The Week

Richard Brenneman:
          
          Workers prepare the final assault on Congregation Beth Israel. ›
Richard Brenneman: Workers prepare the final assault on Congregation Beth Israel. ›
 

News

Local Politicians Lead Effort To Open Domestic Violence Center

By JAKOB SCHILLER
Tuesday May 18, 2004

Services for victims of domestic violence exist in various agencies throughout Alameda County, and that is part of the problem, according to representatives from several local social service organizations. Trying to piece those services together to serve a domestic violence victim can be a time consuming and convoluted process. -more-


Synagogue Demolished, But Where’s the Permit?

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Tuesday May 18, 2004

The 83-year-old building housing the oldest traditional synagogue in the East Bay and the largest Orthodox congregation in Northern California is no more—and two city commissioner think that just might not be. . .appropriate. -more-


Brower Center, Budget Issues on Council Agenda

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday May 18, 2004

The City Council tonight (Tuesday, May 18) is scheduled to review and vote on the latest plan to transform the city-owned parking lot on Oxford Street (between Allston Way and Kittredge Street) into the largest affordable housing complex in the city and a mecca for environmental activism and education. -more-


Berkeley This Week Calendar

Tuesday May 18, 2004

TUESDAY, MAY 18 -more-


UC Reclaims Field, Demands Removal of Abandoned Sculptures

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday May 18, 2004

For sculptor and former trucking company owner Richard Katz, and many others like him, West Berkeley’s Harrison Fields used to be their playground. -more-


State Misses Lead Poisoning’s New, Immigrant Face

By Mary Jo McConahay Pacific News Service
Tuesday May 18, 2004

SEASIDE, Calif.—Elevated levels of toxic lead are being found in the blood of children at a small airy clinic in this central coastal town of 33,450 people. The culprit may be grasshoppers captured 2,000 miles away in Mexican villages, lovingly fried with garlic, salt and lime and sent by the pound in care packages to family members here. -more-


Fire Department Log

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Tuesday May 18, 2004

The East Bay fire season got off to an extraordinarily early start at 8 a.m. Monday, sparked by a combination of dry hillsides and winds. -more-


Pumpkins Perfect for Foggy Berkeley

By SHIRLEY BARKER Special to the Planet
Tuesday May 18, 2004

As with many newcomers to Berkeley, I thought summers here would be hot. Dreams of heat-loving, even tropical, vegetables floated through my mind. The reality is cold July fog and not a ripe tomato this side of the hills. Of those that do well, beans are predictable, zucchini monotonous, and winter squash culinarily challenged. These last two members of the Cucurbitaceae family do have one outstanding relative that qualifies as a seasonal necessity, not just a ritual: the pumpkin. -more-


PUMPKIN SOUP

Tuesday May 18, 2004

PUMPKIN SOUP -more-


Torture Photos, Videos a Time-Honored CIA Tradition

By PETER DALE SCOTT Pacific News Service
Tuesday May 18, 2004

Shocking visual images have dominated the Iraq news in the past weeks. First, of criminal torture of prisoners by Americans, and then of the beheading of American Nicholas Berg by a group the CIA alleges is headed by the Al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Many stories have raised the rather absurd question of whether the practice of torture by Americans is an aberration. There is abundant proof, however, that both the abusive interrogation practices and the photographic documentation of them are techniques that the CIA has sanctioned and taught over more than 30 years. -more-


Letters to the Editor

Tuesday May 18, 2004

INCONCEIVABLE -more-


A More Reasonable Interpretation of the Density Bonus Law?

By ROBERT LAURISTON
Tuesday May 18, 2004

From a recent Daily Planet story on University Avenue zoning: “For buildings that include affordable housing ... state law allows [developers] to build 25 percent more space than allowed under zoning requirements.” This is a succinct statement of Berkeley city staff’s interpretation of state law. It is not, however, exactly what the law says. -more-


Torture? Hard to Believe? Hardly

By ROGER BURBACH and PAUL CANTOR
Tuesday May 18, 2004

“The whole thing is disgusting and it’s hard to believe,” said California Senator Dianne Feinstein referring to the torture of Iraqis by U.S. military personnel. -more-


Closing Derby for a Baseball Field Will Create Traffic on Nearby Streets

By DOROTHY BRYANT
Tuesday May 18, 2004

On April 23 the Berkeley Daily Planet published a report by Matthew Artz on a meeting of the school board at which, Artz wrote, the board announced their plan to build a “multipurpose athletic field,” at Derby and MLK Way for soccer and softball, for the use of three schools, without installation of lights. -more-


Reviewer Pans UC’s Latest LRDP Release

By SHARON HUDSON
Tuesday May 18, 2004

Hooray! Every book club in Berkeley has now had ample time to read the university’s new 2020 Long Range Development Plan (LRDP). Despite our eager anticipation, however, I regret that this reviewer must give this ponderous tome an unequivocal “thumbs down.” Despite some intriguing raw material, the authors fail to reveal even a kernel of truth that would make this book either meaningful or useful. Anyone looking for a fresh approach to the topic will be sorely disappointed, and I fear that few readers will be able to make it through the entire 1000-page volume without reaching for the Pepto-Bismol. -more-


Will the University’s Transportation Policies Be Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?

By ROB WRENN
Tuesday May 18, 2004

The University of California is a top university with a wealth of talent and knowledge and you might assume that some of that brainpower would be employed to ensure that further university development is undertaken in an environmentally sound, sustainable fashion. -more-


From Susan Parker: On Drugs and Dogs And Dumb Questions on a Corner

From Susan Parker
Tuesday May 18, 2004

Andrea, the woman who helps me take care of my husband, walked down to the corner liquor store to buy cigarettes one night around 9 p.m. Although the store is only a block from my house, I never patronize it as there’s too much questionable activity going on around its parking lot. Instead, I drive my car a mile to the closest full-service grocery store. Andrea doesn’t have a car and so she does not have that option. -more-


A No Commercial Interruption

By PETER SOLOMON
Tuesday May 18, 2004

Experts on communication have noted with approval the increasing number and variety of public channels of information—media without a commercial message, open to almost anyone. -more-


Pagans on Parade Cavort in Downtown Berkeley

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Tuesday May 18, 2004

Bay Area tree-worshippers, Goddess-worshippers, gay and straight wiccans, Shinto devotees and their kindred—many of them clad in lavish costumes—gathered in Berkeley Saturday for the always colorful Pagan Pride Parade and Celebration. -more-


Exhibit Shows Iraqi Children’s View of Invasion

By Jakob Schiller
Tuesday May 18, 2004

On one of the walls of the Museum of Children’s Art (MOCHA) in downtown Oakland, there is a drawing of the Tigris River running red, a crude picture of a young girl next to a map of Iraq with the word “why” as the heading, and a colorful picture of a helicopter gunship and tank shooting at a field of flowers, with the misspelled statement, “We are not gilty.” -more-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday May 18, 2004

TUESDAY, MAY 18 -more-


Thrush? Modest Coat Belies Brilliant Skills

By JOE EATON Special to the Planet, Photo by: Peter LaTourrette
Tuesday May 18, 2004

Here’s a suggestion: Take an early morning or late afternoon walk in Tilden Park, along the trail that starts at the Lone Oak picnic area and follows Wildcat Creek. This time of year you’ll be surrounded by birdsong—black-headed grosbeaks, warbling vireo s, Wilson’s warblers—but one voice in particular will stand out. The performance may start with a soft “whit,” likened by some listeners to the drip of water into a bucket. Then the Swainson’s thrush, newly returned from its Mexican and Central American w intering grounds, will get serious. From somewhere in the oaks and bay laurel will come what Alexander Skutch, who has heard these birds warming up in Costa Rica, called “slender liquid spirals of song.” The smooth notes flow in an ascending scale, with a reedy effect as the pitch rises. If you’re lucky, you’ll hear several males with adjacent territories matching voices, the song-duels echoing off the cliffs that rise above the creek. -more-


Cartoon

Justin DeFreitas
Tuesday May 18, 2004

Cartoon by Justin DeFreitasfl -more-


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. -more-


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.›

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. -more-


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. -more-


Berkeley This Week Calendar

Friday May 14, 2004

FRIDAY, MAY 14 -more-


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. -more-


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. -more-


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. -more-


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. -more-


Briefly Noted

Friday May 14, 2004

Reddy Family Restaurant Loses Liquor License -more-


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. -more-


Police Blotter

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Friday May 14, 2004

Heisters Flash Piece, Grab Cash -more-


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.” -more-


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. -more-


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. -more-


Letters to the Editor

Friday May 14, 2004

PROPOSED BUDGET -more-


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. -more-


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. -more-


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. -more-


Readers Respond to News From Iraq

Friday May 14, 2004

IRAQ CONTRACTORS -more-


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 -more-


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. -more-


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: -more-


‘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. -more-


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.” -more-


Arts Calendar

Friday May 14, 2004

FRIDAY, MAY 14 -more-


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. -more-


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? -more-


Cartoon

Justin DeFreitas
Friday May 14, 2004

Cartoon by Justin DeFreitas° -more-


Opinion

Editorials

‘Throatox’ Shot Gives Voice a Lift

By BLAIR GOLSON Featurewell
Tuesday May 18, 2004

Has your voice turned a bit raspy over the years? If so, it's likely that your vocal cords have gone the way of your chin: slack and draggy. But now that injecting botulism into your neck have spruced things up in the face department, why not give the vocal cords a little firming up? -more-


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. -more-