Thanks to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recently submitted state budget, Berkeley will likely have to cut an extra $300,000 on top of its $10 million deficit in fiscal year 2005. But if the governor’s word is good, city finances could be structurally sound by 2007. -more-
Union employees at the University of California’s nine campuses, including Berkeley, turned out Thursday to protest the university system’s attempt to scale back or eliminate their jobs as a way to deal with state budget cuts. -more-
Reginald Zelnik, a much-beloved UC Berkeley professor of Russian history and a passionate defender of Free Speech Movement (FSM) activists in the 1960s, died on campus Monday afternoon. He was 68. -more-
EMERYVILLE—In a unanimous vote Tuesday night in front of a divided community, the Emeryville City Council passed a resolution to help movie giant Pixar Animation Studios take a major step towards tripling the size of its Emeryville campus. -more-
The embattled Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) took another body blow this week when it learned that it will lose about $200,000 in federal funding, a 12.5 percent cut. -more-
To honor the legacy of Berkeley-born environmentalist David Brower, architects of the complex that will bear his name are using state-of-the-art “green” building techniques, while next door on the site, affordable housing developer Resources for Community Development (RCD) is employing the most innovative financing plan Uncle Sam has to offer. -more-
Formed to provide free treatment for the injuries inflicted on protesters during the People’s Park riots of 1969, the Berkeley Free Clinic is still going strong 35 years later and looking for volunteers from years past to help them celebrate their anniversary. The private celebration will be held during the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. -more-
An overwhelming number of University of California professors have indicated that they want the university to compete for the management of Lawrence Livermore National Lab and Los Alamos National Lab, according to the results of a faculty poll released Wednesday to the UC Board of Regents. -more-
After giving residents their third opportunity in three weeks to comment on UC Berkeley’s Long-Range Development Plan, the five members of Berkeley Planning Commission present at Wednesday night’s public hearing offered a few comments of their own to listening UC representatives. -more-
The story “Residents Blast UCB’s Long Range Expansion Plan” in the May 14 edition mistakenly reported that under UC Berkeley’s long range development plan, over 75 percent of new academic space would be built on the main campus or adjacent blocks. The 75 percent figure only counts the main campus and adjacent blocks to the west. -more-
How can a person survive in today’s high-rent, high-unemployment Bay Area, especially when that person is a single mother without a college degree? Indeed, with plenty of highly credentialled types are pounding the pavement in search of work, how do you survive even with a college degree? -more-
Jury Convicts Killer of Berkeley Driver -more-
While Berkeley voters seem inclined to support a new tax to boost funding for public schools, they give the school district mixed grades on achievement, according to a school district-commissioned survey released Wednesday. -more-
The recently filed lawsuit by certain Oakland politicians and taxpayers to try to overturn the state seizure of the Oakland schools has drawn a flurry of criticism and complaint from predictable sources. Me, I’ve always thought that for a man bound hand and foot in a closet, any movement is a good movement. But let’s examine the issue to make sure. -more-
Donald Rumsfeld’s alleged comment (“...consistent with the Geneva Convention.”) is familiar to me, as heard from commanders of POW Stalags in Germany in WW-II. They lied to the International Red Cross Protective Power Teams from Geneva assigned to inspect Allied POW camps. Get used to it people! Military establishments lie, “pass the buck” and lie again when ever it is strategically appropriate for the mission at hand. It has always been so, for thousands of years; it is the nature of the beast. -more-
Editors, Daily Planet: -more-
Each year since 1999, the Composers In the Schools Program, administered by the American Composers Forum, has provided instruction in composition to Bay Area high school students, and has given these students a chance to hear their music played and perfo rmed by professional musicians. As I’m finishing my fifth year of teaching in this program, and as there is nothing else like it that I’m aware of in the public school system, I thought I’d provide a brief report from the frontlines. -more-
You’d think that 15 years as artistic director of the Subterranean Shakespeare Company would have cured Stanley Spenger’s enthusiasm for producing major plays on minor budgets. This is, after all—or, more accurately, was—the company that first baptized the cellar at La Val’s pizza parlor as a near-requisite initial location for the East Bay’s fledgling theatrical groups. But the man seems to be addicted to the work. -more-
Lovemaking at its best takes place in an endless present moment. Eating, however, is one of those rare human pleasures that, at its pinnacle, places us in the past, the present and the future all at the same time. -more-
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-
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-
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-
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-
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-
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-
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-
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-
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-
“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-
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-
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-
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-
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-
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-
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-
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-
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-
As this is being written (Thursday morning) the latest news from Iraq is that, according to the Washington Post, “U.S. soldiers raided the home of America’s one-time ally Ahmad Chalabi on Thursday.” Well, sure. Guess what, guys? As we say in the trade, W E TOLD YOU SO. You’re just learning that Mr. Chalabi is a thug? Somewhat sleazy? It’s hard to believe that it’s little more than a year since huge demonstrations were mounted world-wide to tell whoever was running the show in Washington that: -more-
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-
