After a 46-12 vote early Thursday evening, Berkeley-Albany YMCA Head Start teachers officially have their first union. 

Shouts of joy went up afterwards as those who will be in the bargaining unit—including teachers, teacher assistants, family providers, administrative workers and maintenance workers—celebrated the victory outside the YMCA on Tenth Street in West Berkeley. 

“We won!” shouted Clara Vann into her cell phone while she hugged other workers.  

The workers’ organizing drive, which started six weeks ago, was one of the quickest they’ve seen, according to representatives from the Oakland-based Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 616. The speed, they said, is due to the strong commitment from several workers but also reflects the general consensus that a union was long overdo for Head Start workers at the Berkeley-Albany YMCA. 

According to the union, workers initiated a union drive several years ago that was soundly defeated after the Y hired an anti-union consulting firm. The only employees that currently have a union are the custodial workers who work for a company that has a contract with the Y. 

According to some of nearly 80 workers in the new bargaining unit, their main concerns included rampant favoritism, lack of job security, and low wages. Andrea Morabido, a teacher with five years experience, an associate degree, and 70-plus units of early childhood development credits said she’s constantly been overlooked for higher positions because management refuses to follow any sort of promotions rules. Recently, Morabido said she was forced to work under the supervision of another teacher who was not as qualified. And while not opposed to letting a skilled teacher do her job, she said she was upset because she felt like there was no structure. 

“I’m not saying she didn’t know her stuff, but rules are rules,” said Morabido. “I’ve seen how they’ve treated two people basically at the same level, two different ways.” 

Larry Bush, the president and CEO of the Berkeley-Albany YMCA, denies the alleged lack of rules concerning staff and says a clear structure set forth by the federal government is in place and used to govern the Y. Without strict rules, reviewed once every three years, the Y would not receive funding he said.   

“As in any organization there is a structure,” he said. “I’m sure [favoritism] happens around the world. Is [the employee’s claim] real? I’m not aware of it.” 

“Of course there is a pay structure, it’s open, it’s transparent,” he said. 

When asked if they understood the pay structure however, several other employees supported Morabido’s claim.  

“It just goes to show you what happens when people are extremely discontent,” said Morabido. 

The vote, while quick, was not without incident according to union organizers. In particular, workers and community members, including Berkeley city councilmember Kriss Worthington, were upset when they received two letters released by the YMCA during the drive that they characterized as anti-union.  

On the first, Bush included details such as time and place of the vote but also placed three bullet points about the income generated by Local 616 and where they allocate the money. Defended by Bush as “information to help the workers make an informed decision,” others saw the letters as the YMCA trying to sway the vote, which is illegal. 

In a letter sent to Bush, Worthington called the summary of the union fiscal report “distorted and inaccurate.” 

“For employees to receive false information days before a scheduled election could be perceived by many people as an attempt to unfairly influence the vote,” Worthingon wrote. 

In a second letter, the YMCA listed a number of employees as union supporters and then drew up a comparison between the union and the YMCA. Being listed, said workers, was intimidating and Worthington sent out another letter to employees telling them the letter contained more “inaccurate and/or extremely distorted information.” 

“I apologize that you are again being subjected to this barrage of inaccuracies, and in one page, misrepresentation about 20 employees. Sometimes management uses intimidation, or temporary improvements, or promises of improvements to scare folks into voting against a union,” Worthington wrote. 

Both management and workers said beyond the union, their primary commitment is to the children and families served by Head Start. Better working conditions and more job security means better teachers according to the workers.  

The drive is also part of a larger campaign that SEIU is running across the country to organize Head Start workers.  

According to a report released by the National Head Start Association (NHSA), the Bush administration’s Fiscal year 2004 budget proposes a system where money from the Federal Head Start budget would be transferred into new or existing early childhood programs run by the state. 

According to the report, the proposal would effectively destroy the Head Start program in five years by placing its money in a “hodgepodge of inconsistent and untested state government programs.”  

Union officials agree and say they are building their numbers to increase their lobbying power. They want the money to stay with the federal government because with current budget crisis, especially here in California, schools are one of the programs hardest hit. 

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Alleged construction defects at a second of Patrick Kennedy’s stucco-clad downtown apartment buildings have triggered another lawsuit pitting the developer against his architect and Berkeley contractor Kimes Morris. 

The suit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court on July 13, alleges that construction defects at the five-story Berkeleyan at 1910 Oxford St. caused leaks resulting in “decaying and deteriorating structural members of the interior courtyard. . .creating a serious life and safety hazard.” 

A similar suit filed last year over alleged construction flaws in the nearby Gaia Building on Allston Way between Oxford and Shattuck Avenue has cost the developer over $10 million, according to papers filed with the court. 

Each of Kennedy’s Berkeley projects has been created as a separate legal entity, either a limited liability corporation (LLC) or a limited partnership (LP). 

The latest suit, filed by The Berkeleyan, LLC, names three defendants also included in the Gaia suit: Kimes Morris, architect Randall Harris, and Richard’s Roofing. While the contractor used Cres DP Inc. as the stucco contractor at the Gaia, defendant Nava E. Nava Plastering Inc. applied the stucco at the Berkeleyan. 

While the Gaia Building’s problems largely involved the structure’s exterior walls, problems at the Berkeleyan were centered on the interior courtyard. 

The Berkeleyan suit targets the protective flashing at the base of the courtyard’s support columns, along the courtyard perimeter walkway, at the juncture of the deck to the walls, along the parapets, at the doorways, and where exterior walls are penetrated by pipes. 

The suit also blames inadequate installation of roofing materials, improper installation of waterproofing membrane, and lack of drainage under the slab of the interior courtyard walkway and the lack of a drainage (weep) panel at the base of the interior courtyard columns. 

Extensive reconstruction of the courtyard began in December, when a plastic shroud covering was erected and scaffolding went up. Further reconstruction work was visible in June, when a large chute for dumping construction was installed from the roof level to the ground. 

Neither Kennedy, his attorney Robert Riggs, nor Kimes Morris had returned calls by presstime. 

Berkeley Planning Director Dan Marks said he had no idea whether or not stucco construction flaws were more widespread in Berkeley than in other cities. 

“With almost any construction material you will end up having trouble over time,” Marks said. “I don’t know if it’s a general problem, or just a specific problem, a civil matter, between this developer and his contractor. I just don’t have enough information.” 

Problems at the Gaia Building have resulted in complaints from tenants, many of whom have said they’re afraid to speak on the record, said Berkeley City Councilmember Dona Spring, whose district includes both buildings. 

Nancy Pfeffer, research analyst for Cal Rentals, said she hadn’t heard of any student complaints about either building, while Jesse Arreguin, housing commissioner for the Associated Students of the University of California, told the Daily Cal that student tenants at the Gaia were threatening to file suits. 

Spring said she had heard that the parents of some students at the Gaia Building had threatened to sue. 

Spring said, “I did hear from a couple of tenants at the Berkeleyan. One, who said there had been quite a bit of ongoing construction over the years, said he wanted out. He said that because of construction defects, he can’t open his windows and because of the heat he has to open his door to sleep at night.” 

Spring said several Gaia tenants had complained of the smell of the mold infesting the building, and some said the water was attracting mosquitos. 

Because of ongoing problems at the Gaia Building, Spring said, “if tenants are smart, they can negotiate the rent down. Two-bedroom apartments that were listed at $2,400 were renting for as low as $1,100.” 

While Kennedy’s Berkeleyan lawsuit doesn’t specifically mention mold, infestation is suggested by mention of “decaying and deteriorating structural members,” problems typically caused by molds which feed on the carbohydrates in wood. 

Councilmember Spring also said she had received reports of a potentially more serious problems with the Berkeleyan’s foundations.

Councilmember Betty Olds will face a familiar challenger this November. Norine Smith, a waterfront commissioner who in 2000 barely managed to garner one third of Olds’ vote in a three-person race, is taking another run at the District Six council seat Ol ds has owned since 1992. 

“I’ve got a chance,” said Smith, a retired head of two computer consulting firms. “At first I didn’t think so because Betty’s so entrenched, but I think people want a change.” 

Olds is considered one of the council’s more conservative members and has coasted to reelection three times.  

Paul Kamen, Smith’s colleague on the Waterfront Commission, has also been rumored to be challenging Olds, but he said Thursday a run would be extremely unlikely and that there was no way he could beat the incumbent. 

Smith said she started thinking she could win while walking the steep slopes of District 6, which extends from part of Hearst Avenue through the northeast Berkeley hills. She said she was encouraged that a political independent who counts progressive councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Dona Spring as friends would get such a warm response from residents known to drift more towards the political center. 

“It’s fun to ring the same doorbells and have people tell you how happy they are to see you running again and how sorry they were that you lost,” she said. 

If Smith succeeds this time around, she promises to put the voters’ interests first. 

“I’d vote however the neighbors want,” she said. “I consider the city to be the sum of its ne ighborhoods.” 

Smith is running on a three-point platform: Environmental protection, neighborhood preservation and fiscal responsibility. 

She wants Berkeley and Caltrans to revisit a planned wall—comprised of trees and cement—at Aquatic Park to shield pa rts of the city from car emissions along I-80. And, unlike Olds, Smith opposes an estimated $275,000 extension to the bay trail that would necessitate chopping down nearly 100 trees in the Berkeley Marina. 

Smith, a vocal advocate for 2002’s Measure P, wh ich would have lowered height limits for new developments on several Berkeley streets, said she would fight against out-of-scale projects, whether they were proposed by the university or by private developers. She hesitated to name her supporters, but sai d Martha Nicoloff, the co-author of Berkeley’s neighborhood preservation ordinance, has endorsed her. 

On finances, Smith wants the city to deepen spending cuts and opposes the four tax hikes the City Council has placed on the November ballot. Olds, one o f the council’s most adamant tax opponents, supported only the tax increase for the library. 

Smith praised Olds as “a strong lady” who has recently taken a stronger stand on preservation, but said she could be a more vigorous voice for the environment, preservation and sound fiscal management. 

One area where Smith knows she can’t match Olds is fundraising. Last year the incumbent outspent Smith roughly five-to-one.  

“Every day before the election Betty sent out a beautiful glossy pamphlet,” Smith said. “If I didn’t know better I would have voted for her too.” 

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Developers of the proposed massive Campus Bay waterfront residential development in Richmond have put their plans on hold pending completion of a key environmental review by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB). 

While the project’s original timeline anticipated all approvals would be in hand this month, Richmond Planning Director Barry Cromartie notified developer Cherokee Simeon in late June that RCWQB delays had forced him to divert city staff to other projects. 

Cherokee Simeon is a joint venture by Marin County developer SImeon Properties and Cherokee Investment Partners, a firm that specializes in building on renovated toxic sites.  

Simeon Vice President Susan J. Cronk asked the city earlier this month to suspend all processing on the project “until further notice.”  

“This is a long-term process, and it will take more than days, weeks or even a few months to complete,” said Curtis T. Scott, chief of the Groundwater Protection and Waste Containment Division of the water board’s San Francisco regional office. 

“We’ve met with local citizens, and they are requesting updates on project work plans and we’re working on the notification process,” Scott said. 

“Last winter the developers came to us and said they wanted to do residential development on the site. ‘Really?’ we said. Then we called (California) Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and they’re working with us,” Scott said. 

The water board’s primary concern is the wetlands on the western edge of the site. They had no objections to Simeon’s original plans for the site, which called for light industrial development, but things changed when the developer, in the wake of the post-9/11 economic slowdown, switched to housing.  

The water board has raised several concerns about the reconceived project, including the possible effect of toxic exposures to long-term residents, and is seeking input from several federal, state and local agencies, including: 

• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

• Army Corps of Engineers. 

• Bay Conservation and Development Commission. 

• California Department of Toxic Substances Control. 

• Contra Costa County De-partment of Environmental Health. 

• East Bay Regional Parks District. 

• Bay Area Air Quality Management District. 

“If we reach a point where our staff wants to either approve or deny the project, we’ll send out notification to the concerned parties and they will have 30 days to respond before we hold a public hearing,” Scott said. 

Of particular concern to the state’s Department of Toxic Substances control is the question of whether development over the contaminated soil of a former chemical site poses health risks to residents of the proposed 1,330-unit complex of 18-story high-rise, three-to-eight-story mid-rise condos, plus townhouses condos and low-rise loft apartments. 

The site also houses a 16-acre life sciences center, with two of the projected four research buildings already in operation, which the DTSC had earlier approved. Residential use, however, raised different issues. 

From 1897 to 1997, the 40-acre site, located west of I-580 southwest of Meade Street near the Bayview Avenue exit, housed plants producing industrial and agricultural chemicals. 

Stauffer Chemical refined sulfur from iron pyrite, adding high levels of contaminants to the soil, and Zeneca, Inc., added additional toxics from its on-site production of nitric acid, fungicides, herbicides, insecticides and a potpourri of other compounds. 

The developer has confined the toxic soil under a clay cap which was deemed sufficient for the low rise buildings of a research park.  

The DTSC has raised their own concerns about the project, which they are currently evaluating. “We’re still reviewing the risk assessment,” said DTSC spokesperson Angela Blanchette. 

Barbara J. Cook, chief of the DTSC’s Berkeley-based Northern California Coastal Cleanup Operations Branch, wants the project’s environmental impact report (EIR) to address such issues as: 

• The impact to air quality from on-site construction and earth-moving activity. 

• How building larger structures on the treated soil would affect the protective cap and pollutants beneath. 

• Consequences of a major quake or other “catastrophic geological event” on the cap and protective barriers of the toxics site. 

• Potential exposure risks to builders, residents, workers visitors, recreational users, and sensitive wildlife habitats. 

• The possibility that hazardous wastes from other nearby sites might encroach on the site. 

• Possible health effects on residents and workers from exposure to the soil and to vapors rising up from groundwater. 

The project has raised considerable apprehension among some Richmond residents, and one group—Bay Area Residents for Responsible Development—has retained attorney Peter Weiner of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, a San Francisco law firm, to assist them in challenging the project. 

Weiner filed a seven-page letter raising issues the residents want the developer’s EIR and city staff to address. 

While raising concerns about toxins and the project’s impact on the environment, including loss of open space and wetlands along with habitat for an endangered shorebird—the clapper rail—Weiner also raises questions about the loss of view and other esthetic values to existing homeowners, additional strain on public services and increased traffic congestion. 

Simeon spokesperson Karen Stern of Singer Associates, a San Francisco public relations firm, said the developer is currently reevaluating the project to find ways to meet the concerns of Richmond residents and environmentalists. 

“We are looking at ways of redesigning the size and placements of the buildings,” Stern said. “The [high-rise] towers have been something of a lightning rod, and while we’re making no firm commitment, we are looking at ways to incorporate their concerns. It’s still the hope of Cherokee Simeon that they’ll be able to move forward with the residential project.” 

The developer is launching an Internet site early next week at www.campusbay.info “with a lot of information on the cleanup” of the toxic waste “to correct the misinformation that’s out there.” 

LFR Levine-Fricke, the Emeryville-based toxic cleanup specialists who performed the $20 million restoration of the Campus Bay site, is currently pushing a major casino and hotel project on another toxic Richmond site—the former U.S. Navy Fuel Depot at Point Molate. 

The Naval Facilities Engineering Command has scheduled a meeting for 6 p.m. Aug. 4 at the Richmond Public Library, 325 Civic Center Plaza to review the latest stage in the cleanup, this one focussed on a one-acre used as a dump between 1953 and 1957. 

Information on the site is available to the public at the library and at the Richmond Redevelopment Agency, 1401 Marina Way South.›

The University of California has placed 19 employees at the Los Alamos National Laboratory on paid investigatory leave pending a federal probe into missing classified material at the lab, George “Pete” Nanos, the lab director, announced at a Thursday pre ss conference. 

Nanos declined to give a timeline for restarting classified research at the country’s premier weapons lab, which he halted last week following the discovery of two missing discs from a safe. 

The discs contained information that required m id-level security protections, Nanos said. He refused to elaborate on the discs’ contents and cautioned that there was no evidence of espionage in their disappearance. All of the 11 lab employees who had the access code to the safe are among the 19 placed on leave. 

The scandal is the latest in a series of administrative embarrassments to jolt the UC-managed lab over the past five years. With the Department of Energy ordering a competition for management of the lab in the coming months, the missing discs will likely make UC a longshot to retain control of the lab when its contract expires in 2005. 

Nanos, a retired vice admiral hired last year to restore order, blamed the security failures on the lab’s lax culture, which, he said, in spite of the uproar o ver the current security breach, remains embedded among some of the nation’s top scientists. 

“There is almost a suicidal denial of the facts that exist in Los Alamos and the reaction of the country to them,” he said. 

In meeting with lab employees Thursd ay morning, Nanos said he warned them that if they didn’t adhere to safety and security protocols, the government would shift its research dollars to other sites. 

“I think that comes as a surprise to some [at the lab] but it’s starting to sink in,” he sa id. 

UC Vice President Robert Foley bashed a lack of accountability and culture of entitlement at the lab. “This is absolutely unacceptable that people who don’t follow the rules keep their positions,” he said. 

Foley’s charge mirrored those of Energy Sec retary Spencer Abraham, who Tuesday issued a statement blasting lab employees for not understanding the gravity of the situation and threatening to fire managers. He requested to the FBI to join a “wall-to-wall” hunt for the missing discs. 

To prevent further security breaches, Nanos announced that custodians of classified materials would be transferred to the security office. Previously, he said, some custodians worked for groups within the 12,000-employee lab that would have been positioned to pressure them “not to do their job properly.”  

Also, UC announced that it had appointed Jack Killeen, most recently the General Manager of the DOE Central Training Academy, to the newly created position of special assistant for Los Alamos National Laboratory secu rity.  

The missing discs come on the heels of other recent scandals at the lab. In 1999, lab scientist Wen Ho Lee was accused of copying nuclear secrets, and in 2002, several management abuses were uncovered, including a widespread practice of buying per sonal goods on the lab’s account. 

The UC Board of Regents hasn’t decided whether or not to compete for management of the lab. A faculty poll released last May showed two-thirds of professors favored trying to retain control. 

Nanos said the troubles plaguing the lab run deeper than management. “It’s no longer an issue of competition,” he said. “It’s an issue of survival.” 

The City Council Tuesday placed three controversial measures on the November ballot, but not before tweaking their wording and going on record opposing their passage—all in a manner one councilmember thought might violate state law. 

In other news from Tuesday’s meeting—the last before a nine-week summer recess—the council agreed to provide emergency funding to a debt-ridden local jobs program and threw out a neighborhood vote on undergrounding utility wires because of a legal issue and confusion over the project’s cost to residents. 

This was the council’s last meeting before the summer break. The council will next meet on Sept. 21. 

The ballot measures would make prostitution the city’s lowest police priority, grant new rights to medical cannabis users and distributors—including by-right zoning for new cannabis clubs in commercial districts—and establish a board to regulate the city’s public trees.  

The City Council wants none of the above, so last week—instead of simply placing them on the ballot, which they are required to do—they created a four-member subcommittee to revise the ballot summaries that voters will read on their touch-screen voting machines and sample ballots. 

After Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmember Dona Spring wrangled over ballot language, the subcommittee unanimously approved slight revisions to the prostitution and marijuana measures and reached general agreement on more substantive changes to the ballot summary for the tree initiative. 

But there was one problem, said Councilmember Kriss Worthington after the council meeting. The subcommittee reached “unanimous” agreement without ever meeting face-to-face. The subcommittee reported they met “informally and via e-mail” to reach a consensus, which Worthington believed violated the state’s Brown Act prohibiting the majority of members of an official public body from discussing an issue outside of a noticed-public meeting. 

“Every subcommittee that I’ve been on has been governed by the Brown Act,” he said. 

But City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque said the subcommittee was an ad hoc body, not subject to the Brown Act. The law would only have applied, she said, if the subcommittee had a fixed meeting schedule, comprised a majority of the council or a continuing matter of jurisdiction, like the council’s Agenda Committee. 

Attorneys for the California First Amendment Coalition (CFAC) and California Aware sided with Albuquerque.  

“I hate to say it but she’s right,” said Lisa Sitkin, a San Francisco attorney who mans the CFAC hotline. “It’s all carved out there and she followed it to the letter.” 

“I’m not positive that it’s illegal, but I think it’s immoral,” Worthington said. “When we appoint subcommittees I think the public should know what they’re doing.” He said Albuquerque gave him the impression that the subcommittee never met in person because the meeting would have to be noticed. 

Worthington also griped about the council’s vote to oppose the measures they placed on the ballot when the meeting agenda didn’t specify that such a vote would take place. 

Albuquerque replied the vote was legal since the all three measures were listed on the meeting agenda for discussion. The council’s vote to oppose them Tuesday can now be incorporated into the official opposing arguments mailed to voters. 

Also reaching voters before the election will be the city attorney’s analysis of the measures, much to the chagrin of tree ordinance sponsor Elliot Cohen, who last week argued the city attorney’s analysis and the city’s impact report on his measure were full of inaccuracies and overestimated the price of his proposed tree board at $250,000 annually plus $100,000 in start-up costs. 

After Cohen met with city officials last week to address his concerns, the city attorney’s analysis now simply lists initial costs at $350,000.  

Albuquerque said she had to compress the two cost figures previously written in two separate sentences to include other language that Cohen requested and keep the analysis within the mandated 500 words. 

Cohen, though, smelled a rat. “Sine I complained about inaccuracies they raised it to $350,000,” he said. “When the city collapses two sentences into one and it costs them $100,000, they need to learn how to edit.” 

He still insists that the tree board, empowered to license tree workers and regulate the planting and removal of trees, would cost far less than $250,000 and require a quarter-time staff member to administer, not two full-time staffers as the city estimates. 

But Deputy City Manager Lisa Caronna said the tree ordinance would be “incredibly cumbersome” and require a huge amount of staff work to serve the board, hear appeals, conduct investigations and administer the ordinance. 

Utilities Undergrounding 

A legal technicality and some oudated financial data will keep a Berkeley Hills neighborhood battle to bury its unsafe and unsightly utility wires broiling through September.  

With ballots scheduled to be counted at Tuesday’s meeting, the council invalidated the vote because the ballot overstated costs and—contrary to state law—excluded the formula for how different properties would be assessed. 

The ballots estimated the costs at $3 million, but recent contract bids have pegged the price at $2.3 million. 

New ballots will be sent and counted at the council’s Sept. 21 meeting. If residents of the 105-house tract district near the Kensington border approve the plan, they would be the first in Berkeley to bear the costs of undergrounding their utilities. 

Under the current scheme, residents with a bay view would pay $24,000, residents without a view would pay $21,000 and residents on the periphery of the district would pay $18,000. 

While neighbors disagreed on whether the safety and beatification benefits of undergrounding were worth the price, most agreed that the council had overstepped its bounds last month when it lowered the threshold needed for passage from 70 percent to 60 percent without alerting residents of its ruling. 

“We had always made the decisions on the basis of a 70 percent vote,” said Terry Mandel, an early supporter of undergrounding. “To have it changed in these rooms only to make it easier to pass really feels like a betrayal by the city.” 

“I apologize you didn’t have notice,” Mayor Tom Bates told the roughly two-dozen residents assembled in the council’s chambers. “We believed we were trying to advance the cause of undergrounding.” 

As a compromise measure, the council set the vote threshold at two-thirds. Although that creates the risk of neighborhood division if the final vote falls between 66 and 70 percent, residents appeared pleased. 

“I would have preferred 70 percent, but I did feel heard tonight and that was important to me,” said Cambria Lowe, an opponent of undergrounding. 

Jobs Consortium 

The council gave City Manager Phil Kamlarz authority to grant up to $50,000 to the Jobs Consortium if the money can help the nonprofit re-start its training and job placement services for the city’s homeless. Earlier this month the 16-year-old non- profit shut its doors and sent lay-off notices to its 50 employees after a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Review found that it had failed to raise enough cash to qualify for its HUD grants over the past three years. 

The Jobs Consortium needed to raise $588,088 in local funds annually to qualify for three HUD grants totaling $2.5 million. Failing to achieve the local match, the nonprofit valued a training program offered by a local union to equal the match. HUD, however, invalidated the match and now wants repayment of up to $1.5 million. 

Berkeley, Oakland and Alameda County and HUD are working on a possible deal to bail out the Jobs Consortium before a July 27 deadline for HUD funding. The Berkeley money would come from $100,000 set aside for incentives for community agencies to improve administrative services. 

With the cash match gap estimated to be about $486,000, Housing Director Steve Barton told council, the jurisdictions are working to preserve one or two grants. 

Land Use 

The council also upheld the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s ruling to include a building at 2104 Sixth St. in the newly created Oceanview Sisterna Historical District and the Zoning Adjustment Board’s decision to grant a use permit for a four-story, 51-unit apartment complex with retail space and 67 parking spaces at 1800 San Pablo Ave. at Delaware Street. 

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The assessed value of privately owned property in Berkeley jumped 7.5 percent during the past fiscal year, from $9,048,160,060 to $9,724, 464,361, reports Alameda County Chief Deputy Assessor Russ Hall. 

After deducting homeowner’s and other exemptions, the increase drops to 7.1 percent, with net values of $8,535,718,193 assessed for tax purposes in fiscal 2003-2004 and $9,142,917,035 for the new fiscal year. 

Countywide, gross assessed values hit $159.2 billion, or 6.78 percent over 2003-2004. After exemptions, the total assessment for Alameda County’s roughly 450,000 taxable properties reached $147.4 billion, 

The county’s biggest assessed values were chalked up in Dublin, with a jump in gross valuation of 12.9 percent. 

Assessed values are radically different from market values, thanks to Howard Jarvis and his Proposition 13, which caps assessment increases on an owner’s property to two percent a year. Thus, a house that might sell for a million dollars might be assessed for a tenth that price if owned continuously over the decades by one individual, partnership or corporation.  

Schools are the chief beneficiaries of the property tax, consuming 44 percent of the total. The remainder goes to cities, redevelopment areas and special districts. 

Official notifications started going out to taxpayers on the July 16, with the last going out July 31. 

“Most of the increase in countywide assessments come from the sale of existing property, when the property is reassessed at current market value, rather than from new construction,” Hall said. 

With local government increasingly dependent on the property tax in the wake of federal and state funding cuts, municipalities and school districts keep a nervous eye on real estate sales and construction. 

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced Tuesday that new housing starts in June had dropped to their lowest levels since February, 1994, when the Federal Reserve started raising interest rates after a recession. 

Not only is new residential construction slowing, but Reuters reported Tuesday that sales of existing homes are slowing nationwide. 

Statewide, sales of existing homes dropped 1.3 percent from April to May, but were still 10.5 percent higher than a year earlier, according to the California Association of Realtors (CAR). Mortgage rates in California had jumped by 1.7 percent from April to May to 6.27 percent, compared to 5.83 percent in April and 5.48 percent in May, 2003. 

The median price of a Bay Area home in May reached $648,240, the second highest region in the state after Santa Barbara County, where sales prices jumped 71.2 percent in the last year, compared to 17.6 percent for the Bay Area and 26.5 percent statewide. 

The median statewide price for a single family home hit $465,150, making them less affordable that anytime in the last 15 years. 

According to CAR figures, only 16 percent of California families can afford to buy a median-priced single family home in Alameda County compared to 19 percent statewide and 55 percent nationally. 

A Berkeley Housing Commissioner and her supporters Tuesday took their concerns over a planned affordable senior housing complex before the California Court of Appeals. 

Lead appellant Marie Bowman is asking a three-judge panel to overturn last year’s Superior Court ruling exempting the city from conducting the most stringent type of environmental review for Sacramento Senior Homes, a 40-unit, 13-parking space complex at 2517 Sacramento St., the site of the former Outback clothing store. 

The appeals panel must submit a ruling within 90 days. 

Should Bowman prevail, Berkeley Assistant City Attorney Zach Cowan warned the justices that virtually any new housing project would require a costly and time consuming environmental impact report, which he said would add a year and $150,000 to the cost of developments.  

“This is a practical barrier and the court should acknowledge that,” he said. 

Councilmember Linda Maio said delays from Bowman’s lawsuit, filed after the council first approved the project in 2002, have already cost the city’s housing trust fund $750,000 in carrying costs, legal fees and rising construction prices, which would jump to $1.2 million if construction on the $10.5 million project was further delayed until next year. 

Bowman said Wednesday that should they lose, she would confer with her co-appellants on whether to take the case to the state Supreme Court.  

As with most infill housing projects in Berkeley, the city issued a Mitigated Negative Declaration for Sacramento Senior Homes. This is a limited form of environmental review which doesn’t require the developer to respond to residents’ concerns or consider alternatives to the project as proposed. 

Conceived in 1999 as affordable housing for families, the five-story building that steps back to three stories in some sections has gone through numerous incarnations and design changes as the developer—Affordable Housing Associates (AHA)—and neighbors failed to settle their differences. 

Roughly two minutes into the appellants’ remarks, Justice Maria Rivera asked Bowman’s attorney—Susan Brandt-Hawley—why the justices should require an EIR when the city has already considered alternatives. 

“That is not the question before you today,” Brandt-Hawley replied. “If the court said no to an EIR, that would turn 30 years of case law on its head.” 

The appellants argued that the city had failed to consider the possible existence of toxins at the site, a former gas station, misapplied state housing law, and failed to mitigate the aesthetic affects of a building that rises up to 50 feet beside a residential community full of 17-foot homes. 

Days before the hearing, justices Laurence Kay, Timothy Reardon and Lopez asked attorneys for both sides to be ready “to discuss the relevance to the aesthetics issue” of six state and federal design review cases. Most of their inquiries, mainly directed at Brandt-Hawley, focused on whether the city’s extensive review of the design, despite objections raised by neighbors and design experts, satisfied its legal obligation under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). 

In a joint brief, Ellen Garber, representing Affordable Housing Associates, and Cowan argued that comments from architects cited by the appellants were subjective opinions and didn’t constitute the “substantial evidence” needed to mandate an EIR. They also held that CEQA is concerned with substantial, adverse effects on scenic resources and visual quality, not the design of housing in an urban area. 

“While a 40-unit affordable senior housing project on less than one-half acre might conceivably have a significant aesthetic impact if built in Yosemite National Park, its proposed location...will hardly interfere with a scenic vista or substantially degrade the visual quality of the area,” the joint brief read. 

Brandt-Hawley, in her brief, countered that aesthetics of California cities have always been protected by CEQA along with natural wilderness areas.  

“There is nothing in [CEQA’s] construction that declares urban aesthetics unworthy of consideration along with ocean views and Sierra vistas,” she wrote. She added that even though her expert testimony from architects could be characterized by some as “subjective,” they still “indisputably qualify as fact-based evidence.”

Honoring their promise to not drop the issue, a group of concerned citizens along with the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE) have—at least temporarily—halted the expansion of Pixar animation studios in Emeryville. 

After watching Pixar receive approval for their expansion project at an Emeryville City Council meeting last May, EBASE and a number of citizens filed for a referendum and then hit the streets to gather enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. With a referendum, the council is forced to either rescind the project approvals or submit them to a vote of the people.  

At the Emeryville City Council meeting Tuesday, the council did not vote to rescind their approval but instead directed city staff to come back to them with a proposal about how to set up a special election that would let the voters decide. 

In the space of thirty days, EBASE organizers and community volunteers gathered over 400 signatures, or 10 percent of the electorate, to qualify the referendum. 

Pixar’s current expansion would more than triple the size of their current studios in Emeryville from 218,000 to 750,550 square feet and increase their staff from 625 to 1,975. EBASE and other community members have protested the city’s approval because they say neither Pixar nor the city has adequately addressed the concerns of the community surrounding the expansion.

In a rare and exclusive interview, Mark Chain, a leading analyst for the Penultimate Pundits Poll, spoke with our correspondent about what to look for in the coming election season. 

Daily Planet: Well, it’s presidential election time once again. This must be a very busy time for you. 

Mark Chain: That’s a very interesting question. 

DP: Thank you. 

MC: You’re welcome. 

DP: Perhaps you could tell us some of the things you’ll be paying attention to this year. There’s a lot of talk about swing voters. 

MC: Yes, we look at the swing voters. But at PPP we go further—we look at the slide and teeter-totter voters as well. 

DP: And what do you see there? 

MC: Our preliminary work suggests that the left is moving to the right and the right is moving to the left at this time.  

DP: In other words, both are moving toward the center? 

MC: You could say that. 

DP: But what will happen to the center? 

MC: The center is moving to the suburbs, where there is no need to vote. 

DP: What about new trends? Any findings from the last presidential go-round that might be useful? 

MC: That’s a good question. 

DP: Thank you. Will you answer it? 

MC: You’re welcome. Yes, I will answer : With computer-aided stochastic regresssions and planar point fibulation, our analysis of the 2000 voting revealed one striking correlation: a presidential candidate is highly likely to win a state in which the governor has the same last name as the candidate. 

DP: Could you give us an example? 

MC: I’m afraid that’s proprietary information. Unless you’re interested in subscribing to our service? 

DP: I don’t think so. 

MC: Only $2,000 a month in your category, and that includes a polling result of your choice. 

DP: No, thank you. 

MC: You’re welcome.  

DP: In the minute or so we have left, I wonder if you would talk about the so-called hyphenated voter: African-Americans, for example, or new citizens from Southeast Asia. 

MC: I could, but you probably wouldn’t understand. As we say around the office, “hyphens don’t vote, people do.” Is that clear? 

DP: That’s a very good question. 

MC: Thank you. 

DP: You’re welcome. Good bye.

Won’t you please come to [Boston], 

We can change the world— 

Re-arrange the world, 

It’s dying—to get better… 

—Apologies to Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young 

BOSTON—Democrats are just spoiling for a fight. Pick an issue: the Florida election of 2000, Enron, the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy in the middle of a war, the escalating federal deficits, or not finding any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The Democrats not only are mad, they might actually be getting organized, defying Will Rogers’ famous quip that he didn’t belong to any organized party because he was a Democrat.  

Groups such as Grassroots Campaign, Democratic Leadership Campaign Committee (DLCC), Democratic Grassroots Action Institute and Network (GAIN) and the venerable Conservation League have all come out swinging for volunteers, dollars and votes. The efforts being put forward by these groups have been gaining speed for months, but after the Democratic Convention, which opens here on Monday, the Democratic Party’s get-out-the-vote work will begin in earnest in all 20 swing states and go right up to election day, according to party insiders. If all goes well for the Democrats, after this convention they will send hundreds of paid organizers and thousands of volunteers out to the battleground states, while also trying solidify the vote in the so-called safe states. Many are already saying it will be a field operation like no other in Democratic Party history.  

This organizing fervor on the part of Democrats previewed earlier this month at a gathering of organizer-activists in Seattle. 

Democratic GAIN put on a boot camp-style training for organizers. The three-day preparation for would-be Democratic Party foot soldiers paired pep talks from battle-scarred Gore 2000 organizers with serious role-playing about how to approach swing voters, and prompted copious note-taking by trainees. This was one of several trainings staged by GAIN around the United States, the biggest of which will take place in Boston right before the convention kickoff. The goal of GAIN is to pull together a successful nationwide field operation. That is, instead of relying solely on TV commercials, billboards, and the Internet, the Democrats, in the spirit of the master organizers Saul Alinsky (Rules for Radicals) and Fred Ross (UFW) whose names were invoked during these workshops, will fan out across the swing states in a massive voter identification and registration project. 

Sam Rodriguez, the director for the Democrats in the swing state of Washington, was present at the Seattle training. He beamed confidence as well as a stern work ethic. He allowed himself a smile when talking about “double-digit resources,” as the percentage of the party’s overall budget now being committed to the field organizing effort. “Let’s just say I am happy,” Rodriguez said, “I am happy with my budget, there’s money to do the job.” Democratic GAIN, according to the field manual each organizer was given at the training, is “an association of leading political organizers…offering training, education and career services to campaign workers and grassroots organizers.”  

For carrying out the field operation strategy, activists were introduced to the new Kerry-Edwards campaign theme: “Stronger at home, respected abroad.” The field organizers were reminded time and again to “tell your story” while asking others about their story” James Lau, 29, from Santa Monica said, “This conference taught me what the Kerry campaign strategy will be; it is about reaching out to voters in a more personal way.” A “story” usually involves how you came to support the Kerry-Edwards ticket and how the campaign responds not only to the organizer’s needs, but to the needs of working and professional people across the country. It is a house-by-house, banking-one-vote-at-a-time strategy. Some say it is akin to the tactics employed by Republicans in their now famous “72-hour plan” which has been successful in bringing out their already identified voters on election day. 

The gathering in Seattle drew more than 80 participants from several swing states including Oregon, Washington, and New Mexico, as well as from northern and southern California. Another training in Atlanta on the same weekend drew more than 100 party loyalists. Although California is not currently identified as a swing state—polls show the state solidly in the Kerry-Edwards camp—the young and old Californianos present were willing to go to wherever they were needed. Senior citizens organizer Howard Vicini, 55, from San Francisco, reflected the views of many attending the training: “I thought the Seattle training would extend my base of knowledge,” he said. “This field training is run more like a field office would be…it is real-time training instead of separate classes.”  

Vicini is part of an organizing effort called, “Seniors for Kerry.” It’s an organization made up of more than 600 area coordinators in 46 states according to the former graphic artist. And why is Vicini supporting the Kerry-Edwards ticket? “I don’t feel Bush is truthful to the American people; I can respectfully disagree with anyone as long as they are honest,” he said.  

Anna Forgie, 21, is from Santa Barbara, and recently graduated from Stanford University with a political science degree. “I heard about the Seattle training through past political work. People said contact (Democratic) GAIN, so I did,” she said. “I learned some new things and there was some stuff I already knew.” Nine days after the training ended, Forgie said she had landed a field organizing job working for the Kerry-Edwards campaign in the swing state of Oregon. 

Arn Andrews, 44, from Alamogordo, New Mexico, was a regional director for the Dean campaign and became a Kerry supporter only after Dean flamed out. “I would give the GAIN training a ‘thumbs up’ for experienced organizers,” he said, “but if you came not having much campaign experience you would have been lost.” Andrews, who has not been placed in any location yet, is hoping to be a state regional field director for the Kerry-Edwards campaign. “I’m willing to go anywhere,” he said. Next stop for some of these organizers will be in Boston to attend the 2004 Democratic National Convention.  

Amidst all the fanfare and partying sure to be happening this week, some Democrats say there will also be real work going on as well. Yes, John Kerry will be the likely presidential nominee and John Edwards his running mate, but the question many are asking is, where will the votes come from? The real news story out of this convention may well be the Democrats’ field operation, but only if they end up winning in November. It is here in Boston where the final leg of the campaign begins, where GAIN will be hosting yet another organizing conference, their biggest yet.  

Organizers are preparing for an unprecedented 2,000 to 3,000 attendees for a three-day symposium beginning today (July 23). There will be 100 training seminars for activists, organizers and delegates. Like the ones in Seattle and Atlanta, it will offer instruction in raising money, walking a precinct, mobilizing voters, and running a phone bank. Former Clinton White House operatives James Carville and Donna Brazile will be among the featured speakers. 

Anyone interested in working for the groups mentioned in this article can be contacted at the following websites: Democratic GAIN at democraticgain.org, Grassroots Campaign at grassrootscampaigns.com, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee at dlcc.org, and the League of Conservation Voters at lcv.org. 

Christopher Krohn is the former mayor of Santa Cruz. 

›

Critics of the Bush administration have taken to accusing Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge of whipping up periodic terrorism alerts to keep us all off balance until the election. 

Those sorts of folks will likely cast a somewhat jaundiced eye on Tuesday’s news release from the Bay Area Rapid Transit District, which read: “BART TO INCREASE SECURITY FOR POLITICAL CONVENTIONS; BART to Use Staff to Help Patrol Stations, Along with Explosive Detecting Dogs & Train Sweeps.” 

Those critics with a grammarian’s eye might wonder why BART was employing dangerously explosive dogs in search of bombs instead of the much safer—and more traditional—explosive-detecting dogs. 

The reason for the announced security step-up? “(A)nticipation of the upcoming Democratic and Republican conventions.” 

The feds, having repeatedly warned folks of the potential threat to the East Coast political conventions, “have also expressed concerned [sic] that as the East Coast ramps up security, the West Coast will become an easier and more attractive target.” 

And, no, BART’s press release reassures us, there’s been no specific threat against the light rail system. 

Telephonically pressed for more details, BART spokesperson Linton Johnson said “We’re increasing our presence in key areas,” though he naturally declined to tell a reporter which ones. 

He’s also “not giving out any details on the duration” of the security beef-up either. 

The heightened state of un-color-coded alert may cause the occasional 30-to-40-second delay at stations as security personnel walk outside and inside trains, in the latter case in the occasional company of a four-legged bomb detector. 

The reporter, being from Berkeley, asked if the canines might sniff out a passenger who’d recently consumed a medically approved splif. 

“They’re not trained for drugs,” Johnson said. 

Vastly more costly electronic bomb-sniffers greeted passengers on the Connecticut Shoreline East’s heavy rail commuter runs starting late last week. 

In the initial run of the Department of Homeland Security’s TRIP—Phase III (TRIP being short for Transit and Rail Inspection Program), a passenger’s bags are X-rayed as they pass through a railroad car door equipped with the latest in explosive-detecting gadgetry.È

OAKLAND—If you listen to President George Bush, the only way Mexicans can avoid the illegal and sometimes deadly trip across the U.S. border is to come as guest workers—temporary contract laborers for U.S. industry and agriculture. The 14 million immigrants already living in the United States without visas, Bush says, must become guest workers too, if they want to get legal documents.  

The president’s proposal, which hasn’t yet been formally introduced, is viewed as extremely pro-industry and anti-immigrant by immigrant advocates. But all the other bills before Congress that would reform U.S. immigration law also have some temporary contract worker proposal attached to them. All except one.  

In March, Houston Congress member Sheila Jackson Lee introduced a far-reaching proposal with no provision for temporary workers, who are vulnerable to abuse by employers that may pay illegal wages and use blacklists and deportation threats to stifle protest. 

Co-sponsored by nine members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including California’s Barbara Lee and Michigan’s John Conyers, the bill would legalize undocumented people who have lived five years in the United States, have a basic understanding of English and U.S. culture, and have no criminal record. 

“These are hardworking, taxpaying individuals,” Jackson Lee says. “My system would give them permanent legal residency.”  

Bush proposes that immigrants come for three or six years and then leave. “But people are human,” Jackson Lee explains. “They might have married, invested or tried to buy a house. They might have children and roots here. It’s very difficult to imagine that a person with a three-year pass would voluntarily leave, particularly if they faced an oppressive situation where they came from.”  

“Our immigration policy is racist,” says Bill Fletcher, former education director of the AFL-CIO and president of TransAfrica Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit focused on U.S. policy toward Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. He and Jackson Lee point to the huge backlog of applicants waiting for visas in Third World countries, while many European countries can’t even fill their quotas for visas. “But the system’s also driven by politics,” Fletcher says. Cubans become legal residents as soon as they step onto U.S. soil. Refugees from Haiti, on the other hand, are picked up by the Coast Guard before they get to the Florida beach. If they somehow reach U.S. shores, they’re held behind barbed wire as illegal refugees. 

The Jackson Lee bill takes on some of these inequities, winning it the support of other Congressional Black Caucus members, whom Jackson Lee calls “the conscience of America, the conscience of the Congress.” Fletcher calls that sponsorship a new step for African-American legislators. In the era of the Vietnam War, criticism by black political leaders of U.S. foreign policy was met with a “mind your own business” attitude.  

“Today, as African Americans, we’re saying that we have something to contribute to this debate,” Fletcher says. “We won’t just react to demographic changes.”  

Jackson Lee and Fletcher have stepped off into a political minefield because of a widely held perception that blacks and immigrants, especially Latinos, compete for jobs. “Certainly you’re made to believe that the number of immigrants or undocumented people has an impact on others,” she says. “We’re made to believe that one group hinders the other. That’s absolutely wrong, and I believe in fighting against it.”  

Fletcher, while criticizing President George Bush and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for using that fear for political advantage, cautions that some job competition is real. Black janitors and hotel workers in Los Angeles saw their percentage in the workforce plummet in the 1980s as employers replaced them with immigrant workers who they hoped would accept lower wages. This new immigrant workforce eventually became the backbone of new unionizing efforts, which helps push up wages for all workers. But the change in demographics was already a fact.  

“But it’s like an urban legend,” Fletcher says, “which sees competition taking place everywhere. If African Americans were moving from lower to higher level jobs, there would be no reason for fear. But that’s not the case.” Black workers are not the only ones trapped in temporary, low-paying, no-benefit jobs, he adds. 

Employers argue that they need workers to fill the labor shortages to come, and immigrants are the answer. Jackson Lee’s bill tries to balance these interests. For U.S. citizens and residents, she proposes retraining and jobs programs funded by fees paid by undocumented immigrants applying for legalization. For the immigrants, besides legalization, she proposes new legislation to protect against discrimination based on immigration status, and threats of deportation intended to stop worker protests. Jackson Lee compares this to the civil rights legislation needed to stop discrimination against African Americans, other minorities and women.  

Pressing for legalization instead of guest worker programs “would give industry a pool of legal permanent residents or those seeking that status,” Jackson Lee says. “Most work is not cyclical—restaurants don’t close in the fall. They stay open. They need people in permanent jobs, not temporary workers.”  

The country should welcome immigrants while attacking the poverty and oppression that forces people to migrate, she concludes. “We would do better to build the economies of countries like Mexico, so people can live their own dream in their own nation. For immigrants here we need an orderly system that allows them to do their jobs and build the American economy, and U.S. workers to have jobs and do likewise.” 

David Bacon is a freelance writer and photographer who writes regularly on labor and immigration issues.›

A historic, five-question referendum on Bolivia’s energy resources, approved by Bolivians on July 18, reveals the risky middle path many Latin American leaders now tread as they try to translate popular discontent into real political change. 

In Bolivia, South America’s poorest country and home to the second-largest natural gas reserves on the continent, President Carlos Mesa faces just such a test. He’s boxed in by opposition forces from the left, who demand the complete nationalization and expropriation of the privately controlled energy industry, and the right, which threatens severe economic and political repercussions should he meddle too much with the status quo. 

But meddle he must. Mesa’s legally binding referendum, the first of its kind in Latin America, was born out of the country’s bloody “Gas War,” a popular rebellion last October that killed 60 people. Sparked by the imminent export of natural gas to Mexico and California through a Chilean port (Bolivians still resent Chile for confiscating Bolivia’s only outlet to the sea 116 years ago), a spontaneous and angry campaign of strikes, marches and roadblocks spread like wildfire across much of the country and dragged the economy to a halt. Then-president Gonzalo “Goni” Sanchez de Lozada ordered a deadly repression that sunk his waning popularity. Labor leaders and political activists, sensing the kill was near, clamored for Goni’s head and the complete nationalization of the country’s gas industry. 

On Oct. 16, Goni fled to Miami, leaving Mesa, his vice president and an ex-television journalist with no political experience, to contend with the heady demands for nationalization. 

At the heart of Mesa’s referendum is the voiding of Goni’s 1996 law that opened up the domestic oil and gas industry to foreign control. It also reactivates YPFB, the state-owned energy company doormat for nearly a decade; “recuperates the property” of all natural gas and petroleum lying at the mouth of the well; and raises taxes “up to 50 percent” on private energy firms. 

Those measures aren’t expected to appease the country’s pro-nationalist, anti-neo-liberal forces, including the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party, the second largest force in congress, led by coca farmer union boss Evo Morales. That’s because Mesa says his energy policy isn’t retroactive -- none of the more than 80 contracts awarded to foreign energy firms since 1996 will be revoked. These are free again to export Bolivia’s oil and natural gas abroad. In addition, the referendum does not specify when the state will raise taxes on private energy companies, leaving many questioning Mesa’s conviction to gain sovereignty over the country’s last important natural resource. 

Mesa warns that a full nationalization is akin to “declaring war on the world.” Such a move, he says, would trigger international sanctions and the flight of badly needed foreign investment. Others caution that full nationalization would spark a military coup designed to “reinstate order.”  

Yet the fact remains that in Bolivia, as in neighboring countries, the privatization policies implemented in the last decade haven’t come close to achieving what was promised, such as the creation of more jobs, significantly more tax revenue for the state and improved services. Most Bolivians still use wood to cook, even as 55 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, worth over $200 billion, sits under their feet (much of it slated for export to energy-hungry nations like Brazil, Argentina and the United States).  

But altering the privatization policies inevitably challenges the interests of billion-dollar foreign investors. 

Two days before the referendum, the investigative weekly Juguete Rabioso revealed that dozens of journalists, intellectuals and high-ranking cabinet officials received unknown quantities of money from a fund established by transnational energy firms. And in the months leading up to the referendum vote, several articles appeared in the press stating the IMF and the World Bank would abandon Bolivia (and its $5 billion national debt) if it expropriated its hydrocarbons. 

Mesa isn’t the only regional leader walking a tightrope.  

Venezuela’s left-wing President Hugo Chavez tasted the fury of opposition forces (labor strikes and an allegedly U.S.-backed military coup almost ended his rule in 2002) after handing total control of PDVSA, South America’s largest energy producer and exporter, back to the Venezuelan state. Chavez still faces a contentious referendum on his leadership on Aug. 15.  

In Argentina, President Nestor Kirchner, who assumed power one year ago on the heels of Argentina’s worst political and social crisis in memory, also faces rumors of a destabilization campaign aimed at his administration. Many analysts attribute the threats to vested economic interests that oppose the hard line Kirchner has taken against private energy firms operating in the country (such as Spain’s Repsol), as well as his recent decision to create ENARSA, a new state-owned energy company that will compete with private energy firms. 

But as critics contend, the answer to Bolivia’s and the region’s inconformity isn’t a return to statism, as many Marxist and Trotskyite ideologues desire. Until now, no one has emerged with a sound alternative to the neo-liberal economic policies of the 1990s. At best, Mesa’s referendum buys Bolivia’s fragile democracy more time, until he or someone else can lead the country out of its gloomy state. But in the long run, it isn’t likely to quell the deep discontent and craving for change simmering in the hearts and minds of most Bolivians. 

›

Berkeley Man Fatally Shot in Oakland 

Byron Pearson, a 32-year-old Berkeley resident, died at Highland Hospital at 4:30 Wednesday morning, two hours after he was cut down by a shotgun blast in the 9000 block of Sunnyside Avenue in East Oakland. 

The Alameda County Coroner’s office said Pearson was fatally wounded when an unidentified gunman blasted him with a shotgun, resulting in wounds to his head, neck, torso and arms. 

Because the shooter used birdshot, the small size of the pellets made it difficult to determine if more than one round was fired, said a coroner’s representative. 

Oakland Police have no suspects or motive in the attack.  

Richmond Murder Suspect Nabbed in Utah 

Just four days short of a year after 25-year-old Salvador Espinoza was beaten to death in Richmond, the seventh and final suspect in the murder was arrested in Utah. 

Richmond Police, assisted by the FBI’s Fugitive Task Force, arrested Neal Tagilima Fiu in a home in Utah, where he is currently awaiting extradition. 

Police said Espinoza was murdered last July 25 by members of The Sons of Death, a local street gang. 

Garbage-Burner Busted for Arson 

Police arrived at the scene of an early evening July 15 fire in the back yard of a home at California Street and Dwight Way to find six-foot flames leaping out of a trash can. After a quick search, they arrested a 46-year-old man for arson. 

Two Shots Hit South Berkeley Man  

Multiple callers told police of a volley of gunshots in the vicinity of Alcatraz Avenue and California Street shortly before midnight on the 15th. 

On arrival, police found a shooting victim near Alcatraz and King Street. He had been struck once each in the hand and leg, said Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies. 

Officers are seeking a lone gunman, described as an African American male in his 30’s standing about 5’6”, weighing 160 to 170 pounds and with a medium build and short hair. He was wearing a white T-shirt and jeans. 

Pair Robs, Pistol-Whips Victim 

Two armed men pistol-whipped and robbed a man near the intersection of San Pablo Avenue and Russell Street about 4:30 a.m. on the 16th, said Officer Okies. 

The victim said both suspects were Euro American males in their late 40’s, with one of the pair described as slightly built and standing about 5’8”. Both wore caps and dark clothing. 

Knife-Toting Robber Gets Cash 

Armed with a knife, an overtly unfriendly felon confronted a passerby near the corner of University Avenue and Seventh Street early on the afternoon of the July 16. 

The hapless victim wisely complied and the bandit departed. 

Another Knife Heist 

Three teenagers, one flashing a very large knife, braced a woman near the corner of Parker Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

As the trio demanded, she offered up her purse and the youthful felons fled. 

Strongarm Trio Grabs Wallet, Cell 

Three suspects overpowered a pedestrian minutes into Friday morning last week near the corner of Bowditch Street and Dwight Way, making off with a wallet and a cell phone. 

Masked Gunman Grabs Cash 

Clad all in black right up to his ski mask, a six-foot-tall gunman braced a pedestrian near the corner of Spruce and Arch Streets at 10:22 a.m. last Friday. The victim handed over his cash. 

Kitchen Knife Heisters Sought  

Berkeley Police are seeking two men, one of them armed with a kitchen knife, who approached a woman on Milvia Street near the corner of Virginia Street and demanded her purse about 6:30 p.m. Saturday. After she complied, the duo departed. 

Family Feud Takes Serious Turn 

Police were summoned to an address on King Street early Sunday evening after a family dispute turned nasty and one fellow grabbed a bat and hit another three times. A 43-year-old Berkeley man was arrested on charges of assault with a deadly weapon. 

Knife Flashers Grab Purse 

Two young men, at least one of them armed with a knife, approached a women on Haste Street near its intersection with Martin Luther King Jr. Way. They left after she handed over her purse. 

Robbers Slug Victim, Get Wallet 

Four men in their mid-20s braced a man on Page Street near San Pablo Avenue at 2:42 a.m. Saturday and beat him into surrendering his wallet, police said. 

Confiscated X-Box Drives Son Ballistic  

When a Berkeley mom decided her son was spending too much time playing video games on a school night late Monday, she confiscated his X-Box controller, sending the boy into a flight of rage. 

The terrified mom called police, who arrested the boy on an assault charge, said Officer Okies. 

Gunman Demands, Gets Cash 

A brazen gunman, clad all in black, confronted a pedestrian on Shattuck Avenue near Cedar Street about 2:30 Monday afternoon and demanded cash. The victim complied. 

Tire Iron Victim Won’t Talk 

Berkeley Police responding to the report of an assault near the corner of Dana Street and Dwight Way at 11 p.m. Monday arrived to find a victim who was unwilling to discuss anything about the other fellow who had laid into him with a tire iron. 

Gunman Robs Food Store 

A gunman robbed the till of the Roxie Food Center at Dwight Way and Fulton Street Monday about 10 p.m. Monday, police said. No arrests have been made. 

Knife-Wielding Pair Grabs Wallets 

A pair of bandits armed with at least one knife robbed several men of their wallets late Wednesday near the corner of Bonita Street and Dwight Way. 

Bike Lock Bandit 

A 47-year-old Berkeley man was arrested on armed robbery charges after a victim told police he’d been robbed by a man swinging a bicycle lock near the corner of Dwight Way and Bowditch Street at 2:31 a.m. Thursday. ›

Jealous, perhaps, of this summer’s box office success of political documentaries, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has recently provided us with a bit of political theater on his own. You could see where the script was leading. You just couldn’t figure—in advance—how the main character would react, and therein lies the entertainment factor. 

One of the reasons Gray Davis no longer occupies that office was his inability to manage California’s budget process. Budgets are supposed to be in place on July 1 to start the new fiscal year, but California’s budgets always dragged past the deadline during the Davis years, with legislators squabbling over items that the public generally could not understand, while vendors went unpaid and local governments went on hold. Mr. Schwarzenegger roared into office in last year’s recall election under the banner that he would end that annual Dance of Impasse, cleaning up Sacramento like he cleaned up so many movie problems during his years as an action hero actor, forcing the Legislature down to the bargaining table with the might of his will. You always knew that was bogus. But it was interesting to listen to, and to watch how much of the public bought into it. 

Despite Mr. Schwarzenegger’s early successes, particularly his decisive rolling back of auto registration fees, astute observers thought that the real test was always going to be the state budget, and so it has been. 

During the spring, the governor made separate, private deals with such groups as the state’s colleges and universities, local governments, and the prison guards’ union. In each case, it was reported that these groups promised that they would not push for more money in budget for fiscal year 2005 (the one that started in July) in return for concessions in later years. 

As impressive as this was in removing impediments to the passage of this year’s budget, there were two flaws in Mr. Schwarzenegger’s strategy. The first is that it didn’t solve California’s massive budget problems—it only pushed the crisis down the road aways. 

The second flaw was that Mr. Schwarzenegger made those deals himself, without bringing in leaders of the State Legislature early on for consultation. The governor and his staff probably believed that with these side agreements in place, he could use his political popularity to force the Legislature to pass his submitted budget. 

It didn’t work. State legislators (Democratic state legislators, actually) balked at one of the Republican governor’s side deals in particular—the promise by the governor to local governments that he would support a provision that would protect their sources of income from being raided by the state in future years. Since state legislators have been balancing the state budget recently in large part by taking money from local government—thus absolving them of making the really tough budget-political choices themselves—it is understandable why the legislators would dig their heels in on this issue. And so they have. 

News accounts over the weekend focused on Mr. Schwarzenegger’s bizarre use of the term “girlie-men” at an Ontario, California shopping center rally to describe and—therefore—ridicule these Democratic legislators. What was overlooked was the governor’s proposed solution—that voters kick out Democratic legislators in the upcoming November elections and replace them with Republican legislators who will, presumably, vote for the governor’s next budgets. 

There’s a slight math problem here, though. It takes two thirds of the membership of each branch of the Legislature to pass a budget unless that budget involves no raising of taxes: 54 in the 80 member Assembly, 27 in the 40 member State Senate. Republicans are presently in the minority in both bodies: 32 in the Assembly are Republicans, 14 in the Senate. To gain a two thirds majority in both houses, Republicans would have to gain 22 seats in the Assembly and 13 in the Senate, a watershed political sweep. There are only seven Senate districts in the state and 15 Assembly districts that can be considered competitive between the two parties: districts where the numbers of registered voters from each party are within 10 percentage points of each other. The remaining legislative seats are considered “safe” for one party or the other. 

The problem is, many of those competitive districts are currently being held by Republicans. And so, even if Mr. Schwarzenegger were extraordinarily persuasive in the November elections and every single one of the Democratically held competitive legislative districts (seven in the Assembly and three in the Senate) were swept by Republicans, the Republicans would not even end up with a majority of the California State Legislature. 

And so, rhetoric aside, the governor’s threats against the Democratic members of the Legislature can only be considered as empty. Political theater. While Mr. Schwarzenegger may worry some individual legislators, the Democratic leadership of the State Legislature will remain intact, regardless. 

There was another target Mr. Schwarzenegger might have chosen: the two thirds majority requirement for the Legislature to pass a budget. If the Legislature only needed a simple majority to pass a budget—as legislatures do in most states in the country—the annual deadlock would disappear. A governor would still be able to put a damper on unwanted spending by the use of a veto, which would still require the two thirds majority to override. And even a Republican governor faced with a majority Democratic Legislature could get his or her budget passed by persuading a number of the Democrats to come over to his side, just as President Ronald Reagan did in getting his tax cuts through a Democratic United States Congress. 

Proposition 56, an initiative to drop the two thirds budget-passing requirement down to 55 percent, lost badly in the March elections. Mr. Schwarzengger could revive that idea and put his power and popularity behind it. But to do so he would have to overcome the opposition of organizations like the California Taxpayers’ Association and the California Chamber of Commerce. In addition, the two thirds budget-passing requirement came into being through Proposition 13, and opposing the provisions of Proposition 13 in California is considered—in some conservative localities—as akin to being opposed to God. And that would require a political courage that the governor, perhaps, does not possess. 

And so we have Mr. Schwarzenegger rallying the troops at the Ontario food court, calling the Democrats “girlie-men,” proposing an election solution that would not actually solve the problem even if it came about, and proclaiming, loudly, that, “We want action, not games. We want action, not dialogue. We want action, not the promises. We want action and not the lies that are up there in Sacramento.” 

And all very entertaining.›

POLICE BLOTTER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Please tell Mr. Brenneman that he also has readers who thoroughly enjoy his style of writing in the Police Blotter. I do not believe it is offensive to the victims, who all remain anonymous, if certain whimsical remarks are made about the perpetrators. 

A. Giorgi 

Oakland 

• 

MARTHA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Martha Stewart has suffered more than Jesus. Mel Gibson should do a movie about Her. We should pray to Mel that He do this movie.  

Richard List 

• 

CITY WATERWAYS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It is unseemly for the City of Berkeley to only now tackle the problem of its creeks and waterways. After 20 years of telling residents that there was nothing to fear from dikes and culverts under houses and civic structures we suddenly get a complete about-face from the city. Berkeley should cease the consideration of building an open creek in the city center, it will only turn into an open sewer. The city must seek the expert advice of the Army Corps of Engineers. This federal group has more experience dealing with flooding and sink holes than any other group in the U.S. More importantly, the destruction of culverts and pipes holding in creeks will bring about the swamping and sink-holing that is usually only seen in areas with heavy rainfall and large floodplains. Berkeley must identify its problem areas, especially in North Berkeley, and seek answers from the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Corps of Engineers. Else we will all face a coming deluge together.  

John Parman  

• 

THE SHROUD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

So, the shrouds covering the Gaia Building are because of leaks and molds? I am sorely disappointed. Here I was taking visitors downtown and pointing it out as a new Christo project enlivening our Arts and Commerce District. 

Paul Glusman 

• 

LIBRARY STACKS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

UC Berkeley’s Doe and Moffitt libraries, which are the main library facilities on the campus, have recently restricted California residents’ access to the library stacks, where books are stored. 

Prior to this change, members of the public who were California residents could obtain a stack pass, good for about four months, and renew it indefinitely. The pass allowed patrons to enter the stacks on showing the card to an attendant, and read but not check out materials. Up to the present I have made good use of this privilege, holding a series of stack passes for over a year.  

Under the new procedures, the California citizen can only obtain a monthly pass, renew it once, and then must pay $100 to obtain a yearly library card, which includes check-out privileges. Moffit Library is included in the new policy as it connects directly to the Doe stacks. Other campus libraries do not restrict access to their respective stacks. 

I believe all California residents, and that includes Berkeley residents, who pay taxes to support University of California libraries should continue to be allowed free access to the stacks by means of stack passes, upon periodically presenting identification verifying their current California residency. Above all, residents’ access should not be based on a two-tier system under which privileged residents can buy their way in, while poorer residents are barred due to the stiff fee; all residents are at some time California taxpayers. 

An e-mail recently sent to the Director of Doe Library, Patricia Iannuzzi, requesting an explanation for the change produced only a response restating the policy, without acknowledging or explaining the change in procedure.  

The new fee could hardly be supposed to be a revenue generator, since the number of public patrons is likely small enough that revenue from such a fee would be negligible. If the argument is security, then simply buying one’s way in is hardly a secure procedure. 

The director of the Doe Library, Patricia Iannuzzi, can be reached through e-mail at piannuzz@library.berkeley.edu. If you are a California resident, and especially a Berkeley or Oakland resident, who thinks your tax dollars should gain you library privileges to the main UC-California library, perhaps you should contact Ms. Iannuzzi expressing that concern. 

Lowell Moorcroft 

Oakland 

• 

ISRAEL’S WALL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Becky O’Malley’s editorial on the Israeli wall construction cartoon brought up some interesting questions, like “Why do so many Americans, and people in Berkeley in particular, care about Israel?” Because Israel is on the forefront of some many crucial issues, and in many ways, is a test case for the future of western democracy and the socialist state. Israel depends and depended to a great extent on socialist idealists who set up network of kibbutzim which dot the country. These are collectives which many of us raised in the spirit of the left aspire to and hold in high esteem. Israel itself can be considered a socialist country. My numbers may be off, but I believe up to approximately 10 years ago, some 70 percent of the economy was owned by government controlled industry. Privatization is taking its toll there too, however. Health care and education are still free. Also, the country has a very high literacy rate and produces an amazing number of scientists.  

This is the kind of place a lot us would like to live in if it weren’t for the violence. So we are angry because that one glimmer of hope is fading, and we are striking back, blaming Israel, now the bully, the well-armed helicopter-flying tank-driving military machine picking on the Palestinians. Once the underdog, Israel is now the top dog, at least militarily. But the reality is that the Israelis can not bring peace to the Middle East. They don’t have the resources, either economical or political. Arms dealers from around the world are making billions selling weapons to all those involved. Most of the 6.5 billion the U.S. gives to Israel is spent on arms, which prompts all the other countries in the neighborhood to make similar expenditures. Then all that equipment has to be kept up, people trained to use it, and on and on. The Middle East is a cash cow. Only disarmament will free enough resources to end the violence. Meanwhile, we hold Israel to a very high standard.  

Daily on our local left radio station we hear the atrocities committed by the IDF; the houses destroyed, the wall, shootings, and assassinations. Who are we to criticize? The U.S. has an annual military budget of 400 billion dollars. The U.S. is the largest arms exporter in the world. The U.S. has killed thousands of innocent civilians in the “war on terrorism,” killed half a million children as a result of the Iraqi sanctions. Maybe we see a lot of ourselves in Israel, we see our own failings, we feel guilty because we are living the life of luxury at the expense of our socialist dreams.  

Andy Hicks  

Oakland 

• 

UNIVERSITY AVENUE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The new University Avenue zoning regulations illustrate the city’s lack of vision. The strategic plan approved in 1996 should be scrapped, not implemented. The city and the entire Bay Area desperately need additional housing of all kinds because of the continued rapid pace of household formation fueled by immigration, maturing of the population, and economic growth. 

Reportedly, the region needs 300,000 units per year to keep up with projected growth, yet only 100,000 units per year are being built. That is the reason that one-bedroom condos now start at $300,000 and bungalows start at $500,000. If we don’t want unlimited sprawl or unlimited prices, the only alternative is to build in-fill housing. 

Everyone knows this, yet local politicians responding to pressure from entrenched homeowners (like me) won’t allow it. But if not on University Avenue, then where? To be fair, Oakland is equally myopic in blocking development around the 19th Street BART station. Even before the planned reductions, the reported current and projected numbers for University Avenue are trivial compared to the need. Five projects totaling 391 units on a two-mile stretch of a four-lane boulevard hardly qualify as “fast and furious” development. 

As for the alleged need for more retail space or “pocket” lots in the plan, am I the only person who notices the proliferation of empty storefronts on both University Avenue and Shattuck Avenue and draws the conclusion that more population is needed in those areas? Granted that wide sidewalks in certain places would be a welcome addition to the plan, the notion of more generous setbacks along the entire length of the avenue is nonsense if we want vibrant city life to ever take root there. 

University Avenue cannot hope to compete with Fourth Street. The only hope for retail in this area is sufficient population density that businesses can survive by catering to the needs of the neighborhood. This requires that the number of units be increased, not further reduced from the number allowed by existing regulations and state law. 

Robert Denham 

• 

WESTON HAVEN HOUSE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was reading one of your esteemed competitors the Hearst Corp. Chronicle Saturday edition and they were praising the Weston Haven House in the Berkeley Hills and in fact they compared it to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water. I couldn’t help but notice it was dark and angular with no pink, beige, gray, or pastel stucco and is decidedly masculine. It was a bachelor house built for one the founding families of Berkeley, the last surviving member of the Francis Kittredge Shattuck family.  

I assert that today that building would have had a difficult time being built because it isn’t politically correct. Nuff said. 

I also believe that there are some folks whose brains and sensibility fly out the window when it comes to the Bush family whose success has overshadowed even the Kennedy supposed Royal family of the United States. My family go back with the Bushes and when you step out of line with absurd comparisons, if I am able to get to it I will call you on it. 

Steve Pardee 

• 

BUSH’S LEGACY 

Editors Daily Planet: 

Much has been written about a president’s interest in his legacy. As President Bush gave his radio address July 10 demanding a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, the unforgettable image of another politician popped into my mind. 

I saw George Wallace in the doorway of the University of Alabama making his infamous stand against equal rights for blacks. Despite the popularity of his move at the time and despite the fact that he later renounced bigotry, this is the image with which he will always be associated. 

In 30 years, I wouldn’t be surprised if Bush is best remembered as the man who tried to alter the Constitution to discriminate against gays. Is this the type of legacy he really wants? 

Ron Hoover 

• 

MASS IMMIGRATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I cracked up when I read Michael Fullerton’s letter (Daily Planet, July 2-5) where he complains about all the “Big Ugly Buildings” sprouting up everywhere in Berkeley these days, and suggests a “one-year moratorium” on building any more of these. Michael, the Big Ugly Buildings are just the symptom. The cause is our insane level of mass immigration, which is at a level unprecedented in human history (there may be a very obvious reason why no nation has thought to do this before). We’re adding over a million new people to the California population every year, almost entirely because of our insane level of mass immigration. Until we address that, the Big Ugly Buildings are going to continue to go up, and up and UP! 

Peter Labriola 

• 

REINVENTING SOCIETY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The problem with life is that folks forget what they used to do. Reinventing society! Take today: I saw a woman with a sidewalk bed. Sunburned on the face and somebody’s granny. In the olden days they would put a piggy bank in front of City Hall to be plugged by all and this could be: A community service worker could put that woman in a single room hotel with dinner and check back in the morning. What I would like to suggest is a way to remove violence from the workplace. Once a person is fired they spend their two weeks notice with the city picking up refuse on the highway or in a prison/jail literacy program where they tutor the inmates. The key here is you remove them from where they think they got a raw deal—and plant themselves and put them in neutral territory. If they belong to a church, let them do clean-up on that property. 

Louise Holmes 

ô

Editors, Daily Planet 

Daily Planet Staff Writer Matthew Artz phoned me and a few friends the day before the publication of an article headlined “South Berkeley Community Garden May Soon Be History” (Daily Planet, July 16-19). Being inundated with information he unfortunately misinterpreted my comments, saying that “If the garden is turned into housing Berkeley would not have a shortage of public gardening space.” 

I told him that Berkeley is the second city in the United States to incorporate guidelines in its General Plan emphasizing the need to secure land for community gardens, especially in low-income, densely populated neighborhoods. Hundreds of well established community gardens in New York City have been and are being destroyed because they were created on public land leased temporarily by the city, who later put the lots up for auction. 

The fact that Berkeley has adopted these guideline does not ensure that adequate land will be made available for community gardening. At present many community gardens have long waiting lists. Since land is scarce, the city, eager to uphold fair distribution of land to its citizens, is considering reevaluating and possibly expelling gardeners after five years of tenure to give opportunity to new applicants. 

During the first five years many gardeners spend a lot of effort and money framing their beds and enriching the soil with compost and other amendments. Naturally they develop an attachment to their plots and to the community of fellow gardeners . 

Twenty-five years of research by Ecology Action has determined that it generally takes a minimum of eight to 15 years to develop fertile soil with the capacity to produce abundant, healthy crops on a sustainable basis with a minimum of maintenance. For this reason the organization’s president John Jeavons, known throughout the world for growing prodigious amounts of produce on small plots of land, recommends that community gardens always try to obtain long-term leases for the land they use. 

The American Community Gardening Association encourages unlimited tenure for garden plotholders since, in our mobile society, gardeners inevitably come and go and those few who stay for longer periods contribute immeasurably to the solidity of the garden community. 

Community gardens not only grow fresh produce close to home, they also grow community among neighbors and friends, which makes neighborhood life much more meaningful and secure. To fill every vacant lot in every neighborhood block, even with affordable housing, jeopardizes the opportunity for residents to develop a growing sense of community. In my brief verbal exchange with Mr. Artz, I emphasized that losing the South Berkeley garden would indeed be a great loss. 

Karl Linn

The Berkeley City Council and the Planning Department allowed local developer Patrick Kennedy to put extra stories in several of his building projects in exchange for ambiguously defined “cultural amenities” which never materialized, went bankrupt, or didn’t “pencil out.” 

Kennedy doesn’t deny it, he just waves his hands helplessly and tries to scrounge up a new tenant, any tenant, that can help justify the city’s largess and his own broken promises. One project follows the next, each proposed “cultural amenity” producing the same shipwreck on the same obvious rock. 

The latest embarrassment is the building project replacing what was once the Fine Arts Theater, where Pauline Kael and Ed Landberg set into motion a quiet revolution in intelligent cinema, an amenity which, as in previous projects, Kennedy promised would be replaced with some cultural equivalent, excusing or at least ameliorating yet another oversized building to a dubious neighborhood. 

A recent letter in a local paper suggests that, discouraging though it is for the project to lose its theater, perhaps the space could be utilized as a grocery store. A sensible suggestion from the perspective of those who watched helplessly as the Planning Department turned cartwheels over throwing out decades-old Edie’s Restaurant in favor of a remodel-whoops-demolition to accommodate Eddie Bauer, the clothing business that Berkeley woke up with one morning and noticed to its dismay was just, well, gone. The Blue and Gold and the PennySaver markets were edged out, making marketing a long, weary hike for downtown residents, something the planners clearly prioritize well below a shiny new facade. 

But Warhol tomato soup cans aside, a grocery store hardly fills the “art” bill the community was promised, and in some cases paid for with forgiven loans of public money and variances which rob them of sunlight and sight lines. 

The City Council and the Planning Department should certainly insist on honest retail spaces, so that the musical chairs of failing retail businesses someday ends. But they should not only insist on more honesty in the “cultural space” elements of future projects, they should demand that the false art spaces sitting in limbo from past projects become dedicated art spaces open to the public for the public’s benefit. No conversion to grocery stores should be tolerated in a town where artists and art space gets no discount from market rate living, workshop, gallery and event rental space. 

Developer Patrick Kennedy could address the debt he owes the Berkeley community by fitting out the art spaces at his own expense, and offering the spaces in rotation to a variety of space-starved community groups who need them for meetings and events. He could do this without community or political pressure, of course. But it wouldn’t hurt to publicly encourage him to redress the absent art space his buildings currently represent. And it would behoove him to do so before some artist has the clarity of mind to simply squat them. 

n

The Berkeley City Council also serves as the Berkeley Redevelopment Agency (BRA). It is scheduled to meet quarterly on the second Tuesday of the month, at 6:30 p.m. But meetings are subject to change, and there have been lots of changes since Tom Bates became mayor. 

Thick packets of agenda material are delivered to the meeting—too late to be read. Meeting times are changed. All part of the strategic planning by Mayor Bates and the powers that be running our city. They obviously do not want their agenda scrutinized by the public. 

In his campaign for mayor, Tom Bates stated education was his priority. After his election, he told West Berkeley neighbors seeking his help to save their schools that his priority was getting Berkeley developed. And apparently also redeveloped... 

The following is from the transcript of the BRA meeting held Tuesday, June 22, 2004 at 6:30 p.m. The meeting lasted seven minutes. 

After roll call, Councilmember Linda Maio moved the Action Items to the Consent Calendar. These items were: 

• Five year Implementation Plan relative to Savo Island Project Area. 

• Redevelopment Agency Budget for Fiscal Year 2005. 

Maio then moved the Consent Calendar for approval and it passed unanimously, with Dona Spring absent. (This part of the meeting took one minute, although the Redevelopment Agenda packet contained over 150 pages of complex information and involved millions of dollars!) 

Then Mayor Bates said, “I have one quick question. I was kind of surprised to see that Savo Island was still a Redevelopment Agency. My neighbors and myself had wanted to establish a redevelopment area on south Shattuck, and that never happened. The city said there wasn’t enough room. Why can’t we have ‘pocket redevelopment agencies’ if we so choose?” 

Planning Department Director Dan Marks answered; “I’m not a redevelopment expert, but technically I believe you can have small redevelopment areas.” 

Mayor Bates: “Is it possible to have blighted properties that could be determined to be part of the Redevelopment Agency?” 

City Manager Phil Kamlarz: “Well, to create a Redevelopment Agency you have to have certain findings and blight is the major finding. So you can have small redevelopment areas, but when we looked at the South Berkeley area last time, because of the new formulas in the distribution of the tax increment, it didn’t generate that much revenue for reason to do it.” 

Mayor Bates: “But we’re not trying to generate revenue. We’re trying to generate good planning. I also should mention, I live at least two and one half blocks away from Telegraph, so I don’t think I’m in conflict.” 

Linda Maio seemed disturbed by Bates’ comment and interjected: “Well, in any case you can just talk generally, anyway.” 

Mayor Bates: “I’m interested in the specifics because if you look at these properties downtown, you look at properties that are problem properties. And we’re not trying to generate revenue, we’re trying to improve them, and ensure that they are used properly. So... I was very disappointed that that got dropped and I would like to have a examination of that issue. In other words, I’m just talking about properties that are clearly blighted, because it has to meet the definition of blighted. I’d say from Derby to Carleton, and the East side of Parker Street. Is that possible to have a redevelopment area there? Also, is it possible to have it on some of these other blighted properties on University and other areas? Is it possible for us to do that? Maybe you can get back to us.” 

Iris Starr, BRA staff: “Let us come back to you on that.” 

Mayor Bates: “In this town a lot of people are totally against redevelopment, but I don’t think they understand the opportunities, the tool this is. And my neighbors, when they understood this, were in favor of it because what it does is it protects the neighborhoods. Because once you get a plan adopted, you can’t vary from that plan and you can ensure that you get certain parameters like certain height, certain bulk, and certain characteristics that you can insist on. So with that I will ask you to present that to us at our next Redevelopment Agency meeting. Is there a motion to adjourn?” 

Worthington seconds, motion passes. (Maio and Breland were absent for the vote.) 

Mr. Mayor, the reason why a lot of people are totally against redevelopment is that the most affected neighbors have been horrified by the height, bulk and characteristics that your City Council majority is allowing and continues to allow developers to get away with. Most folks have no clue about the monstrosities planned but not yet built. 

›

Mikel Clifford, long a well-known figure in the Bay Area theatrical scene, has been brought in by Berkeley’s Actors Ensemble to direct Edward Albee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning A Delicate Balance.  

Among a number of other impressive accomplishments, both as an actor and as a director, Clifford originated both what is now called Cal Shakespeare Theatre and the ongoing Minnesota Shakespeare Festival. She was also a founding member of The Curtain Theatre as well as the Berkeley Repertory Theatre.  

Although Clifford likes this play and had made it clear to the Actors Ensemble that she hoped to direct it someday, she points out that Albee is far better known for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which did not get a Pulitzer. Since it appeared on Broadway a little more than a year before A Delicate Balance, she suspects that the Pulitzer was something of a “make-nice” to Albee. She sees Woolf, despite its great success, as being too extreme for the values of its own time (the early ‘60s). 

Balance, Clifford says, is a much more traditional play, although she describes it as “the most Chekovian of Albee’s plays.” As in Chekov, people are either in love with the wrong people or are a disaffected couple.  

The play is set in the affluent upper-middle class world of the East Coast in which Albee himself was raised. And, according to Clifford, “like Chekov, Albee puts a lot of people in a house for a weekend where the proximity highlights their feelings of isolation. They are more isolated than they are convivial. In this play neither of the two couples is sexually intimate, although they seem to be presented as heterosexual. (Albee himself is gay). Both men have been unfaithful and Agnes (the hostess) is obviously in love with her husband.” 

The action of the play is set going when Harry and Edna, who are friends with Agnes and Tobias, a middle-aged couple, suddenly take refuge at their house for the weekend because they “are afraid.” (It is never clarified what has frightened them, nor why they are abruptly ready to go home at the end of the play.) 

Since Agnes’ alcoholic sister Claire is already living there, things look a bit crowded, even before the couple’s 36-year-old daughter arrives to stay following the end of her fourth marriage. Although Claire is the only identified alcoholic among the characters, Clifford points out that in the ensuing weekend, all of the characters drink constantly. 

There’s no question about the play’s subtlety nor that Clifford is admirably equipped to choose excellent actors and to direct what should be a brilliant production of a play by a playwright who—in addition to many other prizes—has won three Pulitzers, one for this very play.  

The only cloud that may affect an outstanding run could be that of prejudice. There are definitely a number of playgoers who are biased against plays done by “non-professionals.” And Actors Ensemble doesn’t woo Actors’ Equity Association players; it’s too much trouble to get them legally untangled and free to play with a company which is not “professional.” 

However, eliminating opportunities from your life like the one being presented here would be a very large mistake. 

To begin with, it’s a serious mistake to think that all the really talented theater people are in professional productions. Actually, nobody with good sense and any hope of making a living in any other way would throw themselves into the chancy world of professional theater. Then there are the people who take family obligations as their first priority and on and on—a myriad reasons why the issue of talent isn’t the defining distinction between “professional” and “amateur” productions.  

Face it; some people just aren’t willing to take a chance on starving for even a few years. 

But when the theater bug bites, it’s incurable. You end up with a pool of people—often highly gifted—-who are willing to work themselves half to death, to work nights and weekends for weeks on end for no money, in addition to attending to their regular jobs and family responsibilities, of course. And for what? They do it for the opportunity of creating a couple of hours of what their audience will simply call “entertainment.” 

There’s no rational explanation for such behavior; these guys are obviously mildly insane. But harmless, mind you. So we may as well sit back and enjoy the results. The Actors Ensemble is by far the oldest acting company in Berkeley. It was founded in 1957 by five UC graduates who had apparently not been cured of their obsession with the theater by their introduction to the world outside the university. So they started producing plays in one guy’s basement and 45 years later, the company is still going very, very strong. 

Ralph Miller—an Actors Ensemble Board member and actor who is the primary source for this material, and who has been active in numerous ways since 1970—isn’t even the person with the longest tenure at the company. Although the founders have gone their various ways, Bill Martinelli, presently treasurer and ticket manager for the company, has been a regular since 1960. (As is typical in small theater groups, both Miller and Martinelli take on different jobs for A Delicate Balance; Miller is handling publicity and Martinelli is in charge of the box office.) 

By 1965 the group was solid enough to become the resident company at the lovely City of Berkeley theater in the Arts Center Building at Live Oak Park—at that time, and still, one of the very few “real” theaters in this area. (It has a proscenium stage with curtains, “real” seats and places back stage for the actors to get into their costumes. There’s even a bathroom! It must have been heaven to people just poking their heads out of a basement.) 

For several years after the ensemble moved in, the city had an arts specialist who was in charge of the theater. However, in 1978 the position was wiped out as part of the budget cuts necessitated by the Proposition 13 tax reductions.  

The city came close to having to close down the theater, but the ensemble took over the responsibility for maintenance and, through their continuing services, have become an actual part of the city’s resources. 

Tickets are an appealing $10 for everything but musicals, which cost $15 (they’re more expensiveto stage than straight drama). Can you pass up a deal like this?ª

FRIDAY, JULY 23 

FILM 

The Invention of the Western Film: “Stagecoach” at 7:30 p.m. and “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” at 9:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

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 arre $23-$25 available from 864-2256. www.aclo.com 

Aurora Theatre “Betrayal,” by Harold Pinter, directed by Tom Ross. 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” at 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” 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. 524-9132. www.ccct.org  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Claire on “Serpents in the Garden: Liaisons with Culture and Sex” at 7 p.m. at AK Press Warehouse, 674 A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

Travel Photography A talk with Bob Tucker, featuring “Photographs of the Global Village” at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library’s Art and Music Room, 2090 Kittredge. 

Merrill Goozner discusses “The $800-Million Pill: The Truth Behind the Cost of New Drugs,” at 8:30 a.m. at UC Press, 2120 Berkeley Way. Free for UC Press Associates, $5 for guests, includes breakfast. To RSVP call 643-8465. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Keyboard Reflections & Shadows,” Scott Pratt, solo pianist at 7:45 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. Tickets are $25 from 415-342-6151. 848-7800. www.berkeleycityclub.com  

Holy Names Kodaly Institute Choir at 7:30 p.m. at Holy Names University, McLean Chapel, 3500 Mountain Blvd., Oakland. 436-1234. http://laskey@hnu.edu  

Jazz at Coventry Grove II “An Evening Under the Stars” with The Heath Brothers in concert and a conversation with Orrin Keepnews, at 7 p.m. at a private residence in Kensington. Benefit for The Jazz- 

school, donation $150. For reservations call 845-5373. 

Festival of Contemporary Music at 7:30 p.m., Park Blvd Presbyterian Church, 4101 Park Blvd., Oakland. Admission is free. Seating is general. Recommended donation $3. www.pbpc.org 

Pasion Flamenca with Caminos Flamencos at 8 and 10 p.m. at Café de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck Ave. Tickets are $12-$20. 843-0662. www.cafedelapaz.net  

Peruvian Independence Day Celebration with Jaranon y Bochinche at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Jeff Sanford’s CartoonJazz, the music of Raymond Scott, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50 in advance, $18.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Ras Midas and Congregation, reggae, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Trio Paradiso at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Abandon Theory, acoustic rock, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Tempest at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $12. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Tomorrow, Bruce Banner, Deadfall, Damage Deposit at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

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

KGB, Solemite, 10 Minutes Down at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Brown Baggin’ at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $7. 548-1159.  

Mingus Amungus at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277.  

Jessica Williams Trio at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $15-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Deepak Ram, bamboo flute and Emam, tabla, percussion at 8 p.m. at Yoga Mandala, 2807 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $12 in advance, $15 at the door. 486-1989.  

Sound of Giving Concert at 8 p.m. at Changemakers Books, 6536 Telegraph. Cost is $10 and up. 655-2405. www.changemakersforwomen.com 

SATURDAY, JULY 24 

THEATER 

Central Works “The Mysterious Mr. Looney” a new play about the man who wrote the plays of Shakespeare opens at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m., through Aug. 5. Tickets are $8-$20, sliding scale. 558-1381. www.centralworks.org 

FILM 

Bergman on a Summer Night: “The Virgin Spring” at 5 and 9 p.m. and “The Magician” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Leticia Hernandez, poetry and spoken word, at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Poetry Flash with Alan and Adam Soldofsky at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Mark Yakich will read from his recently published book, “Unrelated Individuals Forming a Group Waiting to Cross” at 7:30 p.m. at Book Zoo, 2556 Telegraph Ave. #7. 883-1332. 

MIUSIC AND DANCE 

Ali Akbar College of Music, tabla, violin, and vocal performance at 7 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Cost is $12-$20. 415-454-6264. 

Birdlegg & The Tight Fit Blues Band play the Oakland Blues at 2 p.m. at Down Home Music, 10341 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. 525-2129. 

Davka, Middle-Eastern Ashkenazi jazz, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50 in advance, $17.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Stephanie Bruce sings summertime songs at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Sila, from Kenya, with DJ Jeremiah, from Liberia, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Tarentel at 9 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $8-$15. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Christy Dana, trumpet, at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

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

Stymie & The Pimp Jones Love Orchestra at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $7. 548-1159.  

Go Van Gogh at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Bat Makumba, Samba Da at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Takaru, Kodan Armada, Kakistocracy, This Ship Will Sink, at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Barbary Coast by Night Join Omar for music and food from Algeria. Every Sat. at 7 p.m. at Cafe Raphael’s, 10064 San Pablo Ave. El Cerrito. 525-4227. 

Rory Snyder Quintet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Tim Barsky at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$10. 644-2204.  

SUNDAY, JULY 25 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Keen Eyes, Strong Beaks, Sharp Talons - Birds of the East Bay Hills” a photography exhibition by Paul Roose. Recep- 

tion from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Through Sept. 5. 525-2233. 

FILM 

The Invention of the Western Film: “Destry Rides Again” at 5:30 p.m. and “Duel in the Sun” at 7:25 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash with Wendy Jeanne Burch and Kevin Patrick Sullivan at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Word Beat Reading Series Allen Cohen Memorial Reading at 7 p.m. with Clive Matson, Ann Cohen, Mark Schwartz, Debra Grace Khattab and others at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Music Cooperative Players, “An Evening in Latin America” music of Villa-Lobos, Piazzolla and Ginastera at 7 p.m. in the Valley Center, Holy Names College, 3500 Mountain Blvd. Oakland. Tickets are $5-$20 sliding scale at the door. 845-2232. 

Russian National Orchestra, with soprano Lisa Delan and baritone Vladimir Chernov at 3 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$60 available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Un-Conventional Cabaret with Folk This and Carol Denney at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $8-$12. Sponsored by Laborfest. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Benefit for Haiti with Motor Dude Zydeco, Gator Beat, Tom Rigney and Pierre Labossiere, at 3 p.m. Ashkenaz. Cost is $15-$25. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Indian Classical Vocal Concert, with Abhinay Padhye on tabla & Vijay Ghaskadvi on harmonium, at 5 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $10. 717-3862. http://www.cs.berkeley. 

edu/~agni/chimmalgi  

Pit of Fashion Orchestra at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazz- 

school.com 

Ronny Cox at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Americana Unplugged: Donner Mountain Bluegrass Band at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Howard Alden, guitarist, at 7 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

MONDAY, JULY 26 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jeremy Varon describes “Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, The Red Army Faction and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Poetry Express Theme Night “Humor” from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Roseanna Vitro at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, JULY 27 

FILM 

Time’s Shadow: “The Way Things Go” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Frank Foer describes “How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Poets Gone Wild, open mic night, at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Creole Belles and Andrew Carriere at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson with Diana Castillo at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Fourtet plays jazz standards and originals at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.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 

Charnett Moffett Quartet at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Wed. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

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

WEDNESDAY, JULY 28 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Augúst August” Group show with new works by Carol Dalton and others to Sept. 5 at The Cecile Moochnek Gallery, 1809-D Fourth St., upstairs. 549-1018. www.cecilemoochnek.com 

FILM 

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

READINGS AND LECTURES 

China Mieville introduces his new novel, “Iron Council” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

D’Arcy Fallon describes the Christian commune she called home in “So Late, So Soon” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

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 

Bay Area Writing Project, summer reading featuring teachers who are also authors from Berkeley and Oakland, at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sandfly performs reggae 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.  

Balkan Folkdance at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Eric & Suzy Thompson, W.B Reid and Bonnie Zahnow at 8 p.m. at Strings, 6320 San Pablo Ave. All ages welcome. Donation $10. www.strings.org 

Bryan Girard Quintet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Swing Mine plays 40s and 50s western swing at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Keith Terry’s “Slammin’” at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Poor Bailey, The Apt, Mr. Loveless, Mike Rogers at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

THURSDAY, JULY 29 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Muchas Culturas, Una Communidad: Many Cultures, One Community” paper maché and ceramic artworks by students from Le Conte and Longfellow Schools. Reception 6 to 8 p.m. Addison St. Windows, 2018 Addison St. 981-7533. 

FILM 

Time’s Shadow: “Fellini Satyricon” at 9:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Lawrence Ferlinghetti will read from “Americus: Book I” the first part of his epic poem of American consciousness at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Ward Churchill introduces “On the Justice of Roosting Chickens: Reflections on the Consequences of U.S. Imperial Arrogance and Criminality” at 7 p.m. at AK Press Warehouse, 674 A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

Jerry Stahl reads from his new novel, “I, Fatty” based on the life of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with Terry McCarty and Mark States, at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985.  

Brad Blanton discusses lying in “The Truthtellers” at 7:30 p.m. Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Summer Noon Concert with SoVoSó at the Berkeley BART. Sponsored by the Downtown Berkeley Association. 

“What a Day!” The students of the 2004 Berkeley/Oakland Alvin Ailey Dance Camp exhibit their work at 7 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. 642-0212. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu  

Liam McCormick Sings the Blues at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Donation of $7-$10. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Samba Ngo, Congolese guitarist, with a lecture by CK Ladzekpo, at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Country Joe Band, with former members of Country Joe and the Fish at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50 in advance, $18.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Ismael “Bandolero” Duran at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

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

Frisky Frolics, The Green Cards at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Mimi Fox plays the music of Rogers and Hart at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Ducksan Distones, featuring Donald “Duck” Bailey and guest vocalist Lorin Benedict, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $8-$15. www.thejazz- 

house.com 

Django Reinhardt Project, with special guest James Carter, at 8 and 10 p.m. through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $12-$22. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Witches Brew at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277.ª

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Becky O’Malley’s editorial about Livable Berkeley basically concludes that the organization is mindlessly pro-development and takes extreme positions, to the city’s detriment. That’s an interesting judgment from someone who, as a s itting landmarks preservation commissioner, said at a public meeting in May that “I’d never vote to do any favors for developers no matter what,” even when doing so would divert development interest away from current or potential historic sites. Perhaps w e could characterize such an opinion as “mindlessly anti-development”? And perhaps best see her editorial in that light.  

I joined Livable Berkeley earlier this year as an ordinary citizen who belongs to no other ongoing civic group — and with no past or present ties to developers, architects, or city planners. I was pleased to meet multiple other citizen-members without such a professional background, including environmental and neighborhood activists, preservationists, and “just plain folks.” What memb ers most had in common was impatience with the narrow partisan positions on some ongoing issues that have left much of Berkeley politics “frozen in time” for decades.  

Instead of a narrow interest group, I found an organization consistently looking at th e bigger picture and working to establish new consensus for the city’s benefit, on more than just development projects. For example, I was one of two members of Livable Berkeley (not just one as Ms. O’Malley writes) who attended the many hours of meetings of the subcommittee crafting needed revisions to the Landmark Preservation Ordinance. Along with members of Berkeley Architectural Heritage who made major contributions, we collectively helped to move the ordinance toward greater clarity, efficiency and effectiveness. Once a contentious topic, historic preservation is now a settled issue in Berkeley; working from the broad perspective lets us now more clearly implement it for the benefit of the whole community. It’s just that “big tent” process that Livable Berkeley will, as it grows in capability, embody more and more.  

Even Ms. O’Malley’s own paper has covered past Livable Berkeley public activities that are not just about physical development. We have co-sponsored and/or attended community workshops on topics such as mitigating the effects of traffic, eco-tours of historic neighborhoods, and other events of little interest to “mindless developers.” You will see us doing more and more of that as we grow and learn.  

Seemingly unable to find anything a bout development to like, Ms. O’Malley gets the orientation of the group precisely backward. Livable Berkeley does not publicly favor “smart growth” in order to provide a cover story for any and all development proposals; rather, we favor selected project s when and only when they promise to provide the public benefits that smart growth can deliver. We believe Berkeley’s “big picture” should provide more livable commercial and residential neighborhoods, which are sometimes best served by intelligently addi ng more density of life to encourage better street-level services and amenities.  

I don’t mean to claim that Livable Berkeley is yet a perfect organization, or may ever be. Indeed founded by public-spirited planning and development professionals, it’s taking awhile to broaden their natural way of thinking. Some of us, indeed, have had to point out to our founders that we don’t just work to benefit desirable “projects” (a developer/planner’s breakdown of the world) but primarily the citizenry as a whole. Less than two years old, the group faces the usual challenges of finding financial support and gathering enough extra time from already-busy members; organizational development clearly needs more attention.  

Ms. O’Malley, however, still seems to be livin g in the regrettable bygone era of narrow partisan strife. She would do more good for the city by learning what the emerging big-picture consensus actually is these days, by not unfairly demonizing her well-meaning neighbors, and by refraining from inflammatory language like “megaplex” to describe any proposal too imaginative for her comprehension. And yes, maybe even by cutting civic-minded developers some slack once in awhile.  

Alan Tobey  

n

Traveling close to home this weekend, try the Catalan Festival at Gloria Ferrer Champagne Caves just south of Sonoma. 

The 12th annual Catalan Festival of food, wine, and music (and dancing for everyone) is this Saturday and Sunday, July 24 and 25. Guests will enjoy wild Spanish guitar performances by Eric Symons, and colorful, pounding sardana and flamenco dance performances by the Flamenco Society of San Jose, California.  

Gloria Ferrer owners Gloria and Jose Ferrer (not the movie star, but an extremely interesting and creative man), come from ancient Catalonian wine families. Ferrer’s mother’s family had been making wine outside Barcelona for over 700 years. Francesc Sala I Ferres founded “Casa Sala,” the first wine exported from Sant Sadurni d’Anoia in 1861. His daughter married Pere Ferrer i Bosch, scion of “La Freixeneda,” the family’s 13th century estate in the Alt Penedes region. Eventually the first Freixenet Casa Sala appeared as the first family “cava,” or sparkling wine, to which the Ferrer family is still dedicated. 

Catalonia was one of the early kingdoms of Spain, along with Valencia and Castilla. Each kingdom developed its own language, culture, cuisine, heritage, and, of course, its own royal family. Through marriages, tugs of real war, and other conquests, the whole territory became one country, Spain.  

Barcelona surfaced as the dominant political and military center in the region, and by the 13th century it rivaled Genoa and Venice in Italy as a maritime power. Having linked with France’s Louis XII, Catlanonia’s forces were later crushed by Don Juan of Austria in the siege of 1652. When the Catalans tried again to secede from Philip V’s monarchy during the Spanish War of Succession, Catalonia lost and gave up Barcelona on Sept. 11, 1714. Today Catalonian’s celebrate that day as Catalonia’s National Day, and Gloria Ferrer’s annual Catalan Festival is pretty close to that holiday. 

The company launched its Cava Carta Nevada in 1941, expanded Freixenent internationally, and after researching sites throughout the United States began building Gloria Ferrer south of Sonoma (well, technically in Schellville) in 1984. The family now has wineries in Spain, France, Mexico, and Australia, and claims to be “the world’s largest methode champenoise sparkling wine producer.” 

Gloria Ferrer Vice President Eva Bertran joined the company with a fresh MBA and no wine experience (except drinking it occasionally), and was sent off to found Gloria Ferrer “in San Francisco.” 

Bertran was picked up at the airport back in 1984, and much to her surprise was driven right through San Francisco without stopping and over the Golden Gate Bridge. As she said, “the roads kept getting narrower and narrower and I wondered where they were taking me!” Eventually Bertran arrived at a trailer that served as the company headquarters parked on a dusty hillside across from Angelo’s meats on Highway 121, also known now as Carneros Highway. 

Bertran gently supervised construction and all aspects of developing Gloria Ferrer, and today oversees all aspects of the sparkling wine facility, including hospitality and the fabulous Catalan Festival this weekend. Winemaker Bob Iantosca and Vineyard Manager Mike Crumly, along with Eva Bertran, have all been with Gloria Ferrer from the beginning, an unusual silent but loaded statement for the winery’s ownership, policies, and management. 

Always a prosperous and republican area, Catalonia has fought for independence many times, achieving autonomy from 1932-1939, and crushed this time by Francisco Franco and the Nationalists. The Nationalists then tried to squelch anything Catalan and did until the Constitution of 1977, which gave Catalonia some degree of self government. Now Catalonia is Spain’s most successful region economically, producing about 20 percent of Spain’s gross national product on six percent of its land, and with only 15 percent of its people.  

Like many regions of the world, Catalonia works to maintain its own identity, and does so quite successfully. Barcelona, “Catalonia’s enchanted city,” is modern, urban, and artistic, with Moorish influences in older architecture. Many famous artists, including Pablo Picasso, lived or still live in Barcelona, which is sometimes called “Paris with palm trees.” 

At Gloria Ferrer’s sparkling winery set against the Sonoma hills, Catalan Festival goers will get to see the Gegants de Mataro, 15-foot tall papier mache “puppets,” some of which resemble Spanish kings and queens, sample fine Catalan, Spanish and Mediterranean foods and the best of Gloria Ferrer’s sparkling and still wines, listen to hot romantic Flamenco guitar, and dance along with Flamenco dancers.  

Cooking demonstrations augment samplings of paella, tapas, and other Catalan specialties will be available throughout the Catalan Festival. Guest chefs from the Avance Tapas Bar and Restaurant, the Girl and the Fig, The Lodge at Sonoma, Park Avenue Catering, The Pasta Shop with Cheeses of Spain, B44 Catalan Bistro, Thirsty Bear and Ramblas Tapas Bar, Destino, and La Tasca. 

If you go, visit other wineries’ attempts at country-of-origin replication along the same stretch of Highway 121 at Viansa’s Italian Market Place and Winery, Schug Carneros Estate Winery (German), Cline Cellars’ early American, and nearby Sonoma Country Antiques’ English imports. 

Kathleen Hill is co-author with Gerald Hill of Sonoma Valley: The Secret Wine Country and five other Hill Guides from Globe-Pequot Press. Send travel tidbits to her at hilltopub@aol.com.ª

FRIDAY, JULY 23 

Bearded Iris Rhizome Sale and Auction from 7 to 10 p.m. at Lakeside Garden Center, 666 Bellevue Ave., Oakland. Free, sponsored by the Sydney B. Mitchell Iris Society. 839-9647. 

Tales of Your Amazing Body at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shatuck Ave., lower level. For ages 3-10. Suggested donation $3. 549-1564. 

Sacred Serpent Slide Show on the serpent as a symbol for healing, at 7:30 p.m. at Changemakers Books, 6536 Telegraph. Cost is $10. 655-2405. www.changemakersforwomen.com 

New College of California Women’s Spirituality Laboratory at 7 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Cost is $5. 883-0600. www.belladonna.ws 

Kol Hadash the Bay Area’s only Jewish Humanistic Congregation meets at 7:30 p.m. for Shabbat, the fourth Friday of every month, at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. Special “Goodby Party” for Rabbi Eckstein. Free and open to the public. Please bring non-perishable food for the needy. 428-1492. www.kolhadash.org 

SATURDAY, JULY 24 

Tribute to Fr. Bill O’Donnell at noon at St. Mary Magdalen Church at 2005 Berryman St. Food, raffle tickets and a silent auction. Sponsored by Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action. 658-2467. 

Party for Mordechai Vanunu, Israeli peace activist and nuclear whistleblower who still cannot leave Israel, from 5 to 9 p.m. at Fellowship Hall, 1924 Cedar St. www.nonviolence.org/vanunu 

Identity Theft Forum hosted by Supervisor Keith Carson and the Alameda County Consumer Affairs Commission from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Progressive Baptist Church, 3301 King St. The forum is free, everyone welcome to attend. 

Cerrito Creek Work Party We want to make a big summer push to remove the remaining thornless blackberry. Helping to remove this pest also will be our contribution to California Weed Awareness Week. At 10 a.m. Email for location. F5creeks@aol.com  

Wetland Restoration with Save The Bay Summer restoration activities include native seed collection, non-native plant removal, site monitoring, and shoreline clean-up. From 9 a.m. to noon at MLK, Jr. Regional Shoreline, Oakland. Registration required. 452-9261, ext. 109. www.saveSFbay.org/getinvolved/restorewetland 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of the Mills College Campus from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Meet on the lawn of Alderwood Hall, left inside the Richardson Gate, 5000 MacArthur Blvd. 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 Chinatown Meet at 10 a.m. at the courtyard fountain in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza at 388 Ninth St. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/wallkingtours 

Sushi Basics Learn the natural and cultural history of this ancient cuisine as you prepare and taste seven types of sushi. From 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Parent participation required for children 8-10. Cost is $25-$39, registration required. 525-2233. 

Introduction to Australian Plants with Hank Jenkins at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

Bearded Iris Rhizome Sale from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Rockridge Mall, Broadway at Pleasant Valley Rd., Oakland. Free, sponsored by the Sydney B. Mitchell Iris Society. 839-9647. 

Neighborhood Coffee at 10 a.m. at Cafe Expresso Roma, 1549 Hopkins St. Sponsored by Berkeley Alliance of Neighborhood Associations. www.berkeleycna.com 

SpinCycle’s African Adventure Presentation & Dance Party at 7:30 p.m. at the Transparent Theater/Ashby Stage Theater, 1901 Ashby Ave. Jim Sowers will give a multimedia presentation about his journey thorugh Africa to raise money for Save the Children. The event will conclude with a dance party. $10 donation requested.  

World Beat Dance Workshop, with Kristi Rudolph, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Yoga Mandala, 2807 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $25-$30. 486-1989. 

SUNDAY, JULY 25 

Weekend Tilden Tots An indoor/outdoor nature adventure for 3 and 4 year olds each accompanied by an adult. Today we’ll learn about butterflies, moths and more. From 10:15 to 11:45 a.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8. 525-2233.  

“Keen Eyes, Strong Beaks, Sharp Talons - Birds of the East Bay Hills” a photography exhibition by Paul Roose. Reception from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Runs through Sept. 5. 525-2233. 

Current Activities of the Physicians for Social Responsibility at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Road, Kensington. 525-0302.  

Neighborhood Disaster Training for the Stuart St./ 

LeConte Area from 9 a.m. to noon. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley. 981-5506. 

Berkeley City Club free tour from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at 2315 Durant Ave. Sponsored by the Berkeley City Club and the Landmark Heritage Foundation. Donations welcome. 848-7800.  

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of Uptown Art Deco from 1 to 3 p.m. Meet in front of the Mary Bowles Building, 1718 Telegraph Ave. Tour is limited to 20 persons. Cost is $5 for OHA members, $10 for nonmembers. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Tibetan Buddhism with Abbe Blum on “The Great Guru Padmasambhava” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, JULY 26 

“Guilty by Suspicion” a video screening on the House Committee on Un-American Activities, followed by discussion at 7 p.m. at Grand Lake Neighborhood Center, 530 Lake Park Ave. Donation $1. Sponsored by East Bay Community Against the War. www.ebcaw.org 

Summer Science Week in the Tilden Nature Area For junior scientists, 9-12 years. Different topics daily: get wet on Pond and Stream Day, make a “thermometer lizard,” meet a snake, play Paleo Bingo, explore the universe, look at rainforests. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. Cost is $150-$166. Registration required. 636-1684. www.ebparks.org 

Women of Vision Series A Vision Plan Workshop with Shiloh McCloud at 6 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Tuition $40, materials $20. 883-0600. www.belladonna.ws 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60 years and over meets Mondays at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Join at any time. 524-9122. 

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

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

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, JULY 27 

“Global Implications of US Nuclear Weapons” with Jacqueline Cabasso, executive director, Western States Legal Foundation, at 3 p.m. at Redwood Gardens Community Room, 2951 Derby St. Admission is free. 

Twilight Hike: The Creekside Nightshift As twilight descends, many of our residents begin their busy “day.” Deer, raccoons, woodrats, and several kinds of bats are all part of the night shift. You will be rewarded with sights of sounds of these animals on our quiet hike. Bring a flashlight for the walk back to your car. From 7 to 9 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Backpacking and Day Hiking the Sierra’s Feather River Country with author/explorer Tom DeMund, 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. 

Tales of Your Amazing Body at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shatuck Ave., lower level. For ages 3-10. Suggested donation $3. 549-1564. 

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

“The Gift of Shabbat: Philosophy and Practice” at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237, ext. 112. 

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

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

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

WEDNESDAY, JULY 28 

Organize! Organize! Organize! Creating Social Change with the Berkeley Gray Panthers and Sandra Weese, organizer for SEIU Local 250 at 1:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 548-9696. 

Twilight Tour “Agaves to Zephyranthes” A tour of select monocots, including woody lilies, grasses, and grass-like plants at 5:30 p.m. at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $12-$17. Registration required. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

“Autonomous Education” a film by the Chiapas Media Project, at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St. in downtown Oakland. 654-9587. 

Manifest Destiny Edition Highlights of ten politically moving films at 8 p.m. at 21 Grand, Oakland, $5-$10 sliding scale. 

Bayswater Book Club meets at 6:30 p.m. in the Barnes and Noble Coffee Shop, El Cerrito Plaza. We are reading “Titans and Olympians: Greek and Roman Myths.” 433-2911. 

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. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Tales of Your Amazing Body at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shatuck Ave., lower level. For ages 3-10. Suggested donation $3. 549-1564. 

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 around the restored 1870s business district. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of G.B. Ratto’s at 827 Washington St. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet. 

com/wallkingtours 

“Eyewitness Haiti” with members of the Haiti Action Committee speaking on their recent visit, at 7 p.m. at La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10 sliding scale. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

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. Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, JULY 29 

Tilden Explorers A nature adventure program for 5-7 year olds who may be accompanied by an adult, no younger siblings, please. We’ll learn about insects, their body parts, and families. From 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Tales of Your Amazing Body at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shatuck Ave., lower level. For ages 3-10. Donation $3. 549-1564. 

Twilight Tour “Plants for Your Landscape and Garden” Expand your plant palette with reliable bloomers and drought tolerant plants at 5:30 p.m. at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $12-$17. Registration required. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

FRIDAY, JULY 30 

Free Compost for Berkeley Residents Open to the general public at 11:45 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Berkeley Marina Maintenance Yard, 201 University Ave., next to Adventure Playground. 644-6566.  

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. 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. 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. 525-5231. 

SATURDAY, JULY 31 

Fifth Annual Urban Sustainability Bike Tour We’ll tour several houses in the East Bay that demonstrate some aspect of lighter living in the city. Join us at the east side of the Ashby BART Station at 10 a.m. Please bring lunch and water with you. 548-2220, ext. 233. www.ecologycenter.org 

United Nations Association 40th Anniversary Celebration, with music dance and food, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1403B Addison St. in the University Ave. Andronico’s parking lot. 849-1752. 

“Port Chicago,” a musical-theater performance commemorating the 60th anniversary of the worst home-front disaster in World War II, will be staged by the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra from 3 to 5 p.m., at the African-American Museum and Library at Oakland, 659 14th St. 637-0200. www.oaklandlibrary.org  

Summer Pond Plunge With dip-nets and maginifiers we’ll search for backswimmers, dragonflies and more. For ages 4 and up. From 3 to 4:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Berkeley International Kite Festival at Cesar Chavez Park, Berkeley Marina. 235-5483. www.highlinekites.com  

Rockridge to the Hills Explore historic neighborhoods of Oakland and Berkeley, with beautiful old homes, gardens, and a creek. Ascend to Claremont Open Space for a picnic and views before returning to Rockridge. A challenging, seven mile hike with an elevation gain between 1,000 and 2,000 feet. From 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. 415- 543-6771, ext. 302. www.greenbelt.org 

Full Moon Peak Hike for youth and families to Wildcat Peak to see the moonrise. From 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“Butterflies: Flying Flowers” from 1 to 4 p.m. at Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden park. Cost is $30-$35. For reservations call 845-4116. www.nativeplants.org 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of Glenview From 10 a.m. to noon. Meet at Gleview Elementary School, corner of Hampel and La Cresta. 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 Jack London Waterfront Meet at 10 a.m. at the corner of Broadway and Embarcadero. For reservations call 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/wallkingtours 

The Bay Area Dry Climate Garden Learn what to plant in our winter-wet, summer-dry climate, choosing from plants from similar climates around the world. At 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

Trivial Pursuit Booklover’s Edition Join this interactive event and test your knowledge of book and author trivia at 2 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-0861. 

Disaster First Aid Class from 9 a.m. to noon at the Fire Dept. Training Center, 997 Cedar St. Part of Berkeley Community Emergency Response Training series, open to anyone who lives or works in Berkeley. To register, call 981-5506. 

Yoga for Seniors at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St., on Saturdays from 10 to 11 a.m. for $8. 848-7800. 

ONGOING 

Berkeley Youth Alternative Boys Basketball Tournament will be held 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, 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.  

CITY MEETINGS 

Solid Waste Management Commission Mon., July 26, at 7 p.m., at 1201 Second St. Becky Dowdakin, 981-6357. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/solidwaste 

Parks and Recreation Commission meets Mon., July 26, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Deborah Chernin, 981-6715. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/parksandrecreation 

Civic Arts Commission meets Wed., July 28, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Mary Ann Merker, 981-7533. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/civicarts 

Disaster Council meets Wed., July 28, at 7 p.m., at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. Carol Lopes, 981-5514. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/disaster 

Energy Commission meets Wed., July 28, at 6:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Neal De Snoo, 981-5434. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/energy 

Mental Health Commission meets Wed., July 28 at 6:30 p.m. at 2640 MLK Jr. Way, at Derby. Harvey Turek, 981-5213. www.ci.erkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/mentalhealth 

Planning Commission meets Wed., July 28, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Ruth Grimes, 981-7481. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/planning 

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Water leaks and subsequent mold contamination have cost the owners of Berkeley’s controversial Gaia building more than $10 million to repair, according to lawsuits filed in Alameda County Superior Court. 

Those diaphanous black shrouds periodically veiling parts of Berkeley’s Gaia Building have offered mute testimony to a welter of lawsuits surrounding the building, which is owned by Gaia Building LLC, a corporate entity managed by developer Patrick Kennedy. 

The owners contend that Berkeley construction firm “Kimes Morris negligently constructed the Gaia Building and negligently supplied material,” rendering the building “susceptible to water penetration” resulting in “damages due to the intrusion of water.”  

According to filings in Alameda County Superior Court, construction flaws have allowed water to leak into the walls, resulting in mold contamination that has required extensive interior and exterior repairs. 

The original March, 2003, suit attached no dollar amounts to the repairs. However, along with lost rents and finance charges on money borrowed to bankroll the repairs, a filing lodged with the court a year later placed the costs at $10,079,000. 

Kennedy’s firm hired Kimes Morris to build the 2116 Allston Way structure on Sept. 6, 1999, agreeing to pay $12,217,141 for the seven-story residential and retail complex. 

According to the complaint filed by Emeryville attorney Robert R. Riggs, although Kimes Morris was notified of the water damage in December, 2002, the firm failed to accept responsibility or “correct its nonconforming work.” 

Kimes Morris, headquartered next door to the Gaia Building at 2134 Allston Way, responded to the suit by denying responsibility for the claims and by filing a cross-complaint against the building’s architect and the subcontractors Kimes Morris hired to build the structure. 

Berkeley City Councilmember Dona Spring, whose district includes the Gaia Building, said she’s had “numerous complaints” from frustrated Gaia renters complaining of leaks and other problem. 

“Tenants said their rugs were being pulled up and then re-laid after absorbent baby diapers were placed underneath, and that their drywall was being replaced,” Spring said. “The worst problems were on the building’s southern side, which is the direction our rains come from.” 

Spring said tenants were afraid to try to break their leases because renters are forced to sign one-year leases which give building management the right to withdraw rent money directly from their bank accounts—blocking any possibility of a rent strike. 

The councilmember said she had asked city Housing Director Steven Barton to inspect all the building’s Section 8 subsidized apartments last spring, “but Kennedy was able to hold him off until summer, after the rainy season had ended.” 

One of those sued by Kimes Morris was Cres DP, Inc., the San Leandro subcontractor which installed both the interior drywall and the exterior stucco—a move that provoked yet another lawsuit. 

That suit by Clarendon National Insurance Company, which carried a $2 million February, 2001, warranty and negligence insurance policy on Cres, asks the court to absolve it from any obligations to either the Gaia Building or Cres because—among other things—Clarendon claims the terms of the policy excluded both stucco work and responsibility for any apartment project of more than 15 units. 

Defective stucco construction has become perhaps the biggest growth sector in construction lawsuits, called by some “the new asbestos”—referring to the multibillion-dollar damage settlements resulting from the frequently fatal health problems resulting from exposure to the once commonly used inside and home siding material. 

Mold problems date back to biblical times, with the Book of Leviticus spelling out remedial procedures for what was then termed “leprosy of the house.” 

The remediation procedures spelled out in Leviticus are much the same as those employed today, calling for removal of the affected building material, its disposal in “some unclean place” outside the city, and installation of new wall materials and coverings. 

For several months last summer and fall, a pile of wood chips next to the Gaia Building contained a warning, advising passersby that the material “may contain mold.” 

Various portions of the building’s stucco and wood backing have been stripped and replaced, in some places up to three times. 

The original complaint, filed in March, 2003, lists seven named and 100 yet to be named Does as defendants. Subsequent countersuits named the insurer and various unnamed Roes and Moes. 

Several defendants have been released, including the roofing and painting subcontractors and a consulting engineering firm, but the principal parties remain. 

Patrick Kennedy had not returned calls to the Daily Planet about the suit by press time.ª

A 25-year-old father of three became Berkeley’s first homicide victim of the year Sunday afternoon when he was felled by a hail of gunfire on the street outside his grandmother’s South Berkeley apartment, police report. Meanwhile, a Wednesday night shooting death is being attributed to the City of Albany. 

Mario Jackson, known as Tiptoe to friends, was ambushed outside the building at 1317 Ashby Ave., said Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies. 

Starting about 4:41, police 911 dispatchers were flooded by multiple calls of “shots fired,” Okies said. Officers rushed to the scene, finding Jackson lying on a walkway and bleeding from multiple wounds.  

Police rendered first aid to the victim at the scene until paramedics arrived. Jackson was rushed to Highland Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. 

Okies said that Berkeley homicide detectives believe Jackson was shot in the parking lot to the rear of the property, then stumbled to a walkway where he fell.  

Berkeley detectives are currently investigating a number of potential motives in this case, Okies said. 

The officer declined to confirm published accounts of remarks from anonymous neighbors who reported seeing a man in his late teens or early 20s leap a fence and jump and run into a car waiting on Burnett Street, where a second man allegedly drove off. 

Investigators are asking are anyone who knows anything about the shooting to contact the Homicide Detail at 981-5741 or e-mail tips to police@ci.berkeley.ca.us, anonymously or otherwise.  

Another gunshot victim was a fatally wounded 18-year-old Richmond man whose car crashed into the Golden Gate Fields parking lot in Berkeley Wednesday night after he was shot in the head. Anthony Robinson also died at Highland Hospital Sunday but his death is not considered a Berkeley homicide. 

Because Robinson was shot as he was driving southbound on Interstate 80 through Albany, the killing goes to that city’s credit. 

Following Robinson’s shooting, the victim was rushed to Highland Hospital, where he underwent brain surgery and was then placed in the Intensive Care Unit, where he was pronounced dead at 9:48 p.m. Sunday, according to the Alameda County Coroner’s office. 

Albany Police Lt. Mike McQuiston asked for the public’s help in locating the suspect 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.›

Relaxation isn’t just for the rich. That was the call from boycott-supporting protestors outside the Claremont Hotel Friday as the well-known health guru Deepak Chopra held a weekend seminar at the luxury resort and hotel. 

Organized by the East Bay Inte rfaith Committee for Worker Justice, some 75 protestors gathered outside the Claremont’s west gate, striking warrior yoga poses and concentrating on their breathing as bemused motorists headed home. 

The protestors’ main gripe was Chopra’s refusal to hono r the ongoing boycott of the hotel led by the Oakland-based Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE) Local 2850. For almost two years the union and the hotel have been in a labor dispute over a union contract. 

Chopra is a leader in health and well ness programming, especially known for his mix of Eastern and Western medicine. He is a licensed medical doctor but also promotes a form of eastern holistic healing developed in India known as Ayurvedic medicine. Protestors demanded that Cho-pra, as some one concerned with health, acknowledge workers at the hotel and spa who are struggling with their own well-being, including their need for sustainable wages and affordable health care. 

“We find that it is a kind of pseudo-morality that he can speak about leadership and have spas where workers don’t get health care,” said Jim Stockton, the yoga teacher leading the poses. 

For eight months the Interfaith Committee has tried to meet with Chopra about the Claremont and the La Costa resort and in Carlsbad whe re his business, the Chopra Center, is based. In particular, the Interfaith Committee asked him to use his leverage with the two hotels to help settle their disputes. 

After the group cornered him at a local Bay Area book signing, Chopra asked them to follow up through e-mail or phone calls but—according to the group—did not respond when they met his request. 

Chopra eventually sent a letter to the group which said management at La Costa told him they were “unwilling to have [him] involved in this matter." 

“If they want me involved in any mediation effort, I will be happy to participate. I can not force anyone to have me involved if it is not their desire,” he wrote.  

The committee wrote back telling Chopra that his connection to management was clear an d that his excuse was re-stating the obvious because no business would want him to intervene in a labor dispute. 

They summed up their position in an earlier letter by saying, “We are concerned by what we perceive to be an inconsistency between your philo sophy and your actions, specifically your business practices and partnerships. How can you preach oneness and solidarity while you are in a strategic business partnership with a corporate entity that has little to no regard for the humanness and basic dig nity of its workers?” 

A representative from Chopra’s center did not return an inquiry from the Daily Planet about his position by press time. 

Protestors, after winding down their yoga session, demanded to meet with Chopra, who—according to representativ es from the Claremont—was unavailable. Even after constant questioning by a nun dressed in her full garb, Claremont representatives would not budge. As protestors turned away, one lead a chant that they hope Chopra would hear. 

“Who do we want?” he shouted. “Chopra!,” the crowd responded. “Who do we want,” his questioning raised to yell. “Chopra!!,” the crowd walloped. 

As Berkeley charts a course to meet its goal of recycling 75 percent of its waste by 2010, it is doubtful the 32-year-old recycling drop-off center at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Dwight Avenue will be part of the plan. 

A deal is in place to sell the 8,731-square-foot parcel to a father and son development team that plans to replace the recycling center with a four-story structure that includes 21 condominiums above a commercial space and 23 parking spaces. 

The project has already won unanimous support from the Design Review Commission and heads to the Zoning Adjustment Board Thursday. 

Prospective buyers Paul Ugenti, a San Jose businessman, and his son Paul Jr., a 2002 UC Berkeley graduate, said they hope to begin construction as soon as they get their requisite permits, probably by the end of the year. It would be their first project in Berkeley. 

News of the pending sale came as a surprise to Kathy Evans of the Community Conservation Center, the nonprofit contracted to run Berkeley’s two drop-off centers. The other one is located at Second and Gilman streets. 

The property has been on the market for several years since longtime owner John White died, but several bids have fallen through, Evans said, because of environmental concerns about the site, which at one time housed a gas station. 

The MLK-Dwight drop-off center receives only about 840 of the city’s 17,000 tons of recyclable material a year, said City of Berkeley Recycling Program Manager Rebecca Dowdakin. However, if the condos rise, Dowdakin added, many apartment dwellers would lose access to their most convenient recycling location. 

Berkeley’s curbside recycling program, run by the Ecology Center, only includes private homes and apartments with fewer than 10 units. Larger complexes, whose large bins are incompatible with the Ecology Center’s trucks, are served by a voluntary city-run program. 

“A lot of buildings choose not to provide the services,” Dowdakin said. Tenants with cars can go to the city’s other drop-off center at Second and Gilman, but others wouldn’t have a viable alternative. 

In the 1970s drop-off recycling centers dotted Berkeley and other nearby cities. But when Berkeley became the first city on the west coast to implement curbside recycling in 1973, drop-off centers fell out of vogue. Besides Berkeley, El Cerrito is the only East Bay town to have a recycling drop-off near the city center. 

With real estate prices at a premium, and recycling centers requiring ample room for trucks to make pick-ups, Evans didn’t expect the CCC to find a new location. 

“The economics of recycling don’t really work in a densely populated town,” she said.  

Dowdakin said she had talked to the city’s office of economic development, but hadn’t heard of other available sites. 

Last February the City Council soundly rejected a proposal from Councilmember Dona Spring to buy the lot—listed at $475,000—through increasing city refuse fees. 

“Without the center, we might fall below 50 percent [of waste recycled],” said Spring. As a member of the Alameda County Waste Management Board, she added that Berkeley—which recycles slightly more than 50 percent of its waste—has fallen behind neighboring cities.  

“[The city of] Alameda is recycling 63 percent of its waste and nearly every city is recycling food waste except for Berkeley,” she said. 

Still, at the drop-off center Sunday, most recyclers seemed willing to haul their waste to Gilman. 

“Maybe housing is more important,” said Joe Willingham. “I’d rather see a handsome building with tax-paying homeowners.” 

Jim Novosel, the project’s designer, said the owners had knocked on neighbors’ doors and received positive feedback about the project. 

“Can you imagine living next to a site with all those noisy trucks rumbling through?” he said. 

Those interviewed appeared less upset by the loss of the recycling center than by the fourth story planned for the condominium project’s eastern half. 

“It sounds like it would be way out of proportion with MLK,” said Rosemary Vimont, who lives several blocks from the recycling center. “If it were two or three stories, I could lump it, but four stories seems extreme.” 

Novosel said a three-story building wouldn’t have been profitable, so he added a fourth floor to the design, thanks to a state law that grants 25 percent more space to projects that include affordable housing. Three of the 21 condominiums will be affordable, Novosel said. Final unit prices haven’t been determined, Ugenti Sr. said. 

The 46-foot project will include four one-bedroom condominiums, nine two-bedroom condominiums and eight three-bedroom condominiums, a roof-top deck, parking lifts, and a ground floor commercial space. 

Since the area is zoned for 35-foot buildings and the law requires structures on Dwight to be set back from the sidewalk, the project must go before the Zoning Adjustment Board for a use permit. 

If the Ugentis get their permits, they will have to perform environmental mitigations during construction, said city hazardous materials specialist Geoff Fiedler. The site—a former gas station— is assumed to have contaminated soil and ground water below. 

In 2003, the Bay Area Regional Water Quality Control Board signed off on a finding by the city’s toxics department that contamination of the site was not too severe to prevent properly mitigated development. 

Recently, Berkeley has approved new developments above former gas stations at 1797 Shattuck Ave. and at the intersection of Solano and Colusa avenues. 

At both sites, Fiedler said, unknown sources of pollution were found and treated. “The unexpected happens at these sites all the time,” he said.  

ª

The hunt for a replacement for Berkeley Fire Chief Reginald Garcia—who leaves Sept. 17—begins in earnest early next month, said City Manager Phil Kamlarz last week. 

The nationwide recruiting effort will be run entirely by city staff. 

“We’re looking for someone who can deal with the whole range of major issues here, including the department’s interaction with other city departments, getting the work done in a time of diminishing resources, and dealing with issues like injured homeless people on the streets,” Kamlarz said. 

As with cities across the state, Berkeley faces major budget problems this fiscal year. The current city spending plan calls for reducing fire department costs by $500,000 through such measures as the elimination of an assistant chief, a training lieutenant and an associate analyst, as well as downgrading the fire marshal position to civilian status. 

The City Council also asked for an additional $300,000 in cuts which would have come from voluntary pay reductions which the Firefighters Association refused to accept. 

For the 2006 budget, the council adopted a plan calling for an further reductions, which would come mostly from overtime, though if voters pass a bond measure this November, the cuts would be less severe. 

“There are no station closures,” said Kamlarz, “though cities like Oakland and Fremont are doing rotating closures.” Berkeley may, however, face reductions in the availability of specialized equipment. 

The salary range for the chief’s position ranges from $121,000 to $166,000, with Garcia currently at the top end of the scale. 

The new chief will be expected to live in or near the city, Kamlarz said. 

“It’s an important job, a front line position at the head of one of the city’s most important departments, and requires a lot of flexibility,” said the city manager. 

Garcia came to Berkeley in June, 1997, from the Oakland Fire Department, where he served as assistant fire chief in charge of operations. He played major roles in the Oakland department’s response to the 1991 hills fire and in the aftermath of the Loma Prieta earthquake. 

The Berkeley Fire Department currently has 142 personnel in seven stations with a total of seven engines, two hook and ladder trucks, a hazardous materials truck, and three ambulances.Ã

For more than three decades, Charlie Frizzell was a cherished Homo sapiens Berkeley landmark. Whether it was shmoozing with Charlie at a party, joining him on an anti-war march, chatting with him at the Cheese Board, or just bumping into him around town, it was always a treat. His calm and gentle demeanor was contagious and even a brief encounter with Charlie would lower your blood pressure and brighten your mood. 

One of Berkeley’s abundant East Coast immigrants, Charlie was born and grew up in Massachusetts. His initial taste of Berkeley actually came in 1961, when he decided to check out the West Coast following his college sophomore year. Charlie got a job as a Wells Fargo teller at the College and Ashby branch and made a few close friends, but wasn’t yet ready for the cross-continental leap. After a trip to Mexico, he returned to Massachusetts in 1962. 

Charlie had become interested in photography at 14, on his first job at a camera shop. However, his passion for shooting photos truly blossomed during a four-year apprenticeship he entered in 1964 with the respected commercial photographer, Bob O’Shaughnessy, the man Charlie dubbed his “guru.” As his skills developed, Charlie started using his camera to document the burgeoning folk music revival scene in and around Cambridge, Mass. His talents were soon recognized and Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Mose Allison were among the top musicians Charlie was photographing. There were also gigs doing album covers for such popular performers as Geoff and Maria Muldaur, the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, and Doc Watson. 

Eventually, his Berkeley connections and curiosity about the Bay Area folk music scene brought Charlie west again, and for a while he shuttled between coasts. Then, in 1973, the call of adventure beckoned Charlie once more. This time it took him for an amazing ocean voyage on a 40-foot sailboat from Berkeley through the Panama Canal and across the Atlantic to England. 

His incredible cruise completed, Charlie headed back to the Bay Area. And the very day he resurfaced in Berkeley, Polly came into his life. Shows what a lengthy spell at sea can do for romance. Here’s how Polly, an accomplished musician and ceramicist, remembers the beginnings of her 30-year love affair with Charlie: 

“We got together really fast and got married really fast—it was love at first sight. What first drew me to him was that we went to this place full of musicians who were egomaniacs and there was something about Charlie’s presence that made everyone feel they could let down their guard. All these guys who would normally compete would connect.” 

Charlie’s striking photos of Polly’s ceramic pieces were much admired by the local crafts community and in addition to ceramics he began focusing his lens on modern glass art. Before long, his meticulous attention to detail and aesthetic sensibilities made him the photographer of choice for such prominent glass artists as Peter Mollica, Richard Marquis and John Lewis. His images of stained glass and glass sculpture appeared in numerous museum catalogues, art books, and magazines, and Charlie’s reputation reached the point that many considered him the premier glass photographer in the country. 

In 1990, Charlie joined the Cheese Board collective and became a familiar face behind the counter at Shattuck and Vine. A natural for Berkeley’s famed worker collective, Charlie’s mellowing influence was particularly appreciated during the group’s sometime fractious meetings. As one Cheese Boarder told me, “you could rely on Charlie to be a voice of reason and clarity and we’ll miss him terribly.” Charlie’s photos are featured in the Cheese Board’s acclaimed recipe book published in 2003. 

When I last saw Charlie, he was in the hospital battling an obstinate infection. So weak he had difficulty getting out of bed and even speaking, he nonetheless hadn’t lost his spark or concern for those around him. And when a visiting friend worried her car was short on gas, Charlie was quick with directions to the nearest gas station. I mentioned my visit to an old buddy of Charlie’s, Sam, who recounted his conversation with a nurse on Charlie’s floor. Showing him the way to Charlie’s room, the nurse commented on Charlie’s constant stream of visitors and said she assumed he was some famous politician. Sam told me his instinctive retort was “No, not a politician, just the nicest man in the world.” 

Charlie Frizzell died of complications from a liver transplant on May 29, 2004. He gave the planet 63 wonderful years. His wife Polly, two sisters, Louise Ambrose and Jane Carey, brother, David Frizzell, as well as other family members, his Cheese Board collective comrades, and wide and diverse circle of friends will always treasure fond memories of this terrific guy. 

®

Editors, Daily Planet:  

To counter today’s cartoon (“Bombshell,” Daily Planet, July 13-15) on the wall being built around Israel:  

Talk about one picture being worth a THOUSAND words. We are just such bullies!!!!!!! 

Fred Lisker  

High up in the North Berkeley Hills where crime is low, university encroachment distant, and a new out-of-scale high-rise apartment building inconceivable, one neighborhood is tackling a concern most Berkeley residents take for granted—power poles and their adjoining wires. 

Not only do the poles and wires obstruct some residents’ million-dollar views of the Golden Gate, but—more important, say some neighbors—a downed wire could electrocute someone in the case of a fire or earthquake, as happened in the Oakland fire of 1991. 

Concern over the freestanding utilities is so acute in one 105-home tract near the Kensington border that after three years of planning, residents are voting whether or not to tax themselves an estimated $2.3 million total to tear down the poles and bury the wires underground. 

In a first-of-its-kind procedure at tonight’s (Tuesday, July 20) City Council meeting, Northeast Berkeley neighbors will get their say at a public hearing, followed by a vote count with the results announced at the meeting. If 60 percent of the 105 homes support the plan, the council will be empowered to create Berkeley’s first undergrounding district. Every home owner in the district will have to pay a flat fee, on average $21,000, towards the undergrounding. 

The vote, however, which seemed like a slam dunk for undergrounding early on, now appears too close to call.  

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Cathy Moran, one of the neighbors backing undergrounding the utilities. 

Moran said the undergrounding drive grew out of a neighborhood disaster planning forum several years ago. In 2002, 79 homeowners in the 105-house tract that include Kentucky Avenue, Colorado Avenue, most of Florida Avenue, and parts of Maryland and Michigan avenues, contributed to a $196,000 fund to pay for design costs. 

Berkeley gets some public money to underground utilities on major arteries, but for residential areas, neighbors must pay the full costs of the project. In order to move the project forward, proponents have already managed to get 70 percent of property owners to express interest in the project and contribute money to the design. 

But Moran has seen neighborhood enthusiasm for undergrounding decline as cost estimates jumped. A City of Berkeley report issued in May, authored by city engineer Lorin Jensen, estimated the project would cost $3 million, about 50 percent higher than the original estimates. Even though bids from contractors have lowered the price to $2.3 million, questions abound if neighbors are willing to foot the bill. 

“People are really upset in that district,” said Councilmember Betty Olds. “They won’t vote for that.”  

Particularly galling to opponents of the plan was the City Council’s decision last June to lower the threshold for approval from 70 percent to 60 percent. 

“That was a major insult to many of us,” said Ruth King, an opponent of undergrounding. She said opponents were confident they could muster 30 percent of the vote and weren’t given adequate notice that the council was considering lowering the threshold. 

Under rules established by Proposition 18, passed by California voters in 1996, the council could have set the threshold as low as 50 percent. Instead councilmmebers chose to split the difference between their current 70 percent standard and a bare majority.  

Councilmember Miriam Hawley, who represents the neighbors, said she hoped for a decisive vote one way or the other. 

But King said the vote sent a message to neighbors that the council was intent on seeing the undergrounding district pass. 

“I resent that people are being so casual with my limited funds,” she said. “We’re already taxed up the yin yang here.”  

If her neighbors approve creation of the district, King said that she and other neighbors with a bay view, would have to pay for undergrounding through a thirty year bond at about $1,800 a year based on a 6.5 percent interest rate. For elderly or low-income residents, the city can put a lien on the house so they don’t have to make immediate payments. 

However, homeowners could stand to gain from undergrounding. Barbara Conheim a real estate agent with Berkeley Hills Realty, said removing poles and wires would definitely raise property values, possibly between $15,000 and $20,000, though she labeled the estimate a wild guess.  

“Just the appearance on the street without all those wires and polls would have an affect on the buyer,” she said. 

Conheim, though, acknowledged that homeowners with a view obstructed by wires would stand to gain the most from undergrounding.  

For equity’s sake, the city has divided the undergrounding district into three zones, each of which would pay different amounts. Homes with a view would be charged $24,000, homes without a view, but in the center of the district, would be charged $21,000, and homes on the edge of the district with wires and poles close by would pay about $18,000.  

City Clerk Sherry Kelly said that she has already received 70 of the 105 ballots. However, property owners can change their vote up until the end of the public hearing. Votes will be weighted so homes with a view count 1.15 and homes on the edge of the district count 0.85. 

Other Items 

Also at tonight’s council meeting, the council will have to approve ballot titles for three citizen-initiated measures that would make prostitution the city’s lowest police priority, ease restrictions on medical cannabis growers and distributors, and establish a tree board to regulate public trees in the city.  

A council majority opposes all three measures, and last week Mayor Tom Bates formed a subcommittee to make sure the city’s concerns were highlighted in the summaries that voters read at the ballot. Significant amendments to the ballot titles were circulated last week, though the final recommendation remains unknown. 

The council will also be asked to provide emergency funding up to $50,000 for the Jobs Consortium, a program to help homeless residents improve skills and find jobs. The Jobs Consortium shut its doors two weeks ago after a review from its chief funder, the department of Housing and Urban Development, determined the nonprofit owed the federal government agency roughly $1.2 million in back payments. 

In a land use issue, the council is being asked tonight to affirm a Landmarks Preservation Commission decision to include the structure and site at 2104 Sixth St. as part of the new Oceanview Sisterna Historic District. The property owner, Gary Feiner, who wants to remodel the building, has appealed the decision. Neighbors are concerned that his design might not fit in with the fabric of the district. 

The council is also expected tonight to approve the Environmental Impact Report for the Draft Southside Plan. The current estimate for the report is $329,328—more than double the price for a typical environmental review. Current Planning Manager Mark Rhoades told the Planning Commission that traffic and transportation studies had jacked up the price. Although UC Berkeley has worked with the city on the plan, Rhoades said at the moment the city appears set to pay the full cost of the review. 

?

UC Berkeley announced Monday the start of a new transit pass program designed to lure its 8,000 employees out of their cars and on to AC Transit buses. 

Starting in October, for a two year trial run, UC will offer its employees unlimited AC Transit passes for $20 a month—a $70 discount over standard monthly passes that include transbay service. The university will pay AC Transit $50 a month for every pass. 

UC, which has had the plan in the works for several years, has faced mounting pressure from employees and city residents to offer its workers an incentive to take public transportation and reduce congestion on city streets. 

Currently a UC parking pass costs between $81.50 and $113 a month, comparable to an AC transit monthly pass. 

Forty-nine percent of university employees commute to work by some method other than driving alone, one of the best commute rates among Bay Area employers, according to the university. 

“We’re dedicated to doing all we can, in partnership with local transportation systems, to promote affordable transit use and other alternatives for employees who currently drive alone work, said Vice Chancellor Steve Lustig in a prepared statement. 

Already UC students receive subsidized bus passes paid for by $60 in student fees. The city’s 1,200 employees receive a free bus pass subsidized by entirely by the city. 

Unlike those two programs, the new UC employee transit pass, named the Bear Pass, will require recipients to request the pass, instead of receiving it free of charge. The $20-a-month fee will be deducted directly from employees’ pre-tax pay checks.  

Rob Wrenn, the chair of the city’s Transportation Commission, called the plan a good first step, but feared that by instituting a higher than average fee and requiring employees to take the initiative to sign up for the plan, UC might not achieve maximum results.  

“Generally these programs work best when everybody gets a pass,” he said. 

UC is budgeting for 1,500 of its 8,000 employees to sign up for a pass, said Jesse Arreguin, the student representative to the Faculty Parking committee. Arreguin feared that would not be enough participants to sustain the program. 

AC Transit Communications Director Jamie Levin, however, predicted the Bear Pass would pay big dividends. “We’re very optimistic that this will prove successful,” he said in a press release. “Anything we can do working in partnership with the university and Berkeley to get more people on public transit is a win-win for everyone.” 



Stucco construction lawsuits have become a major growth industry in recent years, with water damage and mold being the two chief complaints. 

According to the website of the city of Woodbury, Minn., problems have greatly increased in structures built since the late 1980s. 

In an October, 2002, report to the Center for Real Estate Education and Research, Ohio State University finance and business law scholar Elliot Klayman said the “number of lawsuits associated with toxic mold is growing exponentially and threatens to continue. Million dollar awards and settlements are now a reality” and mold has become a legal specialty. 

In March, 2003, the Associated General Contractors of America issued a 35-page publication on “Managing the Risk of Mold in the Construction of Buildings,” and the insurance industry has issued countless bulletins on the subject. 

Some insurance companies won’t write policies for structures with a past history of stucco problems, and, according to the television newsmagazine 60 Minutes, in some states, even a call from a homeowner inquiring about mold protection can lead to a carrier dropping a policy. 

Berkeley contractor Richard Schwartz said stucco is prone to leakage both from its inherent qualities and from construction shortcuts that leave the concrete-like finish susceptible to water intrusion—leaks, in lay terms. 

While declining to comment on any particular structure, Schwartz ticked off a list of common causes for stucco failures. 

• Inferior quality sand in the mix, “the number one cause of stucco failure;” 

• Use of too much or too little water in creating the stucco mix; 

• Installation of stucco in expanses of greater than 100 square feet without expansion joints to accommodate climatically caused expansion and contraction; 

• Installation of stucco in unbroken areas where the length to width ratio is greater than 2.5 to 1, rendering the material prone to cracks from expansion and contraction; 

• Failure to back the stucco with a double layer of Class B construction paper. 

Once water penetrates the stucco and construction and reaches the plywood or manufactured oriented strand board [made from wood scraps, usually from the creation of plywood], the danger of mold increases exponentially, Schwartz said. 

“Wood expands more perpendicular to the grain than parallel,” he said, and once water reaches the wood the plywood will expand. “If the contractor doesn’t separate each sheet of wood by an eight of an inch, expansion can cause the wood to buckle—which, in my opinion, is the single greatest cause of stucco cracks.” 

Improper installation of construction paper that creates a three-layer sandwich at boundary areas creates an environment where capillary action will draw water up and onto the wood. 

Schwartz said installation of so-called weep screeds—metal railings with evenly-spaced drain holes at the base of walls and overhangs—prevents water buildup behind the walls. Without them, “water will accumulate and the pressure will eventually force cracks in the stucco.” 

The critical factor for the growth of mold is humidity of greater than 20 percent inside the walls, he said. 

“Mold doesn’t colonize when the humidity is 19 percent or less,” Schwartz said. “Three factors critical for mold growth are humidity, a temperate climate—which we have here—and parenchyma, the carbohydrate in wood on which the mold feeds. The only thing that can prevent mold here is to deny it the moisture.” 

Another critical factor is the treatment of horizontal surfaces, where water can pool. Window ledges and roof surfaces offer points of critical vulnerability, and correct installation of waterproof seals is essential in preventing lengths. 

The use of low grade caulking compounds at window and roof joints is a common cause of leaks. High quality flexible sealants are one solution, but Schwartz said the preferred alternatives are mechanical seals such as overlapping or interlocking metal seals. 

But even with the metal seals, the adjoining construction paper should be covered by additional metal flashing to prevent water condensation. 

Recent testing on the Gaia Building using high-pressure water sprays at the windows and the exposure of construction paper at the corner of a window joint on the eastern wall indicates that windows have been a particular problem with the controversial structure. 

One clue that windows may have played a central role in the Gaia Building’s mold problems is found in the use permit the city issued authorizing Kennedy to build the Fine Arts Building on Shattuck Avenue, which imposed a special condition barring the use of stucco in that structure’s window sills.  

Current building codes don’t incorporate all the stucco construction safeguards, Schwartz said. “That’s because codes are political documents.” 

In June, 2002, the California Apartment Association’s Mold Task Force published a 33-page set of guidelines for assessing and correcting fungal contamination. The report identifies five molds most commonly associated with water intrusion: Cladosporidium, Penicillium, Aspergilis, Fusarium and Staphybotros chartarum—the most toxic of the lot. 

The Apartment Owners’ publication identifies the following symptoms of mold exposure: 

• Respiratory problems 

• Nasal and sinus congestion 

• Nose and throat irritation 

• Eye and skin irritation 

• Central nervous system disorders, including constant headaches, memory problems and mood changes 

• Aches and pains, and 

• Fever 

The greatest number of stucco-related lawsuits have been filed in Texas, where in 1997 then-Gov. George W. Bush ordered extensive repairs to the Governor’s Mansion following discovery of an extensive mold infestation. 

The next most mold-litigious state is California, according to a report by the National Roofing Contractors Association.?

Firefighters were summoned to 1195 Grizzly Peak Road 17 minutes after midnight Monday, arriving four minutes later to find a neighbor with a hose battling the flames that had swept up the wall of wood-shingled garage. 

“He had most of the flames out when the engines arrived,” said Deputy Fire Chief David Orth. 

The flames resulted from spontaneous combustion of solvents and rags used for brush cleaning by an artistic resident, who had left them outside next to the garage wall. 

Orth estimated the damage at about $10,000.›

Rose held her iridescent purple knitting needles close to her eyes and peered between knit/purls at the Scrabble board. Something long, multi-colored, weird, and seemingly out-of-control hung from the needles and mysteriously disappeared underneath the table. 

“What are you doing?” I asked. “You aren’t going to knit while we’re playing Scrabble, are you?” 

“Sure,” said Rose, glaring at me from behind her bifocals. “I’m multi-tasking. You’ve heard of that before, haven’t you?” 

I looked at the other Scrabblettes for help, but they were ignoring me. Pearl was leafing through the dictionary and Louise was making a call on her cell phone. 

“You know, Pearl, if you’re going to look up words in the dictionary, you need to share the information you find with all of us,” I said. 

Pearl nodded her head. I thought she might be agreeing with me, but she stayed mum and continued her secret search.  

I gave my attention over to Louise. Who could she be calling in the middle of our Scrabble game? 

“Hello Mom,” I heard her say. “What are you doing?” She waited for a response and I could hear a voice on the other end, but not the actual words. 

“That’s good,” said Louise. “Say, I’m over here at the house playing Scrabble and we were talking about Fourth of July again. Pearl is still obsessed with finding out if we celebrated Independence Day and if we had fireworks. I told her we didn’t celebrate the Fourth in Monroe and that we only had sparklers at Christmas. She doesn’t believe me. What do you remember?” 

I watched Louise’s eyes as she pressed the cell phone closer to her ear. 

“Yes,” she said. “That’s what I thought. Thanks.” 

Louise pushed some buttons on her phone and put it down next to the Scrabble board. Rose’s knitting needles made loud clicking sounds as Pearl continued to turn pages in the big blue dictionary.  

“Mom says no Fourth of July celebrations back in Monroe, and no sparklers except at Christmas.” 

“Okay,” said Pearl, looking up for a moment. “Thanks for verifying that for me.”  

“You called your mom?” I asked. I didn’t want to sound rude, but I was curious. At the age of 72 Louise was still calling her mom for information?  

“Of course,” said Louise. “She only lives around the corner. It’s not long distance.” 

“I mean, I’m just surprised that you would call your mom.” 

“We talk all the time. My mother is in better shape than anyone at this table,” said Louise. “Besides, she’s only 85. She’s more like a friend than a mom.” 

I did a quick calculation in my head. “Your mom is only 13 years older than you?” I asked.  

“Yes,” said Louise. “And her mom was 13 years older than her. I remember seeing my great-great grandmother once. She was in a horse-drawn wagon with her brothers. But that was a long time ago. You know, people in the south had children at a young age back then.” 

“Yes,” said Pearl lifting her face out of the dictionary. “Not like now. I can’t imagine having babies at 50 or 60. What are those people thinking?” 

“What about that Italian woman?” asked Rose, her knitting needles still clicking at a furious pace. “She must be crazy giving birth at 65.” 

“I think it’s irresponsible to have a baby at her age,” said Pearl. “There are risks to her health and the child’s. She’d have been better off knitting.” 

“I agree,” said Rose. “Knitting isn’t as productive as having a baby, but you can give it away when you’re finished. It doesn’t require in-vitro, or a partner, like sex does.” 

“Knitting IS the new sex,” said Louise. “I read it in the paper.” 

“Time out,” I said, putting my hands in front of me to form a T. “Too much information.” 

“Don’t be such a prude,” said Pearl. “Maybe you need to take up knitting.” 

“Really,” said Rose in agreement. “Whose turn is it? Let’s get going. Time’s a-wasting.”

GIRLIE-MEN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As an entertainer, the governor may not know about the tradition in politics of maintaining the illusion of respect and collegiality for one’s political adversaries. Differences aside, there is absolutely no excuse for him to stoop to name calling—whatever his message or intention.  

I am no supporter of the governor, but, until now, I’ve refrained from denouncing him. After all, misguided ambition, even when powered by fame and personal fortune, is not so terrible a thing. 

When he chose to insult the members of the State Legislature with name-calling, though, he proved himself a rascal and rube in addition to being an opportunist. He has chosen to abandon public discourse, throwing away his right to a fair hearing by disrespecting the Legislature and the people of California whom they represent.  

And is he lacking wit as well as manners? Does he realize that the Saturday Night Live sketch he cribbed from was not flattering to him? That Carvey and Neiland’s characters mocked him as a muscle-bound, brainless twit?  

Let’s get the governor’s attention, provoke him to apologize to state lawmakers, and remind him that—special effects notwithstanding—he is a politician now. 

He had better start acting like one.  

Troy DuFrene 

• 

AFFORDABLE HOUSING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you for the informative letter from Anne Wellington (”Raging Grannies Wasted Their Performance on a Ruse,” Daily Planet, July 16-19) demystifying some of the affordable housing myths. We have experienced the adverse effects of so called “affordable housing” first-hand in Oakland where Mayor Jerry Brown, the City Council, and the Planning Commission all pander to the developers and rubber-stamp their projects while vital emergency services are cut (fire department, police) and health clinics close instead of declining the housing projects. While I am not opposed to affordable housing per se, I do oppose monies being taken from the general fund of city budgets while basic services are cut. This is happening at a time when there are vacancies everywhere especially in Oakland. Affordable housing is a complex issue and impacts low-income people living in cities nationwide. It deserves more in-depth coverage which I hope the Daily Planet will explore further. 

Marian Murphy 

Oakland 

• 

UNIVERSITY AVENUE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The article “Planning Commission Passes University Avenue Plan” in Friday’s paper contained a number of factual errors and some misconceptions. The proposed zoning code will allow bigger building than the article suggests. It needs to be understood that when proposed maximum envelope and height numbers are mentioned it is before the 25 percent state-mandated Density Bonus is taken. The University Avenue Strategic Plan called for a maximum height of four stories in the retail nodes and three in the non-nodes, not three and two as the articles mentions. That is exactly what the proposed zoning code will allow. It is the Density Bonus that will potentially add the extra floor. The Density Bonus can also be used to reduce the rear setbacks. The solar setback on projects on the north side of University will reduce the size and density of projects although, after the Density Bonus is applied, not as dramatically as the article implies. Projects in the Southside retail nodes can actually have a larger floor area (FAR) than Acton Courtyard. The 20- foot setback is an average setback so these building do not have to be boxes.  

There will be a lot less retail on the avenue then implied in the articles. The statement that all mixed-use projects require 30 percent commercial is misleading. That requirement only applies in the retail nodes. In the non-nodes, mixed-use projects will require 15 percent commercial and only half of that has to be retail. The proposed project at the Tune-up Masters site, for example, would only be required to have 750 square feet of retail. Mixed-use projects in the non-nodes will produce a lot of tiny unrentable retail boxes. 

Of greater significance is the addition of residential-only projects in the non-nodes. Although this idea was rejected when the original plan was adopted, at this time there was a wide consensus that it should be added. This is predicted to be a popular use. It is easy to see that a lot of non-node development will replace larger retail spaces with projects that have either no or very little retail. The “token” retail will be a problem because it will be hard to rent, but reducing retail in the non-nodes is consistent with the UASP notion of not having retail on the entire length of the Avenue but instead concentrating it in retail nodes. 

Whether retail will really work in the nodes is uncertain. The plan stressed the importance of supplementing walk-in business with customer parking provided in parking lots. The required commercial parking would be for employees only. The retail requirement in the retail nodes are still small and will not produces the larger retail spaces that are more popular and tend to serve as anchor businesses. Last week the Planning Commission did a commendable job of trying to maintain some flexibility yet produce retail and tenant parking. The only solution is to rely on underground or stacked parking, both of which are becoming quite common, the commission should have the courage to declare if a developer wants to build a five-story building in a retail node they will probably have to stack or underground their parking.  

Richard Graham 

PlanBerkeley contributor 

EDITOR’S NOTE: Mr. Graham’s statements are correct. We appreciate his input. The headline on the story was also incorrect; the commission did not pass the plan, but is expected to approve a final draft July 28, as stated in the story. 

• 

TRANSPORTATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As it happens, I agree with Mitch Cohen regarding the desirability of cycling as a mode of transit but he has misrepresented my concerns regarding the basis for David Early’s proposed plans for a livable Berkeley. I had questioned a planning process that assumed everyone could, as Mr. Early is quoted as claiming he could get to any place in Berkeley more quickly by bicycle then by car. I simply pointed out that I was unable to get from the marina to my home as quickly by bicycle as I could by car. 

I appreciate Mr. Cohen’s suggestion that I take the 65 bus instead of my car when I wish to visit the marina. I am familiar with that line; it wakes me every morning promptly at 6 a.m. Unfortunately, the current information for AC Transit indicates that it does not run to the Berkeley Marina. 

David Nasatir 

• 

POLICE BLOTTER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

When are you going to get rid of Richard Brenneman? You’ve had numerous complaints. Mine is with his Police Blotter. His “cuteness” is inappropriate, insulting and offensive. He’s obviously never been a victim of a violent crime. 

If you can’t dismiss him because he’s related to the owner, give him a fiction column to write. Short stories perhaps. He’s a wannabe detective storywriter, dime variety. 

Of if reporters are hard to find, so you feel you can’t afford to dismiss him, do it anyway and leave the space he’d normally fill blank. You’d be doing your readers a favor. 

J. Wilkes 

To the Berkeley City Counci, the Planning Commission and the Zoning Adjustments Board: 

We are very concerned that the traffic, congestion and parking problems that would be generated by the proposed West Berkeley Bowl would be materially detrimental and cause extensive harm to businesses and residents in the area. A 55,000-square-foot supermarket would bring more than 6,000 new autos into the area each weekday, and more than 9,700 each weekend day. Over 600 extra autos would drive into the area at peak afternoon hours each weekday. Once built, the West Berkeley Bowl would generate over 51,000 total vehicle trips per week. As proposed, the West Bowl project has only 128 parking stalls--and 19 “tandem” stalls. 

Traffic of that level would create chaos in the neighborhood and damage manufacturing and other businesses, perhaps irreparably. We call on the city to limit the Bowl or any other new development to a size and type that would keep traffic to levels compatible with maintaining an industry-friendly environment in West Berkeley, as codified in the West Berkeley Plan. 

Originally the Bowl proposed to put a warehouse and a neighborhood grocery at Ninth and Heinz streets. We propose a return to this plan. A market half the size of the proposed West Bowl—about the size of the University Avenue Andronico’s, 26,000 square feet—would still generate traffic and have a serious impact, but would probably not be devastating to the area. It is not the city’s responsibility to solve these problems, but the burden of the developer making the proposal. 

We further urge you to not make changes in the codified West Berkeley Plan or the city’s General Plan in order to accommodate the West Bowl proposal. These documents contain vital protections for industry, and any weakening of them would open the door to further proposals with detrimental consequences to manufacturing and to the neighborhood. Finally we urge you to organize traffic flow to minimize the impact on the adjoining residential community by blocking traffic from turning north from Heinz onto the local streets. 

Sincerely, 

West Berkeley Association of Industrial Companies 

(WeBAIC) 

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Medical cannabis patients like myself are simply not feeling too secure these days. The medical cannabis voter initiative—the Patients’ Access to Medical Cannabis Act (PAMCA)—seems to have provoked a great deal of critical response judging from articles in the last two issues of the Daily Planet. I’d like to remind the city manager, the BCC, and citizens of Berkeley that PAMCA is what I consider a responsible attempt by informed medical cannabis advocates to ensure legal, sanctioned, and efficient access for patients to their medicine.  

I question the opposition to PAMCA (City Manager Kamlarz’ critical report) as well as the BCC’s earlier (April 27) reasoning in choosing not to consider amending Berkeley’s medical cannabis code. At the April 27 meeting, plant limit concerns consisted of potential commercial production, ensuing robberies and home invasion fears. Neglected were the rights of medical cannabis patients to grow their own sufficient amount of medicine legally under current Berkeley city code. Putting it kindly, members of the BCC and Police Chief Roy Eisner clearly displayed their lack of knowledge about marijuana cultivation. Larger plants, more area, and many lights are required for commercial cultivation. Patients’ homes are certainly not able to provide what is needed to produce pounds and pounds of marijuana, and I doubt there are warehouses available in our city whose owners would allow the commercial growing of medical cannabis. PAMCA affords patients the ability to grow the amount of marijuana according to their personal needs.  

Further arguments against the initiative are regarding a “parade of new pot clubs” that are sure to be opening in Berkeley. I suggest those who are so worried call every commercial space available in Berkeley and mention opening a medical cannabis dispensary. One of the reasons the Cannabis Buyers Cooperative of Berkeley (CBCB) fought so hard to move their location to Sacramento Street was a simple lack of locations willing to accept dispensaries. Last week the Daily Planet correctly reported the “revoking of CBCB’s use permit costing the operation about $10,000.” Further opposition mentioned by Don Duncan (“No one thought it was a good idea...”) wasn’t completely accurate. At the Alliance of Berkeley Patients meetings (ABP—a proposed “Peer Review Committee”) which I attended there was at least reluctant support for CBCB’s move. Truly unfortunate was the contentious interaction at later neighborhood meetings that rendered the move impossible. If the oldest and previously problem-free dispensary in Berkeley is having difficulty finding a new location, how can it follow that PAMCA will mean many more new “pot clubs” in Berkeley?  

The peer review committee is such a good idea and I believe the efforts of dispensary owners in Berkeley should be recognized and sanctioned. Today (Tuesday, July 20) the BCC will have the opportunity to adopt PAMCA and negotiate changes in the initiative. Councilmember Dona Spring, more than any other BCC member, gets it—the fact that medical cannabis is crucial to so many patients’ lives. Her legitimate concerns about zoning could be addressed by BCC action today and following negotiations. As a 30 year Berkeley resident, homeowner, and current medical cannabis patient who has studied the provisions in PAMCA, I feel this measure is necessary to protect patients’ access to medicine. The strong opposition to PAMCA worries me. I hope compassion, good sense, and community will receive due consideration if not this Tuesday then by the voters in November. 

Charles Pappas is a disabled Berkeley poet and medical cannabis advocate.  

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Roll out the sofas and living room rugs, but leave the red carpet behind. That was the theme at Bay Area houses as neighbors packed into living rooms to watch the nation-wide premier of Outfoxed—Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism, the newest in the deluge of groundbreaking and hard-hitting left wing political documentaries hitting the American scene this year. 

At Kari Hamerschlag’s North Berkeley house on Sunday, stragglers were left with standing room only. People peered around walls, sat at awkward angles, and humored the friendly but intrusive family puppy as more than 40 people packed in to be part of the event organized by Berkeley’s own MoveOn.org. 

“There was such overwhelming interest,” said Hamerschlag. “Thirty-two people signed up but easily 40 people came.” 

The Bay Area alone hosted 382 parties over the weekend, and nation-wide, organizers expected the movie to be seen in 3,000 houses. On Friday, lines stretched around the block to see the big-screen premiere at San Francisco’s alternative Victoria Theater in the Mission, an event hosted by AlterNet and Media Alliance. 

The movie, directed by Robert Greenwald, is an in-depth examination of the Fox News cable channel owned by the media mogul Rupert Murdoch, which is already well-known for its conservative bent. The movie explores the why and the how of the station’s particular take on the news. Simply put, it tries to smash the station’s motto, “Fair and Balanced.” 

Beyond the message, however, is the movie. Based in large part on clips from Fox, it bends the rules of mainstream cinema-making and established principles of copyright law, which is why it’s been released in living rooms and alternative theaters. But its vice has also been its virtue.  

According to Greenwald, he and a team of legal advisers are still waiting to see how the movie plays out legally. Currently, his attorneys, including Stanford Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig, are preparing for what could be a lawsuit from Fox charging infringement of copyright law for use of the clips. Such a lawsuit might result in an injunction to stop the movie from being shown in commercial movie houses, but it would be more difficult to stop living room showings. At the Victoria, Lessig, who is also chair of the Creative Commons fair use advocacy group, described Greenwald’s legal team as wading through the giant sea of copyright law, hoping to establish themselves on the firm ground of fair use. 

Instead of backing down and waiting to see what happens, the movie has inspired people to take things into their own hands. Instead of just paying money to watch a movie, they’ve been forced to seek a new model for democracy in action.  

And who better to lead the way than MoveOn? Anticipating potential legal restraints, MoveOn organized the home screenings, forcing people to be proactive in order to participate in the event. And with Sunday’s turnout, numbers seem to indicate that it’s been a success. 

According to Greenwald, this new model was the plan all along. Besides the message of the movie, he says he wants it to encourage involvement. One of first links on the movie’s homepage is an activism guide where people can find out what they can do to “fight back against corporate media consolidation.”  

“I think it’s very empowering,” said Hamerschlag. “It shows us all that we can do something about this. If we can stop Fox News, that’s going to have an important impact on other news organizations that otherwise felt that they might need to be more like Fox News. Everybody who saw the movie at my house were very inspired to take action. I think it’s going to be a very successful campaign.”›

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 Pu blic 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 LECT URES 

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. 526-7 512.  

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.b erkeley.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.codysbook s.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 t he 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 Charle s, 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.  

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 

THURSDAY, JULY 22 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Time and Place” 3002 Kala Fellowship Exhibition, Part I, reception for the artists from 6 to 8 p.m., at Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. Runs to Aug. 28. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

“Muchas Culturas, Una Communidad: Many Cultures, One Community” paper maché and ceramic artworks by students from the Le Conte and Longfellow Schools opens at Addison St. Windows, 2018 Addison St. 981-7533. 

FILM 

Time’s Shadow: “Nostalghia” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

THEATER 

“Wasting Your Breath” written and performed by Mike Daisey at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Rep’s Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. Tickets are $5. 647-2949. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Frank LaPena combines his paintings with commentary in “Dream Songs and Ceremony: Reflections on Traditional California Indian Dance” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Maarten Troost descr ibes his two years in Kiribati in “The Sex Lives of Cannibals” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Al Bakker introduces us to “Sea Kayaking: From the Arctic to Antarctica” at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Sh attuck Ave. 843-3533. 

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with featured readers Jan Steckel, Randy Fingland, Sofia, and Alex Benedict at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. 526-5985.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Summer Noon Concert with The Crowden Music Center at the Berkeley BART. Sponsored by the Downtown Berkeley Association. 

Lost and Found Generation in a benefit for Between the Lines Magazine at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $8. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Bembeya Jazz, from Guinea, at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Lecture and demonstration on West African music and dance with Dr. Zakarya Diouf at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $15, $5 for lecture only. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Gil Stancourt, original folk, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Keni El Lebrijano at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Aphrodesia, Guerilla Hi-Fi at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Mimi Fox plays the m usic of Cole Porter at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

FRIDAY, JULY 23 

CHILDREN 

Tales of Your Amazing Body at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shatuck Ave., lower level. For ages 3-10. Suggested donation $3. 549-1564. 

Biscuit the Dog at Barnes and Noble a t 10:30 a.m. 644-3635. 

FILM 

The Invention of the Western Film: “Stagecoach” at 7:30 p.m. and “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” at 9:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “A Delic ate 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. F ri.-Sat. at 8 p.m. Sun. at 2 p.m. to July 25, at Kofman Auditorium, 2220 Central Ave., Alameda. Tickets arre $23-$25 available from 864-2256. www.aclo.com 

Aurora Theatre “Betrayal,” by Harold Pinter, directed by Tom Ross. Runs through August 1. Tickets ar e $34-$36. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org  

Berkeley Opera “Bat Out of Hell,” a new adaptation of “Die Fledermaus” at 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 

Berke ley Rep, “21 Dog Years: Doing Time @ Amazon.com” 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.berkeleyr ep.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. 524-9132. www.ccct.org  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Claire on “Serpents in the Garden: Liaisons with Culture and Sex” at 7 p.m. at AK Press Warehouse, 674 A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

Travel Photography A talk with Bob Tucker, featuring “Photographs of the Global Village” at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley P ublic Library’s Art and Music Room, 2090 Kittredge. 

Merrill Goozner discusses “The $800-Million Pill: The Truth Behind the Cost of New Drugs,” at 8:30 a.m. at UC Press, 2120 Berkeley Way. Free for UC Press Associates, $5 for guests, includes breakfast. To RSVP call 643-8465. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Keyboard Reflections & Shadows,” Scott Pratt, solo pianist at 7:45 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. Tickets are $25 from 415-342-6151. 848-7800. www.berkeleycityclub.com  

Jazz at Coventry Grove II “An Eveni ng Under the Stars” with The Heath Brothers in concert and a conversation with Orrin Keepnews, at 7 p.m. at a private residence in Kensington. Benefit for The Jazz- 

school, donation $150. For reservations call 845-5373. 

Festival of Contemporary Music at 7:30 p.m., Park Blvd Presbyterian Church, 4101 Park Blvd., Oakland. Admission is free. Seating is general. Recommended donation $3. www.pbpc.org 

Pasion Flamenca with Caminos Flamencos at 8 and 10 p.m. at Café de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck Ave. Tickets are $12-$ 20. 843-0662. www.cafedelapaz.net  

Peruvian Independence Day Celebration with Jaranon y Bochinche at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Jeff Sanford’s CartoonJazz, the music of Raymond Scott, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50 in advance, $18.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Ras Midas and Congregation, reggae, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Trio Paradiso at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Abandon Theory, acoustic rock, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Tempest at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $12. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Tomorrow, Bruce Banner, Deadfall, Damage Deposit at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

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

KGB, Solemite, 10 Minutes Down at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Brown Baggin’ at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $7. 548-1159.  

Mingus Amungus at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277.  

Jessica Williams Trio at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $15-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Deepak Ram, bamboo flute and Emam, tabla, percussion at 8 p.m. at Yoga Mandala, 2807 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $12 in advance, $15 at the door. 486-1989.  

Sound of Giving Concert with Jenn August, Rachel Efron and Karen Stephens, at 8 p.m. at Changemakers Books, 6536 T elegraph. Cost is $10 and up. 655-2405. www.changemakersforwomen.com 

SATURDAY, JULY 24 

THEATER 

Central Works “The Mysterious Mr. Looney” a new play about the man who wrote the plays of Shakespeare opens at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Thurs.-S at. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m., through Aug. 5. Tickets are $8-$20, sliding scale. 558-1381. www.centralworks.org 

FILM 

Bergman on a Summer Night: “The Virgin Spring” at 5 and 9 p.m. and “The Magician” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 6 42-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Leticia Hernandez, poetry and spoken word, at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Poetry Flash with Alan and Adam Soldofsky at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MIUSIC AND DANCE 

Ali Akbar College of Music, tabla, violin, and vocal performance at 7 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Cost is $12-$20. 415-454-6264. 

Birdlegg & The Tight Fit Blues Band play the Oakland Blues at 2 p.m. at Down Home Music, 10341 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. 525-2129. 

Davka, Middle-Eastern Ashkenazi jazz, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50 in advance, $17.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Stephanie Bruce sings summertime songs at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Sila, from Kenya, with DJ Jeremiah, from Liberia, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Tarentel at 9 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $8-$15. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Christy Dana, trumpet, at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

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

Stymie & The Pimp Jones Love Orchestra at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $7. 548-1159.  

Go Van Gogh at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Bat Makumba, Samba Da at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Takaru, Kodan Armada, Kakistoc racy, This Ship Will Sink, at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Barbary Coast by Night Join Omar for music and food from Algeria. Every Sat. at 7 p.m. at Cafe Raphael’s, 10064 San Pablo Ave. El Cerrito. 525-4227. 

Rory Snyder Quintet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Tim Barsky at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$10. 644-2204.  

SUNDAY, JULY 25 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Keen Eyes, Strong Beaks, Sharp Talons - Birds of the East Bay Hills” a photography exhibition by Paul Roose. Recep- 

tion from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Through Sept. 5. 525-2233. 

FILM 

The Invention of the Western Film: “Destry Rides Again” at 5:30 p.m. and “Duel in the Sun” at 7:25 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash with Wendy Jeanne Burch and Kevin Patrick Sullivan at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Word Beat Reading Series Allen Cohen Memorial Reading at 7 p.m. with Clive Matson, Ann Cohen, Mark Schwartz, Debra Grace Khattab and others at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Music Cooperative Players, “An Evening in Latin America” music of Villa-Lobos, Piazzolla and Ginastera at 7 p.m. in the Valley Center, Holy Names College, 3500 Mountain Blvd. Oakland. Tickets are $5-$20 sliding scale at the door. 845-2232. 

Russian National Orchestra, with soprano Lisa Delan and baritone Vladimir Chernov at 3 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$60 available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Un-Conventional Cabaret with Folk This and Carol Denney at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $8-$12. Sponsored by Laborfest. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Benefit for Haiti, with Motor Dude Zydeco, Gator Beat, Tom Rigney and Pierre Labossiere, at 3 p.m. Ashkenaz. Cost is $15-$25. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Indian Classical Vocal Concert, with Abhinay Padhye on tabla & Vijay Ghaskadvi on harmonium, at 5 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyter ian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $10. 717-3862. http://www.cs.berkeley. 

edu/~agni/chimmalgi  

Pit of Fashion Orchestra at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazz- 

school.com 

Ronny Cox at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $ 15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Americana Unplugged: Donner Mountain Bluegrass Band at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Howard Alden, guitarist, at 7 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

™

Of the many things you can do with (and to) opera, there is “updating,” spoofing, and producing a work really well. Then, there is David Scott Marley.  

His 1996 adaptation of Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, now revived at Berkeley Opera in a sparkling production, transcends a single approach. Bat Out of Hell switches the action from 19th century Paris to dot-com-era Berkeley. Marley souses the work in comedy, irony, satire, and good-natured humor; and—most importantly—he makes almost all of it work as a whole. 

A fine cast, Jonathan Khuner’s firm and effective musical direction (with an A-list orchestra in the minuscule pit), Ann Woodhead’s smooth stage direction, and Kate Boyd’s simple sets (window frames and curtains do it all) combine to make Bat Out of Hell a big bang for your musical-theater buck on either side of the Bay. 

Marley’s take on Fledermaus story—the original itself developed by many, from Benedix to Meilhac and Halévy, to Richard Genée—is rich in ideas, consistent in execution.  

Here, Eisenstein (Martin Lewis) is heading to jail because of a $700 parking ticket (“$700? Incredible!” “Yes, I never heard of one that small either”). He and wife Rosalinda (Jillian Khuner, in one of the evening’s finest vocal performances) are also hiding a secret from one another: both were activists in the halcyon days of the People’s Republic of Berzerkley, but are now caught up in marketing and such. As the story unfolds, Marley is actually enriching the original, not just replacing letters with e-mail. 

The best, the most hilarious of Marley’s adaptation is making Prince Orlofsky into a juvenile version of Bill Gates, an awkward, maladjusted 16-year-old genius, a mercurial multi-billionaire CEO. His aria becomes “Follow your bliss,” with the passage: “Just because I wrote some code / And made a lucky strike / Each man I meet becomes my toad / And I do what I like.” 

Sung superbly by Sonia Gariaeff, “Bill Orlovsky” becomes the focal point of not only Act 2, but of the whole evening. As she slouches about with a baseball cap turned around, electronic equipment dangling from her belt, Gariaeff evokes both constant smiles and many loud guffaws, keeps the character entertaining and “meaningful” within the context of the piece.  

Another star turn belongs to Shawnette Sulker (possibly California’s only opera singer born in Guyana), whose over-the-top Hispanic maid in search of a film career (or a computer mega-billionaire, whichever first) is hilarious, her stage presence enhanced by a bright, appealing vocal performance.  

Stephen Rumph is the amorous tenor Freddy (nee Alfred), Martin Lewis is Gabriel (Falke), Berkeley Opera founder Richard Goodman is Frank. 

There is only one thing wrong with the production: The treatment of Act 3 is a serious miscalculation. Yes, there is a traditional comedy bit for the jailer Frosch, but in Berkeley, the 12-step meeting led by “Ms.” Frosch stretches out the act, extending the evening to three hours. Fé Bongolan’s Frosch is funny enough, but this is overkill, something in stark contrast with the rest of the production, where all is well... before it ends well. 

Warning: Bat Out of Hell runs in the Julia Morgan Theater only through one more weekend. www.berkeleyopera.org. For the original Fledermaus libretto in German and English: http://tinyurl.com/5rc2z.  

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Tuliptrees, or tulip poplars, line the western half of University Avenue in Berkeley. They’re not universally popular poplars, mostly because they’re prone to aphid infestations and the aphids’ sticky excretions drip onto everything below, attract soot, and nourish sooty black molds. Too bad, because it’s a noble tree with roots in American history. 

Besides not being popular, they aren’t actually poplars. They’re magnolia relatives, Liriodendron tulipifera, “the lily tree that bears tulips,” fellow members of one of the most ancient families of flowering plants. They’ve been known by a bewildering variety of names: Rakiock, American tulipwood, canoe wood, carney wood, whitewood, blue poplar, white poplar, yellow poplar, hickory poplar, tulip poplar, tulip magnolia, tuliptree, popple, and probably a few others. Lumbermen, biologists, folklorists, and cabinetmakers drive each other crazy with this sort of thing. 

Their flowers do resemble tulips in that they’re upright and a bit conical or cup-shaped. Janet Lembke, in her charming book Shake Them ‘Simmons Down, describes them as “large greeny-white cups lined with touches of saffron and redgold.” They really are subtly lovely; the pity is that they’re usually held well above our range of sight, on these high-trimmed urban street trees. You might see some after they’ve dried out and fallen in winter; they look a little like papery, skinny pine cones. 

The trees themselves manage to maintain some of their native shape even under the deforming stresses of city life. The incessant wind off the bay sometimes makes them a bit lopsided, though. Their tops have a gracious loose spread that turns to a widely conical top, like an enormous slow green flame. Their branches are resilient enough to give them a graceful dancing motion in the wind, where they have been allowed the space to move. Their trunks are graceful, too, straight and smoothly tapered, covered with smooth-ish light brown bark. They’re fast growers but unlike most such trees, are long-lived, sometimes to 300 years in their home range. 

Tuliptrees are native farther east in North America, from Florida to New England and Ontario, west to southern Michigan and eastern Arkansas. They get—or used to get—huge on the southern coastal plain and in the Appalachians; old stories mention trees big enough to make a dugout canoe that could easily carry 20 men and their gear. It was supposed to be a tuliptree that Daniel Boone hollowed out into a 60-foot canoe to ferry his family and homestead necessities down the Ohio River into Spanish territory when he left Kentucky. 

The genus Liriodendron has only one other species, and that one’s in China, L. chinense. This odd distribution happens in several ancient species groups, including magnolias, that seem to have evolved in one area and been sundered by continental drift. 

The tree excited Europeans who first met it in America, and they catalogued its uses as well as its beauty. The wood is light but tough, easily worked, though by some accounts it tends to absorb and lose moisture easily and thus swell and shrink if it isn’t sealed. This doesn’t seem to hurt its reputation as a canoe wood—one of the first names Europeans called it, as it was used and recommended for that purpose to the Walter Raleigh expedition by indigenous Americans. Thomas Jefferson was fond of it and named his country estate Poplar Forest for the wild ones surrounding it, and planted more as he landscaped the grounds. He sent lots of its seeds to Europe—and he was far from the first to do so, as it’s mentioned as a garden tree there as early as 1687. 

Tuliptrees can grow seriously large, but I don’t suppose we’ll ever see a street tree get as big as the one reported in 1709, one 10 feet in diameter “wherein a lusty Man had his Bed and Household Furniture, and liv’d in it.” Another associated marvel we probably won’t see with our city dwellers is their mycorrhizal associate, the morel mushroom. Then again, given the wide reach of a tree’s roots—roughly in a circle whose radius is one and a half the tree’s height, is the rule of thumb—it might prove fruitful to look around any nearby patches of dirt or lawn in the rainy season. 

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. 

Knitting Hour at 6 p.m. at the West Branch of the Berkeley Public Library, 1125 University Ave. Come and learn to knit for the first time or regain old skills and meet other knitters. All ages and levels welcome. Limited supplies available. 981-6270. 

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. Cost is $12-$17. 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 

Tales of Your Amazing Body at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shatuck Ave., lower level. For ages 3-10. Suggested donation $3. 549-1564. 

FRIDAY, JULY 23 

Bearded Iris Rhizome Sale and Auction from 7 to 10 p.m. at Lakeside Garden Center, 666 Bellevue Ave., Oakland. Free, sponsored by the Sydney B. Mitchell Iris Society. 839-9647. 

Sacred Serpent Slide Show on the serpent as a symbol for healing, at 7:30 p.m. at Changemakers Books, 6536 Telegraph. Cost is $10. 655-2405. www.changemakersforwomen.com 

New College of California Women’s Spirituality Laboratory at 7 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Cost is $5. 883-0600. www.belladonna.ws 

Kol Hadash the Bay Area’s only Jewish Humanistic Congregation meets at 7:30 p.m. for Shabbat, the fourth Friday of every month, at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. Special "Goodby Party" for Rabbi Eckstein. Free and open to the public. Please bring non-perishable food for the needy. 428-1492. www.kolhadash.org 

SATURDAY, JULY 24 

Tribute to Fr. Bill O’Donnell at noon at St. Mary Magdalen Church at 2005 Berryman St. Food, raffle tickets and a silent auction. Sponsored by Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action. 658-2467. 

Party for Mordechai Vanunu, Israeli peace activist and nuclear whistleblower who still cannot leave Israel, from 5 to 9 p.m. at Fellowship Hall, 1924 Cedar St. www.nonviolence.org/vanunu 

Identity Theft Forum hosted by Supervisor Keith Carson and the Alameda County Consumer Affairs Commission from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Progressive Baptist Church, 3301 King St. The forum is free, everyone welcome to attend. 

Cerrito Creek Work Party We want to make a big summer push to remove the remaining thornless blackberry, allowing fall planting along the creek. Helping to remove this pest also will be our contribution to California Weed Awareness Week. At 10 a.m. Email for location. F5creeks@aol.com  

Wetland Restoration with Save The Bay Summer restoration activities include native seed collection, non-native plant removal, site monitoring, and shoreline clean-up. We will also continue our plant propagation efforts in our Native Plant Nursery. From 9 a.m. to noon at Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, Oakland. Registration required. 452-9261, ext. 109, dshea@savesfbay.org, www.saveSFbay.org/ 

getinvolved/restorewetland 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of the Mills College Campus from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Meet on the lawn of Alderwood Hall, left inside the Richardson Gate, 5000 MacArthur Blvd. 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 Chinatown Meet at 10 a.m. at the courtyard fountain in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza at 388 Ninth St. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/wallkingtours 

Sushi Basics Learn the natural and cultural history of this ancient cuisine as you prepare and taste seven types of sushi. From 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Parent participation required for children 8-10. Cost is $25-$39, registration required. 525-2233. 

Introduction to Australian Plants with Hank Jenkins at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

Bearded Iris Rhizome Sale from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Rockridge Mall, Broadway at Pleasant Valley Rd., Oakland. Free, sponsored by the Sydney B. Mitchell Iris Society. 839-9647. 

Neighborhood Coffee at 10 a.m. at Cafe Expresso Roma, 1549 Hopkins St. Sponsored by Berkeley Alliance of Neighborhood Associations. www.berkeleycna.com 

World Beat Dance Workshop, with Kristi Rudolph, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Yoga Mandala, 2807 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $25-$30. 486-1989. 

SUNDAY, JULY 25 

Weekend Tilden Tots An indoor/outdoor nature adventure for 3 and 4 year olds each accompanied by an adult. Today we’ll learn about butterflies, moths and more. From 10:15 to 11:45 a.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Cost is $6 for residents, $8 for non-residents. 525-2233.  

“Keen Eyes, Strong Beaks, Sharp Talons - Birds of the East Bay Hills” a photography exhibition by Paul Roose. Reception from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Runs through Sept. 5. 525-2233. 

Current Activities of the Physicians for Social Responsibility at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Road, Kensington. 525-0302.  

Berkeley City Club free tour from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tours are sponsored by the Berkeley City Club and the Landmark Heritage Foundation. Donations welcome. The Berkeley City Club is located at 2315 Durant Ave. 848-7800 or 883-9710. 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of Uptown Art Deco from 1 to 3 p.m. Meet in front of the Mary Bowles Building, 1718 Telegraph Ave. Tour is limited to 20 persons. Cost is $5 for OHA members, $10 for nonmembers. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Tibetan Buddhism with Abbe Blum on “The Great Guru Padmasambhava” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, JULY 26 

“Guilty by Suspicion” a video screening on the House Committee on Un-American Activities, followed by discussion at 7 p.m. at Grand Lake Neighborhood Center, 530 Lake Park Ave. Donation $1. Sponsored by East Bay Community Against the War. www.ebcaw.org 

Summer Science Week in the Tilden Nature Area For junior scientists, 9-12 years. Different topics daily: get wet on Pond and Stream Day, make a “thermometer lizard,” meet a snake, play Paleo Bingo, explore the universe, look at rainforests. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. Cost is $150-$166. Registration required. 636-1684. www.ebparks.org 

Women of Vision Series A Vision Plan Workshop with Shiloh McCloud at 6 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Tuition $40, materials $20. 883-0600. www.belladonna.ws 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60 years and over meets Mondays at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center. Join at any time. 524-9122. 

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

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

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 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, 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.  

CITY MEETINGS 

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 Aging meets Wed., July 21, at 1:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Lisa Ploss, 981-5200. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/aging 

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. ww.ci.ber- 

keley.ca.us/commissions/zoningª

Now begin the City of Berkeley’s dog days. The expression derives from the rising of Sirius, the Dog Star, which takes place between early July and early September. But since it coincides with hot and humid in a large part of the northern hemisphere, the image of lazy dogs lying around in the shade comes to mind. 

Folk etymology has therefore extended “dog days” to mean any period of stagnation or inactivity, and that definition has also found its way into dictionaries.  

For newspapers which look to city government to provide copy, the departure of the City Council and some of the boards and commissions for a two-month period every summer has been a major challenge. The Berkeley City Council in particular has over the years been a reliable source of political theater, and local publications have cheerfully delivered performance reviews of their antics. But in the 14 months the new Daily Planet has been covering the Berkeley City Council, the annual departure has become less and less of a problem. That’s because the current City Council is doing less and less of the governing of the city. We’re in an era of Government Lite in Berkeley, when the majority of councilmembers have decided to go along to get along, so that when they leave town no one even notices any more. Stagnation and inactivity have become a year-round phenomenon. Last year the city clerk’s office had a party to celebrate the council’s departure, complete with Aloha decorations. We haven’t heard about one this year.  

It looks more and more like the hired professionals on the city staff are making policy instead of “the electeds” as they are sometimes called behind their backs. This is both the good news and the bad news. The city staff produced a hard-hitting critique of the University of California’s environmental impact report on its Long Range Development plan which was described by one frequent critic of city government as “surprisingly good.” It was not pre-approved by the City Council—in fact they got their first look at it the day it was sent. This caused a little grumbling by councilmembers, notably the mayor, who carried water for the university in Sacramento and is much disposed to compromise with his alma mater whenever possible. The lifers on the staff have a very clear understanding of the budgetary problems they’ll face in the next few years, and they’re thoroughly tired of the university’s addiction to consuming city resources without paying for them, so they tore into the transparently weak EIR. When it comes to the bottom line, they know what they’re doing. 

On the other hand, some critics, notably Barbara Gilbert, who is now running for City Council in District 5, have accused the staff of being too easy on their own: of looking for remedies to budget shortfalls almost anywhere except in salary cuts for city employees. This promises to be as close to a major campaign issue as we’re likely to get in the new bland Berkeley, but it’s possible that most voters won’t even notice it. One of the publishers’ trade publications which we acquired with this paper ran a survey suggesting that a lot of readers of a lot of papers don’t follow government news anymore because they don’t think they can have any influence over what government does. If that’s true, it’s sad, and it might well be.  

Just in case we have a few readers who still enjoy politics, we’re going to provide coverage of the Democratic Convention in Boston for your amusement during the dog days while the council is away. We have not one but two correspondents: Chris Krohn, the former mayor of Santa Cruz and long-time left activist, and Bob Burnett, one of the founding executives at Cisco Systems, who is a major donor to the Democratic Party. They’re going to try to cover the event inside (probably Bob) and outside (probably Chris). The problem, of course, is that it appears that the Democratic National Committee has engineered the convention to be just as bland as the Berkeley City Council, so we can’t promise you any drama. But if it happens, we’ll be there. 

The Republican Convention is another matter entirely. We don’t really know any Republicans who could cover it for us. We do know a pair of rowdy middle-aged women who should know better who threaten to go to New York and make noise in the streets, and we hope to get them to send us dispatches from that front. If anyone else from around here is going, please let us know.  

—Becky O’Malley 



Sometimes, one picture is worth a thousand words. But pictures are subject to multiple interpretations, and so it seems that on certain topics when we run a picture we need to add explanatory words as well. Last week we ran a cartoon by our editorial car toonist which depicted the wall which Israel is currently erecting in Palestinian territory. It was identified as such by having the flag of Israel superimposed on it: a six-pointed star with bars above and below. A sign was tacked to the wall: “Condemned by the International Court of Justice.” It was a simple graphic representation of an actual current event which has been reported in many papers. But for a few readers (not many, thank goodness) there was something about the cartoon which seemed to imply hostility to Jewish people in general (what is commonly called anti-Semitism) rather than criticism of the policies of the current government of Israel. One caller left a message identifying himself as a Marin County lawyer, and said that he had been planning to run a weekly ad in the Daily Planet, but that he had decided not to because of the paper’s “anti-Semitism.” (Excuse me, but I don’t really believe he’d planned the ad, sorry.) A woman called after hours, hoping to leave a voice mail message, but I picked up the phone. She said that she thought the use of a religious symbol like the star was anti-Semitism, and later called again to say that she was reporting the paper to the Anti-Defamation League. The problem, which we’ve explained in this paper before, is that Israel chose to use a religious symbol on its national flag, but that doesn’t make the flag off-limits as a political symbol. The Union Jack, the British flag, incorporates a cross, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be used in political cartoons.  

In our newsroom we enjoy listening to an ongoing discussion between two reporters, one of whom tends to defend many of Israel’s recent political actions and the other who is critical of most of them. They’re both Jewish by heritage, of course, and I strongly suspect that each of them would be willing to argue the other’s position under the right circumstances. The more pro-government fellow once asked, in an exasperated way, why everyone cares so much about what Israel does? Good question. Why, ind eed, do so many Americans, and so many people in Berkeley in particular, care about Israel? The answer is like the one given by experienced parents when their kids want to do something because “everyone else is doing it.” We always said “no, because WE are NOT everyone else.”  

For most of us around here, Jewish or not, Israel is not “everyone else.” And even, Jews are not “everyone else.” Our expectations are simply higher for Israel, and that’s a mark of respect for Israel’s history and its meaning for Jews, not of disrespect or anti-Semitic prejudice. Why do some of us criticize Israel? For the same reason we tell our kids when we think they’ve made a mistake: because we care about you.  

Across the page you’ll see a graphic which a reader submitted “t o counter the cartoon on the wall being build around Israel” under the title of “one picture says it all.” This map does indeed tell a story, but like most pictures it tells different stories to different viewers. It shows a tiny Israel, symbolized by tha t same flag with the Star of David—really the only way to do it. Many much larger countries surround it, countries where the common denominator is that Islam is the majority religion. It’s the caption that says it all for me: “End the unjust Jewish occupa tion of Arab lands!” The comment seems to be intended as sarcasm, like the comment in the accompanying letter, “We are just such bullies!!!!” The implication seems to be that a tiny powerless little Israel is surrounded by big powerful Arabs. 

What’s path etic about this illustration is that it represents true anti-Semitism. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines “Semitic” this way: (1) “of, relating to, or constituting a subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic language family that includes Hebrew, Aramaic, A rabic, and Amharic” (2) “of, relating to, or characteristic of the Semites” and only (3) “Jewish.” We’re not the first to point out that Semitic heritage is what Arabs and Jews share. It’s what distinguishes both of them from the many other ethic groups w hich have adopted the Islamic religion. It is a form of racism to say that all Moslems are Arabs, when in fact the countries on the map, labelled by implication as “Arab lands,” are from a wide variety of non-Semitic ethnic and linguistic groups, and have many citizens whose religion is neither Islam nor Judaism. Merriam-Webster defines anti-Semitism as “hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group.” But consistency (like some other dictionaries) suggests that it’s also a form of anti-Semitism to exhibit hostility toward or discrimination against Arabs as a religious, ethnic, or racial group. Arabs are not a religious group; one of their most distinguished spokesmen, the late Edward Said, was raised as a Protesta nt Christian. Jews who circulate this graphic are doing what they criticize others for doing: acting anti-Semitic. And you could even argue that they’re being anti-Semitic in the ordinary language sense: that they’re doing something which is harmful to Je ws.  

It is possible to have an intelligent, reasonable and civilized discussion about the morality and practicality of the Israeli government’s current actions in the occupied territories. We know it’s possible because we see it demonstrated in our newsroom all the time. But no one’s cause, especially Israel’s, is served by circulating ignorant racist propaganda images like the graphic on the facing page.  

—Becky O’Malley 

p