As Berkeley officials ponder revisions to the city’s ground-breaking 1989 creeks ordinance, city engineers have presented them with sobering news on the state of the underground concrete structures that enclose nearly half of Berkeley’s creek channels. 

According to a report presented to the City Council Tuesday evening, Berkeley’s buried creeks pose an increasing danger to 2,000 homeowners and already stretched municipal coffers. The report revealed that these creeks are channeled through decaying underground culverts, half of them on city property. 

“Creek culverts, both public and private, are reaching the end of their useful life,” said the three-page document signed by Public Works Director Rene Cardinaux. “[F]ailures will start to be experienced causing damage to the public right of way or to private property.” 

Berkeley is built on the watersheds of 10 streams with a combined length of 71,935 feet, according to the Cardinaux report. Nearly half the total—35,163 feet—flows through underground culverts, most built before 1920. The average lifespan of culverts runs between 60 and 80 years, and most of Berkeley’s underground channels have already passed the eight-decade mark. 

Further complicating the issue are the culverts built on privately owned land before 1928, when the city started requiring construction permits. 

Berkeley has already experienced several culvert failures, including two along Strawberry Creek, one of which occurred directly beneath Civic Center Park. 

The Cardinaux report examined one watershed in detail, Strawberry Creek between Oxford Street and the Bay, and located six areas of concern. 

The first trouble spot they identified was a 396-foot-long section starting at Oxford and flowing west along Allston Way. City engineers discovered erosion at the base of the culvert and found that the structure’s concrete in poor condition. 

“Lining is recommended for this section to give it additional strength and durability,” Cardineaux reported. “The estimated cost is between $5,000 and $7,000 per linear foot, or between $1.98 million and $2.8 million.” 

The decaying segment is located on both private and public property, and the city ordinance holds the property owner responsible for maintenance on their land. 

A second stretch, 140 linear feet at Allston and Harold ways, is currently slated for repair, with an estimated cost to the city of up to $500,000 and a maximum of $420,000 for repairs on private property. 

A third segment, 699 feet on public and private property between McKinley and Roosevelt streets, would cost up to $4.9 million to repair. A 567-foot stretch on public land between California and Sacramento streets would cost up to $4 million. 

Another 300 feet, on private land, would cost $1 million. 

Cardinaux also reported that a storm drain under University Avenue that serves both Strawberry Creek and the Addison Street drain pipe has started to corrode, with repair costs estimated at up to $11.3 million.  

Simply inspecting the underground culverts is a costly task, with a complete survey estimated to take five years at a cost of $500,000. 

The 1989 city statute, one of the nation’s first, has resulted in tensions between developers, residents, and groups calling for restoration and “daylighting” of the city’s creeks—many now shunted through underground culverts. 

The current ordinance bars development within 30 feet of the centerline of Berkeley creeks. 

Tuesday evening’s presentation came in anticipation of the Sept. 28 workshop where city officials and private citizens will discuss revisions to the 1989 statute. 

“We don’t even have a good list of the city’s creeks,” said Councilmember Betty Olds. “It’s terrible. I know there are creeks that aren’t listed, and some are listed that shouldn’t be.” 

But the councilmember could say no more, after City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque advised Mayor Tom Bates that as a citizen personally affected by the ordinance, Olds was barred from speaking. 

“There’s a whole district up in the hills with more creeks than any other and their representative can’t talk,” Olds protested. 

“That’s democracy,” quipped Bates, provoking a chorus of boos from the audience. 

“Just kidding,” the mayor responded. 

The most contentious issue was the ambiguous nature of existing laws when it comes to the cost of repairs to culverts on private property. 

“The major problem is that there are numerous houses built over creeks and on bridges. Our position is that because it’s private property, they’re on their own,” Bates said. 

Because of the large number of property owners affected by the ordinance, several councilmembers insisted that the city notify all of them prior to the September workshop. 

Replacing aging culverts and retrofitting others to meet seismic standards were crucial issues to property owners, said Councilmember Linda Maio. 

“We have to address the culvert issue and what’s reasonable to do,” said Councilmember Gordon Wozniak, who added that because of the extensive costs, daylighting all the city’s culverted creeks simply wasn’t an option. 

Councilmember Dona Spring urged that the September workshop be limited to two issues, restricting paving over culverted creeks without any current development and allowing affected property owners to rebuild structures after a disaster—which she favors. 

The ordinance currently bars any new structures within 30 feet of the midline of a waterway. 

The rebuilding issue was critical to homeowner Diane Crowley, whose house lies 30 feet above a culverted creek. “Who will offer me more than five dollars for my home if I have to reveal to them that they might not be able to rebuild after a fire or a quake?” he asked. 

“As the ordinance is written, they wouldn’t have the opportunity of rebuilding,” Bates said. 

Rebuilding would require zoning variances and approvals by city regulatory bodies, said Planning Director Dan Marks. 

“If there’s a disaster, this council will change the ordinance to permit rebuilding,” Bates said. 

Homeowners Bonnie Gergen and Bob Allen said they were disturbed that the original ordinance had been enacted without notifying all the affected property owners. “The process should include an environmental impact report,” Allen said. 

Councilmember Miriam Hawley said any revised ordinance should treat open and culverted creeks differently. “People on culverts may need to expand their homes,” she said. “It seems as long as the people know they’re on a culvert and are responsible for it,” they should be allowed to expand their homes. 

City Manager Phil Kamlarz told the council city staff wants “a war plan and a budget” to tackle creek repairs. When Bates and Maio suggested creating a citizen task force to examine and report on the problem, Kamlarz countered that “some task forces take three or four years.” 

Wozniak suggested using the city’s existing commissions instead, and urged the city to address the maintenance requirements of culverts on private property because the water flowing through them affects the whole course of a stream. 

“This opens us up for huge liability,” Bates responded. 

Spring said she favored the task force approach because it would add special expertise not present on existing city commission. 

“It will take some kind of citizen participation,” said Bates. 

The creeks crisis was then tabled until the September workshop.

As Alameda county races to meet new re-certification standards for its touchscreen voting machines, critics say they are still not satisfied with the machines’ security and are trying to give the county one last opt-out option before the November election. 

In a complaint unsealed last week, Bev Harris, the Washington State-based founder of BlackBoxVoting.org, and California resident Jim March—represented by their Berkeley attorney Lowell Finley—alleged that touchscreen voting machine maker Diebold Systems, Inc, violated the False Claims Act on two counts: first, by selling the county machines that Diebold knew were insecure and second, by providing the county with uncertified software. 

If successful, the case could force Diebold to reimburse Alameda County up to three times what the county paid for the machines, providing the county with ample money to invest in a different and more secure system, re-train poll workers, and meet any other additional costs. 

Diebold spokesman David Bear said the company had not been served with the lawsuit and couldn’t comment until they had. 

Even with new security upgrades, said Harris, the touchscreens can—and, she asserts, probably will—repeat the “meltdown” experienced in Alameda County and across the state in the primaries last March. In San Diego County during that election, 573 of 1,038 polling places opened late because of problems with Diebold machines. In Alameda County, faulty Diebold equipment also caused major delays in voting. 

Harris and March, while ultimately trying to hold Diebold responsible for what they call faulty equipment, said the suit can and should act as a stopgap in the upcoming election and allow counties an easy out. 

Instead of Diebold touch screens, they say the county should rely on other vote recording and counting systems such as paper ballots run through optical scan machines, or even the old-fashioned hand count. 

Currently, however, Alameda County has declined to sign onto the case. The plaintiffs are also waiting for word from officials of the State of California, which could also sign on because the state reimbursed the county for a majority of the money spent to buy the machines. 

Contrary to what the plaintiffs allege, says Alameda County Registrar of Voters Brad Clark, the lawsuit should not affect the upcoming election. With November just a few months away, Alameda county’s options have been severely narrowed, limited to a choice of Diebold voting machines of one type or another. Even if the county won its money back from the company, Clark said, there would not be enough time to invest that money in another system. 

The deadline to sign a contract with another touchscreen vendor passed this summer, according to Clark. At this point, the county is focusing almost all of its attention on securing firmware and software certification for the Diebold machines that should satisfy the mandates set forth by the Secretary of State. 

“I don’t know if any vendor at this late date would be able to serve us,” said Clark. “I don’t anticipate that happening.” 

And if the county is not able to re-certify their machines the only other option, according to Clark, are Diebold optical scan machines. Currently the county has a couple of those on hand, but would have to rush to buy enough to handle the vote. 

According to Harris, March and their attorney Finley, however, the county has had the option to opt-out of the Diebold contract for months because county election officials knew about the lawsuit before it became public. The complaint was originally filed last November and was supposed to be under seal until the state of California makes its decision about whether to sign on. According to Finley, Alameda County Counsel Richard Winnie has attended closed hearings concerning the case. The case became public before the state decided because Harris and March won a special decision from the court that allowed them to unseal it. 

“[Clark] may have decided in his own mind that the county is going to use Diebold, but the fact is as of today the secretary of state has decertified that equipment and has not made a decision about whether they are going to re-certify,” said Finley. “Clark has known about this litigation in his own mind before this year and could have made a decision then to take advantage of what we believe is a very strong claim.” 

Finley explained that this action by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters would have allowed the county to “free itself from the grip of a company that has a very checkered history and switch to an entirely different system. To date they haven’t done that, but it doesn’t mean that it’s too late.” 

About the county’s claim that it is too late to turn back, Harris said “That’s just so stupid. If they need to they can print paper ballots and hand count the whole dang thing.” 

When questioned, Alameda County Counsel Winnie said the county has not closed out all their options. “We’re not proceeding completely dependent on this electronic equipment,” he said. “The time constraints are so limited and the importance is so great that we can’t afford to simply accept promises or rely on one system. We’re going to reach a conclusion in the next three or four weeks really committing ourselves to how we are going to conduct the election. We are pretty far down the road right now, but that doesn’t mean we can’t switch.” 

But when asked about whether Clark’s characterization of the county’s options was correct, Winnie said it was. 

Both Harris and March say Clark’s actions lead them to believe that he is pushing for a touch screen system. 

“Brad’s position seems to be that he wants to stick with Diebold. Why? I couldn’t tell you,” said March. 

When asked about the possibility of recounting paper ballots by hand as an alternative option, Clark said that could be an option for Alameda County “if you didn’t want election results until next summer.” He also said a hand re-count is the most inaccurate way to count, especially when there are multiple items on the ballot. 

Harris, in her critique of Clark’s apparent support for touchscreens, downplayed Clark’s reasons for dismissing a hand recount, saying the option is out because the county “didn’t organize in time and because [people] want to use the machines by hook or by crook.” 

According to James Hale, a media relations officer for Vote Canada, which runs Canada’s national elections, Canada was able to count 13,489,559 votes by hand during the last election on June 28. The votes, cast at 58,000 polling booths, located at 18,000 polling stations in 308 electoral districts, were counted in half an hour. Unlike the upcoming Alameda county ballot, however, which will have tens of items, Canada’s only had one. 

After review, the Canada performed re-counts in three different areas, affecting about a dozen of the 13 plus million votes, according to Hale. 

›

With the deadline for submitting ballot initiatives to the county fast approaching, the City Council Tuesday chose to take one last look at the wording of three controversial measures. 

In other matters the council approved new procedures for how it and some commissions handle ex parte communications, created 16 parking spaces for city parking enforcement officers, offered new money for a costly affordable housing project, and held off discussing UC’s proposed footbridge over Hearst Avenue until the fall. 

The ballot initiatives would expand the rights of medical marijuana growers and distributors, make prostitution Berkeley’s lowest police priority and establish a Tree Board to regulate public trees. 

A council majority opposes all three measures, but city law leaves them only two options: Approve the measures or place them on the ballot. 

On Tuesday, the council had already sent the medical marijuana and prostitution measures to the voters—and was set to do the same for the tree act—when City Manager Phil Kamlarz alerted them that they can amend the short description of the initiatives voters see on their touchscreen voting machines. 

“Oh, we can?” said Mayor Tom Bates.  

Within a minute the council had rescinded its votes on the cannabis and prostitution initiatives and formed a subcommittee, comprised of Bates and Councilmembers Linda Maio, Dona Spring and Gordon Wozniak, to report back to the council next week, when the council must place the items on the ballot. 

The cannabis initiative would erase Berkeley’s 10-plant limit for patients licensed to cultivate medical marijuana, establish a peer review committee to oversee the city’s marijuana clubs and grant by-right use permits for clubs in commercial zones. The measure on prostitution would require the City Council to lobby Sacramento to decriminalize prostitution, but according to police wouldn’t reduce the number of stings targeting prostitutes and johns even though it would make prostitution the city’s lowest police priority. 

The tree ordinance would give a Tree Board power to prevent the removal of public trees except in certain circumstances, as well as license contractors engaged in public tree work. 

Presumably the subcommittee will examine ways to ensure that the council’s concerns are highlighted on the ballot titles, Councilmember Kriss Worthington said.  

A majority of councilmembers are concerned that the marijuana measure would deprive city control over pot clubs and increase crime, that the prostitution measure would attract more sex workers and johns, and that the Tree Board would create a costly new layer of bureaucracy. 

Worthington is demanding that the subcommittee provide public notice of its meeting, so citizens are aware of its deliberations. However, Cisco DeVries, an aide to Mayor Tom Bates, said that because of tight schedules as the council approaches its final meeting next week before the summer recess, the subcommittee might just e-mail suggested ballot title changes to the city attorney. 

At any point before the election, the council can vote to support or oppose the initiatives, though it can’t spend money on a campaign. 

Robyn Few, director of the Sex Workers Outreach Project, and sponsor of the prostitution measure, dubbed the Angel Initiative, wasn’t surprised by the council’s action. 

“They’ve been giving us a tough time from the day we started,” she said. “We’ve had to fight for everything we’ve gotten.” 

The current ballot titles appear to already spell out the issues most councilmembers find objectionable. The title for the marijuana initiative, for instance, specifies that the act would grant by-right development for clubs and the tree act title shows an annual cost of $250,000 as written in the city attorney’s analysis that will be sent to all voters. 

Tree Act author Elliot Cohen, along with councilmembers Spring and Worthington, contend the cost estimate and the analysis is faulty. City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque said she will meet with staff members who assembled the city’s impact report on the initiative to address their concerns. 

Foothill Bridge 

With the city’s staff report arriving just as councilmembers sat down at their chairs Tuesday evening, the council voted to hold off a vote on the controversial Foothill Bridge until after the summer recess.  

UC Berkeley is asking for an encroachment waiver from the city to suspend a bridge 21 feet over Hearst Avenue to connect two dormitories, and has signaled its willingness to pay $200,000 in mitigations and give the city final say over the bridge’s design. 

But opponents argue the bridge would be one more university encroachment into neighborhoods, and wouldn’t achieve the university’s stated goal of providing access to wheelchair-using students at the Foothill housing complex. 

Ex Parte Communications 

In response to concerns from residents and developers, the City Council unanimously loosened restrictions on communications with interested parties to developments that city boards must ultimately approve or reject.  

Previously, to safeguard due process rights, members of the City Council, the Planning Commission, the Zoning Adjustment Board, the Landmarks Preservation Commission and the Housing Advisory Commission were all forbidden from so much as overhearing conversations about pending projects which members could later vote on as a quasi-judicial body. 

Opponents charged the system gave preferential treatment to developers and fostered a climate of mistrust. 

Under the new rules, councilmembers and commissioners will be able to discuss issues with concerned parties so long as those public officials disclose those contacts and the gist of the conversations prior to the public hearing. 

Parking Spaces for Parking Enforcement Officers 

After public transportation advocates vehemently opposed a plan to create 21 parking spaces for city parking enforcement officers last January, the council approved a compromise plan by a vote of 7-2 (Worthington, Spring no) .  

The city will designate 16 parking spaces on the east side of Martin Luther King Jr. Way next to the Ashby BART station for parking officers. The spaces, currently off limits to all cars, will be available to residents at nighttime and on weekends. 

The compromise rescinds the earlier proposal that—in addition to the 16 spaces on MLK— would have given them five parking spaces on Fairview Street. 

Parking enforcement officers have traditionally received free city parking at a lot at Fairview and Harper Street, but that option disappeared recently after the lot’s owner transformed the lot into an apartment complex. 

Providing parking will improve morale and free up residential parking spaces where the officials now park, according to the city report approved by Police Chief Roy Meisner. 

Charles Moore, the only resident to comment on the compromise plan, called it “an outrageous perk.” 

Jubilee Senior Housing 

The City Council voted 8-0-1 (Wozniak abstain) to grant an extra $450,000 to the planned 27-unit Jubilee Senior Homes at 2577 San Pablo Avenue. Delays and rising construction costs have caused the price of the complex to climb from $4.2 million to $6.8 million, 40 percent of which will come from the city’s housing trust fund. 

With the new funding, the city’s subsidy is now at $100,000 per unit, roughly double the average subsidy. 

“This will be the most expensive project per unit we’ve ever done,” said Housing Director Steve Barton. 

The new funding is contingent on an expected grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. If the grant doesn’t come through, the city can force Jubilee to sell the property, valued at $350,000 to help compensate the city for its losses..›

In the lush South Berkeley Community Garden, beside the stumpy, green lemons hovering over raspberry brambles and below the dangling figs, a butterfly circles around the “for sale” sign announcing that the 17-year-old swath of vegetation at Martin Luther King Jr. Way between Russell and Oregon streets is on the market. 

The good news for the 12 gardeners who farm the garden is that the real estate agent, Berkeley’s Red Oak Realty, and the trustee, Wells Fargo Bank, are giving the gardeners first shot to buy it. 

The bad news: The bank is asking the market rate price, $445,000, by July 26. 

Otherwise the roughly 11,000-square-foot L-shaped lot will be subdivided into two parcels, each big enough for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house. 

Some of the gardeners on Wednesday said that would be a bitter end to a plot that for years stuffed the stands at the Berkeley Farmers Market and served as a horticultural classroom to homeless residents hoping to learn a trade. 

“This is a very spiritual place, no other community garden has such a wild feel,” said Gavin Claiborne, a South Berkeley resident who has maintained a plot for two years.  

News of the sale did not come as a surprise. The gardeners knew their days were likely numbered when the plot’s owner, Weston Havens, died two years ago.  

The last of an old Berkeley monied family that were early partners in the Claremont Hotel, Havens—having no heir—bequeathed the proceeds of his family’s estate to three local universities: UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco, and Stanford. 

“We were told two years ago it would probably be sold, but it’s hard to make contingency plans when you don’t have much money,” said Daniel Miller, executive director of Spiral Gardens, a nonprofit that runs the Community Garden along with several other gardens in Berkeley and Oakland. 

Now the gardeners and some supporters are hoping to make one last ditch effort to save the tract. 

Leif Aamot, a gardener, said he has received pledges from three people and plans to establish a fund to raise money. 

Laurie Capitelli, a partner at Red Oak Realty and a candidate for City Council in November, said he would explore some avenues on the gardeners’ behalf. Capitelli planned to contact UC about the plot and also get in touch with a cousin of Haven’s, former Berkeley Mayor Jeffrey Shattuck Leiter, who was out of town Thursday. 

“It’s going to take an angel,” Capitelli said. “Open parcels are a rare commodity in Berkeley.”  

Already, he said, Red Oak has received telephone calls about the plot it listed last week, but no offers. 

Wells Fargo Bank wants all bids presented to the bank by July 26, Capitelli said. He hasn’t heard from bank representatives if they would be willing to give the gardeners more time to raise money. Wells Fargo declined comment for this story. 

If the garden is turned into housing, Berkeley would not have a shortage of public gardening space. The city, which several years ago became the second in the nation to incorporate public gardens into its general plan, has 25 community gardens, including public school gardens, said Karl Linn, who restored the Karl Linn gardens in North Berkeley. 

Six of Berkeley’s public gardens, Linn said, are secure because they are on city-owned property; the fate of the others is less certain. 

“It seems that every year you’re trying to save one garden or another,” said Miller. Two years ago, he said, a speculator purchased the garden he runs at 59th Street and San Pablo Avenue for $5,000. Miller’s group ended up buying it back for $25,000. 

For years Miller ran the South Berkeley Garden through a partnership with Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency (BOSS), a homeless advocate group, until the group’s money woes forced Miller to go independent earlier this year.  

Spiral Gardens opened a new garden last year at Sacramento and Oregon streets, which offers some spaces to homeless residents. The South Berkeley garden no longer houses a homeless education program and has morphed into a traditional communal plot where gardeners rent spaces. 

Rasmussen said he never met Havens and negotiated the lease through a banker. “He told me the Havens have never sold anything as long as they’re alive so there was no risk of it being sold,” Rasmussen said. 

›

With a long-range solution to the Gilman Street/Interstate 80 interchange stalled by the Bush administration’s refusal to approve the federal transportation bill, a Berkeley traffic engineer and CalTrans have come up with an interim solution. 

Scheduled for implementation by mid-September, the plan calls for installation of new striping that will channel traffic through what now amounts to a vehicular free-for-all beneath the freeway. 

Currently, Gilman has no center nor lane lines as it approaches the interchange from the east, said Peter Eakland, associate traffic engineer for the city. 

Because lanes aren’t marked, cars tend to speed through the heavily traveled interchange, he said. Clearly defined lanes should decrease driver uncertainty and with it, speed. 

“We’ve had quite a few comments that people feel uncomfortable with the interchange,” Eakland said. 

In addition to lanes, the plan incorporates islands marked by stripes to guide cars coming off the northbound freeway into and through the intersection. 

The plans also add five-foot lanes on either side of Gilman under the freeway, both to provide safe transit for cyclists and to provide greater visibility for traffic headed westbound off the freeway towards Golden Gate Fields. 

“We’re trying to make it so people have a better idea of where they’re going and to provide ample room for bicycles,” Eakland said. 

Because of the small scale of the project, CalTrans can provide the labor from its own staff. “Everything should be done in a month or two,” Eakland said. 

The striping solution is only temporary, and the definitive fix remains the two-roundabout solution currently included in the stalled federal transportation bill. 

“It seems doubtful that there will be any transportation bill before the election,” Eakland said. “The federal Department of Transportation will have been operating without a budget for a year come September. They’ve been funded only through continuing resolutions.” 

Major federal transportation bills are passed every three or four years he said, and in-between funds are allocated only for projects authorized in the bills.  

“The striping will make things safer by eliminating some of the weaving drivers do within the interchange because of the confusion” caused by the lack of clear indications of where they should drive, Eakland said. 

The new plan does not include any traffic signals to replace the stop signs currently in place. l

With a long-range solution to the Gilman Street/Interstate 80 interchange stalled by the Bush administration’s refusal to approve the federal transportation bill, a Berkeley traffic engineer and CalTrans have come up with an interim solution. 

Scheduled for implementation by mid-September, the plan calls for installation of new striping that will channel traffic through what now amounts to a vehicular free-for-all beneath the freeway. 

Currently, Gilman has no center nor lane lines as it approaches the interchange from the east, said Peter Eakland, associate traffic engineer for the city. 

Because lanes aren’t marked, cars tend to speed through the heavily traveled interchange, he said. Clearly defined lanes should decrease driver uncertainty and with it, speed. 

“We’ve had quite a few comments that people feel uncomfortable with the interchange,” Eakland said. 

In addition to lanes, the plan incorporates islands marked by stripes to guide cars coming off the northbound freeway into and through the intersection. 

The plans also add five-foot lanes on either side of Gilman under the freeway, both to provide safe transit for cyclists and to provide greater visibility for traffic headed westbound off the freeway towards Golden Gate Fields. 

“We’re trying to make it so people have a better idea of where they’re going and to provide ample room for bicycles,” Eakland said. 

Because of the small scale of the project, CalTrans can provide the labor from its own staff. “Everything should be done in a month or two,” Eakland said. 

The striping solution is only temporary, and the definitive fix remains the two-roundabout solution currently included in the stalled federal transportation bill. 

“It seems doubtful that there will be any transportation bill before the election,” Eakland said. “The federal Department of Transportation will have been operating without a budget for a year come September. They’ve been funded only through continuing resolutions.” 

Major federal transportation bills are passed every three or four years he said, and in-between funds are allocated only for projects authorized in the bills.  

“The striping will make things safer by eliminating some of the weaving drivers do within the interchange because of the confusion” caused by the lack of clear indications of where they should drive, Eakland said. 

The new plan does not include any traffic signals to replace the stop signs currently in place. l

The six women behind Berkeley-based Project Billboard will get to take their anti-war message to the streets of New York after all. 

One day before the group was scheduled to go before a federal judge in the same courthouse where Martha Stewart will be sentenced Friday, Project Billboard settled their breach of contract suit with multimedia behemoth Clear Channel Spectacolor. 

Last week the subsidiary of the entertainment giant that controls much of Manhattan’s top billboard space, balked at the group’s design: An American flag-patterned bomb with the caption, “Democracy Is Best Taught By Example, Not War.” 

Project Billboard, which includes Alice Waters of Berkeley’s Chez Panisse and Baifang Schell, the wife of UC Berkeley journalism school dean Orville Schell, had signed a contract with Clear Channel to pay $368,000 to place the 69-feet-long, 49-feet-wide billboard atop the Mariott Marquis Hotel in Times Square from Aug. 2 through Election Day, Nov. 2. 

Under the terms of the settlement, Project Billboard will now pay $299,000 for two similarly sized billboards in Times Square. One billboard will replace the bomb with a dove and the second one will be an electronic tracker of money the U.S. has spent on the Iraq war, under the caption, “Total Cost of Iraq War To Date.” The billboards will stand atop the Conde Nast building at Broadway and 42nd Street and the W Hotel at Broadway and 47th Street. 

“It’s a victory for us,” Schell said. “Now we get two billboards and we’re paying less than we were before.” 

Schell said her group had offered to replace the bomb with a dove, but Clear Channel was pressing them to remove the word “war” from the text, which they refused to do. 

The famed Mariott Marquis, however, wouldn’t accept any variation of the sign. Hotel spokeswoman Kathleen Duffy said the chain has a final say over the messages splashed above the signature hotel and enforces a strict policy against political banners.  

Clear Channel couldn’t be reached for comment on the settlement. In an earlier statement, the company charged that Project Billboard had filed suit without making a good faith effort to settle the dispute and that the company was led to believe that the group wouldn’t submit a political banner. 

Deborah Rappaport, a board member of Project Billboard, said Thursday in a prepared statement that the group was impressed with the substitute options Clear Channel presented and that they “looked forward to working with [them] in the months ahead.” 

Schell said the Times Square billboards would be the group’s first and they hoped to raise enough money to place more in cities across the country. She said she hasn’t spent her own money on the effort. 

Clear Channel, based in San Antonio, owns 1,270 radio stations, 787,000 outdoor advertising displays, and 39 television stations, and books 125 music venues. Some company executives have been reported to have close ties to the Bush Administration. Earlier this year the company made headlines when it booted radio disc jockey Howard Stern from six of its stations. 

A divided City Council voted to adopt the Arts and Cultural Plan created by the Civic Arts Commission during three years of research and public hearings. 

While Councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Margaret Breland wanted adoption contingent on an order to arts commissioners to amend the plan to address specific issues, their motion went down to defeat. 

Arts Commission chair David Snippen and Commissioners Jos Sances, Amanda Bornstein, and Sherry Smith outlined the plan during the working session held before the regular council meeting. 

Sances said artists interviewed had asked for greater city involvement in promoting the arts, and in preserving and adding to the city’s inventory of spaces for artists to live and work. Sances called the latter “a very controversial subject” over which the commission “has no real authority.” 

While preserving and creating artists’ space “will require concerted efforts from many agencies,” Sances said the creation of a city cultural center would go a long way to solving the problem. 

But Commissioner Bonnie Hughes rose during the brief public comment session to express her concerns about plan implementation. 

“Almost all of the city arts money has been spent on the Addison Street district...and it’s time for us to turn to the rest of the community,” she said. 

Hughes also wanted language in the plan that would give funding preference to smaller groups over the larger and already well-financed groups which have been receiving the lion’s share of city funds. 

Bob Brockl of the West Berkeley Nexus Gallery and Collective called the plan “a-historic. We already have an arts district in West Berkeley. People driven out of San Francisco by high rents have come to West Berkeley and Oakland, but many of them have problems. The district needs help and resources are very scarce. West Berkeley needs to be encouraged and fostered.” 

Mayor Tom Bates praised the plan. “Every time I see it, it gets prettier and better.” The mayor cautioned, however, that the council needed to get commission recommendations “way earlier so when we adopt our budget we have some figures” to work with. 

Councilmember Linda Maio praised the commission for doing a “fabulous job.” 

While calling the plan a dramatic improvement from earlier versions, Worthington said it failed to address “things we repeatedly heard from artists that are the most important issues they’re struggling with...and they don’t get one word in the plan.” 

First on Worthington’s list was the status of many of the city’s murals. “We need to be legalizing these fantastic murals,” he said, adding that artists also have to “go through hell” to win approval for new murals. 

Second on Worthington’s list was the status of street performers, “especially musicians who have received citations and even been arrested because of new interpretations of city codes.” 

The councilmember also chided the plan for its failure to address the need for building acquisition funds to provide more work space for the city’s large artistic community. 

Worthington echoed Hughes’ concern that “the overwhelming majority of funding goes to one section of Berkeley—not South Berkeley or West Berkeley but downtown.” The city, he said, “needs to have a clear commitment that the next millions we spend on art don’t just go to downtown. The attitude seems to be that the arts only mean something if they’re creating more customers for downtown. The arts should be considered as something more than just an economic engine.” 

Worthington also cited what he called the plan’s failure to address that fact that high rents were forcing hundreds of artists to leave the community. 

Finally, the councilmember expressed concern that two drafts of the plan had been marked for distribution only to commission members and were denied to members of the public who asked for copies. 

“I repeatedly asked who wrote [that],” he told councilmembers. But when he asked Snippen during the Tuesday session, he still received no answer.  

“It was a totally innocent mistake,” Snippen said, adding that the draft had been posted on the commission website. 

Hughes then said she had wanted the plan to incorporate a tiered grant structure. “I also kept asking if we could put together a task force to do an inventory” of citywide artist work and live/work spaces. 

Bates then asked, “What about adopting it as a preliminary plan? I’m personally interested in implementation.” 

Following the hearing, the plan surfaced again when it came up for adoption during the regular council session. 

After Snippen formally urged adoption of the plan as submitted, a move strongly supported by Councilmember Mim Hawley, Worthington submitted a substitute motion to adopt the plan on a preliminary basis and return it to the arts panel to address the six specific issues he had raised, reporting back to the council before January. 

While Councilmember Margaret Breland backed Worthington’s motion, Mayor Bates and Councilmembers Hawley and Betty Olds voted no, with Linda Maio and Gordon Wozniak abstaining. 

The plan was then adopted, with only Worthington and Breland in opposition.›

After winning the right to be classified as employees rather than independent contractors, local cab drivers will soon vote whether or not to join the Teamsters Union Local 70. 

The drivers—who operate under five different cab names, all based under Oakland’s Friendly cab company—won what many called a landmark ruling a month ago when the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) national board upheld the local NLRB’s ruling that the East Bay cab drivers should be classified as employees. The win, according to the cab drivers’ lawyers, sets a precedent for other drivers across the country who have struggled with the same fight. 

Under the ruling, drivers can now legally organize a union as employees, something they could not do as independent contractors.  

The vote to affiliate or merge with the Teamsters should help the employees gain the experience and resources of the local, said Bob Bezemek, one of two lawyers working with the cab drivers. Berkeley City Councilmember Kriss Worthington is scheduled to act as a neutral third party to oversee and verify the vote. 

Affiliation with Local 70, which represents East Bay transportation workers, could also help the cab drivers during the bargaining process. Even though the cab drivers won employee classification, the owner of Friendly cab company has refused to bargain. According to Bezemek, the company is also refusing to accept the ruling of the national NLRB. Drivers expect the NLRB to overturn the cab company’s challenge, which will land the case in a federal court of appeals. None of this, however, prevents the drivers from affiliating with the Teamsters. 

—Jakob Schiller

While a band of neighbors determined to reduce the size of new buildings isn’t claiming victory in the battle over University Avenue, one affordable housing developer is ceding defeat. 

“The neighbors against development have won,” said Todd Harvey, project manager at Jubilee Restoration. “No affordable development can go up under those rules.” 

After six months of fierce debate, the Planning Commission has agreed on the framework for new zoning regulations along University Avenue. In an attempt to come closer to what was specified in the 1996 strategic plan for the avenue, on average the new zoning would reduce the size of new buildings by 25 percent—and in some locations 40 percent—from what is allowed under current zoning.  

The commission is expected to approve a final draft of the plan at their July 28 meeting. After that it goes before the City Council for consideration. 

“I think we’ve got it,” said Commissioner Gene Poschman, one of four members of a Planning Commission subcommittee that met four times over the past month to break a deadlock. “There are a few hang-ups, but the important thing is to get this through and give [residents] protections.” 

Development along University—dormant for years—has come fast and furious recently. Five projects totaling 391 units are in the works between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and San Pablo Avenue, much to the chagrin of some neighbors. They argue the new structures are too big and bulky, don’t provide viable ground floor retail space or parking, offer little sidewalk or streetscape amenities, and—thanks to a state law that grants developers 25 percent more space for high-density projects that include low income housing—balloon well beyond zoning restrictions. 

To address their concerns, the City Council asked the Planning Commission to rewrite zoning rules for University to comply with the avenue’s strategic plan approved in 1996, before the construction boom. 

The strategic plan called for generous setbacks and two-story buildings along the avenue and three-story buildings on intersections designated for commercial activity, called nodes. 

While the new zoning rules won’t fully implement that vision, it amounts to a substantial reduction in development capacity. 

When developers utilize the state density bonus law, buildings will rise to four stories on the avenue and five stories on the nodes. On the north side of University, new buildings will require strict solar setbacks. The step down designs will reduce building capacities by 40 percent on the retail nodes and 25 percent elsewhere. 

Buildings on the south side of the street will sport a box-like shape, with a required 20-foot rear set back. Developers, though, will have the option of employing a six-foot setback, planting tall trees as a barrier to adjoining properties, and removing bulk from some of the building’s upper floors. 

To promote retail development, all mixed-use projects must include 30 percent of the ground floor for commercial uses. Only one quarter of the commercial space can go for office or other non retail uses. However, a developer can reduce the commercial requirement to 20 percent of the ground floor space with a permit from the Zoning Adjustment Board. 

At the urging of neighbors, the subcommittee struck from the plan proposed incentives for developers to add streetscape or retail improvements. Instead, for most projects, such amenities as sidewalk corners that bulb out and pedestrian scaled lighting will be required. 

Neighbors and commissioners said the subcommittee meetings, also attended by developers and architects, generated a much needed back and forth dialog. But Harvey, who attended several meetings, said they amounted to the commission’s capitulation to what he called “NIMBY” (not in my back yard) interests. 

“The subcommittee went through the NIMBY’s checklist, for lack of a better term, and implemented all of their suggestions,” Harvey said. “Now the only places we can develop are San Pablo Avenue and downtown.” 

Harvey said his biggest concern was the reduction in housing density. “We’ve lost a quarter of the buildings with the solar setback rules. All those units that would have been there to pay for the building aren’t there anymore,” he said. 

Current Planning Manager Mark Rhoades understood Harvey’s concerns, but said his top priority was implementing the strategic plan. 

“We’re hoping the standards aren’t so egregious that they stop affordable housing development,” he said. “We hope, but we’ll see.” 

Chris Hudson, a for profit developer who is building a project at the corner of University and Martin Luther King Jr. Way, said it was too early to declare all new development on University dead, but added that his company would find it much more difficult to make projects work. 

In all, the new zoning rules will cost the University Avenue corridor about 75 potential apartment units. Berkeley is prohibited under state law from reducing its housing capacity, but Rhoades said that new opportunity sites designated along the avenue would compensate for the capacity lost by reducing the building envelope. 

Some issues remain. Ellen Lasher of Lasher’s Electronics feared that the 30 percent requirement for commercial space wouldn’t be enough for retail shops like hers to thrive. Because most University Avenue lots are narrow—the average size of lots on the retail nodes is 5,500 square feet—she doubted new developments would include substantial retail and parking spaces. 

Part of the Planning Commission’s recommendation to the council will include a call for reviewing parking requirements. On University Avenue, the city requires two parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of commercial space and one parking space per 1,000 square feet of residential space.  

That’s not enough parking for shops to thrive, said Kristin Leimkuhler, of Plan Berkeley, which organized avenue neighbors during the zoning debates. She is calling for the city to study the idea of placing “pocket” lots along University to encourage more car commuters to frequent University Avenue shops. 

Leimkuhler is also concerned that the plan would not guarantee wide sidewalks on University and would offer more generous setbacks to neighbors living on the north side of University. 

Albany Shooting Ends in Berkeley Crash  

Albany police are looking for the shooter who injured a passing westbound motorist on Interstate 80 Wednesday as he drove through the city. 

The victim, shot once in the head, continued on into Berkeley, where he veered off onto the Gilman Street exit before crashing to a stop in the Golden Gate Fields parking lot. 

The injured man, a 19-year-old Richmond resident, was rushed to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he was under treatment in the Intensive Care Unit Thursday afternoon following surgery. 

Albany Police Lt. Mike McQuiston asked for the public’s help in locating the suspect’s car, “which is described as a white, late model American made vehicle, possibly a Buick Regal, with ‘spinner’ wheels, license plate unknown.” 

McQuiston asked anyone with information to call his department at 525-7300. 

Strongarm Robber Empties Till 

A strongarm robber used the threat of force to convince a clerk to empty the till at Cal Copy on Shattuck Avenue near Virginia Street, according to Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies. The bandit was described as a six-foot-tall African American male about 25 years old who was wearing a three-quarter length gray denim jacket and blue jeans.  

Hard-Hatted Weenie Wagger 

An irate citizen called police shortly after 3:30 p.m. Monday to report that a heavyset construction worker clad in jeans and a hard-hat apparently at work on a UC construction project on Berkeley Way near Shattuck had exposed his shortcomings. 

Gang Objects to Photo, Takes Camera 

After a Berkeley woman grabbed a snapshot of a dozen or so folks congregated at the corner of Sacramento Street and Ashby Avenue late Monday afternoon, one of the group expressed his objections by shoving the woman and stealing her camera. 

Traffic Stop Leads to Fracas, Arrest 

Berkeley police officers who made a routine traffic stop at 11:46 p.m. Monday got more than they bargained for when the driver jumped out of his car and fled on foot. 

Before the 27-year-old was handcuffed, he managed to inflict minor injuries on one of his pursuers. He was charged with battery on a peace officer and interfering with officers, then later booked on an outstanding arrest warrant. 

Dispute Leads to Firearm Display 

A dispute between two men at the Black and White Liquor Store at Adeline Street and Ashby Avenue early Tuesday came to an abrupt end after one of the pair produced a pistol.?

The systematic, targeted disenfranchisement of large numbers of African-American Florida voters by the administration of Gov. Jeb Bush in 2000 probably cost Al Gore the election, and cost both the nation and the world a great deal more. We learn, now, that Brother Bush appears to be up to it again in preparation for the 2004 presidential vote. 

To which I can only repeat the admonition of generations of black Southern grandmothers: “Mind what you stir up, boys.” To some of us, this is a bit more important than just this year’s presidential politics. 

One of the most treasured documents in my family’s possession is a letter from a California historical society. “Edward West Parker is listed in the 1872 Great Register of San Francisco County Voters as having registered to vote on Apr. 15, 1870, the very first day registration under the 15th amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” the letter reads. “He listed his occupation as a bootmaker; his birthplace as Virginia… He gave his age as 54 on the date of registration.” 

Edward Parker was my great-grandfather. 

The folks my great-grandfather left behind in Virginia and the rest of the South had to wait a bit longer to obtain their citizenship rights. The vote was extended to Southern blacks briefly following the Civil War, then was snatched away again in the bloody American terrorist campaigns of the 1870s and 1880s. Countless thousands of black citizens were jailed, murdered, or thrown off land or jobs for the simple “crime” of voting or seeking public office. Governor and U.S. Senator Ben Tillman—Pitchfork Ben—later publicly boasted that the former Confederates retook the state from blacks and white Republicans through “fraud and violence.” 

Think this is ancient history? United States Senator Strom Thurmond’s father, J. William Thurmond, actively participated in those anti-black terrorist campaigns of the 1870s and 1880s. One wonders what stories and lessons Senator Thurmond, the son, passed on to which willing listeners until his recent death. Trent Lott, still a United States senator, seemed to think Thurmond a national treasure, despite his long history of segregationist activity and anti-black rhetoric. 

In 1965, almost a hundred years after my great-grandfather registered to vote for the first time in San Francisco, civil rights demonstrations tried to march from Selma, Alabama to the state capitol in Montgomery to protest the continued denial of black voting rights in the Southern states. At the Edmund Pettus Bridge just outside of Selma, they were met by a phalanx of Dallas County Sheriff’s deputies mounted on horses. The deputies charged the line of non-violent marchers, beating left and right with their billy clubs. I know some of the people who were on that bridge that day. One of them—a good friend, John Battiste—later told me about a fellow marcher who ever afterwards cautioned civil rights workers, “Don’t ever let them hit you in the head. Whatever you do, don’t ever let them do that.” She did not have to explain why. 

The national furor over the Edmund Pettus beatings led to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and the enfranchisement of millions of Southern black voters. But the attacks on Southern black voting rights did not end. A year later, when black Alabamans tried to actually use that vote to put their choice of candidates into office in several Alabama counties, many were beaten and intimidated by terrorist night-riders. I worked as a poll watcher in Selma during that 1966 election, and got run from the polls by Sheriff Jim Clark, who led the Edmund Pettus attacks. No, for many of us, black disenfranchisement is not ancient history. It is living memory. 

The violence against black voters and officeholders began to wane in the late 1960s, but not the desire to limit the effect of African-American voting. I remember one trick, among many, during the 1970s in Charleston, South Carolina. They used the old hand-lever voting machines in those days, and every election, without fail, one of those mechanical devices would break down in one of the big black precincts in the city on the morning of election day. It was never the same precinct, and it was never for the same reason. But like clockwork, one of those voting machines would break down each election morning, while a hundred black voters or so would stand up in line, unable to vote, waiting for the repairmen who would take forever, the voters eventually leaving so they could get to work. How many black votes were lost by this procedure? Nobody knows. How many other such procedures continue in the Southern states, down to this day? We don’t know that, either. But we can be allowed to speculate. 

We do know that in the Florida Presidential elections of 2000, the administration of Gov. Jeb Bush used existing state law to purge convicted felons from the voting rolls, the “problem” being that the state “accidentally” purged many voters who didn’t happen to be convicted felons, and large numbers of those incorrectly and illegally purged Florida voters “happened” to be black. 

Under great pressure from civil rights organizations, the State of Florida promised that they would not repeat those mistakes in the upcoming 2004 elections. However, just this weekend, we learned that of the 48,000 Florida citizens on the felony purge list this year, only 61 were of Hispanic origin, an anomaly only possible if Florida Hispanics did not commit crimes at the same rate as other Floridians. The Florida Secretary of State called the situation an “unintentional and unforeseen discrepancy,” totally unrelated to the fact that Florida Hispanics were far more likely to vote for President George W. Bush than would be Florida African-Americans. After the Miami Herald reported that some 2,100 ex-felons were still on the purged list even though their civil rights had been restored by the state (“many of them black Democrats,” the Herald says), the Florida felon purge list was scrapped by the state. Local counties will now decide on their who can vote in November, and who cannot. Decide well, friends. 

Just like in the old civil rights days, groups of American citizens are going down to Florida, working to make sure that black Floridians keep their right to vote. For those of us who cannot make the journey, there are other options. If Florida shows—once again—that black voters are not fully welcome in their state, we might consider the option that maybe our consumer dollars should not be welcome, either. We should watch Florida carefully and, after November, tally up. 

I never met my great-grandfather, Edward West Parker. But I cannot imagine that he would disapprove of such a step.›

THIS WEEK 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Just this week I got turned on to the Berkeley Daily Planet’s “Berkeley This Week” page. It’s wonderful! I’ve been looking for such a thing for years. I’ve already been to four events I found in it: UN talk, butterfly habitat in Tilden, Iraq talk, and Green Party meeting. I’ll be going to an REI backpacking talk Wednesday. 

I would pay money to subscribe to such a list of events. I am very grateful you provide it and I’ll tell all my friends. 

Ron Schneider 

• 

SECTION 8 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was surprised to read in the Daily Planet this morning (“Seniors Rally for Low Income Housing,” July 13-15) that seniors wait only two years to get Section 8 housing in Berkeley. I am disabled and I have been languishing on the Section 8 waiting list in Berkeley since 1996. It would seem then that seniors have an unfair advantage when it comes to low income housing. 

If you look at the actual figures and read the local regulations you will find that greater than 55 percent of low income housing in Berkeley is set aside for seniors while those over 60 make up only 13 percent of our city’s population. Thus their “demands” regarding the property at 2517 Sacramento St. appear to be designed specifically to the exclusion of the remaining low income residents of Berkeley, i.e. the single parent families, the under-employed and those with physically disabilities. 

Finally, I do not understand how not building is more expensive than breaking ground and building. At best the site is costing only taxes and since Affordable Housing Associates is non-profit it is likely Berkeley has waived any tax requirements. 

I would ask the Daily Planet to look into these inequities before singing the woes of Berkeley’s well cared for senior population. 

Elizabeth Campos 

• 

WHINING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In your June 29-July 2 issue, you published a lengthy diatribe by Albert Sukoff, who for 40 years has been pursuing his real estate fortune in Berkeley while continuing to whine unhappily about the political leftism he encounters in this community. Sukoff parades all the old tired stereotypes about mindless activists and dogmatic do-gooders. In this he resembles the many other conservatives in the Bay Area who whine endlessly because life here is not more like life in Crawford, Texas.  

But Sukoff did distinguish himself in one respect. He said that “George Orwell allegedly posited that the problem with socialism is that it takes up too many weekday evenings.” Allegedly posited indeed. Orwell, the darling of both right and left anti-Communists, was not readily capable of such witticism. The good-natured jest that socialism took up too many evenings was made by none other than the great Oscar Wilde.  

All this goes to show that Sukoff doesn’t know his Georgie from his Oscar. 

Michael Parenti 

• 

WEST BERKELEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The plan for a housing project for the area around the West Berkeley train station is much more appropriate than many of the large scale projects planned in more residentially scaled areas of Berkeley however I’m really surprised to find that it that these plans were unveiled at the July 8 Project Area Commission meeting, since there is no mention of the project in the posted agenda for that meeting. In fact, it is only by taking a bus ride to downtown that I’m able to see an agenda for the PAC and no way to find out what was actually discussed unless I go to the Planning desk a few days before the next meeting or make an appointment to listen to the tapes. Until recently I was a member of the PAC and I’m still interested in participating in neighborhood discussions. It would be nice if there were some way to access the agenda online in time for some meaningful neighborhood dialogue. And it would be nice if the agenda could accurately note the items that are to be discussed. 

Rhiannon  

• 

RENT CONTROL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Over the last few weeks, Rent Control Board commissioners Anderson and Kavanagh have attempted to explain why means testing is inappropriate for purposes of rent control. I’m sorry, but I’m still trying to get it straight. 

First, Mr. Anderson wrote (Daily Planet, May 25) that means testing is an “Ashcroftesque invasion of privacy” despite the fact that numerous government programs (e.g. Medi-Cal, student financial aid, food stamps, etc.) require means testing. 

Then Mr. Kavanagh wrote (June 5) that to be equitable and logically consistent, “parallel or reciprocal” means testing processes for tenants and landlords is necessary. But he then goes on to state (without explanation) that such processes would be “counterproductive and legally untenable,” despite the fact that both landlords and tenants are subject to the same state and federal income tax laws, which are based on a process of means testing. 

Most recently, Mr. Kavanagh writes (June 25) that means testing is not appropriate for rent control because landlords are “private operators controlling a fixed supply of housing units.” Yet HUD, a federal agency, pays a portion of a tenant’s rent to private landlords if the tenant passes a means test and the landlord agrees to accept the federal subsidy. And don’t city zoning and building permit processes exert much more control over the supply of rental housing units in Berkeley than each individual landlord does? 

Mr. Kavanagh also categorized landlords as pubic utilities, whose rates are regulated. Yet even PG&E and the phone company (when it was Pac Bell) had rate subsidy programs that used means testing. I thought that public utilities were subject to rate regulation because there were so few utilities relative to the number of utility users (i.e. a monopolistic or oligopolist market). Is Mr. Kavanagh implying that the ownership of rental property is similarly concentrated? If so, I’d appreciate if he could provide the ratio of property owners to tenants in Berkeley. I’d be surprised if this ratio were smaller than the ratio of supermarkets to supermarket shoppers in Berkeley. Yet supermarkets aren’t regulated as public utilities. 

Finally, Mr. Kavanagh has cited twice that voters in “scores” of other cities in California have enacted and courts have upheld rent controls as a reason to maintain the status quo with respect to Berkeley’s rent controls. I’ve heard Republicans use a similar argument (“millions of voters in hundreds of cities nationwide voted for him, and the Supreme Court validated the election”) to support the “re-election” of the incumbent president. It seems to me that changes in both areas would be an improvement. 

Instead of spending millions annually on Berkeley’s rent control bureaucracy, why not impose a city tax on landlords whose net income exceeds a certain level that would raise about the same amount of money, and use it to supplement HUD’s means-test based rental subsidies in Berkeley? It seems to me this would produce a more equitable redistribution of income than current rent controls do. Tenants who don’t need rent relief wouldn’t get it, and landlords who couldn’t afford to charge lower rents wouldn’t have to. It might help the lowest income tenants more and may even help more lower income tenants that the city’s current rent controls do. We won’t know until someone collects and analyzes the data. But as this rent subsidy tax would be based on net income, it would encourage landlords to invest in maintaining and improving their rental properties, thereby increasing the city’s property tax base, reducing projected budget deficits or property tax rates, or permitting increases in the level of city services. 

So I’m still trying to get it straight. I look forward to further attempts to help me understand why means testing is inappropriate and undesirable public policy regarding rent controls in Berkeley. 

Keith Winnard 

• 

FIRE-SAFE CIGARETTES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In response to Becky O’Malley’s July 13 editorial (“California Should Adopt A Fire-Safe Cigarette Law Like New York State’s”): First off, what percentage of smokers actually start fires? Is it one tenth of one percent? Then tell Big Nanny Government to butt out! The solution to this general non-problem is very simple. Anyone who smokes, put out your cigarette before you go to sleep. Period. We don’t need to hold the manufacturers responsible for what individual consumer imbeciles do. This applies to guns and every other consumer item as well as tobacco. 

You don’t like tobacco? You don’t like abortions? Don’t smoke, and don’t have one. By the way, your editorial suggestion of banning smoking shows that you haven’t learned a thing from a century of a failed drug war or Prohibition in the 1920s. 

Frankly, only the Berkeley statist-collectivist mind could be this retarded. One final point, the only governmental control I ever see criticized in the Daily Planet is rent control. 

So the question is, how much rental property is owned by the editors and/or their many pwogwessive friends? 

Michael P. Hardesty 

Oakland 

• 

GRAY PANTHER PROTEST 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Marie Bowman clearly missed the point of the Gray Panther’s protest in her July 13 letter to the editor. The protest was not, as Bowman alleges, “to encourage the city to move ahead with construction” of Sacramento Senior Homes, but rather a protest against the lawsuit Commissioner Bowman, and the so-called Neighbors for Sensible Development, filed that has delayed the construction of 40 units of affordable housing for low-income seniors for more than two years. The city does not need encouragement “to move ahead with construction” of this project as it has already approved and funded it. What the city needs is for Bowman to stop holding the construction up in the courts. Bowman and her group are masquerading their fight against this development as a self-entitled “good faith environmental lawsuit,” but what they are really doing is abusing sound environmental law in an attempt to kill a project they simply do not want in their backyard. 

This is not the first time Ms. Bowman has employed such tactics to stop an affordable housing development from being constructed in her backyard. In 1999, Bowman and her group opposed a project for disabled residents located right next door to Sacramento Senior Homes. She organized neighbors, circulated petitions, and went so far as to write letters to the Department of Housing and Urban Development asking it to withdraw its funding of the project unless it contained commercial space. The project—Dwight Way Apartments, which provides 16 homes to low-income people with disabilities—was thankfully already under construction and attempts to stop the project were unsuccessful.  

Contrary to Bowman’s assertions in her letter, environmental review has been done on Sacramento Senior Homes by highly reputable environmental consultants who found “no hazardous materials,” and the city’s environmental review concluded the site was suitable for development. The Trial Court has already analyzed Bowman’s alleged environmental concerns and found the environmental review conducted by the city to be adequate. Further, although Bowman claims that the gas station is her main point of concern, this issue was not even raised when the lawsuit was initially filed, rather it was raised several months later. In other words, it is not really a concern, it is an attempt at smoke at mirrors.  

Ms. Bowman claims that the Gray Panther’s are being manipulated, but it is Ms. Bowman who is manipulating sound environmental legislation in an attempt to kill this project. The fact that this is the second project she has done this to in her neighborhood speaks volumes to the true intent behind such actions. If this lawsuit is not stopped, it could cost the city up to $1.2 million dollars in increased construction costs and legal fees. The Gray Panther’s were not manipulated, they were outraged over such waste and want it to stop. It is time to drop this lawsuit.  

Erica Williams 

Director of Operations 

Affordable Housing Associates 

• 

REBUTTAL TO THE REBUTTAL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I wish to counter some examples of questionable reasoning put forth by the Organizing Committee’s rebuttal (“Committee Responds to Criticism of Utility Undergrounding Project,” Daily Planet, July 13-15) to Erna Smith’s commentary (“District Would Raise Neighbors’ Property Taxes,” Daily Planet, July 9-12) regarding utility undergrounding. 

The first paragraph of the rebuttal commentary contains the sentence, “Above all we would like to emphasize the considerable amount of support this project has.” The word “has” should have been “had.” Once some potential participants learned of the astronomical increases in costs, they have had second thoughts. I heard at least one person announce a willingness to forfeit the previously paid $2,500 feasibility fee. One property owner I know was a staunch supporter initially but changed to strong opposition because of the enormous increase in costs. Additionally, this property owner resides at the end of the district with a continuing view of existing utility lines. Where is the benefit of paying $25,000, plus years of interest on a bond measure, to this owner? 

The second paragraph suggests Erna Smith believes that a “handful of neighbors” conceived the idea of utility undergrounding to be paid for by property owners. I believe Erna Smith was trying to say that a handful of neighbors had the “brainchild” to form an undergrounding district in compliance with existing law. 

The rebuttal commentary did not dwell on the fact that on June 1, the City Council voted to lower the percentage of 70/30 to 60/40 for affected property owner voter approval. Only members of the Organizing Committee knew of the proposal to change. The remaining property owners learned of the change when the ballots were mailed shortly after June 1. This change is deemed arbitrary and unfair by all opponents and some supporters. Proposition 218 stipulates that a simple majority is all that is required to pass. The City Council has the prerogative to establish a higher requirement, and this was done initially by the setting of 70/30. Some supporters of undergrounding, who approve of the change to 60/40, point to the 51 percent provision of Proposition 218, as if to say that the ends justify the means. 

If, as suggested in the rebuttal commentary, there is an overwhelming favorable majority, what was the need to reduce the percentage? 

The reference to Erna Smith as being a partner to one of the three property owners in opposition is either a non sequitur or a suggestion that Erna Smith was not the property owner of record, and, hence, has no formal standing. Erna Smith must have plenty to say when she meets her share of expenses in whatever manner she does so. 

I am the owner of record of property I share with another person, including expenses. Both of us will suffer a serious financial burden should this undergrounding go forward. This, however, is of no moment to the supporters, for some of them say I can sell and move or else, as one supporter suggested, “do the neighborly thing.” I truly do not like being asked which leg I want broken. 

Rosemary Green 

• 

WHAT BUDGET DEFICIT? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a Berkeley property owner I am fed up with hearing about Berkeley’s so-called budget deficit and the constant threat of cutting necessary emergency services every time the City of Berkeley needs more money.  

As bad as city officials claim the Budget Deficit to be, the mayor and the City Council still OK funding for things like YMCA Memberships for city employees, councilmembers and their assistants ($260,000) and outrageous give-aways like free on-street parking spaces at the Ashby BART Station for Berkeley’s Parking Enforcement Officers. Once again Berkeley is cutting edge. We are the only city in California that expects it’s property owners to pay for programs like these. 

In November when property owners are asked again to foot the bill for necessary services, let’s all remember just what services our tax dollars are paying for and who these services are really going to.  

Say no to any tax increases in November. 

Charles Moore 

• 

LET’S MOVE ON 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Gray Panthers and Raging Grannies want to thank you for your great coverage of our need to move on and build Section 8 homes for low-income seniors at 2715 Sacramento St.  

We are happy to learn that Commissioner Marie Bowman has said publicly that she and her group will not continue suing if they lose again in the courts. As residents of Berkeley, we are sad that their court actions have already cost the City $750,000 in precious housing funds. If they continue suing they would drive up the City of Berkeley’s legal costs to over $1 million. It would be so much better to use this money for senior housing! 

We want to say that we elders were not “manipulated” into action by anyone, as Ms. Bowman states in her column. Our members are thoughtful people who advocate for the poor and disenfranchised. The Gray Panthers have many members of advanced age who have no financial cushion to fall back on and who live in publicly funded housing. We often have people in dire need of decent, affordable housing coming into and calling our office for help, so we know first hand that there is a serious problem.  

Our organization has a history of advocating for affordable senior housing. Redwood Gardens is a Section 8 residence because of the advocacy of our Panthers, Gerda Miller and Irv Rothenberg. Our aim for this rally was to shed light on the continued needs of seniors for affordable housing, and the enormous waste of time and money that these court actions have caused. The delays and legal costs represent a tragic loss in so many ways. Our members are very well aware of what we are doing, and why. 

Gray Panthers are for planned development—higher density housing along the major traffic corridors, that is, multi-unit housing near good public transportation and shopping. Good public transportation and nearness to shopping will help us get rid of our need for cars. We look to the city of Ciribitu, Brazil for a model of good development. If anyone would like to see a video of this model city, please contact the Gray Panther office. 

Let’s move on and get these 40 units built. They are sorely needed! 

Margot Smith  

Gray Panthers of the East Bay 

• 

DIRTY, CONSERVATIVE SECRETS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I just attended a rally for the affordable housing for seniors project at Blake and Sacramento. Supported by the Gray Panthers, Councilmembers Worthington and Maio and the songs of the Raging Grannies, we protested the five-year-long legal obstruction of this fully-funded project by a small group of neighbors. 

The location is now an ugly vacant lot, next to the old Outback building. It would be an ideal place for low-income seniors, who would be the best of neighbors. A grocery and several restaurants are nearby. 

It sure needs minimal parking; residents could be car-free. The site is served by the No. 9 and No. 88 bus lines, both of which go to BART stations. The No. 9 goes to Alta Bates medical facilities. A little parking for visitors and deliveries is all that would be necessary. 

At the rally, one person spoke for numerous neighbors who do not oppose the project. 

I was particularly surprised to hear that the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA), which usually supports good things for Berkeley, has filed a court brief supporting the blocking of the project. How reactionary. 

When I travel and mention that I live in Berkeley, people have heard of how “liberal” we are here. I could tell them some dirty conservative secrets, like the blocking of this housing project. 

Steve Geller 

?

I am writing to express my deep concern and distress over your decision to cover a protest organized by Berkeley City Councilmember Linda Maio, a close friend of the “nonprofit” developer Ali Kashani. While Affordable Housing Associates is the real party of interest being sued, the City of Berkeley is also a party in this litigation. Linda Maio was completely out of order to try to influence the outcome of the pending lawsuit for a property in District 3 since she is the elected representative for District 1, is on the staff of one of the litigating parties, and has a conflict of interest because of her close personal relationship with Kashani, former executive director of Affordable Housing Associates.  

Staging such a protest a week before an appeals hearing is, in my opinion, highly unethical. Playing into this ruse by providing extensive and misleading coverage for the developer and the City of Berkeley displayed a lack of respect for the litigating parties and the legal process. The time to cover this lawsuit will be after the hearing. The way to cover it is to take the time to investigate the facts. Failure to conduct competent research with regard to this lawsuit, pandering to sensationalism, and scapegoating involved individuals do nothing to increase the quality of journalism and serve only to diminish the caliber of reporting to mouthpiece propaganda. 

This is not the only good faith environmental lawsuit against Affordable Housing Associates pending in Alameda County. These lawsuits are courageous and concerted efforts to prevent the further erosion of CEQA protections. These environmental laws were enacted to ensure the future livability and sustainability of the environment for the health and well being of all California residents. Among the issues being addressed is that of development policy with regard to affordable housing on brownfields—properties contaminated by former industrial or commercial use. Officials and lobbyists with vested interest in accelerated infill development have lobbied for, written, and managed to pass legislation that seriously diminishes many of the protections established by the Environmental Quality Act to safeguard our drinking water, air and soil. These recent laws amount to environmental racism and classism since they primarily affect poor populations living in the inner cities.  

Their neighborhoods become the objects of redevelopment. Redevelopment often includes the improper use of eminent domain to raze homes in low-income neighborhoods in order to make way for housing that greatly exceeds zoning densities. To accomplish this, cities issue variances on required open space, and building setbacks. They allow residential units to be constructed that are as small as 300 square feet (Outback units are 402 square feet). In these redevelopment zones, cumulative impacts of multiple high-density projects are not considered and the inhumane size of the units is also glossed over. Laws governing senior housing permit the smallest units of any type of low-income housing. The push for excessively high density housing, along with concentrations of multiple high-density projects, violate protections enacted by the Civil Rights Act to prevent inhumane living conditions caused by excessive human crowding.  

The value of former gas stations is permanently reduced in real value by at least 20 percent, particularly those registered with the State Water Quality Control Board as being leaking underground storage tank sites with no record of remediation. If at least 20 percent of a development is for those earning less than 60 percent of the median area income, new legislation makes environmental assessment and cleanup unnecessary because these sites are “exempt.” Affordable Housing Associates favors these for affordable housing development. The site at 2517 Sacramento St. is such a location. These are corner lots with two possible addresses. In order to hide the fact that these are former gas stations with a history of toxins leaching into the soil and groundwater (listed with the Water Quality Control Board as such), AHA will use the alternate address.  

In 1988, and in 1990, HUD revamped its Section 8 rules to make subsidized housing more attractive to property managers. This paved the way to the perfect scam: Develop housing at public expense and then guarantee income from that housing by making as many units as possible subsidized by Section 8 project-based vouchers. If the Outback Senior Housing is built with its 40 units, Ali Kashani stands to make a small fortune, whether or not the subsidized units are filled with tenants. Kashani managed to get the Berkeley Housing Authority to issue 39 project-based vouchers on a project with 40 residential units.  

Tenant based vouchers are most equitable and fair to tenants since the voucher is portable and travels with the tenant from residence to residence. A project-based voucher provides the developer/property manager with a permanent subsidy of 70 percent of the rent on each unit covered, even if those units remain empty. Project based vouchers effectively strip tenants of protections they enjoy with tenant based choice vouchers. If a tenant moves, tenants no longer have “affordable housing” since the voucher benefits the property owner, not the tenant.  

The changes in CEQA, the shift in HUD regulations favoring the developer’s pocketbook over the welfare of the served low income community, and the misleading information disseminated throughout the media on the issues surrounding affordable housing development bode ill for the future of environmental justice in the inner cities, humane residential conditions for low income populations, and foster the continued abuse of public monies by developers who are no better, and, in fact, are much more dangerous than other industries who prey on the poor through excessive check cashing fees, excessive interest and penalties common with predatory lending markets, and abusive day labor pools that prey on the vulnerability of the poor. 

The role of a free media is to provide truthful information on a wide range of subjects, including affordable housing development. It benefits no one to disseminate information that is inaccurate and misleading, regardless of how good it sounds or how politically in vogue it may be. The current discussion about affordable housing development and property management is highly deceptive and provides the ideal shroud behind which wealthy “nonprofit” developers, such as Affordable Housing Associates, can continue to amass their personal and corporate fortunes, undisturbed by the light of truth. 

.

The Israeli reaction to the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion regarding the legality of the Wall (or “Separation Barrier”) was as predictable as the verdict: absolute denial of both the saliency of the judgment itself and of the ICJ’s fundamental authority to even pronounce an opinion at all. The verdict was so damaging to Israel not because it fears UN sanctions—the U.S., for one, would never permit that—but because it directly challenges Israel’s PR line: that the problem is Palestinian terrorism and not its own increasingly brutal 37-year military occupation of Palestinian lands. For years Israel has presented itself as “the only democracy in the Middle East,” a small peaceful country fallen victim to an intractable Palestinian aggressor, a normal place, like Manhattan, smitten for no fathomable reason by terrorism. 

In one fell swoop the ICJ, and through it the international community, destroyed that carefully cultivated image. No, it declared in a loud and clear voice, you are not an innocent victim. You are a powerful country with overwhelming military force that is holding almost four million Palestinians in bondage with no regard whatsoever for their fundamental human rights. The wall you are building deep in the occupied West Bank constitutes a grave violation of international law, and you must be held accountable. It is not a security barrier as you would have us believe, but a political border concealing a massive land grab, effectively alienating thousands of farmers from their fields, imprisoning tens of thousands of Palestinians in walled enclaves. True, you have a right to security, but you also have a solemn obligation under the Fourth Geneva Convention to ensure the well-being of the civilian population under your control. The route of the wall is so invasive of Palestinian territory, so far from the 1967 border that constitutes your security line, so disproportionate in the balance between security for your people and repression of an entire Palestinian population that it simply cannot be justified in either security or legal terms. 

In particular, the ICJ ruling challenged Israel’s presentation of itself as innocent victim merely protecting itself. This has always been Israel’s most disingenuous way of avoiding accountability for its actions. For a victim has no responsibility, cannot be held accountable. Thus Israel is the world’s fourth largest nuclear power, yet still retains the image of the poor little kid in what former Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu used to call a “neighborhood of bullies.” Israel produces 10 percent of the world’s arms and is a main conduit for the arms its strategic ally, the United States, disseminates to malevolent regimes around the globe, yet it is the weak party, the victim, in its conflict with the Palestinians. Israel is an occupying power that has demolished 11,000 Palestinian homes since 1967, that has expropriated hundreds of thousands of acres of Palestinian land for its own settlements, has attacked densely populated civilian centers in cities such as Rafah, Ramallah, Jenin, Bethlehem, Nablus and Hebron with tanks, bombs, artillery, laser-guided missiles and snipers, yet evades accountability for state terrorism. Israel has an economy three times larger than Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon put together, but has created a situation where some 70 percent of the Palestinians live on less than two dollars a day, yet avoids its responsibility towards the innocent population it rules. 

One word characterizes the Israeli response to both Palestinian suffering and to attempts, such as those of the UN and the ICJ, to hold Israel accountable under international law: impunity. This is easy to understand. Almost coincident with the ICJ ruling, the United States Congress voted almost unanimously (407-12) to endorse the radical change in U.S. policy induced by Bush at Sharon’s behest. Henceforth Israel will not be required to withdraw from all the territories it conquered in 1967 nor from its major settlement blocs. Against the entire corpus of international law and with absolute impunity towards Palestinian human rights, the U.S. Congress effectively recognized a new apartheid situation of Israel over Palestine. 

One can say the same to both Israel and the U.S. when they complain of terrorism and a lack of security. It’s the occupation, stupid! Our only chance of bringing peace, justice, prosperity and progress to this battered world of ours is through a truly New World Order based on international law and human rights. Occupation and repression are the infrastructure of terror. This is the message of the ICJ, and we ignore it at our peril.  

›

A flea market by any other name—bazaar, swap meet, or yard sale—will always be the ultimate example of free, or free-wheeling, enterprise. Any and all can wander along the stalls and socialize, fondle the merchandise, eat and drink, listen to music, and even shop. 

The Berkeley Flea Market, held every weekend at the Ashby BART station, is special. It’s true, you can’t buy a camel there as in the Kashgar bazaar in central Asia, or a complete vintage gas pump like they offer at the swap meet in Guthrie, Oklahoma, but you can find an awesome variety of interesting objects sold by a marvelously diverse collection of vendors. Furthermore, the Berkeley flea market is a unique operation with a history rooted in Berkeley’s progressive movements of the ‘60s and ‘70s. 

Unlike a corporation operating for profit, the Berkeley Flea Market is run by Community Services United (CSU), a consortium of non-profit Berkeley organizations which receive quarterly payments out of the income generated by the flea market. The seven current member organizations each send a representative to the board of directors, which meets monthly to oversee and set policy for the market. The funds given to these organizations make it possible for them to carry out their programs in the community. 

The Berkeley Flea Market started back in 1975 when some 30 community service organizations formed CSU to pool their resources and provide support for each other. At the time they were operating with government money. Then, in 1978, with the passage of Proposition 13 and then Gov. Ronald Reagan’s drastic cuts in funding for social programs, CSU member organizations found themselves desperate for funds to carry on their work. The usual sorts of fund raising activities, benefit concerts and such, often ended up costing more than they brought in.  

The flea market was a brilliant idea in many ways. A few of the early activists who are still around recall the vision and its fulfillment in those early days.  

Louis Freedberg was there at the beginning. He became a reporter and is now on the editorial staff of the San Francisco Chronicle. “We thought this was a rather far-fetched scheme,” Freedberg said. He recalls how alien it was to try to come up with a profit-making business venture. “We weren’t capitalists. We were just the opposite, anti-capitalists at the time.” What they lacked in experience, they made up for in enthusiasm. “Most of the labor was volunteer,” Freedberg says. “It was a labor of love.” Freedberg’s job was collecting the garbage and taking it to the dump in what he fondly recalls as La Bomba Verde—the Green Bomb—a 1952 green Chevy truck. 

Making it work was “challenging,” according to Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson, who acted as manager for the first few years. The mechanics of the operation were complex, and organizers had to figure everything out from scratch. “We didn’t have any road map,” Carson recalls. It took some time before the market was able to turn a profit.  

There were bumpy periods. At one point BART tried to kick them out. There was a long court battle which finally granted the flea market the legal right to on ongoing lease. There followed a struggle between the CSU administration and an ad hoc vendors’ association. That, too, went through the courts, which ultimately granted CSU control of the market and dispersal of the funds to its member organizations. 

The principles that motivated the founding of the market still guide its operation. One of the ideas was to offer a space for individuals and organizations to have their garage sales in one location which would attract more customers. Groups and individuals who are selling what we now call “collectibles” are still given priority in assignment of their stalls. Priority is also given to artists and craftspeople selling their own creations. 

The market plays an important role in the community as a place for vendors and neighbors to gather and to socialize. Board president Lenora Moore explains that “it’s part of the community, people look forward to it, a lot of older people walk through the market. I don’t say they always spend money, but it gives them something to do on the weekend.”  

Art Polk, who has been selling records and other collectibles since the market first started, lives nearby, agrees. “It’s part of my community ... (it’s) a cultural center more than a flea market.”  

As an economic resource, the market has expanded beyond the community. Marty Lynch, now executive director of LifeLong Medical Care, was a representative to CSU in the early days. He recalls that “we realized that part of the benefit was really to support the underground economy of South Berkeley. A lot of people were living on the edge and this provided another venue to make a few bucks.”  

Today there are many vendors offering imported items. This gives an opportunity for immigrants and refugees from other countries to earn an income and at the same time offer hand-crafted imported goods to the shoppers at reasonable prices. There is jewelry from India, wood carvings from Africa and Indonesia, exotic clothing, and lots more.  

The roughly 248 stalls are fully rented out to about 150 vendors (many rent more than one stall) every non-raining Saturday and Sunday. The stall fees, which have gone from $5 to $20 over the last 25 years, are still a bargain. The income from the stall fees pays all the expenses—the BART lease, toilet rental, dumping fees, insurance, security, staff salaries and miscellaneous expenses, as well as the regular contributions to the member organizations. Market manager Errol Davis is pleased with the diversity of the people and the goods that are sold. He boasts “it’s the best flea market in the Bay Area.” And most people would agree with him. 

›

FRIDAY, JULY 16 

CHILDREN 

Tales and Yarns Storytime with a reading of “Sylverter and the Magic Pebble” by William Steig at Barnes and Noble at 10:30 a.m. 644-3635. 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “A Delicate Balance” by Edward Albee. Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck at Berryman, through Aug 14. Tickets are $10, available from 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Alameda Civic Light Opera “Fiddler on the Roof” directed by Jeff Teague. Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m. Sun. at 2 p.m. to July 25, at Kofman Auditorium, 2220 Central Ave., Alameda. Tickets are $23-$25 available from 864-2256. www.aclo.com 

Aurora Theatre “Betrayal,” by Harold Pinter, directed by Tom Ross, at 8 p.m. and runs through August 1. Tickets are $34-$36. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org  

Berkeley Opera “Bat Out of Hell,” a new adaptation of “Die Fledermaus” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, Tickets are $15-$40. 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

Berkeley Rep, “21 Dog Years: Doing Time @ Amazon.com” Sun. at 7:30 p.m. and Fri. and Sat. at 8:30 p.m. through July 24. Tickets are $25-$35. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Berkeley Rep “Master Class” with Rita Moreno at The Roda Theater. Runs through July 25. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

California Shakespeare Theater, “Henry IV” Tues.-Fri. at 7:30 p.m., Sat at 8 p.m., Sun. at 4 p.m. at the Bruns Memorial Amphitheater, through August 1. Tickets are $13-$32. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org 

Contra Costa Civic Theatre “My Fair Lady,” directed by Michael Manley, through Aug. 14, Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m., selected Sun. at 2 p.m. Contra Costa Civic Theatre, 951 Pomona Ave, El Cerrito. Tickets are $12-$20 available from 524-9132. www.ccct.org  

Woodminster Summer Musicals “Annie” at Woodminster Amphitheater in Joaquin Miller Park 3300 Joaquin Miller Rd., Oakland. July 9-11, 16-18, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $19-$31 available from 531-9597. www.woodminster.com 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Sacred Spaces,” an exhibition of installation works by Seyed Alavi, Taraneh Hemami, Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman, Rhoda London, and Rene Yung. Performance of “Take a Letter” at 7:30 p.m. Exhibition runs through August 7 at the Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut Street in Live Oak Park Gallery hours are Wed. - Sun. noon to 5 pm. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

FILM 

The Invention of the Western Film: “Forty Guns” at 7:30 p.m. and “3:10 to Yuma” at 9:20 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Old Oakland Outdoor Cinema on Washington St., between 9th and 10th Sts. Music at 5 p.m., and film, “Field of Dreams” at 8 p.m. Bring your own chairs and blankets. sponsored by the City of Oakland and the Old Oakland Historic District. 238-4734. www.filmoakland.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Flavia Bujor, a 15-year old writer from Romania, reads from her new novel “The Prophecy of the Stones” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Alexis Harte Band with Four Year Bender and Beggar’s Jamboree at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway, Oakland. Cost is $8. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org  

Christie McCarthy, acoustic benefit concert, at 7:30 p.m. at 5951 College Ave., College Ave. Presbyterian Church. Donation taken for community meal. 658-3665. www.christiemccarthy.com  

Due West, contemporary folk music, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

“Poemas y Canciones” La Peña Community Chorus sings songs from Neruda’s works at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $8-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Les Yeux Noirs, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenez. Lecture and demonstration on Jewish and Greek music with Prof. Martin Schwartz at 8 p.m. Cost is $15, $5 lecture only. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Most Chill Slack Mob, hip hop, at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $7, $5 with student i.d. 548-1159. www.shattuckdownlow.com 

The Dead Hensons, Poisin Jett Gunz, Unicorn Sticklers at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Will Bernard, guitar, with Ches Smith and Devin Hoff, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $8-$15 sliding scale. www.thejazz- 

house.com 

All Ages Show with Let’s Go Bowling, Mass Hysteria and The Ted Dancin’ Machine at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com  

Satoru Oda, tenor sax, with Vince Lateano Trio, at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Jake Wolf, solo electric bass, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

O-Maya, Afro-Cuban Hip-Hop at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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

Plan 9, The Reactionary 3, Ghost Mice, Pirx the Pilot at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Pete Escovedo and His Orchestra at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $15-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Lisa Fay, Val Esway, & Dandeline at the 1923 Teahouse at 9 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$15, no one turned away for lack of funds. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Green and Root at 8 p.m. at Changemakers Books, 6536 Telegraph. Cost is $10-$15. 655-2405. www.changemakersforwomen.com 

SATURDAY, JULY 17 

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., lower level. Sug- 

gested donation $3. Children under 3 free. 549-1564. 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

Rosalyne Blumenstein “Gender & Sexuality” Shed the Shame, See the Truth at 6:30 p.m. at Oakland Box Theater, 1928 Telegraph Ave. 633-0923. 

Henry Navarro, “Subjective Walls” contemporary Cuban artist, reception from 5 to 7 p.m. at La Peña. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Misha Ferguson and Adrien Miller, paintings, photos and sculptures. Reception for the artists from 2 to 5 p.m. at The Art of Living Center, 2905 Shattuck Ave. 848-3736. 

THEATER 

Shotgun Players “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” Sat. and Sun. at 4 p.m. in John Hinkel Park, Southampton Ave., until Aug 29. 841-6500. wwwshotgunplayers.org 

Woman’s Will “As You Like It” Shakespeare set in 1960s London, at 1 p.m. at Live Oak Park. 420-0813. www.womanswill.org 

FILM 

Bergman on a Summer Night: “Cries and Whispers” at 5 and 9 p.m., “Autumn Sonata” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

West Coast Live with author Jack Germond 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 

Roger Burbach and Jim Tarbell will discuss their new book, “Imperial Overstretch, George W. Bush and the Hubris of Empire” from 5 to 7 p.m. at Redwood Gardens, 2951 Derby St. www.globalalternatives.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Rafael Manriquez Canto al Poeta will sing songs with verses of Pablo Neruda at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $8-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Mofo Party Band plays West Coast Jump at 2 p.m. at Down Home Music, 10341 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. 525-2129. 

Palenque, Cuban Son, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Dance lesson with Wendy Ellen at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $12. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Michelle Amador, funky jazz influenced vocals, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donations of $8-$15 suggested.  

www.thejazzhouse.org 

Long Beach Short Bus, Lavish Green, Fed Up at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $20. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Meat Purveyors, The Boot Cuts, Pickin’ Trix at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

John Schott’s Typical Orchestra at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Oak, Ash & Thorn, a capella, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50 in advance, $18.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Bill Stewart, alto sax, at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

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

No Hope for the Kids, Death Token, Short Eyes at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Times 4, jazz and funk quartet, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Tim Barsky at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$10, no one turned away for lack of funds. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

SUNDAY, JULY 18 

CHILDREN 

Twirling Puppets of India, a drop-in workshop from 1 to 3 p.m. to make your own puppet, with storytelling at 2 p.m. at the Phoebe Hearst Museum of anthro- 

pology, Kroeber Hall, Bancroft Way at College Ave. Admission is $2. 643-7648. http://hearst 

museum.berkeley.edu 

Asheba at 3 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $6 for adults, $4 for children. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

THEATER 

Woman’s Will “As You Like It” Shakespeare set in 1960s London, at 1 p.m. at Live Oak Park. 420-0813.  

“Jane Austen in Berkeley: Episode Two, A Perfect World” by Andrea Mok at 7 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Free. 841-9441. 

FILM 

The Invention of the Western Film: “Thomas Ince and the Origins of the Western” at 5:30 p.m. and “Redskin” at 7:20 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Art, Memory and Survival,” John J. Neumaier, Ph.D. will discuss his personal involvement with the exhibition he co-produced with his daughter. A Holocaust survivor, Dr. Neumaier will address the life of his mother, Leonore Schwarz Neumaier, and his experience in Nazi Germany. At 2 p.m. at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St. Please RSVP to 549-6950. www.magnes.org 

Poetry Flash with Adelle Foley and Mary-Marcia Casoly at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Americana Unplugged: Jeannie & Chuck’s Country Roundup at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Flamenco with Yaelisa at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

A Tribute to Steve Lacy, featuring Steve Adams, Allan Chase, Ben Goldberg, Dan Plonsey and many others at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Admission is free, donations encouraged. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Montuno Groove and Omeyocan in a benefit for the Women’s Cancer Clinic at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

The Devil Makes Three, old-time and blue grass, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

David Michel-Ruddy at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

MONDAY, JULY 19 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Vermeer in Bosnia: A Reader” collects two decades of writing by Lawrence Weschler at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Bill Press, nationally syndicated columnist, explains “Bush Must Go: The Top Ten Reasons why George Bush Doesn’t Deserve a Second Term” at 7:30 p.m. at Northbrae Community Church. Sponsored by the Berkeley Democratic Club and Cody’s Books, this is a fundraiser for John Kerry. $15 donation suggested. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

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

MUSIC AND DANCE 

7th Annual Blues Revue Benefit at 7:30 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, JULY 20 

FILM 

“Taking Art to Your Community” premiere screening at 6:45 p.m. of Oakland poet and performer Mark States’s video “Oakland Crazy” followed by discussion of how artists can take their art into the community. Sponsored by the Oakland Public Library, Lakeview Branch Library, 550 El Embarcadero. 238-7344. www.oaklandlibrary.org 

Alternative Visions: “An Evening with Takahiko Iimura” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jonathan Ames and the McSweeney’s house band, One Ring Zero, introduce Ames’s new novel, “Wake Up, Sir!” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Austin Clarke reads from his new novel “the Polished Hoe” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Margaret Judge, El Cerrito resident, reads from her debut novel “Time and Time Again” about a young woman’s struggle to survive parental sex abuse. At 7 p.m. at El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave., El Cerrito. 526-7512.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tee Fee Swamp Boogie at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Dance lesson with Cheryl McBride at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jazz House Jam, hosted by Darrell Green and Geechy Taylor, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $5. www.thejazz- 

house.com 

Jesse Cook at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $12-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazzschool at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 21 

EXHIBTION OPENINGS 

“Figurations” opens at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

FILM 

Exploit-O-Scope: “The Maniacs Are Loose!” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

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

Chuck Klosterman talks about pop culture in “Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Wendy Knight, editor, introduces “Far From Home: Father-Daughter Travel Adventures” at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 843-3533. 

John Bassett McCleary discusses “The Hippie Dictionary: A Cultural Encyclopedia of the 1960s and 1970s” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik, featuring Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082 www.starryplough.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

D-Squared, Don Charles, guitar, banjo, mandola and Deb Gessner, harp, at 8 p.m. at Strings, 6320 San Pablo Ave, near Alcatraz. All ages welcome. $10 suggested donation. www.strings.org 

Atomic Cocktail, swing music at noon at Oakland City Center at the 12th St. BART. www.oaklandcitycenter.com 

Jules Broussard, Ned Boynton and Bing Nathan at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Bembaya Jazz, from Guinea, West Africa, at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

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

Savant Guard at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Uprite Dub Orchestra, Warsaw, Sputterdoll, Westbound Train at 8:45 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Rebeca Mauleón at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Thurs. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

ª

The Berkeley Opera’s production of Bat Out of Hell, David Scott Marley’s witty English adaptation of Johann Strauss, Jr.’s Die Fledermaus, opens today (Friday) at the Julia Morgan Theater. 

The original Fledermaus teased the middle class society of 19th century Vienna. Marley’s version, whose 1996 premiere was a great catch for the Berkeley Opera, transplants the scene to late 1990s Berkeley, in the midst of the dot-com boom. Marley rewrote much of the libretto while translating it, with a keen ear for snappy dialogue and adding many clever plot twists. The famous Fledermaus gala party scene is moved to a pretentious house in the Berkeley Hills, and Prince Orlovsky emerges as “Bill” Orlovsky, teenage software mogul. 

Artistic Director Jon-athan Khuner conducts and Ann Woodhead directs the production. Featured singers for Bat Out of Hell are Jillian Khuner as Ros Eisenstein, Shawnette Sulker as Adela, Sonia Gariaeff as Bill Orlovsky, Martin Lewis as Gabe Eisenstein, and Jason Sarten as Harry Falke. Richard Goodman and Wayne Wong alternate as Frank, and Ross Halper and Stephen Rumph alternate as Freddy. Ms. Frosch is played by Fé Bongolan and Mr. Blind is sung by Nicolas Aliaga.  

›

FRIDAY, JULY 16 

Duel of the 9/11 Documentaries with “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Painful Deceptions” at 8:45 p.m. at The Longhaul/ 

Infoshop, 3124 Shattuck Ave. Free, donations appreciated. 540-0751.  

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. 

Hayehwatha: A New Understanding of Peace on Earth at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento from 7 to 10 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 415-435-2255. www.HayehwathaInstitute.org  

SATURDAY, JULY 17 

Berkeley Alliance of Neighborhood Associations meets at 9:15 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Sproul Conference Room, 1st Floor, 2727 College Ave. www.berkeleycna.com 

Peach Tasting and Cooking Demonstration at 11 a.m. at the Saturday Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Center St. at MLK, Jr. Way. 548-3333.  

Designing with Ornamental Grasses with Mike Weston at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

Educators Academy Project Learning Tree A workshop for educators of grades K through 12 on forest ecology. From 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area. Fee is $45-51, registration required. 636-1684. 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of F.M “Borax” Smith Estate from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Meet at the redwood tree, corner of McKinley Ave. and Home Place East, one block off Park Boulevard. Tour is limited to 20 persons. Cost is $5 for OHA members, $10 for nonmembers. For reservations call 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Walking Tour of Oakland City Center Meet at 10 a.m. in front Oakland City Hall at Frank Ogawa Plaza. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

Eco-Makeover for Your Urban Home This one-day workshop will teach you how to conserve energy, water, and resources in ways you may never have considered, from the very simple to the more advanced. From 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Sponsored by California Youth Energy Services, Rising Sun Energy Center, Berkeley EcoHouse, and the Ecology Center. Cost is $20-$40 sliding scale. Registration required. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Bash Bush Bash A backyard fundraiser to benefit Democratic party organizing in swing states. From 4 to 7 p.m. at 2410 Eunice St., at corner of Euclid. Minimum donation $50, $25 students. RSVP to 415-377-3863. patrick_j_hill@yahoo.com 

“Revolution” a film of a talk by Bob Avakian at 1 p.m. the Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 848-1196. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Tasting from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Edith Stone Room of the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. If you are interested in competing, entry forms are available at the Library reference desk. Suggested donation is $5 per person, $7 per family. Funds will help buy childrens books for the Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps. 526-3720. 

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. 

Improv Workshop The Oakland Playhouse Improv Troupe is teaching an introduction to improv workshop from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby at MLK. Also on Sun. 595-5597. 

Vocal Jazz Workshop with Richard Kalman from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. followed by jam session, at the Albany Community Center. 1249 Marin Ave. 524-9283.  

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. 

Liberating Mother Mary workshop to learn what Mary says about herself in her famous apparitions in Mexico, Lourdes, Fatima, and Medjugorje. From noon to 4 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Donations requested. 707-874-3397. 

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

SUNDAY, JULY 18 

Out Front for Kerry! LGBT Community and Friends Gala featuring Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Singer/Songwriter Margie Adam, Clinton adviser David Mixner, Assemblyman Mark Leno and more. Reception from 2 to 4 p.m. at the DoubleTree Hotel at the Berkeley Marina, 200 Marina Blvd. Tickets $250; lower price option available to volunteers. For information call 644-0172. www.lgbt4kerry.com/july.htm. 

“Boot Bush in the Bushes” Cookout/Fundraiser in Roberts Park from 1 to 4 p.m. Sponsored by the Metropolitan Greater Oakland Democratic Club. In addition to the barbecue, there will be entertainment, kids activities, and encouragement by local Democratic leaders, plus special guest appearances by George Bush and John Kerry (or unreasonable facsimiles). Cost is $25 per person, children under 12 free. Roberts Park is north of Skyline Boulevard and Joaquin Miller Road. There is a $4 per car charge for parking. For more information 531-3077. 

“Independent Media in a TIme of War” a film featuring Amy Goodman at 3 p.m. at the Parkway Theatre, 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland. Free admission. Followed by Oakland Indy video producer Jay Finneburg with his own guerilla videos. Community discussion will follow film screening. 

Meet Jerry McNerney, Democratic Candidate for CD 11, Make your own sundaes, and sing-along with Laramie and Joy Crocker, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Redwood Gardens, 2951 Derby at Claremont. 

The Liquid of Life A workshop for youth and their families on water and water quality, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. 525-2233. 

“What You and I Must Do for Peace” a presentation by the Peace Committee of UUCB, at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Road, Kensington. 525-0302.  

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. Wheelchair accessible. Sponsored by the East Bay Labyrinth Project. 526-7377. 

Goat Fest Meet the goats that chew the Berkeley hillsides to help prevent fires. There will be music, goats to pet, and goat-related, hands-on activities. From 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Lawrence Hall of Science. 643-5961. www.lawrencehallofscience.org  

Campfire and Sing-A-Long at 5:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. Bring your hot dogs, buns, marshmallows, long sticks and dress for possible fog. We’ll walk uphill to the campfire circle. Call for disabled assistance. 525-2233. 

Bike Trip to Explore Historic Oakland on the third Sunday of the month through October. Tours leave the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Fallon Sts., at 10 a.m. for a leisurely 5-mile tour on flat land. Bring bike, helmet, water and snacks. Free, but reservations required. 238-3524. 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of Middle Elmhurst from 1 to 4 p.m. Meet at Arroyo Viejo Recreation Center, 7701 Krause Ave., at 77th St. Tour is limited to 20 persons. Cost is $5 for OHA members, $10 for nonmembers. For reservations call 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

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 

Introduction to TaKeTiNa Learn a new way understand music, rhythm and yourself, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Ashkenaz Back Dance Studio, 1217 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $35. To register call 650-493-8046. www.villageheartbeat.com  

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 

Tibetan Buddhism with Lama Palzang and Pema Gellek on “The Perfection of Patience” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

“Eckhart Tolle Talks on Video,” gatherings at 6:30 p.m. to hear the words of the author of “The Power of Now” at the Feldenkrais Ctr., 830 Bancroft Way. Donation $3. 526-9117. 

MONDAY, JULY 19 

The Coalition for a democratic Pacifica meeting with speakers from Pushing Limits Disability Collective at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Fellowship, corner of Cedar and Bonita.  

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. 

Iyengar Yoga on Mondays from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Cost is $12. 528-9909. 

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, JULY 20 

Berkeley Housing Authority Public Hearing on the Fiscal Year 2004 Agency Annual Plan at 6 p.m. at City Council Chambers, 2134 MLK, Jr. Way. 981-5470. 

Peach Tasting An opportunity to sample, for free, all at one table, the whole sumptuous range of peach varieties at the Saturday Berkeley Farmers’ Market. Plus a comprehensive sampling of other stone fruits that are in season: nectarines, plums, pluots, and apricots. From 2 to 7 p.m. at Derby St. at MLK, Jr. Way. 548-3333.  

Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club General Membership Meeting, 6 p.m. potluck, 7 p.m. meeting at Humanist Hall North Side of 27th St., between Telegraph and Broadway. 

Great Sierra Backpacking Destinations with Karen Najarian, at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

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 Spiral Gardens. 843-1307. 

“Healing Therapies for Pain and Energy” with Lori-Ann Gertonson, DC from noon to 2 p.m. at the Herrick Campus of Alta Bates Medical Center, 2001 Dwight Way. Free. 644-3273. 

“Jewish Ethics and Values” at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237, ext. 112. 

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 for information or check our web page, http://home.comcast.net/~teachme99/tildenwalkers 

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 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Lisa Peterson will present information on medical and home care services at 11 a.m. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

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. 415-336 8736. dan@redefeatbush.com 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 21 

“Both Sides of the Green Line: Peace for Israel/Palestine” with Jewish Voice for Peace co-director, Mitchell Plitnick, at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10-$20 sliding scale. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Interviews in the Canyons” a film of the Chiapas Support Committee delegation of 2003, at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St. in downtown Oakland. 654-9587. 

“Hijaking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear and the Selling of American Empire” a documentary, at 7 p.m. at Oaks Theater, 1875 Solano Ave. Suggested donation $10. www.spiritedaction.org 

“Fahrenheit 9/11” special screening for youth age 13 and up at 11:45 a.m. at the Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave. Oakland. 415-575-5551. 

Gray Panthers Wednesday Night Gathering to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the UN Conference on Women. At 7 p.m. at 1403 Addison St. 548-9696. 

“Death of a Shaman” a free showing of the documentary film by Fahm Saeyang and Richard Hall, at 6:30 p.m. followed by a community discussion at James Irvine Conference Center, East Bay Community Foundation, 353 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Downtown Oakland, at 12th St. BART. Sponsored by Appreciating Diversity Film Series, Piedmont League of Women Voters, and Diversityworks. 835-9227. www.diversityworks.org 

Twilight Tour “Off the Beaten Path” An extreme garden viewing, at 5:30 p.m. at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Registration required. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Chronic Back Pain, a roundtable discussion about the different methods of treating and preventing chronic back pain. From 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Rockridge Library. Beverages will be provided and you are welcome to bring your own lunch. This event is free.  

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday, rain or shine, at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes, sunscreen and a hat. 548-9840. 

Walking Tour of Historic Oakland Churches and Temples Meet at 10 a.m. at the front of the First Prebyterian Church at 2619 Broadway. Tour lasts 90 minutes. For reservations call 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/wallkingtours 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters meets the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7:15 a.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. For information call Robert Flammia 524-3765. 

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

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

THURSDAY, JULY 22 

Twilight Tour “Amazing Plants” A tour with a focus on the unusual and rare at 5:30 p.m. at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Registration required. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Berkeley Farmer’s Market with all organic produce at Elephant Pharmacy parking lot, 1607 Shattuck Ave., at Cedar from 3 to 7 p.m. Farm Fresh cooking demonstration with Laurel Miller at 5 p.m. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.org 

Tilden Tots A nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds each accompanied by an adult. We’ll capture and release butterflies, moths and other insects. From 10 to 11:30 a.m. in Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

ONGOING 

Berkeley Youth Alternative Boys Basketball Tournament will be held from July 21 through Aug. 8 at Emery High School in Emeryville. Divisions are 17 and under, 15 and under, and 12 and under. Entry fee is $200 per team with a three game guarantee. For more information call 845-9066. sports@byaonline.org 

Free Summer Lunch Programs are offered to youth age 18 and under at various sites in Berkeley, including James Kenny Rec. Center, Frances Albrier Center, Strawberry Creek, Longfellow School, MLK Youth Services Center, Rosa Parks School and Washington School, Mon. - Fri. 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. until Aug. 20. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley Health Dept. 981-5351. 

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  

CITY MEETINGS 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meets Mon. July 19, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Pam Wyche 644-6128 ext. 113. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/rent 

City Council meets Tues., July 20 at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers, Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Berkeley Housing Authority meets Tues., July 20, at 6:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/housingauthority 

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wed., July 21, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Katherine O’Connor, 981-6601. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/humane 

Commission on Labor meets Wed., July 21, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Delfina M. Geiken, 644-6085. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/labor 

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wed., July 21, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Marianne Graham, 981-5416. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/welfare 

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., July 22 at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/zoning¯

Some of Berkeley’s oldest residents came out in force Monday to rally on behalf of the city’s long-delayed affordable housing project. 

Construction has been postponed on the five-story, 40-unit Sacramento Senior Homes project at the former Outback clothing store at Sacramento and Blake streets pending the resolution of a lawsuit filed by opponents two years ago after the City Council first approved the project. 

Next Tuesday, a three judge Appeals Court panel will hear oral arguments on the appeal of a case that the city won in Alameda County Superior Court last year. 

The opponents, led by nearby resident Marie Bowman and six other plaintiffs, argue that the city approved the project without adequate parking and without a report detailing the environmental impact of the proposed development. 

Their charge is common among critics of Berkeley development projects, but their ability to stave off construction by sustaining a legal challenge in Superior Court and now in the Court of Appeals is rare. Bowman said she has been funded by “supporters,” but that she didn’t expect to mount a further appeal if she lost this round. 

About two dozen seniors and their supporters said they want Bowman to give up immediately. Led by the grey-haired a cappella outfit, the Raging Grannies, seniors argued the wait for construction to start at Sacramento Street was mirrored by their wait to get a slot in one of Berkeley’s ten senior homes. 

“This has been in the works for five years, but it keeps getting held up by a small group of people,” said Margot Smith of the Berkeley Gray Panthers. Although the political debate on the project has long ended, Smith defended the rally as a way to publicize the conflict and put pressure on the opponents. 

Councilmember Linda Maio, who organized the event, said it was necessary to highlight construction delays that have already added an extra $750,000 in carrying costs, construction costs, and legal fees to the project’s $10.5 million price tag. Since the project is being developed by the non-profit Affordable Housing Associates, most of the added costs will come from the city’s Housing Trust fund. 

“We could have used that money to finance a new housing project,” Maio said. 

Outgoing AHA Executive Director Ali Kashani said that, assuming the appeals panel rules in the city’s favor, he hopes to start construction in September. Should opponents win, or file an appeal with the California Supreme Court, however, Kashani said construction would be delayed until at least next spring, adding an additional $450,000 to the cost of the project. 

Jaye Scott, a 69-year-old former video store owner who pays $750 rent on a monthly fixed income of $930, said the shortage of affordable senior housing had made it tough for her to get by. 

“I’m barely making it,” she said. She has placed her name on waiting lists at some senior housing facilities but has been told the average wait for an available unit is two years. 

Berkeley has 642 units of affordable senior housing to accommodate just under 1,500 elderly low income renters, said Housing Director Steve Barton. 

Most of the city’s senior housing stock is financed through the federal Section 8 housing program, which requires that tenants pay 30 percent of their income towards their rent. Under the rules of a Section 8, when the buildings were constructed, the Section 8 vouchers and waiting lists are managed by the developer and not the Berkeley Housing Authority. 

The project on Sacramento Street is one of the first of a new type of Section 8 vouchers that are tied to the building, but managed by the Housing Authority. Barton said the Housing Authority already has about 200 Berkeley seniors on its waiting list for the proposed project. 

Bowman said that despite what she views as attempts to demonize her, she isn’t opposed to affordable senior housing, but to what she sees as the city’s refusal to follow it’s own rules for development. 

“The design doesn’t fit into the neighborhood,” she said.  

The proposal would cover 90 percent of the lot, more than double the normal coverage, she said. It would also stand 15 feet above the 35-foot height limit and the proposed 13-car parking lot necessitated a parking waiver, which Bowman said municipal code outlaws for Sacramento Street. 

Bowman maintained the concerns opponents raised required the developer to perform an Environmental Impact Report for the project, which the city has maintained is not needed. She further claims that the city has acted in bad faith throughout the process. 

When the Council first approved the project in 2002, Kashani and opponents were in the midst of mediation. 

Superior Court Judge Bonnie Sabraw invalidated the project’s use permit and forced the council to approve the project a second time. 

“As a resident if the city has a general plan you want it to administered it correctly so you have a sense of what to expect,” Bowman said. “We believe the city needs to comply with it municipal ordinance and state law.” 

.

Sixteen years ago former Berkeley City Manager Hal Cronkite wrote UC Berkeley officials that the city had “no known objections” to a pedestrian footbridge suspended over Hearst Avenue. Tonight (Tuesday, July 13)—three aborted attempts to win city approval and $600,000 later—the bridge that would connect both halves of the Foothill housing complex is finally coming before the City Council. 

But it’s coming with plenty of baggage. In May the Public Works Commission, charged with presenting a report to the council, voted 6-2 to oppose the plan, charging that the university failed to meet the city’s criteria for obtaining the needed encroachment waiver. 

UC Berkeley Planner David Mandel contends that the bridge is necessary to safeguard dorm residents from the hazardous pedestrian intersection at Hearst and Highland Street and open La Loma Dormitory on the north side of Hearst to wheelchair-using students. 

Even though the dorm has 16 wheelchair-accessible rooms, no wheelchair-using student has ever called La Loma home. The problem is accessibility and distance. Since the terrain around the complex is so steep, the only path to the mail boxes, commons, and dining hall on the other side of Hearst that is flat enough for a wheelchair takes students on a half-mile journey all the way to the Greek Theater and around the complex.  

UC wants the bridge so badly it has even indicated its willingness to meet city staff’s conditions that the university provide $200,000 towards infrastructure improvements around Hearst and give the city’s Public Works Department final say over the bridge’s design. 

But, as in years past, the bridge is running into a buzz saw of opposition from neighbors, who see it as the “Arc de Triomphe” of university encroachment onto the northside of campus. 

“I think the university wants this to brand Hearst for themselves,” said Jim Sharp, who lives a few blocks from the proposed bridge. “I can see them hanging a banner ‘Bear Territory’ across it.” 

In the 15 years Sharp has lived just north of the central campus, he has watched as the city sat by powerless to regulate a UC building boom that is heating up again this summer with the start of construction of the new Davis Hall North at Hearst and Le Roy Street. 

“It’s like the university is marching towards our doorstep,” he said. 

Only in the matter of the bridge, the city is in the driver’s seat. To build a bridge over the public right-of-way, UC needs an encroachment waiver from the city. Approval has not come easily. 

UC withdrew applications in 1992, 1997, and 2000 under heavy pressure from neighbors, design advocates, and even its own Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which feared the original bulkier, lower hanging designs would impede ladder trucks and collapse in an earthquake. 

Last year, UC revived the bridge with a new scaled-back design and a new rationale. To comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act, UC argued it has to make sure all of its dorms provide access to disabled students. 

If the city rejects the bridge this time around, Mandel said the university would scrap the project entirely. Originally budgeted at around $400,000 from a $65 million state bond measure, UC has already spent $600,000 on its rejected designs and would have to spend roughly another $600,000 to build the bridge. 

So far, official reaction to the new proposal has been mixed. The city’s Commission on Disabilities voted unanimously to support the project and the Planning Commission voiced its approval in a 5-3 vote, before the Public Works Commission weighed in on the other side. 

In a report to council, the Public Works Commission faulted the university for failing to study other solutions that would benefit all residents—such as a tunnel or leveling the crosswalk—and argued that the bridge failed to solve all disabled access issues, blocked the views of several homes and offices, and—in an era of university expansion—set a precedent for future encroachments. 

Patricia Dacey, a Public Works Commissioner, agreed with Sharp that the bridge was more about branding than disabled access. 

“If the university cared about disabled access they wouldn’t have built [the dorm] there or they would have made for easier access to get to central campus,” she said. “The bridge won’t do a damn thing to change that.” 

Public Works Commissioner Linda Perry, who sided with the university, said the majority had let their biases against UC obstruct the key issue. 

“This boils down to a matter of civil rights for the disabled community,” she said. “It’s hard to believe that people are so blinded by their anger towards the university they are willing to sacrifice disabled students.” 

As a compromise measure, Public Works Director Renee Cardinaux has proposed setting conditions that the university pay $200,000 towards an infrastructure project of the city’s choosing and give Cardinaux final approval over all technical issues and the design. 

Initially the university conceived an ornate Bay Region style structure, 18-feet off the pavement, complete with a slanted roof and wooden pillars that opponents complained would block many views and looked like it belonged in Disneyland. The new modified design proposes a steel and wood structure suspended 21 feet off the ground, measuring 11 feet tall, with a slightly arched green top and bottom.  

The design would minimize visual intrusions, but utility has not yielded beauty, critics say. The city’s Design Review Commission voted unanimously to oppose the design and the Landmarks Preservation Commission, though not opposing the bridge, which would obstruct the view of the original Phi Delta Theta house, a national landmark, requested the university redesign it. 

Cardinaux said the current design won’t suffice. “It has to be a piece of art or it shouldn’t be there,” he said. Although there’s little precedent for Public Works being the final arbiter of style, Cardinaux pointed to the I-80 pedestrian overpass, approved by the department, as an example that he is up to the task. 

The $200,000 mitigation money, he said, came in response to a request from the Public Works Commission that the city be compensated should it grant the waiver.  

Sharp, however, wants more money, and thinks initial payments should go to the roughly six property owners whose views will be impaired by the bridge. 

“They’re treating this like an inside deal,” said Sharp, who wants the university to make annual payments for use of the city’s airspace. “The city is trying to get something out of it, while the neighbors get a mess.” 

Opposition from neighbors like Sharp could impact the council’s vote. Councilmember Dona Spring, who uses a wheelchair, said she won’t be able to support the bridge proposal with the current design and without studying a possible tunnel. 

“We shouldn’t sacrifice aesthetics just to get $200,000,” she said.?

A San Mateo developer has presented city staff with plans for a 212-unit, five-story West Berkeley housing complex with ground floor commercial space, which would fill the entire block between University Avenue and Addison Street and between Third and Fourth streets. 

Of the two major retailers now on a lot largely devoted to parking—Celia’s, a popular Mexican restaurant at 2040 Fourth St. and Brennan’s at University and Fourth—only Brennan’s is included in the new plans, relocated to Fourth and Addison. 

“We’re working closely with Elizabeth Wade of Brennan’s,” said Dan Deibel, director of development for the Urban Housing Group, which is proposing the project. 

While Brennan’s holds a long-term lease, Celia’s rents from month to month, and their future is uncertain, Deibel said. 

Under the plans filed with the city, Brennan’s would remain in continuous operation, with the first phase of construction to include new facilities into which the restaurant could move before their premises are levelled to build the second phase. 

The project also encompasses the landmarked Berkeley train station, which would be restored with a part of the structure to serve as a station and the rest to house offices and a fitness center for project residents. 

Kava Massih, a noted Berkeley architectural firm, is designing the project for the San Mateo-based Urban Housing Group, headed by President/CEO Daniel E. Murphy. 

Urban Housing, in turn, is a subsidiary of Marcus & Millichap Company, a leading national real estate investment brokerage firm, headquartered in Palo Alto and with offices across the country. Corporate chair George M. Marcus serves as an advisor to the Haas Real Estate Group of UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. 

Deibel said Urban Housing specializes in transit-oriented urban infill development projects.  

“We have four projects currently in the pipeline, two in San Francisco, with one on Mission Bay and one adjacent, another near the South San Francisco BART station and the Berkeley project,” Deibel said. 

He added that his company’s projects “are a little different from the Patrick Kennedy Panoramic Interests project,” with individual units larger than Kennedy’s and “a couple of steps up.” 

Though the project is being designed as a condominium complex, initial plans call for the units to be rented out as market rate apartments in the short term, Deibel said. 

The property is now owned by Steven and Dale Block of Orinda and Overaa Ventures of Richmond, the latter headed by Gerald A. Overaa, who heads the Richmond-based C. Overaa & Co., a major construction firm. 

“We have a purchase contract for the property,” Deibel said, adding that the Overaa firm may have a future role in building the project. 

Architectural renderings submitted with the application are only preliminary, Deibel said. “There’s more work to do on design, and we have a strong desire to work with the Landmarks Preservation Commission and other community groups on design issues.” 

Deibel said he hopes for final city approval by spring or early summer of 2005, with construction to start soon afterwards. 

The first phase of construction would include 140 housing units, Brennan’s, a smaller commercial space and 182 parking spaces in a 125,446-square-foot building. 

The second phase includes 72 residential units, 6750-square-feet of commercial space, and 84 parking spaces in a 64,516 square feet of floor space. 

The final stage, the railroad station, adds an additional 10 parking spaces.  

Plans reserve 20 percent of the housing units for low-income residents. 

The proposal was unveiled to the West Berkeley Project Area Committee (PAC) last Thursday, though the project lies just outside the redevelopment area covered by the committee. 

PAC member John McBride said the committee is concerned about the project’s impact on bus and rail service in the area, and on bicycle traffic.  

“A lot of us felt that the esplanade along the railroad tracks would connect to the bikeway and Aquatic Park,” McBride said. “The bikeway is now planned to go up Addison and down Fourth Street,” which border the project. 

Deibel said he and his staff will devote considerable time to working with community groups to forge a consensus for the project. 

“We’re working closely with Iris Starr and the city on restoring the railroad station to functionality in conjunction the new West Berkeley transportation village,” Deibel added. 

One group with a strong interest in University Avenue projects—PlanBerkeley.org—hasn’t seen the proposal, said member Kristin Leimkuhler. 

“We need to look at the project before we can comment,” she said.

A proposed November ballot initiative billed as an antidote to Berkeley’s strict laws regulating the cultivation of medical cannabis plants would also allow cannabis clubs carte blanche to sprout along commercial corridors, according to a critical report released last week from City Manager Phil Kamlarz. 

Two other citizen-initiated measures heading for the November ballot also received hostile reviews from city staff. 

Berkeley could become the Bay Area’s “prostitution destination point,” Kamlarz wrote, should citizens pass a measure that among other things would make police enforcement of prostitution its lowest priority. A third measure to create a Berkeley Tree Board regulating public trees is of dubious legality and would cost the city up to $250,000 a year, according to a separate report from the city manager, contested by the ordinance’s author. 

None of the initiatives is expected to win approval from the City Council, which—if it doesn’t pass the initiatives outright—is required to place them on the November ballot for voters to determine their fate. 

Marijuana and prostitution are no strangers to the City Council. In previous sessions, the council rejected compromise proposals that didn’t go as far as the current initiatives. 

Last May the council tabled a proposal to raise the limit on marijuana plants a licensed patient is legally able to grow from 10 to 72, the same number permitted in Oakland. 

In response, cannabis advocates have produced the Patient Access to Medical Cannabis Act of 2004. The measure abolishes limits on plants, requires the city to provide medical cannabis to patients if federal authorities crack down on dispensaries, gives legal standing to a peer review committee to oversee the clubs and—perhaps most significantly—gives cannabis clubs by-right use permits in commercial zones. 

Zoning rules in Berkeley for cannabis clubs have been murky ever since California voters passed the Compassionate Use Act of 1996. The city’s three established marijuana distributors and any new clubs are labeled as miscellaneous retail establishments and require an administrative use permit that can be appealed to the Zoning Adjustment Board. 

Earlier this year, the city’s oldest dispensary, The Cannabis Buyers Cooperative (CBCB), ran afoul the city’s Planning Department and South Berkeley neighbors when it sought to move its operations from Shattuck Avenue to a blighted section of Sacramento Street near Ashby Avenue. 

The city revoked CBCB’s administrative use permit on Sacramento Street, costing the operation about $10,000, according to cooperative member James Blair. The CBCB opted not to appeal its case to the Zoning Adjustment Board, but after witnessing the council reject previous zoning suggestions from cannabis activists since 1996, the organization is counting on the measure to make its next move less of a hassle. 

“Eight years is a long time for the City Council to do nothing,” Blair said. “It’s their own fault. If they have something better, I suggest they put it forward quickly.” 

The concern over zoning is so acute that Councilmember Dona Spring, traditionally the staunchest supporter of liberal medical cannabis laws, opposes the initiative. 

Also, with Oakland having recently passed a law limiting the number of pot clubs, Councilmember Linda Maio has expressed concern that Berkeley could face a parade of Oakland clubs setting up shop in Berkeley. 

Don Duncan, director of the Berkeley Patient’s Group, counters that the peer review committee legitimized by the measure would keep clubs in check. 

“The city assumes a certain degree of ill will from dispensary operators, but that’s not the case,” he said. The committee would never have allowed the CBCB to relocate to Sacramento Street, he said. “No one thought it was a good idea except for a couple of people at that dispensary.” 

City staff also offered dire warnings on a proposed prostitution initiative. The measure, authored by the Berkeley-based Sex Workers Outreach Program, would require the council to lobby Sacramento to decriminalize prostitution and make the world’s oldest profession the lowest priority for Berkeley police.  

Kamlarz argued that local decriminalization would result in an influx of prostitutes and johns, higher levels of robberies, sexual assaults, thefts, batteries/assaults, noise and disturbing the peace calls in South and West Berkeley. 

Although the report argued the initiative could limit police enforcement activities, Berkeley Police spokesperson Joe Okies said the department would continue to operate stings in areas that receive complaints about prostitution. He said the BPD has received approximately 275 complaints this year and has made 48 arrests of prostitutes and johns. 

When it comes to saving the city’s 40,200 public trees, the staff said a proposed tree ordinance would cross cut city laws. With the city failing to stop the destruction of numerous trees in the downtown several years ago and with more trees slated for removal in the near future in the Berkeley Marina, local environmentalist Elliot Cohen decided to take the long battle for a city tree ordinance to the people. 

Dubbed the Public Tree Act of 2004, Cohen’s proposal creates a new board to encourage the planting of healthy trees and regulate changes to trees on public land. Anyone who wanted to work on a public tree would have to get a license from the tree board, and any development that might affect a public tree would require a “tree impact report.” 

But according to the city attorney’s office, the proposed ordinance would interfere with the council’s authority over city property, forcing it to get tree board permission to remove public trees. Also, by specifying that the Tree Board receive two staff members and mandate a specified number of trees be planted annually, the ordinance would interfere with the city manager’s charter authority to administer city departments and personnel. 

Kamlarz estimated the cost of the proposed new Tree Board would run to $250,000. To provide staffing, he said, the city would have to transfer two Parks and Recreation Department employees. If those employees came from the Forestry Division, the result would be 20 percent less maintenance work performed on public trees, the city manager wrote. 

Cohen, however, argued that city staff had misread his initiative and were inflating the cost as part of a campaign of scare tactics.  

He said his proposal capped staffing at two full-time employees ($200,000) but under normal circumstances the Tree Board would only require about one quarter to one-half time for one staff member. He also said the board shouldn’t require $50,000 in administrative overhead costs, as the city projected, since the initiative calls only for using existing city resources. 

“There’s no reason why something that already exists should cost $50,000,” he said.ô

Five years in the making, the proposed Arts and Culture Plan arrives at the City Council tonight (Tuesday, July 13), with members of the Civic Arts Commission (CAC) presenting their work at the 5 p.m. council working session. 

But some artists aren’t entirely happy with the effort, and—supported by at least one councilmember and arts commissioner—they plan to let the council know.  

The plan, which includes guidelines for the dispersal of grants from the city’s General Fund and from the Public Art Fund—a 1.5 percent levy on capital improvement projects—comes at a crucial time for the Berkeley arts community, said CAC Chair David Snippen. 

“The California Arts Council grants have all but disappeared,” Snippen said. “They’ve been cut back by 95 percent.” Berkeley artists received a half-million dollars in grants in fiscal year 2002-2003, “and now it’s practically zero. We’re trying to augment public funds through private foundations and grants,” he said. 

In an analysis of the plan prepared for the council, city Acting Manager of Economic Development Thomas A. Myers said the proposed city budget for the new fiscal year includes $212,139 in arts grants from the general fund. Also included is $78,502 for the public art fund, in addition to the $500,012 already in the Public Art Fund. 

Creation of the arts plan was mandated by city General Plan Policy ED-11, and the city took the first step in formulating the plan in 1999 when they hired ArtsMarket, a Montana-based consulting firm, to survey the city arts community and its needs. 

Armed with the report, the CAC conducted more than 35 meetings to gather input, culminating in a final session in April. 

Others are less satisfied, including Bob Brockl of the Nexus Collective and Gallery, who would like to see more specific findings and recommendations—including the creation of a new city arts district in West Berkeley.  

“If you look at the city in terms of existing work spaces and studios for artists, you’ll find a lot of them in here,” Brockl said, “and a number of them are in danger” from rising rents and other developmental pressures. 

Brockl’s own collective is housed in a vintage brick structure in need of earthquake retrofitting and in danger of demolition to make room for a new animal shelter. 

Also endangered, Brockl said, is the Potters’ Studio. “It’s an uphill battle to protect the existing arts community, and we think the plan should be more specific.” 

Brockl said City Councilmember Kriss Worthington and Arts Commissioner Bonnie Hughes have been urging artists and other organizations to turn out for Tuesday’s work session. 

The 36-page commission plan to be presented to the council tonight encompasses policies formulated around six major objectives: 

• Enhance Berkeley as a community and place of culture and the arts in all areas and distinct neighborhoods. 

• Promote artistic and cultural engagement and public awareness of the arts, including quality youth programming and education in the arts. 

• Support arts in education in all city schools. 

• Enhance and support diversity of participants and public awareness in the arts and promote city-wide incorporation of arts and culture. 

• Assure consistent, adequate and ongoing funding for arts activities and programs. 

• Ensure access to programs and facilities for all ages, ethnicities and physical abilities. 

Among the specific proposals raised are the creation of a community art center; provision of affordable housing, workspace and performance venues; support for existing city arts districts and the addition of more such spaces; creation of an arts and cultural marketing program with the Berkeley Convention and Visitors Bureau; promotion of cultural tourism; creation of mentorship opportunities; and support for an arts in education program in all city schools. 

The plan also calls for providing greater youth attendance at performances and cultural activities in cooperation with public schools; increasing integration of culture and arts in city economic development policies; creation of a fund for the arts using both public and private sources; and increasing general fund arts and culture support to at least $25 per capita annually. 

Besides calling for transit access to performance and cultural venues, the plan calls for providing ample parking—a somewhat thorny issue, considering the recent reduction of parking opportunities in the downtown area. 

“We’re pretty satisfied with the plan,” Snippen said, “and we’ve had good reviews from arts and various committees. The plan is essentially a guide for future policy decisions. Those aspects that require land use changes and have financial impacts will have to be presented separately with suggestions and recommendations as to potential revenue sources.” 

Arts commissioners will submit an annual plan with specific policies, along with their implications and budget recommendations, Snippen said. 

“Land use policies to support live/work spaces and performance spaces will need to be examined by the Housing Advisory Commission, the Zoning Adjustment Board and the Planning Commission and other bodies. We can only recommend changes,” Snippen added.

Berkeley’s primary provider of job training and placement for homeless residents shut its doors without warning last week after a federal review determined the nonprofit owed the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) $1.2 million in back payments. 

The future of the Jobs Consortium—which has served between 700 and 800 Oakland and Berkeley residents per year since 1988—remains uncertain as city, county and HUD officials discuss a possible bailout. The Berkeley City Council is expected to consider an emergency funding plan for the nonprofit at its July 20 meeting. 

Claude Everett, the senior assistant manager at the Job Consortium’s Berkeley center, said the organization’s roughly 50 employees at its three locations have been given time off while it searches for a solution to its monetary woes. 

Should the Jobs Consortium fold, Cisco De Vries, an aide to Mayor Tom Bates, said Berkeley would be losing one of its most vital services. 

“It would be a massive hole in our funding for providing job services for homeless people,” De Vries said. 

Through its federal grant, the Jobs Consortium leveraged $1 million to train Berkeley homeless residents in a job trade, prepare resumes, and help find them stable jobs. Berkeley has given the nonprofit in the neighborhood of $19,000 a year. De Vries said the city was prepared to fund the program this year from its Mental Health Department budget. 

To pay for services, the Jobs Consortium relied on a $2.2 million grant from HUD, of which $1 million was earmarked for Berkeley. But to qualify for the HUD money, it had to raise 20 percent of the grant ($550,000) from local sources. 

Unable to garner enough money from city, county and private donations, the nonprofit counted job training services it received from local unions and assigned it a monetary value to make up the difference.  

For years, HUD accepted such in-kind services towards its grant match, but in 2000 the department changed its rules. The upshot, said Councilmember Dona Spring, is that for the past three years the Jobs Consortium has been short about $350,000 and HUD wants its money back. 

Recently, HUD has become increasingly stringent about holding nonprofits to its changing guidelines. Last year, the department dinged Berkeley-based Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency (BOSS) approximately $600,000 for filing reimbursement requests for services HUD determined no longer qualified for federal aid. 

It’s believed that the Jobs Consortium, with a smaller operation than BOSS and twice the debt to HUD, will require a more vigorous bailout. 

HUD spokesman Larry Bush said HUD was “open to taking steps to make sure services are continued. How that happens remains to be seen.” 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington is counting on quick delivery of $1.5 million he said Oakland plans to pay the Jobs Consortium as part of the closure of the Oakland Naval Yard. Worthington hopes that government officials can convince bankers to advance the money to the nonprofit so it can pay its debt and meet its match for this year.  

Another hearing on Berkeley’s creek ordinance—directly affecting more than 2,000 homeowners—comes before the City Council this evening (Tuesday, July 13) during its 5 p.m. working session. 

The 1989 city statute, one of the nation’s first, has resulted in tensions between developers, residents, and groups calling for restoration and “daylighting” of the city’s creeks—many now shunted through underground culverts. 

City Planning Director Dan Marks is asking the city to give his staff direction for a workshop on the ordinance, with the aim of revising the statute. 

The current ordinance bars development within 30 feet of the centerline of Berkeley creeks.  

—Richard Brenneman

A series of violent attacks against Hmong leaders in Minnesota is drawing out of cultural and political isolation insular Hmong communities across America.  

Several arson attacks against Hmong homes and businesses and a drive-by shooting rocked the tight-knit Minnesota Hmong community in April. A Hmong police officer was arrested on May 10 in connection with the drive-by (no one was injured in the incident). Members of Lao Veterans, a St. Paul-based nonprofit run by and for former Hmong soldiers from Laos, believe the violence was triggered by the dispute over granting Normal Trade Relations (NTR) to Laos. Other Hmong leaders, such as Minnesota State Senator Mee Moua, are reluctant to make that link.  

Whatever the motivation for the crimes, Hmong leaders agree that creating dialogue between their communities and U.S. authorities can help prevent violence in the future. Moua says that even if the Hmong remain a subgroup, “we need to live very transparently and become part of America.”  

Bo Thao, executive director of Hmong National Development and a neutralist on the NTR issue, says she hopes this “isn’t the result of one group working to silence another.”  

A majority of Hmong does not know about or take a position on the NTR debate. But among those who follow the issue there are two sharply divided groups, according to SuabHmong Radio Host Victor Vaj of Milwaukee.  

Granting NTR to Laos would introduce handicraft products such as clothing, wicker baskets, and food to the United States and create jobs in Laos, according to Edward Gresser, an international trade researcher with the Progressive Policy Institute.  

But for Hmong in America, the debate has reopened longstanding emotional wounds. Opponents of NTR allege that human rights abuses will continue against family members in Laos if trade is normalized.  

“This is a passionate issue,” says Thao, who has not taken an official stand on the trade-status debate. “We have loved ones overseas, and this is our link to the past.”  

Hmong are a minority ethnic group that emigrated from Laos after the 1970s. During the Vietnam War, they were recruited and trained by the CIA to fight North Vietnamese and Lao-Communist forces. After the Communist party took over in Laos, a government-sponsored ethnic cleansing campaign drove Hmong out of their homes.  

Many came to the United States as refugees, leaving family behind in Laos. There are approximately 300,000 Hmong living in the United States today. Approximately 70,000 live in California, with a large concentration in the agricultural region around Fresno. A group of 15,000 more is set to resettle in America from a refugee camp in Thailand.  

Zong Khang Yang, who calls himself the “strongest opponent of NTR in the Twin Cities,” believes that granting normalized trade status would sanction continued human rights violations against Hmong in Laos. He is organizing a two-month long march from St. Paul, Minn., to Washington, D.C., to present the case that Hmong are still being persecuted. He says he will not “support the Communist Government in killing (his) people.”  

Gresser, who is not involved in the Hmong debate, says that although few Americans were in Laos to witness alleged human rights violations, “denying NTR to Laos would not reflect the reality that war is over.”  

Nara Sihavong, a member of a national coalition in support of granting trade status to Laos, says that what happens in the Hmong community has nothing to do with NTR. “It is internal struggles (over leadership),” he says. “What happens in that community stays there.”  

The Hmong community in America has historically maintained a tradition of clan leadership in which disputes are resolved internally. But that community is now working with cultural outsiders, including police. Hmong leaders say the level of violence is unprecedented. “We cannot fix this alone,” says Ying Vang, executive director of Lao Family Community of St. Paul, a nonprofit organization that was set on fire April 20.  

Bee Lor, who hosts a Hmong-language radio news program in Fresno, Calif., says that Hmong need to stop looking at their community as “us versus them.” Continuing internal divides will only “make Americans mock us,” Lor says.  

To uncover the motivations behind the attacks and find the perpetrators, the FBI and the St. Paul Police department are studying the history of an immigrant group little known to many Americans. “It’s difficult,” says Paul Schnell, a spokesman for the St. Paul Police Department. “I am learning as I go.”  

Police say that they are placing Hmong officers on the case to try and break down some of the cultural barriers. But with the arrest of Officer Tou Cha, Bee Lor of Fresno fears that a bad image of the Hmong people has already been created.  

Hmong leaders say the co-operation with authorities is encouraging, but not without risks. “It’s up to investigators to put effort into this,” Vang says. “But if they start to blame just one faction, it might create more (internal) tensions.”  

Pha Lo, 22, traveled to Asia in 2003 to research Hmong refugees.

NAIROBI, Kenya—From her studio on the 20th floor of an office building in downtown Nairobi, 25-year-old radio disc jockey Eve D’Souza has a good perspective on the tastes of young Kenyans. As she spins CDs for the evening show “Hits Not Homework” on Nairobi’s Capital FM, D’Souza juggles the phones and keeps an eye on the dozens of instant messages on her computer screen from her young listeners.  

From the requests, it is clear that young Kenyans have wholeheartedly embraced American pop culture. Among the hundreds of messages D’Souza receives nightly is a call from Larry in Baru, who requests a track from Naz. Joey in Nairobi writes, “I’d luv any tight trick by Dead Prez going out to my cuz Willy wherever he at.” 

D’Souza says that until a few years ago, her show was filled exclusively with Tupac, Dr. Dre, and other U.S. artists. But Kenya’s music scene has exploded in recent years. These days, D’Souza’s Top 10 countdown includes tracks from Nameless, Prezzo, Necessary Noize, and others from a growing list of homegrown talent.  

D’Souza welcomes the change.  

“We’re finally becoming serious about local music, and being proud of being Kenyan,” she says. 

DJ Adrian, a Nairobi native and a fixture on the city’s club scene, agrees that the last three years have seen a major shift in the tastes of young Kenyans. “You can’t do a party any more without local music,” he says.  

The surge in popularity of Kenyan musicians and the new visibility of youth culture can be linked directly to the recent liberalization of the media scene, which for decades was under the strict control of the government.  

For most of Kenya’s 41-year history, Daniel arap Moi, a giant of African politics, ruled as a virtual dictator. Although Moi was applauded by many as a stabilizing presence in the often-volatile region, his regime was riddled with corruption, and his critics were often arrested and tortured. Many others simply disappeared.  

The news and entertainment media were similarly restricted during Moi’s rule. Through the 1970s and ‘80s, Kenyans had only one choice on the radio, the government-controlled Kenyan Broadcasting Company, which broadcast religious programming and pro-government news. Young voices rarely made the airwaves. Ken Obura, a 23-year-old college student from Nairobi, recalls as a child, “It was all politics, always the same old characters.”  

Moi began to loosen the reins in his final years in office. A few new stations appeared, although political criticism remained risky. But the real change began with the 2002 election of current Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, who appears to be fulfilling his campaign promise to liberalize the media.  

Today, Kenya radio is experiencing a boom. Government officials say Nairobi now has 24 licensed FM operators, most of them less than four years old. Many are eager to capture the attention of young people, and not just through music.  

Among the reggae and Kenyan rap tracks, many of which are sung in the Swahili/English slang known as “sheng,” are frank discussions on topics such as interracial relationships, inequalities among Kenya’s many cultural groups, and AIDS. 

Not all topics are open for discussion, however. 

“There is no mention of lesbianism and homosexuality,” says Luiza Safari, 20, an anthropology student from Mombasa. “People think these things are not happening, but they are, so they should talk about it.”  

And despite Kibaki’s promise to support a free press, government interference remains a threat. In March, after a DJ at a Nairobi radio station mocked a government minister on air, the station’s signal was temporarily blocked by a rival station. Although it was never officially acknowledged, many in Nairobi say the action happened under orders from Kenya’s first lady, Lucy Kibaki.  

Several magazines for young Kenyans, many of whom are raised in conservative Christian and Muslim households, have appeared in recent years and are pushing the limits of customary propriety. The latest entry is The Entertainer, which focuses on East African hip-hop music. Among the magazine’s offerings of celebrity gossip and CD reviews are articles extolling the virtues of late-night clubbing and thong underwear. 

“Sure, some people are disgusted,” says Entertainer Editor Joseph Ngunjiri. “But the culture is here, you can’t just wish it away,”  

Change is also being felt in the offices of the independent student magazine The Comrade at Nairobi University, which was frequently shut down during the Moi regime. Editor Kennedy Mbara, 25, says students overwhelmingly supported President Kibaki’s campaign because he promised to support a free press and create jobs for young Kenyans. “When the regime changed, everyone here was happy, everyone was hopeful,” Mbara says.  

However, Mbara says he is troubled by Kibaki’s recent refusal to sign the new constitution, which would decentralize presidential power, as well as recent warnings from the government-controlled administration that the magazine’s involvement in student protests will not be tolerated. “So far they have not banned us, but we can only pray,” he says.  

But despite the threat of a reversal of recent gains, Mbara says that young Kenyans’ willingness to speak out is here to stay. “One thing about our students, we will always talk,” he says.  

Andrew Strickler is a freelance journalist and a student at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.›

To hear Democratic strategists and political commentators tell it, the selection of John Edwards as John Kerry’s running mate heralds the dawn of a new Democratic day in the South, with the Carolinas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Virginia suddenly in play this November.  

After all, as the Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne, Jr. points out, since 1960 the three Democratic tickets that didn’t feature at least one Southerner all lost, while the five that included a son of the South all won. By that logic, Edwards is the perfect pick: He was born in South Carolina, lives in North Carolina, and has a drawl as thick as molasses.  

Yet Edwards won’t help Kerry win one Southern state—although he will help Kerry win the presidency.  

The brilliance of the Edwards selection is not that he will enable Kerry to win states in the South (short of a landslide, they are still completely out of reach), but that he will help Kerry remain competitive in “Southern” areas of non-Southern states. While huge turnouts in Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Milwaukee are critical, Kerry can’t win their respective states without also racking up votes in downstate Illinois, western and central Ohio, central Pennsylvania, and non-urban Wisconsin. It’s in these areas that a Southerner’s drawl, humble roots, and regular church attendance can make a difference.  

To understand why a Southerner plays well in parts of the North and Midwest, one has to stop thinking in terms of “red” and “blue” America and visualize the electoral map colored in shades of purple. The American electorate is not as polarized as the red-blue dichotomy would lead one to believe. As Philip Klinkner of Hamilton College pointed out in a recent paper, only about 36 percent of voters in the 2000 election lived in a county that either George W. Bush or Al Gore won by more than 60 percent. That means that two-thirds of the electorate lives in counties that are competitive. To put it another way: The same voters in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Hawaii, Connecticut, and Maryland who provided Al Gore’s biggest margins of victory also voted Republican governors into office.  

Not only are states more politically diverse internally, but political affiliations and the ethnic, cultural, and economic backgrounds in which they are rooted do not end at the state line. Recognizing this, the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassInc) conducted an extensive analysis last year of the electorate and re-divided the nation into 10 regions, each with its own distinct political character. In some cases, these regions cross the country; in many cases, states were divided among two or even three different regions. Winning a state, then, often means winning voters who fall into several disparate regions.  

Take Pennsylvania. Al Gore won it by four points in 2000; not wanting to lose the state again, President Bush has visited 30 times since taking office. According to the MassInc framework, eastern Pennsylvania—Philadelphia, its suburbs, and the Lehigh Valley to the north—lie in the “Northeast Corridor” region, the highly affluent, best-educated, and most Democratic region in the country. The vast middle of the Keystone State lies in “Appalachia,” the oldest, poorest, least-educated, and most rural region. Historically drawn to Democrats for economic issues, social conservatism and national defense turned this region into Bush’s second-strongest in 2000. Finally, the western edge of Pennsylvania—from Erie to Pittsburgh—sits in the “Great Lakes” region, which encompasses the big industrial cities that line the lakes, from Milwaukee to Cleveland to Rochester, along with their suburbs. This was Gore’s third-best region, propelling him to victory in every Great Lakes state except Ohio.  

Any Democrat who wants to win Pennsylvania, then, must appeal to cosmopolitan, educated, and diverse voters from the Northeast Corridor; garner enough small-town and rural voters from Appalachia; and win white ethnic, Midwestern voters from the Great Lakes.  

Pennsylvania illustrates the balancing act that a winning presidential candidate must perform. Each battleground state this year includes voters from at least two different regions. Democrats have little problem in the more urban, cosmopolitan regions: the Great Lakes, the Northeast Corridor, and the “Upper Coasts” (sections of New England, the Bay Area, and the Pacific Northwest). But they have a tough time winning the rough-hewn regions such as Appalachia and “Big River,” which touches parts of states that line the Mississippi River from Duluth to Memphis.  

To win enough electoral votes to take the White House, a Democrat must bridge the cultural gap between the regions in key states. A candidate must appeal to those who wear trucker hats because they are fashionable, as well as those who are actually truckers; those whose Sunday morning ritual includes brunch and The New York Times, and those whose Sunday rituals take place in church; those who believe a bass is an integral part of a jazz combo, and those who believe it’s something to catch and release with buddies over a beer.  

Edwards helps the Democratic ticket appeal to both the cosmopolitan and the provincial. He moves seamlessly from small-town meetings to the salons of Georgetown and the Upper East Side. He can help Kerry win second cities, small towns, and rural areas that dot the presidential battleground in Ohio, Wisconsin, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, and Iowa.  

In other words, Edwards doesn’t deliver any single state but nevertheless brings geographic balance. The small-town roots and sensibilities so apparent every time he opens his mouth will help Kerry lock down the battleground states throughout the North and the Midwest. And when the votes are counted on Election Day, a Democratic South may not rise again but a Democratic Southerner surely will.  

Kenneth S. Baer, former senior speechwriter for Vice President Al Gore, runs Baer Communications, a Democratic consulting firm. This article first appeared on Americanprospect.com.›

Gunman Surrenders, Ends Albany Standoff 

An Albany man in his 20s held police and sheriff’s deputies at bay for more than 11 hours Monday after threatening to kill himself with a rifle. 

Assistant City Administrator Judy Lieberman said police were called to the 1100 block of Key Route Boulevard after the man called the Crisis Emergency Service’s 24-hour emergency suicide prevention hotline around 1 a.m. 

Neighborhood residents were evacuated for several hours while officers from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Crisis Intervention Unit negotiated. 

The man surrendered about 1:15 p.m., Lieberman said. 

Deputies booked the man on one count each of brandishing a firearm and making a criminal threat. He was being held Thursday evening in lieu of $23,000 bail, Lieberman said. 

Band-Aid Bank Robbery Strike Again 

The man Northern California law enforcement agencies have dubbed the Band-Aid Bandit struck Berkeley for a second time Monday morning, said police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies. 

Nicknamed for the bandage the felon sticks across the bridge of his nose before his capers, the robber walked into the Mechanics Bank branch in the 1800 block of Solano and offered a note demanding cash. 

He’s used the same M.O. at a dozen or so banks between Tracy and Oakland in the last few months, including once before in Berkeley three weeks ago. 

This time the ploy didn’t work, and the furtive felon fled, cashless. 

Okies said the robber is an African American male in his 20s, standing about 5’6” to 5’7” and weighing between 160 and 170 pounds. For his Monday appearance he donned a dark golf cap, glasses, a gray jacket with vertical stripes, and gray jeans. 

Topping out the outfit is a display of scruffy facial hair, Okies said. 

Burglar Nabbed in the Act 

A passerby called Berkeley police shortly before 3 a.m. Friday morning to report suspicious activity in the office of the Standard Parking Garage at 2061 Allston Way. 

Arriving at the scene, officers found a 22-year-old man scooping up cash in the manager’s office. 

Relieved of his loot, he was escorted to new accommodations in the nearby municipal pokey. 

Strongarm Bandit Busted 

Police arrested a 39-year-old man on felony robbery charges early Thursday afternoon after he forced a man to surrender his wallet outside a fast food restaurant in the 2100 block of San Pablo Avenue. 

Fiddlesticks Hit by Armed Robber  

A gunman walked into Fiddlesticks Furnishings at 2524 San Pablo Ave. a few minutes after 1 p.m. Friday and demanded cash. 

The suspect escaped with the loot. 

Wells Fargo Andronico’s Branch Robbed Again 

For the second time in recent weeks, a robber has struck the Wells Fargo branch bank in the Andronico’s Market at University Avenue and Acton Street. The felon entered the facility at 2:28 p.m. Friday and produced a note demanding cash. 

Once he had the dough, the unbandaged bandit boogied. 

Resident Discovers Bullet Hole in Window 

A resident heard what he thought was a gunshot Saturday night near his abode on Channing Way near College Avenue, but retired without further concern. 

After awakening Sunday morning, he discovered that the shooter had fired into his dwelling, drilling through a window. He promptly called police, but the shooter was long gone. 

Fashionistas Dis Plastic Pistol 

Clerks at Sunshine Fashion at 2529 Telegraph Ave. declined a would-be robber’s orders to tap the till when they spotted his alleged firearm as a plastic fake, whereupon he fled. 

Store personnel also identified his shirt as an Old Navy original. 

Gunman Grabs Cash 

The handgun a robber showed a San Pablo Avenue pedestrian at 12:52 p.m. Sunday afternoon looked all too real, so the victim parted with his cash and the robber took off on foot. 

Flashes ‘Sword,’ Then Bikes Away 

A dispute between two gentleman near the corner of Adeline and Harmon streets was abruptly terminated when one fellow flashed a 10-inch bladed instrument described as a Japanese sword at the other before fleeing on his bike. 

No one was injured. 

f

I was in West Berkeley playing Scrabble with Louise, Rose, and Pearl. I hadn’t seen the Scrabblettes in over four weeks so we had a lot of catching up to do. 

“I saw the remake of Around the World in Eighty Days,” said Rose. “I don’t recommend it.” 

“I s aw Troy,” said Pearl. “I don’t recommend that, either.” 

“I saw The Saddest Song in the World,” I said. “I hated it.” 

“I saw Bill Clinton at Cody’s and got his autograph,” said Louise. This, of course, got our attention. 

“He’s very handsome,” she continued. “And so warm and friendly. He gave me a big hug. I can understand Monica Lewinsky’s attraction to him.” 

“Have you read his book yet?” asked Pearl. 

“No,” said Louise, carefully studying the board in order to make the first move. “It’s so big, I can barely lift it.” 

“He was an overweight child,” said Rose, rearranging her letters on the plastic holder. “I read it in the paper.” 

“I didn’t notice his weight,” said Louise, finally spelling “kea,” (a large green New Zealand parrot that kills sheep), for 14 points. 

“What about July 4th,” I said. “Did you do anything interesting?” 

“I watched the Jack London Square and Berkeley Marina fireworks from the 12th floor of a west-facing building,” said Pearl. “They were spectacular.” 

Louise picked three new letters from the bag. “I don’t like fireworks. You see one and you’ve seen them all.” 

“Really?” asked Rose. “When I was a kid, we were too poor to have fireworks. We each got one measly sparkler.” 

“We didn’t get sparklers,” said Pearl. 

“We didn’t celebrate the 4th of July,” said Louise. “That’s 14 points,” she added, pointing at the scorecard that Pearl was keeping. “Don’t cheat me.” 

“You didn’t celebrate the 4th of July?” asked Pearl, writing the number 14 in big numerals so that Louise could see it. 

“No, I don’t think so,” answered Louise. “And we only had sparklers at Christmas.” 

“Christmas?” asked Rose. 

“Yes,” said Louise firmly. “It’s your turn, by the way.” 

“How odd,” said Pearl. “I rode a horse in the Crescent City 4th of July parade once. It belonged to my grandfather. It must have been around 1946 or so.” 

“Did you celebrate 4th of July in the camps?” I asked Rose. Her family had spent the duration of World War II in an Arkansas camp for Japanese Americans. 

“Quiet,” she said. “I’m concentrating.” 

Pearl turned to Louise. “Why didn’t you celebrate Independence Day?” 

“I’m not sure, but I think we celebrated Juneteenth instead. Don’t forget, I left Louisiana when I was 12. That was almost 60 years ago, so I don’t remember all the details.” 

“Did you have sparklers on Juneteenth?” asked Pearl. It was obvious she wasn’t going to leave this sparkler thing alone. 

“No,” said Louise patiently. “I’m quite certain we only had sparklers at Christmas.” 

Rose sighed. “I’m going to turn in all my le tters and pass,” she said. “Enough with the sparklers, Pearl. It’s your turn.” 

“Rose, did you celebrate any American or Japanese holidays in the camps?” asked Louise. 

“Yep,” said Rose. “Christmas, New Years, Girls and Boys Days.” 

“Did you have access t o Japanese food while you were interned?” I asked. 

“Some. But you know what we did have?” 

“What?” we all asked in unison. 

“Velveeta cheese. Can you believe that? My older brother was sent to Montana to dig beets because all the regular farmhands were i n the service. He sent us Velveeta cheese and comic books. My friends thought we were rich.” 

“I can’t stand Velveeta cheese,” said Louise. “I ate too much of it when I was a child.” 

“I think Bill Clinton may have eaten a whole lot of Velveeta when he was a kid,” I said. 

“Well,” said Louise with a bit of mischief in her eyes. “It didn’t hurt him one bit, I’ll tell you that.” 

“Do you think Bill had sparklers at Christmas or 4th of July?” asked Pearl, looking up from the board. 

“Fireworks,” said Louise with conviction. “I could feel it at Cody’s last week. 

That man has always given off plenty of heat.”¿

CATHARSIS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you Osha Neumann for the cathartic release of grief your column on Fahrenheit 9/11 delivered to me (“Michael and Me: Finding Light Amidst the Gloom,” Daily Planet, July 9-12). I’ve been feeling weighted with melancholy as well at the actions of the present administration (on our collective dime) and am indebted to Michael Moore for helping me see hope on the other side of the grief and rage. He is a national treasure. And your soul-lifting words reminded me we have such treasure all around us. 

Pamela Satterwhite 

• 

WATER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Water has been in the news. On Sunday, the San Francisco Chronicle ran two large articles, including one about 10 proposed desalinization plants on California coasts. KQED is showing a special called “Water Wars” Tuesday at 10 p.m. Several letters to this newspapers raised concerns about BUSD planting new lawns. 

If BUSD must have lawns, then BUSD needs to ensure that lawns are watered through environmentally sustainable methods, such as with grey water systems, or catching and storing rainwater during the wet season for use during the dry season. Otherwise, BUSD should stop planting lawns. 

This summer, BUSD is planning to build at Willard, the fourth concrete amphitheater at a Berkeley school. These concrete amphitheaters contribute to rainwater run-off and erosion during our wet season, and cost upwards of $50,000. During the two great floods at Malcolm X this past winter, their amphitheater had four feet of standing water. Do kids even use them? Do teachers really hold classes in them? Thinking about this, I wondered if anyone at BUSD has even evaluated the three existing amphitheaters. Do these amphitheaters improve education at these schools or could that $50,000 be put to better use? 

So, BUSD builds structures that in the winter creates rainwater runoff and erosion, and in the summer, are black holes for water. BUSD’s mission statement and goals posted on its website, says that it wants to be a role model for students to achieve high standards. With the current president of the BUSD board, a member of the Green Party, one would hope that high standards would include basic environmental consciousness about a precious resource, water. 

Yolanda Huang 

• 

THEORY AND PRACTICE II 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

David Nasatir’s letter (Daily Planet, July 9-12) implies that though he can bicycle between his home and Berkeley Marina, he prefers to drive. He writes that this is quicker for him. 

There are many activists and silent contributors dedicated to making Berkeley safer for bicycling. Berkeley streets are often congested beyond capacity from too many people overly reliant on cars. Congested roads are inherently unsafe: even safe drivers are at risk. Many drivers are escalating into SUVs and mini-hummer-tanks to improve their survival odds in the inevitable crashes. Some UC Berkeley students’ concerned parents are buying SUVs to protect their children, and congestion worsens as UC’s enrollment increases. 

People are not trying to force septuagenarians like Mr. Nasatir to forfeit their cars. On the contrary, we are trying to enable and entice more people into healthy, enjoyable alternative transit, which will relieve road congestion and free up more parking spots for those folks who drive. All car drivers benefit when a small percentage of drivers shift to alternative transit modes! 

Safe alternative transit can also stave off the trend towards SUVs. While being in a SUV might improve its occupants’ survival odds, it obscures the view for everyone else, decreasing their accident-escaping odds as those well as nearby pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers trying to get into cars parked on the street. 

When Mr. Nasatir isn’t in too much of a hurry for his Marina outings, perhaps he can enjoy coasting his bicycle down to and around the marina, and simply strap his bike onto one of the hill-climbing buses, such as the 65, for the trip home, while leisurely reading his Berkeley Daily Planet on the uphill ride. 

Mitch Cohen 

• 

JUST GIVE UP 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am usually too busy to keep up with everything in town, although I have lived here for a while, and after reading the Daily Planet, which I hold in high esteem, I have to admit it seems Berkeley is being run without any testicles. This is so bad that heaven forbid anybody would want to build a masculine-looking building without an army of whimperers complaining. Everything from what I have been able to see since I have been here is as John Cougar Mellencamp would say in his song: “Little pink houses for you and me.” 

And then this guy in your article last issue (“Octogenarian Activist Makes Birthday Jump as Political Statement,” Daily Planet, July 9-12) pulls a stunt jumping from a plane because he doesn’t like war or something, and the Daily Planet contrasts him to President Bush the elder, who was the youngest pilot in the Navy in World War II and whose presidential library is at my alma mater, Texas A&M. And although I wasn’t there when he did it, I saw on him jump on a replay on TV, solo from a jump plane rather than tethered to someone else, and if it wasn’t for the fact at the time President Bush joined up at an earlier age, he could boast that he was older too. Some people verge on petty and never give up.  

I always enjoy reading your fine publication and keep up the good work. 

Steve Pardee 

• 

LIBRARY PROGRAMS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Jill Sonnenberg’s letter (Daily Planet, July 9-12) regarding the importance of school library personnel is welcome. Her reference is to a library program meeting the needs of all students. 

In evaluating new high school educational and recreational programs, there are often oohs and ahhs of praise for the tangible—physical facilities. Of course adequate and appropriate space in which to teach and learn is essential for both staff and students. 

School library programs are too often victims of “off the top” evaluation in terms of physical facilities and staff. But they merit particular consideration in terms of collections and staffing as well. How many of the “This is just gorgeous” (Daily Planet, April 27-29) celebrators considered the BHS library in both qualitative and quantitative terms? (Notably, the State of California does not issue school library standards and guidelines, as do numerous other states.) A school of 2,750 students needs a minimum of 20 books per student. Ideally, this count should be in terms of titles rather than volumes. 

Helen Rippier Wheeler 

• 

LIVABLE BERKELEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you for the informative article about Livable Berkeley. As a Livable Berkeley member and Berkeley resident, I appreciate that Livable Berkeley is speaking for me in supporting smart growth and sustainable development throughout the city. A willingness to create livable urban places is essential for addressing the social equity, transportation, and environmental challenges that our region faces. Infill development, affordable housing, and walkable districts can only occur if all of Berkeley works together to make them a reality. 

Matt Taecker 

• 

MORE ON LIVABLE BERKELEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As grassroots members of Livable Berkeley, we wanted to elaborate on your profile of our “well-connected” group (Daily Planet, July 6-8). We’re a couple with two young kids, and we’re not “connected” to any city staff, developers, or UC executives.  

We’re members of Livable Berkeley because we believe our lives, and the life of the city as a whole, will be improved by more good development - especially affordable housing and local shops—along University and other major streets and transit corridors. We live on one major street (Sacramento) and only two blocks from another (University Avenue). 

Good, well-designed development will mean more eyes on the street and more foot traffic to solidify local businesses. And that, in turn, would mean that we could get more errands done on foot or bicycle, instead of having to drive. We intend to raise our kids here, and we look forward to having more neighbors. 

Jeff Hobson, 

Kim Seashore  

• 

CITY EMPLOYEE SALARIES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

With all due respect to the candidate Barbara Gilbert’s run for City Council, I have often heard current councilmembers, or candidates, state they want more concessions from City of Berkeley employee unions when all the employee unions have made significant concessions to save the city budget and jobs. I know for a fact as a city employee, the city unions spent significant amounts of time and effort providing a detailed argument to city management based on equity gap research comparing city managers office to middle management, to field labor negotiating the last contract in order to present a fair deal to swallow. A good example of the difference is that the City of Berkeley department heads to city management gross approximately $106,000 to $174,000 per year while middle managers directly responsible for city management make a median salary of $65,000. Field labor across the board makes a median salary of $30,000 to $45,000 per year. City employees suffer lower wages in order to keep better benefits for their families and pray for a restful retirement when the time comes. All this last year, the City of Berkeley employee unions made significant contributions and suggestions to the city management to ease the burden of the General Fund deficit and not one idea that was presented short of depleting union labor salaries, or one day lay offs, or take away two percent retirement all from the pocket and sweat of the employees was acknowledged or accepted. There are truly many ways to make up the deficit short of hurting the employee’s current costs of living. The equity differences are extreme in comparison to the daily duties and responsibilities expected of employees who are in contact with all Berkeley residents and customers of the city. It is consistently insulting that pontificating politicians who do not know the truth of employees plight for survival make statements such as this Barbara Gilbert has. It is further insulting that many people think city employees have it easy. We do not. Most people who make judgments of city employees have no idea that they are also required emergency operational personnel and in any disaster are required to be near the city to assist in any or all emergencies. Basic home ownership is impossible with current labor salaries. Try and get a mortgage for a $500,000 fixer upper with a $45,000 per year salary. Concessions Ms. Gilbert? How about subsidies for taking good care of Berkeley by having a decent roof over your head and maintaining the freedom to feed your family without having to apply for food stamps? The day I see politicians standing in line to subsidize their own salaries in order to survive, I’ll make more concessions. 

Norm David 

City of Berkeley employee 

• 

COUNCIL CANDIDATE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a candidate for Berkeley’s District 5 City Council race, I certainly appreciated the lively news story and editorial in the July 9 edition of the Berkeley Voice, as well as the extensive recent news story in the Berkeley Daily Planet.  

I do want to make it clear that while I do have many personal anecdotes in the “good guys/bad guys” category, and I do enjoy juicy political gossip as much as anyone, my campaign is not about personalities but about the big substantive issues facing our community. These include the following: Homeowners, taxpayers, and long-term committed residents have no one representing their legitimate interests on the City Council, including and especially their interest in not being unfairly taxed relative to other segments of our population.  

We in Berkeley need but do not have on council strong enough advocates for fiscal responsibility and better city management in a time of shrinking revenues, including advocates for a meaningful reduction in the cost and size of city government.  

We have a need to establish proper spending and program priorities, including top priority for safety net services, necessary capital improvements, public safety, and sensible creek regulations. We cannot continue to fritter away public money on frivolities and nonessentials, such as almost $300,000 on YMCA membership for city employees, land giveaways to developers, or staff time devoted to symbolic far away issues such as Instant Runoff Voting, to give just a few examples.  

We need leadership that will seriously look at ways to restore and revitalize our quality of life, including, for example, curtailing University and institutional expansion into downtown and our neighborhoods, expanding middle income home ownership opportunities along our commercial corridors, establishing human-scale standards for development, providing parking and shuttle service to support our merchants, retail uses, and much-needed retail development, and implementing a professional-quality economic development program. With respect to good government, someone City Council must speak out against the very unfortunate trends that have been occurring, including nonpublic decisionmaking and uninformed decisionmaking due to incomplete and/or untimely production of information. We also need to carefully study and consider ways to improve our democracy, and I would propose that we establish a community task force to do just that rather than our recent practice of rushing headlong and thoughtlessly into expensive innovations. This task force should assess such potential improvements as, for example, instant runoff voting, public financing of campaigns, an expanded City Council, higher council salaries, and charter revision.  

These are the major issues we face in Berkeley, and I am running for the District 5 City Council seat to bring focus to the issues and provide our city with informed and independent leadership.  

Barbara Gilbert  

• 

TRAFFIC ISLANDS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It’s nice to see that the city is continuing to build “islands” at intersections in various Berkeley neighborhoods (although I don’t see any being constructed in “poorer” parts of town). These little landscapes are a great improvement over the horrendous concrete barriers that still blight our streets. However, before anymore are completed, I would like to suggest that the city stop putting up those ugly and unnecessary directional signs (four are posted on every island). They detract and obscure the beauty of the landscapes and are often targets for graffiti. Instead of signs, couldn’t arrows be painted on the pavement to tell drivers to go around?  

Nick Mastick 

?

Local senior activists are being manipulated to participate in a protest at 2517 Sacramento St., supposedly to encourage the city to move ahead with construction of the Outback Senior housing project. Since a divided City Council already approved the project last year, the real reason for the protest can only be to artificially generate press coverage hoping to influence a pending Court of Appeal oral argument in the environmental lawsuit regarding the project. The appellate hearing is set for July 20 in San Francisco. 

An e-mail being circulated to senior citizens claims that “NIMBYs” are delaying construction of the project and that seniors should rally in protest to the City Council. 

In fact, the pending lawsuit is a good faith environmental challenge and is in no way an attempt to bar affordable housing from the site. The Neighbors for Sensible Development support affordable housing for the site but believe the city acted unlawfully in contravention of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in approving the project, a 40-unit, four-story structure on a parcel that should not exceed eight units according to Berkeley’s Master Plan.  

“Everyone agrees this site can be used for an affordable senior housing project,” said Berkeley Housing Commissioner Marie Bowman of Neighbors for Sensible Development. “However, a badly-planned project that lowers our quality of life without regard for the health of its residents is not the kind of development that Berkeley can be proud of. Everyone has the right to a healthy environment.”  

The project is planned adjacent to the site of a former gas station that contained leaking underground tanks. No environmental cleanup has been completed at the 2517 Sacramento site, and MTBE and other chemicals remain that must be properly cleaned up to protect the health and well being of potential residents. The project is also out of scale with surrounding one-story residences in a well-loved neighborhood. The lawsuit simply seeks preparation of an environmental impact report to assess impacts and feasible alternatives to allow the affordable housing project to proceed in an environmentally sensitive manner. Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association supports the neighbors’ efforts. 

The cynical and contrived manipulation of the Gray Panthers and other senior citizens who believe they are attending a rally to promote affordable housing should be recognized. 

Marie Bowman is a founder of Neighbors for Sensible Development.

Erna Smith’s commentary (“District Would Raise Neighbors’ Property Taxes,” Daily Planet, July 9-12) makes accusations and assertions that simply are not true. This response will try to correct the most important issues. Above all we would like to emphasize the considerable amount of support this project has. 

First of all, the process of utility undergrounding is neither the “brainchild of a handful of neighbors” nor something arbitrarily created by the city. Rather it is established by state law and is regulated in Rule 20B as set forth by PG&E. This rule establishes a process whereby property owners who are not covered by Rule 20A (in which the cost of undergrounding is mostly funded by the utility companies as is required by law) are offered the possibility of funding their own district. This rule applies to all PG&E customers—not just Berkeley residents. And, as Ms. Smith points out, this rule only requires a simple majority to create a district, in accordance with Proposition 218. 

Beyond these state level regulations the city has the right to set its own guidelines for establishing a district. Berkeley’s guidelines impose a much stricter framework for districts. The process involves three steps.  

1) Seventy percent of the property owners in a proposed district must express interest in receiving formal information from the city regarding how to establish the district.  

2) Seventy percent must sign a formal petition and fully fund the design costs of the project.  

3) A final mail balloting is conducted by the city during a 45-day period, which ends with a public hearing. Then the ballots are tallied and the City Council decides whether or not to form the district. The city guidelines required a 70 percent majority for this final ballot at the time we began the project. However, on June 1, prior to mailing out the district ballots, the City Council voted unanimously to change the requirement to 60 percent. On June 2, the district committee circulated an update to the district property owners informing them of this rule change. On June 4, the ballots were mailed. 

Here is the history of the undergrounding initiative. Several years ago, a large number of neighbors on our two block street of Kentucky Avenue expressed keen interest in forming a disaster plan for our neighborhood. City officials held two meetings with us that were attended by approximately 50 people. We then formed three committees for light search and rescue, first aid and fire suppression. A few of us even attended classes offered by the fire department. Out of this disaster planning grew an interest in utility undergrounding. A committee of about 30 people was formed in an area that originally included 283 houses. Seventy percent of the property owners in the area signed a petition expressing interest in undergrounding. Thus we achieved step one of the process. 

Step two represented a more formidable hurdle. Many people shied away from supplying the $2,519 per owner that was required for the design costs. Nonetheless, there was still a contiguous group of 104 houses at the core of the area whose owners felt strongly enough to take this next step. Of those 104 property owners, 79 contributed to the design costs. We delivered a total of $186,000 to the city in August of 2002. In addition, there were four more owners who stated to us that they supported the forming of a district and would most likely vote in its favor, although they did not have the cash to contribute at that time. This means that we had 83 out of 104 owners who supported undergrounding. This is more than 80 percent and thus beyond what the city required, not to mention the simple majority required by Proposition 218. No matter how you view the issue, this was an amazing accomplishment. 

Of the remaining owners, five were absentee landlords, two were on the fence, four were neutral, two gave no feedback, three have sold their houses in the meantime, and two were definitely opposed but indicated they would respect the majority vote. This leaves only three owners out of 104 who told us they were adamantly opposed to forming a district. Not surprisingly, Erna Smith is the partner of one of these owners. Interestingly, two out of three of these opponents live on the “view” side of the street and would enjoy all the anticipated benefits of this project in full.  

These statistics should make it clear that the district has had overwhelming neighborhood support. Now we are nearing the completion of step three (the balloting). Unfortunately, there were significant delays in the design process and estimated costs escalated. This led to some erosion of support. The good news is that the final cost estimates, which will be available July 12 at our district wide meeting, will reflect substantial decreases in the cost from the figures shown on the mailed ballots. This should help property owners as they make their own decision on how to vote. 

Some additional issues as stated in Ms. Smith’s commentary need to be specifically addressed.  

It is not true that “everyone’s tax dollars” paid city staff time. The time that city staff has devoted to this project over the past three years is fully covered in the project budget as reflected by the upfront design costs already provided to the city. Should the district be established, the interest on the bonds will be paid to the investors who purchase the bonds. To our knowledge, the city has no intention of purchasing the bonds. Recognizing that this project will be of benefit to the city as well as property owners in the district, the city has supported our undergrounding initiative from the beginning. Mayor Bates has repeatedly expressed the hope that eventually the entire city’s utilities could be undergrounded. The organizing committee feels uncomfortable with Ms. Smith’s quoting of city officials and staff out of context.  

We welcome input from anyone in the city. However, we hope this clarification will counteract the misinformation and inflammatory language presented by Ms. Smith in her commentary. In light of all of the factors we have mentioned here, the organizing committee still feels strongly that this project is a valuable and wise investment in terms of safety, aesthetics and property values. 

The Organizing Committee :Everett and Cathy Moran, David and Ursula Partch, Carol Bledsoe, Marilyn Couch, Don and Gloria Price, Eileen McDavid, David and Debby Keefe, Richard Ruggieri, Edith Lavin, Andy and Cindy Neureuther, Anthony Eredia, Diana Bermudez. 

?

As a strong supporter of marriage, I’m dismayed to see matrimony’s self-proclaimed defenders—President Bush and Congress’ Republican leadership—trying to legitimize a highly unnatural form of union that would actually weaken the institution. 

The “Federal Marriage Amendment,” which Congress is debating this week, would alter the U.S. Constitution to read: 

“Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman.” 

That definition mirrors language that California (like many other states) wrote into law in recent years. But there’s been no measurable change in California’s marriage or divorce rate since we enacted our so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” in 2000. That law failed to even stop its own author’s son from marrying his male partner in San Francisco last winter, along with some 3,000 other same-sex couples.  

Just a quick look at the flawed definition above shows why such language makes bad law. 

Do you see what’s missing?  

Where’s the dog?  

I was raised in a traditional marriage, and my family always had a dog. So did almost every family in our neighborhood. There were a few exceptions: Some had a cat, a goldfish, or no pet at all. We kids thought of these households as “weird.”  

Years later, when I was old enough to learn the horrible truth, my parents confided in me just how correct our childhood intuition had been. The marriages on both sides of our house, both dogless, were destroyed by adultery. On one side, the wife eventually ran off with her lover—shockingly, a former Olympic sports celebrity and role model to youth. And that was the fortunate family. In the other dogless house, after the husband refused to give up his mistress, the wife literally drank herself to death. 

Across town, in another outwardly prim split-level house, some relatives of ours divorced over similar infidelities. They didn’t have a dog either. (Although luckily, no one died.) 

Was this link between dogless marriages and destructive infidelity mere coincidence? I doubt it. In our Norman Rockwell suburb, such things were never heard of in families that included a dog. And today, as an adult, I see the same pattern: Among the married and long-term committed couples I know—whether heterosexual or gay—the most stable partnerships are triads that include a furry, wet-nosed member.  

The idea that a dog should be a formal participant in marriage is hardly new. The Gond people of rural Bastar, in central India, have long held that if a woman’s husband is killed by a wild beast, the woman must ceremonially marry a dog before marrying another man. Psychologist Stanley Coren explains (in his book What Do Dogs Know?) the Gond’s belief that the dead husband’s spirit now inhabits his killer—and will jealously seek to slay the widow’s next husband. Her interim marriage to a dog transfers this risk to the four-footed one.  

Perhaps in their native wisdom, the Gond clarify the sacrificial and stabilizing effect that a dog brings to any marriage. Offering lifelong, unconditional love, a dog absorbs the stresses and “bad spirits” that are inevitable in any long-term partnership between willful, brainy higher primates—and dissolves them with a goofy lick on the face.  

But if the perverse Federal Marriage Amendment prevails, such traditional marriages will be undermined. Can you imagine the effect on our already high divorce rate? Picture thousands of unstable, dogless couples walking down the aisle each year—then promptly walking back through divorce court. Not even Britney Spears, the scandalous Jackson siblings, or the most depraved reality TV producer would touch this sick scenario for a show called Who Wants to Briefly Marry a Non-Millionaire with No Dog?  

The Federal Marriage Amendment has already divided the nation’s Second Family. Vice President Dick Cheney supports it, but his wife Lynne now opposes it. (Mrs. Cheney, who once penned a lesbian-themed potboiler novel, presumably sides with the Cheneys’ gay daughter, Mary.) Do you think this family has a dog? I doubt it. 

To stop this threat to traditional marriage, Congress clearly must reject the Federal Marriage Amendment. Perhaps someday, marriage’s real defenders will sponsor a truly pro-family federal law that reads:  

“Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of two consulting adults and at least one dog.” 

Some might object that government has no business telling grownups whom to marry. That’s a legitimate viewpoint, and reason enough to oppose all electoral stunts in which mainstream legislators (dog owners, heterosexuals, or what have you) seek to arbitrarily restrict the definition of marriage for everyone else. 

And indeed, perhaps Americans will just grow up and accept same-sex marriage, as citizens of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Canada have. The nation can handle this: we’ve already had an apparently gay president (James Buchanan, look it up); a cross-dressing vice president (William King, served with Franklin Pierce); and a cross-dressing FBI director (J. Edgar Hoover). 

But if we do choose to let government put us on short leashes and dictate with whom we may breed—that is, treat us like dogs—let’s at least demand laws that demonstrably promote (rather than diminish) stable relationships and human happiness. By that criterion, the Federal Marriage Amendment that President Bush advocates is one sick puppy. 

Michael Katz is an unmarried Berkeley resident.  

The most intriguing jazz event this summer is, without a doubt, the July 23 appearance by the Heath Brothers—bassist Percy, saxophonist Jimmy and drummer Albert “Tootie”—as this year’s featured performers for Jazz at Coventry Grove II. This second annual benefit for Berkeley’s renowned Jazzschool will again be held in the jewel-like setting of a small outdoor amphitheater on a private estate in Kensington. Although the ticket price may seem steep at $150, it is actually a bargain when you consider the intimate nature of the event, the complementary food and beverages provided by some of the most esteemed names in Bay Area gourmandaise, the prospect of some fascinating conversation with four legends of jazz, and—finally—a performance by the three remarkable brothers along with their pianist of the last six years, Jeb Patton.  

Like so many other North Carolina African-Americans, the Heath family migrated to Philadelphia in the 1920s in search of work in the urban North. 81-year-old Percy Heath was born in Wilmington, but all three brothers grew up in Philadelphia, where their early friends included fellow bop players John Coltrane (also a N.C. native) and Benny Golson.  

During World War II, Percy was one of the pioneering Tuskegee airmen. When he got out of the Air Force in 1946, he used his separation pay to buy his first string bass. By the following year, he and brother Jimmy (born in 1926) moved to New York to join the nascent bop movement. The benjamin of the family, Tootie (born in 1935) made the move to the Big Apple in the late ‘50s. 

All the brothers have had more than successful careers with credits among the three of them on more than 900 albums alongside such jazz legends as Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Dexter Gordon, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, and Ornette Coleman. Jimmy is a highly esteemed reed player and flutist, arranger, teacher, and composer. Among his many compositions, two recorded by Miles Davis have become jazz standards: “CTA” from the 1953 Bluenote album Young Man with a Horn, and “Gingerbread Boy” from the 1966 Columbia album Miles Smiles. Tootie is a master drummer whose services have been in constant demand ever since his debut recording with John Coltrane on Trane’s eponymous first album as a leader for Prestige in 1957. He is among the most sensitive, responsive and swinging of drummers with a subtle touch and tone that are always musical, even lyrical.  

Percy has been the most prominent of the three. He joined the Milt Jackson Quartet in 1951 when bassist Ray Brown left that group and stayed with them when they became the Modern Jazz Quartet. Today, he is the only surviving member of the MJQ, among the greatest performing and recording aggregations in jazz history. What made this such an incredible combo was not just their formidable solo abilities, but their constant emphasis on group improvisation. There is a demanding yet noble commitment to mutual freedom since each player is actually soloing all the time. No one just keeps time and no two performances of the same song are identical. That is why Percy had no trouble playing with a post-bop player like Ornette Coleman. Jazz for such players is not a technique, style or vocabulary, but a spiritual path, one which all three of the Heath Brothers have followed. 

In spite of the fact that they had been recording for years, the three brothers had never all recorded together until Really Big in 1960, a Riverside album produced by Orrin Keepnews. Keepnews, one of the most important record producers in the history of jazz and a legend in his own right, will be joining them in interview and conversation at this event. They first performed as the Heath Brothers in 1975 when the MJQ temporarily disbanded. That was when I first saw them at the now defunct Keystone Korner in San Francisco. Although they appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival a few years ago, it has been a long time since they have performed in the Bay Area. When they get together they truly play music. It is obvious that they enjoy the creating of music and they are remarkably playful, free and inventive about it in the deepest sense. The fact that they are family just makes it that much more fun.  

Robert Powell has been in prison for five separate stretches in his life, with a total of 24 felony convictions. When he is paroled on Sept. 24 he plans to stay out for good. But the only way he can do it, he says, is with a little help. 

It isn’t because Powell hasn’t tried. While taking full responsibility for the crimes he has committed, Powell says the cards have been stacked against him ever since his first offense. During one of his paroles, he says he hit the streets for 30 days straight looking for jobs, with no luck. The problem is, it always came down to that one question: Have you ever been convicted of a felony? 

Powell has been advised not to lie in answer to the question and so, time and time again, he found himself turned away from potential jobs. Although the multiple offender doesn’t say it, it was obvious what his only choice was. In order to survive on the streets outside of prison, he had to turn to something that eventually landed him back in prison. 

Fast forward to the present. It’s Saturday, July 10. Powell is standing outside the mosque at San Quentin prison, inquiring about what kinds of skills he needs to get a job when he gets out. He’s well built, easily 250 pounds, with several tattoos and a shaved head, but talks so softly people have to lean in to hear him. He’s shy when he approaches people, noticeably trying to be as courteous as possible. 

Powell, along with more than 70 other inmates at San Quentin, is outside in the sunny prison courtyard during a break in an inmate-developed program called No More Tears (NMT). For several hours, he and the others listen to counselors, union representatives, and job placement representatives talk about possible job and living opportunities for them when their sentences are finished. Powell and others create a sea of blue sitting in their prison-issued blue button down shirts and blue denim pants. The room is filled to capacity, with some having to stand. Interest in the program is so great that many inmates have to be turned away. 

“I’ve been doing installment programs and I’m tired,” says Powell. “I’m looking to come out and be an asset and not a problem.” 

This meeting with NMT is the second in what inmates and program coordinators hope is a whole series. The theme last Saturday is job placement and how to survive parole. 

Run by Center Force, a nonprofit based out of San Francisco, NMT was originally created by inmates. About a year ago, Center Force and inmates at San Quentin filmed a video about violence in the community, focusing on Alameda county. They received such a broad response that inmates decided to form a steering committee and thus NMT was born. 

With continued help from Center Force, inmates devised a mission statement and a set list of goals. Their aim is to help stem violence and stop recidivism among inmates by creatively using the resources they have.  

According to Powell and others, NMT immediately caught the interest of inmates because it’s one of the few programs that try to bridge the gap between the community and the inmates. 

“NMT is different from all the other groups because it makes that connection between the inside and the outside,” said an inmate self-identified only as “Black.” One of the inmates on the steering committee, he asks specifically to be identified only by that name because that’s how other inmates refer to him. 

Unlike other programs that only focus on inmates while they’re in jail, NMT hopes to ease the transition back into the community. Helping the community understand that the inmates have changed and genuinely want to be a part of the community is part of it. Giving the inmates options when they get out and helping them prevent violence is the second half. 

“Who better to be a part of the problem-solving than those who were once the problem?” asked Black. 

The first NMT meeting brought in victims of violence and the families of victims. Run as a confrontation of sorts, inmates received first-hand accounts of the results of their own actions while they were on the outside. 

“That affected guys in here,” said Black. “There is a face to the people who are the victims.” 

But the initial meeting also allowed community members to put a face on inmates who, for the most part, they had only previously identified as faceless violence. “[The meeting] built a bridge between the inside and the outside,” Black said. “Victims want to throw away the key, but they are able to see that us on the inside are people, and that with change we can be a good community member.” 

At Saturday’s installment, inmates had the opportunity to meet with people concerned about helping inmates by providing them good jobs and career opportunities. Along with general job placement counselors and representatives from Peralta Community College was Alameda county Supervisor Keith Carson and his staff member, Rodney Brooks. Carson and Brooks, while limited by the county budget, have been into San Quentin with No More Tears several times and pledged to do everything they can to facilitate transition and curb violence. 

There were also a number of union representatives from the building trades unions. Iron, sheet metal and electrical workers’ unions from around the East Bay came to tell inmates that as long as they work hard and produce, the unions aren’t concerned that they’ve been convicted of a felony.  

“I’m often told apologetically, ‘I have a record,’ but it’s not any of my business,” said Don Zampa, the business manager for the iron workers’ union in the East Bay. “My concern is that you have a good work ethic and that you’re a productive worker.” 

Besides overlooking their records, the union representatives told inmates that union jobs will help them overcome the cycle of recidivism because they pay a living wage and provide important benefits that will let them get back on their feet. Nor do inmates need prior experience, since each union provides training programs that pay and lead to jobs. 

And while most listened and asked questions with a real sense of urgency, another group sat back, acting more like facilitators than like participants. Among them was Black, who, like a handful of others, does not have a set parole date. Currently he is in his ninth year of a 25-to-life term.  

Two inmates in particular, Lonnie Hairston and Lafayette Nelson, acted as the primary facilitators, taking roll and introducing speakers. Both wore glasses and had gray in their beards. In August, Hairston will have spent 27 years in jail. Nelson is serving a life sentence under the three strikes law. He’ll be 53 in a couple of weeks. They know they might not get out but want to participate because they see NMT as a productive was to create change.  

“There is an attitude, ‘who are you guys to teach anyone,’ but who better than us?” asked Nelson. Along with Hairston, he commands an unspoken respect from other prisoners. “The only benefit I get is that I know I’ve tried to change the life of someone who just becomes another statistic by coming back to prison or dying on the streets.” 

It was Nelson who lectured inmates as the program ended. Even though it was time to go, the inmates were confined to the building until the prison finished an official inmate count. Inmates used the time to rattle off last minute questions to presenters who assured them they would be back. Powell was at the front, gathering brochures that the union reps and job counselors had left. 

Black stood by the doorway, listening to Nelson talk. “A lot of us feel like we’ve been sitting on our hands,” he said. “That’s the biggest joy, knowing that we’re making a difference and letting the community know that we care.” 

?

TUESDAY, JULY 13 

FILM 

Time’s Shadow: “The Murderers Are Among Us” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Hip Hop Film Festival Youth Night from 7 to 10 p.m. at Oakland Box Theater, 1928 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5-$10 available from www.ticketweb.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Naomi Hirahara introduces “Summer of the Big Bachi” at 7 p.m. at Eastwind Books, 2066 University Ave. 548-2350. www.ewbb.com 

Marcia Millman examines sisterhood in “The Perfect Sister: What Draws Us Together, What Drives Us Apart” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Tom Hayden describes “Street Wars: Gangs and the Future of Violence” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Binghi Ghost, reggae from St. Croix, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $6-$9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of ensembles from Berkeley Jazzschool at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Eric Bibb, contemporary blues troubadour, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50 in advance, $17.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jazzschool Faculty at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Jazz House Jam hosted by Darrell Green and Geechy Taylor at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $5. www.thejazz- 

house.com 

Sonny Fortune Quartet at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Also on Wed. Cost is $10-$18. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 14 

FILM 

Exploit-O-Scope: “Rollercoaster” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Hip Hop Film Festival from 7 to 10 p.m. at Oakland Box Theater, 1928 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5-$10 available from www.ticketweb.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Andrew Sean Greer reads from his new novel “The Confessions of Max Tivoli” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

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

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik, featuring Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-7. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Neal Bascomb describes “The Perfect Mile: Three Athletes, One Goal, and Less than Four Minutes to Achieve It” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Wes Santee, one of the runners, will also be present. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

William Turner discusses his latest book, “Mission Not Accomplished: How George Bush Lost the War on Terrorism” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Pure Ecstasy, sings Motown and gospel at noon at Oakland City Center at the 12th St. BART. www.oaklandcitycenter.com 

Anthony Paul and Mz. Dee at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Swing dance lesson with Nick and Shanna at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jules Broussard, Ned Boynton and Bing Nathan at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Pierre Bensusan, world music guitar, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50 in advance, $19.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Patricio’s Tri-Angulo, Afro-Cuban jazz, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Fleeting Trance, Secret Synthi, The Wildlife at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Harmonica Man at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donations of $8-$15 suggested. www.thejazzhouse.org 

THURSDAY, JULY 15 

EXHIBTION OPENINGS 

“Pieces of Cloth, Pieces of Culture” An exhibition of Tapa from Tonga and the Pacific Islands. Reception from 5 to 8 p.m. with music by Otufelenite Musicians. Exhibition runs through Sept. 7 at the Craft and Cultural Art Gallery, State of California Office Building, 1515 Clay St., Oakland. 

FILM 

Latino Film Festival “Neruda Presente” archival footage and poetic sequences to mark Neruda’s 100th birthday at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Time’s Shadow: “And Life Goes On” at 8:50 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Roger Burbach and Jim Tarbell describe “Imperial Overstretch: George W. Bush and the Hubris of Empire” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com  

Ted Botha introduces us to “Mongo: Adventures in Trash” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. attendees are invited to bring their own mongo for Ted’s evaluation. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

James Dalessandro introduces “1906” a visual and literary history of the San Francisco earthquake at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 843-3533. 

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with an Allen Cohen Caretaker Memorial reading featuring Ann Cohen, Jamie Erfurdt, Maria Mango, Ray Lang, Jeff Lohman, Gerry Nicosia, Bruce Latimer and others, at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. 526-5985.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Summer Noon Concert with los Soneros de la Bahia at the Berkeley BART. Sponsored by the Downtown Berkeley Association. 

Keni El Lebrijano, flamenco guitar, at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Steve Polz at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $12. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Martin Carthy, British folk music, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $20.50 in advance, $21.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Mimi Fox at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Harmonica Man with Donald “Duck” Bailey at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donations of $8-$15 suggested. www.thejazz- 

house.org 

Pete Escovedo and His Orchestra at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $15-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Vanessa Lowe & Bug Eyed Sprite at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$15, no one turned away for lack of funds. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

FRIDAY, JULY 16 

CHILDREN 

Tales and Yarns Storytime with a reading of “Sylverter and the Magic Pebble” by William Steig at Barnes and Noble at 10:30 a.m. 644-3635. 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “A Delicate Balance” by Edward Albee. Fr. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck at Berryman, through Aug 14. Tickets are $10, available from 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Alameda Civic Light Opera “Fiddler on the Roof” directed by Jeff Teague. Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m. Sun. at 2 p.m. to July 25, at Kofman Auditorium, 2220 Central Ave., Alameda. Tickets are $23-$25 available from 864-2256. www.aclo.com 

Aurora Theatre “Betrayal,” by Harold Pinter, directed by Tom Ross, at 8 p.m. and runs through July 25. Tickets are $34-$36. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org  

Berkeley Opera “Bat Out of Hell,” a new adaptation of “Die Fledermaus” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, Tickets are $15-$40. 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

Berkeley Rep, “21 Dog Years: Doing Time @ Amazon.com” Sun. at 7:30 p.m. and Fri. and Sat. at 8:30 p.m. through July 24. Tickets are $25-$35. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Berkeley Rep “Master Class” with Rita Moreno at The Roda Theater. Runs through July 25. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

California Shakespeare Theater, “Henry IV” Tues.-Fri. at 7:30 p.m., Sat at 8 p.m., Sun. at 4 p.m. at the Bruns Memorial Amphitheater, through August 1. Tickets are $13-$32. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org 

Contra Costa Civic Theatre “My Fair Lady,” directed by Michael Manley, through Aug. 14, Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m., selected Sun. at 2 p.m. Contra Costa Civic Theatre, 951 Pomona Ave, El Cerrito. Tickets are $12-$20 available from 524-9132. www.ccct.org  

Woodminster Summer Musicals “Annie” at Woodminster Amphitheater in Joaquin Miller Park 3300 Joaquin Miller Rd., Oakland. July 9-11, 16-18, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $19-$31 available from 531-9597. www.woodminster.com 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Sacred Spaces,” an exhibition of installation works by Seyed Alavi, Taraneh Hemami, Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman, Rhoda London, and Rene Yung. Performance of “Take a Letter” at 7:30 p.m. Exhibition runs through August 7 at the Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut Street in Live Oak Park Gallery hours are Wed. - Sun. noon to 5 pm. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

FILM 

The Invention of the Western Film: “Forty Guns” at 7:30 p.m. and “3:10 to Yuma” at 9:20 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Old Oakland Outdoor Cinema on Washington St., between 9th and 10th Sts. Music at 5 p.m., and film, “Field of Dreams” at 8 p.m. Bring your own chairs and blankets. sponsored by the City of Oakland and the Old Oakland Historic District. 238-4734. www.filmoakland.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Flavia Bujor, a 15-year old writer from Romania, reads from her new novel “The Prophecy of the Stones” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Alexis Harte Band with Four Year Bender and Beggar’s Jamboree at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway, Oakland. Cost is $8. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org  

Christie McCarthy, acoustic benefit concert, at 7:30 p.m. at 5951 College Ave., College Ave. Presbyterian Church. Donation taken for community meal. 658-3665. www.christiemccarthy.com  

Due West, contemporary folk music, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

“Poemas y Canciones” La Pena Community Chorus sings songs from Neruda’s works at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $8-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Les Yeux Noirs, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenez. Lecture and demonstration on Jewish and Greek music with Prof. Martin Schwartz at 8 p.m. Cost is $15, $5 lecture only. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Most Chill Slack Mob, hip hop, at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $7, $5 with student i.d. 548-1159. www.shattuckdownlow.com 

The Dead Hensons, Poisin Jett Gunz, Unicorn Sticklers at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Will Bernard, guitar, with Ches Smith and Devin Hoff, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $8-$15 sliding scale. www.thejazzhouse.com 

All Ages Show with Let’s Go Bowling, Mass Hysteria and The Ted Dancin’ Machine at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082.  

www.starryploughpub.com  

Satoru Oda, tenor sax, with Vince Lateano Trio, at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Jake Wolf solo electric bass, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

O-Maya, Afro-Cuban Hip-Hop at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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

Plan 9, The Reactionary 3, Ghost Mice, Pirx the Pilot at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Pete Escovedo and His Orchestra at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $15-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Lisa Fay, Val Esway, & Dandeline at the 1923 Teahouse at 9 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$15, no one turned away for lack of funds. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Green and Root at 8 p.m. at Changemakers Books, 6536 Telegraph. Cost is $10-$15. 655-2405. www.changemakersforwomen.com 

SATURDAY, JULY 17 

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., lower level. Sug- 

gested donation $3. Children under 3 free. 549-1564. 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

Rosalyne Blumenstein “Gender & Sexuality” Shed the Shame, See the Truth at 6:30 p.m. at Oakland Box Theater, 1928 Telegraph Ave. 633-0923. 

Henry Navarro, “Subjective Walls” contemporary Cuban artist, reception from 5 to 7 p.m. at La Peña. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Misha Ferguson and Adrien Miller, paintings, photos and sculptures. Reception for the artists from 2 to 5 p.m. at The Art of Living Center, 2905 Shattuck Ave. 848-3736. 

THEATER 

Shotgun Players “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” Sat. and Sun. at 4 p.m. in John Hinkel Park, Southampton Ave., until Aug 29. 841-6500. wwwshotgunplayers.org 

Woman’s Will “As You Like It” Shakespeare set in 1960s London, at 1 p.m. at Live Oak Park. 420-0813. www.womanswill.org 

FILM 

Bergman on a Summer Night: “Cries and Whispers” at 5 and 9 p.m., “Autumn Sonata” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

West Coast Live with author Jack Germond 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 

Roger Burbach and Jim Tarbell will discuss their new book, “Imperial Overstretch, George W. Bush and the Hubris of Empire” from 5 to 7 p.m. at Redwood Gardens, Community Center, 2951 Derby St. www.globalalternatives.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Rafael Manriquez Canto al Poeta will sing songs with verses of Pablo Neruda at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $8-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Mofo Party Band plays West Coast Jump at 2 p.m. at Down Home Music, 10341 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. 525-2129. 

Palenque, Cuban Son, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Dance lesson with Wendy Ellen at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $12. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Michelle Amador, funky jazz influenced vocals, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donations of $8-$15 suggested.  

www.thejazzouse.org 

Long Beach Short Bus, Lavish Green, Fed Up at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $20. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Meat Purveyors, The Boot Cuts, Pickin’ Trix at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

John Schott’s Typical Orchestra at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Oak, Ash & Thorn, a capella, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $17.50 in advance, $18.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Bill Stewart, alto sax, at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

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

No Hope for the Kids, Death Token, Short Eyes at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Times 4, jazz and funk quartet, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Tim Barsky at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$10, no one turned away for lack of funds. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org?

That adage about old dogs and new tricks is not always true. I used to know a dog named Louise, a golden retriever mix, who learned a second language late in life under the tutelage of Bernie the cat. Louise, introduced to a three-cat household, tried to relate to the cats as she would have to other dogs, by sniffing their butts. This offended the cats, of course, and Louise got her nose shredded a couple of times. Then Bernie, the senior cat, took her in hand, demonstrating the proper greeting protocol, the nose-touch. Louise picked it up readily, and peace was restored. 

I remembered Louise and Bernie the other day when I was reading about a presentation UC Davis researcher Alan Rundus made to the Animal Behavior Society’s annual meeting in Oaxaca. Rundus believes California ground squirrels have evolved a way to communicate with their ancient adversary, the northern Pacific rattlesnake, in a way that only the rattlers—not other squirrels—can perceive. Although it’s not quite clear what is being communicated, something definitely seems to be going on. 

California ground squirrels are common, adaptable rodents, found all around the Bay Area in a variety of habitats, from waterfront parks to Coast Range scrub. You can see them hanging out at the Berkeley Marina and the Albany Bulb. They’ve shared a large portion of their range with rattlesnakes for at least 10 million years, time enough for the relationship between predator and prey to develop some interesting complications. 

Adult squirrels are too big a mouthful for a typical rattler. But squirrel pups are another story. The snakes are able to cue in on adult’s behavior to locate burrows that might contain vulnerable young squirrels. If an adult squirrel stands its ground when approached, the snake uses that squirrel as the hub of its search pattern until it locates the pups. 

The adults, in turn, have developed ways to assess how dangerous an individual snake is likely to be, and to react accordingly. Ground squirrel populations that coexist with rattlesnakes have evolved an immunity to the snakes’ venom. So they’re able to engage in what seems to be foolhardy behavior, charging the rattlers, even kicking sand in their faces. They may go farther: Squirrels have been known to kill rattlesnakes in one-on-one combat. 

Even if they can’t actually see a snake, California ground squirrels can gauge its threat potential by the sound of its rattle. Snakes are solar-powered; a cold, torpid snake is less dangerous than a warm snake. UC Davis biologists have found that warmer snakes produce higher-amplitude sounds with a faster rate of vibration. Sound is also a cue to size; larger snakes produce higher-amplitude and lower-frequency noises. When recorded rattles were played back from a concealed speaker near the burrows of free-range squirrels, the squirrels reacted with more caution and alarm to the sounds of big warm snakes than to those of small cold snakes. 

Sound means nothing to a rattlesnake. It hunts by smell, tasting scent molecules with its flickering forked tongue, and by another sense alien to squirrels and other mammals. Heat-sensing organs have evolved at least twice in snakes: In rattlesnakes, cottonmouths, copperheads, and their tropical relatives, collectively known as the pitvipers, and in the more primitive boas and pythons. Herpetologist Harry Greene says a blinded pitviper can detect a mouse that’s only 10 degrees C warmer than its surroundings, and suggests that the pits “are probably infrared imaging devices rather than simply thermal receptors.” 

The Davis researchers had noticed that ground squirrels confronting a rattlesnake seemed to be brandishing their tails. Rundus was the first to discover that this wasn’t just a visual gesture: The squirrels are sending heat signals to the rattlers. Infrared cameras recorded their tails growing warmer as they faced down the snakes. They seem to produce this effect by making their tail fur stand on end to expose more skin, and possibly by dilating the tails’ blood vessels. The squirrels may be sending the snakes a keep-away message, or trying to distract the predators from their offspring. 

Rundus also found that the tail-warming display was specific to rattlesnakes. It didn’t occur when the squirrels faced gopher snakes, which lack pit organs. He tried to run other variations to see how rattlers responded to warm-tailed versus cool-tailed squirrels. “I tried everything: insulation, even injections,” Rundus told a Nature reporter. “But it’s hard not to affect the behavior as well.” 

However, in the best tradition of Davis squirrel-snake studies (prior research involved a squirrel puppet, heated to a lifelike temperature and rolled in squirrel droppings to give it the right odor), Rundus has risen to the challenge. His next round of experiments will feature a stuffed squirrel with a heating element in its tail. Science marches on.  

7

TUESDAY, JULY 13 

Mini-Rangers An afternoon of nature study for ages 8 to 12. Dress to get dirty, bring a healthy snack to share. At Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Fee is $6 for residents, $8 for non-residents. Registration required. 525-2233. 

Family Camping 101 An overview of all the ways to make family camping enjoyable at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Preparing for Your Remodeling Project A two evening class to demystify the design and construction process. Offered by Imagine General Contractors, Inc. July 13 and 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. Cost is $57-$67. To register call 524-9283. 

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Sts from 3 to 7 p.m. This is a project of Spiral Gardens. 843-1307. 

Writer’s Workshop on Book Marketing with David Cole at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

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. 415-336 8736. dan@redefeatbush.com 

“The Cycle, the Rhythm and the Fabric of the Jewish Calendar” at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $12-$15. To register call 848-0237, ext. 112. 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Blood pressure checks at 10:30 a.m. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

Berkeley Camera Clu b 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. 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.  

East Bay Repetitive Strain Injury Support Group will meet at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. The speaker this month is psychologist Jim Jacobs. He will discuss mental exercises for well-being and dealing with chronic pain.  

WEDNESDAY, JULY 14 

Bastille Day Celebration, with a film showing of the 1955 “Rendevous at the Docks,” music by Moh Alileche and others, at 7 p.m. at La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $7. www.laborfest.net 

“Storm from the Mountains” a film documenting the March of Indigenous Dignity in 2001 from Chiapas to Mexico City, at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St. in downtown Oakland. 654-9587. 

Twilight Tour: Conif ers in our Collection Meet the most illustrious members of the conifer group, which includes the largest and longest-lived of organisms on our planet today. From 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $12-$17. To register call 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden. 

berkeley.edu 

Best Backpacking Trips in Northern California, a slide show with Ari Derfel, at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday, rain or shine, at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes, sunscreen and a hat. 548-9840. 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland uptown to the Lake to discover Art Deco landmarks. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of the Paramount The ater at 2025 Broadway. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

Poetry Writing Workshop with Alison Seevak at the Albany Public Library at 7 p.m. at the Albany Public Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 20. 

Berkeley Peace W alk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

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

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

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

THURSDAY, JULY 15 

Twilight Tour: Trees of the Garden From 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $12-$17. To register call 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.b erkeley.edu 

LeConte Neighborhood Association meets at 7:30 in the cafeteria at the LeConte School, Ellsworth at Russell. Use Russell St. entrance. 843-2602. www.neighborhoodlink.com 

Speak Out For Education and Immigrants’ Rights at 6 p.m. at the Greek Ort hodox Cathedral of the Ascension, 4700 Lincoln Ave, Oakland. Sponsored by the Oakland Coalition of Congregations. 625-9490. 

Lavender Seniors of the East Bay, a group for gays, lesbians, bi-sexuals and transgenders over the age of 55, catered lunch at 12:3 0 p.m. at Lakeside Park Garden Center, 666 Bellevue, Oakland. 667-9655. 

Breath and Transformation at 7 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Cost is $25-$30. 883-0600. www.belladonna.ws 

FRIDAY, JULY 16 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at t he 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 a t 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. 

Hayehwatha: A New Understanding of Peace on Earth at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento from 7 to 10 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 415-435-2255. www.HayehwathaInstitute.org  

SATURDAY, JULY 17 

Berkeley Alliance of Neighborhood Associations meets at 9:15 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Sproul Conference Room, 1st Floor, 2727 College Ave. www.berkeleycna.com 

Peach Tas ting and Cooking Demonstration at 11 a.m. at the Saturday Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Center St. at MLK, Jr. Way. 548-3333.  

Designing with Ornamental Grasses with Mike Weston at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

Educators Academy Project Learning Tree A workshop for educators of grades K through 12 on forest ecology. From 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at tilden Nature Area. Fee is $45-51, registration required. 636-1684. 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of F.M “Borax” Smith Estate from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Meet at the redwood tree, corner of McKinley Ave. and Home Place East, one block off Park Boulevard. Tour is limited to 20 persons. Cost is $5 for OHA members, $10 for nonmembers. For reservations call 763-92 18. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Walking Tour of Oakland City Center Meet at 10 a.m. in front Oakland City Hall at Frank Ogawa Plaza. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

Eco-Makeover for Your Urban Home This one-day workshop will teach you how to conserve energy, water, and resources in ways you may never have considered, from the very simple to the more advanced. From 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Sponsored by California Youth Energy Services, Rising Sun Energy Center, Berkeley EcoHouse, and the Ecology Center. Cost is $20-$40 sliding scale. Registration required. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

“Revolution” a film of a talk by Bob Avakian at 1 p.m. the Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 848-1196. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Tasting from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Edith Stone Room of the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. If you are interesting in competing, entry forms are available at the Library refernce desk. Suggested donation is $5 per person, $7 per family. Funds wil l help buy books for children for the Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps. 526-3720. 

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. 

Improv Workshop The Oakland Playhouse Improv T roupe is teaching an introduction to improv workshop from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby at MLK. Also on Sun. 595-5597. 

Vocal Jazz Workshop with Richard Kalman from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. followed by jam session, at the Albany Community Cent er. 1249 Marin Ave. 524-9283.  

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 pe r 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. 

Liberating Mother Mary w orkshop to learn what Mary says about herself in her famous apparitions in Mexico, Lourdes, Fatima, and Medjugorje. From noon to 4 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Donations requested. 707-874-3397. 

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

SUNDAY, JULY 18 

Out Front for Kerry! LGBT Community and Friends Gala featuring Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Singer/Songwriter Margie Adam, Clinton adviser David Mixner, Assemblyman Mark Leno and more. Reception from 2 to 4 p.m. at the DoubleTree Hotel at the Berkeley Marina, 200 Marina Blvd. Tickets $250; lower price option available to volunteers. For information call 644-0172. www.lgbt4kerry.com/july.htm. 

“Boot Bush in the Bushes” Cookout/Fu ndraiser in Roberts Park from 1 to 4 p.m. Sponsored by the Metropolitan Greater Oakland Democratic Club. In addition to the barbecue, there will be entertainment, kids activities, and encouragement by local Democratic leaders, plus special guest appearan ces by George Bush and John Kerry (or unreasonable facsimiles). Cost is $25 per person, children under 12 free. Roberts Park is north of Skyline Boulevard and Joaquin Miller Road. There is a $4 per car charge for parking. For more information 531-3077. 

“I ndependent Media in a TIme of War” a film featuring Amy Goodman at 3 p.m. at the Parkway Theatre, 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland. Free admission Followed by Oakland Indy video producer Jay Finneburg with his own guerilla videos. Community discussion will follow film screening. 

The Liquid of Life A workshop for youth and their families on water and water quality, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. 525-2233. 

“What You and I Must Do for Peace” a presentation by the Peace Committee of UUCB, at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Road, Kensington. 525-0302.  

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. Eenter by the dirt road on Derby. Free. Wheelchair accessible. Sponsored by the East Bay Labyrinth Project. 526-7377. 

Goat Fest Meet the goats that chew the Berkeley hillsides to help prevent fires. There will be music, goats to pet, and goat-related, hands-on activities. From 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Lawrence Hall of Science. 643-5961. www.lawrencehallofscience.org  

Campfire and Sing-A-Long at 5:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. Bring your hot dogs, buns, marshmallows, long sticks and dress for possible f og. We’ll walk uphill to the campfire circle. Call for disabled assistance. 525-2233. 

Bike Trip to Explore Historic Oakland on the third Sunday of the month through October. Tours leave the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Fallon Sts., at 10 a.m. fo r a leisurely 5-mile tour on flat land. Bring bike, helmet, water and snacks. Free, but reservations required. 238-3524. 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of Middle Elmhurst from 1 to 4 p.m. Meet at Arroyo Viejo Recreation Center, 7701 Krause Ave., a t 77th St. Tour is limited to 20 persons. Cost is $5 for OHA members, $10 for nonmembers. For reservations call 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

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

Introduction to TaKeTiNa Learn a new way understand music, rhythm and yourself, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Ashkenaz Back Dance Studio, 1217 San Pablo Ave. Cos tis $35. to register call 650-493-8046. www.villageheartbeat.com  

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 

Tibetan Buddhism with Lama Palzang and Pema Gellek on “The Perfection of Patience” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

“Eckhart Tolle Talks on Video,” gatherings at 6:30 p.m. to hear the words o f the author of “The Power of Now” at the Feldenkrais Ctr., 830 Bancroft Way. Donation $3. 526-9117. 

MONDAY, JULY 19 

The Coalition for a democratic Pacifica meeting with speakers from Pushing Limits Disability Collective at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Fellowship, corner of Cedar and Bonita.  

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. 

Iyengar Yoga on Mondays from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Cost is $12. 528-9909. 

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. 

ONGOING 

Berkeley Youth Al ternative Boys Basketball Tournament will be held from July 21 through Aug. 8 at Emery High School in Emeryville. Divisions are 17 and under, 15 and under, and 12 and under. Entry fee is $200 per team with a three game guarantee. For more information call 845-9066. sports@byaonline.org 

Free Summer Lunch Programs are offered to youth age 18 and under at various sites in Berkeley, including James Kenny Rec. Center, Frances Albrier Center, Strawberry Creek, Longfellow School, MLK Youth Services Center, Rosa Parks School and Washington School, Mon. - Fri. 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. until Aug. 20. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley Health Dept. 981-5351. 

Radio Summer Camp, four day sessions from June 4 through Sept. 6. Learn how to build and operate a community r adio station. Sponsored by Radio Free Berkeley. 625-0314. www.freeradio.org  

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues., July 13, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers, Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Commission on Disabil ity meets Wed., July 14, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Paul Church, 981-6342. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/disability 

Four by Four Joint Task Force on Housing Members of City Council and the Rent Board meet Mon. June 14, at 5:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Stephen Barton, 981-5400. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/4x4/default.htm 

Homeless Commission meets Wed., July 14, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jane Micallef, 981-5426. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/homeless 

Library Board of Trustees meets Wed., July 14, at 7 p.m. at 1901 Russell St. Jackie Y. Griffin, 981-6195. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/library 

Planning Commission meets Wed., July 14, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Cent er. Ruth Grimes, 981-7481. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/planning 

Police Review Commission meets Wed. July 14, at 7:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, Barbara Attard, 981-4950. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/policereview 

Waterfront Comm ission meets Wed., July 14, at 7 p.m., at 201 University Ave. Cliff Marchetti. 644-6376 ext. 224. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/waterfront 

Design Review Committee meets Thurs., July 15, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Anne Burns, 981-7415. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/designreview  

Fair Campaign Practices Commission meets Thurs., July 15, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Prasanna Rasaih, 981-6950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/faircampaign 

Transportation Commission meets Thurs., July 15, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Peter Hillier, 981-7000. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/transportation 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meets Mon. July 19, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Pam Wyche 644-6128 ext. 113. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/rent›/

We must be doing something right, since we’ve gotten a bunch of letters and phone calls complaining about our profile of Livable Berkeley. The majority of them, some of which we printed, complained that the piece was too soft on the organization, which seems to be a real thorn in the side of Berkeley residents who feel that they’re living in the target zone for Smart Growth zealots. We also got a couple of complaints on the other side, from Livable Berkeley members, both of whom live in Berkeley and are employed in offshoots of the development industry. 

Yes, there is an editorial position in this space on Livable Berkeley, and yes, we do our best to keep it out of the news columns. We were present at the creation of the organization, and while it had a difficult birth it seems to have matured into a normal lobbying group, quite fine as long as it adheres to truth in packaging when it pushes for its opinions to be adopted as public policy in the city of Berkeley.  

Livable Berkeley got its first public exposure at a meeting in the Main Library of people who had opposed Measure P, the attempt at enacting a height limit in Berkeley. Many of the anti-P people were sincere advocates of affordable housing development, and they were persuaded that height limits would be bad for affordable housing. Others were of the doing well by doing good flavor: people who make their living building new buildings, or working for those who do. In the usual style of new organizations in Berkeley, they elected committees of one kind and another, and got into mini-brawls over mission statements. Again in a familiar Berkeley pattern, the instigators then dropped the pretense of being member-run and re-grouped as a board-directed organization with non-voting members. All normal so far, but here’s where it gets cute. 

The current chair of the Livable Berkeley board, David Early, just happens to run a firm which happens to have done the much-criticized environmental impact work for UC’s latest long range development plan. And he just happens to be the boss, in his very small firm, of the spouse of the City of Berkeley’s current planning director. And the great majority of the current Livable Berkeley boardmembers just happen to have made their living from development activity one way and another. Still, it’s their right to form a lobbying group to promote their ideas—some of which, admittedly, seem goofy to us. 

For example: They’ve never met a big building they don’t like. They’re over the top for Seagate’s megaplex nine-story downtown project, which many in the arts community have criticized for using a very modest arts space contribution to leverage big concessions from the city of Berkeley. They pushed the Planning Department’s original big-box University Avenue zoning proposal which neighborhood groups and PlanBerkeley.org opposed.  

Also: They say they have about 100 members, some of whom live in Berkeley. It would look better if most or all lived in Berkeley, or if members were allowed to vote, or if we could find out who their members actually are. 

Then there’s their spokesman: In his interview with the Daily Planet, Chairman Early seemed to be supporting the idea of 10-story buildings for North Shattuck because it’s 100 feet wide. He also suggested that people who weren’t able-bodied enough to ride bicycles could use Segways (powered scooters) instead. But it’s hard to take this stuff seriously, or to worry about it too much. 

It’s the truth in packaging aspect, however, that bears continuing scrutiny. Mayor Bates appointed Chairman Early to his 10-member task force on development, though LB has fewer than 100 members, while appointing no representatives of organizations which have doubts about development, like the 1,500-member Berkeley Architectural Heritage Organization. Livable Berkeley sent a vocal representative to join the deliberations of the LPC subcommittee on revising the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance, though he couldn’t vote, of course. Livable Berkeley activists have been trying to get council appointments to many commissions, and have persuaded at least one developer-funded councilmember to appoint their people. All of this is perfectly legal, or at least we think it is, but a faint aura of conflict of interest hangs over the whole picture. We would be unhappy if the city’s decision-makers allowed important decisions to be unduly influenced by the vocalizations of a well-funded, well-wired, but ultimately unrepresentative small association of interested parties like Livable Berkeley.  

—Becky O’Malley 

›

Last week a Berkeley woman died in a fire which started in her bedroom. Neighbors said she was a cigarette smoker. Fire Marshal David Orth has not yet definitively reported on what caused the fire, but he thinks a dropped cigarette was the most probable cause. Statistically speaking, there’s a very good chance it was the cigarette, because many, many fires are started by dropped cigarettes.  

Exactly 25 years ago this month, Mother Jones magazine published an article which I wrote, “Cigarettes and Sofas,” documenting the relationship between cigarettes and fires. It reported on “self-extinguishing” cigarettes, designed to go out if not actively puffed on by the smoker, and on how the tobacco industry had successfully suppressed information about them.  

The article was based on preliminary research by Andrew McGuire of San Francisco’s Trauma Foundation, and my own research was funded by $3,500 from the Oakland Firefighter’s Union, spearheaded by the enthusiasm of member Ray Gatchalian (who died too young in an auto accident last year.) At the time it was published, it got a lot of attention, leading to several television adaptations and receiving an award from Project Censored, which at the time (and perhaps still) spotlighted stories which were ignored by the mainstream press. It was reprinted from time to time over the years—Mother Jones offered me a $12 royalty check for reprints not too long ago. There were lawsuits by victims of cigarette fires, and bills in Congress and in state legislatures to require cigarettes to be self-extinguishing. As long as big tobacco was powerful and well-funded, nothing happened. 

It took more than 25 years and a lot of work by a lot of people to begin to solve this relatively straightforward safety problem. That’s somewhat of a cautionary tale for those who believe in the power of the press. Just finding out the truth is not enough, as Andrew McGuire, who first pulled the statistics together, can tell you. Without the sponsorship of the firefighters, Andrew’s research might never have seen the light of day in print. Even after the facts were before the public, both in print and on television, it took court cases and lobbying legislatures to get anything accomplished.  

Just this June, 25 years later, with the tobacco industry now on the defensive, New York’s state law mandating fire-safe cigarettes finally came on line. It’s about time. New York has a big percentage of the smoking market, so this law will save many lives. Canada’s Parliament also passed such a law in April of this year. California should be next. With both California and New York on the books, it’s likely the American tobacco industry would find it practical to give in and make all cigarettes sold nationwide self-extinguishing. Sponsoring such a bill would be a good project for Berkeley Assemblywoman Loni Hancock or for Oakland’s peppy Wilma Chan. 

And all you Berkeley puritans, don’t write in and say self-righteously that smokers get what they deserve, that they should just stop smoking. Of course that’s true, but cigarette fires also claim many innocent victims along with smokers. If you’re able to get a bill passed banning smoking altogether, that might work to stop cigarette fires, but based on the length of time it’s taken to get the first fire-safe cigarette bill passed, don’t hold your breath. 

—Becky O’Malley