Despite objections from several students, faculty and the Albany City Council, a University of California committee Wednesday approved UC Berkeley’s plan to demolish some of its most affordable housing and uproot one of the area’s last vestiges of farmland. -more-
Longs Drugs is apparently coming to downtown Berkeley and checking its beer and wine selection at the door. -more-
The Fine Arts Cinema is officially dead, and Patrick Kennedy, the owner of the massive apartment and commercial complex rising on its former site, doesn’t hold out much hope for a new theater on the site—spelling the end of repertory cinema in the city t hat first raised it to an art form. -more-
Summit Health, the parent company for Alta Bates Summit medical center, was the target of a lawsuit filed in Federal court Wednesday that alleges the company overcharges uninsured patients and does not fulfill its obligations as a non-profit entity under U.S. tax law. -more-
Nothing can stop a group of determined Berkeley volunteers this summer, not even engine failure, monsoon season, or long hours in the hot, humid, sun. Not when the election is on the line. -more-
Berkeley Police expect 40,000 spectators for the city’s annual Fourth of July fireworks extravaganza on the Berkeley Marina this weekend, according to police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies. -more-
The media chatter about Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 comes down to three basic issues: -more-
The Berkeley Unified School District passed a $46 million budget for its general fund Wednesday, its first balanced budget in three years. -more-
Alameda County’s almost 1,500 General Assistance welfare recipients were issued a temporary reprieve, at least for this year, after the County Board of Supervisors voted last Friday to maintain the program even in the face of severe budget cuts. -more-
Imagine lunch hour at a Berkeley middle school: Eighth graders tossing salad side by side with cafeteria workers, seventh graders eating the chard they grew in the school garden while receiving a geography lesson, sixth graders sorting seeds to plant for the next harvest. -more-
BERLIN—In electric transition, the multicultural capital of Germany is now home to a gay mayor, almost as much sushi as strudel, and more Jews than anyone has seen since Adolph Hitler. -more-
Since drama in real life does not come with a sound track—nor promos to get you in the proper frame of mind to interpret what is to come—its true import is often lost on us in the fleeting moments of the actual experience. That is even more true in these days of Internet blogs and 24-hour cable, where a gaggle of honkers following the parade rushes to interpret—the latecomers helpfully providing interpretations of the initial interpretation—so that we come away with our common sense numbed, all remnants of our own initial impressions irretrievably lost. -more-
As the “energy crisis” rolls on and the environmentally oblivious continue to waste gas on SUVs, Hummers and RVs, the most critical dissent one hears in the broader public forum is a mild protest with respect to the price at the pump (Democrats love to jump on this bandwagon). What a revolutionary cry! As if releasing federal reserves and reigning in the power of the oil corporations slightly were enough to bring back the good ol’ days of American prosperity and that nostalgic heyday of the car culture. Meanwhile, the American public is carefully guarded from knowledge about the real costs of petroleum (economic, political, social, medical, environmental, military, etc.) and the indisputable geological truth of the finiteness of a resource we continue to splurge as if there were no tomorrow. And the inevitable consequences this will have to our geopolitical status are woefully ignored and swept under the rug by all quadrants of the political spectrum. -more-
Berkeley can eliminate its budget deficit and provide better governance by shifting some of the government functions to community associations. A voluntary civic association would be formed in each council district. The association would be able to raise revenue for civic services without being bound by state laws that have put local governments in straitjackets. -more-
Editors, Daily Planet: -more-
For three hours on midday Tuesday, a seemingly endless chain of book-clutching fans threaded their way up Haste Street toward Telegraph Avenue in hopes of receiving an ink scrawl and a handshake from the man on the second floor of Cody’s Books. -more-
I had dinner with Bill Clinton this week, a good friend for the last 36 years—though he’s always been better than me about keeping in touch. -more-
Does anybody know a nice sophisticated term to substitute for “Wow!”? Aurora Theatre’s current production of Harold Pinter’s play Betrayal deserves the best: the very best. The most frequently performed of all the famous British playwright’s works, it’s hard to imagine a more effective presentation than the one we have right here in Berkeley. -more-
Buckwheat is not a cereal. The word cereal comes from the name of the goddess of wheat, Ceres. Buckwheat is not related to wheat. Edible buckwheat, Fagopyrum esculentum, is not in the family of grasses, Graminae, from which spring all our cereals, including corn, rye and barley. It is not even in the same order, Poales. Rather, it is part of the rhubarb and sorrel family, Polygonaceae, order Polygonales, as is the wild buckwheat, genus Eriogonum, whose flowers ornament our gardens. -more-
As Michael Moore’s new film Fahrenheit 9/11 set attendance records across the country, Berkeley notched one of its own when the California Landmark Theater recorded the highest opening-night profit numbers for any movie theater screening the film nationwide. Crowds also helped sell out every afternoon and evening screening but one, from Friday through Sunday, grossing tens of thousands of dollars for the theater. A spokesperson for the theater declined to give the exact dollar figure for Landmark’s gross take. -more-
A 27-year employee is back on the job at the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center after close to the entire hospital staff—with the exception of only the doctors—threatened to walk off the job for one day unless she was reinstated. -more-
What a difference a year makes. -more-
It’s clear that the proposed new Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) for UC Berkeley is a very growth-oriented plan. While its enrollment hike would be comparatively modest (from a two-semester average of 31,800 in 2001-2002 to a projected 33,450 in future), other stats are quite dramatic. Between now and 2020, total “academic and support” space could increase by 18 percent, or 2.2 million gross square feet. That’s about three times the 15-year increase that was foreseen when the present LRDP was adopted in 1990. Parking could swell by 30 percent, or 2,300 spaces. Housing could increase by 32 percent, or 2,600 beds. These are net amounts, representing new construction minus demolitions. And they’re over and above the changes resulting from still-uncompleted projects—like the big new Stanley Hall and the giant Underhill garage—that the regents have already approved. -more-
An Oakland woman’s quest to grow medical marijuana without fear of federal intervention is heading to the Supreme Court and could result in a new precedent in the resurgent battle over states’ rights, perhaps putting in danger Berkeley’s liberal medical pot laws. -more-
A lawsuit recently filed in Federal Court in San Diego on behalf of nine male and female detainees in the now infamous Abu Ghraib prison has legal and political implications that extend far beyond allegations of torture in Iraq. The suit addresses one of the most important issues of contemporary governance: Are prison contractors, working for the U.S. government, beyond the reach of law? -more-
After an unsuccessful attempt Friday to quell a cooking oil fire that soon got out of control, a Jones Street resident ran two blocks to the nearest fire station to report the blaze in person. -more-
Sunny skies, cool breezes, the sparkle of the bay, and an appreciative local crowd attended the Saturday, June 19, grand opening of a long-awaited new building at Berkeley’s Shorebird Park Nature Center. -more-
Armed Robber Confronts Driver, Jail -more-
Last week I read in the paper about a mysterious murder that occurred in the upscale peninsula community of Hillsborough. According to the article, a 58-year-old woman was killed in a house break-in at 4:30 in the morning. Neighbors and authorities were shocked. Violent crime is almost unheard of in Hillsborough, said someone in the know. The last incident of a homicide occurred in 1998 when a woman was abducted and murdered by her house cleaner. The article went on to say that Hillsborough is one of the richest communities in the United States. The house where the incident occurred has seven bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms, and was bought in 1994 for $1,125,000. The house across the street is currently on sale for $2.8 million. -more-
Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 should be carefully studied by John Kerry’s political advisers—not for its good taste, profundity or even originality, but for its sheer bulldog tenacity in laying waste to the patriotic mythology spun out of lies and half-truths in Karl Rove’s White House. -more-
SB 744 (Dunn), now under consideration by the State Legislature, would allow “affordable housing” developers to leapfrog over the local land use decision-making process and appeal to the state (Department of Housing and Community Development) any local land use decisions that either deny their project or impose conditions that purportedly render the project financially infeasible. The state could then order the local agency to reverse its decision and the developer and its friends could enforce this state order in court. This is quite a club for affordable housing developers to wield during the local land use decision-making process. -more-
Editors, Daily Planet: -more-
I came to Berkeley 40 years ago this month for graduate school at UC. I quickly noticed that the Bay Area was not predominantly flat and gray like my native New Jersey, an annoying land of two temperatures: too hot and too cold. I have ever since considered Berkeley my home, even during two years in Chile and one in Washington in the late 60s. -more-
I was back in Arkansas last month, partly on family business, partly revisiting some favorite places in the Ozarks. Things have changed since I lived there. The great homogenizing forces of commerce and mass culture have been at work. You exit the freeway into outposts of Generica: Barnes & Noble, Old Navy, Starbucks. Krispy Kreme, having leapfrogged from the Southeast to the West Coast, is about to colonize Arkansas. There are signs of demographic shifts: more Mexican restaurants, and a couple of Vietnamese sandwich shops in Little Rock. -more-
Spiral Gardens Community Food Security Project’s Urban Garden Center opened grandly on Sunday, June 27, at 2 p.m., with a stageful of song, rap, and inspirational speech, and food and plants for sale and for free. -more-
Doris Moskowitz readily admits that she keeps one foot planted in the past while charting a new course for her business. She is the proprietor of Moe’s Books, a Berkeley landmark named after her father who was an icon in his own right. Upon the death of Morris “Moe” Moskowitz on April 1, 1997 at the age of 76, then Mayor Shirley Dean declared a “Moe’s Day,” closing the block on Telegraph Avenue where the store is located to allow people to come and pay tribute to its famous owner. -more-
There have been a number of sideways glances in the liberal press (yes, there is a bit of a liberal press, still) at the rowdy proletarian gusto with which Michael Moore goes after his targets in Fahrenheit 9/11. I often count myself as one of the genteel middle-aged ladies in matters like this. Still, I can’t go along with Ellen Goodman’s call for more sweet reasonableness in the effort to change hearts and minds. Or rather, I’m afraid that only sweet reasonableness won’t do it. -more-
The back page cartoon in a recent New Yorker showed a Kerry campaign rally. The candidate was standing at a flag-draped podium with Kerry banners above. In the foreground, also at the podium and looming large enough to dwarf the candidate, who was reduce d to peeking out from behind, was a grinning Bill Clinton. -more-
