. 

Though the CSU Environmental Impact Report concluded the new campus would impose fire protection costs and traffic congestion problems on the adjacent community, the university refused to pay anything toward the required improvements. The city sued to force the university to pay mitigation costs under the provisions California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). 

Marina won at the trial court level, but their was reversed by the State Court of Appeal. 

The city has challenged the reversal, and the case now set for arguments before the California Supreme Court. Berkeley City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque signed the formal friend of the court brief—drafted by Assistant City Attorney Zach Cowan—siding with the City of Marina on behalf of the League of California City and the California State Association of Counties. 

Assemblymember and former Berkeley Mayor Loni Hancock has launched a legislative attempt at an end run around the Marina decision in her Assembly Bill 2092, which would mandate that colleges, universities and other normally exempt institutions pay their fare share of impacts on other agencies in projects governed by the CEQA. 

Whether an act of the Legislature can trump provisions enshrined in the state constitution is an issue that only the courts can decide. Judging from previous rulings by the state’s high court, Hancock will be fighting an uphill battle. 

The courts have also ruled that universities are exempt from building permit and inspection fees when the system is building facilities for educational uses—even on leased property. 

In the unanimous 1978 decision Regents of the University of California v. City of Santa Monica, a Southern California appellate court unanimously ordered the city to refund fees it had assessed after the university installed an air conditioning system and moved wall partitions in a leased building in the city. 

One area where the courts have consistently allowed local governments to levy taxes is on commercial activities conducted on land owned by colleges and universities. 

In a 1975 decision, the appellate court ruled that Los Angeles could levy business taxes on a circus that held commercial performances at Devonshire Downs, owned by CSU-Northridge. The court ruled that a city could assess fees when the university crossed the line “between governmental and proprietary activity.” 

The following year, a Northern California appellate court ruled that the City of Berkeley could levy a 10 percent gross receipts tax on Oakland Raiders pro games held at Cal Stadium. The court cited earlier decisions holding that cities were entitled to tax all business activities within their borders. ›


Berkeley This Week Calendar

Friday May 14, 2004

FRIDAY, MAY 14 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Nelson H. Greyburn, Prof. of Anthropology, on “Recent Generational Changes in Japan.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $12.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020. 

Literary Friends meets at 1:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center to discuss Creative Poetry in Action 232-1351. 

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride meets at the Berkeley BART the second Friday of every month at 5:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Players at all levels are welcome. 652-5324. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 548-6310, 845-1143. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions are welcome to join us. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169. www.bpf.org 

Overeaters Anonymous meets every Friday at 1:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Church at Solano and The Alameda. Parking is free and is handicapped accessible. For information call Katherine, 525-5231. 

Herbal Tea at Three Learn tea lore, medicinal properties, and taste familiar and exotic varieties. Every Friday from 3 to 4 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy. 549-9200. www.elephantpharmacy.com 

SATURDAY, MAY 15 

Berkeley Health Carnival from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at San Pablo Park, 2800 Park St. Free medical screenings and enrollment opportunities. Sponsored by the LifeLong Medical Group. 

City of Berkeley Budget Forum at 9:15 a.m. in the Sproul Room, St. John’s Presbyterian, 2727 College Ave. Sponsored by BANA/ 

CNA.  

Interfaith Pagan Pride Parade and Celebration with indigenous and Earth-based traditions celebrating the “Divine Feminine” from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Civic Center Park. www.paganparade.org 

Strawberry Tastings at Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Civic Center Park from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with cooking demonstrations at 11 a.m. 

Berkeley Fire Station Open House from 1 to 4 p.m. at Station 2, 2029 Berkeley Way. Tour the station, see a safety presentation, and historical display and enjoy hot dogs and cake. Families and children especially welcome. 981-5506. 

Slitherin’ Snakes Visit the friendly snakes at Tilden Nature Center from 10:30 a.m. to noon and learn about reptiles. 525-2233. 

Bugs-R-Us If you love insects, come on down to search out some creepy crawlies. You’ll learn all about our many legged friends and then search for them in the soil, under logs and even in our compost! From 2 to 3 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. 525-2233. 

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour “Piedmont Way” led by Paul Grunland from 10 a.m. to noon. 848-0181. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc/ 

Bike Rodeo at San Pablo Park with obstacle courses and other activities from 10 a.m. to noon. 

Labyrinth Peace Walk at 3 p.m. at the Willard Community Peace Labyrinth, on blacktop next to the gardens at Willard Middle School, Telegraph Ave. between Derby and Stuart. Enter by the dirt road on Derby. Free and wheelchair accessible. Sponsored by the East Bay Labyrinth Project. 526-7377.  

Mindfulness in Education Join with educators, parents, students, and all those concerned with education in a mindfulness day of meditation, reflection, sharing, and inquiry about creating peaceful schools with heart. From 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave.  

Spring Faire at Washington School from 10 to 2 p.m. at 2300 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Join us for a community celebration co-sponsored by Healthy Start. Lots of fun activities for kids, health and education booths, food, music, and raffle. 486-1742. 

Walden Spring Fair from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Walden School, 2446 McKinley Ave., corner of Dwight. Live entertainment, food, arts and crafts, and children’s games. 841-7248. 

Russian Festival hosted by The Berkeley Russian School from 1 to 5 p.m. at 1821 Catalina at Colusa. Concert featuring Sergey Podobedov on the piano, Yulia Ronskaya, soprano, Elena Stepanova, soprano, and art exhibition, dancing, drama performances and lots of Russian piroshkis & blintzes. Admission $5. 526-8892. 

Berkwood Hedge School Music & Art Festival from 1 to 5 p.m, 1809 Bancroft Way. Join us for an afternoon of musical performances, art exhibits, crafts, games and fine food and drink. Admission $3-$7. All proceeds benefit the Berkwood Hedge scholarship program.  

Community Block Party at 1 p.m. at 2824 Haven’s Court, between McArthur and Bancroft. Sponsored by Cultural Designs. 205-9331.  

Gardening with East Bay Native Plants from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pre-registration required Class is held off-site. Cost is $15-$25, low-income spots by arrangement. 548-2220, ext. 233. erc@ecologycenter.org 

The Friends of the Albany Library Book Sale from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, or to volunteer for the sale, please call the Albany Library at 526-3720, ext. 5. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club Open House from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The public is invited come try lawn bowling at the greens, which are located at 2270 Acton, intersecting with Bancroft. For more information, please call Ray Francis at 234-6646. Berkeleylawnbowl@aol.com   

Satsuki Arts Festival & Bazaar with kotoist June Kuramoto and keyboardist Kimo Cornwell, taiko drummer Kenny Endo,and a variety of Japanese food, Asian arts and crafts, a silent auction and children's carnival games. From 4 to 9 p.m. and Sun. noon to 7 p.m. at Berkeley Buddhist Temple, 2121 Channing Way. 841-1356. http://home.pacbell.net/bsangha/ 

“Running for Office 101” a workshop to strengthen skills in political leadership and campaing management from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Peralta Community College District Boardroom, 333 East 8th St., Oakland, across from Laney Football Field. Cost is $75. 763-9523. www.bwopa.org  

Sweet Inspirations Auction and Dessert Reception to benefit Elizabeth House, a transitional residential house for women, at 7 p.m. at Holy Redeemer Center, 8945 Golf Links Rd, Oakland. Tickets are $25. 601-1213. 

Sacred Listening A workshop led by Leonard Levis and Nora Martos-Perry from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Road, Kensington. Suggested donation $45. 526-8944. 

Yoga for Seniors at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St., on Saturdays from 10 to 11 a.m. The class is taught by Rosie Linsky, who at age 72, has practiced yoga for over 40 years. Open to non-members of the club for $8 per class. For further information and to register, call Karen Ray at 848-7800. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

Dream Workshop on Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to noon at 2199 Bancroft Way. Cost is $10. www.practicaldreamwork.com 

SUNDAY, MAY 16 

“Shattering Myths in Palestine/Israel” a visual reportback from April Middle East Children’s Alliance delegation, at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10-$20 sliding scale, benefit Palestinian children. 849-2568. www.mecaforpeace.org 

“Working for Justice in a Time of Conflict” with Rabbi Arik Ascherman, director of Rabbis for Human Rights, at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Donations welcome. Co-sponsored by Trees of Hope. 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

“Jews Against Zionism” A new documentary by local film-maker Wendy Campbell, at 3 p.m. at the Parkway Theatre, 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland. Free, donations accepted. 814-2400. www.exposingisraeliapartheid.com 

International Women’s Writing Guild quarterly meeting at 3 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

“Spirit, Work and Money” a workshop with Tony D’Aguanno, from 1 to 5 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship, 1606 Bonita. Cost is $45. Please RSVP to 272-9915. 

Guided Trails Challenge Hike in the Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Smack-dab in the heart of industry lies a peaceful shoreline. Climb the hills and learn the history of Rancho San Pablo, Ferry Point, and Botts’ Flying Machine. Meet in the first parking lot off Dornan Dr. near Pt. Richmond. Registration required 525-2233.  

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring warm waterproof clothes. www.cal-sailing.org 

Parking Lot Book Sale from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Spectator Bookstore, 4163 Piedmont Ave. Lots of books at really low prices. 653-7300. 

Satsuki Arts Festival & Bazaar with kotoist June Kuramoto and keyboardist Kimo Cornwell, taiko drummer Kenny Endo, and a variety of Japanese food, Asian arts and crafts, a silent auction and children’s carnival games. From noon to 7 p.m. at Berkeley Buddhist Temple, 2121 Channing Way. 841-1356. http://home. 

pacbell.net/bsangha/ 

Golden State Model Railroad Museum open from noon to 5 p.m. Also open on Saturdays and Friday evenings from 7 to 10 p.m. Located in the Miller-Knox Regional Shoreline Park at 900-A Dornan Drive in Pt. Richmond. Admission is $2-$3. 234-4884 or www.gsmrm.org 

Anxiety A free talk with Stacy Taylor at noon at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Lama Amdo on “Entering the Bodhisattva Path” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

“Buddhism: Building Bridges of Understanding” at 7 p.m. a St. Cuthbert’s, 7900 Mountain Blvd. Reading materials available beforehand from StCuddy@aol.com 

“The Death of Progressive Education” with Dan Harper at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302. 

“Eckhart Tolle Talks on Video” at 6:30 p.m. the Feldenkrais Ctr., 830 Bancroft Way. Donation $3. Potluck afterwards so bring food/drink to share. 415-990-8977. 

MONDAY, MAY 17 

Tea at Four Enjoy some of the best teas from the other side of the Pacific Rim and learn their cultural and natural history. Then take a walk to see nesting birds and flowering shrubs, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Registration required. Cost is $5 for residents, $7 for non-residents. Wheelchair accessible. 525-2233. 

“Effective Advocacy and Annual Lobby Day Preparation” a workshop from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Peralta Community College District Boardroom. 333 East 8th St., Oakland, across from Laney Football Field. Cost is $40-$60. 763-9523. www.bwopa.org  

Great Popular Fiction Book Group meets to discuss “The Birth of Venus” by Sarah Dunant at 7 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-0861. 

Dance Jammies, a multi-generational dance event from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Motivity Center, 2525 8th St. Cost is $9. 832-3835. 

Fitness for 55+ A total body workout including aerobics, stretching and strengthening at 1:15 p.m. every Monday at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5170. 

Baby Yoga at 11 a.m. and Yoga and Meditation for Children at 2:45 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. 883-0600. www.belladonna.ws 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, MAY 18 

Morning Birdwalk Meet at 7 a.m. at the parking lot on Golf Course Rd., just east of Grizzly Peak Blvd. 525-2233. 

Mini-Rangers at Tilden Nature Center Join us for an active afternoon of nature study, conservation and rambling through woods and waters. Dress to get dirty; bring a healthy snack to share. For 8-12 year olds, unaccompanied by their parents. Cost is $6, $8 for non-residents. Registration required. 525-2233. 

“Organic Pest Control in the Garden” with Jessica West, Landscape Consultant and U.C. Master Gardener. Learn how to rid your garden of pests without using toxic chemicals. Hosted by the Berkeley Garden Club at Epworth United Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. Guests are welcome. Meeting at 1 p.m. and the free program at 2 p.m. 524-4374. 

Friends of Strawberry Creek will meet from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library Meeting Room, 2090 Kittredge St. Robert Charbonneau will speak on “Perspective, Past and Future on the Management of the Upper Strawberry Creek Watershed.”  

American Red Cross Blood Services volunteer orientation from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Sign-up needed 594-5165. 

Strawberry Tastings at Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Derby at MLK from 2 to 7 p.m. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.org 

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Streets every Tuesday from 3 to 7 p.m. This is a project of BOSS Urban Gardening Institute and Spiral Gardens. 843-1307. 

“The Order of Genocide: Race, Power and War in Rwanda” with Scott Strauss, Dept. of Political Science, Univ. of Oregon, at 4 p.m., 652 Barrows Hall, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Center for African Studies. 642-8338. www.ias.berkeley.edu/africa 

“Disability Benefits and Advocacy,” a talk by Beverly Bergman, Advocate Specialist with Oakland’s Mental Health Advocates from noon to 2 p.m. at Herrick Campus of Alta Bates Medical Center, 2001 Dwight Way. Free. Sponsored by Berkeley’s Fibromyalgia Support Group. 644-3273. 

Phone Banking to ReDefeat Bush on Tuesdays from 6 to 9 p.m. at Cafe de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck Ave. Bring your cell phones. Please RSVP if you can join us. 233-2144. dan@redefeatbush.com 

“We Interrupt This Empire” video screening and discussion at 7 p.m. at Grand Lake Neighborhood Center, 530 Lake Park Ave, Oakland. Suggested donation $1, no one turned away. www.ebcaw.org 

East Bay Theology on Tap meets to discuss “Penance in a Culture of Death” with Fr. Tom Scirghi at 7 p.m. at 4092 Piedmont Ave. Contact Norah at St. Leo the Great 654-6177. 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Cynthia Davis from Alzheimer’s Services will speak at 11 a.m. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers We are a few slowpoke seniors who walk between a mile or two each Tuesday, meeting at 9:30 a.m. in the Little Farm parking lot. To join us, call 215-7672.  

Goddess Grace Moving Meditation at 10 a.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Cost is $7-10, bring a yoga mat or blanket. 883-0600. www.belladonna.ws 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 19 

UCB’s Long Range Development Plan at the Planning Commission at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Copies of the plan and the draft Environmental Impact Report are available at http://lrdp.berkeley.edu 

Gray Panthers at Night with a video of Mordechai Vanunu’s release from Israeli prison, discussion and light dinner, at 7 p.m. at 1403 Addison St. 548-9696. 

Street Skills Class for Cyclists A bicycle safety class for experienced and beginning cyclists, for bike commuters, for parents who bike with their kids, and for any cyclist who just wants to get around town safely. The classroom session is held on May 19 or 21 from 6 to 9:30 p.m. followed by an all-day on and off bike practical skills session on May 22. Cost is $20, pre-registration required, 549-RIDE (7433). Funding for these classes is made possible through a generous grant from the City of Berkeley. 

Palma-Soriano video presentation, from Berkeley’s sister city in Cuba at 6:30 p.m. at the South Branch Library, 1901 Russell St. 981-6260. 

“Hello Hemingway” a film about one of Cuba’s cultural icons, at 7 p.m. at Fellowship of Humanity, 390 7th St., Oakland. Donations accepted. 393-5685. 

“Israel’s Secret Weapon,” the US Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu, a video by the BBC, with commentary by Dale Nesbitt, Hal Carlsbad and Cynthia Johnson who welcommed Vanunu when he was freed from prison, at 7 p.m. at the Richmond Public Library, 325 Civic Center Plaza, enter through left of building. 236-0438. 

LUNA Kids Dance Fundraising Gala, with dance performances by LUNA students and alumni, silent auction, book signing by Patricia Reedy, and tour of Clif Bar Inc.’s unique offices hosted by owner and CEO Gary Erickson, at 7 p.m. at Clif Bar Inc., 1610 Fifth St. Cost is $100. 644-3629. nng@lunakidsdance.com 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters meets at 7:15 a.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 524-3765. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Sta- 

tion, corner of Shattuck and Center. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

Prose Writers Workshop meets 7 to 9 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut, at Rose. 524-3034. 

Fun with Acting Class at 11 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Free, all are welcome, no experience necessary.  

Berkeley CopWatch open office hours 7 to 9 p.m. Drop in to file complaints, assistance available. 548-0425. 

Free Feldenkrais ATM Classes for adults 55 and older at 10:30 and 11:45 a.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut at Rose. 848-0237. Ä


Wozniak Seeks Changes in Parking Enforcement

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Friday May 14, 2004

At a time when city government officials are scrambling around for money to close a continuing budget deficit, Berkeley City Council’s resident research scientist—Councilmember Gordon Wozniak—says he has looked into the budgetary returns on the city’s 23 parking enforcement officers and come to a conclusion: spend more time on meter enforcement and less time patrolling unmetered zones. 

“At some point you face the issue of diminishing returns,” Wozniak said of the city’s enforcement of the parking ordinance in unmetered areas. “I want to see some better analysis, but to issue a ticket in a residential area, the officer has to make two passes, one to chalk the tires and a second to check when the time’s up.” In addition to the double work—it only takes one drive-through to determine if a meter has run out—Wozniak contends that the chalking has an additional cost to the city: three enforcers have been out on disability this year. “They get carpal tunnel syndrome from chalking the tires,” the councilmember said.  

“The cost of one [parking] enforcement position, including the vehicle, runs about $100,000 a year,” Wozniak said, in explaining the budget figures behind his conclusion. But after the City Council authorized five more positions last year, he said that total revenues increased only six percent—less than the cost of the five new enforcers and their accompanying vehicles. 

Although parking enforcement officers are supposed to pay for themselves by the parking ticket revenue they generate, that might not be happening, Wozniak contends, because of a perennial Berkeley problem: broken parking meters.  

“It may be that what we need to do is hire more people to fix the meters,” he said. 

Interviews with city staff members reveal that Wozniak has a point—about the lost meter revenue, at least. Berkeley boasts 3,263 parking meters, 3,200 of them digital versions of the old standby one-meter-per-space Duncan Eagle meters. The remaining 63 are Aussie import Reino meters, each covering up to six parking spaces. 

The city’s meters yielded $1.9 million in coins in the last fiscal year, $700,000 short of the budgeted amount.  

Yes, “that’s because so many meters were broken,” said Capt. Stephanie Fleming, who commands the Berkeley Police Department’s Field Support Division, which includes parking enforcement.  

Assistant City Manager Peter Hillier said he expects the meters in the current fiscal year will increase, yielding about $2.3 million in coins. 

Meter breakdowns have become a staple of the Berkeley street scene and the source of relentless media coverage. Last year, a third of the city’s meters had been rendered inoperable—for the most part intentionally—said Wozniak, explaining that “people are constantly breaking and jamming them.” 

The city doesn’t keep figures on non-functioning meters as such—only on the numbers repaired, according to Danette Perry, Senior Public Works Supervisor. Perry said that 3,358 meters were brought in for repair or routine maintenance in last December, more than double the 1,446 recorded a year earlier. 

Hillier cited the numbers as “representative of the increased evidence which the city has placed on meter repair over the last year.”  

December 2003 was also when the city’s superintendent of parking meters retired, Wozniak said, noting that no replacement has been hired, even though “that person is very important for the city’s general revenue,” he said. 

Fleming agreed that the city should devote more effort to keeping the meters up and running. But while Hillier also acknowledges that meters need fixing, he disagrees with Wozniak’s contention that diminishing returns challenge the need for more enforcement officers. 

“I don’t think we’ve reached the threshold,” Hillier said. “There are areas of the city where enforcement is sparse because of lack of enough officers to provide adequate coverage.” 

Capt. Fleming said the city could use more men and women in those distinctive $20,000 Go-4 ticketmobiles. “In the mid-1990s,” she said, “there were 28 parking enforcement officers,” not counting two supervisors, “but the city cut way back—down to 18—in the interests of ‘kinder and gentler’ enforcement policies.” 

While the city now employs 23 enforcement officers—one currently on a year-long assignment with another city department—the number of Residential Preferential Parking zones has increased. “So we have a lower number trying to cover more territory,” Fleming said. 

Two positions are currently unfilled, and Fleming is considering creation of a temporary employee list to fill in for officers who are off due to illness, vacation, or disability. 

“Parking enforcement officers bring in about $200,000 each annually—four times their annual salaries,” Fleming said. 

Like Hillier, she challenged Wozniak’s contention that the city might be devoting too much of its enforcement effort to non-meter enforcement areas. “We’re trying to give as much enforcement as we can across the board, but we’re spread pretty thin.” 

Fleming did agree that chalking tires takes a lot more time that checking meters and leads to more physical problems, but she said it still produces a substantial net gain for the city coffers. And the captain disputed Wozniak’s claim that chalking leads directly to disability claims. Fleming said only one of the three disability claims filed by city parking meter enforcement officers last year was caused by arm and shoulder injuries from tire-chalking. The other two resulted from an Achilles tendon injury and an organic illness, she said. 

Even with its numerous problems, however, Berkeley’s parking enforcement program is a cash cow for the city’s budget. 

“We brought in $6.9 million from citations in the last fiscal year, $200,000 more than was budgeted,” said Capt. Fleming. 

Hillier said drivers who overstay the two-hour daytime limit in the city’s Residential Preferential Parking permit zones chip in $2.4 million in fines, and folks who do things like improperly park where curbs are red (no parking zones) yellow (commercial loading and unloading), white (passenger loading and unloading), or blue (handicapped), or leave their cars at bus stops, crosswalks, intersections and the wrong side of the street on sweeping days cough up another $2.2 million. The remaining $2.3 million comes from tickets issued for expired meters. 

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Residents Blast UCB’s Long-Range Expansion Plan

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Friday May 14, 2004

UC Berkeley is growing and so is the litany of complaints from neighbors demanding the university cease and desist its expansion. 

“They’ve been a horrible neighbor,” Berkeley resident Bennett Markel told a Tuesday night scoping session on the university’s Long Range Development Plan (LRDP). “I can’t imagine any official of the university standing up here and being proud of anything.” 

Markel was among some 25 citizens who showed up at the legally-required meeting on the university’s Clark Kerr Campus on Warring Street to blast the LRDP, the document that will direct new university construction on the campus and in city streets through 2020. 

The Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the plan, released last month, projected 2,600 new dormitory beds, 2,300 new parking spaces, 5320 new daily visitors to the campus and 2.2 million square feet of new administrative space—three times more than called for in the campus’ 1990 LRDP. 

The university desperately needs the new administrative space, UC Berkeley Project Manager Kerry O’Banion told residents at the meeting. After absorbing several thousand new students over the past five years and concentrating much of its capital funding towards retrofitting older buildings, O’Banion said the university has a 450,000 square foot shortage of research space. 

The project manager asserted that three-quarters of the new construction would be built on the main campus or adjoining city blocks—not in far-flung neighborhoods as past plans had proposed. The concept, he said, would mirror that of a computer or biotech company which are “designed for spontaneous interactions” among employees.  

Neighbors expressed concerns that the main campus was essentially being transformed into an industrial park, but O’Banion said 95 percent of funding for new construction projects has come from public or non-private sources. 

He also said that the university, which is not bound to city zoning rules and doesn’t pay city taxes, was committed to following Berkeley’s General (zoning) Plan and paying its fair share for mitigating the problems its expansion was bound to cause. 

Although O’Banion has acknowledged neighborhood concerns that the realization of the plan would lead to more traffic congestion, he said that a lower rate of growth “would not meet the long term needs of the campus.” 

After O’Banion spoke, the neighbors took the floor and the critiques and demands kept on flowing. 

“It’s difficult for me to understand how a huge amount of taxpayer money can be put on top of the Hayward Fault,” said Raymond Mathis, an architect. Mathis, like many residents who spoke at Tuesday’s session, wanted to cap UC Berkeley growth and direct the new student growth to campuses with more expansion potential, such UC Davis. 

Dean Metzger, chair of the Berkeley Transportation Commission and president of the Claremont Elmwood Neighborhood Association (CENA), warned that Berkeley didn’t have the financial resources to pay for the extra demand for city services and set forth a list of demands. 

Metzger said he wanted the university to abide by a covenant with the city to limit the expansion of the Clark Kerr Campus, redesign transit routes for commuters, provide a free transit pass for faculty and staff, enforce rules prohibiting students in dorms from having cars, pay for parking meter maintenance, and prevent construction crews involved in the expansion from parking their trucks on residential blocks. 

Traffic was also a concern for Martha Jones, a former CENA president. Jones doubted a UC plan to help the city deal with traffic congestion by installing a series of traffic lights would benefit her neighborhood. “Although [the university] said they would help pay for the traffic lights, I must refuse their generosity,” she said. 

Others were more blunt. 

“What we have in this document is a road map for war,” said Jim Sharp, who lives just north of the campus. 

Philip Price, a city Parks and Recreation Commissioner and Lawrence Berkeley Lab employee, said, “The best thing they could do is just stop growing.” 

Dorris Willingham argued the university should only expand on its main campus instead of cramming itself into Berkeley neighborhoods. “You have to do a little bit more damage there before wrecking our lives,” she contended. 

One place neighbors were adamant that UC not expand to was the hill campus—home to the Strawberry Creek watershed. The only new development considered for the site is a 100-unit housing complex for new faculty members on Summit Road. 

Marge Madigan, who lives on that street, said her neighborhood couldn’t handle an influx of new neighbors, who could make it more difficult to evacuate in the case of an earthquake or a fire. “If we have to get out quickly a traffic light isn’t going to help a bit,” she said. 

For the most part, residents were skeptical that the university would address their concerns.  

“I think we know what we say here won’t make the slightest bit of difference,” said Sharon Hudson. 

By state law, the university must respond to all issues raised at the scoping sessions in a final Environmental Impact Report which will be sent to the UC Board of Regents for approval. 

The city, meanwhile, is studying the Draft EIR and planning simultaneous negotiations with the university to pay a higher share of fees for city services such as sewers and public safety. The City Council will consider the university’s plan at a May 25 workshop and again at its June 8 meeting.


Survey Boosts Funding for Berkeley Homeless

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Friday May 14, 2004

Forty percent of Alameda County’s chronically homeless spend their nights in Berkeley, according to detailed findings released Thursday from a county-wide homeless report. 

The $241,000 survey, conducted last year by the Alameda County-Wide Continuum of Care Council, found what casual observers and trained professionals in Berkeley have recognized anecdotally for years. Compared to their brethren across the rest of the county, Berkeley’s homeless are more likely to be adults, unmarried, male, substance abusers and mentally and physically disabled. They are also more likeley to be chronically homeless— a category the federal government defines as someone who has been without shelter for the past 12 months. 

Survey results will be used to drive the county’s 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness, said Megan Schatz, the care council’s survey coordinator.  

Completion and approval of the plan is a prerequisite for receiving funding from the Bush administration, which has refocused its priorities over the next decade from providing services to homeless to finding permanent shelter for the chronically homeless. 

Schatz said that despite the federal mandate on ending chronic homelessness, the Alameda County plan would study ways to serve the entire homeless population.  

“We’re working with behavioral health care services, mental health, the county office on AIDS to really plan for all people of extremely low income,” she said. 

Last November, Alameda County released broad demographic data compiled from the survey which, under federal definitions, counted 821 homeless people in Berkeley among 5,080 in Alameda County. Those numbers marked a decrease from previous estimates based on the 1990 census, which put the figure at between 1,000 and 1,200 homeless in Berkeley and between 9,000 and 12,000 countywide.  

Researchers believe last year’s survey underestimated the actual size of the homeless population because some homeless people do not use services and others are in jails, group homes, or mental institutions that were not part of the study. 

Survey organizers—funded by public and private donations—sent 155 trained community volunteers into 54 of the county’s homeless service centers to interview 1,461 patrons.  

The data released Thursday offers a far more detailed snapshot of Berkeley’s homeless population. 

Ninety-four percent of the city’s homeless population are adults, compared to 71 percent countywide. Of Berkeley’s 821 homeless people, 529 are labeled chronic—two-thirds of the city’s entire homeless population. Across the county, the chronically homeless account for only 36 percent of the population. 

The numbers are based on definitions provided by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). A separate standard also used by researchers counted 835 homeless in Berkeley, 786 of which were chronically homeless. 

The survey found that 80 percent of the homeless in Berkeley are men, compared to just 56 percent in Oakland.  

People with homes who qualify to use homeless services were also included in the survey and contrasted with the homeless population.  

Only 51.8 percent of the housed population who received services in Berkeley actually lived in Berkeley. Among the homeless, 78 percent of the service recipients slept in the city. 

Seventy-five percent of Berkeley’s homeless had reported being arrested compared to 62 percent of recipients with homes. 

In Berkeley, 47 percent of the service users are African American and 42.3 percent are white. However, the chronically homeless included more whites and fewer blacks. 

Seventy-seven percent of homeless service users in Berkeley and 55 percent of housed service users are disabled, compared to 56 percent and 42 percent countywide. Among the more common chronic conditions, 15 percent have been told they have asthma, 8 percent have been told they are diabetic and 11 percent have been told they have tuberculosis.  

Housed users of services in Berkeley were more likely to report learning disabilities (48 percent to 3.5 percent) and mental illness (44 percent to 38 percent). Homeless users were more likely to report disabilities due to alcohol abuse (14.5 percent to 3 percent) and drug abuse (9.2 percent to 3.5 percent). 

Among chronically homeless using services in Berkeley, 54 percent claimed to be alcoholics, 48 percent claimed to be drug addicts, and 40 percent claimed a mental illness. 

In Berkeley, 34 percent of the housed, 60 percent of the homeless, and 65 percent of the chronically homeless service users reported receiving mental health services in the last year. Homeless and chronically homeless service users were nearly twice as likely to receive mental health services as housed service users. 

Countywide, the total income for a homeless person averaged $727. Berkeley is noteworthy in that fully 36 percent of the service users—contrasted with 12 percent across the county—reported no income. Researchers attribute the finding to the fact that 91.5 percent of Berkeley’s homeless service users are single adults. 

Jane Micallef, a community services specialist in the Berkeley Housing Department, said the survey confirmed what the department already suspected, but that it could still be helpful. 

“With this quantity and quality of data, we can do program planning and policy in a way we’ve never done before,” she said. “Our sense is we need a more intensive, deeper type of service that people can access.” 

The city has already reoriented its resources towards helping the chronically homeless and combining social services with housing assistance.  

Despite the city’s budget shortfall, Berkeley government officials have pledged to maintain the level of funding to community agencies that serve the homeless. Of that money, City Manager Phil Kamlarz has shifted $168,000 from other homeless programs to fund an initiative that provides homes and intensive services for the chronically homeless. 

Berkeley would seemingly stand to gain from the Bush Administration’s pledge to end chronic homelessness, but Micallef said that so far, the federal priority hasn’t translated into a lot of money for cities. Still, she said, Berkeley’s disproportionately large percentage of chronically homeless could serve it well when it seeks federal grants. 

The city spends roughly $1.2 million and receives about $700,000 more in federal and state grants to maintain 250 emergency shelter beds and emergency support services like meals, showers and drop-in centers. The city and several community agencies also receive federal money to build new housing. The money has so far funded 93 units of transitional housing and 318 units of permanent supportive housing. 

 

 

 

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Confusion Surrounds University Avenue Zoning Plan

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Friday May 14, 2004

With less than a month left to decide how to shrink new buildings on University Avenue, city staff presented a highly detailed draft zoning overlay to the Berkeley Planning Commission Wednesday night that disappointed some commissioners and residents and left others scratching their heads. 

“We’re puzzled,” said Commissioner Gene Poschman. He joined the call for the staff to provide three dimensional models that could help provide a better view of how future buildings would look on the ground. 

Working off recommendations from the Planning Commission, Principal Planner Alan Gatzke presented new zoning rules filled with possible exemptions and incentives for developers that could keep the size of new buildings on the avenue a guessing game. 

“Only a land-use attorney or an Enron energy trader could love the latest draft because of the endless ways to game the gullible,” said Stephen Wollmer, a cartographer and Berkeley resident, who last month took his own stab at drafting a plan. 

If the latest plan is complex, so is the task before city planners. After repeated outcry from residents that new buildings on University were so tall and bulky that they encroached on adjoining neighborhoods, the City Council ordered staff to fastrack new zoning rules that conform to the 1996 University Avenue Strategic Plan.  

The strategic plan called for building heights of three stories along the avenue (with four stories allowed at selected intersections targeted for retail development), but it never contemplated a state law that Berkeley developers have used in recent years to blow through those limits.  

For buildings that include affordable housing, the state law allows them to build 25 percent more space than allowed under zoning requirements. Residents have argued the rule inevitably results in buildings too big for their surrounding neighborhoods. 

After months of debating an acceptable building envelope to constrain the size of developments, the debate Wednesday shifted to what types of projects would be exempt from the restrictions and what types of incentives developers would receive for improvements to retail spaces and sidewalks. 

The staff provided an extensive list of exemptions for projects that would be free from zoning rules, but no restrictions on how massive those buildings could grow. 

“This creates all sorts of loopholes,” said Plan Berkeley’s Richard Graham, who labeled the draft “a horrible setback.” 

Among the types of projects that would qualify for a waiver include public buildings such as a library or a school, a housing project with 50 percent affordable units, a senior housing project, a project that complies with environmentally friendly building standards, a project that includes 50 percent more retail space than required by the city, and a project that includes more commercial parking than required. 

The language set off alarm bells for residents and commissioners. Of the four buildings in the pipeline for University Avenue, two are more than 50 percent affordable. The largest plot on the avenue is the adult school owned by the Berkeley Unified School District, which has signaled its intent to redevelop the property. 

City Planning Manager Mark Rhoades promised to return with guidelines for the exempt properties. “We’re not talking about 10-story buildings. That was never the intent,” he said. 

The issue of incentives for developers also proved controversial.  

Principal Planner Gatzke laid out a menu of improvements to retail space and pedestrian amenities that developers could make in return for increased building size. The incentives included public plazas, setbacks for wider sidewalks, light fixtures, courtyards, and flexible ground floor space that can be converted to retail uses. 

Wollmer charged that some of the incentives were not proportional to the improvement offered and amounted to a giveback to developers.  

The slew of exemptions and incentives also raised concerns that the zoning overlay was becoming too complicated for its own good. 

“The goal of the process should be understandable standards,” said Robin Kibby also of Plan Berkeley. “You shouldn’t have to schedule an appointment with a zoning officer to understand development on University Avenue.” 

Although it wasn’t debated, the latest draft didn’t include a proposal from Commissioner Susan Wengraf that would have reduced the allowable size of buildings. The goal of Wengraf’s plan was that even when developers used the 25 percent density bonus for buildings that included affordable housing, the project would not balloon larger than what was called for in the strategic plan. 

Gatzke said the Wengraf proposal would produce minimum building sizes too small to be within the spirit of a state law that prohibits a city from diminishing its development capacity. 

The current recommendation from staff would allow developments that could grow bigger than the standards in the zoning ordinance when the state density bonus was included. Gatzke said the increased size could be accommodated by an extra floor along the street frontage of the building. Under his calculations, with a density bonus, a three-story building would become four stories and a four-story building in one of the intersections targeted for retail would become five stories. 

City staff is charged with coming back to the Planning Commission in two weeks with written responses and recommendations based upon concerns raised at Wednesday night’s meeting. 

 




Briefly Noted

Friday May 14, 2004

Reddy Family Restaurant Loses Liquor License 

The tap has run dry at the Indian restaurant owned by Berkeley’s most notorious real estate dynasty. 

Last month the State Department of Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) suspended the liquor license for the Pasand Madras Cuisine and Gift at 2286 Shattuck Ave. for 270 days on grounds of “moral turpitude.” 

The restaurant is owned by the family of Lakireddy Bali Reddy, who is serving his third year of a 97-month sentence for his role in a family plot to smuggle Indians into the country for sex and cheap labor. 

Alcohol licenses are forbidden to people who plead guilty to certain federal crimes, said ABC District Administrator Andrew Gomez.  

In addition to Reddy, the other licensees listed at the restaurant were Reddy’s brother, Jayaprakash Lakireddy, and his sister-in-law, Annapurna Lakireddy, each of whom pled guilty to once count of conspiring to commit immigration fraud in connection with the family’s illegal activities. 

The suspension runs until Jan. 8, 2005. As part of an agreement reached between the Reddy’s and ABC, the agency will allow the family to transfer the license to a trust for the Reddy children managed by family members. Reddy, his brother and sister-in-law are prohibited from having any future ownership or managerial stake in the restaurant. 

They will not be able to apply for another ABC license for a “rehabilitation period” that typically lasts seven years, Gomez said. 

State Colleges Heads Make Private Budget Deal With Governor 

Over the howls of state Democratic Party lawmakers, the heads of the University of California and California State University systems reached a six-year deal with Gov. Schwarzenegger this week that promises to offset this year’s budget cut with increased funding in future years. 

The compact, announced Tuesday, calls for a three percent annual increase in state funding for salaries and other cost increases through 2006-7, and a four percent increase thereafter. Starting in 2005-06, the state would also provide annual funding for an additional 5,000 students at UC and 8,000 students at CSU. 

UC estimates it will have to enroll 60,000 new students by 2010 to meet the requirements of its master plan to accept the top 12.5 percent of state high school students. Because of the state’s budget shortfall, this year will be the first that UC and CSU fail to enroll all qualified students. 

The college/governor agreement also softens the immediate impact of student fee increases, proposed in the governor’s budget last January. Instead of a 40 percent hike for UC graduate students this coming fall, they will be hit with a 20 percent hike with a 10 percent increase in 2005 and 2006. 

Assemblymember Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) joined a chorus of Democratic Party colleagues in criticizing the agreement for not providing enough money for state universities. “The governor has gone over the heads of the Legislature to make this deal. I hope Californians will do the same and go straight to the governor with their outrage,” Hancock said in a prepared statement.


Artists Challenge Proposed Animal Shelter Location

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Friday May 14, 2004

When the five-member Berkeley City Council Subcommittee on the New Animal Shelter and the Citizens Humane Commission sat down at their joint meeting Wednesday afternoon with the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society to discuss the future of animal care in the city, nobody expected a catfight. They got one anyhow. 

A group of anxious artists used the session to challenge both the city and the Humane Society over the fate of the building that’s been home to the Nexus Gallery and Collective for more than two decades. 

The key problem for the artists is that they fear the Humane Society, which owns the building in the 2700 block of Eighth Street, plans to tear it down to make way for an enlarged animal shelter facility 

“We’re scared because we got a call that Mayor Bates wants to do a walk-through of our building next week,” said Sharon Siskin, a Nexus artist. Our landlords are not telling us what’s going on.” 

With both the animal shelter and the humane society facilities running out of room, Berkeley is under pressure to start using the bond money voters authorized for construction of a new shelter large enough to combine both functions. 

“We are very interested in the opportunity to work together with the city,” said Mim Carlson, executive director of the Humane Society. “Having two separate shelters does not serve the needs of this community.” 

“We’re in a time crunch,” said Jill Posener, chair of the city’s Humane Commission. “We have to push for some kind of joint working group to start this process rolling. My preference is that we include members of the arts community. While the shelter will hopefully be built in West Berkeley, there shouldn’t be a conflict between animal lovers and art lovers.” 

Posener said she was worried that the city was looking at sites of 20,000 square feet or less for the new shelter, “which would preclude a joint facility” with the Humane Society. “We have a bond fund of $7.2 million and we don’t even have cleaning staff for the shelter. Animal control officers are doing the cleaning.” 

Bob Brockl of Nexus faulted Posener and the city for rejecting other sites, increasing the pressure on Nexus, which houses work space for 25 artists and crafts workers in an unreinforced masonry building which the city has tagged for either a seismic retrofit or the wrecking ball. 

With two years left on their lease and no commitment for a renewal from the Humane Society, Nexus is reluctant to shell out the six-figure retrofit costs—which Brockl and Siskin said the group would be happy to pay in return for a long-term lease. 

Dan Lambert, city coordinator for unreinforced masonry retrofits, said the structure—built in 1924 by the Austin Company of Cleveland (builders of the Heinz Building at Ashby and San Pablo avenues)—had already received two retrofit extensions, and a third couldn’t be issued unless a building permit was filed.  

“We feel very sympathetic to nonprofit organizations, but we have to treat all owners the same way. There’s not a lot of time left from out point of view.” Lambert said. 

Posener said she regretted turning down one site near the Bayer facility because she didn’t want to relocate near a company conducting on-site animal experiments. She rejected another site at 925 Camellia because the site was across from a residential neighborhood and the existing structure required demolition. 

Under the West Berkeley Plan, anyone “demolishing space used by artists is required to replace it with similar space and similar rents. 

Councilmember Dona Spring said she’d heard from a Nexus artist who didn’t like the idea of tearing down their building and setting them up on top of a new animal shelter, an idea that’s been floated by the Humane Society. 

“Having a wood shop anywhere but the ground floor doesn’t make sense,” Brockl said after the meeting. “And we’ve already put $100,000 into roof work.” 

The joint subcommittee/Humane Commission meeting did end on one positive note when a motion by Councilmember Betty Olds carried, establishing that the city favors working jointly with the Humane Society on humane issues. 

That resolution and other issues will be taken up at the next meeting, scheduled for 4 p.m. June 2 in the sixth floor Redwood Room at City Hall. 

After the meeting ended, one member of the Humane Commission muttered, “People are telling me they won’t show up for another meeting if those damn artists are there again.”


Police Blotter

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Friday May 14, 2004

Heisters Flash Piece, Grab Cash 

Two angry young men, one packing a pistol, braced a hapless pedestrian near the intersection of Stuart and Fulton streets shortly before 3 a.m. last Friday, relieving him of his cash before fleeing on foot, according to Joe Okies, the new Berkeley Police spokesperson. 

An hour later, another pair of bandits, one wearing an mask and both equipped with strong arms rather than pistols, relieved another pedestrian of his cash near Milvia Street and Channing Way. 

No suspects have been arrested in either crime. 

Eight hours later, another strong-arm artist was less fortunate after he plied his craft at the Walgreen Drug Store at San Pablo Avenue and Burnett Street. 

Police arrested Geoffrey Murihai, 27, on a charge of robbery and provided him with new accommodations at Berkeley City Jail. 

 

Strong-Arm Trios Strike, Burglar Loses Bigtime 

Three young men approached a woman on Dwight Way at Warring Street a half hour after midnight Saturday night, stealing her purse before fleeing into the night. 

Another man was less fortunate three hours later when a baseball-bat-and-knife-weilding trio confronted him at Bancroft Way and Fourth Street. After imparting minor injuries, they departed with his cash. 

Police have made no arrests in either case, said Officer Okies. 

Another alleged bandit strong-armed his way into the strong arms of the law Saturday night during an attempted heist of Tower Records at Durant and Telegraph. 

Police arrested Kaidi Cluchette, 25, shortly before 11 p.m. on charges of robbery and assault on a police officer, charges rendered more serious because of a prior theft conviction. 

 

Melee Ends in Injuries 

Barely 80 minutes after the Tower Records caper, officers were back at Telegraph and Durant, responding to reports of a melee. 

By the time they arrived shortly after 12:13 a.m., the five-on-five fracas had ended and nine of the participants had ankled it outta there, leaving one of their number nursing injuries serious enough to require a trip to the hospital. 

No suspects had been identified, and no further details were available, said Officer Okies. 

 

Angry Pedestrian Jailed for Bashing Cop 

A Berkeley police officer got more than he counted on early Sunday evening when he questioned a pedestrian at Sacramento and Oregon streets. So did the pedestrian. 

After the irate walker landed a punch, the officer subdued him and gave him a free ride to the city lockup. 

Danduval Hartwell, 46, was booked on charges of assaulting an officer, interfering with a police officer, and violating the terms of his probation from an earlier conviction. 

 

Robbers Take Note, Hit Berkeley Banks 

Note-toting bank robbers struck three times in Berkeley last Wednesday, said Officer Okies, but failed on their first two efforts. 

The first heist attempt came shortly after 9 a.m. when a man walked into a bank at Vine Street and Shattuck Avenue and presented a note demanding the teller fork over the cash. 

When the lucre wasn’t forthcoming, the frustrated robber fled. 

The next attempt took place shortly after 1 p.m., when a pair of would-be robbers ambled into a bank at San Pablo and University avenues and presented their withdrawal demand, leaving after they realized that no one was rushing to dish out the dollars. 

The third time proved the charm. Two bandits walked into a bank at College and Ashby avenues, asked for money, and a teller complied. 

Officer Okies said robbery detectives hadn’t released any details of the crimes nor any detailed descriptions of the would-be and actual perps. 

e


Tireless Music Man Awarded Teacher of the Year

By JAKOB SCHILLER
Friday May 14, 2004

According to retired Berkeley music teacher Jesse Anthony, “Music is the language that has the most possibilities of communication. There is no language that communicates better than music. That language, it goes deeper that what we can create in word, it gets to the heart and soul of people, it communicates feelings on that level. One soul can talk to another soul with music.” 

For Anthony, music has been the soul of a 34-year career with the Berkeley public schools, where he has taught band to elementary, junior high and high school students. Earlier this week, those efforts were formally recognized when Anthony was awarded the prestigious teacher of the year award from the Bay Area’s classical radio station, KDFC. 

“He is tireless in his efforts to keep music alive in the schools,” wrote community member Carrol Carpenter in the short essay she wrote to KDFC to nominate Anthony. “He rallies his co-workers, parents, administrators, and has been an advocate to school boards over the course of his years of service to keep music in the schools. He is an inspiration to all who know him.” 

“I’m thrilled for him. I think he is probably our most tireless champion in terms of the value of music for students,” said Suzanne McCulloch, visual and performing arts coordinator for the Berkeley Unified School District. 

Until he retired last year, Anthony spent years commuting between different Berkeley schools, ensuring that as many students as possible were exposed to music. At times he has visited as many as six schools in one day. Through budget cuts and hard times, Anthony said he has been committed to ensuring that music and the arts in general are a universal and regular part of the curriculum, just like math or science. 

“We would not have the trouble we have if the arts were really pushed,” said Anthony. “Art occupies your mind, it gives you value. Music empowers, the students become aware of their ability to create.” 

Outside of teaching, Anthony has sat on committees, lobbied the school board, and raised funds to ensure the Berkeley school’s music programs survive during financial slumps. Even today, though officially retired, he still teaches the seventh and eighth grade band at Martin Luther King Middle School five days a week. Anthony has seen generation after generation of musicians develop at the schools, and has helped some of the more famous Berkeley students during their formal years. His band at King, for example, has always been a feeder for the renowned and award winning Berkeley High Jazz Band. 

“There is nobody quite like Mr. Anthony,” said Nate Schneider, a seventh-grade trumpet player at King. “He’s had a big influence on me.” 

Schneider gained notoriety last year when he collected over $300 as a street musician as part of his community service obligation before his Bar Mitzvah. He donated all the money to the Berkeley schools to try and ease the current budget crisis. Schneider and a friend also provided musical entertainment during the Berkeley Public Education Foundation annual luncheon, where he honored Anthony for his help. 

Schneider said Anthony’s commitment to providing students the opportunity to hear and play music with a band five days a week has been a tremendous help. He also credits Anthony for helping him build a passion for jazz, the main diet for the seventh and eighth grade band. 

“People take what he does for granted, but he’s helped a couple generations of students, so I thought he should be honored,” said Schneider.  

Anthony said he grew up at a time when it was hard to get access to music lessons. He was born in Newport, Arkansas, and quickly joined the army at 18 in order to play in their band. He ended up getting his masters degree in music. 

Along with the award, which will be formally presented on May 27 at the school’s end of the year concert, is a $1,000 grant that KDFC will give to the school. Anthony hopes to use it to help pay one of several volunteer assistants who come into his class and help out with the 51 students in the seventh and eighth grade band.  

On Friday, which is a non-obligatory day for the band students, but instead an opportunity for those who need more help to come in, Anthony will be in the band room working with the students. As part of an incentive, he’ll have donuts, which he buys out of his own pocket. Regardless of how many students show up, Anthony said he is there to help. 

“I have a theory,” said Anthony. “As long as kids are excited, then now is the time to get a hold of them.” 


Commission Denies Landmark Status to Amos Cottage

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Friday May 14, 2004

After nearly two hours of pleas and discussion, the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission Monday night denied a request to bestow “structure of merit” status on the Amos Cottage, built the year Berkeley became a city. 

The effort to save the modest, 1878 Italianate Victorian home at 2211 Fifth St. was spearheaded by neighbor Stan Huncilman, a sculptor who lives in another Victorian a few houses away. 

“This house is as old as Berkeley,” Huncilman told commissioners. “This is not about its present condition or the costs of renovation but about the preservation of the history of Berkeley.” 

Sally Sachs, board member of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, presented petitions signed by 150 participants in last Sunday’s tour of Berkeley Victorians calling on the commission to spare the house. 

“It’s important to save examples of working class cottages as well as Victorian mansions,” said Stephanie Manning, who lives in another Italianate Fifth Street cottage a block to the north. 

But the preservationists launched their campaign only after the city’s Zoning Adjustment Board had approved demolition of the house to make way for a six-unit residential complex on the site. 

Architect Timothy Rempel, who owns the property with spouse Elizabeth Miranda, appeared to argue against preservation. 

“Given the dilapidated condition of the structure and its lack of exterior or interior integrity and low historical value, we want to replace it with needed housing,” Rempel said. “Six families will be able to live where one does now.” 

“You make a sham of what cultural value means,” declared Miranda. “The building doesn’t have merit.” 

Though 11 citizens spoke in favor of saving the structure, 14 rose to denounce it—many of them architects and computer graphics artists. Rempel had also collected pro-demolition letters from professors of architecture. 

“People who live in the neighborhood say the building should stay, and people who work there say it should go” said contractor Richard Schwartz, author of Berkeley 1900 and a proponent of sparing the structure. 

While the humble structure lacks the majestic grandeur of some of Berkeley’s better-known Victorians built for bankers, merchants, developers and university officials, supporters of the landmark designation cited the dwelling’s significance in the history of working class Berkeley. 

The dwelling is a block south of other Victorians incorporated in the new Sisterna Historic District 106, created by the commission three months ago. Only one home in the district is older than the dwelling at 2211 Fifth St. 

West Berkeley offered a haven to immigrants from Ireland, Mexico, Chile and Germany, who provided the labor to keep the neighborhood’s soap factory, planing mill and grist mill working. 

Mary Amos, a native of New York, had been widowed less than two years when she built the home for herself and her two young children.  

A later owner, James Balcom, worked as a teamster for the Standard Soap Company, one of the first industries to set up shop in West Berkeley. Another owner had worked as a miner before hiring on to drive a team for Standard Soap. 

Two later owners bore Hispanic surnames, and the last owner ran a small doll factory in the basement. 

Preservation proponents pointed to the building’s uniqueness as a home built by a single woman—a considerable accomplishment in an era when women were effectively second class citizens with few rights. 

When it came time for the commission’s debate, Leslie Emmington, who moved to give the cottage protection as a structure of merit, said the building “can shine with history.” 

But Adam Weiss said it “wasn’t reasonable” to “landmark something when it no longer has integrity. We should focus on buildings with enough elements still present.” 

The call for landmark designation failed on a 5-4 vote..


UnderCurrents: Rethinking Assumptions About Oakland’s Violence

J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR
Friday May 14, 2004

For a city whose fate and future is so bound up in violence, Oakland is remarkably ignorant of the nature of that beast. Oh, the street people hanging out in the ‘80s and ‘90s along International pretty much know what to do when someone is stepping around the corner to pop their trunk, and scatter well ahead of time. That is why you rarely hear of street people getting hit by stray bullets. The young folks, too, tend to know in advance when things are about to turn ugly, and why. But Oakland—official, acknowledged Oakland, anyhow—does not pay much attention to the opinions of our young people. And as for the street people, well, we do not pay any attention to them, at all. 

And so, in the aftermath of the recent, narrow defeat of Measure R (Councilmember Nancy Nadel’s violence prevention initiative), Oakland—the Oakland that we pay attention to, that is—has renewed an intense debate over the cure of the disease (should we have 80 percent police and 20 percent social programs? how much of our police force should be “community” police?), as if the cause of it had already been settled. Meantime we move forward—without much thought—in the direction that helped bring about the current problems in the first place. 

We learn—first from a Tribune column written by Brenda Payton and then from the website at www.carnaval.com/carijama/—that for fear of violence, Oakland has moved the annual Carijama Festival to Frank Ogawa Plaza, an act of civic stupidity that deserves more attention than it has been given. Not Carijama. Moving it to Ogawa Plaza. 

Every Memorial Day for two decades, Carijama was put on by a private organization at Mosswood Park, on the cusp of North and West Oakland. The festival is a blend of Oakland’s Caribbean, African, and African-American cultures, a family affair where thousands of citizens come out to barbecue, lay on blankets on the grass, dance, watch the parades and colorful stage performances, or make their purchases among the various vendor booths. The festival itself always goes off without any trouble, and why should one expect any? 

For the past two years, however, problems have occurred in the early evening hours, just as the festival was breaking up. Everyone—Carijama organizers, police representatives, and festival participants—have agreed that the troubles have emanated from young people who did not attend the festival, but were drawn to the Mosswood Park area late in the day by the large crowds. Whatever the causes—and it is interesting that, as usual, Oakland seems to have had no official investigation into the causes—the last two years have seen incidents of violence which have had to be broken up by police intervention. What kind of violence remains vague. In 2002, a friend told me she believed that everything stemmed from a fight between a couple of girls, followed by a stampede by people who rushed over to observe, and finally a panicked scattering as police rolled in to break up the crowd. In 2003, it may be that having heard from the year before that “something happens” at the end of Carijama, some folks came out late to see that “something happening,” leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s not clear.  

In any event, like the man who declares his VCR broken because it won’t turn on, we have chunked Carijama out with the trash without first checking if, perhaps, the solution to the problem might be as easy as putting the plug back in the socket. 

For some time now, we have heard three distinct pronouncements from young adult black-and-brown Oaklanders (defined, for these purposes, as Latinos and African-Americans between 16 and 24): 1) that there is little in Oakland, presently, for them to do; 2) ; that most of their attempts to gather peacefully and socially are actively discouraged by official Oakland; and 3) that the vast majority amongst them (95 percent? 98 percent?) are far more opposed to violence than anybody else, since it is they who are most likely to be its victims. These attempts at communication have been generally ignored by Oaklanders in general as we go about deciding city policy, particularly in stemming Oakland’s violent tide. 

For a time, young black-and-brown Oaklanders attempted to organize their own gatherings in vacant parking lots—in the form of what is commonly called “sideshows”—but we broke those up, criminalizing them, driving them into the street, and then driving them out of town, before ever trying to figure out if there might be something useful, there. For the longest, the youngsters begged us to help them in setting up officially sanctioned, safe-and-legal sideshows where they might show off such car-maneuvering skills as sliding and doing donuts, all the time allowing the city to profit-financially-from the exercise. We flat out ignored them and, for the time, being, they seem to have stopped asking. 

Meanwhile, flipping channels, one pauses at the Discovery Channel to find that in locations far, far from Oakland, a group of our more fair-skinned friends (some with British accents) have set up an officially sanctioned, safe-and-legal circuit where—is anyone surprised?—they charge money for people to come in and see them show off such car-maneuvering skills as sliding (they call it drifting) and doing donuts. And so what Oakland creates and then discards, others cash in on. 

Oakland moves Carijama to the sterile Frank Ogawa Plaza, removed from the community where it was born, and one hopes that this will not be its death-knell, but one is not hopeful. Even the dullest amongst us can recognize the parallels to the late, lamented shining jewel that was the Festival at the Lake, which we assassinated under similar circumstances. In our zeal to keep the violence out, we have failed to consider that perhaps this, itself—this policy of deliberate exclusion of large segments of our community—is what allows such violence to simmer. To fester. To grow. 

A rethinking of our assumptions—and then our priorities—appears, once more, to be in order.›


Letters to the Editor

Friday May 14, 2004

PROPOSED BUDGET 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

The city manager’s “Dear Berkeley Neighbors” letter, dated April 2004 (delivered to my mail box May 10), contains the comment that “Over 70 percent of the fiscal year 2005 General Fund budget will go toward services and programs such as public safety, street and sidewalk repairs, quality programs for youth and seniors, and health services.” Of course, no details are given. 

However, his proposed budget for 2005 (dated May 4) shows (pages 20 and 21) that Public Works derives a whole $802,849 from the General Fund. It is strange that his April letter implies that Public Works is a major user of this $104,081,724 fund. A major user which accounts for less than 0.7 percent! 

The basic fact is that essentially none of the General Fund (property tax) goes to maintain the streets, sewers, storm drains, sidewalks, or buildings of our city. In the complex manner that the budget hides details, there are General Funds that go to capital improvements, but in reality much of this is for deferred maintenance—an unpublicized, steadily growing financial albatross. 

John P. Piercy 

 

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UC TAX EXEMPTIONS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Kudos on the first part (“City Tax Burden Skips UC Properties,” Daily Planet, May 11-13) of Richard Brenneman’s two-part piece. 

Here are some numbers to augment that Page Nine photo of the UC Berkeley Extension International Center at 2222 Harold Way. 

Back when the addressee was the Armstrong School of Business, according to the County of Alameda 1995/96 Assessment Roll of Secured Property, that parcel (57-2027-4) generated $24,735.76 of tax liability. 

Flash forward to the 1998/99 Assessment Roll. Armstrong Properties Inc. of Davis is now the addressee and the tax liability has shrunk to $836.42.  

Five fiscal years later, in the 2003/04 Assessment Roll, the parcel generates $851.58. 

Conclusion: UC’s tax exemption at 2222 Harold Way costs Alameda County approximately $23,900 each year in lost revenues. 

Jim Sharp 

 

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RENT BOARD 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

I am writing to express my concern regarding John Koenigs-hofer’s opposition to the Rent Stabilization Board (“Kill City Rent Control Panel, Fatten City Coffers, Build Needed Housing,” Daily Planet, May 11-13). 

Mr. Koenigshofer and I share a common goal: to develop more affordable housing for residents who need it. However I strongly disagree with his approach in achieving this goal. 

While our city faces a fiscal crisis, ending the Rent Stabilization Program would be a disastrous move. 

The Rent Stabilization Program is funded by annual registration fees for units covered under the ordinance, rather than public funds. 

It appears Mr. Koenigshofer does not realize that rent control is Berkeley’s largest affordable housing program. 

By keeping rent levels low, low income residents will have greater access to affordable housing. 

One of the main accomplishments of the Rent Board recently has been defending rent control and the rights of tenants in Berkeley. 

Means testing is a ridiculous idea. Housing is a basic human right, and there should not be restrictions on access to rental housing. 

The Rent Board is also established to protect the rights of tenants. Most landlords illegally inflate rents and compromise the rights to tenants. It is important that these people be held accountable and that tenants are protected from unjust evictions. 

Unfortunately Costa Hawkins has weakened rent control. However it is more of an example of why the Rent Board is so important, to protect the rights of tenants, and preserve the affordable housing supply. 

Mr. Koenigshofer implies that rent control resulted in the housing crisis. Costa Hawkins and excessive rent levels lead to the lack of housing in Berkeley. 

I must disagree with his comments. Now more than ever, we must keep the Rent Stabilization Board. We need to expand its outreach and address rental housing habitability. To create more affordable housing, we need the Rent Board. 

Jesse Arreguin 

Director, ASUC City Affairs Lobby and Housing Commission 

 

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DISASTER WARNINGS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Our city is at risk of a number of specific disasters, and our local government and concerned community groups are working together to minimize the effects of them. A three-pronged warning/ 

advisory system is being worked on. The first warning system is radio—1610 AM. The second is phone—a “reverse 911” system. The third is sound—warning sirens. Each warning method targets specific audiences, and it seems clear that the sirens will quickly alert the greatest number of people. The AM radio station is not listened to consistently in non-emergency times, and reverse 911 calling has an upper limit on the number of calls/minute possible. Warning sirens, which by definition must be loud, catch the attention of people outside (on sidewalks, in cars, in parks) and of many people inside, depending on the number of open windows, screen doors, etc. It is also not dependent on English or Spanish fluency. Once an alert is sounded, residents and visitors will be able to shelter in place and tune into 1610 AM or other emergency broadcast sources, and lives will be saved. 

An airborne siren would alert everyone in the danger zones to take shelter immediately and to tune into emergency broadcasts for more information. Hundreds and perhaps thousands of lives would be saved.  

Richard White wrote a letter detailing a chemical spill involving a freight train last week in these pages. Freight train accidents are commonplace in modern America, and when we add in the various other potential disasters specific to the Bay Area—from radioactive lab emissions to the impending earthquake to the inevitable wild fires to terrorist attacks- being prepared makes sense. When we can react quickly to a disaster via one of these alert systems, we save our lives and the lives of our loved ones, our neighbors, and our visitors to our city. We must put aside momentary annoyance at the loudness of the siren and instead understand that this awful noise is potentially our salvation. Oakland, Richmond, and the UC Berkeley campus recognize this- the rest of Berkeley should have the same chance of survival as those of us who happen to be on campus when the next disaster strikes. 

Jesse Townley 

 

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Editors, Daily Planet:  

Like Kevin Powell (“Cars? In Berkeley? Not a Bad Notion!” Daily Planet, May 11-13), I too am a bemused observer of Berkeley’s parking wars. In a city with the world’s highest per capita of “No war for Oil” bumper stickers, and a place where nobody would ever dream of building a nuclear power plant or toxic waste incinerator, there is yet a small but vocal minority who would have the city build parking garages and suffer all the tons of toxic air pollution generated. 

However, one need not be a car-free Luddite to see that parking garages are not particularly economic or realistic given today’s astronomical property costs. Parking is a low-value proposition compared to other land uses and not something a developer who cares about return on investment would like to build. This leaves only the city to construct parking “improvements” at a time when it is making drastic cuts to the budget and when there are far more cost-effective ways for growing the economy. 

And even if the city had the money and willingness to further subsidize automobile use, plentiful parking is hardly the panacea Mr. Powell seems to think it is. For every Ikea success, there are any number of commercial failures—El Cerrito Plaza and Tanforan for example. Indeed, a glut of parking and direct freeway access has not helped either downtown San Jose or Oakland revive their moribund economies. Mr. Powell cites Palo Alto’s sales tax returns, but fails to mention that its two new $25 million downtown parking garages did not generate more customers as both sit more than half-empty. 

Eric McCaughrin 

 

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Editors, Daily Planet:  

The articles: “Cars? In Berkeley? Not a Bad Notion!” and “Remembering Wendell Lipscomb” in the May 11-13 Daily Planet provide an interesting, and depressing, counterpoint to each other. In the first article, Kevin Powell paints a glowing picture of how adding downtown parking will produce a “vibrant” downtown Berkeley, and “bountiful municipal revenue.” The second article paints a touching portrait of a man who will never see Mr. Powell’s beautiful vision, as he was recently run over and killed by a motor vehicle. 

You can’t scrape old paint off your house. You can’t carry a nail file on a plane. Forty thousand people a year are killed in motor vehicle accidents, and Bangladesh may literally disappear if predictions about sea level changes from global warming are correct. We clearly need more parking. 

Actually, I would have less objection if the city, or some savvy developer, wanted to put in a near-downtown lot with the expectation of making money. What I appear to be hearing instead is an objection to developers who for some obscure reason don’t want to put in parking. Do they know something Mr. Powell doesn’t? 

Robert Clear 

 

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Editor, Daily Planet: 

I must object to the pro-car slant your opinion section has picked up these past few issues. Motorists seem to feel threatened anytime they aren’t the focus of all public transportation funding, even in Berkeley; I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that such attitudes aren’t limited to the ‘burbs. 

Last issue a letter writer argued for more downtown parking with the argument that bringing home a television set or a refrigerator on a bike was not practical. Leaving aside the existence of bike trailers (inexpensive and capable of hauling large loads), the author of the letter seems not to realize that the vast majority of retail transactions in downtown Berkeley are not people buying appliances; they are folks having dinner, enjoying a drink or two, buying clothing, browsing for books--nothing that would require a large cargo capacity. When buying a refrigerator in downtown Berkeley, by all means bring your car; I doubt any mass-transit or bike activist would argue with that formulation. 

In the May 11-13 Daily Planet, Carol Denney pokes fun at a previous letter writer’s assertion that chemotherapy patients are capable of riding bikes to and from treatment, commenting that she “has no desire to have sick, nauseated people wheeling through dangerous streets.” Apparently Ms. Denney would prefer such incapacitated people to drive cars “through dangerous streets,” putting everyone (and not merely themselves) at risk. May I suggest a bus, a taxi, or a car pool? 

Kevin Powell suggests we stop paying attention and get over our outrage. He cites Fourth Street as a pedestrian paradise due to its laissez faire approach to parking. He apparently shops but little on Center Street or Telegraph Avenue, areas that are hard to park in but very transit-friendly (as is Fourth Street, for all but the very convenience-addicted). He misses quite a few points about auto access, but the most significant is parking itself: it’s a taxpayer subsidy to drivers. Parking your car on a street without meters gives you free rental of a six-by-ten-foot piece of valuable commercial property, and your car’s crankcase drippings eat away at the asphalt beneath your car (asphalt, like motor oil, is a petroleum product, and is similarly soluble), which taxpayers must then pay to re-pave. 

All of this is made more bizarre given the front page piece commemorating Dr. Wendell Lipscomb—killed by traffic. In fact, cars killed more people than guns in Berkeley in the past two decades, so we can see that the problem of excess auto traffic is a non-trivial one. Judging from the tone of the last few issues of the Daily Planet, I fear that Berkeley is succumbing to the “Marin disease”—being green until it is inconvenient. Air quality has been steadily declining in the Bay Area for the past few years, and people are advocating more driving? Not all drivers are automorons, but enough are to make life dangerous for pedestrians, bicyclists, and those of us who must subsidize auto addiction through our taxes. Berkeley has some of the best mass-transit access in the U.S., and a fine set of bike boulevards—there’s no reason to encourage driving. 

Michael Treece 

Emeryville  

 

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Editors, Daily Planet:  

You know the Darwin Awards, those tongue-in-cheek prizes for extremely stupid behavior? Berkeley has its own version, with the twist that the grand prize is death. Already one Berkeley kid has died in an accident involving a motorized scooter, and in our South Berkeley neighborhood there’s been another hit-and-run on the sidewalk by a scooter. As I write, local kids are racing up and down the street, helmetless, blasting through stop signs, making an infernal racket and courting extinction. 

Why are these things legal? I have never seen one ridden in accordance with the theoretical regulations: i.e., with a helmet, by someone over age 16, 

and in conformance with the traffic laws. Rather, they are obviously designed for teenage joyriding and bloody mayhem. They have no lights, no horns, no safety equipment, yet they can go extremely fast and are designed to be extremely noisy. 

I was a stupid teen once myself—luckily there were none of these things around then. But have we become so harsh a society that we punish stupid 

teens with death? Time to pull the plug on these moronic machines. 

Paul Rauber 

 

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Editors, Daily Planet:  

Comprehensive watershed plans for both the east and west sides of Grizzly Peak Road should be developed as a preliminary stage to any development in the affected watersheds. The study and plan should be conducted by firms agreed upon by the university and the Berkeley community. The university should agree to be bound by the recommendations of the report. 

Even small-scale construction within a watershed that increases the amount of impervious surfaces will have major impacts throughout the watershed. The accumulated water will course through the watershed more quickly destabilizing everything in its path. Additional water flowing into Berkeley’s creeks will cause greater pressure on the city’s failing storm water infrastructure. A daylighted Strawberry Creek in downtown Berkeley may not have the capacity to handle the additional runoff resulting in chronic flooding and property damage. 

Nature has a way of doing things much better and much more efficiently than we. We shouldn’t underestimate her. 

Tom and Jane Kelly 

 

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Editors, Daily Planet:  

I attended Loni Hancock’s town hall meeting Saturday morning. As expected, it was a limited and biased presentation of our budget problems with most of the blame directed at that perennial culprit: Prop. 13 and that pesky two-thirds rule which thwarts Democrats from raising our taxes and passing a budget. The inference here is that 70 percent of the voters in California got it wrong. 

Anyone who is paying attention is aware of the gross mismanagement, fraud and incredibly generous retirement and health care benefits which are crippling and in some cases bankrupting school districts and city governments. Contra Costa schools are bankrupt because of retirement pay and the life time health benefits for their entire families. This is the fastest growing area in all budgets. State workers can retire at age 50 with 90 percent of their highest years salary and full health benefits. In Berkeley an employee must work only five years to be eligible for benefits. Berkeley City Manager Phil Martz presented a pie chart of the cities expenses showing that services like police, fire, and city employees consume most of the budget. What is not shown is how much is for current services and employees and how much is for retirees and what are the cost projections as retirees increase, live longer and the price of the generous benefits skyrocket. My guess is that the actual service which we think we are paying for will soon be the smallest part of that pie. Don’t expect those “public servants” to sacrifice. The former teachers, instead of restructuring their charitable deal, choose to end school sports, arts, and music programs for the children. 

Michele Lawrence bemoans that 50 billion dollars is not enough for education, which now includes child care, health care, condoms, taxi cabs to pick up students and take them to school, half a million dollars for Oakland teachers cell phones, free lunch programs for obese children, etc. She suggests that California teachers are underpaid even tough they are the highest paid in the United States, work only nine and a half months a year and by all measures are failing at imparting knowledge to their students. There was absolutely no acknowledgment that anything but more money would fix the problem. 

Loni Hancock laughed at the suggestion the Gov. Schwarzenegger could trim government fat and eliminate fraud as a way to balance the budget. Smiling, she spoke of his learning curve in the way of how things really work in Sacramento. Her implication was that corporations ruled and controlled the legislature. There was no suggestion, however, that perhaps unions or special interest groups such as lawyers have any influence. The bankrupt Oakland school district is closing five schools. They are also renovating one. Because of a sweet heart deal with a builders union, the original bid on the project rose so high that it negated the savings from the closing of one of the five schools. When school employees were instructed to pick up their pay checks in person, hundreds went unclaimed. Fraud? Yet, Loni could only single out the prison system for “being expensive and incredibly wasteful.” 

When citizens were allowed to speak, a long line assembled. The first few speakers loaded praise on Loni and selfishly rambled on and on. The speaking was then limited to two minutes. Most wanted assurances that their particular wants and needs would be included in the new budget. Some complained and placed blame for our problems on certain groups. One woman blamed the “Rich” for all our troubles, and although I do not agree with most of the policies of Loni Hancock and Michele Lawrence, I felt this was an unfair condemnation of them. 

Michael Larrick 

 

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XXXXXXXXXX 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

Over the past year our neighborhood has increasingly suffered from the noise of gasoline-powered scooters, mini-bikes, and go-carts. We ask that this situation be remedied by banning these “motor-driven vehicles.” 

Berkeley was a leader as one of the first localities in the nation to ban the use of gas-powered leaf blowers. All of the reasons for prohibiting gas-powered leaf blowers apply to gas-powered scooters, even more so. Plus there are additional, compelling reasons for banning the scooters. 

The main concern with scooters, as with leaf blowers, is noise. The scooters are as loud or louder than gas-powered leaf blowers, but the problem is worse. A neighbor may use a leaf blower once a week during part of the year for 10 minutes or so. Scooters are frequently operated for hours on end by groups of individuals. Scooters are used for recreation, not transportation, and the operators may spend hours in a neighborhood. They are often used by several individuals together so someone living in our neighborhood may have to endure a groups of up to five scooters, with the engines running, stopped on the street or sidewalk in front of one’s home. The noise is horrendous. 

As was noted during the debate on gas-powered leaf blowers, small gas engines are very dirty, emitting much higher levels of pollutants than an automobile operated for the same period of time. 

Moreover, these scooters are frequently operated in violation of several provisions of the California Vehicle Code in a manner that endangers the lives not only of the operators, but also of pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers of automobiles. These include: 1) running stop signs and red lights; 2) driving on the wrong side of the road; 3) underage operators; 4) carrying a passenger; 5) driver and/or passenger failing to wear a helmet; 6) driving on sidewalks; 7) failure to use lights at night; 8) conducting races; 9) riding in parks, schoolyards, and other prohibited areas.  

The scooters are being driven in Strawberry Creek Park, on the track at Rose Parks School, across the Berkeley pedestrian/bicycle overpass bridge, in the dog park at the Berkeley Marina, among other inappropriate places. We ask that the Berkeley Police Department increase its enforcement against these violators. 

As this nation is suffering from an epidemic of obesity, we also note that the mostly young people operating these scooters would be better off getting exercise by riding bicycles. 

These scooters and similar devices are used most frequently during summer. We ask that the City Council move promptly to prohibit the gasoline-powered scooters so that our neighborhood may enjoy some peace and quiet this summer. 

Ric Oberlink and 33 neighbors 

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Comprehensive Health Care Is A Basic Right, Not A Privilege

By Congresswoman Barbara Lee
Friday May 14, 2004

We should be ashamed that, in a country of unmatched wealth and prosperity, we simply allow people to suffer and die if they don’t have the money to pay for our array of medical technologies and services. We should be ashamed that, with everything we have to offer, people who work hard to support their families are frequently left bankrupt or untreated when they or their children get sick or injured. Why? Because they can’t afford health insurance.  

The ongoing phenomenon of Americans working—and living—without health insurance is a tragic injustice—and it’s growing worse. During Cover the Uninsured Week, we must re-double our efforts to remedy this grave injustice. Worse, thanks, to corporate greed and an economy that has cost our workers millions of jobs, the number of uninsured Americans has actually risen over the last few years. According to a recent study, the number of uninsured has climbed from 41 million to 43.6 million. 8.5 million of these uninsured are children. There is absolutely no reason why anyone in this country, regardless of age or medical condition, should be without health insurance. 

Comprehensive health care should not be an option for the lucky or wealthy, but a fundamental right for all. There are a number of legislative initiatives that have been introduced in Congress, and the best of these call for a single-payer health care system, which would guarantee comprehensive health insurance for all Americans. One single-payer option is H.R. 3000, the United States Universal Health Service Act (UHSA), which I have introduced. UHSA would establish a United States Health Service, which would be controlled by the public and administered primarily at the local level. The decentralized system would provide high quality comprehensive care for all, regardless of ability to pay, and distribute services according to need. This bill will specifically make high-quality, preventive, acute, and long-term care available to everyone, regardless of demographics, employment status, or previous health status.  

Congress should be debating proposals like H.R. 3000 to provide access to affordable, quality care for all. Instead, this week, the Republican leadership has scheduled debate on a few modest and flawed measures that, at best, would patch a few small cracks in our broken health care system. We must work to put real health care reform at the top of our nation’s agenda and that means a change in the climate in Washington. We have an opportunity to make that change this November.  

 

Barbara Lee represents California’s Ninth Congressional District.


Berkeley’s Housing Authority Administers Section 8, Public Housing

By HELEN RIPPIER WHEELER
Friday May 14, 2004

For many Berkeley voters, Friday’s special Berkeley Housing Authority afternoon meeting was unexpected. The sparse turnout may have been due to several factors. Matthew Artz’s article “HUD Report Finds big Problems with City’s Section 8 Program” (Daily Planet, May 11-13) account is well done, but the complex structure of subsidized housing everywhere and in Berkeley in particular inevitably leaves a few necessary clarifications. 

Section 8 refers to a portion of federal legislation administered by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; it has been providing rent subsidies for low-income persons. Tenants generally pay one third of their income in rent, with the balance subsidized by HUD. In most communities, there are two approaches a low-income person can take to a rent-subsidized Section 8 unit. 

The Berkeley Housing Authority works with HUD to administer a tenant-based Section 8 program and periodically, a voucher lottery. There has been a list of voucher category-priorities that has varied so frequently that it is difficult to keep up! (e.g. Berkeley residents, disabled, elderly, homeless, veterans, etc. etc. have been mentioned.) Once a person obtains a voucher, s/he must locate a vacant apartment whose landlord will accept a Section 8 tenant and work with the Berkeley Housing Authority. 

But note that the Berkeley Housing Authority also administers public housing. It is not always clear to the public (and seemingly at times to some Berkeley Housing Authority members) that these two separate-but-attached-at-the-spine entities are administered by the BHA. Maintenance of the physical facilities of this public housing component has often been decried by Berkeley public housing tenants. 

Additionally, there are several project-based Section 8 buildings in Berkeley; low-income persons apply directly to the owners/developers, which are usually nonprofit organizations, e.g. Affordable Housing Associates and Satellite Housing, Inc. The Berkeley Housing Authority has been criticized for transferring some of its Section 8 vouchers to developers of project-based buildings. 

The Berkeley Housing Authority uniquely consists of the members of the City Council, the mayor, and two appointed members representing Section 8 tenant-based (Ms. Clark) and public housing (Ms. Payne). They are “elected” only in the sense that the council gets to consider them and vote. Significantly, the mayor refers to councilmembers when he means, or should be saying, Housing Authority members, and thus the public appears to be returning to this misperception. Mayor Dean quickly caught and corrected herself in this brain-teaser paradox. The BHA has not been meeting monthly; when it does meet, it is an afterthought, tacked on to or snuck in before snack-time and council. I recall one meeting this year that was begun before and ended after the two “representative” Housing Authority members had arrived! 

Only one person expressed objection to the inadequacy and unfairness of only two minutes’ allocation of public comment for each of the chosen few at the May 7 Berkeley Housing Authority special meeting. Worse is the fact that the published agenda provides “Public Comment: A total of 30 minutes is scheduled. Each speaker is limited to a maximum of three minutes.” For a while there it seemed that objections to the mayor’s attempt to impose this restriction on the public comment periods of ALL meetings had been successful. Perhaps the risk seemed less on this occasion. 

Under BMC 23C.12, the Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance, 20 percent of all new residential construction with five units or more must be “affordable” to low income people, regardless of whether it is for profit or nonprofit. State law does not require this, but offers a “density bonus” to developers who provide a certain percentage of “affordable” units. The nonprofit buildings are generally 100 percent “affordable” rather than 20 percent. “Affordable” can be out of the reach of some low-income persons, however. 

The Housing Authority of the County of Alameda (HACA) is located in Hayward. HACA’s principal programs and its funding are through HUD. It provides rental assistance to 5,000-plus low-income households through Section 8 and Public Housing programs. The HACA serves the incorporated cities of Albany, Dublin, Emeryville, Fremont, Hayward, Newark, Pleasanton, San Leandro, and Union City, and the unincorporated cities of Castro Valley and San Lorenzo. HACA does not provide rental assistance to persons in the cities of Alameda, Berkeley, Livermore and Oakland, which have their own Housing Authorities. 

In the past, expensive consultants have been recruited and paid by the BHA. If indeed HUD has paid for this consultant, I say hooray for Ronnie Odom! 

 

Helen Wheeler has served as a member of the Berkeley Housing Authority and as its Section 8 RAB liaison, North Berkeley Senior Center Advisory Council and as its secretary, Berkeley Commission on Aging and as its vice chair, Alameda County Advisory Commission on Aging and as its Legislative Committee chair and Health and Safety Committee vice chair, and as a founding-member of the defunct grassroots “Save Section 8.”  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Why Am I Not Surprised?

By CAROL POLSGROVE
Friday May 14, 2004

Accuracy has not proved to be the Bush administration’s strong point, as journalists ought to have discovered long before they did. Take the simple matter of Condoleezza Rice’s curriculum vitae. After she was named as National Security Adviser, I decided to read some of her work, to see how her mind worked. For a list of her publications, I called her office in the White House, and was told they didn’t have her CV on file. I then called Stanford University’s Political Science Department, which kindly faxed it to me.  

Her CV in hand, I set off to the library, where I discovered an uncomfortable number of errors in the CV of the woman charged with the nation’s security. 

For instance, Rice cites a chapter she contributed to The Reagan Legacy, edited by Larry Berman and published by the University of California Press in 1989. I can find no record elsewhere of any such book, although there is a book edited by Larry Berman called Looking Back on the Reagan Presidency, and it contains a chapter by Rice. This book was published, not by the University of California Press but by the Johns Hopkins University Press, and it appeared in 1990 rather than 1989. 

In another entry, Rice identifies the editors of The Makers of Modern Strategy, a book to which she contributed a chapter, as Gordon Craig and Peter Paret. The Library of Congress Catalogue lists the editors as “Peter Paret with the collaboration of Gordon A. Craig and Felix Gilbert.”  

In yet another entry, Rice notes that she contributed a chapter to Crisis Stability, edited by Kurt Gottfried and Bruce G. Blair. The book’s title is actually Crisis Stability and Nuclear War. 

Rice also gives the wrong date (Sept. 3, 1991) for an article Time magazine actually published Sept. 16, 1991.  

However insignificant these errors might seem, they don’t say much for Rice’s precision and respect for fact. No wonder her office didn’t keep her resume on file—but journalists could have gotten it, just as I did, and just as they could have nailed down the lies and obfuscations of the Bush administration at a much earlier date.  

 

Carol Polsgrove, a former East Bay resident, teaches journalism Indiana University and is the author of Divided Minds: Intellectuals and the Civil Rights Movement.


Readers Respond to News From Iraq

Friday May 14, 2004

IRAQ CONTRACTORS 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

Wow! O’Malley clearly writes with an ignorance of what’s happening on the ground in Iraq (“Mercenaries Amok in Iraq,” Daily Planet, May 4-6). It’s much easier to brand all security contractors as “evil” mercenaries than to bother looking at the reality.  

First, O’Malley has no understanding of the world of international security firms, most of which offer purely protection to executives, experts, and dignitaries in dangerous parts of the world. They are hardly “evil embodied.” As in all industries, there are good and bad companies and individuals. 

Second, she clearly has little regard for people’s lives. My husband, for one, was a kind, gentle, loving father, husband, son and friend. He was a highly accomplished and talented man whom many people loved. He was part of “Operation Safe Haven” when he was in the British Royal Marines, and helped create a safe place for Iraqi Kurds returning home after the first Gulf War. When he returned to Iraq this year as a private security specialist, providing protection to an engineer who was repairing a power plant in Mosul, he was ambushed, shot and killed by a group of masked hitmen. Oddly, the same Kurds, to whom he had provided protection many years earlier, danced in the street around his body and the body of his colleague. My husband did manage to save the engineer and two of his other colleagues before he died. 

Things are not black and white. O’Malley’s comments are irresponsible. These are real people, with families and homes, and many of them just trying to protect lives. Her words serve only to deepen divisions and hatred. 

Tasha Bradsell 

• 

PRISON ABUSE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

First year psychology students learn of two famous experiments. One was conducted to determine the level of obedience to authority figures ( “technicians” and “scientists” in white lab coats) who had “normal” male subjects deliver (fake) electric shocks to other subjects who answered questions incorrectly. Each subsequent incorrect answer required a stronger shock. Most subjects, with and without encouragement, continued shocking the other subjects even after the voltage levels indicated danger. Such is the nature of hierarchical conditioning; the strictest supervision by “responsible” authorities can’t prevent inhumane behavior if the goals of those authorities are dubious. 

The other was the prison/prisoner experiment, where half a group of “normal” young men were made guards while the other half were made prisoners. Within days, the guards—with no supervision and making up their own regulations—were systematically brutalizing and humiliating their prisoners, giving them tasks impossible to complete properly and then punishing them for their failures. Such is the nature of all arbitrary authority; the capricious exercise of power creates psychopaths. That experiment had to be stopped even before half of the allotted time had expired. 

J. Douglas Allen-Taylor barely skims the surface of the smarmy underbelly of American penology when he compares the Abu Ghraib photos with the chilling videotaped punishments meted out to some defenseless wards of the California Youth Authority (“Representing the America That We Know,” Daily Planet, May 7-10). Systematic abuse, humiliation, and degradation of inmates in every level of incarceration in this country have been abundantly documented in the years since the Attica uprising.  

All the pro-occupation loudmouths are dismissing the documented abuse, humiliation, and degradation of Iraqi POWs as both unrepresentative and justified. It’s only a few bad apples; it’s a response to being under fire; it’s a response to Iraqis torturing Americans. None of them seem to know about those two experiments. The people outraged by the abuse of the Iraqi POWs see the problem as possibly due to a breakdown of the proper chain of command. Who and where were the officers who never briefed the troops in charge of Abu Ghraib on the Geneva Conventions? None of them seem to know about those two experiments either.  

When cops, or soldiers, or prison guards exceed the acceptable and expected level of bullying and veer off into brutality that can no longer be hidden or easily dismissed, reactionaries always use the excuse of the existence of “rogue” elements inside the particular institution; the institutions themselves never come into question. But the capricious exercise of power over others is built into hierarchical institutions, and it is to be expected that some people in those institutions will revel in its use. On the other hand, strong hierarchical supervision cannot possibly prevent the abuse of prisoners—just look at Pelican Bay, or Corcoran, or CYA. The institutionalization of power and punishment breeds both banal and wanton cruelty and violence; only by abolishing those institutions can we achieve dignity and freedom. 

C. Boles 

• 

CHAIN OF COMMAND 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It is an illusion and an injustice to overlook how easy it is for young military personnel to perform immoral and abusive treatment upon the peoples they become occupiers of. Basically they are naïve, aggressive, and egoist soldiers brainwashed to primarily “kill the enemy.” 

I learned from being in World War II and an astute observer of the Korean, Vietnam, and Middle East wars that young military personnel are dangerous when not on a tether, and even more so when their commanders fuel their heads with images of invincibility and patriotic self righteousness, “God is on our side,” and the fearful homage, “Shoot everything that moves.” The military commanders all the way to the commander in chief should know, but they do not, all about the nature of the forces they are unleashing and the consequences for not adequately curtailing their wild side; as if they ever really care, as long as the “wild side” is directed against “the enemy.” 

To immediately try to save face by court marshaling individual soldiers, as the superior ranks are prone to do, is an obscene injustice; the total military institution is corrupt, immoral, and inept. The fundamentalist attitudes of the Department of Defense and the commander in chief are the bedrock of the mayhem the U.S. has dumped in the Middle East. I would like to say “not in my name,” but we are all tarred with the same stinky brush that Bush and Rumsfeld, and the rest of the military-industrial-complex wield. General Eisenhower was right. 

Ken Norwood 


The Dead Have A Right to be Seen

Friday May 14, 2004

I started to cry when I saw the pictures of the the flag draped coffins 

feeling the heaviness of those coffins— 

that son, that brother, that sister, that husband, 

and all the other husbands and fathers and wives 

All of them whose coffins we have not seen 

Someone decided that it is better for us 

to not see the coffins 

So across the United States, private ceremonies are held 

away from the view of the American people, 

leaving us all bereft of reality. 

Bereft of seeing the families, the children, 

the widows crying or trying not to cry, 

holding it together as they receive the folded flag 

Keeping us from seeing the children who will grow up 

without a father, a mother, a brother. 

We should see it every night on the news. 

We should see it so we cannot pretend about the cost, 

the real cost.  

 

I cried for those who have no witness on our nightly news. 

For the over 600 civilian Iraqis killed in Fallujah and the more to come, 

for they too are husbands, and brothers, and sisters, 

and more children than we can bear to admit. 

They were being buried in mass graves because 

it was not safe to take the time to bury the dead 

Some were kept on ice in their homes until it was safe to go  

outside 

but the electricity was cut off and the ice melted. 

Why have we not seen these images? 

Are we worth more? 

Are they worth less? 

 

I cried because I remembered watching the dead arrive home from Viet Nam 

I remember the flag draped coffins in the hundreds and the  

thousands, 

the overwhelming magnitude of it all 

I remember seeing children in flames running screaming down streets 

And I remember that it mattered. 

It mattered that across this country 

millions of us transformed by witnessing— 

It mattered so much that they took away the images 

They have hidden the coffins and the crying families from view 

 

But we are involved -whether we want to be or not 

We need to see the dead arriving every day 

as they touch the soil of the country that they died for 

No matter who you are, no matter what you think 

about this war 

The dead still have a right to be seen. 

 

—Micky Duxbury


Fire Station Sparks More Controversy

Friday May 14, 2004

The commentary piece written by Neighbors for Fire Safety (“Fire Station Foes Ignore History, Wildfire Fighting Reality,” Daily Planet, May 7-10) is a dangerously misleading attempt to disguise their true goal of using taxpayers’ bond money to fund a project to serve their neighborhood rather than protect the entire city from the next wildfire. Time after time proponents of this project said at public hearings that they wanted this station as close to them as possible in case of a house fire or medical emergency. Opponents of the plan were trying to get the city to build a real wildland station on Grizzly Peak Boulevard, one that would protect the entire city, not just Fire District 7. Berkeley citizens should fully realize and agree that “opposition” and “dissent” are NOT anti-civic. Indeed, the right to dissent and be fairly heard is one of the foundations of our country’s democracy, even though such activity is being misrepresented nationally as well as locally. 

Regarding history: A visit to the memorial to the 1991 Oakland hills fire provides some facts that the Neighbors for Fire Safety chose to ignore. This memorial, located on Old Tunnel Road, has several exhibits that document the history of wildfires in the hills. These exhibits tell us that since 1900 12 out of 14 wildfires have started in Oakland. That is why we, the opponents of this current project, have repeatedly called for the city to build the wild land fire station as originally planned on Grizzly Peak Boulevard somewhere between Centennial Drive and Fish Ranch Road. The Neighbors for Fire Safety can characterize the current project however they like, but the reality is that the currently proposed Hills Fire Station is an excessively fancy new local station for Betty Olds’ district and is not even well-sited to serve that purpose, let alone fight wildfires—unless the fires start on the golf course in Tilden Park! Our city and its neighbors do have a real problem in the threat of wildfires. But spending $5-6 million to replace an old station and add one brush truck in northeast Berkeley is not an effective solution to this very real threat. This Hills Fire Station project is not a serious response to the threat of wildfires. A quick look at the EIR reveals how this site was chosen. The one essential criterion for an acceptable site is defined in the EIR as having “a four-minute response time within Fire District 7.” (That is the same territory as Betty Olds’ election District 6.) Does this sound like an appropriate criterion for siting a wildland station to protect all of Berkeley? In fact, a Tilden Park official, who was a firefighter in the 1991 Oakland Hills fire, said of the project, “It’s a political solution to an emotional problem.” 

People are afraid of fire, and rightly so. There is real danger and that is why we voted for Measure G and a “real” wildland station. The “real” fire station that Measure G was to help pay for would not have replaced an existing facility. Rather, it would have been an additional station on Grizzly Peak Boulevard, either at Centennial Drive or at Grizzly Flats. The new station was to be 13,000 square feet., house up to 11 engines and a staff of 20-25 and have a helicopter landing site. Berkeley’s contribution was to be $2.5 million, the land and staff were to be donated by the Park District, and Oakland was to partner with money, staff and equipment. Instead, Berkeley will now spend $5-6 million to house two of its engines and the same staff of three firefighters that currently work out of the existing Station #7, 3 blocks away. So for more than twice the money we get about one-sixth the protection against wildfires. This makes no sense! Imagine if the measure on the 1992 ballot had read “Shall Berkeley spend $5-6 million to house two engines in Betty Olds’ district and give Park employees a place to sleep 0-15 nights per year?” Clearly voters would have rejected such nonsense. 

Regarding the review process: Yes, there have been a number of meetings over the past several years to review this project. Comments were strictly limited to three minutes per person at the start of each meeting while city officials had an unlimited amount of time to present their case with no opportunity for citizen rebuttal, even when city staff either used misleading statements or worse. Thus, the so-called “public process” regarding the Hills Fire Station was more like a “kangaroo court.” After all, with the city acting as applicant, judge and jury, the result of any meeting was a forgone conclusion. 

Providing adequate protection to Fire District 7 can be accomplished for far less than the city is proposing to spend, especially since the current fire house receives less than one call per day and two thirds of those are for medical emergencies. Why is it that bureaucrats feel the need to spend all the money in their budgets, even when the problem to be addressed can be solved for much less thereby reducing the burden on taxpayers? Do not be misled into thinking that projects funded with bond money do not have a large impact on your property taxes. To see how much such projects are costing you, just look at the line item on your property tax bill called “Voter Approved Indebtedness, City of Berkeley.” It’s time for both the city and the Neighbors for Fire Safety to cease their deceptions and for our elected officials to implement more fiscally prudent solutions for fire safety that benefit the entire city of Berkeley. 


The Truth About Delays and Costs

By PETER CUKOR
Friday May 14, 2004

The recent letter from Neighbors for Fire Safety (“Fire Station Foes Ignore History, Wildfire Fighting Reality,” Daily Planet, May 7-10) contains numerous factual omissions and inaccuracies, and moreover obscures the role this group has played in delaying and inflating the costs of the Hills fire station project. The facts of the matters are as follows: 

• The city did not present its proposal until 2000, 8 years after Measure G was passed. There seems to have been no urgency until political pressure was felt as the tenth anniversary of the Hills Fire approached. 

• The city has known all along that the Hills Fire Station project was quite different from the one approved by voters in 1992. As a result, when the project was announced in 2000 the city publicly declared that it would file a lawsuit to validate that the use of Measure G funds was legal. At that time, the city did not expect that this “validation action” would be opposed. 

• In 2002, knowing that opponents would likely contest its lawsuit, the city changed its legal strategy. It decided against filing its own lawsuit in order to place a greater financial burden on anyone who would choose to ask the courts to determine that Measure G finds could not be used. 

• Early in 2003 my wife and I filed a lawsuit seeking a legal finding that the city’s current proposal is not consistent with what the voters approved in 1992. 

• In spring of 2003, our attorney approached the city seeking a compromise that would remove the lawsuit. The city responded with a settlement offer before significant costs were incurred. Under the settlement proposed by the city, the size of the station (and its cost) would have been reduced by about 25 percent without compromising fire safety. However, the Neighbors for Fire Safety objected to any compromise and brought great pressure on Councilwoman Olds to reject this settlement and pressured the city to withdraw its offer shortly after it was made! Thus it was the unwillingness of the Neighbors for Fire Safety to compromise that caused the city to spend the money needed to prosecute the lawsuit. If Neighbors for Fire Safety had their way, they would incur further indebtedness on behalf of all Berkeley taxpayers in a misguided effort to build an even larger fire station that would serve their neighborhood only. 

• The city itself bears responsibility for most of the delays associated with this project. To wit: 

As mentioned above, Measure G was passed in November, 1992. The city did not present its plan for the Hills Fire Station until April, 2000! 

The land for the project is to be purchased from EBMUD at a cost of $300,000. Before EBMUD agrees to the transfer it must be satisfied that Berkeley’s development of the property will not hinder the Water District’s ability to supply water to its customers. This has required the city to make several studies and proposals to stabilize the very steep hill that supports a two-million-gallon reservoir immediately above the proposed station. The latest of these proposals will be presented to ZAB this week for its approval. 

EBMUD has a pumping station on the property Berkeley seeks to develop. A large pipeline extends from this pumping station under the land where Berkeley plans to build its fire station. EBMUD will not transfer the property to Berkeley until that pipeline is relocated, at Berkeley’s expense! This alone will add $200,000 to the cost of the fire station. EBMUD did not begin the pipeline relocation project until May 3, 2004! 

The city spent about a year negotiating with the Park District to secure its agreement to store, at no cost to the park, an engine and crew for 10-30 days per year at the new fire station. How generous of Berkeley taxpayers to pay for sleeping accommodations and garage space for Park District fire crews and equipment! Since these crews and equipment are available to Berkeley right now 24/7 for free, it is truly wonderful that, despite a budget crunch, we can spend an extra $500,000 to build a bay and dorm room for them. Berkeley needed this agreement so it could call the project a “jointly funded, multi-jurisdictional” effort. This so-called “joint financing agreement” is a sham since Berkeley is paying for everything, the Park District, which originally said it wanted nothing to do with this, pays for nothing, and either side can terminate the agreement with 30 days notice. 

The bottom line is that costs are high because the site is very difficult to develop, the building is far too large for the site, and Berkeley is making the building even larger to accommodate Park District equipment without any financial contribution from the park. The delays are primarily the result of (a) an eight year hiatus during which time the city was occupied with other matters; (b) the engineering complexity of site development, and; (c) the need to negotiate agreements with two other political entities. 

 

k


‘Acis’ Continues Berkeley Opera’s Excellent Run

By OLIVIA STAPPSpecial to the Planet
Friday May 14, 2004

The Berkeley Opera is on a roll. After the sensational mini-Ring produced earlier this season, they are now presenting Mark Streshinsky’s witty and piquant production of Acis and Galatea. This work by George Frideric Handel is a “pastoral masque.” It has been described variously as a “little opera,” not quite an oratorio, and an “entertainment.” Nevertheless, it is often performed as a fully staged two act opera, and has been in the repertory for the last two centuries. The text was adapted by John Gay, Alexander Pope, and John Hughes from Ovid’s Metamorphosis. 

This is the first Handel opera presented by the Berkeley Opera in its 25-year history, and is a perfect choice for this small, artistically ambitious company. The supple and oftentimes sublime m usic that Handel has created for Ovid’s Book Thirteen—“Acis and Galatea”—from his collection of myths, is exquisitely rendered by conductor George Thomson and his carefully selected company of gifted singers and players. It is a joy to hear at last a fine, committed, and excellently prepared orchestra in the Berkeley Opera orchestra pit. Playing under concertmistress Carla Moore were Kati Kyme, Sara Usher (first violins), Lisa Weiss, Cary Koh, Michelle Dulak (second violins), Farley Pearce (cello), Michel Taddei (bass), Yueh Chou (bassoon), Louise Carlslake, Kit Higginson (recorder), Bennie Cottone, Peter Lemberg (oboe), and Jonathan Davis (harpsichord). 

Were it to be done in period setting, the opera would look like a Poussin painting, in which a gather ing of nymphs and shepherds gambol about around a waterfall in an ancient ruin. Indeed, there is evidence that the work was performed first in 1718 as a courtly outdoor entertainment situated near a large fountain on the estate of the Earl of Carnavorn (later Duke of Chandos). What a great setting for the watery climax! As with other chapters from Ovid’s works, the theme is a transfiguration from mortal life to another of nature’s forms. Birds, wind, trees, and water are often the post-human repositories of identity in this enchanted realm where love conquers all, and resurrection as an enduring natural form is the vehicle for continued spiritual togetherness. In this case, Acis, after being slain by the jealous Cyclops Polyphemus, is transformed by his lover, the sea-nymph Galatea, into a fountain. “Purple be no more thy blood, glide thou like a crystal flood. ... The bubbling fountain, lo! It flows.” As a sea nymph, Galatea enjoys caressing herself in the water that is Acis himself, sans bodily parts. 

The stage director and designer Mark Streshinsky morphs the work to the present day. He stages the action at the beach, with a picnic table set up for hot dogs on the barbeque, a life guard tower, some surf boards, and plenty of the other accoutrements of guys and gals having fun at the seashore. For those of us who experienced Mary Zimmerman’s unforgettable treatment at the Berkeley Rep of Ovid’s Metamorphosis set around a 16-foot pool, this resetting of the myth will not seem a startling approach, but rather another imaginative innovation. In an operatic version however, naturalistic acting style bumps up against the symmetrical music: The rigid formality of da capo arias and the production sometimes loses energy as the second or third stanzas are repe ated. (Maybe it was just a case of second night blahs.) Overall the ideas and execution were charming. 

The climax comes when Polyphemus (here the bully on the beach), in a rage over being rebuffed by Galatea, wacks Acis with what looks like a twenty poun d barbell, (supposedly the “massy ruin”). Acis dies, but is transmogrified to his watery form with a good dousing under the lifeguard’s shower on the beach. “Galatea, dry thy tears, Acis now a god appears,” sings the well-honed five person ensemble-chorus consisting of Linh Kauffman, Elizabeth Eastman, Gary Ruschman, Alec Jeong, and Raymond Granlund, as they all dry off with beach towels. 

The cast was well up to the musical challenges that singing Handel presents. Jeffrey Fields as Polyphemus gave a droll and powerful portrayal of the weight-hurling Cyclops; his comic aria “O Ruddier than a cherry” was a delight. Erin Neff’s (Damon) voice shone out in her lovely solos. The two good-looking lovers, Saundra De Athos (Galatea) and Harold Gray Meers (Acis), sang their idyllic music with great skill and beautiful tone, and both gave eloquent expression to the tragic moments in the drama.te


Notes From The Underground: UC Program Gives Young Musicians Something to Sing About

C. SUPRYNOWICZ
Friday May 14, 2004

The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968 led to riots in more than 100 major U.S. cities, cities that were already far from complacent and quiet. Maya Angelou says of the period: “The cry of ‘burn, baby, burn’ was loud in the land.” 

Faced with what they saw as the real possibility of a coupe d’etat, the Nixon Administration was prompted to spin off a program called the Neighborhood Youth Corps. Though it can be viewed as a purely political expedient, the Youth Corps was, nonetheless, a response to the racial and social inequities that Dr. King had spoken of again and again from the pulpit and from the stairs of city hall. Devoted, talented people turned out, responding to the call to go into the inner cities and make things right. 

When posters appeared on the UC Berkeley campus announcing this initiative, Lawrence Moe, then chair of the music department, approached a young music teacher on the faculty named Michael Senturia. Moe had an idea. He wanted to offer music lessons to kids who couldn’t afford them. Senturia was about to leave on sabbatical, but he signed on. That summer, 30 kids were recruited from Oakland, from Richmond, from areas that in that period were known, simply and bluntly, as “The Ghetto.” There are photos from those early days that show kids with Afros playing the clarinet, the flute, the oboe, the saxophone. And after its first euphoric summer, the program was declared an unqualified, resounding success. 

Meanwhile, the riots in Watts, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Hunters Point that were expected to tear the fabric of the nation asunder had, it turned out, only torn a few seams. This was good news for Nixon (whose impeachment was still six years away), but bad news for the Young Musicians Program. They weren’t going to get funded again—at least not by the federal government. 

Howls of disappointment and outrage, from students and faculty alike, led to a meeting. One of the graduate students who was a key player in the Young Musicians Program that first year, Javier Castillo, met with Ed Feeder, the budget officer for the College of Arts and Sciences at UC. “Javier simply refused to let the program die,” Michael Senturia recalled when I spoke to him recently about YMP’s inception.  

As a result of Castillo and Feeder’s meeting, the university stepped in with funding to support the program. This was the first year of support by the university—support which has continued, uninterrupted, for 36 years. 

 

Melissa Campbell of Oakland was accepted into the Young Musicians Program at UC Berkeley in 1997, when she was 11 years old. This Sunday afternoon she will be singing at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley in YMP’s senior recital. Campbell was accepted by seven major universities and has chosen Spellman, where she will study to be an obstetrician.  

Melissa is one of 140 young people that make their way down into the basement of Morrison Hall each morning, all summer long, to meet with their instructors and to attend classes in harmony, composition, and ear-training. There are jazz ensembles. There is a chorus. There are chamber groups. During the school year, instruction continues through private lessons contracted by the Young Musicians Program with teachers from the faculty. 

And, as was the case in 1968, there is still no fee for students accepted into the Young Musicians Program. In an era when “free” and “education” are rarely used in the same sentence, this qualifies as some sort of miracle, but it’s a miracle that requires a lot of maintenance. Heller, Surdna, Flora, and Hewlett are just a few of the nonprofit foundations that support YMP. Among corporate donors, Starbucks is a standout: They gave $100,000 to the program a few years ago. Say what you like about Starbucks, they know how to do philanthropy. 

I’ve been to a half-dozen YMP student recitals over the years, and there are always, without exception, kids that just knock your socks off. I had the notion at one time that a talent scout should partner with YMP, as it seems an obvious mother-lode for agents prospecting young talent. 

I called Daisy Newman, the current director of the YMP program, and asked her what she looks for in students auditioning for the program. 

“A spark,” she told me. “Some sign that this is really something they are moved to do—a special part of their lives.” And she reminded me that, although there is prodigious talent in the program, talent alone is not the point. “They learn discipline. And how to find the best that they can do. There is community here, and support, and people to look up to and emulate. Not everyone here is planning a career in music, and that’s as it should be. Music becomes part of their lives, and it teaches them about life.” 

For those concerned that the cultural heritage we would like to see passed on to young people is disappearing down the swirling drain, there are plenty of new reasons to be alarmed. Despite the release of the California Arts Council’s Study a few weeks ago finding that the arts add $5.4 billion to the state’s economy, the giant sucking sound continues. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom poured a fresh bucket of cold water in last Thursday when he announced his plan to cut funding to the San Francisco Symphony, Opera, Ballet and Museum of Modern Art by 25 percent to help reduce the city’s deficit.  

Perhaps there is no more telling statistic than that the California Arts Council itself has seen its funding reduced by 95 percent in recent years (the director, Barry Hessenius, is resigning this month). That is, unless we consider the statistic that California itself now rates dead last in per capita arts spending funding among the 50 states. 

Yet, without seeming a Pollyanna—something I am rarely accused of—it does seem there are glints of light beneath the black waters. Certainly the Young Musicians Program is an illumination. Though it must work for funding in ways that the Pentagon never will, YMP seems to be here to stay. And why, in an environment so ungenerous to the arts, is that? Perhaps it is that people understand, even without statistics and surveys, that the arts represent what is best about us as a people. Or it may be that they recognize that kids are considerably better off with a clarinet in their hands than any number of more dangerous objects.  

If the fury that Maya Angelou saw sweep across the land in the ‘60s is not the coherent, articulated force it was then, it has certainly not disappeared. What came of that fury then, and what will come of it now? Social change, when and if it occurs, is a scattershot, halting affair, often reversing itself, perhaps best understood by historians. It is in the details of our lives, and in our community, that we recognize when something meaningful has happened. Those who have dedicated themselves to working with young people know the energy and zeal that abides there, as well as the rewards young people experience when that energy is harnessed to their advantage.  

The Young Musicians Program is an uncommonly good idea that found an uncommonly good home. That it endures, and prospers, must be some indication that, as many things as we get wrong, we now and then get a few of them right. 

 

Clark Suprynowicz is a composer living in Oakland, California, and writes regularly about the arts for the Daily Planet. He has served on the faculty of the Young Musicians Program. 

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Arts Calendar

Friday May 14, 2004

FRIDAY, MAY 14 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Landscapes and Portraits” by Joanna Katz. Reception from 5 to 7 p.m. at Gallery 940, 940 Dwight Way. Exhibition runs to May 28.  

“Flora and Fauna” and “Garden of Peace” reception for the artists at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. from 6 to 8 p.m. 843-2527. www.accigallery.com 

“Hovering: New Works” by Seiko Tachibana and Emily Payne. Reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at Cecile Moochnek Gallery. 1809-D Fourth Street (upstairs). Exhibition runs through June 28. 549-1018 www.cecilemoochnek.com 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “The Sisters Rosensweig” at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck. Fri. and Sat. through May 15. Tickets are $10. 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Aurora Theatre Company “Antigone Falun Gong” at 8 p.m. Wed.-Sat., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St. through May 16. Tickets are $28-$40 available from 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

Berkeley Rep “The Mystery of Irma Vep,” Charles Ludlam’s theatrical cult classic at 8 p.m. and continues through May 23. Tickets are $39-$55. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Casino!” a musical comedy by Joyce Whitelaw at 8 p.m at The Glenview Performing Arts Center, 1318 Glenfield Ave., Oakland. Also May 16 at 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets are $20. 531-0511. www.glenviewpac.com 

Impact Theatre “Money and Run” an action serial adventure with different episodes on Thurs., Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. Runs through June 5 at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid. 464-4468. www.impacttheatre.com 

New Shakespeare Company “Hamlet” at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, through June 5.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Kent Haruf reads from his new novel “Eventide” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Opera “Acis and Galatea” at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Theater. Tickets are $15-$40. 925-798-1300. www.berkeleyopera.org 

Oakland Opera Theater “Akhnaten” by Philip Glass at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $15-$27. Also Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sun at 2 p.m. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Hespérion XXI, Jordi Savall, director and viola da gamba, at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Bay Area Classical Harmonies “Spring Fever!” at 7:30 p.m. at the Arlington Community Church, 52 Arlington Ave. in Kensington. Tickets are $8-$12. 866-233-9892. www.BerkeleyBACH.org  

Chuck Prophet & the Mission Express and Farma at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $12. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Palenque, Cuban son, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz, with a salsa dance lesson at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Monkey, Soul Captives, Pinche Hueros at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6.  

848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Sandy Chang and Alex Pfei- 

fer-Rosenblum at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Donation of $7-$10. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Robert Karimi’s Self (the Remix) The story of a suburban boy and his quest for wholeness at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Mike Seeger, music from “true vine” at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Frank Jackson at 8:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Roy Hargrove Quintet at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

S.T.F.U., Scurvy Dogs, Fatbush, Eskapo, Collateral Damage at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Angel Spit at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

SATURDAY, MAY 15 

CHILDREN  

“Wild About Books” storytime at 10:30 a.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6223. 

Kids on the Block Puppet Show, promoting acceptance and understanding of physical and cultural differences at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shattuck Ave. Donation $3. Children under 3 free. 549-1564. 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

FinnArt: Art by Finns/Art Inspired by Finland Visual arts exhibition by more than a dozen artists, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Includes an Art Cafe, childrens art show, Finnish art history lectures. At the Finnish Kaleva Hall, 1970 Chestnut St. 849-0125.  

Photography by May-Li Khoe, Jonathan Andrew and Natalie Douvos. Reception from 7-9 p.m. 1250 Addison St., suite 102. 883-1126. www.innersport.com  

“High Altitude Pots” by Doug Casebeer. Reception from 5 to 7 p.m. at TRAX Ceramic Gallery, 1812 5th St. 540-8729. www.traxgallery.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“What’s in a Name? New Ways of Looking at ‘Craft’” A panel discussion about the viability of craft in the art world at 2 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Rhythm & Muse features Jaliya, with Ademola Oshun, Big Momma, at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893.  

Ariel Gore and her daughter, Maia Gore, introduce “Whatever Mom: Hip Mama’s Guide to Raising a Teenager” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 1730 Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sacred and Profane “In an English Garden” chamber chorus at 7 p.m. at St. Ambrose Church, 1145 Gilman. Tickets are $12-$17. Advance purchase recommended. 524-3611. 

Paufve Dance “Bare Bones” dance performance featuring new choreography by Randee Paufve and others at 8 p.m. at Western Sky Studio, 2547 Eighth St. Also Sun. at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12-$15. 415-722-2457. 

Trinity Chamber Concerts with Daniel Reiter, cello and Natalie Cox, harp at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana at Durant. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. 

In the Beginning A fund and awareness raiser for the Origin, an alternative to record labels, with live Hiphop and Drum'n'Bass at the 1923 Teahouse. 415-586-6853. www.originsfbay.com 

June Kuramoto, kotoist, in a fundraiser for West Contra Costa School District’s music programs, at 7 p.m. at Crowden Music Center, 1475 Rose St. Tickets are $20-$35. 841-1356. 

Mumbo Gumbo at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Gabrilla Ballard, New Orleans vocalist, at 2 p.m. at Down Home Music, 10341 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. 525-2129. 

Penelope Houston Band, Moore Brothers, and Mike Visser at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com  

Robin Flower and Libby McLaren, progressive folk fusion, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50 in advance, $19.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Oakland Jazz Choir at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15-18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Henri-Pierre Koubaka, Senegalese folk songs, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $8-$15. 649-8744. www.thejazz- 

house.org 

Afro-Cuban Latin Jazz Project at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12-$14. 849-2568. www.lapena.org  

Kurt Ribak Jazz Quartet, original acoustic compositions, at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Inka at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Shakedown, Dead Beat at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Edmund Welles: The Brass Clarinet Quartet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Kellye Gray at 8:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Punk Prom with The Groovie Ghoulies, R’N’R Adventure Kids, Clarendon Hills, at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, MAY 16 

CHILDREN  

Family Explorations: “Rosie the Riveter” Learn about the non-traditional roles women played during WWII. From noon to 4 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Princess Moxie at Ashkenaz at 3 p.m. Cost is $4-$6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

FILM 

“The Substance of Fire” Manhattan publishing magnate Isaac Godlhart descends into madness at 2 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Donation $2. 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Brad Herzog describes his road trip across the US after 9/11 in “Small World: A Microcosmic Journey” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Poetry Flash with Erika Meitner and Sean Thomas Dougherty at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Christopher Brown and Joel Isaacson, in a conversation about painting at 3 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave.. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Jazz on Fourth Street with the Berkeley High Jazz Orchestra and Combos, Mark Hummel & The Blues Survivors, and Quimbombó, from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Fourth St. between Hearst and Virginia. 526-6294. 

Berkeley Opera “Acis and Galatea” under the direction of George Thomson at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Theater. Tickets are $15-$40. 925-798-1300. www.berkeleyopera.org 

Organ Recital with Sandra Soderlund at 4 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

Cantare Chorale and Chamber Ensemble “Make Our Garden Grow” at 3 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 27th St. and Broadway, Oakland. Tickets are $19-$25. 925-798-1300. www.CantareConVivo.org 

VOCI presents “Songlines” music from Central and Eastern Europe at 4 p.m. at Temple Sinai, 2823 Webster at 28th St., Oakland. Tickets are $12-$20. 531-8714. www.coolcommunity.org/voci 

Young Musicians Program Senior Recital at 3 p.m. at First Congregational Church at Dana and Durant. http://ymp.berkeley.edu 

Flamenco Open Stage with Koko de la Isla at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Americana Unplugged: The Dark Hollow Band at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Loudon Wainwright, III, leading edge singer-songwriter, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $22.50 in advance, $23.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Oakland Jazz Choir at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

MONDAY, MAY 17 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Noah Levine reads from his memoir “Dharma Punx” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Robert Jensen urges us to action in “Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Carla Blank reads from “Rediscovering America: The Making of Multicultural America, 1900-2000” at 7:30 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Co-sponsored by Black Oak Books. 848-0237, ext. 127. 

Poetry Express, featuring Marianne Robinson from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC 

John Schott’s Typical Orchestra at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, MAY 18 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Rebecca Solnit describes non-violent activist victories in “Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

William Langewiesche introduces us to “The Outlaw Sea: A World of Freedom, Chaos and Crime” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Peter Robb introduces Brazil’s cultural history in “A Death in Brazil: A Book of Omission” at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Travel Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 843-3533. 

Oliver Said, Maggie Pond and James Mellgren introduce us to Spanish foods and wines in Cesar at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tom Rigney & Flambeau at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Hanneke Cassel, young Celtic fiddler, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50 in ad- 

vance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Tierney Sutton Tribute to Frank Sinatra at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 19 

THEATER 

“Primo” a play by Ed Davidson, on the last days of Holocaust author, Primo Levi, at 7:30 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut Street. Also May 20, 22. Cost is $15-$20. 925-798-1300. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Alice Jones and Timothy Liu in an evening of poetry readings at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Café Poetry hosted by Paradise at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donation $2. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Berkeley Poetry Slam at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-7. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Rick Ayres and Amy Crawford, Berkeley High teachers, introduce us to “Great Books for High School Kids: A Teacher’s Guide to Books That Can Change Teen’s Lives” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Mark Pearson reveals “Europe in a Back-Pack” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Odile Lavault & The Baguette Quartet at 9 p.m. with vintage Parisian social dance lesson with at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Whiskey Brothers, oldtime and bluegrass, 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

The Duo-Tones, surf music, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Mitch Marcus Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Cigarillos Hawaiian Night at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10-$15. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Tierney Sutton Tribute to Frank Sinatra at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, MAY 20 

CHILDREN 

Jules Feiffer, cartoonist, at 4:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. www.codysbooks.com 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

Al Honig “Constructions: Robots and Beyond” Reception for the artist, at 5 to 8 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, Sculpture Court, 111 Broadway. 283-6836. 

“Ancient Icons: In Stone & Gems” paintings and sculptures by Tricia Grame and gems by Roxanna Marinak. Reception from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Craft & Cultural Arts Gallery, in the State of California Office Building, 1515 Clay St., Oakland. 622-8190. www.oaklandculturalarts.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Julie Mehretu: Matrix 211” gallery talk with curator Heidi Zuckerman Jacobsen at 12:15 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Eoin Colfer, author of “Artemis Fowl” books introduces his new novel “The Supernaturalist” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. www.codysbooks.com 

John Stauber, author of “Weapons of Mass Deception” returns with “Banana Republicans” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Ken Blady presents a slide show and talk on “Jewish Communites in Exotic Places” at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 843-3533. 

Alix Olson, folk poet and queer artist-activist, at 7:30 p.m. at Oakland Box Theatre, 1928 Telegraph Ave. All ages welcome. Tickets are $10. 451-1932. www.oaklandbox.com  

Robert Fuller describes the discrimination of “Somebodies and Nobodies” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley High Choreographers present “HumanBeingHuman” at 8 p.m. at the Little Theater, Allston Way. Cost is $5-$10. 

Sanford Arms and Thread at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

“Candela” Afro-Peruvian music with Mochi Parra and Carlos Hayre at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

The Serna Band at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Karashay with Chirgilchin, Tuvan throat singers and didjeridu master at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50 in advance, $17.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

“Jaguarundi’s Studio” cutting edge acoustic showcase, at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Donation of $7-$15. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Cornelius Boots, clarinet ensemble, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation of $8-$15. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Lee Ritenour at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $16-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

 

 

ª


Jarvis Intended To Bring Chaos To Government

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Friday May 14, 2004

The plight of California’s cash-strapped cities and counties would have delighted the man many say is most responsible for the increasingly serious fiscal crises confronting local and regional governments. 

Following a 1977 speech to the Malibu Rotary Club, an inebriated Howard Jarvis—the 74-year-old co-author and prime mover of Proposition 13—told this writer that he had created the landmark California initiative “to demolish local government and eliminate all the bureaucracy.” 

Soaring real estate prices matched by rapidly escalating taxes spurred California voters to pass Prop. 13 the following year. As a direct result of the initiative’s mandates, property tax bills fell by an average of 57 percent in the next year.  

A one-time Utah newspaper publisher, Jarvis made no secret of his anti-statist beliefs, which he passed on to numerous recruits. One of his earliest and most passionate converts was a libertarian and major Santa Monica property owner named Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

During his run for the governorship almost three decades later, Schwarzenegger rebuked his own campaign economic adviser, billionaire investor Warren Buffet, after Buffett called for reforms to the Prop. 13 provisions in order to provide an increase in California property taxes. “Mr. Buffett doesn’t speak for Mr. Schwarzenegger,” declared campaign spokesperson Rob Stutzman, who then told the press that Schwarzenegger admired Jarvis “and has referred to him as the original terminator.” 

The results of Jarvis’ relentless campaigning, while fully compatible with his smash-the-state fantasies, have proved a double-edged sword. California has become a state which penalizes young couples buying their first homes, while rewarding older taxpayers who have seen inflation send their home values home soaring far above their property taxes. 

Thus a first-time owner of a modest, 1,200-square-foot two-bedroom home in the Berkeley flats may pay four or five times the taxes paid by the longtime owner of a million-dollar-plus, 7,000-square-footer in the hills above the city. 

Prop. 13 also provides the same breaks for corporate owners, leading to the peculiar result of a long-established large manufacturing plant paying less taxes than a recently purchased small apartment building—exactly as Jarvis had intended. 

One side effect of Jarvis’ campaign has been to create a state that is dominated by regressive taxes and fees that fall heaviest on the poor, according to the California Budget Project. By 2002, the lowest one-fifth of working age California taxpayers shelled out 11.3 percent of their incomes in state and local taxes, while the richest one percent of Californians paid only 7.2 percent. 

Though Jarvis died 18 years ago, his legacy lives on, gaining in significance and impact with each passing year.


Marin’s Samuel Taylor Is a Throwback To The 19th Century

By MARTA YAMAMOTO Special to the Planet
Friday May 14, 2004

Suddenly it hits you. You’ve had one of those weeks. You need a vacation. Unfortunately, vacation time and resources are not available. Is there somewhere you can go? Somewhere you can be as active or passive as you want within an environment that gives you an opportunity to relax, reflect—catch your breath?  

There definitely is, but certain criteria need to be met to ensure an enjoyable day. Your destination needs to be relatively close to home, within one to one and half hours. Scenic, in a natural setting. Close to water, like a lake, a creek, or the ocean. Somewhere to walk or bike along trails. Picnic facilities available, a table and grill. 

Samuel P. Taylor State Park, in central Marin County, is a great place to spend your one-day getaway. Less than one hour from San Francisco, set among towering coastal redwoods and Papermill Creek, this 2,882-acre park provides enough options to satisfy every member of an outdoor group or family. Below the canopy of redwoods, broadleaf maples and white alder—among the ferns and spring wildflowers—thick leaf litter below your feet—listening to the sound of water tumbling over smooth creek boulders—there, you’ll find yourself releasing the tensions of a busy life. Regardless of the season, a visit here is always a memorable experience. 

Samuel P. Taylor—the man for whom the park is named—was lured to California by the gold rush but entered the lumber business after reaching San Francisco. He first saw the park area in 1854, when he purchased 100 acres of timberland. Rather than starting a logging business, Taylor constructed the first papermill west of Pennsylvania. Around 1870, he and his wife opened a nearby summer campground for city children and their parents. Camp Taylor, along with a narrow gauge railroad and a resort hotel—the Azalea—made Taylorville one of the most popular weekend recreation areas of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. 

Today, the Azalea is gone but Camp Taylor still exists, and options are numerous for the active part of your day. There are 10 miles of hiking trails within the park crossing the cool, shaded canyon floor and running up the northern slopes to dry, open grasslands at the summit of the hills. 

The North Creek Trail and Ox Trail follow tree-lined Papermill Creek for a level mile to the Old Mill Site and the swimming hole, with plenty of creekside access along the way. A self-guiding brochure, “Historical Trail Guide,” explains the nine numbered posts on your route. From the large redwood stump in the picnic grounds (a reminder of the giant redwoods once part of the area), to the spreading pond in the shallow creek at the end of the trail (a natural swimming hole for over 50 years), you can step back in time as you enjoy these spots.  

Following the smaller Wildcat Creek up into Wildcat Canyon is the 2.2 miles Pioneer Tree Redwood Ecology Nature Trail. The self-guiding brochure that accompanies this hike points out the relationships between flora and fauna in this coastal redwood ecosystem: Coast redwoods, California bay, tanoak, Pacific madrone, hazelnut, bracket fungi, fox, raccoon, stellar jays, ravens, and vultures all interacting with the sun, wind and water to create this unique environment. On the open grassland, hiking trails and fire roads meander through the hills up toward Barnabe Peak at 1,466 feet, where raptors soar over views of the rolling countryside. This area appeals to our need for open spaces, the warming rays of the sun, the brisk chill of the wind, and uphill walking. 

Bikes are permitted in developed areas and on paved trails.  

The Old Railroad Grade, closed to vehicles, scenically follows the creek, passed the Swimming Hole, to the town of Tocaloma. This gentle, nearly level, three-mile route is ideal for families. The grade also runs east of the main grounds, following a wide dirt trail, about two miles, to the Shafter Bridge. 

After your activities, be sure to allow time for the passive part of your day. The Azalea picnic area, under the redwoods and along the creek, is equipped with picnic tables and cooking stoves. It’s the ideal location for some serious eating and relaxing, while reflecting on the beauty around you. Take yourself down creekside to sit, wade, or just wet your feet. 

At Samuel P. Taylor State Park, the whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts. Ù


Cartoon

Justin DeFreitas
Friday May 14, 2004

Cartoon by Justin DeFreitas°


HUD Report Finds Big Problems With City’s Section 8 Program

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday May 11, 2004

The Berkeley Housing Authority’s Section 8 program is mismanaged, poorly staffed, and on the brink of insolvency, according to a sweeping independent study delivered to BHA board members Friday. 

The $100,000 report compiled by Ronnie Odom of MDStrum Housing Services—conducted at the request of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and paid for by the federal agency—found problems ranging from thousands of dollars lost in miscalculated rents, no procedures for managing a waiting list of 5,000 applicants for Section 8 housing vouchers, and a backlog of 900 housing units not inspected. 

Berkeley Housing Director Steve Barton said the report’s findings came as no surprise to him. The authority—which manages all public housing units in Berkeley as well as Section 8 vouchers—has flunked itself on repeated self-evaluations. 

“The housing authority is lacking just about everywhere, and has been for some time,” Barton said. 

Berkeley has the only “troubled” agency in the East Bay, said HUD Program Assistant Sue Platania. 

Section 8 is the largest housing subsidy program in the country. Eligible residents pay 30 percent of their income for an apartment, with HUD footing the bill for the rest. HUD is also responsible for paying a fee to the housing authority to manage the program. 

Odom concluded that the housing authority’s current problems stem from a frantic drive over the past three years to ramp up the number of housing vouchers to the allotted 1,841 tenants provided by the federal government. That effort has diverted resources from establishing procedures and protocols aligned with HUD regulations, he said. 

Even worse, according to Odom, was that with the city now approaching full use of all its available Section 8 vouchers, the three housing representatives find it nearly impossible to provide service to the growing number of tenants. Two housing representatives retired last year, but with salaries for the jobs between $55,000 and $60,000 a year, the authority’s budget does not allow it to hire replace them. 

With roughly 1800 units rented the three housing representatives—out of the authority’s 17 employees—are each responsible for about 600 cases. Odom said that is double the workload in a typical housing authority. 

“They’re doing the best they can, but they’re essentially working two jobs,” he said. 

Of the roughly $1.9 million the authority gets to administer the program, $1.5 million goes to staff salaries and benefits, leaving precious few dollars for other administration costs. Although the authority is currently solvent, Odom projected an $87,000 deficit in 2006 and a $156,000 deficit in 2007. 

That might be just the tip of the iceberg. HUD is basing next years funding on the lease-up totals presented last August. At the time Berkeley had placed tenants for 1,650 vouchers, but Barton said a computer problem recorded the total at just 1,449. The city will get a chance to appeal, but if that number stands, it would decrease funds to Berkeley and plunge the authority into debt. 

The long-term answer to the authority’s fiscal woes, Odom said, was to reduce the number of administrative staffers and hire more housing representatives. 

“You have a lot of clerks sitting around all day doing nothing,” said Odom who didn’t hesitate to spread the blame around. 

He criticized the authority’s management system, which puts several layers of authority between Executive Director Sharon Jackson and the board, and lets the three housing representatives “run three different housing authorities.” Odom also blasted its inclusion of what he called “fluff” programs that are designed to supply some residents with extra services, but, in his estimation, waste vital staff resources. 

Odom is in the process of writing new procedures for the authority and training its members to follow HUD guidelines. 

The housing authority board—comprised of the City Council and two elected members—didn’t escape Odom’s wrath either. 

“You are all part of the problem,” he told them. Councilmembers and other politicians sometimes encourage the authority to sidestep HUD rules when they are advocating for a constituent, Odom said. 

Councilmembers refuted that claim, but agreed they needed to do a better job of overseeing the program. 

“It isn’t until the federal government gets on our case that we have a real housing authority meeting,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington.  

Commission meetings are held monthly, but usually squeezed in just before the city council convenes. 

Councilmember Miriam Hawley proposed hour-long meetings to start a discussion on the authority’s problems. 

Though, he acknowledged the authority was troubled, Housing Director Barton said he didn’t regret his emphasis on leasing up the number of vouchers. 

“The lease-up is just plain more important [than the administrative concerns raised by HUD],” he said. “If you have the vouchers you have the [financial resources] to work on other issues,” he said. 

Three years ago, the number of rented Section 8 units in the city sank to 1,260 as the combination of ending rent control on vacated units and spiraling rent prices made Section 8 unattractive for landlords who could get more money from the market. 

Fewer vouchers meant less money for the housing authority. During the last few years, the authority needed a $150,000 bail out from the city and tapped its reserves to stay solvent while it ramped up its vouchers. At present, one percent of the vouchers go to developers, though more vouchers have been assigned to two Affordable Housing Associates projects in the pipeline. 

Barton welcomed Odom’s help, but said it was “ironic” that HUD was coming down hard on the authority now, when its finances are improved and three years after Berkeley had first requested the assistance. 

Should the authority become insolvent, Berkeley would likely have to join the Alameda County Housing Authority, and would lose the guarantee of 1,841 housing vouchers for Berkeley residents. 

Barton said the authority was in the process of redeploying workers and training clerks so they can help housing representatives with rent evaluations and income eligibility research and free them to do more unit inspections. 

Still, on some matters, the housing director didn’t think HUD recommendations would work in Berkeley. He said the layers of authority that have the executive director report to him and him report to Phil Kamlarz, who reports to the board, might be unusual, but it gives the board a thorough overview of Berkeley’s total housing picture. 

Barton also said a suggestion to streamline the voucher applications might help the city lease-up more quickly but could hurt the city’s neediest citizens. “We’ve helped hundreds of Berkeley residents in danger of becoming homeless,” he said. “I think that is what the City Council, the board, and the people of Berkeley want, even if some people think its slowing us down.”›


Board Turns Toward A More Moderate BSEP

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday May 11, 2004

What promises to be the biggest local tax on the November ballot is looking like it will be a little less costly to Berkeley taxpayers.  

Two weeks after the school board declared its intention to go to voters with a tax that some board members wanted to set at $10 to $12 million—a roughly $260 increase for the average homeowner—the board last week appeared heading towards a more modest proposal that could trim the burden to taxpayers down to half that much. 

The new tax would be a two-year supplement to the Berkeley Schools Excellence Project (BSEP)—a $10 million parcel tax, set to expire in 2006, that funds specific programs the district’s general fund can’t cover. If the current consensus holds, a tax measure this November—separate from BSEP—would be used to restore basic services. In 2006, after engaging the community in a period of strategic planning, the district would then go before voters with a brand new long-term BSEP measure. 

The push to take a new tax to voters comes amid cuts in state funding and rising labor costs over the past several years that have forced the district to cut back on several programs BSEP was authorized to preserve—primarily low class sizes, music instruction and libraries. 

Last Wednesday the board received three tax plans that proposed to spend between $6 and $8 million to bolster those top three priorities, along with a few extras. 

A proposal from Superintendent Lawrence proposed including money for teacher professional development, research and evaluation services, and an outreach program for families that don’t speak English. None of those programs received much fanfare at the district’s two community planning meetings held earlier this year. 

The BSEP Planning and Oversight Committee mirrored the superintendent’s proposal, except it didn’t include money for staff development. 

A proposal submitted by the Berkeley Federation of Teachers included money for staff development, flexible grants to school sites that could be used for music and libraries and funds for instructional materials and facility improvements. 

B Federation of Teachers President Barry Fike said he expected his union to support the superintendent’s proposal as long as it included strict language that holds the district to its promised class size reductions. 

The proposals from both Lawrence and the BSEP committee call for class size ratios of 20-1 for grades kindergarten to three, 26-1 for grades four to six and 28-1 for grades seven to twelve. The BSEP committee estimates the reduction would require hiring between 31 and 40 new teachers at a cost of $3.1 and $4 million. 

The current BSEP measure devotes about $6 million to reducing class sizes, but that doesn’t mean Berkeley’s classes are smaller than other districts.  

In recent years, to deal with a financial crisis, the school board has declared a fiscal emergency, allowing it to set class sizes at a rate of 37-1, above state standards of 35-1 for secondary schools and 32-1 for fourth and fifth grades. The district has then used the BSEP money to bring class sizes down to the state standards, but not to the levels promised when the measure passed in 1994. The district uses a state grant to keep kindergarten to third grade class sizes at a ratio of 20-1. 

With the district planning to return to voters in two years for an even bigger tax measure, many people close to the negotiations stressed the need for transparency.  

“If this is the measure, that’s what the classroom should look like,” said Director Nancy Riddle. 

Co-Chair of the BSEP Committee Dan Lindheim told the board that as an act of good faith, “once the money comes in, it’s important not to declare a fiscal crisis.” 

In recent weeks Superintendent Lawrence—who at first appeared hesitant to proceed with any type of tax measure this year—has been the strongest advocate for the two-year tax proposal. She wants to lead a community conversation on how best to fund public education in the face of declining state funding before going forward with a new BSEP measure in November 2006.  

Although the majority community members active in BSEP had originally expressed a preference for taking a new long term measure to voters this November, Lawrence, who has attended the past three BSEP committee meetings, has apparently forged a consensus around her plan. 

“Definitely we listened to what the superintendent said [about the strategic planning]. The majority felt like that was a good thing,” said BSEP Committee Co-Chair Susan Henderson, who had favored going forward with a new BSEP measure this year. 

 


City Tax Burden Skips UC Properties

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Tuesday May 11, 2004

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of a two-part series. Part two will appear in the May 14 edition. 

 

In a state plagued by a crumbling infrastructure, troubled schools and an electorate increasingly unwilling to shell out more tax dollars, Berkeley voters are unique among California cities in their willingness to levy new taxes on themselves to fund schools, libraries and other civic improvements. 

But that burden falls mainly on residential and commercial property owners—a dwindling majority in a city dominated by a massive property-tax-exempt University of California campus and a host of other exempt properties. 

The city’s last study on exempt properties, completed in December, 1994, stated the obvious: “Berkeley has an unusual number of properties which are tax exempt,” ranging “from the University of California campus and properties, government owned properties, Alta Bates/Herrick Hospitals and properties, the Graduate Theological Union and properties, to properties owned by churches, private schools and other tax-exempt institutions.” 

The 1994 study estimated that the total tax loss caused by various exemptions on assessed property and even larger unlisted blocks, most notably the UC Berkeley campus, produced an annual property tax shortfall of $23.4 million—nearly two thirds of the $36.6 million collected that year from non-exempt property owners, most of them homeowners. 

“In conclusion,” wrote then-City Auditor Anna Rabkin, “Berkeley’s tax exempt institutions create a massive, hidden fiscal impact on the community. The trend of shifting the tax burden onto residential property taxpayers appears to be increasing, both as a result of Proposition 13 and due to the apparent growth of tax exempt institutions.” 

That Prop. 13—a constitutional amendment passed by California voters in 1978—has inflicted considerable damage on local governments in California comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with its authors, Howard Jarvis and Paul Gann. 

The flames of Proposition 13 were fanned by the soaring rise in California property values between 1975 and 1978—the same incendiary force that sent rents soaring and led to rent control in both Santa Monica and Berkeley. 

Homeowners, stunned by whopping tax increases, eagerly embraced the proposals Jarvis had earlier floated without success. Proposition 13 put a one percent cap on annual tax increases and rolled back assessments to 1975—before the real estate spike that led to its passage. 

Proposition 13 inflicted a double blow on local government by including commercial and industrial property under the same tax protections as residential property. By 1997, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities was estimating that annual non-residential property tax losses to California cities and counties were running up to $5 billion a year. 

Cities have responded by floating special fee and assessment districts—which, also thanks to Prop. 13, must carry by a two-thirds vote. 

A preliminary compilation of non-UC exempt Berkeley property last July came up with a total value of $354 million, with Alta Bates Hospital leading the list with exemptions of $104.6 million, followed by the Graduate Theological Union with $12.1 million, the Pacific School of Religion with $7.7 million and the Herrick Foundation at $4.3 million. 

There is no formal estimate of the value of University of California exemptions, since state-owned property isn’t appraised. 

Not only are university-owned properties exempt, but so are properties leased by the university so long as they are used for educational uses. Conversely, university property leased to for-profit companies is taxable. 

In Berkeley, the ongoing metastasis of the UC campus onto previously taxable properties led the drafters of the city’s December, 2001, General Plan to incorporate Policy LU-35 into the Land Use Element, calling on the city “to discourage additional UC expansion (with the exception of housing) in Berkeley and also discourage the University from removing additional properties from the City’s tax rolls.” 

Nonetheless, the city has bestowed its preliminary blessings on a major UC expansion into downtown—the museum and hotel complex recently vetted by a special Planning Commission task force. While the hotel and convention center would pay property taxes, the museums are exempt by law, as would any other educational uses in the complex.  

Exemptions are a problem nationwide, and one partial solution adopted by the federal government and some states to offset losses from exempt properties is the PILOT program, short for Payment In Lieu Of Taxes. The purpose of this program is to provide funds to compensate for property taxes lost on exempt property owned by governments and non-profit and charitable institutions exempt from paying taxes on the real estate they own. 

The federal Bureau of Land Management is the country’s largest PILOT payer—though the acronym is PILT in federalese—shelling out the lion’s share of the Interior Department’s $227.5 million in fiscal year 2004 PILOT funding. 

Federal military installations and the Department of Energy also make PILOT payments to local governments whose schools, roads and other infrastructure and service elements are impacted by their presence. 

Rhode Island offers cities and towns payments amounting to 27 percent of the taxes lost from otherwise tax exempt state owned facilities. Vermont pays cities half of the estimated taxes on state-owned property. Massachusetts also offers PILOT fees to municipalities, though in recent years legislators have severely underfunded the program. 

A 1960 Connecticut law mandates that the state pay PILOT fees equivalent to the full share of property taxes to towns hosting state prisons or where the state owns more than half the property in the municipality, and 40 cents on the dollar on state property comprising less than half of the municipality’s real estate. A 1978 Connecticut law authorizes state-paid fees of 77 cents on the dollar to replace taxes lost from other all other exempt properties, including hospitals, private colleges and universities. 

In reality, the Connecticut legislature typically underfunds the program, and PILOT fees are prorated based on the amount actually appropriated. For the current fiscal year, one university city—New Haven, home to Yale—pocketed $32.7 million in PILOT fees, considerably less than its full statutory entitlement. 

Connecticut’s program was launched in 1968, and the original legislation authorized compensation to local government for taxes lost on state-owned property amounting to 100 percent for state prisons and 40 percent for all other state-owned facilities. A 1978 amendment added state compensation of 77 percent of lost property taxes and assessments for hospitals and private colleges and universities. 

The Massachusetts PILOT fee program dates back to 1910, and compensates municipalities only from taxes lost on the land itself and not the considerably more valuable buildings and other improvements. 

The statewide base for Massachusetts PILOT payments was land valued at $1.86 billion, and authorized payments were based on a statewide rate of $16.58 per $1000 of assessed land values. The total authorized by law was $30.8 for all municipalities—but legislators only appropriated $21 million, a move decried by state auditor Joseph DeNucci. 

Rhode Island launched its own PILOT program in 1986 to reimburse municipalities for the lost property tax revenues on non profit hospitals and institutions of higher learning, with reimbursement fixed at 25 percent taxes owed on property of equivalent value. Two years later, state hospitals, veteran’s homes, and prisons with more than 100 inmates were added to the list. In 1997 legislators upped the reimbursement rate to 27 percent. 

Vermont’s PILOT program pays municipalities $1 per $100 in assessed value on state-owned land. 

Some institutions offer voluntary PILOT funds. In New Jersey, Princeton University voluntarily pays taxes on otherwise-exempt faculty and graduate student housing and for the president’s estate. 

But in California, the University of California, the state universities and community colleges are statutorily exempt from local taxes, and they have successfully resisted all efforts to require them to pay any compensation. 

It’s not that California state government doesn’t provide any PILOT funds, observes Peter Detwiler, a consultant to the California Senate Local Government Committee. The most notable payments are made under the Williamson Act Subvention Program, created by the legislature in 1965 to encourage the preservation of “green belt” agricultural regions around municipalities. 

Farmers and ranchers who sign contracts to keep their land developer-free have their property assessed based on its value for agricultural use rather than the higher values that would result from exploiting for commercial and residential development. 

To make up for the resulting loss of taxes, the state offers compensation—$38 million to counties and $60 million to school districts in the current fiscal year. 

Acknowledging that Berkeley might have the greatest property tax losses of any UC campus, Detwiler said that the benefits from sales tax and other revenues generated by the university’s presence could significantly mitigate the impact of loss property tax revenues. 

The latest proposal to offset some of the costs universities, colleges and other otherwise-exempt public agencies impose on local governments comes from California Assemblymember Lonnie Hancock, a former Berkeley mayor and the spouse of current Mayor Tom Bates. 

Hancock’s Assembly Bill 2902 would amend the state Public Resources code to ban public agencies such as UC from implementing plans for developments governed by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) that would require other agencies to implement mitigations unless the implementing agency agrees to pay a fair share of the costs. 

Both the UC and state university systems have announced their opposition, citing the City of Marina ruling—making the upcoming Supreme Court hearing all the more important for local governments, the state and taxpayers.  

With UC Berkeley’s recently unveiled Long Range Development Plan projecting an additional 1.1 million square feet of off-campus development by 2020, Hancock’s measure becomes a matter of critical importance to Berkeley City officials. ˇ


Remembering Wendell Lipscomb

By JAKOB SCHILLLER
Tuesday May 11, 2004

According to friends and family, Berkeley’s Wendell Ralph Lipscomb was a renaissance man in the true sense of the word. A former instructor for the Tuskegee Airmen, a physician, musician, and teacher, those who knew him best said he was good at whatever he did. 

Even into his later years, Lipscomb pursued his multiple passions, most importantly his love for flying. But on Thursday, Lipscomb’s life came to an abrupt end when he tripped and fell from a center median on Shattuck Avenue and was run over by a passing truck. 

“He was a man of great generosity, a man who never complained, a man who never bragged about all of his achievements,” said Joe Lurie, a friend and executive director of the International House at UC Berkeley, where Lipscomb spent time while studying to become a doctor. Lipscomb subsequently served on the I-House board. 

“He was a real star, he was good at everything he put his mind too,” said Kathryn Raphael, one of Lipscomb’s two step-daughters.  

Born in Berkeley in 1920, Lipscomb grew up in Oakland and eventually moved to San Diego. There he developed his passion for flying by hanging around the airfields, offering to wash planes or help pilots. Some of the pilots eventually started giving Lipscomb free flying lessons and by the time he was 16, he had his pilot’s license. Even the more than his age, it was a major accomplishment for the African American Lipscomb to achieve that distinction in an era of overt anti-black racism. 

At 17, as the Spanish Civil War broke out, Lipscomb enrolled as a pilot with Americans who went to fight against the fascist troops of Francisco Franco. The planes however, never showed up so Lipscomb wasn’t able to fly. 

“He wanted to fly, he wanted to use his talents,” said Ellen Gunther, Lipscomb’s wife of nearly 40 years. “He was just a natural pilot. Even if he went a year without flying, the minute he got in the [cockpit], it was like he was in there yesterday.” 

Lipscomb’s time as a pilot was far from over though. Back in the United States during World War II, Lipscomb became an instructor for the Tuskegee Airman, the first African Americans to fly airplanes for the Army Air Corps in Alabama. After the war ended, he tried to become a commercial pilot but none of the major airlines would hire an African-American. After several tries, he did fly with British Airways for a short stint. 

His inability to fly did not hold Lipscomb back, however. He graduated from San Diego State college in 1947 and soon enrolled in medical school at UC Berkeley. When the medical school was transferred to San Francisco he went with it, graduating in 1953. After graduation, like the fictional Hawkeye and Trapper John of “M.A.S.H.”, Lipscomb spent time in Korea during the war. When he returned to the states he also returned to school, graduating with his masters in public health from the University of Michigan. 

According to his wife, Lipscomb became the first African-American doctor to do his residency at Kaiser hospital in Oakland. Back then, she said, they never asked for a picture and offered him the job because he graduated tenth in his class. She said they were noticeably surprised when he showed up. 

Lipscomb did not stop at general medicine, however, and continued to pursue other interests, serving as the supervisor of the alcoholism project for the California State Department of Public Health. He also did a residence at the Mendocino State Hospital as a psychiatrist. He continued to work as a psychiatrist in Oakland, and eventually ran his own private practice in Berkeley. 

He had just retired this past January.  

When asked if he was a work-aholic, Gunther said, “I told him I think its time to retire, and he said I’ve never quit a job in my life. That’s the definition of a work-aholic.” 

Even though he wasn’t flying professionally for most of his life, Gunther said Lipscomb could never really keep his feet firmly planted on solid ground. 

“He really loved it, the minute the airplane broke ground, he was free,” she said. She added that Lipscomb flew on his own, taught both his stepson and grandson to fly, and also participated in a program at the Oakland airport that gave flying lessons to middle school and high school students. 

The program, run by Sam Broadnax, another former Tuskegee Airman, started in 1994 and targeted African-American youth from around the Bay. 

“It’s sort of an old saying that real pilots have air in their blood,” said Broadnax about Lipscomb. “His love for flying didn’t diminish at all as his age advanced and he couldn’t fly any more.” 

Besides his love for flying, his family said he was also a talented musician, philanthropist, avid bird watcher, voracious reader, and at one point owned his own art gallery. Over the years ,he made so many friends and acquaintances (especially during his time at the I-House) that he couldn’t travel anywhere that he didn’t know someone. 

Before he died he was struggling with dialysis but, according to friends, never complained and continued to pursue his work. He also always kept a sense of humor. 

“He was an extraordinary man, a magnificent human being,” said Lurie from the I-House. 


Berkeley This Week Calendar

Tuesday May 11, 2004

TUESDAY, MAY 11 

Morning Birdwalk Meet at 7 a.m. at the pull-out on Wildcat Canyon Rd., east of Grizzly Peak Blvd. 525-2233. 

Public Hearing on UCB’s Long Range Development Plan at 5:30 p.m. at the Krutch Theater, CLark Kerr Campus. Copies of the plan and the draft Environmental Impact Report are available at http://lrdp.berkeley.edu 

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Sts from 3 to 7 p.m. 843-1307. 

Arianna Huffington will speak at 11:30 a.m. at the Head-Royce School, 4315 Lincoln Ave., Oakland. Sponsored by the Civic Purpose Committee, Democracy Matters and California Common Cause. 531-1300, ext. 2247. 

Phone Banking to ReDefeat Bush from 6 to 9 p.m. at Cafe de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck Ave. Bring your cell phones. Please RSVP if you can join us. 233-2144. dan@redefeatbush.com 

“The Evolution of California Water Policy” with David Kennedy, former director of the California Dept. of Water Resources at 5:30 p.m. in 105 North Gate Hall, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Water Resources Center Archives. 642-2666. 

“Evolution’s Rainbow” Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People, with Dr. Joan Roughgarden at 7:30 p.m., 2050 Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Campus. 643-7008. bnhm@berkeley.edu 

Writer’s Workshop: Crossing Genres with Melita Schaum at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-0861. 

Goddess Grace Moving Meditation at 10 a.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Cost is $7-10, bring a yoga mat or blanket. 883-0600. www.belladonna.ws 

East Bay Theology on Tap meets to discuss “Catholicism, Democracy and Civil Society” with Jerome Baggett at 7 p.m. at 4092 Piedmont Ave. Contact Norah at St. Leo the Great 654-6177. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Joan Sinon will speak on Home Instead Senior Care at 11 a.m. 845-6830. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers We are a few slowpoke seniors who walk between a mile or two each Tuesday, meeting at 9:30 a.m. in the Little Farm parking lot. To join us, call 215-7672.  

WEDNESDAY, MAY 12 

Fresh Produce Stand Grand opening from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center, with home-cooked food and festivities. Sponsored by Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

“Free to Fly: The US-Cuba Link” a documentary on the efforts of people to maintain links after 16 years of no direct travel, at 6:30 p.m. at the South Branch Library, 1901 Russell St. 981-6260. 

“Miel de Oshun” a film about a Cuban American who goes back to Cuba to search for his mother, at 7 p.m. at Fellowship of Humanity, 390 7th St., Oakland. Donations accepted. 393-5685. 

East Bay Genealogical Society meets at 10 a.m. with speaker Diane Rooney on research on Eastern European families. Library Conference Room, Family History Center, 4770 Lincoln Ave., Oakland. 635-6692. 

The Knitting Hour at the West Branch of the Berkeley Public Library, 1125 University Ave., at 7 p.m. Come and learn to knit, regain old skills, and get inspiration for new projects. Limited supplies are available. Please feel free to donate. For beginners, we recommend a pair of size 8 needles and one skein of yarn. All ages welcome. 981-6270. 

Poetry Writing Workshop, led by Danna Zeller, at 7 p.m. at the Albany Public Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 20. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www. 

geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, MAY 13 

“There’s No Place Like Home” a fundraising event for First Place Fund for Youth, for youth who “age out” of the foster care system, at 5:30 p.m. at Oakland Asian Cultural Center. Tickets are $50. 272-0979. www.firstplacefund.org 

Berkeley Adult School Career Fair from 9 a.m. to noon at 1222 University Ave. Free admission. 644-8968. 

“Election” the political comedy will be shown in a benefit for the John Kerry campaign at sundown at the outdoor cinema, Pyramid Alehouse, 8th and Gilman. Bring your own seating: blankets, lawn chairs, etc. Suggested donation is $20 or whatever you can afford. All donations go Kerry’s campaign. apbeahrs@mac.com.  

Embracing Diversity Films and Albany High School PTA present “Bums’ Paradise” at 7 p.m. in the Albany High School Library, 603 Key Route Blvd., Albany. 527-1328. 

Grizzly Peak Flyfishers monthly meeting at 7 p.m at the Kensington Community Center, 59 Arlington Ave. 547-8629. 

Tea Dancing and Dance Lessons from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St., Berkeley. Cost is $10, and include refreshments. 925-376-6345.  

East Bay Mac User Group meets to discuss MacWireless at 6 p.m. at Expression Center for New Media, 6601 Shellmound St. www.expression.edu 

FRIDAY, MAY 14 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Nelson H. Greyburn, Prof. of Anthropology, on “Recent Generational Changes in Japan.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $12.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020. 

Literary Friends meets at 1:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center to discuss Creative Poetry in Action 232-1351. 

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride meets at the Berkeley BART the second Friday of every month at 5:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Players at all levels are welcome. 652-5324. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 548-6310, 845-1143. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions are welcome to join us. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169. www.bpf.org 

Overeaters Anonymous meets every Friday at 1:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Church at Solano and The Alameda. Parking is free and is handicapped accessible. For information call Katherine, 525-5231. 

Herbal Tea at Three Learn tea lore, medicinal properties, and taste familiar and exotic varieties. Every Friday from 3 to 4 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy. 549-9200. www.elephantpharmacy.com 

SATURDAY, MAY 15 

Berkeley Health Carnival from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at San Pablo Park, 2800 Park St. Free medical screenings and enrollment opportunities. Sponsored by the LifeLong Medical Group. 

City of Berkeley Budget Forum at 9:15 a.m. in the Sproul Room, St. John’s Presbyterian, 2727 College Ave. Sponsored by BANA/ 

CNA.  

Interfaith Pagan Pride Parade and Celebration with indigenous and Earth-based traditions celebrating the “Divine Feminine” from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Civic Center Park. www.paganparade.org 

Strawberry Tastings at Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Civic Center Park from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with cooking demonstrations at 11 a.m. 

Berkeley Fire Station Open House from 1 to 4 p.m. at Station 2, 2029 Berkeley Way. Tour the station, see a safety presentation, and historical display and enjoy hot dogs and cake. Families and children especially welcome. 981-5506. 

Slitherin’ Snakes Visit the friendly snakes at Tilden Nature Center from 10:30 a.m. to noon and learn about reptiles. 525-2233. 

Bugs-R-Us If you love insects, come on down to search out some creepy crawlies. You’ll learn all about our many legged friends and then search for them in the soil, under logs and even in our compost! From 2 to 3 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. 525-2233. 

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour “Piedmont Way” led by Paul Grunland from 10 a.m. to noon. 848-0181. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc/ 

Bike Rodeo at San Pablo Park with obstacle courses and other activities from 10 a.m. to noon. 

Labyrinth Peace Walk at 3 p.m. at the Willard Community Peace Labyrinth, on blacktop next to the gardens at Willard Middle School, Telegraph Ave. between Derby and Stuart. Enter by the dirt road on Derby. Free and wheelchair accessible. Sponsored by the East Bay Labyrinth Project. 526-7377.  

Mindfulness in Education Join with educators, parents, students, and all those concerned with education in a mindfulness day of meditation, reflection, sharing, and inquiry about creating peaceful schools with heart. From 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave.  

Spring Faire at Washington School from 10 to 2 p.m. at 2300 Martin Luther King Jr. Way Join us for a community celebration co-sponsored by Healthy Start. Lots of fun activities for kids, health and education booths, food, music, and raffle. 486-1742. 

Walden Spring Fair from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Walden School, 2446 McKinley Ave., corner of Dwight. Live entertainment, food, arts and crafts, and children’s games. 841-7248. 

Russian Festival hosted by The Berkeley Russian School from 1 to 5 p.m. at 1821 Catalina at Colusa. Concert featuring Sergey Podobedov on the piano, Yulia Ronskaya, soprano, Elena Stepanova, soprano, and art exhibition, dancing, drama performances and lots of Russian piroshkis & blintzes. Admission $5. 526-8892. 

Berkwood Hedge School Music & Art Festival from 1 to 5 p.m, 1809 Bancroft Way. Join us for an afternoon of musical performances, art exhibits, crafts, games and fine food and drink. Admission $3-$7. All proceeds benefit the Berkwood Hedge scholarship program.  

Community Block Party at 1 p.m. at 2824 Haven’s Court, between McArthur and Bancroft. Sponsored by Cultural Designs. 205-9331.  

Gardening with East Bay Native Plants from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pre-registration required Class is held off-site. Cost is $15-$25, low-income spots by arrangement. 548-2220, ext. 233. erc@ecologycenter.org 

The Friends of the Albany Library Book Sale from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, or to volunteer for the sale, please call the Albany Library at 526-3720, ext. 5. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club Open House from 1 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The public is invited come try lawn bowling at the greens, which are located at 2270 Acton, intersecting with Bancroft. For more information, please call Ray Francis at 234-6646. Berkeleylawnbowl@aol.com   

Satsuki Arts Festival & Bazaar with kotoist June Kuramoto and keyboardist Kimo Cornwell, taiko drummer Kenny Endo,and a variety of Japanese food, Asian arts and crafts, a silent auction and children's carnival games. From 4 to 9 p.m. and Sun. noon to 7 p.m. at Berkeley Buddhist Temple, 2121 Channing Way. 841-1356. http://home.pacbell.net/bsangha/ 

“Running for Office 101” a workshop to strengthen skills in political leadership and campaing management from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Peralta Community College District Boardroom, 333 East 8th St., Oakland, across from Laney Football Field. Cost is $75. 763-9523. www.bwopa.org  

Sweet Inspirations Auction and Dessert Reception to benefit Elizabeth House, a transitional residential house for women, at 7 p.m. at Holy Redeemer Center, 8945 Golf Links Rd, Oakland. Tickets are $25. 601-1213. 

Sacred Listening A workshop led by Leonard Levis and Nora Martos-Perry from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Road, Kensington. Suggested donation $45. 526-8944. 

Yoga for Seniors at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St., on Saturdays from 10 to 11 a.m. The class is taught by Rosie Linsky, who at age 72, has practiced yoga for over 40 years. Open to non-members of the club for $8 per class. For further information and to register, call Karen Ray at 848-7800. 

Pet Adoptions, sponsored by Home at Last, from noon to 5 p.m., Hearst and 4th St. 548-9223. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

Dream Workshop on Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to noon at 2199 Bancroft Way. Cost is $10. www.practicaldreamwork.com 

SUNDAY, MAY 16 

“Shattering Myths in Palestine/Israel” a visual reportback from April Middle East Children’s Alliance delegation, at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10-$20 sliding scale, benefit Palestinian children. 849-2568. www.mecaforpeace.org 

“Working for Justice in a Time of Conflict” with Rabbi Arik Ascherman, director of Rabbis for Human Rights, at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Donations welcome. Co-sponsored by Trees of Hope. 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

“Jews Against Zionism” A new documentary by local film-maker Wendy Campbell, at 3 p.m. at the Parkway Theatre, 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland. Free, donations accepted. 814-2400. www.exposingisraeliapartheid.com 

International Women’s Writing Guild quarterly meeting at 3 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

“Spirit, Work and Money” a workshop with Tony D’Aguanno, from 1 to 5 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship, 1606 Bonita. Cost is $45. Please RSVP to 272-9915. 

Guided Trails Challenge Hike in the Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Smack-dab in the heart of industry lies a peaceful shoreline. Climb the hills and learn the history of Rancho San Pablo, Ferry Point, and Botts’ Flying Machine. Meet in the first parking lot off Dornan Dr. near Pt. Richmond. Registration required 525-2233.  

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring warm waterproof clothes. www.cal-sailing.org 

Parking Lot Book Sale from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Spectator Bookstore, 4163 Piedmont Ave. Lots of books at really low prices. 653-7300. 

Satsuki Arts Festival & Bazaar with kotoist June Kuramoto and keyboardist Kimo Cornwell, taiko drummer Kenny Endo, and a variety of Japanese food, Asian arts and crafts, a silent auction and children’s carnival games. From noon to 7 p.m. at Berkeley Buddhist Temple, 2121 Channing Way. 841-1356. http://home. 

pacbell.net/bsangha/ 

Golden State Model Railroad Museum open from noon to 5 p.m. Also open on Saturdays and Friday evenings from 7 to 10 p.m. Located in the Miller-Knox Regional Shoreline Park at 900-A Dornan Drive in Pt. Richmond. Admission is $2-$3. 234-4884 or www.gsmrm.org 

Anxiety A free talk with Stacy Taylor at noon at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Lama Amdo on “Entering the Bodhisattva Path” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

“Buddhism: Building Bridges of Understanding” at 7 p.m. a St. Cuthbert’s, 7900 Mountain Blvd. Reading materials available beforehand from StCuddy@aol.com 

“The Death of Progressive Education” with Dan Harper at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302. 

“Eckhart Tolle Talks on Video” at 6:30 p.m. the Feldenkrais Ctr., 830 Bancroft Way. Donation $3. Potluck afterwards so bring food/drink to share. 415-990-8977. 

ONGOING 

Free Community Yoga Workshops with David Korman, every Wed. on the grounds of Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave., North Berkeley. Next session starts May 19th. 649-1664. 

Vista College Study Abroad in Mexico Live with a family and learn language skills in a two-week session in July in Guadalajara. 981-2917. www.peralta.cc. 

ca.us/interntl/studyabr.htm 

Berkeley Video and Film Festival is calling for entries. The deadline is July 10. 843-3699. www.berkeleyvideofilmfest.org 

Radio Summer Camp, four day sessions from June 4 through Sept. 6. Learn how to build and operate a community radio station. Sponsored by Radio Free Berkeley. 625-0314. www.freeradio.org 

Medical Care for Your Pet at the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society’s low-cost veterinary clinic, at 2700 Ninth St. For appointments call 845-3633. www.berkeleyhumane.org  

CITY MEETINGS 

Commission on Disability meets Wed. May 12, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Paul Church, 981-6342. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/disability 

Homeless Commission meets Wed., May 12, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jane Micallef, 981-5426. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/homeless 

Planning Commission meets Wed., May 12, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Ruth Grimes, 981-7481. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/planning 

Police Review Commission meets May 12, at 7:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, Barbara Attard, 981-4950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/policereview 

Waterfront Commission meets Wed., May 12, at 7 p.m., at 201 University Ave. Cliff Marchetti. 644-6376 ext. 224. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/waterfront 

Commission on Early Childhood Education meets Thurs., May 13, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Marianne Graham, 981-5416. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/earlychildhoodeducation  

Community Health Commission meets Thurs, May 13, at 6:45 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. William Rogers, 981-5344. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/health 

Two-by-Two Meeting of elected City and School officials to dicuss common concerns, Thurs., May 13, at 8:30 a.m., in the Redwood Room, 6th floor, 2180 Milvia St. 644-6147, 981-7000. 

West Berkeley Project Area Commission meets Thurs., May 13, at 7 p.m., at the West Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7520. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/westberkeley  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., May 13, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/zoning  


Briefly Noted

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Tuesday May 11, 2004

Planners To Get Hotel Task Force Report 

Berkeley’s planning commissioners will get their first official look at the recommendations crafted by their UC Hotel Task Force at Wednesday’s 7 p.m. meeting in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

The report, prepared after extensive public hearings before the 25-member task force, details recommendations for the massive complex planned for the two-square-block area between Shattuck Avenue and Oxford Street and Center Street and University Avenue. 

The university has proposed a 12-story hotel and convention center plus a complex of UC museums for the site. 

 

Joint Meeting To Discuss Animal Shelter Sites 

The City Council Subcommittee of the New Animal Shelter will meet with the Citizens Humane Commission Wednesday afternoon for an update on possible sites for the new city animal shelter. 

The session is of particular concern to Bob Brockl of the nonprofit Nexus Gallery and Collective, whose 25 artisans and craft workers occupy the unreinforced building owned by the humane society which is frequently mentioned as a site for the new facility, funded by a bond measure approved by voters in 2002. 

The structure in question was built in 1924 by the Austin Building Company, the same firm that designed the city’s landmarked Heinz Building at San Pablo and Ashby avenues. 

Under terms of the West Berkeley Plan, any arts and crafts spaces demolished for development must be replaced by similar space at identical rates. 

“That poses something of a problem,” said Katherine O’Connor, the city staffer assigned to the Citizens Humane Commission, “because they are paying very low rents.” 

O’Connor said the Nexus building had drawn the most official attention as a possible shelter site because other sites are difficult to find, “though they have looked at a site on Camellia Street.” 

Discussions are still at a very preliminary stage, she said. 

 

Family Sues Over Santa Rita Jail Death 

The family of Kevin Freeman, a well-known Berkeley homeless man, has filed a federal wrongful death suit against Alameda County Sheriff Charles C. Plummer and other officials in his department stemming from Freeman’s murder last year while in custody at Santa Rita County Jail. 

Others named as defendants include jail supervisor Commander Dennis G. Scheuller and the staff on duty the night of Freeman’s murder, said San Francisco attorney Frank S. Moore, who filed the action on behalf of Freeman’s family. 

Freeman, a 55-year-old schizophrenic with a history of drug abuse, was killed May 9, 2003, less than 24 hours after he was placed in a cell with a mentally disturbed inmate with a history of violence. 

Freeman had been jailed on charges of public intoxication and probation violation. 

Ryan Lee Raper, who was 20 at the time of the killing, has been charged with Freeman’s murder and remains in Santa Rita, where he is being held without possibility of bail. 

The lawsuit charges that the county violated Freeman’s constitutional right to humane confinement. The family seeks punitive damages in addition to compensation for pain and suffering and lost income. 

Though the suit was filed April 30 in the Oakland branch of the United States District Court, the case has been assigned to a San Francisco courtroom. Nothing more will happen until the first case management meeting, which must be held within 120 days of filing, Moore said. 

 

UC Programmer Dies In Nevada Glider Accident 

Ruben Zelwer, a computer programmer and systems analyst for UC Berkeley, died Sunday in a glider accident at the Air Sailing Center 25 miles north of Reno. 

Zelwer was an active member of Congregation Beth El in Berkeley. 

Washoe County Coroner Vernon McCarty said Zelwer died at 4:43 p.m. from injuries sustained in the crash, which followed a break in the tow rope as a plane was pulling him up to gliding height. 

The accident is currently under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, McCarty said. ›


School’s Chicken Pox Dispute Spreads to Health Department

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday May 11, 2004

Berkeley Arts Magnet Elementary School is learning that despite a new vaccine that promises to one day vanquish the disease from the face of the earth, the chicken pox can still pack a wallop. 

A sudden outbreak two weeks ago has left six students home sick with the virus, as well as eight students barred from school for three weeks because of their refusal to accept the vaccine. Four of the six students infected are in the same sixth grade class and the other two are in fourth grade.  

And for good measure, the outbreak comes just as students are taking state standardized tests which can label schools as failing if they fail to test enough students. 

“We’re hoping for an extension from the state (for taking the state test),” said School Secretary Brenda Stanford, who said the outbreak has meant a lot of extra work for her. 

It’s also been a trial for city Health Officer Dr. Poki Namkung. She is responsible for coordinating the school’s response, and has taken some heat from at least one parent for her stance that any child not vaccinated be kept out of school for the 21-day period that the virus takes to incubate. Many of the families refusing the vaccine say it violates their religion. 

Nora Akino, whose daughter attends Berkeley Arts Magnet, questioned if the policy was intended to “force parents to vaccinate their children.” She said no doctor had ever urged the vaccine for her child, but said it seemed to her that now chickenpox had been redefined as a dangerous disease. 

“The disease has not changed, and my reasons for not giving my child the vaccine have not changed,” she said, “yet suddenly and without warning, I have been transformed from a parent deciding against an optional vaccine to a parent that is ‘out-of-compliance’ whose child has been barred from school.” 

Health Officer Namkung counters that the virus has killed a “significant number of children” and that she is following standard public health procedures in dealing with the outbreak—which is defined by the state as more than five cases in one elementary school. 

The first case at the school was identified on April 26, but Namkung was not alerted until three days later. She then reviewed school immunization records to determine which students were at risk for contracting the highly infectious virus. On May 5 the city offered vaccines to the 17 students who couldn’t provide proof that they were immune. The vaccine will not protect the students if they had been exposed earlier, but guarantees that if they do come down with the virus, it will not be passed on to their classmates. 

The eight students whose parents opted against the vaccine have been offered independent study contracts for the next three weeks, Stanford said.  

Akino said that she doesn’t trust the effectiveness of the vaccine and wants her daughter to have the chickenpox as a child so she will be immune the rest of her life. Namkung, however, said she “cannot let susceptible children into an environment where I know a serious disease is occurring.” 

This year’s outbreak is the first in Namkung’s nine years with the city and it might well be the last. Since 2001, all incoming elementary school students are required to be vaccinated for the chickenpox or receive an exemption. 

 


School Board Asks Council To Close Block for Derby Field

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday May 11, 2004

The Berkeley School Board is asking the City Council to step up to the plate and dig up a Berkeley street so that the district can build a new home for the Berkeley High baseball team. 

Two weeks after sending a mixed message on the type of athletic field they want to build at its East Campus site on Martin Luther King Jr. Way at Derby and Carleton Streets, the board passed a measure 4-0-1 (Selawsky, abstain) last Wednesday declaring its preference for the city to close a block of Derby Street between Martin Luther King and Milvia Street. The district says if that is done, it can sod over the pavement and build a regulation size baseball field. 

“The City Council can’t entertain it unless they know we want it,” said School Board Director Terry Doran, who co-sponsored the resolution with Director Shirley Issel.  

The last time the City Council considered the street closure, the school board lost big. In 2000, with opposition from several neighbors and the Berkeley Farmer’s Market, which uses the that section of Derby Street on Tuesday evenings, the council voted 6-3 to deny the school board request. 

Proponents of the plan think this time around they will have two factors on their side: The resolution safeguards a spot for the farmer’s market on the site and supporters say they are told Mayor Tom Bates is open to considering the plan. The mayor’s office declined to reply to inquiries from the Daily Planet on this issue. 

Currently the proposed plot is home to a collection of portable buildings that house a few district offices, some classes and storage space. It also currently has a very large grassy field that residents use for pickup football and soccer games. 

The resolution passed last week will not halt the current plan to remove the portables and build a multi-purpose field on the site bounded by Carleton and Derby streets while the school board waits for a decision from the City Council.  

The Berkeley High School baseball team currently practices and plays home games at San Pablo Park, a 1.5 miles from campus. Doug Fielding, chair of the Association of Sports Field Users, told the board that the lack of sports fields prevents the baseball team from practicing for more than an hour and a half daily.  

School Board President John Selawsky feared that the resolution would prejudice the board as it prepares to organize a committee of neighbors and school officials to plan the project. 

“It seems we’re not keeping an open mind on uses of that site if we’ve already determined what the uses of that site are,” he said.


Fire Department Log

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Tuesday May 11, 2004

Four Berkeley engine companies battled a blaze fanned by 35-mile-an-hour winds atop Grizzly Peak after Oakland firefighters issued a call for mutual assistance at 10 minutes after midnight Monday morning. 

Before the four-acre grass blaze was contained, Oakland issued a third alarm. 

About a dozen engines from Oakland, two from Orinda, five from the California Division of Forestry, and the four Berkeley crews battled for more than three hours to contain the flames. No dwellings were burned, and there were no injuries among the crews, said Berkeley Deputy Chief David Orth. “The fire started when a tree fell over into electric lines,” he said. 

“This is really an early start to fire season,” explained the Berkeley firefighter, adding that another mountain-area woods fire hit Marin County over the weekend. 


From Susan Parker: Mother’s Greatest Fear: Naked in California

Susan Parker
Tuesday May 11, 2004

My mother thinks that everyone in California runs around naked. It’s one of her theories left over from the ‘60s, when Life Magazine was delivered weekly to our house in New Jersey. In each issue were big photographs of pain and tragedy: train wrecks, car crashes, runaway children, missile crisis, racial strife and a war somewhere across the Pacific. In-between these articles were snippets of life in California: tan surfer girls shopping in bikinis at the grocery store; movie stars in group therapy; common housewives primal screaming; nude people on the Big Sur coast, sitting in hot tubs discussing their feelings; naked folks in communes having sex with one another; hairy kids in the desert doing god knows what without their clothes on. That’s how mother got the idea that everyone in California was naked, including her daughter: Life Magazine told her so. 

And it was true, I did spend some time sans clothes in California. Hitchhiking up the coast, from Thousand Oaks to San Francisco, I got into cars with half naked people and lay on beaches with the partially clothed. I spent time in a commune in Santa Cruz where threads were optional. I kept my clothes on, but mother didn’t believe me. 

After I graduated from college and returned to California 10 years later, mother advised me to “Knock’em dead out there, sweetheart, but keep your clothes on.” 

She came to visit. We walked around San Francisco’s North Beach. “See,” mother said as she peered into the doorway of Big Al’s. “Naked people everywhere.” 

I took her to the beach. Surfers removed their wet suits in front of mother. “My god,” she exclaimed, looking away, then sneaking a glance back after we had passed by. “Have those boys no shame? Oh my,” she whispered walking by a well-endowed blonde.  

At Muir Woods we took a hike, then raced back to the car in order to make it into San Francisco for dinner. “Mom,” I shouted. “You’ll have to change your clothes in the parking lot! There’s no time to go home.” 

“You want me to get naked right here in front of everybody?” she asked. “You’ve got to be kidding!” 

I looked around. There wasn’t a soul in sight. “Mom, sit in the car. Take your pants off. Put on your skirt. Roll your panty hose up underneath it. That’s it. Now take off your shirt and I’ll hand you your blouse. Good. That wasn’t so bad, was it?” 

“Wait ‘til I tell the gals at bridge club. They won’t believe it.” 

We went to Calistoga. We took our clothes off in a communal bath and let a stranger pile hot dirt on top of us. “Isn’t this fun?” I asked as mud oozed around my chin. 

“Yes,” she answered in a tentative voice, careful not to let mud fill her nostrils.  

The next day we headed to Carmel. I had made reservations for us at Tassajara Hot Springs. 

“Mom, there’s something you should know about this place,” I said as we sped down Highway 1. 

“Yes?” 

“It’s clothing optional.” 

“Mmmmmm,” she whispered. 

Upon our arrival we put on bathing suits and headed for the women-only tubs. Everyone was naked except for mother and me. Someone suggested we take off our suits. 

“No thank you,” replied mom. 

After our soak we hiked through a narrow canyon. We sat on warm rocks and stared up at the cloudless blue sky. Out of the woods a naked young man meandered toward us. He was tall and muscular, an in-the-flesh Adonis, and he was headed in our direction. “My god,” mother said as she peered over her bifocals at the fellow. I could hear her sucking in air. He said hello as he walked by. I answered “hi,” but mother said nothing. She was holding her breath. We watched him amble away, his firm buttocks glistening in the afternoon sun. “My god,” mother whispered again. 

“Are you all right, mom?” 

“Yes,” she answered. “I’m okay.” She let out a big sigh. “Ahhh, but how I do love California,” she said. 


Letters to the Editor

Tuesday May 11, 2004

STRANGE RINGING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’ve heard a strange ringing all over town since Rumsfeld testified Friday (about the Abu Ghraib prison abuses). It must be the sound of a million bullshit detectors! Somebody call Homeland Security! 

David Spinner 

 

• 

COMMON SENSE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Jennifer Dieges’ suggestion (Letters, Daily Planet, May 7-10) that chemotherapy patients are perfectly capable of bike-riding to and from their treatments will probably reign forever as my favorite illustration of the lunacy of arguing for policy based on an extreme and singular circumstance. 

Be glad for your relative good health, Jennifer. Many other cancer patients are extremely debilitated by their treatments, all of which differ by dose and diagnosis. I am a cancer patient who has no desire to have sick, nauseated people wheeling through dangerous streets. 

Berkeley’s policies need to reflect some honesty, and quickly, before the fashion of anti-car attitudes drives all common sense entirely away. 

Carol Denney 

 

• 

UC PAY RAISES 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

Appalled by news of annual pay of $380,000 plus housing for a new chancellor of a UC campus and other administrative UC pay raises, I telephoned UC and learned that even its highest-paid teaching professors (in the School of Law and the School of Business) earn less than $300,000! 

Of recent years, UCB, if not other campuses, has had difficulty recruiting teaching staff because of the cost and scarcity of housing! At the very least, when housing is supplied to high-paid non-teaching officials they should be charged market rents for it! 

The State Legislature, which largely funds the university, needs to put a permanent check on the regents’ magnanimity to greedy administrative hirelings, many of whom some Regents can probably list among their business acquaintances! A restrictive formula for non-teaching administrators’ pay is long overdue. It should allow only, at best, a maximum (excluding housing) of say, the median pay of the top-earning 25 percent of the university’s teaching professors. 

Until some such reform is in place UC alumni should withhold gifts to the university. 

Judith Segard Hunt 

 

• 

OVERPOPULATION 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

In regards to Michael Packer’s letter about overpopulation (Daily Planet, May 4-6) and his query: “To many, it is unclear just why California is inviting so many people here these days.” 

None of us are “inviting” the millions of illegal immigrants who are flooding across our borders every year. And most of us aren’t “inviting” the millions of legal immigrants either; the vast majority of American citizens want to seriously curtail our insane level of mass immigration. 

Who is “inviting” these people? A very small cross-section of the American public: Our politicians (who want to exploit their votes); Big Business (who want an endless source of cheap labor); and the Liberal elite. And it’ll be the very same idiots who spend the next 20 years checking in with their useless “solution” to all the problems they created in the first place. 

The California population is projected to increase from 34 million to 60 million over the next 20 years, almost entirely because of our insane level of Mass Immigration. That’s the equivalent of 30 cities the size of San Francisco popping up in California over the next 20 years. You think we have a homeless problem now? You haven’t seen anything yet. 

Peter Labriola 

• 

FRATERNITY HOUSE 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

Your recent article on the empty frat house (“Shortage of Pledges May Empty Frat House,” Daily Planet, May 4-6), resulting from a shortage of pledges, actually contained within it a very workable solution to the problem, but unfortunately not until you get down to the eleventh paragraph: 

“It seems that some of the boarders are actually bigger partiers that the brothers …We’ve had a few guys come in and puke all over the place…” 

Since college fraternities are, by definition, undemocratic and elitist, the obvious solution would seem to be to get as many students and citizens as possible to go in and puke all over the place, to let them know what we think of “their ways and traditions” that they want to perpetuate among future generations of students. 

Marion Syrek 

 

• 

CORRECTION 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

An article by Louis Nevaer of Pacific News Service (“Terrorist Mercenaries on U.S. Payroll in Iraq War,” Daily Planet, May 4-6) reports:  

“Erinys has been awarded subcontracts to protect American construction contractors, including San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp. ...” 

In fact Bechtel has not awarded Erinys any subcontracts for our work in Iraq. We hope, in the interest of accuracy, that you will set the record straight in a correction. 

Michael G. Kidder 

Manager of Public Affairs 

Bechtel National, Inc. 

San Francisco 

 


Cars? In Berkeley? Not a Bad Notion!

By Kevin Powell
Tuesday May 11, 2004

A friend of mine just put a new bumper sticker on her car. It says “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention!” When I first saw it, I quipped, “Or, if you are outraged, stop paying attention!”  

Kudos to the Daily Planet for emboldening Berkeleyites (for whom my quip is gospel when it comes to local politics) to try something different. I include myself.  

In this case: the Great Berkeley Parking Debate of 2004. 

Consider Charles Siegel’s pair of letters in these pages extolling San Francisco’s Union Square. A great model, Mr. Siegel, opines, for a commercially vibrant downtown Berkeley without any parking. 

Now of course Union Square is built atop a parking garage and there are no fewer than 91 other public parking garages within a quarter mile. Not to worry: zealous hyperbole and fuzzy rhetoric masquerading as idealism are rarely challenged in Berkeley. After all, ours is a community where seven out of nine councilmembers drove to the meeting where they brazenly cast a vote against a housing project because it provides “too much parking” for its residents. But what can you do? 

Well, start with simple honesty. In this case: I challenge you, dear reader of this paper, to take a few moments this weekend and search Berkeley for our most vibrant pedestrian area, a place buzzing with people, a place where you might buy a magazine, linger over a cup of coffee, unexpectedly meet someone you know. Most likely, you will have parked your car, bicycle or legs (all equally for free) on Fourth Street.  

You may note with surprise that unlike most commercial areas in Berkeley, Fourth Street is not overrun by cars. You may find this odd, since it is the only commercial district in Berkeley that accommodates those who drive with abundant free parking. Upon closer inspection, however, you may note that there is no frantic circling the block looking for parking—that frantic circling is confined to the parking lot. Did you drive? Probably. And that is because you live in one of the vast number of Berkeley homes built after 1920, by and for people with cars, in a dispersed pattern that is inconvenient to access any other way.  

Now before we abandon Fourth Street and move on to some “progressive” demagoguery excoriating the potential “Walnut Creek-ification” or “Emeryville-ization” of Berkeley, consider the following. If Berkeley had captured 75 percent of Emeryville’s pre-Ikea, pre East Bay Bridge Center annual sales tax revenue, our current budget deficit would disappear. Now imagine if we could finance nearly half of our general fund with sales tax, as Walnut Creek does. Or imagine how our community might spend the $20 million annual infusion we would net if per capita sales tax revenue matched that of the Bay Area’s other university town, Palo Alto.  

Why stop there? What if we matched the boldness and vision of our sister city in the Southland, Santa Monica? How exactly did Santa Monica transform a derelict shopping district into the most vibrant, pedestrian-packed area south of Sproul Plaza at noon? They went against politically correct wisdom; reopened a street that had been closed to cars; capitalized on mid-block parking garages screened from view; made smart commercial use of the median; clear-cut tired city trees and planted new ones; installed accessible, humorous public art. Net effect: bountiful municipal revenue, and more importantly, a place where people park their car, and leave it parked, discovering the joy that is the heart of a city.  

Could it happen in Berkeley?  

 

Kevin Powell is a Berkeley resident. ›


Kill City Rent Control Panel, Fatten City Coffers, Build Needed Housing

By John Koenigshofer
Tuesday May 11, 2004

As our city struggles with budget shortfalls, one fat sacred cow continues to gorge itself at the public trough. The mayor and the City Council willfully ignore it, tip-toeing around this bloated bovine for fear of awakening a stampede of crushing political correctness. 

This beast consumes over $3 million of public money each year enforcing a program and sustaining a bureaucracy that is counter-productive and unfair. 

I am speaking of the Rent Stabilization Board. 

The money collected from Berkeley citizens to sustain the Rent Board would be better used to augment affordable housing programs and maintain other important social programs currently on the budget chopping block. 

We must not waste public funds on unfair and unneeded programs. 

Rent control is unfair in two fundamental ways. First, because there is no means testing, the benefit of rent control goes to individuals at random. The failure to determine who actually needs this subsidy creates a situation wherein individuals of lesser means may be compelled to give subsidies to individuals of greater means. 

Why not means testing? When this question is put to rent board officials they respond that “means testing is illegal.” How can this be? All levels of government engage in means testing to determine who should receive housing, medical, food and other subsidies. Why is the Rent Board really opposed to means testing?  

Secondly, rent control is unfair because it compels a small portion of our citizens to bear the entire burden of this social subsidy program. It is right and good for society to assist its weaker and needy members. It is wrong for the collective to foist that responsibility onto one small group. If Berkeley wishes to provide a housing subsidy program in addition to existing state and federal programs then all citizens should contribute to such a program, not merely housing providers. Of course, we must make sure such benefits go to those who need them.  

Rent control is not needed. State legislative changes compelled the rent board to loosen its grip on the housing stock. This partial deregulation allowed market forces to be activated resulting in new housing and thus a decrease in demand. The open market worked—rents declined and vacancies increased. Rent does not need to be “stabilized.” Rent control degraded our housing and caused a decline in the number of units. Rent control contributed to the housing shortage in the first place. It is counter productive and archaic. 

Why not use the Rent Board’s budget to build more affordable housing and /or as rent subsidies earmarked for those who are truly needy. As it stands now, every member of the rent board receives the benefit of rent control. Each of them enjoys housing subsidies with no way to determine if they need such subsidies. Perhaps this is why the Rent Board dismisses means testing so quickly! 

It is ironic that Berkeley, a city usually dedicated to fairness and thoughtfulness has maintained such an unfair and counter productive program for so long. We can no longer tolerate this voracious sacred cow, it is time to take it to the chopping block.  

 

John Koenigshofer is a Berkeley resident.


Reader Aims Satirical Eye at Comparisons Between Sharon’s Plan and Warsaw Ghetto

By PETER KORET
Tuesday May 11, 2004

I am writing in response to the recent letter to the editor in your newspaper (Daily Planet, May 4-6) entitled “Warsaw Ghetto” by Jane Stillwater. I would like to commend her on her particularly clear-sighted comparison between the situation of the Palestinians in Gaza and the state of the Jews in Warsaw prior to the Second World War. She is scathingly accurate in writing that the “independent” Gaza that Ariel Sharon would create would be “an exact re-creation of the spirit and mood of the ghetto at Warsaw—no more, no less,” and that “being an Arab these days is chillingly similar to being a Jew in 1939,” with “the only difference” that she can see being the source of the financing of such genocide.  

Her insightful comparison sheds much-needed light on the frightening similarity between the two situations, which in my mind is much more apt and valid than the comparisons that are carelessly being tossed back and forth these days between Iraq and Vietnam. First and foremost, it is truly a wonder that the mainstream media has not devoted more attention to the secret camps and factories in the Negev where the Israelis have slowly but persistently been transporting trainloads of Palestinian families innocent of any crime to burn in ovens as part of a genocidal Israeli policy that is strikingly similar to the German “Final Solution.” This is probably the single greatest similarity between Warsaw and Gaza. From independent sources, I would estimate that over two million Palestinians have already been systematically disposed of in this manner, although you would not read it in any newspaper. (A particularly touching story is that of the teenager from Gaza who was strapped with explosives and sent to carry out a suicide bombing in Israel. If you look at the accounts of the incident in the mainstream Zionist media, you are led to believe that the life of this young teenager was spared by the Israelis through the removal of an explosive device that had been so skillfully placed around his body by his fellow Palestinians. What the news media does not tell you, however, is that once the news cameras had finished taking their last shots, the unfortunate young boy was immediately led out by the Israeli authorities to be incinerated in an Israeli oven that would have made the Nazis proud.) Although the number of murdered Palestinians may at this particular moment be considerably less than that of the Jews who were killed in a similar manner in Europe in the past, I would not personally be surprised if it were to reach six million in the next couple of years, especially if people like Ms. Stillwater do not take the humanitarian attitude that “no one spoke out to protect the Jews in 1939… but dag nab it, I’m not going to let that happen again.” As for the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, with few exceptions, they either met their deaths in the incinerators of German concentration camps or were murdered by German soldiers after the staging of a desperate uprising. Clearly, I think there are few people who could seriously deny that without a concerted effort, it can only be a matter of years—or perhaps even months—before the entire population of Gaza is similarly decimated by the Israelis. 

Expanding further upon the comparison between the Jews in Warsaw and the Palestinians in Gaza, a second major similarity can be seen in the reasons why the Jews were initially placed in a closed-up ghetto behind “watch towers, machine guns, and barbed wire” in the first place. If you are familiar with the history of Germany prior to World War II, you will remember that the Jews were actively devoted to the creation of an exclusively “Jewish” state in Germany, in which all Germans would be “driven into the sea.” An examination of textbooks taught in Jewish schools in Germany in the early 20th century reveals maps of Europe in which the entire territory of Germany is labeled as “Greater Israel.” Whereas the Germans grudgingly tolerated the Jews’ right to freedom of expression, they were understandingly infuriated by the fact that in pursuit of Zionist aspirations, the Jews continually blew up innocent women and children in German malls, cafes, discotheques, and buses. However, despite their well-grounded concerns for security, this of course in no way justifies the over-reaction by the German government, which evilly forced Jews into ghettoes and herded them off for mass slaughter by the millions.  

In conclusion, I wholeheartedly agree with Ms. Stillwater that the comparison between Gaza and Warsaw is “just too ripe” to resist. I could not imagine why anyone might possibly think that such a level-headed comparison could reflect anti-Semitism on the part of its author.  

 

Peter Koret is a Berkeley resident. This article is intended as satire and is not to be taken literally.  


Renaissance Woman Combines Music and Journalism

By DOROTHY BRYANT Special to the Planet
Tuesday May 11, 2004

She steps out onto the platform, looking about 16—rail thin and pale—flashes a shy smile, and sits down at the piano. Her long, straight red hair cascades over her shoulders as she focuses, placing her hands on the keys, then begins some hesitant modal runs that become buoyant, lively evocations of Irish dance, then—CRASH!—her right forearm smashes down across the treble keys—CRASH!—her left forearm across the bass, right, left, right, relentlessly, and all illusions of timidity and frailty explode into bursts of joy. 

Despite her teenage appearance, Sarah Cahill freely admits to her birth year, 1960. She came to Berkeley at five when her father was invited to teach Chinese Art at UC. Both her father and her mother (who still lives in Berkeley) played piano. “In the evening, my father would put a stack of old 78s on the record player, and we would sit there listening to his collection of great old composers, sometimes playing or conducting their own work. That was my musical education.” 

At seven Sarah began piano lessons. She credits Sharon Mann (still teaching and performing) as a central inspiration. “I attended a new elementary school every year in Berkeley, private and public, because my parents couldn’t decide which school was best for me.” (Anyone raising children in Berkeley during the educationally-experimental ‘60s and ‘70s can identify with them.) “I graduated a year early from Berkeley High in 1977,” and, after a chamber music festival in Switzerland, went briefly to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. “When I got to be 18, suddenly poetry seemed so much more interesting than playing the piano. I did an English major at the University of Michigan, won the poetry prize in the Hopwood contest there, got published. Poetry is still one of my passions.” 

She was soon focused on music again, but never stopped writing (her journalism career began at 17, when she worked as a stringer for the old Berkeley Gazette). From 1985 to 1998, she was the classical music critic for the East Bay Express. “Robert Hurwitt edited my pieces, tearing them apart, sentence by sentence. I’m still amazed and grateful at the amount of time he put into them. Sometimes I felt devastated, yet encouraged by his attention.” She continues to write reviews, program notes for concerts, liner notes, and articles for magazines, ranging from specialized art and music publications to the (NY) Village Voice Literary Supplement. 

In 1989 Charles Amirkhanian, then Music Director at KPFA (now directing the new music organization Other Minds, among other artistic activities in the Bay Area) asked Sarah to do a two-hour classical music program on KPFA. For the next 11 years, she introduced her many faithful listeners to new and old music. Currently you can hear her music program “Then and Now,” every Sunday from 8 to 10 p.m. on KALW 91.7 FM. 

That was an important year in other ways for Sarah. It was the year she met her husband-to-be, John Sanborn, a video artist. And it was the year she decided to concentrate most of her energies on new music. Why? “Because it’s part of our living culture, and is so much broader, more open than it was almost up until I was born. Yes, there were African and Asian influences on western “classical” music, but, up until the mid-1900s, the recognized composers, the ones who got performed, were mostly white males. Now I get to play music by women, by composers of all cultures and countries, and especially California composers, whose sensibility draws less on European sources. I get to work with living composers on their music. Sometimes I see it happening. One time I was practicing with Chen Yi, and she stopped to write some changes on the score! Miranda is going to grow up thinking of composers as people we run into at the Berkeley Bowl!” 

Miranda is Sarah and John’s daughter, born in 1998. “I was scheduled to do my KPFA program the day I gave birth. Charles Amirkhanian took over for me that day and did a whole program of music just for Miranda, and interviewed me about the birth experience from my Alta Bates Hospital bed.” 

Sarah has made her mark as a performer introducing audiences—east and west—to composers like Henry Cowell (of the elbow-smashing chord clusters), Lou Harrison, Terry Riley, Pauline Oliveros, John Adams, Chen Yi, Leo Ornstein, Paul Dresher, and Ruth Crawford Seeger. Her performances of Ravel, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Johanna Beyer and Henry Cowell are available on New Albion CDs.  

Her performing career took off nationally in 1995 when she was part of the east coast “Ladyfingers” tour, “partly, I think, because I played new music. I mean, would those reviewers have paid attention if I was just another pianist playing Beethoven?” In 2001, when John took a job with Comedy Central (the cable TV station), they lived for a year in New York. “I performed at Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, Brooklyn College, once took the train to Washington D.C. to play at the Phillips Collection.” She shakes her head. “I was miserable. I missed the West Coast music community.” John’s New York job ended abruptly after 9/11, and Sarah is “so glad to be based in Berkeley again! Aren’t we lucky to live in the Bay Area?” 

Her career as a producer is just as active and distinguished as her work as performer. I first spoke with Sarah about 1990 at Bay Area Pianists, a series she organized and ran for four years, “buying the cookies, getting the piano tuned, the whole thing,” a showcase for excellent local performers I’d never heard of. She has organized music festivals in conjunction with Cal Performances, including a Henry Cowell festival (1997). She was a curator at last summer’s inaugural “Edge Fest,” another collaboration with Cal Performances. Every summer she produces the Garden of Memory Summer Solstice Concert, presented by New Music Bay Area at Chapel of the Chimes (yes, at the cemetery on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland). If you’ve never attended this multi-performer concert in this unusual and lovely venue, try it this year—Monday, June 21, 5 to 8 p.m. In June she also goes to Japan for a new music festival, and in October to Rome. In the fall she wants to produce a music series for children at All Soul’s Church (Cedar and Spruce) “to introduce kids, ages 5 to 10, to classical music. You know, Miranda never gets to hear Mozart or Bach unless I put on a CD for her. Concerts always start at 8 p.m., too late for her. So I want to perform classical piano works, talk about structure and form, bring in someone to improvise, make it fun for the kids.” 

And she has another composer to explore, working toward a festival of his music in New York, in 2005-2006. “Ever hear of Dane Rudhyar?” Astrologer? Californian? She nods. “He also wrote poetry, terrible poetry.” She laughs, then becomes serious. “And painted. And composed music. I’m fascinated by an eccentric like Rudhyar, who used the arts in trying to reach and explore altered states. Lately I’ve been reading Coleridge, and how wild he got on opium, how he channeled that part of himself that scares most of us, that’s buried deep within us, and comes out in dreams or in art. I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to play music that can put us in that heightened state.”  


Arts Calendar

Tuesday May 11, 2004

TUESDAY, MAY 11 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Douglas Unger reads from his new collection of short stories “Looking for War” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Michael Eric Dyson introduces “Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves and Demons of Marvin Gaye” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Oliver Chin, author and artist of graphic novel, “A Window to the World,” a story of a diverse group of Bay Area teenagers struggling with the aftershocks of 9/11, at 7 p.m. at El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave. 526-7512.  

James Lilley introduces “China Hands: Nine Decades of Adventure, Espionage and Diplomacy” at 1:30 p.m. at the Women’s Faculty Club, UC Campus. Part of the New Perspectives on Asia Series. 549-2668. http://ieas.berkeley.edu 

Ursula Schultz and Cathy Goldberg of Berkeley’s Cheese Board Collective take us on “A Tour of Old and New World Cheeses” at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 843-3533. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Mimi Fox, solo guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Dayna Stephens House Jam at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $5. 649-8744.  

www.thejazzhouse.com 

Sauce Piquante at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz, with a Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Mingus Amungus, 10 year anniversary party at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 12 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Con le Nostre Mani” photographs of Italian Americans at work in the East Bay opens at Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6233. 

Rogen Ballen “Photographs” opens at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant. 642-1295. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Carl Pope on “Strategic Ignorance: Why the Bush Administration is Recklessly Destroying a Century of Environmental Progress” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Bill Caldwell discusses “Oakland: A Photographic Journey” at 7 p.m. at L’Amyx Tea Bar/Spectator Bookstore, 4179 Piedmont Ave. 653-7300. 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with Charles Ellik at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Café Poetry hosted by Kira Allen at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Donation $2. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Opera “Acis and Galatea” under the direction of George Thomson at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Theater. Tickets are $15-$40. 925-798-1300. www.berkeleyopera.org 

Jordi Savall, viola da gamba virtuoso, at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

West Coast Swing Dancing with the NC Blues Connection at 9 p.m. with a swing dance lesson at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Hawaiian Music’s Next Generation with Keoki Kahumoku, David Kamakahi, Herb Ohta, Jr., and Patrick Landeza at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50. 548-1761. www.freight- 

andsalvage.org 

Brasil Brazil at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $20 in advance, $22 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Ducksan Distones explore the creative concept of dissonance in music at 8 and 10 p.m. at The Jazz House. $5 donation. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Roy Hargrove Quintet at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

The Drouges, The Slandt, Cargo at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Jules Broussard at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Phil Thompson Group at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

THURSDAY, MAY 13 

FILM 

Gallery Video Program: “The Grid of One” introduced by PFA Video Curator Steve Seid at 6 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Dennis S. Charney, M.D. offers “The Peace of Mind Prescription: An Authoritative Guide to Finding the Most Effective Treatment for Anxiety and Depression” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Arthur Balustein introduces “Make a Difference: America’s Guide to Volunteering and Community Service” at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 843-3533. 

Kala Gallery Salon Series with Paz de la Calzada, a multi-disciplinary artist from Spain, at 7:30 p.m. at 1060 Heinz. 549-2977 www.kala.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

David Jacobs-Strain and Mokai, acoustic/folk for all ages at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The Unravelers, Poor Bailey at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Jefe Salsa, Berkeley’s newest salsa band, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $6-$8. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Bryan Bowers, autoharp hall-of-famer, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

San Francisco Medicine Ball at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Keni El Lebrijano, flamenco guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

FRIDAY, MAY 14 

CHILDREN 

Pool Party Time with storyteller Ms. Malanie at 10:30 a.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Landscapes and Portraits” by Joanna Katz. Reception from 5 to 7 p.m. at Gallery 940, 940 Dwight Way. Exhibition runs to May 28.  

“Flora and Fauna” and “Garden of Peace” reception for the artists at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. from 6 to 8 p.m. 843-2527. www.accigallery.com 

“Hovering: New Works” by Seiko Tachibana and Emily Payne. Reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at Cecile Moochnek Gallery. 1809-D Fourth Street (upstairs). Exhibition runs through June 28. 549-1018 www.cecilemoochnek.com 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “The Sisters Rosensweig,” a comedy by Wendy Wasserstein, at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck, and continues on Fri. and Sat. through May 15. Tickets are $10. 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Aurora Theatre Company “Antigone Falun Gong” at 8 p.m. Wed.-Sat., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St. through May 16. Tickets are $28-$40 available from 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

Berkeley Rep “The Mystery of Irma Vep,” Charles Ludlam’s theatrical cult classic at 8 p.m. and continues through May 23. Tickets are $39-$55. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Casino!” a musical comedy by Joyce Whitelaw at 8 p.m at The Glenview Performing Arts Center, 1318 Glenfield Ave., Oakland. Also May 16 at 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets are $20. 531-0511. www.glenviewpac.com 

Impact Theatre “Money and Run” an action serial adventure with different episodes on Thurs., Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. Runs through June 5 at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid. For tickets and information call 464-4468. www.impacttheatre.com 

New Shakespeare Company “Hamlet” at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, Through June 5.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Kent Haruf reads from his new novel “Eventide” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Opera “Acis and Galatea” under the musical direction of George Thomson at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Theater. Tickets are $15-$40. 925-798-1300. www.berkeleyopera.org 

Oakland Opera Theater “Akhnaten” by Philip Glass at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $15-$27. Also Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sun at 2 p.m. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Hespérion XXI, Jordi Savall, director and viola da gamba, at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Bay Area Classical Harmonies “Spring Fever!” at 7:30 P.M. at the Arlington Community Church, 52 Arlington Ave. in Kensington. Tickets are $8-$12 available online at www.BerkeleyBACH.org or by calling toll free 866-233-9892.  

Chuck Prophet & the Mission Express and Farma at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $12. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Palenque, Cuban son, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz, with a salsa dance lesson with Wendy Ellen at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

DJ & Brook, jazz trio, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Monkey, Soul Captives, Pinche Hueros at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6.  

848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Sandy Chang and Alex Pfei- 

fer-Rosenblum at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Donation of $7-$10. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Robert Karimi’s Self (the Remix) The story of a suburban boy and his quest for wholeness at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Mike Seeger, music from “true vine” at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50 in advance, $19.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Frank Jackson at 8:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Roy Hargrove Quintet at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

S.T.F.U., Scurvy Dogs, Fatbush, Eskapo, Collateral Damage at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Bitches Brew at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Angel Spit at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

SATURDAY, MAY 15 

CHILDREN  

“Wild About Books” storytime at 10:30 a.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6223. 

Kids on the Block Puppet Show, promoting acceptance and understanding of physical and cultural differences at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shattuck Ave. Donation $3. Children under 3 free. 549-1564. 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

FinnArt: Art by Finns/Art Inspired by Finland Visual arts exhibition by more than a dozen artists, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Includes an Art Cafe, childrens art show, Finnish art history lectures. At the Finnish Kaleva Hall, 1970 Chestnut St. 849-0125.  

Photography by May-Li Khoe, Jonathan Andrew and Natalie Douvos. Reception from 7-9 p.m. 1250 Addison St., suite 102. 883-1126. www.innersport.com  

“High Altitude Pots” by Doug Casebeer. Reception from 5 to 7 p.m. at TRAX Ceramic Gallery, 1812 5th St. 540-8729. www.traxgallery.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“19th Century Finnish Art” with art historian Anu Vaalas at 2 p.m. and art historian Dorothy Klepper McCall at 3:30 p.m. at the Ski Club Room, Finnish Kaleva Hall, 1970 Chestnut St. Free. 849-0125. 

“What’s in a Name? New Ways of Looking at ‘Craft’” A panel discussion about the viability of craft in the art world at 2 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Rhythm & Muse features Jaliya, with Ademola Oshun, Big Momma, at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893.  

Ariel Gore and her daughter, Maia Gore, introduces “Whatever Mom: Hip Mama’s Guide to Raising a Teenager” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 1730 Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sacred and Profane “In an English Garden” chamber chorus at 7 p.m. at St. Ambrose Church, 1145 Gilman. Tickets are $12-$17. Advance purchase recommended. 524-3611. 

Paufve Dance “Bare Bones” dance performance featuring new choreography by Randee Paufve and others at 8 p.m. at Western Sky Studio, 2547 Eighth St. Tickets are $12-$15. 415-722-2457. 

Trinity Chamber Concerts with Daniel Reiter, cello and Natalie Cox, harp at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana at Durant. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. 

West Coast Live with Bert Stratton, Mark Hansen and Austin Willard and others at 10 a.m. at the Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15 in advance, $18 at the door, available from 415-664-9500 or www.ticketweb.com 

June Kuramoto, kotoist, with Kimo Cornwell, keyboardist and Kenny Endo, taiko, perform in a fundraiser for West Contra Costa School District’s music programs, at 7 p.m. at Crowden Music Center, 1475 Rose St. Tickets are $20-$35. 841-1356. 

Mumbo Gumbo at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Gabrilla Ballard, New Orleans vocalist, at 2 p.m. at Down Home Music, 10341 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. 525-2129. 

Penelope Houston Band, Moore Brothers, and Mike Visser at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com  

Robin Flower and Libby McLaren, progressive folk fusion, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $18.50 in advance, $19.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Oakland Jazz Choir at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15-18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Henri-Pierre Koubaka, Senegalese folk songs, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $8-$15. 649-8744. www.thejazz- 

house.org 

Afro-Cuban Latin Jazz Project at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12-$14. 849-2568. www.lapena.org  

Kurt Ribak Jazz Quartet, original acoustic compositions, at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Inka at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Shakedown, Dead Beat at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Edmund Welles: The Brass Clarinet Quartet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Kellye Gray at 8:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Punk Prom with The Groovie Ghoulies, R’N’R Adventure Kids, Clarendon Hills, at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, MAY 16 

CHILDREN  

Family Explorations: “Rosie the Riveter” Learn about the non-traditional roles women played during WWII. From noon to 4 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Princess Moxie at Ashkenaz at 3 p.m. Cost is $4-$6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

FILM 

“The Substance of Fire” Manhattan publishing magnate Isaac Godlhart descends into madness. At 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Suggested donation $2. 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Brad Herzog describes his road trip across the US after Sept. 11, 2001 in “Small World: A Microcosmic Journey” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Poetry Flash with Erika Meitner and Sean Thomas Dougherty at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Christopher Brown and Joel Isaacson, in a conversation about painting at 3 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave.. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Jazz on Fourth Street with the Berkeley High Jazz Orchestra and Combos, Mark Hummel & The Blues Survivors, and Quimbombó, from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Fourth St. between Hearst and Virginia. 526-6294. 

Paufve Dance “Bare Bones” dance performance featuring new choreography by Randee Paufve and others at 8 p.m. at Western Sky Studio, 2547 Eighth St. Tickets are $12-$15. 415-722-2457. 

Berkeley Opera “Acis and Galatea” under the direction of George Thomson at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Theater. Tickets are $15-$40. 925-798-1300. www.berkeleyopera.org 

Organ Recital with Sandra Soderlund at 4 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Reception follows. 845-6830. 

Cantare Chorale and Chamber Ensemble “Make Our Garden Grow” a concert of love, loss and spring fever, at 3 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 27th St. and Broadway, Oakland. Tickets are $19-$25. 925-798-1300. www.CantareConVivo.org 

VOCI presents “Songlines” music from Central and Eastern Europe at 4 p.m. at Temple Sinai, 2823 Webster at 28th St., Oakland. Tickets are $12-$20. 531-8714. www.coolcommunity.org/voci 

Young Musicians Program Senior Recital at 3 p.m. at First Congregational Church at Dana and Durant. http://ymp.berkeley.edu 

Flamenco Open Stage with Koko de la Isla at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Americana Unplugged: The Dark Hollow Band at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Loudon Wainwright, III, leading edge singer-songwriter, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $22.50 in advance, $23.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Oakland Jazz Choir at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 


The Good and the Bad About Alien Eucalyptus

By RON SULLIVAN Special to the Planet
Tuesday May 11, 2004

I never thought I’d find myself writing in defense of eucalyptus, but here I am. Go ahead, quote me: Eucalyptus is not the devil. 

I speak as a hardcore native-plant fanatic—no, actually more of a native-landscape fanatic. I love native California plants for themselves alone, and certain calochortuses make me whoop and swoon, but I love them also because they’re part of the splendid world we live in here, nested in the varied food webs that supply and are supplied by all of the creatures here, from mycorrhizal fungi to mountain lions, and including, for scores of millennia, us. They make the air I breathe and filter the water I drink and they feed and inspire me; after some 30 years here, I am composed mostly of California landscape, however much of that nice imported cider and ham and smoked paprika from The Spanish Table I consume. 

I myself am not alien here in any meaningful sense. My species has long been here and shaped this landscape, brutally at times, but sometimes with such finesse and elegance that latecomers have assumed that the land was “wild” and “untouched.” One of the most brutal things we’ve done, in recent eras anyway, was the introduction of alien plants to this landscape. Eucalypts? Yes, but only among others, as a sideshow. Some of us brought in annual grasses, by accident or deliberately, and changed the very color (and flammability) of our state. It’s possible that tamarisk, with its invasive thirst, will turn out to be our worst ecological terror, west of the kudzu belt. 

But eucalypts, some dozens of species of trees imported from Australia and its neighbors, are to some the very emblem of invasive species. They’re not amiss in this calculation, but some eucs are worse than others, and few are bad for the reasons usually mentioned. 

When people here talk about eucalyptus, they usually mean Eucalyptus globulus, blue gum. It’s a bother, all right, and a conspicuous one. For one thing, it’s been planted in wildlands, whereas most other eucs are town-dwelling ornamentals. In wildlands it, like most exotics, is essentially a non-taxpaying parasite. Eucs look “healthier” here than in their home ranges because until recently there wasn’t much here that ate them. They turn a place into a near-monoculture, allowing few species to live under them and supporting even fewer. You’ll get 12 species where there should be 120. 

And they seem to be a trap to some—the estimable Rich Stallcup of the Point Reyes Bird Observatory has pointed out an apparent tendency of warblers to smother on euc goop when they feed on the sweet flowers. Aussie birds that use eucs are built differently, with their nostrils set farther up their bills to avoid the sticky stuff; probably they’ve been shaped by the trees themselves, as we all shape each other. 

So yes, they gotta go. Not because they get big or have shallow roots or drop limbs or get blown over or lift sidewalks or invade waterlines—all this happens with big trees regardless of their species. Not even because they’re flammable—native pines and bay laurels are too, and a crown fire sends torches flying no matter what’s burning. 

But eucs in wildlands, including parks, aren’t pulling their biological weight, not supporting their neighbors, and as we have less wildland this becomes more dire. So we need to remove them and replace them with native trees, or with no trees where they don’t belong. But we have to do it slowly and thoughtfully, a few at a time, because wholesale clearcutting sets loose its own demons, like landslides and sunscorch. And some local species get some value out of eucs—monarch butterflies seem to favor them, for example, and some raptors have longstanding nests in certain eucs. In some situations, if you’re a desperate bird or salamander, any tree is better than no tree. We need to remove them slowly, carefully, thoughtfully—and first we need to find out why they’re useful to anyone like those monarchs, and figure out how to supply that use. Reflexive reaction and wholesale slaughter will only compound the problems we’ve made in our clumsiness.


The Good and the Bad About Alien Eucalyptus

By RON SULLIVAN Special to the Planet
Tuesday May 11, 2004

I never thought I’d find myself writing in defense of eucalyptus, but here I am. Go ahead, quote me: Eucalyptus is not the devil. 

I speak as a hardcore native-plant fanatic—no, actually more of a native-landscape fanatic. I love native California plants for themselves alone, and certain calochortuses make me whoop and swoon, but I love them also because they’re part of the splendid world we live in here, nested in the varied food webs that supply and are supplied by all of the creatures here, from mycorrhizal fungi to mountain lions, and including, for scores of millennia, us. They make the air I breathe and filter the water I drink and they feed and inspire me; after some 30 years here, I am composed mostly of California landscape, however much of that nice imported cider and ham and smoked paprika from The Spanish Table I consume. 

I myself am not alien here in any meaningful sense. My species has long been here and shaped this landscape, brutally at times, but sometimes with such finesse and elegance that latecomers have assumed that the land was “wild” and “untouched.” One of the most brutal things we’ve done, in recent eras anyway, was the introduction of alien plants to this landscape. Eucalypts? Yes, but only among others, as a sideshow. Some of us brought in annual grasses, by accident or deliberately, and changed the very color (and flammability) of our state. It’s possible that tamarisk, with its invasive thirst, will turn out to be our worst ecological terror, west of the kudzu belt. 

But eucalypts, some dozens of species of trees imported from Australia and its neighbors, are to some the very emblem of invasive species. They’re not amiss in this calculation, but some eucs are worse than others, and few are bad for the reasons usually mentioned. 

When people here talk about eucalyptus, they usually mean Eucalyptus globulus, blue gum. It’s a bother, all right, and a conspicuous one. For one thing, it’s been planted in wildlands, whereas most other eucs are town-dwelling ornamentals. In wildlands it, like most exotics, is essentially a non-taxpaying parasite. Eucs look “healthier” here than in their home ranges because until recently there wasn’t much here that ate them. They turn a place into a near-monoculture, allowing few species to live under them and supporting even fewer. You’ll get 12 species where there should be 120. 

And they seem to be a trap to some—the estimable Rich Stallcup of the Point Reyes Bird Observatory has pointed out an apparent tendency of warblers to smother on euc goop when they feed on the sweet flowers. Aussie birds that use eucs are built differently, with their nostrils set farther up their bills to avoid the sticky stuff; probably they’ve been shaped by the trees themselves, as we all shape each other. 

So yes, they gotta go. Not because they get big or have shallow roots or drop limbs or get blown over or lift sidewalks or invade waterlines—all this happens with big trees regardless of their species. Not even because they’re flammable—native pines and bay laurels are too, and a crown fire sends torches flying no matter what’s burning. 

But eucs in wildlands, including parks, aren’t pulling their biological weight, not supporting their neighbors, and as we have less wildland this becomes more dire. So we need to remove them and replace them with native trees, or with no trees where they don’t belong. But we have to do it slowly and thoughtfully, a few at a time, because wholesale clearcutting sets loose its own demons, like landslides and sunscorch. And some local species get some value out of eucs—monarch butterflies seem to favor them, for example, and some raptors have longstanding nests in certain eucs. In some situations, if you’re a desperate bird or salamander, any tree is better than no tree. We need to remove them slowly, carefully, thoughtfully—and first we need to find out why they’re useful to anyone like those monarchs, and figure out how to supply that use. Reflexive reaction and wholesale slaughter will only compound the problems we’ve made in our clumsiness.


Cartoon

Justin DeFreitas
Tuesday May 11, 2004

Cartoon by Justin DeFreitas*


Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: Taking an Acrimony Break

Becky O'Malley
Friday May 14, 2004

Over the past three months we have received and printed many letters from correspondents with a variety of points of view on the Israel-Palestine situation. We’ve received letters from people who describe themselves as Jewish, both by heritage and by rel igion, criticizing the actions of the government of Israel. We’ve gotten letters from people describing themselves as having such backgrounds which defended the government of Israel. We’ve had letters from people who make no reference to their religious b ackground which were both pro and con the Israeli government. We’ve printed letters attacking the actions of the Palestinian insurgents, and letters defending them.  

We have not received or printed a single letter attacking the Jewish religion. There may be people out there who equate the actions of the Israeli government with Jewish religious belief and/or ethnicity, but they haven’t written to the Planet. 

This week we received a particularly vicious letter attacking the Islamic religion from a correspondent who was not ashamed to sign his name and telephone number, and we’re finally fed up with this discussion. We’re not going to print it, at least not for now. 

The Berkeley Daily Planet is hereby declaring a 30 day cooling off period—a moratorium on all letters discussing the Israel-Palestine controversy. 

Many of our readers, in communications not intended for publication, have let us know that they think we’ve already devoted too much space to the topic. They say they’re just tired of hearing about it. 

We’ve gone on printing the letters for two reasons. First, much of the American press is afraid to touch the situation—it’s the real third rail in American journalism. (This is in pointed contrast to a substantial number of members of the Israeli press, which we read on the Internet, who are not afraid to criticize their own government.)  

Second, the Planet has been the subject of an organized campaign by people who describe themselves as pro-Israel, calling our advertisers and asking them to stop advertising in the paper, which they accuse of anti-Semitism. (With friends like this, Israel hardly needs enemies.) Our advertisers, to their eternal credit, have called us to report these incidents, and have refused to cancel their ads. In at least one case, an advertiser who has a small family-run franchise business interpreted the call he received as a threat to put him out of business. He hung in there anyhow. Another advertiser, who described himself as a not-uncritical supporter of Israel, suggeste d that the best solution would be for the Planet to refrain from any discussion of international topics, but we declined that option.  

We wanted to make sure that this smear campaign would fail, so that we didn’t give the impression of bending to inappro priate pressure. We’re glad to say that the campaign has indeed failed; our advertising continues to grow. So enough already, we’re not going to print any more nasty letters for a while. 

We will avail ourselves of editorial privilege and have the last wo rds on the topic before the moratorium starts. If there is ever to be a just peace in the Holy Land, would-be American supporters of Israel should learn that opposition to the policies of the current government of Israel is not nearly the same thing as an ti-Semitism, which many Israelis already know. And also, terrorist actions by semi-crazed Palestinian fanatics who adhere to the Islamic faith, though reprehensible, are not an indictment of either their religion, which has many peace-loving adherents aro und the world, or of their Arabic ethnicity. Most Muslims are not terrorists, many Muslims are not Arabs, many Arabs are not Muslims. If you’re going to argue for your opinion, at least get your terminology straight.  

 

—Becky O’Malley 

 

 




Editorial: The Anti-Boxer Rebellion

Becky O'Malley
Tuesday May 11, 2004

Sunday afternoon was lovely, as Berkeley afternoons in the spring often are, and like another 200 or so lovely Berkeley residents we attended a lovely garden party at a lovely home in one of Berkeley’s loveliest (and most expensive) neighborhoods. The purpose of the event was to raise money for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, and since all of us in Berkeley are pretty smart and know that we’re really at the water’s edge this time, we were all on our very best behavior. Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, who’s been wintering in Berkeley, gave a stirring speech, complete with convincing pragmatic answers to a few challenging questions about Kerry’s somewhat pallid campaign to date. A pitch was made, with the comment that Marin Republicans has already raised, was it $80k, for Kerry at one party, and couldn’t Berkeley Democrats do as well? Eyeballing the crowd, with some knowledge of the net worth of some attendees from Piedmont, the goal seemed possible. Checks and credit cards were accepted. Everyone went home smiling: a lovely event.  

As Berkeley completes its transition from the bastion of rent control to a lovely city of million dollar homes for those who are both politically correct and comfortably fixed, such events are becoming a staple of the social calendar. Which is as it should be, and no complaints. Professor Reich assumed that many attendees might have some, as we say in California, issues with some of Kerry’s record, but that we’d donate now and ask questions later. As we will, by and large. But some partygoers seemed to hope that if they “maxed out” as requested ($2k) they might have some influence on the policies of the longed-for Kerry administration. And they might. Or might not. 

Case in point: The next lovely Berkeley garden fundraiser. Sponsors were handing out invitations at the Kerry event to a garden party next Sunday to raise money for Senator Barbara Boxer’s re-election campaign, with the senator herself in attendance. Berkeley has always given, and generously, to Boxer’s campaigns, and until recently Berkeleyans probably felt that they’ve gotten their money’s worth in her public stances on issues they cared about. But when I asked the woman who handed me the invitation flyer what she thought about Boxer’s recent endorsement of the death penalty, she blanched. She’s a good-hearted soul from one of my favorite Berkeley categories, a red diaper baby who made some money in real estate which she cheerfully contributes to worthy causes. I know at least three of them, and they are pillars of local political fundraising.  

She hadn’t heard that Boxer is in full-throated cry against district attorney Kamala Harris’s decision not to seek the death penalty against the accused killer of a San Francisco police officer. Like most good Berkeley liberals, she thinks the death penalty is unnecessary and therefore immoral.  

The hostesses for the Boxer fundraiser are listed as Congresswoman Barbara Lee and Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, neither one likely to be a supporter of the death penalty. Their invitation to contribute money to Boxer creates a real dilemma for anti-death Democrats. Should they contribute the requested $250-$1000, go to the event and tell Boxer that they’re shocked? Or should they perhaps boycott the event, and stand outside with tasteful signs saying why they’re not attending? My friend was so conflicted that she stopped handing out invitations while she thought about it, even though she’s already put her name on the sponsor list. I don’t know what she finally decided to do. 

We got a phone message from the Boxer campaign last week, asking for a repeat contribution. I returned the call and left an anti-death-penalty diatribe in the caller’s voice mailbox, asking to be taken off the contributor’s list, though I doubt that it will derail the Boxer campaign. On the other hand, it’s better than doing nothing. Those of you who have opinions on this matter might like to have the RSVP information for the Boxer campaign event. The campaign phone number is (415) 734-9040. Tell them, if you want, why you will or won’t be attending. 

—Becky O’Malley