Before a single vote has been counted in Berkeley, clear winners have emerged in the race to raise money for city council elections, according to campaign contribution and expense reports released Tuesday. 

In District 5 Laurie Capitelli has raised $25,048, more than double the amount raised by his nearest rival Jesse Townley.  

In District 6 incumbent Betty Olds has taken in $14,000 compared to $1,150 for her lone opponent, Norine Smith. In District 2 Darryl Moore has raised $4,992 while his opponent, Sharon Kidd, chose not to raise money.  

And in District 3 Max Anderson has netted $8,870, nearly quadruple the take of fellow-challenger Laura Menard and roughly five times more than incumbent Maudelle Shirek. 

Three city ballot measures that would raise taxes are flush with cash, thanks primarily to the contribution of the Service Employees International Union Local 535. The largest city union representing non-uniformed employees has dished out $18,000 in total funds for tax measures to increase funding for libraries, youth services and the city’s general fund. 

Winning the fundraising wars in Berkeley has almost always assured victory. In 2002, the most well-heeled candidates won every single race, including mayor, city council, school board and rent board. Deep campaign war chests mean not only that a candidate has money to burn, but usually indicates that they have the support of the city’s political establishment. 

To diminish the pull of contributors, Berkeley forbids contributions from businesses and allows individuals to contribute no more than $250 to individual candidates.  

That is still too much for some residents, who have sponsored a ballot measure to finance all campaigns with city money. So far backers of Measure H have garnered $32,129 in contributions, including the largest single contribution of the current filing period—$12,000 from the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund. 

Several opponents of the city’s current campaign finance system, like Councilmember Kriss Worthington, argue that money from developers, their family members and business partners have skewed city council votes on proposed buildings. 

“Developers who have major projects coming up for a vote give major amounts of money to buy access,” he said. 

This year Capitelli, a partner at Red Oak Realty, has taken in by far the most money from developers. Among his contributors, he counts prominent names like Ali Kashani, the head of Memar Properties; Chris Hudson and Evan McDonald, formerly of Panoramic Interests and now of Hudson & McDonald; David Teece, Hudson and McDonald’s chief financier; Robert Ellsworth, of Ruegg & Ellsworth; Avi Nevo of Aldar Investments; John and Michael Drew, who own extensive amounts of land in West Berkeley; Igal Sarfaty, owner of the UC Theater; Peter Tunney, the manager of Golden Gate Fields where a big commercial development is planned; and John DeClerq, developer of Library Gardens. 

In all, donors that could be directly tied to development contributed $3,600 of the $12,183 Capitelli received from July 1 through Sept. 30. Outside of developers, Capitelli also received numerous contributions from fellow real estate brokers. Capitelli, however, noted that he had a varied list of contributors that also included residents more cautious of new development including Landmarks Preservation Commissioner Carrie Olson and Planning Commissioner Gene Poschman. 

“The amount I’ve raised is indicative of the breadth of support I’ve gotten,” Capitelli said. 

One name who didn’t appear on Capitelli’s list of contributors or anyone else’s was Patrick Kennedy, the head of Panoramic Interests and the city’s most prolific housing developer. Capitelli said he declined a contribution from Kennedy, who did not return a telephone call for this story. 

While Capitelli was able to mine his contacts in real estate and development circles, his rivals struggled to keep pace. District 5 candidate Barbara Gilbert has raised $9,699—nearly one-third of which she loaned to herself. 

“It’s very hard for a populist candidate,” she said. “My donors are regular people.” 

Jesse Townley, a Green Party member and punk rock singer, has raised $11,942, thanks in part to a series of benefit concerts he sponsored. 

In District 3, Anderson’s money lead comes in part from the support of the city’s progressive establishment. He received contributions from, among others, School Board member Terry Doran, former planning commission members Zelda Bronstein, Rob Wrenn and John Curl and former mayoral candidate Don Jelinek. 

Community Activist Laura Menard trailed with $2,325, mostly from members of neighborhood groups, and Councilmember Shirek, who only started her write-in campaign in earnest two weeks ago, raised $1,751. Nearly a third of Shirek’s contributions—$600 in total—has come from councilmembers Gordon Wozniak, Miriam Hawley and Margaret Breland. 

The committee to support tax measures J and K (increases to the utility tax and the property transfer tax) has raised $15,910, two-thirds of which has come from union contributions, including a $9,000 donation from SEIU Local 535. Assemblymember Loni Hancock contributed $1,000 to the campaign form her campaign fund. 

SEIU Local 535 has also given $9,000 to support the library tax. As of Sept. 30, the backers of the tax increase have raised $30,491. Half of that amount has come from the group Friends of the Berkeley Public Library and a second library advocacy organization, Keep Libraries Alive, raised $3,118. 

Of the citizen-initiated ballot initiatives, only the backers of a plan to decriminalize prostitution raised money during the recent filing period. Thanks in part to a $550 contribution from George Zimmer, the owner of Mens’ Wearhouse, the group, Californians for Civil Liberties, has raised $3,033 for the campaign. Opponents, led by Brad Smith, an aide to Councilmember Linda Maio, have raised $400 to fight the measure. 

While the city council fundraising battles are lopsided, candidates for school board are running nearly neck and neck. 

The two most prominent challengers for the two open seats, Karen Hemphill, the city clerk of Emeryville, and Kalima Rose, a social policy analyst for Oakland-based Policy Link, have raised $6,789 and $6,427. Incumbents John Selawsky and Joaquin Rivera have raised $4,435 and $9,244. Rivera has loaned his campaign $4,000. The fifth candidate, Merrilie Mitchell, has not raised money. 

At the same point two years ago the three candidates ultimately elected to the school board each had raised at least $6,000 more than their competitors. 

Candidates must file a record of their contributions and expenditures again on Oct. 21—the last filing date before the November election.?

When Michael Shaub moved into his home in North Berkeley last year, he didn’t know his pricey new address would cost him the chance to vote in Berkeley on Election Day. 

Shaub, much to his chagrin, is one of 485 Berkeley voters to receive notice from the Registrar of Voters this week that if they wanted to vote in the upcoming election they have little choice other than filling out an absentee ballot and mailing it in. 

“It’s disappointing,” he said. “There’s a certain comfort in going to the polling station and knowing your vote is going to be counted.” 

Shaub and other affected voters all live in three enclaves criss-crossed by a half-dozen regional and municipal electoral districts. 

The problem, said Alameda County Registrar of Voters Bradley Clark, is that “when all these jurisdictions like AC Transit and BART draw their boundary lines they don’t talk to each other and we end up with these weird little precincts.” 

State law requires that a precinct have 250 registered voters to qualify for a polling station, Clark said. The three Berkeley precincts in question, he added, could not be consolidated into neighboring ones because the neighboring precincts were in different electoral districts and had different candidates on the ballot. To avoid confusion polling stations must all provide identical ballots, he said. 

“This is so common for us, we don’t give it a second thought,” said Clark. Previously most of the absentee voting precincts were in sparsely populated regions of the county, primarily the eastern hills, but as more jurisdictions have sprouted up, nearly every city has affected areas. 

But the policy was disturbing news to Carrie Olson, Shaub’s mother-in-law, and the Chief Operating Officer of MoveOn.org. 

“To have a further impediment to voting come up right in our own backyard is troubling,” said Olson. She feared that like her son-in-law, many voters’ first impulse would be to disregard the envelope marked “Absentee Ballot” because they believed they had an assigned polling station. 

“I think there will be a lot of people who won’t know they can’t vote until Election Day when it might be too late,” she said. 

Shaub who lives on Ada Street, just west of Sacramento Street, finds himself in a several block electoral pocket carved out by district boundaries for the City Council and the Peralta Community College District.  

Since redistricting in 1990, City Council District 5 extends west of Sacramento Street to include Shaub’s home and several blocks from Ada Street to the Albany border and from Sacramento Street west to Acton Street. But Peralta sets its district border on Sacramento Street, leaving Shaub and the other residents of District 5 just west of Sacramento in an electoral no man’s land every four years when both seats are contested. 

“That’s terrible,” said District 5 Councilmember Miriam Hawley, who said none of her constituents had complained to her about not having a polling station. She said her office would remind residents that they needed to vote via absentee ballot. 

Another precinct without a polling station is bounded by Sacramento to the east, Acton to the west, University Avenue to the north and Allston Way to the south. Again in that case, the conflict is between boundaries drawn by Peralta and the City Council.  

Peralta changed its district boundaries in 2000, but neither Susan Duncan, the Peralta trustee, who represents residents north of Sacramento, nor District spokesperson Jeff Hyman knew if Peralta had previously used a boundary other than Sacramento Street. Darryl Moore, the other Peralta trustee representing Berkeley, was unavailable for comment. 

The third affected precinct is two square blocks bounded by Shattuck to the east, Martin Luther King Jr. Way to the west, Dwight Way to the north and Blake Street to the south. Those two blocks were moved in 2001 from City Council District 3 to District 4. The City Council border now conflicts with districts drawn for the BART Board of Directors, which divides two districts at Dwight. 

Although some Berkeley voters won’t have a polling station, the city will have 85 stations in November—five more than for the election last March, Clark said. But as the ranks of absentee voters continues to rise—190,000 voters have registered to vote by mail this year, compared to 9,000 just four years ago—the county might reduce the number of stations in future elections, he added. 

On Election Day, voters deprived of a polling station can vote in person at the registrar of voters office in Oakland or vote in any neighboring polling station by filling out a ballot. Every race the voter is eligible to vote on would be counted, Clark said. 

In recent years voters like Shaub could have voted in person before Election Day at City Hall, but that option isn’t available this year. Clark said Secretary of State Kevin Shelley didn’t certify the county’s system in time to set up early voting booths. 



City housing officials have launched an investigation into the Gaia Building’s electric apartment heaters following a complaint from tenant Thomas Miller. 

Berkeley Supervising Housing Inspector Carlos Romo said that while building specs submitted for the structure at 2140 Allston Way called for 1500 watt heaters in the building’s one-bedroom units, the heater in Miller’s apartment is a Cadet Model C101 1200, rated by Cadet Manufacturing at a thousand watts. 

“We will be trying to identify if the owner, by going with something less, was trying to cut corners,” Romo said. 

The more powerful heaters were specified by the energy consultant hired to evaluate heating needs for the building, which was built by Berkeley developer Patrick Kennedy with loans backed by a public agency, the Association of Bay Area Governments. 

“The consultant told us that there is some margin for error in the figure, so the owner could conceivably go with something smaller,” Romo said. 

“This was the first I’ve heard about it,” Kennedy said Thursday afternoon. “We’ve never had any complaints about heat before, and most tenants say they never use their heaters because the building is so tight. 

“Most units have two or three heaters, but Mr. Miller is apparently in one of the smaller units.” 

Miller’s is a one-bedroom apartment in a building with 91 one- and two-bedroom units. There is a visible gap between the upper edge and the frame of his southernmost bedroom window even when latched. 

According to the state Uniform Building Code, dwellings must, at a minimum, have heating systems that enable residents to maintain a constant temperature of 70 degrees at a point three feet above the floor, regardless of outside temperatures. 

That section has been incorporated as Subsection 701.1 of Section 19.40.040 of the city Uniform Housing Code. 

Miller said he first worried about the heat in his third floor apartment during the cold days of March, shortly after he had moved in. 

“I had to open up the (gas) oven and turn it on to get enough heat,” he said, a tactic Romo urged him not to use during a recent visit to his apartment.  

Miller’s apartment is one of the so-called inclusionary units, apartments reserved for low-income residents, that enabled Kennedy to trump the city’s five-story limit for downtown buildings. By building another floor reserved for cultural uses, he was able to create the equivalent of an eight-story building a half-block from the UC Berkeley campus. 

“Are you aware that the tenant is actually under the care of the Berkeley Mental Health Department?” asked Kennedy when called about the heating probe. 

Miller had already freely admitted that he has had three heart attacks, suffers from Hepatitis C and is undergoing treatment for medically managed schizophrenia. It was those conditions which qualified him as a Section VIII disability tenant. 

His move into the building was facilitated by Berkeley’s BOSS program. 

Like all Gaia tenants, Miller had to sign an authorization allowing Kennedy’s Panoramic Management to tap directly into his bank account for his monthly rent. 

Miller said he is also concerned because his apartment lacks window screens, a feature also missing from the Fine Arts Building and several other Kennedy Buildings visited recently by a Daily Planet reporter. 

“At this point we have to be in communication with the building officials and decide how to proceed,” Romo said. “It could require additional checking with the owner.” 

Romo said he would also be inspecting the heating units in other apartments in the building.›

Confronted by too many unresolved questions, the Richmond City Council Tuesday delayed a vote on the sale of Point Molate until they can get more answers. 

The two would-be buyers of the former naval refueling station made their pitches to the council Tuesday: the oil giant ChevronTexaco, which wants the land as a security buffer, and a Berkeley developer who wants it for a casino resort complex. 

“I am prepared to sign tonight,” said Dennis Triplitt, regional real estate projects manager for the oil company. “Ours is a bona fide solid offer that offers great value to the community.” 

ChevronTexaco is offering $5 million within ten days of signing for a city job training and creation program, a $50 million purchase payment when the property is transferred and $1 million a year for 25 years for maintenance of public improvements on the site. 

While the proposal would allow for light industrial and commercial development of part of the site—including the landmarked Winehaven building—Triplitt acknowledged that the project wouldn’t create as many jobs as the casino proposal. 

To compensate, the oil company is offering the city a long-term lease on 25 acres across from the Point Richmond Technical Center adjacent to the I-580 onramp on Castro Street. 

The now-vacant site, which once housed a Chevron warehouse, would be made available “to help the city realize their economic development plans,” said ChevronTexaco spokesperson Dean O’Hair. Terms would be negotiated whenever the city meets with the company to work out details of the Point Molate agreement. 

No meeting has yet been scheduled, O’Hair said Wednesday afternoon. 

ChevronTexaco’s original offer also included city-owned land at Point San Pablo at the tip of the Richmond peninsula. After city officials refused to consider the sale of that parcel, the oil company excluded it from their bid but didn’t change the purchase price. “In essence, we’ve increased the price for Point Molate,” Triplitt said. 

Berkeley developer James D. Levine, whose Upstream Point Molate LLC has teamed with gambling giant Harrah’s Entertainment and former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, ridiculed the ChevronTexaco offer. Levine referred to the city’s contentious dealings over the years with the refinery as a caution against accepting the firm’s current proposal. 

“You’re trying to find a partner, and the fundamental basis of any partnership is trust. But Chevron has misled you, Chevron has duped you, and now they want to be your partner,” he said. 

Levine declared that, unlike the oil company’s proposal, the casino, hotel, upscale retail and entertainment complex he plans will offer Richmond “jobs and opportunities not seen since World War II.” 

Because Chevron’s offer “has no sustainable economic development plan, it does not meet the fundamental purpose for reuse” for a former military base, he said. Calling Chevron’s promises “pie in the sky,” he said, “We don’t think that’s what the city needs.” 

While some Richmond residents have questioned the wisdom of bringing casinos into cities, Levine said, “there will be urban gaming in California. The only question is where and how much of it? 

“With this project you can set the model. There will be fewer urban gaming projects if you get this up to Sacramento.” 

He did not explain what he meant by this comment. 

Levine said his project would create a retail base that would help the deeply indebted city balance its books, and he promised that “once the casino is up and running,” the project would establish a million-dollar-a-year “community-based foundation to award 50 grants a year to community organizations in Richmond.” 

Norman LaForce, legal affairs director for the Bay Area Sierra Club, said Levine had offered a similar million-dollar-a-year environmental trust fund if the Sierra Club and other organizations agreed to endorse his proposal. 

“We refused to sign off, and now that’s gone,” he said, warning the council that once the land transfers to tribal reservation status, the city loses all control over environmental impacts at the site. 

Two clear endorsements came during public testimony, a ringing approval of the casino plan from the politically powerful Richmond Local 188 of the International Association of Firefighters and a hearty thumbs up to the ChevronTexaco offer from the Council of Industries. 

Most of the other speakers questioned both offers, and interim City Manager Phil Batchelor said too many questions remained unanswered about both proposals. 

While city staff and consultant attorney John Knox had spent months hammering out details of the Upstream proposal, Batchelor said the ChevronTexaco offer had just been received and there had been no time to iron out potential wrinkles. 

Questions about the oil company offer included: 

• While Upstream offered the city complete indemnity from pre-existing problems with the site, the ChevronTexaco offer didn’t. 

• What would happen if the federal government spent too long in releasing the 51 acres of the site still under their control? 

• Would their offer still stand if the city wasn’t able to comply with all of the company’s requests? 

• How long was the offer to remain open? 

Questions for Upstream included: 

• What would the developer do if they couldn’t receive authorization for a casino, the likelihood of which the city had been informed was somewhere between 5 percent and 50 percent? 

• What would happen if Harrah’s backed out? 

• Would the city lose its indemnification? 

“We should put this over until we get the answers so we can clearly know what we’ll be voting on,” said Mayor Irma Anderson. The rest of the council agreed, and the proposals were tabled until such time as city staff could bring back concrete answers to the questions they’d raised. 

One other item scheduled for action was pulled off the agenda, a proposed council censure of one of their members, Tom Butt, for his outspoken e-mail criticism of the city attorney staff members and of lunchtime spending habits of the city Human Resources director. 

The motion was withdrawn in part because city ordinances neither define nor provide for censure of councilmembers. 

The Upstream proposal is one of three casino plans being floated for Richmond. One would site a major casino at Hilltop Mall and another would build a similar gambling palace in unincorporated North Richmond. 

Of the three proposals, plans for the Sugar Bowl Casino in North Richmond are the farthest advanced. The Bureau of Indian Affairs has already conducted hearings on Scotts Valley Band of Pomo tribespeople’s proposed reservation on the site along Richmond Parkway. 

No such hearings have yet been held for the other two sites. 

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Despite dire warnings from firefighters, the City Council Tuesday voted 6-2 Tuesday to shut down one of its two truck companies during evening hours unless the firefighters’ union agrees to a salary giveback. 

Also, as part of the vote which one councilmember derided as a “political ploy,” the council agreed to restore the truck company next July if voters passed a tax measure on the November ballot. 

Should negotiations between the city and the union stalemate, the truck company would be grounded from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. beginning Nov. 8. 

The firefighters are the only city union which has refused to surrender a portion of their scheduled salary increases to help the city balance a $10 million deficit for the current fiscal year. 

Closing the truck company would save the city $300,000—proportionately equivalent to the hit taken by other unions—by reducing overtime expenditures needed to staff it. 

From the reaction of about a dozen firefighters in attendance Tuesday, a salary deal appears unlikely. 

“I’m holding steadfast based on principal,” said Christy Warren, a city firefighter. “They’ve never negotiated with us in good faith. We’ve always been blindsided by them and now they’re using the community’s safety as a bargaining chip.” 

She warned that cutting the truck company put city residents at risk and would lower morale in the fire department. “We’re in crisis mode already,” she said. “If you cut a truck you don’t understand what you’re going to do to us.” 

Relations between the firefighters and the city have been tense since the firefighters signed a contract in 2000 only to watch as other unions won bigger raises. Their contract, which the city extended in 2002 to address union concerns, however, is unique in that it lacks a clause allowing the city to compel the union to accept a salary giveback. 

Most of the councilmembers remained resolute that the firefighters should follow the lead of other unions and accept a giveback. 

“Please, please, be part of the solution,” Councilmember Dona Spring told the firefighters. “We can’t do it without your help.” 

Councilmember Miriam Hawley said, “By not going along with everybody else, I think the firefighters have lost a lot of credibility. I’ve heard a few people saying ‘I don’t know if I want to support the firefighters, they don’t seem like responsible people.’” 

Councilmember Betty Olds took exception to Hawley’s comments. 

“Now I know this is political,” Old said. “It seems we brought this back up so we can beat on the fire department and get a few more votes for this tax.” 

Olds questioned why the council would wait until one month before the election to dedicate funds in fiscal year 2006 from the proposed Paramedic Tax to save the truck company. If the measure fails, the council, facing a $7.5 million deficit, plans to eliminate the truck company entirely next year to save $1.3 million. 

On Wednesday, now assured the proceeds would go to the fire department, the firefighters’ union voted to back the paramedic tax. 

Olds, who was joined in dissent by Councilmember Kriss Worthington, also feared that cutting the company would reduce service to her district, which is almost entirely in the fire-prone Berkeley hills. 

Truck companies are equipped with aerial ladders and life-saving equipment like “the jaws of life” that allow fire fighters to undertake rescue missions and get on top of fires to provide ventilation. The company slated for reduction is at Station 4 on Cedar and Henry streets.  

Firefighters at the council meeting challenged a report from David Orth, acting fire chief, that the city only received about 10 to 12 calls a year requiring both truck companies to be dispatched and that truck companies from Oakland could be respond to a South Berkeley fire within ten minutes. 

In the past month, firefighters’ union chief Mark Mestrovich said the city had two fires that required both trucks including a four-alarm fire last week in which a third truck from Oakland took 20 minutes. He added that often the trucks are dispatched simultaneously to different calls, leaving the city vulnerable if it had only one truck. 

After slashing several top administrative posts over the last several years, including a lieutenant, an assistant fire chief, and three fire inspectors, losing the truck company would be the first hit to response services since 1981. 

City Manager Phil Kamlarz tried to reassure the council that compared to other cities, Berkeley remained well-staffed. A city report released last week showed that Berkeley has fewer residents per fire station than Oakland, Hayward or Fremont.

In a bit of political theater that could reverberate in the District 3 City Council race, Councilmember Maudelle Shirek infuriated several progressives Tuesday by casting the deciding vote against a proposal to strengthen the rights of tenants facing evictions. 

Her vote left the council deadlocked in a tie, effectively killing the proposal. But Shirek then agreed to a proposal from the four councilmembers in support of the plan to reconsider it next week when Councilmember Margaret Breland, a likely supporter, is scheduled to be in attendance. 

“Who could have imagined that Maudelle would vote against tenants’ rights?” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington after the meeting. “If [Breland] doesn’t come next week, we should cancel the council meeting.” 

Worthington is one of the more left-leaning members of the council who have withdrawn their long-standing support for Shirek, in favor of challenger Max Anderson. 

At issue Tuesday was a proposal from the rent board to increase the payment landlords must make to low income tenants when they choose to exit the rental housing business. The ordinance would have also expanded the law to include senior citizens and disabled tenants. 

When the state passed the Ellis Act in 1986, Berkeley required landlords who took their units off the market to pay all tenants $4,500 to offset the increase in rent, moving costs and other fees the displaced tenants were likely to face. A 1992 court case forced the city to apply the rule only to low-income tenants as defined by guidelines set by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

The Ellis Act is designed to protect tenants from landlords eager to empty rent controlled apartments either to sell the units or to rent them out again later at a market rent. Since 1986 was passed 271 units in Berkeley have been taken off the market under the law. 

The rent board proposed setting the new rate at $7,000. Rent Board Commissioner Paul Hogarth told the council that other cities have increased allotments as prices have risen and extended the benefit to the elderly and the disabled. 

While most of the plan’s opponents on the council agreed an increase was in order, they wanted to send the item back to the rent board to consider establishing a sliding scale of payments based on the tenants’ financial circumstances and raising the age threshold to qualify as a senior citizen. 

When the time came to vote, Shirek passed, and then after Councilmembers Gordon Wozniak, Hawley and Olds—all of whom have endorsed her candidacy in District 3—voted “no”, Shirek sided with them deadlocking the council in a four-to-four tie.  

Seleznow Named Permanent Head of Parks 

The council voted unanimously to appoint Marc Seleznow as Director of the Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Department. Seleznow assumed the duties of director last year when the former department head, Lisa Caronna was named Deputy City Manager. 

Pedestrian Safety Plan On Hold  

The council referred the Transportation Commission’s plan for improving pedestrian safety on University Avenue to city staff for review. The plan calls for building sidewalk bulb-outs, extending the width of the sidewalk where possible, upgrading traffic signals, installing reflective crosswalks, and requiring disabled accessible bus stops. Councilmember Dona Spring, who had hoped the council would adopt the recommendation, said the city had allowed developers to move bus stops to less accessible locations and narrow sidewalks so two wheelchair riders couldn’t safely pass one another.o

The Howard Automobile Building, one of Berkeley’s last remaining Art Deco/Moderne buildings, may be pulled from the tax rolls and reincarnated as a tax-exempt Institute of Buddhist Studies. 

Plans for the project, which included a two-story addition to part of the historic structure, surfaced during Monday night’s meeting of the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). 

The 1930 structure, designed by Frederic Reimers, was built at 2140 Durant Ave. for Charles Howard, a former cavalry trooper turned bicycle mechanic who had become the nation’s largest Buick dealer in San Francisco. 

Howard’s lasting legacy wouldn’t come through his automotive empire. His wealth enabled him to become a leading player in the “sport of kings,” most notably as the owner of America’s most famous racehorse, Seabiscuit. 

The Berkeley dealership was a classic work of Art Deco, and remained a dealership for many years, most recently under the ownership of another sports legend, Reggie Jackson. 

The building had been vacant in recent years until its sale last year to the Buddhist Churches of America, a Shin Buddhist sect founded in 1899 to serve the Japanese-American community. It was restored in 2002. 

Headquartered in San Francisco, the church has branches across the country. Bay Area branches are found in Berkeley (2121 Channing Way), Alameda, Union City, Mill Valley, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Francisco, San Jose and San Mateo. 

The new institute, affiliated with the Graduate Theological Union, will offer classes and programs in Buddhism and will include a bookstore. 

Emeryville architect Sady S. Hayashida’s design preserves the existing exterior, while adding new details to the interior and two additional floors to the southern half of the building which would contains 14 apartments and 18 dormitory-style units for graduate students and visiting scholars. 

Plans also call for creation of an underground parking level below the existing lot on Durant, giving the facility a total of 40 slots. 

Hayashida’s expansion plans mimic the red and tan colors and features of the original structure. 

“It seems to me this is being very fast tracked,” said commissioner Carrie Olson. “It looks like it’s going to ZAB (the Zoning Adjustments Board) in November, so we’ll have only one meeting before they adopt a negative declaration,” a document that marks the first stage in construction approval. 

“Why aren’t we having an additional study?” asked her colleague Lesley Emmington Jones. 

According to a Sept. 28 chronology provided by the architect, the initial proposal was presented to Mayor Tom Bates on June 17, 2003, and then to city Senior Planner Greg Powell two months later. 

The proposal was presented to the Downtown Berkeley Association on Dec. 9, and to the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA) on Jan. 8. 

On Feb. 5, BAHA Chair Susan Chase wrote Hayashida that “BAHA looks forward to the approval and completion of your architectural additions to the Howard Showroom.” 

Application for a Use Permit was filed on March 5, followed by meetings with various city departments. 

City staff deemed the application complete in May, five months before it reached the LPC, reflecting a complaint of several commissioners who hoped to be consulted earlier in the process. 

“There are only two other Moderne buildings in Berkeley, the UC Press Building, which is slated for demolition” and a home on Hearst Avenue, said Olson. “Any addition to one of our proudest buildings has to be perfect before I approve it.” 

Former commissioner Burton Edwards said he was concerned about the mass and detail of the proposal, which he said “is not yet a sympathetic addition.” 

In another matter, commissioners also looked at the latest revision of developer Gary Feiner’s plans to convert two Victorian cottages into duplexes in the recently landmarked Sisterna Tract Historic District. 

Neighbors who live and work near the two structures at 2104 and 2108 Sixth St. had objected to both the size and design of Feiner’s proposals, declaring them out of character with the neighborhood. 

After several revisions, the plans presented to commissioners Monday seemed closer to what neighbors want, with one of the critics, Curt Manning, declaring himself largely satisfied. 

Neal Blumenfeld, a psychiatrist who owns the restored Victorian next door to 2108, said he still isn’t satisfied, and Jano Bogg, another neighbor, agreed. 

Blumenfeld and his spouse, therapist Lise Blumenfeld, presented sketches by Oakland architect Charles Coburn, who specializes in restorations. 

The drawings drew favorable comments from several commissioners, who considered some of the details more in keeping with the character of the neighborhood than those offered by Feiner architect Timothy Rempel. 

Commissioners agreed that the latest version was much better than the first proposal, and scheduled a commission subcommittee with Feiner, Rempel and neighbors to iron out the final details on Oct. 18 at 4 p.m. in Rempel’s office, 2213 Fifth St. 

That was good news for Feiner. “Financially, I’m at my limit. I have spent enormous amounts of money” on revisions and legal fees, he said. “I’m not even sure I can go ahead.” h

If ballot measures are the true measure of citizen voter participation, and citizen voter participation is the true measure of democracy, then the Nov. 2 election would seem to confirm the City of Berkeley as the democratic (small “d”) capital of the East Bay.  

With 12 municipal ballot measures, Berkeley will have only one less by itself than all of the cities in Contra Costa County put together. Of the 21 municipal ballot measures in Alameda County, more than half of them will take place in Berkeley, and of the 34 municipal ballot measures in Alameda and Contra Costa counties combined, 35 percent of them will take place in Berkeley. 

Four of the Berkeley ballot measures are tax increase measures designed to address Berkeley’s continuing budget problems. And these figures do not include Measure B, the ballot measure sponsored by the Berkeley Unified School District. Unless otherwise noted, all of the measures need only a majority vote to pass. For good or ill, here they all are: 

Measure B — Berkeley Unified School District Measure For School Financing 

Would levy a two-year special tax of 9.7 cents per square foot for residential buildings, 14.7 cents per square foot for commercial, industrial, and institutional buildings, and $50 per parcel for unimproved lots. Sixty-eight percent of the money would go towards reducing class sizes and expanding course offerings, 16 percent would go toward school libraries, seven percent would go towards music programs, seven percent would go towards teacher training and evaluation, and two percent would go towards parent outreach and translation services. A citizen’s oversight committee would monitor the use of the funds. Two-thirds majority approval needed to pass. 

Measure H — City of Berkeley Charter Amendment For Public Financing of Elections 

Would authorize public financing of elections for mayor, City Council, school board, and auditor candidates who voluntarily agree to spending limits. Such public financing would only go into effect when the City Council figures out where to get the projected minimum of half a million dollars in annual funds to pay for it. 

Measure I — City of Berkeley Charter Amendment To Change Year of Mayoral Elections 

Berkeley mayors are presently elected in the four year election cycle opposite the presidential elections (the recent presidential election years are 2000 and 2004; the recent Berkeley mayor election years are 2002 and 2006). Measure I would conform the Berkeley mayoral elections so that they take place the same year as the presidential elections. To accomplish this, the term for the mayor election in 2006 would only be for two years, with the term extended back to four years from 2008 on. 

Measure J — City of Berkeley Utility Users Tax 

Would increase the utility tax rate from 7.5 percent to nine percent for a four-year period from 2005 through 2008. The tax increase would expire automatically in 2008. For a Berkeley resident with a combined monthly utility bill (gas, electricity, cable, house telephone, and cellphone) of $300, Measure J would mean an increased utility tax of $4.50 per month (from $22.50 to $27.00). The tax money would be added to the general revenue of the city, with no special restrictions on how it could be appropriated by the City Council. 

Measure K — City of Berkeley Youth Services Special Tax 

Would increase the current 1.5 percent property transfer tax exclusively for the purpose of supporting certain youth services and youth safety programs in the city. If passed, 0.5 percent would be added to the transfer of all property worth between $600,000 and a million dollars, bringing the total transfer tax to two percent (that means a total transfer tax of $12,000 for property worth $600,000). One percent would be added to the transfer of all property worth over a million dollars, bringing the total transfer tax to 2.5 percent (that means a total transfer tax of approximately $25,000 for property worth slightly over one million dollars). The text of the proposed tax gives a broad list of “youth services and youth safety programs” but does not specifically define the term “youth.” The tax increase would automatically expire at the end of 2010, at which point the transfer tax would return to 1.5 percent. Two-thirds majority approval needed to pass. 

Measure L — City of Berkeley Library Special Tax 

Would increase the library parcel tax on improvements from 13 cents per square foot to 15 cents per square foot for residential real property and 20 centers per square foot to 23 cents per square foot for commercial, industrial, and institutional real property. It would also make adjustments to the inflation rate upon which the library tax is also based.  

The formula is complicated, but for 2005-06, the city attorney’s analysis estimates that passage of this measure would mean no more than a $41.47 per year library tax increase on a 1,900 square foot home (from $250 to $290) and no more than a $330 increase on a 10,000 square foot commercial building (from $2,000 per year to $2,330 per year). Because the base tax rises with the inflation rate, the tax amount would also rise in later years. The tax money would go for public library services. Two-thirds majority approval needed to pass. 

Measure M — City of Berkeley Paramedic Special Tax 

Would increase the existing paramedic services special tax rate from 2.5 cents per square foot to four cents per square foot on all improvements to real property. It would also make adjustments to the inflation rate upon which the paramedic services tax is based. The city attorney’s analysis estimates passage of this measure would mean no more than a $29 per year paramedic services tax increase on a 1900 square foot building ($50 to $79) and no more than a $154 per year increase on a 10,000 square foot building ($263 to $416). Because the base tax rises with the inflation rate, the tax amount would also rise in later years. The tax money would go for paramedic services. Two-thirds majority approval needed to pass. 

Measure N — City of Berkeley Appropriation Limit Approval (also called the Gann Override) 

The California Constitution requires that even after voters approve special taxes by a two-thirds majority vote, the city must return to the voters every four years to ask continuing permission to spend that money. Measure N is not a new tax or a tax increase, but merely asks permission of City of Berkeley voters to continue to spend tax money from certain previously-passed special taxes. In this case, it is for the Parks Maintenance Tax, the Library Relief Tax, the Emergency Medical Services Tax, and the Emergency Services for Severely Disabled Persons Tax. If this measure fails, the previously-approved tax money would be returned to the taxpayers. 

Measure O — City of Berkeley Rent Stabilization Base Rent Ceilings 

Would change the manner in which legal rent increases are calculated under the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Ordinance. Presently, the Rent Stabilization Board makes its annual rent increase calculations by preparing a cost study and taking in public testimony. Measure O would change that to an automatic process, where the legal rent increase each year would be calculated based on the increase in the prior year’s Consumer Price Index in the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose area. The ordinance would also cap that possible rent increase at seven percent, and would ensure that the annual adjustment would not be used to lower rents. 

Measure P — City of Berkeley Rent Stabilization And Eviction Ordinance Adjustments 

This measure makes nine separate adjustments to Berkeley’s rent control and eviction law, far too many to explain in the present summary. The only thing most of these adjustments have in common is that they have something to do with residential renting in Berkeley. 

The adjustments include placing certain Section 8 units under Rent Stabilization Board regulation, exempting low-income units rented by non-profit housing corporations from Rent Stabilization Board regulation, exempting transitional housing from most provisions of the Rent Ordinance, allowing information in the Rent Board files to be used for enforcement of other city ordinances, eliminating most criminal penalties for landlord violation of the Rent Ordinance, and eliminating a landlord’s ability to evict a tenant merely because the tenant replaces a roommate.  

Measure Q — City of Berkeley Prostitution Enforcement 

Would make enforcement of the prostitution laws the lowest priority in Berkeley and would instruct the city government to support efforts toward the repeal of state prostitution laws. 

Measure R — City of Berkeley Medical Marijuana Dispensary Permits 

Would make it mandatory for the city to issue permits to organizations qualifying as medical marijuana dispensaries regardless of zoning, would establish a Peer Review Committee in order to certify new medical marijuana dispensaries, would raise the amount of growing and processed marijuana that could legally be in the possession of medical marijuana users and cannabis clubs in Berkeley. 

Measure S — City of Berkeley Tree Board 

Would create a new “Public Tree Act” ordinance for Berkeley which would, among other things, generally prohibit the alteration, topping, or removal of non-hazardous public trees. Would require the city to annually plant the same number of public trees as were planted in 2003. Would establish city tree contractors’ licensing requirements. Would create a City Tree Board and hire a two-member staff to oversee the new tree ordinance. 

As reported in Tuesday’s Fire Log in the Planet, revelers at Willard Park last Saturday afternoon were ordered to vacate by Berkeley police. As they cleared the park, they looked up at the sky to see: not a bird, not a plane, but a MedEvac helicopter touching-down on the park’s grassy knoll. 

Little did they know that on the rarest of occasions the popular park at Hillegass Avenue and Derby Street doubles as helicopter pad for Alta Bates Hospital just a few short blocks away. 

On Saturday the emergency involved an Alta Bates patient diagnosed with an abdominal aneurysm who needed emergency surgery at Stanford Medical Center. 

“An aneurysm is like a delicate balloon that could rupture at any time,” said Acting Fire Chief David Orth, explaining that a bumpy ride in an ambulance could have been life threatening for the patient. 

“Even traveling to Children’s Hospital was probably too far,” he added. Unlike Alta Bates, Children’s Hospital has a helicopter pad. 

Orth said the fire department dispatches a helicopter about once a month though he couldn’t remember the last time Alta Bates requested one. 

Typically, he said, the fire department dispatches a helicopter in response to an accident. 

The decision to use Willard Park as a helicopter pad Saturday was made jointly between the fire department and the hospital, Orth said. The park is one of several open spaces in the city designated as makeshift helicopter pads. The list includes, among other locations, the Berkeley High School football field, Tilden Park and a section of the Berkeley Marina. 

Alta Bates spokeswoman Carolyn Kemp said it was the first time in her 23 years at the hospital she could recall Alta Bates using the park as a landing zone.  

She said the air-transfer was necessary because Stanford was the only hospital in the area with a surgeon on call qualified to perform the surgery. 

She did not have an update on the patient’s medical condition following the surgery.?

Board Approves After School Fees  

The Berkeley School Board this week unanimously approved fees for the district’s middle school after school programs after board member concerns about the effect of the fees were alleviated. 

Students will now be charged based on a sliding scale for the program, with fees ranging from $75 to $25 per month. Families with more than one child in the after-school program will be given discounts for each additional child. 

Parents who cannot pay the fees will be able to make other arrangements with the school site coordinator, according to the staff report on the issue. 

The after school program includes academics, homework tutors, enrichment classes, and recreation. Competitive and non-competitive team sports are provided. 

The superintendent’s office said that the fees were necessary because the federal reimbursement for the programs is not adequate to meet the costs. 

At its Sept. 22 meeting, the board postponed voting on the fees after Student Director Lily Dorman-Colby expressed concerns that some students would be turned away from the program because of inability to pay the fees. 

But Superintendent Michele Lawrence has assured the board that lack of payment will not bar any students. 

Board President John Selawsky, who said he also had previous concerns, now calls the implementation of the fees a good thing. 

“If we didn’t charge anything, it would limit the programs,” Selawsky said. “People who can afford to pay will pay, and I’m confident that with the fees, we’ll be able to serve more kids and be fair at the same time.” 

Selawsky noted that parents are already paying fees for their children to participate in similar after school programs at the district’s elementary schools. 

BFT Endorsement 

The Berkeley Federation of Teachers has endorsed challengers Kalima Rose and Karen Hemphill in their drive to attempt to unseat two incumbent BUSD School Board members. 

The endorsement followed a candidates’ forum held this week at the Berkeley Adult School. BFT President Barry Fike said that the two challengers won the union’s endorsement by “a decisive majority.” 

He said that BFT’s Election Committee had decided not to reveal the exact vote count for each candidate received from the approximately one hundred union members attending the endorsement meeting. BFT represents some 700 BUSD teachers. 

Rose and Hemphill are challenging School Board incumbents John Selawsky and Joaquin Rivera in the Nov. 2 election. 

Fike said one reason Rose and Hemphill won the endorsement was because they “addressed the accountability issue head-on, both board accountability and accountability district-wide. That’s one of our concerns.” 

He also speculated there may have been some frustration with Selawsky and Rivera by union rank and file members because of the present teachers’ contract impasse. BFT-board talks have been ongoing since March of 2003. The old teachers’ contract expired in June of last year. 

—

The Free Speech Movement’s (FSM) 40th anniversary commemoration ends Sunday with gatherings for the veterans of the movement in Strawberry Canyon and a similar get-together for SLATE activists in Stiles Hall. 

But before the curtain drops, there’s plenty left to see and do, starting today (Friday) with a noon rally around a police car in Sproul Plaza—where another rally around a cop car 40 years ago helped define the movement. 

Recent news from another campus shows that the battle waged in Berkeley is far from over. Just a week ago a federal judge in Texas struck down an attempt to limit free speech on the Texas Tech campus to a single tiny gazebo for a university with a student body of 28,000 and quashed a campus speech code that banned insults and ridicule. 

Friday’s rally in Sproul plaza targets one of the latest and most far-reaching challenges to the rights FSM members fought for so ardently four decades ago, the PATRIOT Act.  

FSM veteran Bettina Aptheker and ASUC President Misha Leybovich will serve as emcees, and participants include former Presidential candidate Howard Dean, singer Terry Garthwaite, state Assemblymember Jackie Goldberg, Sanjeev Bery of the Northern California ACLU, noted defense attorney Tony Serra, UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, street poet Julia Vinograd and Rosha Jones and Hiraa Khan of the Berkeley ACLU chapter. 

From 6:15 to 9:15 p.m. in the Redwood Gardens Community Room, 2951 Derby St., satirists Paul Krassner, Scoop Nisker, Kris Welch and Ishmael Reed will provide their ongoing commentary during the broadcast of the third Bush/Kerry debate, followed by a rock dance-concert featuring Clan Dyken. 

In a parallel event, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh of the New York Times will appear in the Pauley Ballroom in the Student Union at 7:45 p.m. The talk is jointly sponsored by the Graduate School of Journalism 

Meanwhile, from 7 to 11 p.m. in 142 Dwinelle, the public is invited to the Sixties Film Festival, featuring Berkeley in the Sixties and Freedom on My Mind . 

Saturday’s events include 10 panel discussions on contemporary civil liberties issues from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union. 

One of the day’s most entertaining events is scheduled from 2 to 5:30 p.m. in Alumni House, featuring satire performances and a panel discussion featuring Bruce Barthol, Stoney Burke, Karen Ripley, Bernard Gilbert, Aundre the WonderWoman and Paul Krassner, who was the youngest artist to perform at Carnegie Hall and the creator and editor of The Realist, perhaps the most outrageous publication of the Sixties. 

The Sixties Film Festival continues from 1-5 p.m. in 142 Dwinelle, featuring Eyes on the Prize V, WeatherUnderground, Yippie and Free@30. 

An informal socializing session for FSM veterans and students is scheduled for 5 to 7:30 p.m. in the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union, followed by a folk music hootenanny until 11 p.m. in the student union’s Pauley Ballroom featuring Rachel Garlin, Barbara Dane, Ronnie Gilbert and others. Offering will include FSM carols.  

Sunday, the final day of the celebration, is reserved for the veterans. 

Members of SLATE, a student alliance that tilled the soil from which the FSM movement would sprout, will hold a 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. reunion in Stiles Hall, and for 12 hours beginning at 10 a.m., FSM stalwarts will gather in the Strawberry Canyon Recreational Facility. 

For a complete listing of events, see the FSM website at www.straw.com/fsm-a.›

The United States House of Representatives voted 402 to 2 this week to defeat a bill to reinstate the military draft. The Republican Party insists that this vote ought to end any speculation that the President has any plans to start up the draft again. 

“The reason we are doing this”—the “we” being the Republicans, the “this” being the bringing to the House floor a bill for the sole purpose of swatting it down—“is to expose the hoax of the year, which has been needlessly scaring young people,” explained House Armed Services Committee chair Duncan Hunter. The “hoax” Mr. Hunter was referring to was the allegation by Democrats that Mr. Bush—if he is still president—has secret plans to bring back the draft once the November elections are over. 

“We will not have a draft so long as I’m the President of the United States,” said Mr. Bush himself, on Monday, in Iowa. 

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld backed that assertion up in a radio interview by adding, “We do not need a draft. …We are having no trouble at all attracting and retaining people that we need to serve in the Armed Forces.” 

Let us leave aside the question of Mr. Bush’s believability on such assertions and concentrate, instead, on Mr. Rumsfeld’s statement, applying some logic and common sense to what facts we have on hand. 

Let us leave also aside the question of whether or not the United States military is having “no trouble at all” attracting new recruits. We could spend several days investigating troop strengths and military deployments and perceived global threats and recruitment quotas, but in the end, almost all of us would be hopelessly muddled under a blanket of indecipherable facts and statistics. Instead, let’s just deal with the present facts in hand.  

Since overextending itself and bogging down in Iraq, the U.S. military has been retaining its troop strength—to some degree—by what is called the “stop loss” policy. Soldiers sign up for a certain term—say, two years—and at the end of that term, they expect to receive honorable discharges to return to civilian life. But what we know is that in a large number of instances—who knows how large?—troops are being told that the military cannot honor the ending date of those signup contracts, and the soldiers are being retained in the military, against their will, past their discharge dates. 

Further, there is an ongoing investigation of charges that U.S. military personnel stationed in certain stateside bases—and nearing the end of their tours of duty—are receiving official military forms on which they are asked to state their re-enlistment intentions. Some soldiers have complained that they were told by their military superiors that if they failed to agree to re-enlist, they would be shipped to Iraq immediately to serve out the rest of their terms, but if they re-enlisted, they would “probably” be able to serve the next two years away from the war zone. In other words, if the charges are true, the troops are being threatened to sign away their rights and freedom. 

In this way, Mr. Rumsfeld may be entirely correct when he says that “we are having no trouble at all … retaining people that we need to serve in the Armed Forces.” This would be the same as a bank robber saying that he “had no trouble making a withdrawal from the Wells Fargo branch.” True, but, put the pistol down, friend, and see if it still works out quite so easily. 

I’ve never been in combat, and veterans may want to correct me if I’m in error, but from everything I’ve read and believe, morale is a significant factor in any war-making machine. All things being equal, a soldier who wants to fight—or believes that it’s her or his duty to fight—will be a better soldier than one who is fairly pissed off about being on the battlefield. And so, in the longrun, the military’s “stop loss” policies could lead to some significant problems. 

Let us now return to the beginning of Mr. Rumsfeld’s statement, and advance a question: If we’re having no trouble bringing enough needed new troops into the military—as the Defense Secretary says—why is the military forcing soldiers to stay in the military past their contracted terms, thus leaving us with a battlefield potentially sprinkled with demoralized and disgruntled fighters? 

Which brings us back to a simple if/or/then equation. 

If Iraqi security forces are able to replace United States soldiers in significant numbers within, say, the next six months to a year—or if hostilities in Iraq significantly diminish in that same period—then the nation’s present one-and-a-half-million member active duty military force may be enough to meet the nation’s existing defense and international policy needs. 

But if the war goes on at its present pace—or escalates—or spreads to other areas of the region—and Iraqi security forces aren’t up to the task to fill in the gaps—then that leaves the next presidential administration—either Bush or Kerry—with some difficult choices, among which are: 

1. Bombing Iraq back into the stone age, thus eliminating most existing enemies (along with a good many friends); or 

2. Unilateral U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq; or 

3. Leaving U.S. forces on the ground in Iraq, as is, while cutting back the United States’ military readiness throughout the world, including on the American homeland; or 

4. Supplementing our military ranks with soldiers from our European allies; or 

5. Supplementing our military ranks with paid mercenaries from other countries; or 

6. A resumption of the military draft 

You can have fun around the dinner table or at work discussing these options at length with family, friends, and co-workers, but given the present realities, and considering the prevailing options, the resumption of the draft does not appear to be such a wild, far-fetched idea or a “hoax to scare our young people” as our good Republican friends might have us believe. It looks like a real possibility. 

e

Everyone who lived through the McCarthy Cold War period in the U.S. knows that an FBI on the prowl for “communists” soon goes after “fellow travelers” and anyone on a list of “subversive organizations.” Many intelligent, politically-active writers, actors, and scholars left the U.S. to avoid blacklisting and possible criminal charges because of their beliefs and activities. 

Without fanfare, these Americans sought “political asylum” abroad. Their experiences lead people today to be concerned about how the U.S. Government is treating applications for political asylum today. 

20. To Deal Promptly and Fairly with Political Asylum Petitions 

Throughout U.S. history, people from many nations have sought asylum in the U.S. from persecution in their native lands. Some were refugees from starvation—Irish farmers the U.K. starved off their land in the 1800s. Some were refugees from fascism—Jews and communists fleeing Hitler in the 1930s. The problem is world wide. U.N. treaties and programs directly address the need for political asylum from repressive regimes. 

Islamic/Muslim/Middle Eastern communities in the U.S. are taking up the cases of people arrested and detained while awaiting action on their heart-felt applications for political asylum.  

It is much easier for the government to get an administrative law judge to order a person deported to a country where he fears political persecution than it is for a prosecutor to get a federal judge and jury to convict someone charged with rape or murder. 

In several communities, Middle Eastern organizations are beginning to meet with Irish organizations and with Haitian and Colombian groups to make common cause to protect the rights of everyone seeking political asylum in the U.S. 

Actions of government agents in dealing with applicants for political asylum belong in the required reports by the U.S. Government to the three U.N. human rights committees administering the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention Against Torture, and the Convention on Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Complaints about the behavior of Immigration and Customs agents and others in the system can be made to the Office of Inspector General in the appropriate agency. Changes in political asylum law can be proposed to members of Congress. 

And concerned people can constantly remind the media, and other government officials, that this is, very largely, a nation of immigrants who came to these shores to seek asylum from political persecution and discrimination in getting jobs and promotions and in business dealings. 

Report 20.1 

“Operation Liberty Shield” Detains Asylum Seekers (“Operation Liberty Shield Turns Liberty on its Head,” Human Rights First, March 18, 2003.) 

Report 20.2 

INS Detained Palestinian Muslim After He Filed an Asylum Petition (Karen de Sá, “Caught in the Aftermath: Hard Life of a September 11 Detainee,” The Mercury News, Aug. 12, 2002.) 

Report 20.3 

U.S. Denied Asylum to a Palestinian Family, Deported Them to Jordan (James Irby, “Palestinian Family Loses Deportation Battle,” ABC13 Eyewitness News, March 28, 2003.) 

Report 20.4 

US Detains Irish Immigrant Seeking Asylum (“No Time for Love,” Boulder Weekly, June 16, 2003.) 

21. To Protect the Family, Especially Children 

In 1787, the new U.S. Constitution proclaimed the U.S. was established to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity ... .” That is the only mention of children; “family” and “women” are not mentioned. 

To “insure domestic tranquility” and to “promote the general welfare” are used to support the Government’s duty to children. Concerned parents, teachers, government officials, and activists see many paths to action to protect the family, especially children, after 9/11. 

All of these paths call on busy, effective people to join their parent/teacher associations, to attend meetings of the school board to express opinions on school policies, to tell members of state legislatures, Congress members, and presidential candidates that a commitment to children, and families, means funding programs that uphold the First Amendment and promote the general welfare for all residents of the U.S. 

Report 21.1 

U.S. Mistreating Unaccompanied Minors Entering U.S. (“First National Survey of Children in Immigration Detention Exposes Mistreatment, Lengthy Detentions, Legal Barriers,” Amnesty International, June 18, 2003.) 

Report 21.2 

Bush Cuts Housing Vouchers (Lynda Carson, “Bush’s Cuts Cause Crisis in Section 8 Housing Program,” Street Spirit, June 2004, page 4.) 

Report 21.3 

U.S. Judge Sentenced African American Teenager for Website (Merlin Chowkwanyun, “A Strange and Tragic Legal Journey: The Case of Sherman Austin,” Counterpunch, Oct. 11-13, 2003.) 

Report 21.4 

Teacher Called Secret Service to Interrogate Students (Marcelo Rodriguez, “Secret Service Interrogation of 2 Students Sparks Furor,” Los Angeles Times, May 13, 2003.) 

Report 21.5 

U.S. Limited Sex Education Funding to Abstinence-Only (“ACLU Hails Federal Court’s Decision to Halt Taxpayer Financing of Religion in Abstinence-Only Progams,” ACLU of Louisiana, July 25, 2002.) 

To be continued... 

Berkeley resident Ann Fagan Ginger is a lawyer, teacher, activist and the author of 24 books. She won a civil liberties case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1959. She is the founder and executive director of the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute, a Berkeley-based center for human rights and peace law. 

Contents excerpted from Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations Since 9/11, edited by Ann Fagan Ginger (© 2004 Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute; Prometheus Books 2005) 

Readers can go to mcli.org for a complete listing of reports and sources, with web links. 



Wanted: Bank Robbers  

Berkeley Police are seeking the public’s help in identifying two men who robbed Berkeley banks in the waning days of September, said police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies. 

The first suspect, the bare-headed gentleman with the corn rows, threatened a teller at the 1095 University Ave. Wells Fargo branch and escaped with cash. A man in his mid-twenties, he stands about 6 feet tall and weighs approximately 185.  

The second suspect, wearing the baseball cap and the Nike T-shirt, entered the 2333 Shattuck Ave. branch of the Union Bank of California, made a threat and departed with cash. He is about 5’11” tall and witnesses estimated his age at between 35 and 40. (See photos at right.) 

Anyone with information is requested to call the Berkeley Police Robbery Detail, anonymously or otherwise, at 981-5742 or police@ci.berkeley.ca.us. 

Nasty Patient Busted 

A juvenile patient at Herrick Hospital was arrested Monday on charges of assault with a deadly weapon after he kicked a nurse, breaking her glasses. 

Chinese Food Robbery 

Berkeley police are seeking two teenagers who staged a strongarm robbery of a driver delivering Chinese food to a home in the 1500 block of Russell Street about 8 p.m. Monday, said Officer Okies. 

The juvenile bandits fled with the food, presumably to destroy the evidence by applied dentistry and digestion. 

Charged for Ambulatory Nudity 

Responding to calls of a “lanky naked man” perambulating along Oxford Street near Berryman Path at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Berkeley Police arrived to find a 37-year-old man who was, indeed, letting it all hang out. 

Reluctant to surrender himself to the tender ministrations of Berkeley’s finest, the garbless gent resisted, earning himself a charge to resisting a police officer in addition to the indecent exposure rap he’d already accumulated. 

Purse Snatched 

A young man in his mid-20s grabbed the purse of a woman walking along Neilson Street near San Lorenzo Avenue at 9:21 p.m. Tuesday. 

The robber leapt into a nearby vehicle and sped away. 

?

Berkeley firefighters faced a frantic afternoon Thursday. 

The first action began at 2:29 p.m., when they were summoned to rescue a worker trapped on the roof of a small building at 136 Alvarado Rd. A quick trip down the ladder and the worker was back on terra firma. 

Then, at 2:52 p.m., engines rushed off to suppress what turned out to be a minor kitchen fire at 1208 Oregon St. 

Five minutes later, they were summoned to the intersection of Delaware Street and Acton Way, where a hapless pedestrian had tumbled into an eight-foot-deep Pacific Gas & Electric trench. 

The gentleman was rescued and suffered no lasting injuries from his tumble, said Acting Fire Chief David Orth. 

Finally, at 3:34 p.m., they rushed to the Shattuck Hotel, after callers reported thick smoke rising from the building. 

The source was quickly determined to be the grill in the kitchen of an Indian restaurant where the chef was preparing a large batch of tandoori chicken, minus the traditional clay oven. 

“The sauce contains a lot of sugar, and that’s what caused the smoke,” Orth said. “I have to say, it smelled pretty good.”›

BERKELEY POLICE 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

The anecdotal observations regarding one officer’s rude treatment of a citizen are scandalous considering the larger picture of a police department now secure from even the most ineffectual scolding (a “sustained complaint”) from the Police Review Commission by the institution of a secret tribunal which reverses any decision against them (Daily Planet’s Caloca coverage). 

The officer in question is the same officer who, in response to my public records request in 2000, was revealed as the officer who used pepper spray more often than any other officer in the department, and used it only on black males, a story highlighted in Paul Rauber’s own “Sticks and Stones” column. 

The lesson here is that anecdotal evidence is just that, a piece of the story. I’m glad that Officer Marangoni is getting along well with some of the residents inside what was known briefly as “the pepper spray triangle.” But we all should be appalled that Berkeley’s Police Review Commission, established by charter more than 30 years ago, has been nullified. 

The police department has no excuse for rudeness, but also no excuse for the secrecy in which it insists on conducting its reversals of Police Review decisions while simultaneously requesting cooperation from the citizens of Berkeley. 

Carol Denney MSL 

• 

FEE INCREASE 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Non-profit organizations like the Cal Sailing Club (CSC) would be unfairly affected by the city’s proposed fee increase. I am a new member of CSC and I am very happy that the rate is so affordable, especially for young people like me who barely have enough money to get by. More people, especially low-income, at-risk youth should have the opportunity to afford sailing instruction at the CSC. Would it be impossible for the City of Berkeley to exempt CSC from the higher fees? 

Kingman Lim 

• 

CAL SAILING CLUB 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

As a Cal Sailing Club member-instructor, my 14’ Lido was the scene of my acquaintance with Mario Savio. Savio and his girlfriend had come down to the dock for a free sailing lesson. 

The non-profit cooperative is the only very low-cost sailing school on the only municipally owned-and-operated marina, on the largest estuary on the west coast, the San Francisco Bay. 

Market rent will kill the non-profit coop and end its mission of teaching the ancient art of sailing and providing bay access to one hundred thousand people. Formally a UC student activity, C.S.C. spun off from university aegis in the late seventies, along with the Daily Cal and other student activities. As Jane Morson pointed out, C.S.C. gets no tax dollars nor university support. 

Coop members sail and instruct on a fleet of Lidos, Lasers, 22’ Ensigns, and windsurfers the skills of navigation, sea rescue, racing, and boat repair. For many of the over one-hundred thousand who have sailed with C.S.C., the club has been the only access to this ancient sport and to the west Coast’s largest estuary. 

Lynn Sherrell 

• 

BEST PAPER IN TOWN 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

For some time I’ve been wanting to let you know what a fine job you are doing in covering the local news. No other paper even comes close. I have watched with interest as the Daily Planet went from a flimsy throwaway to the best newspaper in town. Keep up the good work. 

Christine Man 

• 

BETTY OLDS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Bansner is all wrong! (Letters, Oct. 1-4, 2004.) There is no one in this town who knows District 6 and Berkeley better than Betty Olds. Betty has more than thirty years of community service, including years of teaching at Willard Jr. High, leading Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, serving on the Zoning Adjustments Board, the Rent Stabilization Board and the City Council. She is also a founding member of Save the Bay, and an active member of Citizens for the Eastshore State Park. It is because of Betty’s knowledge and sensitivity to the issues that are important to District 6—the environment, housing, transportation, fiscal accountability and infrastructure repair, that she has earned the endorsements of The Sierra Club, The National Woman’s Political Caucus, The Alameda County Democratic Club, The Berkeley Firefighters Association and The Berkeley Democratic Club. If, as Eva Bansner states, Norine Smith’s major qualification for City Council is that she walks...it is no wonder that she has no endorsements from any organizations. 

Vonnie Gurgin 

• 

PUBLIC ART 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A reassessment of the city’s policy on placement of public art is way overdue. The artistic merit of such pieces should be evaluated without consideration of the artist’s ideology, by a qualified team with no ties to icky political hacks. Longtime Berkeley residents will recall the lovely fountains on the Shattuck median that were removed for BART construction and never replaced. We can’t be Barcelona or Chicago, but we can do better. 

Richard Riffer 

• 

WILLARD SCHOOL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I would like to take issue with Mark Shapiro’s letter which appeared in a recent issue. He takes Willard and presumably the school district to task for the construction that is making a physical shambles of the school. The re-modeling is a very positive move for Willard. Ironically, Shapiro is correct in assailing the school. Local families are staying away from Willard in droves and enrollment has plummeted. The school’s problems are internal.  

Lawrence Doyle 

• 

FREE SPEECH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I read Mark Johnson’s letter and Becky’s editorial response (Oct. 5-7) on the state of free speech in Berkeley and the country 40 years after the 1964 Free Speech Movement. It is clear to me that my politics are much closer to Becky’s than to Mr. Johnson’s, yet I found strong points in both statements. 

Becky’s pointing out the dangers of banning “hate speech” (offensive name-calling) on college campuses reminded me of an excellent book by relentless First Amendment advocate, Nat Hentoff. Published in 1992, his Free Speech For Me But Not For Thee gave instances of students being suspended from a college for writing or speaking racial epithets, surely, Hentoff pointed out, an instance of total lack of due process of law—there not even being a law, but an administrative policy on “hate speech” hastily instituted and enforced in a way that could actually endanger a student’s future. 

On the other hand, I believe we cannot discount Mark Johnson’s statement that some right-wing speakers have been prevented even from speaking in Berkeley. The cases of Horowitz and Malkin might have been, as Becky writes, cases of “heckling” which did not prevent them from speaking. However, two other (earlier) examples Johnson names were Netanyahu and Kirkpatrick, both prevented from speaking. As I remember reports of those incidents (I did not witness them) Kirkpatrick was shouted down and left the platform without speaking; Netanyahu and the people who came to hear him were intimidated by large crowds outside the hall, causing Netanyahu to cancel and leave the area. Not proud moments in Berkeley history.  

These two examples of prevention of free speech, by invited speakers, were protested as such by veterans of the 1964 Free Speech action, in letters to the East Bay Express. These letters—by folks with strong left-wing credentials—called these incidents violations of the rights they had fought for. Like their actions decades before, these letters took some courage. 

I was here in 1964. I was not part of the Free Speech demonstrations. But I remember my exhilaration at seeing how protesters came together from both ends of the political spectrum and many points in between. Then I knew that we had finally clawed our way out of the hell of the McCarthyite ‘50s and were acting in the spirit of the Voltaire quotation I used to hear quoted a lot when I was a child—how did it go? Something like, “I hate your opinion, but I will defend with my life your right to express it.” 

Dorothy Bryant 

• 

FIRE COMPANY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The front page article “Council Mulls Fate of Fire Company” (Daily Planet, Oct. 5-7) mentioned that the Berkeley Fire Department requires a second ladder truck company only 10 to 12 times a year. That hardly seems to justify the cost of maintaining the truck company. But that activity accounts for only a small part of a truck company’s daily activity. Ladder trucks are part of the fire department’s emergency medical service, responding as the closest available unit when other companies are out of service—a situation where seconds could mean lives. The trucks also respond to incidents along the freeway to provide rescue and extraction of victims, another situation where a short response time is essential. These incidents are in addition to the “ordinary” fire incidents that the trucks handle. When you add up all the essential incidents that a second truck company handles, it’s clear that the annual cost should not be measured only by one statistic, but rather by the public safety. 

Gary Allen 

• 

TREES IN BERKELEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

There is common confusion about trees in Berkeley. Before the arrival of Europeans, in the flatlands of Berkeley, there were hardly any trees. Berkeley was grasslands with the occasional coast live oak. The proliferation of trees in Berkeley is due to human intervention. And, if humans stopped vigorously planting and watering trees, Berkeley would revert to a grassland environment. This is the reason the city’s recommended street tree list contains few trees native to Berkeley.  

The wonderful oak is not a good street tree. Coast live oak’s branches and roots like to grow low and broad. On a street, this would run right into cars and traffic and pavement. The city spends a quarter of a million dollars each year repaving sidewalks broken by tree roots. And during repaving, trees have to be root pruned, which shortens their life. Since it is important to provide access for everyone, the city’s recommended street trees list selects trees which don’t present this problem. Redwoods have a similar problem. At the intersection of Shattuck and Adeline is a beautiful triangle of redwood trees. But, if one looks closely, one can see that Shattuck Avenue next to the triangle is bumpy and rippled by the redwoods’ roots. 

The city does plant natives where there is space, such as in parks. There will be natives in the new bicycle and pedestrian boulevard extension from University to Delaware along the Santa Fe right of way. Work on this bicycle and pedestrian boulevard should begin this winter. 

Yolanda Huang 

Member, Tree Sub-Committee/Parks and Recreation Commission. 

• 

MIDDLE EAST VIOLENCE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Friends of Deir Ibzi’a, an organization dedicated to helping provide education and hence a future for children in Palestine, condemns the brutal Israeli invasion of northern Gaza. This atrocity has so far killed more than 75 Palestinians, including 31 civilians, of whom 19 were children under 17, according to B’tselem, an Israeli human rights organization.  

We especially mourn the fact that this violence makes even more elusive the goal of a peaceful future for both the children of Palestine and the children of Israel.  

We call upon Ariel Sharon to immediately cease this unconscionable attack and demand that Israel honor international law and human rights obligations. Until that happens, we further demand that the U.S. stop all military and economic aid to Israel.  

For more information on Friends of Deir Ibzia, please go to www.deiribzia.org.  

Wendy Kaufmyn  



The debate’s about to start and I’m stuck in traffic, cursing, pounding the wheel, and trying very hard not to get into an accident. Damn the drivers clogging the road. They should be home watching, or at least pulling over to let those of us through who do want to watch, like they would for an ambulance or a fire truck. I’m racing to a global emergency. 

The debate begins. My fury is mounting. I’m listening to the radio, but hearing isn’t enough. I have to see it. The fate of the world may hang on the fleeting expression, the way a hand fiddles with a pen, or moves unconsciously to the face. I want to be part of that intimate crowd of millions watching this event. I must be mad. 

I’ve agreed to watch at my daughter’s house despite qualms that granddaughter Luna June, eighteen months old love-of-my- life but too young to be interested in politics, will interfere with my concentration. I’ve received assurances that the TV will be warmed up and ready to go so I won’t miss a moment, but as I pull into the driveway it’s as I feared. There’s Rachel with Luna June in her arms, walking around outside, casual as can be. I slam to a stop, radio blaring, unwilling to get out of the car until the TV is on. Rachel goes inside, then appears at the door, gesturing for me to come in. I set a stool a foot from the screen and crank up the volume. I endeavor to turn myself into a resonating membrane registering every nuance of this event. Granddaughter and neighbor’s baby are running around, prattling away. Parents are soothing, feeding, negotiating the possession of toys, reading ABC books. The noises of the world are intruding.  

And I’m crawling into the TV set. Into a zone of endless red white and blue. All other colors - pink, chartreuse, the color purple for god’s sake, Van Gogh’s yellow, the poop brown of babies diapers, moss green, peach, orange – are banished. Bush’s tie is blue; Kerry’s red. How did they choose which color to wear? What if they’d worn the same color? Did they have spies in each other’s camp? Did they negotiate tie color in their 32-page agreement?  

Who cares about the color of the ties? Somebody I am sure has given it considerable thought. This event is not about rationality or reality. It’s about packaging, branding, projecting an image. Strength! Resolve! It’s about engineering a bond between leader and led. Substance may be the least important ingredient in the pie. The world doomed by the wrong tie color – it’s not out of the question. 

No, of course what they are saying is important. I listen carefully. Does Kerry think the war in Iraq is a mistake or not? I can’t figure it out. Jim Lehrer reminds him that in a moment of magnificent lucidity, as another war raged a young Kerry asked “How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?” 

“Are Americans now dying in Iraq for a mistake?” Jim asks. Kerry’s “No,” is out before Jim’s lips have stopped moving. He’s like a man who’s seen a ghost, a man who hopes that “No” will exorcise the demon of his past righteousness. “Yes,” he could have said. “Yes,” he should have said. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” I want him to say. But it will never happen. Not in this red white and blue world. 

Kerry is not dumb. He scores points. Bush is clearly the global village idiot. He has those moments of My-Pet-Goat blankness in which he stares at some indefinite point in space, hoping that an answer will swim into view. Finally he retrieves from the fog a pre-programmed tape. I imagine his handlers sighing. He’s stupid, but he’s cunning. He pounces when Kerry let’s fall a smidgen of unspeakable truth. Kerry says “Osama bin Laden uses the invasion of Iraq in order to go out to people and say that America has declared war on Islam.” Bush with gimlet eyes, swoops, comes up with Kerry carcass in his mouth: “My opponent just said something amazing. He said Osama bin Laden uses the invasion of Iraq as an excuse to spread hatred for America. Osama bin Laden isn’t going to determine how we defend ourselves. Osama bin Laden doesn’t get to decide. The American people decide.” It’s all over I think. Kerry’s dead in the water. He’s ready for the glue pot. 

Jim asks the candidates’ position on the whole concept of preemptive war. Kerry could have said that no internationally recognized doctrine of preemption justifies the invasion of Iraq. But intentional law is for wimps. For girlie men. So instead he says “the president always has the right, and always has had the right, for preemptive strike. That was a great doctrine throughout the Cold War.” But then he adds a qualification: “You have to do it in a way that passes the test, that passes the global test where your countrymen, your people understand fully why you’re doing what you’re doing and you can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons.” 

Big mistake. America doesn’t have to prove anything to the world. We’re number 1. 

Bush is on him: “I’m not exactly sure what you mean, passes the global test,” he responds. “My attitude is you take preemptive action in order to protect the American people, that you act in order to make this country secure.” I imagine the high fives in the Bush camp, the plans already begun for campaign commercials skewering Kerry with his “global test.” 

The talking heads say Kerry won. The instant polls give him the edge. I hope they’re right. The Bush team is betting that wanton idiocy will trump intelligence, cunning will trump wit, ruthlessness will overcome scruples, and unreason will overwhelm reason. Despite the odds, I’m going to bet against them.  

?

These are responses to questions posed to City Council candidates by readers of the Berkeley Daily Planet. Questions can be sent to opinion@berkeleydailyplanet.com. 

1. For District 3: Do you favor closing Derby Street for a baseball field? 

I do not support the closure of Derby Street. Residents are already burdened with many public agencies and facilities in a small area; their concerns about scale and impact are compelling. I prefer the fiscally responsible choice of developing a multi-use field (with attention to the drainage problem, the field is often a bog in winter). A multi-use field will benefit neighborhood kids as well as boys /girls teams including rugby, soccer, softball, lacrosse etc. It is easy to understand the desirability of the Derby location for the BHS baseball team, but I have seen Berkeley teens playing team sports get to the variety of available fields without too much trouble. With the addition of a fence the San Pablo field constitutes a regulation hardball field. Possible locations for a second field for BHS team use should be identified allowing the San Pablo field to be properly maintained. 

2. For all districts: Do you favor enlarging the path around the marina to a width of 12 feet, plus four feet of shoulder, and the removal of 98 mature trees in order to accommodate more bikers? 

I walk the Marina several times a week, and for years my family has ridden bikes out to the pier. I do not see the need for such grand development.  

There is good bicycle access throughout the area now, so why spend millions of dollars on development, which doesn’t improve much? Walking the path  

along the sea wall you will see folks sitting in their cars protected from the elements. They come there to enjoy the peace and beauty of the bay, often picnicking, listening to music, reading, visiting with loved ones. These are the folks who don’t have a bay view from their homes and the parking strip offers them this delight. By moving the parking strip, we kill mature trees, spend a lot of money and take away this free pleasure for many residents. 

—Laura Menard 

District 3 City Council candidate 

?

As the time for the big debate grew near, Democratic partisans acknowledged that it would be an “all or nothing” event for John Kerry. He was behind in most polls and his followers needed a victory to boost their sagging spirits. The angular Senator from Illinois did not disappoint his supporters. With his back against the wall, Kerry did what he had to do—clearly won the debate. 

Many recent polls indicated that the majority of Americans weren’t happy with Bush, but remained unsure about Kerry as a replacement. Based upon this information it was clear that going into the first debate—the only one where the primary focus would be on foreign policy and homeland security—John Kerry had two challenges: The first was to come across as someone who is presidential and credible as an alternative to Bush. The second was to convince viewers that under Bush’s leadership we are not winning the war on terror and therefore a change of leadership is required. Kerry succeeded on both counts. 

In the initial Presidential debate in 2000, viewers were surprised that Al Gore looked uncomfortable while George W. Bush appeared relaxed. In this first 2004 debate the opposite was true; this time it was Bush who appeared agitated and Kerry who came across as composed. The President relentlessly pushed his basic “talking points”; for example, that Kerry is a “flip-flopper,” while Bush is resolute. The problem was that George W. didn’t appear resolute. The candid shots taken of each candidate listening while the other responded to questions, caught Bush in several unflattering poses including exasperation and bewilderment—the infamous “deer caught in the headlights” look. 

For those viewers who questioned Kerry’s experience in foreign affairs, the candidate subtly reminded them that he has served for 20 years on the Senate foreign relations committee and during that time has met with many foreign leaders and written a book on nuclear proliferation. 

Before the event, pundits criticized the format, noting that it was not actually a debate, but rather, a joint press conference. However, moderator Jim Lehrer manage to overcome the limitations of the format and the result was, in fact, one of the best of all the presidential debates. 

Kerry scored early with his assertion that President Bush made “a colossal error of judgment” in abandoning the hunt for Al Qaeda and invading Iraq. President Bush responded with his basic talking points—“Iraq is a central part of the war on terror” and resolute leadership is needed—and got off his best line of the evening when he accused Kerry of “a “pre-Sept. 10 mentality.” But Kerry parried effectively, criticizing Bush for not following wise advise about Iraq, including that of his father. 

Commentators always search for a fatal mistake in these debates. There were two gaffes. The first came during an exchange on homeland security. Kerry listed a number of specific actions that he would take including additional funding for “first responders,” and inspection of chemical plants; he accused the President of favoring a tax cut for the wealthy over an investment in homeland security. In response, Bush snapped, “I don’t think that we want to get to how he’s going to pay for all these promises,” thereby implying that he did indeed favor tax cuts for the wealthy over additional homeland security measures. 

The second gaffe came during a discussion on preemptive military action. Bush seemed to imply that he invaded Iraq because Saddam Hussein had been behind the attacks of 9/11. Kerry pounced on this; “The president just said [something] extraordinarily revealing … in answer to your question about …sending people into Iraq he just said, the enemy attacked us. Saddam Hussein didn’t attack us. Osama bin Laden attacked us.” 

Ninety minutes is a long time to participate in a debate and Bush’s energy seemed to diminish towards the end. As a result he wilted, becoming defensive and continually retreating to his talking points, regardless of their relevance. Kerry grew stronger and scored with several memorable comments. Asked about whether the war in Iraq was worth the cost in American lives, Kerry harkened back to his Vietnam experience and remarked, “It is vital for us not to confuse the war – ever – with the warriors.” By the time the conversation turned to North Korea and nuclear proliferation, Kerry was clearly in command, while time and again Bush scrambled to defend his positions. 

Kerry closed the debate with “I believe the future belongs to freedom, not to fear.” Bush responded with fear, “If America shows uncertainly or weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy.” The President went on, “We’ve climbed the mighty mountain. I see the valley below, and it’s a valley of peace.” For many viewers this was painfully reminiscent of President Nixon’s words about the war in Vietnam, “I see the light at the end of the tunnel.” 

Most Democratic partisans will conclude that Kerry exceeded their expectations and clearly won the debate. The challenger has more work to do but has turned an important corner. 

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ANTI-SELAWSKY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

If John Selawsky and the school board want to raise taxes, the least they could do is tell the truth. Their claim that Measure B will give 68 percent of its money to small class sizes is false. What they don’t tell you, what is not included in the campaign advertising, is that the school district takes the first cut for itself. This is 10 to 20 percent off the top before any school programs are funded. Read the measure, it’s the section titled “Administrative Costs.’ The school district could take up to $2.4 million to spend however it wants, including raises for administrators. So, it’s not 68 percent for class size reduction from the total tax, it’s 68 percent from what’s left after the school district takes its cut. 

The school district administration should not be seeking higher taxes to pay itself. Berkeley already pays the highest property taxes for schools. Extra taxes should go directly to teachers and students. Extra taxes should go directly to school programs. For this reason, I oppose Measure B. 

School officials who are in charge of educating our children should start by setting a good example. Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 

Stephanie Corcos 

Berkeleyans for Responsible School Funding 

• 

PRO-SELAWSKY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Here is a riddle for you: What is the difference between Berkeley and Oakland? 

“That’s a no-brainer. The answer is John Selawsky.” What kind of answer is that? 

Just think about it for a minute. Before John got elected to the Berkeley School Board, we were in big trouble and the state was about to take over our district. John stepped up to the plate. He worked really hard and we avoided receivership. 

Oakland was faced with the same economic challenges. They didn’t survive. Now the State of California runs the Oakland Unified School District and five of their schools have closed. 

Please let’s show John our appreciation and elect him again. There are other wonderful people running against him but John has already proved his worth. Who I should vote for is no riddle to me. Thanks, John. 

Jane Stillwater 

• 

MEASURE B 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was appalled at Jennifer Havens’ ignorance of the incredible citizen input in developing and drafting Measure B and for you, the editors, for printing such a blatantly uninformed rant (Letters, Daily Planet, Sept. 28-30). As a P&O representative, I can assure readers that many individuals give up hundreds of hours to serve our schools. The district itself arranged two magnificent and informative community evenings to enlist opinions and to deliberate those of most interest to the community at large as represented by the many citizens who showed up. It was democracy in action at its best. I encourage Ms. Havens to get informed and get involved. Measure B asks a small sacrifice in return for invaluable services for our children! 

Tedi Crawford 

Cragmont, BSEP Committee 

• 

NEED AN EXPLANATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

At a recent District 5 candidates’ forum, three things were apparent about City Council candidate Laurie Capitelli. Two of these I already knew, but one was a revelation.  

First, Capitelli is an intelligent and thoughtful man who knows the city well. Second, he has a long-standing interest in repealing city rent control—and he remains dead serious about this.  

The revelation is that Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmember Linda Maio are supporting Capitelli’s election. Why have these two nominal “progressives” endorsed a council candidate who might well deliver a crucial vote against rent control?  

I think Bates and Maio owe their own supporters—or former supporters—an explanation. 

Marcia Lau 

• 

RENT CONTROL 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

In his Oct. 1 letter encouraging District 5 residents to vote against Laurie Capitelli due to his alleged opposition to rent control, Rent Board Vice Chair Paul Hogarth claimed, “Nobody benefits if housing is made less affordable except for the real estate industry,” implying that rent control makes housing more affordable. Unfortunately, its effects are not so simple. 

Rent control as currently implemented in Berkeley (which is as strict as California law allows) makes housing more affordable only for tenants of rent-controlled units. By giving those people a strong disincentive to move, it reduces the supply of rentals on the market, driving up demand and thus rents for available units. These higher rents benefit developers of new housing (which is exempt from rent control) and landlords with high turnover and/or exempt rental units, at the expense of apartment hunters and landlords of rent-controlled units with low turnover. 

Berkeley voters who benefit from controlled rents so greatly outnumber those who suffer the consequences that any attempt at repeal would be political suicide. Why make a candidate’s position on such a settled matter a high priority when casting your vote? Both Capitelli and his opponent Jesse Townley appear to share this pragmatic view: There’s no mention of rent control on either campaign’s website. 

Robert Lauriston 

• 

MORE ON RENT CONTROL 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Paul Hogarth needs to do his homework. Contrary to Hogarth’s letter, Laurie Capitelli has not called for “the repeal of rent control.” The fact is that many reasonable housing advocates, including Capitelli, were concerned about the impact of the passage of the state’s Costa Hawkins law that changed Berkeley rent control to allow landlords to raise rents to market rates whenever a tenant moves out. Their concerns have proved accurate: Over 70 percent of Berkeley’s apartments have been decontrolled at least once since the state law passed.  

Capitelli believes that the purpose of rent control was to maintain a pool of affordable housing stock. If Costa Hawkins undermines this worthy goal, we need to know and we need to address it. Berkeley voters have adjusted our rent laws a number of times in the face of changing realities. Seeking to strengthen the effectiveness and intent of those laws is the sign of leadership, not opposition. 

I have been a tenant activist for over 20 years, representing tenants in eviction cases, actions before the rent board and helping to draft many of the board regulations and modifications. I worked for five years as a counselor for the Berkeley Tenant Action Project. He has frequently provided expert support for me and other tenant advocates in tenant cases before the rent board and in eviction cases. I have known Laurie Capitelli for almost 30 years. During that time, I know he has always and unequivocally supported the goal of rent protections in this community: maintaining an affordable and well-maintained housing stock.  

Mike Grunwald 

• 

MEASURES J, K, L 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

I am supporting J, K and L this November. I am grateful to live in Berkeley with its exceptional city services. I have known many city workers over the years, and while I am sure there are some here, like anywhere, who are “just collecting a paycheck,” I have been moved and impressed at the level of dedication of many of them, and the importance of the work they do—especially for our youth and our collective safety. Please join me in supporting J, K, and L.  

David Stark 

General Director, Stiles Hall 

• 

WENGRAF RESPONDS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Eva Bansner’s letter “Betty or Norine” (Letters, Daily Planet, Oct. 1-4) is full of misinformation. I was never “instrumental in preventing any expansion on the site (at 1301 Oxford St.) by the Chinese Christian Church.” In fact, I supported both the Zoning Adjustments Board and the Landmarks Commission’s approval of a permit for the Chinese Church to expand. They never had the finances to go ahead with the proposal, the property was blighted and neglected, and the banks of the creek were badly eroded for decades. Bansner, who did not live in the neighborhood at the time, really has no first hand knowledge of the serious issues the neighborhood faced as a result of the abandonment of the property during these years. 

Eva misconstrues my interest in preservation as obstruction of development. Prior to the efforts of the Chinese Church to expand, I fought to save the original historic Byrne house located on the church property. After two serious arsons in the early eighties, the neighbors tried, with support from Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, to preserve the Italianate structure from demolition. We did not succeed, and the land sat uncared for and used as a homeless encampment (and open toilet) for many years.  

Bansner is correct that Betty Olds did vote in favor of the Congregation Beth El project, as did all the other council members and the Mayor in an unusual unanimous vote after many years of ultimately successful negotiations with the neighbors. I predict that the current owners of this property will be much better stewards of the land and Cordornices Creek than the previous owners, who were irresponsible and negligent in their understanding of both the importance of the creek as well as the historical and architectural value of the structure that was built on this land. 

As a member of the Planning Commission very familiar with the Downtown Plan, I can unequivocally state that Betty Olds has never “gone along with many development plans for certain developers that violate our adopted policies.” 

I am surprised that Eva Bansner, an urban planner by profession, is so rabidly against any change to the urban landscape. If I shared her values, I would move to a rural setting and find peace and comfort in the natural and pastoral environment, rather than live in one of the densest cities of California and feel bitter all the time.  

Susan Wengraf 

• 

MAUDELLE SHIREK 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Maudelle Shirek has been my council representative since she was first elected. During that time she has never once responded to my calls for information or help. In fact, I don't know of even one person who ever did get a response. 

Nancy Ward 

• 

CHENEY’S IGNORANCE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

First, how in the world could Cheney have never heard about the growing rates of HIV among African-American women? It felt like his way of saying “I don’t pay attention to that part of the American population.” Rest assured that if rich, middle-aged white men were being infected at the same rate, it would be at the top of his agenda. 

Nicole Sanchez 

• 

BUSH’S TOENAIL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Responding to John Kerry’s critique of the war in Iraq during their first debate, President Bush repeated an assertion he’s made countless times: “The world is better off without Saddam Hussein.” 

This line always reminds me of an old joke: A man walks into a doctor’s office and complains about an ingrown toenail. Examining the toenail, the doctor declares, “I can fix that.” The doctor then quickly pulls a pistol from his jacket pocket and shoots the man’s foot off. As his patient screams in pain, the doctor says, “I know it hurts, but aren’t you better off without that ingrown toenail?” 

If Bush was the patient, I wonder if he’d reply, “I guess so.” 

Marty Schiffenbauer

District 6 starts at the northern side of Hearst Avenue and the eastern edge of Oxford Street and runs north to Cedar Street. It jogs up Cedar to Spruce Street and then continues along the eastern edge of Spruce all the way up to Tilden Park. District 6 has a diverse population that includes students, professors, homeowners and tenants.  

I moved to California with my husband Walter, an architect who trained with Frank Lloyd Wright and settled in Berkeley more than 50 years ago. I raised three children who all went to Berkeley public schools. I was a teacher at Willard Junior High School and spent many years as a troop leader for Girl Scouts and assisted with many Boy Scouts activities. I joined the Sierra Club in 1958 and led and co-led many trips around the world for them. I got my first taste of community service when I served on the Zoning Adjustments Board. After six years, I served on the Rent Stabilization Board. Eight years later, I decided to run for City Council. I have been on the City Council since 1992  

Because part of the terrain of District 6 is steep and is situated adjacent to the heavily wooded areas of Tilden Park, I am very concerned about fire safety. One of the most vulnerable areas to a wildfire, we have heavy vegetation and densely developed steep lots, making fires difficult to fight. That is why I am committed to building a new, state of the art fire house on the ridge at Shasta and Grizzly which will be jointly staffed by both Berkeley firefighters and East Bay Regional Parks Fire Department on high hazard fire days. Fire danger is also what drives my dedication to the clearing and maintenance of our pathways, so that in the event of an emergency our residents have an alternate route out of the hills. 

The views of the bay from the hills need to be protected, not just for us, but also for generations to come. Recognizing this, I am working on new legislation that will limit the ability of neighbors to block each other’s views. 

I am very proud of my record on the environment. I am a founding member of Save the Bay and have been endorsed by the Sierra Club. I have worked hard to retrofit our parks with safeplay equipment, protect the Rose Garden from deer, and preserve the open space at the waterfront.  

I think that I have done a good job and have gotten results for my constituents. I am a “hands on” person. If there is a drainage problem, I personally go out into the field and look at it. If there are neighbor complaints, I speak to each neighbor. My office is very responsive and we always return calls or e-mails promptly. I am honest and hardworking and everyone knows exactly where I stand.  

My goals for the next four years include the following: 

The City of Berkeley needs to concentrate energy on economic development in our downtown and along commercial corridors. We have an Arts District, a main library and downtown businesses that we need to support with additional parking. The city needs to increase its commercial tax revenues, and encouraging independently owned businesses should be a priority. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to buy something you need, like underwear, in the downtown instead of having to drive to Emeryville or Walnut Creek? 

I support the construction of new housing close to major transit corridors because they provide much needed housing, and as a result, rents have been reduced. However, I do no support bad architecture that is insensitive to the adjacent neighbors. I believe we can work harder to find solutions to the tensions and conflicts between developers and neighbors. 

The city also needs to tighten its spending and be fiscally accountable. We pay very high taxes and we deserve to know that our money is being spent wisely. 

Berkeley is a wonderful city of terrific people. I believe I can continue to represent my constituents at City Hall and make many improvements during these challenging years ahead. 

—Betty Olds 

District 6 City Council incumbent

Why vote for me? I promise to fight against high property taxes and for the improvement of city services. I oppose all the city tax measures as many of us are living on fixed incomes and we’re already paying one of the highest property tax rates in the state, enough already. However, I do endorse Measure B because this time it will be spent in the classroom. 

I bring to the table 35 years experience as a software consultant, 20-plus years at the headquarters of Wells Fargo Bank, Charles Schwab, Levi-Strauss and BofA and 12 years at the County of Alameda. I am the retired president of Software Consultants Inc. and Berkeley Language School Inc. 

How do I differ from the four-term incumbent? A few examples: 

The incumbent voted for all the exorbitant union benefits and pensions that are sinking our city budget. I did not seek or receive the union endorsements because I am in opposition to this excess. I have never crossed a picket line and am very pro-union, but these benefits are way over the top. Retiring after 30 years with 100 percent of salary is way beyond any normal compensation. Ordinary folks usually receive somewhere between 10 and 25 pct of income in retirement if they are lucky.  

Oversized development: I will appoint neighborhood friendly persons to the boards and commissions that approve or determine building heights, widths and density. Now persons receive a 500-square-foot building addition permit that balloons into 2,000 square feet, stealing sunlight, views and air from their neighbors. When these neighbors petition for reduced expansion they are usually denied by our current boards. Her appointees have voted for massive building density on University and Shattuck avenues that has the same effect on their neighbors. We need to stop issuing more four- and five-story apartment house permits until the current ones are at least half full. We currently have a glut of vacancies. There are 900 more units in the pipeline in addition to the 495 recently constructed. The numerous empty ground floor commercial spaces are a blight on our city. 

Hill one-house lots are bought by speculators and two or three McMansions are built where before one would have been. As in downtown the culture and texture of our city is being changed unalterably. I am opposed to oversized developments whatever the source; university, religious institution, speculators, staff, or developers. I am first and foremost a neighborhood preservationist.  

Berkeley Marina/Bay Trail Extension: The incumbent voted for a plan that will cut down 98 trees and tear up the benign, serene four- to eight-foot shoreline path circumscribing the marina. The trail replacing it will be 16 feet wide—12 feet of concrete with a four-foot border. The experience of quiet, blue sky, birds scurrying in the tide, trees, etc will be lost on a wide aggressive trail. An alternative plan is to proceed straight down University Avenue to the pier from Seabreeze Market thus saving two to three million dollars.  

I, along with the majority of the Waterfront Commission, turned down this destructive plan but staff went to the City Council and garnered approval. Staff makes these presentations so palliative unless the councilperson digs into the documents a ‘yes’ seems the reasonable action. One convincing argument was four replacement trees for every tree cut down. Another, the trees are dying or have a disease. Twenty-two of the 98 are diseased or dying. First the replacement trees will be twigs or saplings and not the 40-foot mature trees lining the shoreline paths now. Second, only 10 of the 22 are dying.The others are not terminal just a disease like us with a cold or the flu. They will still live on for 20 or more years. 

The incumbent also voted for the cellular tower at 1600 Shattuck Ave. These do not belong in residential neighborhoods. 

The incumbent opposes Measure S. I support it. Measure S applies only to public trees. Now the city employs outside contractors to cut down too many healthy vibrant trees.  

The City Councilmembers’ responsibility is to evaluate with a critical eye all city staff recommendations. Preparation material must be conscientiously studied well in advance. Staff recommendations must be evaluated thoroughly not just rubber stamped. We can’t just let them go into effect without considering the cost and the long term benefit to the city. I will apply clear cost-benefit analysis to all fiscal expenditures. 

In addition city council meetings should be held 46 times a year instead of the current 33. Current meetings that run until midnight or 1 a.m. are not conducive to logical thinking and defeat citizen participation and democratic monitoring.  

—Norine Smith  

District 6 City Council candidate  

i

I’m running for City Council with the number one priority of improving the lives of District 2 residents. My experience, energy, and enthusiasm prepare me to be a strong and effective voice for District 2.  

For the past four years I have served the Berkeley community as the representative to the Peralta Community College District. When I ran for office, I made a commitment to carry out the promise of building a permanent home for Vista Community College. With wonderful support from the Berkeley, Albany, and Emeryville communities, we are realizing that promise.  

As a council candidate, I look forward to building an enthusiastic and organized constituency to address these basic issues: 

Fiscal Responsibility: My 18 years as a municipal budget analyst, along with a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago, make me ideally suited to tackle the substantial fiscal challenges of our city. I will work toward a more transparent budget process that encourages greater input from Berkeley residents and businesses. Berkeley taxpayers have been incredibly generous in supporting city programs, and we need our council representatives to provide tough oversight to ensure that the city’s fiscal dilemmas don’t result in excessive taxes especially on those with fixed and low incomes. I will evaluate city programs to ensure they are reaching their target populations and to avoid duplication of effort. I am committed to fiscal responsibility, including making sure UCB pays its fair share! While property owners are required to pay taxes for the city’s storm drain system and streetlights, as well as other city services, the university contributes little or nothing toward these essential infrastructure needs. 

Safety: Southwest Berkeley residents deserve to live in neighborhoods free of crime, drug dealers, and prostitution. I am proposing that the City Council form a Public Safety Committee to address the critical issues around public safety in our district and throughout the city. If elected; I will be the first to volunteer to serve on such a committee. Public safety should always be our top priority. We need to enhance community policing, especially along San Pablo, Sacramento, and lower University. I look forward to working with neighborhood groups to support their efforts as the eyes and ears of our community. 

Youth Services: I will work to build a youth center in either South or West Berkeley to provide needed opportunities for our youth. This center could offer tutoring, computer and job skills, classes on nutrition, and serve as a resource link to city, county, and state programs.  

Economic Development: I will encourage businesses along San Pablo, Sacramento, and University that enhance the quality of life for communities in South and West Berkeley. In District 2 we need fewer liquor stores and more bookstores, grocery stores, and cafes. We also need to maintain commercial space for our artisans and crafts people. 

Affordable Housing: In order to maintain diversity and to make sure the librarians, schoolteachers, and clerks who work in our city can afford to live here, we need to provide affordable housing. In particular, I will encourage the development of affordable housing with multiple bedrooms and bathrooms to accommodate the needs of families. I also believe that the development of affordable condominiums would produce “pride of ownership” and promote stable communities.  

Measure Q: If passed, Measure Q would make prostitution the lowest priority for the Berkeley Police Department. It would have a particularly negative impact on Southwest Berkeley, opening the floodgates for pimps and street prostitutes from around the East Bay to descend on San Pablo, Sacramento and University. Measure Q would do nothing to decrease the crime, violence, drugs, alcohol, and sexually transmitted diseases that are associated with pimps and street prostitutes. This simplistic measure would only make it easier for pimps to exploit and abuse women. I am proud to be fighting to defeat this misguided measure, and I encourage all registered voters in Berkeley to join me in voting no on Measure Q. 

My campaign is endorsed by Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, Supervisor Keith Carson, Mayor Tom Bates, Pastor Marvis Peoples, the Sierra Club, Green Party of Alameda County, SEIU (all locals), Alameda County Democratic Central Committee and Central Labor Council, Local One, Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club, Berkeley Citizens Action, Berkeley Democratic Club, League of Conservation Voters, John George Democratic Club, East Bay Lesbian/Gay Democratic Club, Black Elected Officials of the East Bay, and Councilmembers Maio, Breland, Spring, Hawley, Worthington, and Wozniak. 

Together we can activate and organize the immense untapped human resources of District 2. Together we can work as a forward-looking, inclusive, and open community to enhance the quality of life throughout our district and city. I greatly appreciate your support and vote on Nov. 2. 

—Darryl Moore 

District 2 City Council candidate 

For some Berkeley residents, football season at the University is about as welcome as a visit from the Republican National Convention. They’re regular autumn gripes about home game day noise, crowds, and traffic or the philosophical meaninglessness of college sports. 

Other permanent residents are enthusiastic Cal fans, some don’t care one way or the other, and many probably don’t notice at all. It’s sometimes surprising how routine life goes on in Berkeley, even when thirty or fifty or seventy thousand people are crowded into Memorial Stadium on the east edge of town. 

But whatever your feelings, if you’ve never been, why not go at least once to a Cal home game? Besides being part of a great experience of local pageantry and tradition, this year you’ll also see excellent college football. 

Cal has been ranked as high as #7 in the college football polls, and is scoring well over 40 points per game. Even if Cal loses this Saturday—a possibility since they’re playing #1 ranked USC on the road in Los Angele s—the Bears should still be a hot ticket for the rest of the season. 

There are three available home games left, UCLA on October 16, Arizona State on October 30, and Oregon on November 6 (plus the Big Game, against Stanford, which is in Berkeley on November 20, but already sold out). 

If you decide to go, and if you can get tickets, here are some pointers for those not familiar with Cal home games. 

Start off with the tickets. They’re available at CalBears.com or at the Athletic Ticket Office (Mon.-Fri., 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) at 2223 Fulton St., where Kittredge dead ends. Buy soon, because good seats have been selling out (I was told on Wednesday there were only about 10,000 tickets left for the UCLA game). 

For good views of the game, buy high. Avoid t ickets below about row 30, unless there’s absolutely no alternative. And hold onto your tickets; they’re not refundable, or replaceable. 

Where to sit? Cal students concentrate in a huge mass on the east side of the Stadium. They’re antic and fun to watch, but you probably don’t want to be crowded amongst—or right next to—them. 

The majority of season-ticket-holding alumni face the students from the west, across the stadium and below the press box. Single game attendees concentrate in the end zones and co rners, where they are still good views and good company. 

Visiting fans tend to congregate in the southeast, below the shoulder of Panoramic Hill. The north and south end zones (now called the Goldzone and Bluezone, respectively) are general admission and “family” sections, typically Cal fans, with a scattering of foes. 

If you want maximum sun, head for the northeast or the Goldzone; for the most shade, as the afternoon goes on, the southwest, closest to International House, is best. My own favorite sect ions, where I held season tickets for many years, are in the northeast of the Stadium, north of the students and below Charter Hill. 

There you’ll find an eclectic array of Cal fans, including faculty and staff, and a few visitors and you’ll see a differe nt side of the University. For years I sat behind an otherwise distinguished professor, a man calm and cultured as a Boston Brahmin in academic settings, who regularly fumed and shouted expletives at both coaches and referees. 

Fans range in age from babe s-in-arms to octogenarians. There are lots of families, couples, and groups of friends, but a single fan won’t feel out of place. 

And Cal games are wonderfully egalitarian events. Everyone sits on the same benches and stands in the same restroom lines, m illionaire alumnus and penniless grad student alike. 

It’s as it should be at a public university, and one hopes that doesn’t change much, even if and when stadium improvements take place. Insert “luxury boxes” and other trendy alterations and Memorial wo uldn’t be Memorial. 

If your section of the stands isn’t a sellout you can easily spread out on the benches and shift around instead of being fixed in a chair. It’s not unknown to see people stretching out to take a nap during a sunny game. 

But don’t sle ep too long. Cal home football can be pretty memorable. Memorial had seen nail-biting come-from-behind victories, hard-fought ties that seemed like wins, the longest game in college football history (and one of the most exciting), as well as, alas, more i nstances of defeat snatched from the jaws of victory than Cal fans care to admit. 

All that excitement, and you’ll probably need refreshment during the game. The public drinking fountains at Memorial are lamentably few and far between. Concession stand li nes can be long and beverage prices exorbitant. Bring your own (non-alcoholic) beverage, in small, unopened, plastic bottles. 

When you’re looking for an entrance gate, remember that the more college-age fans in your line, the more rigorous the individual inspections seem to be, and the slower the entry. 

If you’re a Berkeley resident you can walk to the game and already have a time advantage over those out-of-town fans desperately looking for street parking in front of your house. 

Plan to arrive at least half an hour before kick-off, perhaps even earlier (and remember that the kickoff time can change without much notice, if a game is suddenly scheduled for television). I’m told that this season the crowds are so large that the entry wait is much longer than usual. You must get to your seat early to soak up the ambiance and watch the Cal Band pre-game show. 

The Cal Band is a sharp, skillful, delightfully entertaining, all student-run corps that performs intricate maneuvers and good music. 

The Band performs three times at every home game, before kickoff, at half-time, and after the game. Be there for the first two shows; it’s also fun to stay a while afterwards, particularly if the Bears triumph and the Band serenades the stands with “Palms of Victory,” only played after a win. 

In addition to the Band, half-time events frequently feature student rooting section card stunts (first used at a Big Game). They often finish with a free form throwing of thousands of cards, which is probably Berkeley’s larges t and most spectacular annual amateur performance art event. 

If you want to see the actual card stunt words and images clearly, make sure you sit in the western half of the Stadium. 

There’s usually plenty of organized cheering, although most non-student fans only participate in the “Go! Bears!” chants that reverberate across the Stadium. And at the Arizona State game this year you can look forward to the introduction on the field of distinguished academics as well as athletes. This is Berkeley, after al l. 

Extra Tips (Sidebar) 

• While in academics “Berkeley” often prevails, in athletics, the institution is “Cal” or “California.” You’ll be watching the “California Golden Bears,” not the “Berkeley Bears.” 

• Wear blue and gold or yellow, or white. If you can’t or won’t, neutral colors are fine. For some reason—maybe it’s Berkeley’s environmental ethic—Cal games also seem to attract a number of fans who wear brown or green, which is OK except if one of the Oregon schools is the opponent. And a die-hard fe w show up in tie-dye or black, Berkeley being Berkeley. 

• DON’T wear red, even a red hat, scarf, or shoes, to any Cal home games. It’s not respectful—red is arch-enemy Stanford’s color at any time of year—and it’s quite likely even mild-mannered Cal fans will heckle you. 

• If it rained the day or night before the game, pack a hand towel to wipe any leftover moisture off the seat. And, by the way, those metal seats can be hard; seat backs can be rented at the Stadium ($5) or fold up your towel or bring a small cushion. 

• Like most event venues these days, Cal severely restricts what you can bring to the Stadium. Check the “security” section of the website CalBears.com for details, and carefully read the little printed handout that comes with your ticket s. 

• Remember, “no cans, glass bottles, alcohol, weapons, coolers” or chains and handcuffs (sorry, Raiders fans), and no bags bigger than 12 x 13 x 6. Prohibited items, including hard and obviously throwable fruit, can be ruthlessly confiscated at the e ntrances, so think of bringing grapes, not grapefruit. 

• Bringing binoculars is a plus, not only to watch the play but everything else from the card stunts to the sunsets—spectacular from the stadium rim—to the seagulls that congregate on the dome of Int ernational House next door and fly up in excitement when the Victory Cannon on Charter Hill fires to signal a Cal score. 

• Remember to bring both hat and sun block. Don’t come loaded down with clothing, but the standard Bay Area advice of “wear layers” h olds true for Cal football games. On a sunny day, the concrete bowl of Memorial can get quite warm, even hot. Conversely, if it’s stormy or overcast, if the fog threatens to roll in, or if it’s a late afternoon game that will end after dark, it can get ch illy. 

• If you’re not a football expert, the stadium announcements—not to mention congenial surrounding fans—will keep you generally informed on game highlights, but some also like to bring a small portable radio and listen to the KGO (AM 81) broadcast as well. 

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“That’s enough!” A voice rings out from the back of the Lissiter Auditorium at Mills College, angrily moving forward through the house. The audience, just seated, was waiting for the play (TheatreFIRST’s Joe Egg) to begin, finding itself suddenly to be the play, for the moment. 

Yet still they are passive onlookers while Bri (played by Simon Vance) launches into them, orders hands on heads, eyes forward, singles out gigglers, talkers. Bri’s a schoolteacher in front of his class, letting them have it: “I’ve got all the time in the world . . . You’re the losers, not me!” 

The show starts with a bang (and Bri jokes around with a gesture he’ll repeat, “shooting” at the audience with his hands as pistols). This kind of “demolishing theatre’s fourth wall” (as Director Clive Chafer puts it in his notes) is a legacy of British Music Hall, translated to the “legit stage” (with a little Bertolt Brecht, modified, thrown in) during the ‘60s by directors like Joan Littlewood (and Bri’s facing down the audience as if they were his pupils reminds one a little of Victor Spinetti’s Drill Sergeant in Oh What a Lovely War). 

Chafer also points out that much that was “groundbreaking” and “shocking” in theater of the ‘60s, or the world itself back then, “has since become unremarkable.” This is a point that comes home with a vengeance by the end of the play, because exactly those modes of performing—and coping with difficult issues—that may seem a bit dated (if nonetheless engaging) gain in pathos and irony as the story is told.  

And much of it is told directly to us, confidentially—or acted out with a high-spirited gallows humor. But not on a bare stage like stand-up—in an abrupt shift from the institutional hazing of the classroom, we see Bri in his sitting-room at home, just back from school, like a kid himself, playfully trying to pull his wife Sheila (Cynthia Chadwick) to the bedroom, startling her, tickling her, then telling whimsically, joking all the while, of his day when she demurs at love because “Joe will be home” any moment. 

“Joe” is Josephine (played by Miranda Swain), Bri and Sheila’s “spastic” daughter (though called “spastic” or “mongoloid” in the dialogue, it seems she’s a victim of cerebral palsy). She enters in a wheelchair, splayed arm, upturned eyes, mute except for inarticulate whimpers. Her parents deluge her with affection—and humor, answering for her as well. Later they act out her birth and the discovery of her disability, Bri playing the GP, the specialists, the vicar. Later, Sheila “confides” in us that she goes along with Bri in the humor and play-acting: He’s in despair, she’s not. (He believes in “his own kind of god—a manic-depressive Rugby scrummer”). But Bri’s also got Sheila to join a community theater group—real play-acting—while she encourages him to paint. Bri’s reacted with jealous jokes about his old school chum re-met who’s sponsored Sheila in the acting club. 

A thorny second act has the old chum Freddy (Howard Dillon), in blazer and sporting an ascot, with wife Pam (Jessica Powell), in a knit beige dress and hat, over on a holiday visit. Freddy’s a socialist who took over his father’s factory: “I don’t want to appear authoritarian or fascist . . . was I shouting? . . . I tend to raise my voice when I’m helping people . . . all right, I don’t care: I am my brother’s keeper!” 

The message comes out that Bri and Sheila should institutionalize Joe in a boarding school. Pam, who confides to the audience she has problems looking at “old women with skin diseases . . . old men spitting,” has privately referred to Joe as a “weirdie”, but they melt when they actually see her. Bri’s chatty mother Grace (Wanda McCaddon) drops in and further stirs the pot. (Bri teases her: “Did you see Jesus?” in the Christmas decor downtown? “If I did, I didn’t notice—drag religion into anything, won’t they? I think it’s a time for children!”) But there’s a sudden crisis, and unforeseen reactions and emotional outpourings spill out. 

Described this way, it would seem Joe Egg ’s a wedding of post-Goon Show absurdist humor, so popular in PBS reruns, to a socially conscious domestic drama—caricatures of the middle class seen in a jaundiced eye. And there’s more than a bit of that deceptively strung through the play. But Nichols (and the uniformly fine TheatreFIRST cast under Chafer’s direction) are after something more difficult, maybe Chekhovian. These characters express their isolation from each other and themselves—not to mention social disaffection—through their self-contradictory assertions, hopes, confessions. 

“Joe Egg”—like our “Joe Blow,” a sort of sad-sack Everyman—is the constant refrain: “And there I was standing there, just like Joe Egg.” It’s not just Josephine who’s something of a cypher to the others and the world. (Miranda Swain shows us that isolation, and a brief glimpse of Bri’s mother’s mantra: “Wouldn’t she be lovely if she was running about?”—something carried much further, and more strangely, in Sam Fuller’s 1965 film The Naked Kiss—another reminder of the physical, gestural stagecraft of this production of what seems a wholly verbal play.) 

The tart dialogue and brisk pace bring out an impressive range in the cast. Howard Dillon and Jessica Powell particularly, Wanda McCaddon as well, walk a fine line between characterization and farce, with great success. And the interplay between the two leads—husband and wife in life as well as on stage—is fascinating; glances and gestures that go far beyond words counterpoint the dialogue every moment.  

Simon Vance’s characterization of Bri hits all the registers without seeming to try. Something of a younger brother to Jimmy Porter of Look Back in Anger (and Peter Nichols is John Osborne’s close contemporary), he’s less obviously hostile, more ambiguous, but every bit as self-deluding in his easy-going cynicism—and as irresponsible. Vance portrays his pathetic, happy isolation beautifully. His solo abilities, shown in TheatreFIRST’s production of David Hare’s one-man Via Dolorosa about the playwright’s visit to Palestine and Israel, staged about a year and a half ago, come to fruition here in a character who’s onstage alone among others. And the infectious lower-middle class absurdist wit that’s his armor, his weapon against reality, cuts both ways. 

Joe Egg takes the mickey out of the aloof, post-adolescent pose celebrated in pop culture since the late ‘50s and present in every revival of youth culture since, an unwitting parody of Hip and Cool that makes Joe Eggs of everyone. 

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FRIDAY, OCT. 8 

THEATER 

Aurora Theatre Company, “The Persians” at the Aurora Theatre through Oct. 17. Tickets are $28-$45. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

Berkeley Rep, “The Secret in the Wings” at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. through Oct. 17. Tickets are $10-$55. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

California Shakespeare Theater, “All’s Well That Ends Well” Tues.-Fri. at 7:30 p.m., Sat at 8 p.m., Sun. at 4 p.m. at the Bruns Memorial Amphitheater, through Oct. 10. Tickets are $13-$32. 548-9666.  

Shotgun Players “Dog Act” Thurs. - Sun. at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. through Oct. 10. Pass the hat donation after the show. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

TheatreFirst “Joe Egg” at 8 p.m. at Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd. Through Oct. 17. Tickets are $22. 436-5085. 

“U.S. Provisional Authority” A musical set in the year 2014, at 8 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist, 2362 Bancroft Way, enter on Dana St. Cost is $5-$8.  

Woman’s Will, “Lord of the Flies” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m., at Eighth Street Studios, 2525 Eighth St., through Oct. 24. 420-0813. www.womanswill.org 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Search and Restore” with works by Clayton Bain, Carolyn Gareis, Vannie Keightley, Naomi Policoff and Dorothy Porter. Reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. www.accigallery.com 

Iwao Akiyama, Woodblock Prints Reception at 6 p.m. at Schurman Fine Art Gallery. Exhibit runs to Oct. 31. Gallery hours are Wed.-Sat. 2-6 p.m., Sun. 11a.m.-3 p.m. 1659 San Pablo Ave. 524-0623.  

FILM 

Fiercely Primitive: Guy Maddin “Tales from the Gimli Hospital” at 7 p.m. and “West of Zanzibar” at 9:20 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

David G. Howell discusses “The Winemaker’s Dance: Exploring Terroir in the Napa Valley” at noon at UC Berkeley Extension, Room 202, 1995 University Ave. Free, but reservations suggested. 643-8465. 

Carol Brightman dissects Bush’s America in “Total Insecurity: The Myth of American Omnipotence” at 12:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Disaster Series–The Continuation” by Joe Goode Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 7 p.m. at Zellerbach Playhouse. Tickets are $8-$14. http://theater.berkeley.edu 

University Symphony performs symphonic dances from “West Side Story” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $7-$10. 642-9988.  

Pinceladas Spanish dance and opera with Grupo Andanza at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan. Tickets are $28-$30. 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

Balé Folclórico de Bahia at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22-$42 available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Del Corazón al Son with Edgardo Cambón and Silvestre Martínez at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $12-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Inspector Double Negative, Street Scholars at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Dick Hindman Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Caren Armstrong, contemporary folk originals, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50-$16.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Global Funk Council at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $7. 548-1159. www.shattuckdownlow.com 

Hybrid Kid, The Feed at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Joelle Leandre and India Cooke at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $10-$15. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Steve Poltz at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $12. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com  

Scott Amendola Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Mariospeedwagon & Lemon Juju at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Eleven Eyes at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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

S.T.F.U., Disclose, Voetsek, John the Baker & The Malnourished at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

John Scofield Trio at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $12-$22. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, OCT. 9 

CHILDREN 

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Asheba at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $3-$4. 849-2568.  

THEATER 

“Talking with Angels” A one-woman show with Shelley Mitchell at 8 p.m. at Studio Rasa, 933 Parker St. Cost is $20. 843-2787. www.studiorasa.org 

FILM 

Fiercely Primitive: Guy Maddin “Cowards Bend the Knee” at 7 p.m. and “The Face Behind the Mask” at 8:45 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Saturday Afternoon Poetry with local poets Jackie Graves, Tigress Osborn, Joyce E. Young at 4 p.m. at Berkeley Library, Claremont Branch, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 981-6280. 

Paul Krassner introduces the world of psychedelica in “Magic Mushrooms and Other Highs: From Toad Slime to Ecstasy” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Great Books for High School Students, with Rick Ayers and Amy Crawford from 3 to 5 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Esther Kaplan examines “With God on Their Side: How Christian Fundamentalists Trample Science, Policy and Democracy in George W. Bush’s White House” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Gamelan Sekar Jaya Music and Dance of Bali 25th Anniversary Celebration at 2 p.m. at a privately owned amphitheater in the East Bay hills. Suggested donation $50. For eservations call 237-6849. www.gsj.org 

Alexander String Quartet at 10 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 415-392-2545. 

Philharmonia Baroque, “The Art of the Violin” at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant. Tickets are $28-$62. 415-392-4400. www.philharmonia.org 

Trinity Chamber Concert with thollem mcdonas, solo piano works, at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. www.TrinityChamberConcerts.com 

Djialy Kunda Kouyate, Senegalese dance and music ensemble, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Paula West at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $22. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com  

Asheba Family Vibe Band at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568.  

Larry Stefl Jazz Group at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Angel Magik at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $20. 548-1159.  

Borderwars, Painfactor at 8 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10. 848-0886.  

Monkey, Shitouttaluck at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Anton Mizerak & Natalie Gougeon at 7 p.m. at Unity of Berkeley, 2075 Eunice St. Cost is $5-$10. 528-8844.  

Lost Weekend, western swing, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

John Pisano Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Paige, singer-songwriter, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Akimbo, Hot Cross, Zann, Takaru, Paper Lanterns at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, OCT. 10 

CHILDREN 

Mary Ellen Hill, “We Are the Stars that Sing: The Story of the Universe” at 3 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $4-$6. 525-5054.  

FILM 

Claire Burch: “The History of the Tele Times” at 1 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Fiercely Primitive: Guy Maddin “The Saddest Music in the World” at 5:30 p.m. and “La Ronde” at 7:50 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash with Frances Payne Alder and Judy Grahn at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Poetry Tribute to Marilyn Buck at 5 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org  

Thais Mazur introduces “Warrior Mothers: Stories to Awaken the Flames of the Heart” at 7 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. 883-0600.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sarah Cahill, piano and Chris- 

topher Froh, percussion, perform works by Bay Area composers, at 3 p.m. at Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery, 2324 Shattuck Ave. Tickets are $10. 665-9496. www.berkeleysrtsfestival.com 

Live Oak Concert Cellist John Lutterman performs and discusses J. S. Bach’s Six Suites for Solo Cello at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Arts Center, 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Philharmonia Baroque, “The Art of the Violin” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant. Tickets are $28-$62. 415-392-4400. www.philharmonia.org 

Rudolf Buchbinder, piano, at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $46. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Organ Recital, music of Bach and Mozart, at 6:10 p.m.at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. 845-0888. 

Acme Observatory at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donations encouraged. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Beeda Weeda, Rajah & Audio Liquid Alchemy at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8. 848-0886.  

Bill Staines, folk, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Ludicra, Yeti, Asunder at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Wild Mango at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Daniel Pearl Memorial Concert at 7 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5. 525-5054.  

MONDAY, OCT. 11 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

David Mas Masumoto reads from “Letters to the Valley: A Harvest of Memories” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Poetry Express featuring Dahled at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

John Schott’s Dream Kitchen Trio, at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery, 2324 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 665-9496. www.berkeleyartsfestival.com  

Saaz Afghan Ensemble at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

What We Live with Larry Ochs, Lisle Ellis, and Don Robinson at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, OCT. 12 

FILM 

Experimental Works from Bay Area Schools at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Karen Eng, editor, discusses “Secrets and Confidences: The Complicated Truth About Women’s Friendships” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Mark Satin describes “The Radical Middle: A New Politics of Our Time” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

The Whole Note Poetry Series, with Paradise at 7 p.m. at The Beanery, 2925 College Ave., near Ashby. 549-9093. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Branford Marsalis Quartet at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $24-$46 available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Courtableu at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Peter Barshay & Marcos Silva at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Jazz House Jam at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $5. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Roberta Gambarini at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $8-$12. 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, OCT. 13 

FILM 

Fiercely Primitive: Guy Maddin “Leave Her to Heaven” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Political Art in California” with Peter Selz at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

George Lakoff discusses his new book, “Don’t Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate – The Essential Guide for Progressives” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Cafe Poetry at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Berkeley Poetry Slam at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082 www.starryplough.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

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

Nuba with Dror Sinai at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Flowtilla at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Kaki King, guitar, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Improvised Composition Experiment open jam session at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $5. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Mel Martin & The Tenor Conclave at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, OCT. 14 

EXHIBTION OPENINGS 

“Threshold: Byron Kim” Guided tour at 12:15 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Transparent Story” Reception for Midori Harima, recipient of the 2004 Kala Board Prize, at 6 p.m. at Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. Exhibition runs to Nov. 27. Gallery hours are Tues.-Fri. noon to 5:30 p.m., Sat. noon to 4:30 p.m. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

FILM 

Documentary Voices: “A Narmada Diary” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Hysteria” a film by Antero Alli at 9 p.m. at Endocrine Company Warehouse, 278 Fourth St., Oakland. Cost is $5-$10. www.verticalpool.com/hysteria. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Michael Parenti on “Superpatriotism” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Han Ong reads from his novel “The Disinherited” at 5 p.m. at IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St. http://ieas.berkeley.edu 

Joy Hakim introduces “The Story of Science” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Sayre Van Young introduces “London’s War: A Traveler’s Guide to World War II” at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Travel Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 843-3533. 

“Reclaiming Zimbabwe: The Exhaustion of the Patriarchal Model of Liberation” with Prof. Horace Campbell, Syracuse Univ., at 6 p.m. at Alekebulan Bookstore, 1757 Alcatraz, Oakland. 595-7918. 

End-Dependence Collective “Our Voices are End-Dependent” at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org  

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with featured readers Joe Donohoe and Lenore Weiss at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Get the Lead Out Benefit concert for Melissa Crabtree at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

ThaMuseMeant, Baby Gramps, Wavy Gravy at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Brian Kane at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Peter Brotzmann, Michael Wertmueller, and Marino Pliakas at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $8-$15 sliding scale. www.thejazzhouse.com 

David Sanchez Quintet at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $16-$22. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com

Yet another casino is being floated for the East Bay, this one near the Oakland airport.  

The Lower Lake Rancheria Koi Nation, a federally recognized tribal subgroup of the Pomos, has won the preliminary endorsement of Mayor Jerry Brown thanks to the offer of $11 million a year to cover needed police and fire services and as compensation for tax revenues that would otherwise be lost. 

Earlier plans for another Oakland casino floated three months ago by the Alturas Rancheria Pomo Band, which offered the city a $40 million a year payback, have thus far failed to materialize. 

“We will be building a first class casino, spa and hotel,” said tribal chair Daniel Beltran. The chosen location is a lot at the corner of Pardee Drive and Swann Way just outside the airport boundary. 

The Kois are offering $10.7 million in annual payments to the City of Oakland to compensate for needed police, fire and traffic services and to fund youth programs to reduce crime and violence, he said. 

Beltran said the project would create 4,400 direct and indirect jobs and generate a billion dollars in economic activity each year. 

The tribe is partnering East Bay Gaming, a limited liability corporation created by Alan Ginsburg, founder of North American Sports Management and a host of affiliated gambling companies. He is the same Florida magnate who is developing the Sugar Bowl Casino in North Richmond in partnership with the Scott’s Valley Pomo band. 

The Kois share something else in common with the Scott’s Valley band and with the Guidiville Pomos who have been recruited for the Point Molate Casino. All three are represented by Spencer-Roberts & Associates 

A lobbying firm based in suburban Sacramento, it was co-founded by Stuart K. Spencer, who ran the presidential campaigns of Republicans Nelson Rockefeller, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan. 

It was Spencer, a longtime friend of Dick Cheney, who induced a reluctant Reagan to take on George H. W. Bush as his running mate. 

While Spencer remains involved in the firm, the ownership has been transferred to his daughter, Karen. 

Also, backers have pulled the plug on Proposition 68, which would enable card room and race track owners to open full-scale casinos unless tribal casinos agreed to pay 25 percent of their gambling winnings to the state. 

The measure remains on the ballot, but advertising and other campaigning will end.  

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday refused to support a case by four Bay Area card room owners that would have barred the state from giving Native American tribes the exclusive right to own and operate casinos in the state. 

The court let stand a ruling by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which rejected the card room owners’ claim that allowing full-scale casinos only to Native Americans constitutes a form of racial discrimination. 

The court ruled that ethnic discrimination wasn’t a factor because the tribes have special rights because they are treated as sovereign nations under federal law. 

Some towns fade with unfulfilled dreams. Luckily, Benicia is not one of them. While no longer California’s state capital, the original capital building, now a State Historic Park, provides a rare look back into Benicia and California’s history. While no longer a major military outpost, Benicia’s contribution to 19th century military history is well exhibited at the Historical Museum at the Camel Barns. And, while no longer an international port, Benicia’s former industrial section now houses a thriving arts and crafts community. 

Add to this a charming waterfront community along the Carquinez Strait; an Old Town Main Street packed with antique stores, specialty shops and inviting restaurants; and lovely city parks, and you’ll find Benicia an ideal spot for a getaway adventure. 

Robert Semple and Thomas Larkin founded the town of Benicia in 1847, on five acres sold to them by General Vallejo for $100. Vallejo stipulated that they name the town after his wife, Francisca Maria Felipa Benicia de Vallejo. Benicia’s role in California history seems to be in inverse proportion to its small size: California’s first incorporated city, third state capital, a stop on the Pony Express’ overland route to San Francisco, a way station for miners during California’s Gold Rush, and home to a huge federal arsenal from the Civil War through to the Korean War. 

Location, location, location! Integral to Benicia’s history and present day appeal is its setting along the Carquinez Strait. Cooling breezes off the water temper the heat of the valley. Your eyes are drawn by the expansive strait and by scenic views of the shoreline and bluffs beyond. Benicia utilizes its assets to the fullest. There are many paths along the shoreline from the marina and west toward the state recreation area, with many opportunities for stops at peaceful benches and small neighborhood parks. You can walk out to the well utilized public fishing pier or east toward the marina, wandering among docked pleasure craft and well-maintained and landscaped residences. 

So—history, shopping, great eats, and scenic outdoor recreation—probably more than can be appreciated in just one visit. 

A good place to start is at the Historic Downtown District, on First Street. The Chamber of Commerce and Benicia Main Street have free brochures of things to do, including historic walking tours, which point out significant buildings of Victorian and California architecture, each identified by an attractive, numbered curbside marker. 

At the foot of First Street stands the nicely restored Southern Pacific Train Depot, the official entrance to the city and the center of Benicia’s once thriving international commerce trade. Up the street, the Union Hotel once housed Ulysses S. Grant and Tecumseh Sherman. Today it operates a well-known restaurant and bar. Further along, the brightly painted, 1879 City Hotel entices you in with classic antiques. 

The handsome, classically designed building at 115 West G St. is California’s only surviving pre-Sacramento capital. Built over a three-month period from materials salvaged from ships abandoned in the San Francisco Bay, it is a fine example of mid-19th century craftsmanship. Carefully restored with period furnishings and artifacts, this State Historic Park offers a look back at early legislative matters of state while its small size reminds us that California in 1853 was not the state it is today. The Senate and Assembly Rooms are fully equipped with original desks and all the accouterments necessary for a gentleman of that period: inkwell, candle, formal hat, walking stick, newspaper and spittoon. It’s easy to imagine debates taking place and bills being passed within these rooms.  

At St. Paul’s Church, you can see the nautical influence of the Norwegian shipbuilders who worked on the building, especially in the ceiling, which resembles an inverted ship’s hull.  

At the top of First St. is the Benicia City Park. With its mature shade trees, expansive green lawns, picnic facilities and Playground of Dreams, this park is an ideal setting to rest your feet, burn off energy or get married in the Victorian gazebo. 

Along the length of First Street you’ll pass many interesting shops specializing in antiques, collectibles, and present-day arts and crafts, all inviting you to come in and look around. Coffee houses, cafes and restaurants offer pretty much anything you feel like eating. One place you can’t go wrong is the First Street Café, an Old Town landmark. The offerings are contemporary and fresh and the baking is not to be missed, so be sure to leave room to sample a berry crisp or fresh fruit pie. 

To get a complete picture of Benicia’s role in California history, it’s important to leave First Street and drive over to the present day Industrial Park where Benicia’s military history is displayed. The Benicia Arsenal was the first in California, established in 1851. Many of the original buildings serve as current businesses; large warehouse spaces house glassblowers, potters and painters, worth a return visit in December for the arsenal open studios. 

With two-foot thick sandstone walls and an American Seth Thomas clock, the clocktower still appears formidable. Long thin slots for rifle fire attest to its ability to protect the arsenal that was stored within. Close by, surrounded by lawns and mature trees, stands the 20-room Commandant’s Mansion. Though closed to the public, it’s still easy to imagine important military decisions being made in the library over cigars and brandy while Benicia’s elite wined and dined. 

Camels in Benicia? In a United States Army experiment, camels were to be used to transport military supplies. The beginning of the Civil War ended that idea and the camels were sent back to Benicia. Today, the camels are gone but the historical museum at the camel barns remains as testament to Benicia’s role. Built in 1853, of handcrafted sandstone walls, a tin roof and a redwood ceiling, the top floor of this original ammunition warehouse is now home to a varied, eclectic collection. 

For a small town, Benicia had its hand in many pots: the Transcontinental Railroad, the Pony Express, the Gold Rush, and the Civil War. All are represented in exhibits and photographs at this charming museum whose spirit exceeds its physical space. 

There’s no better way to end the day than with a late afternoon walk at the Benicia State Recreation Area. Covering 720 acres of undeveloped shoreline, this park offers roads and trails for walkers and bicyclists, benches for nature observers, picnic facilities and popular fishing spots. The marshland, grassy hillsides and rocky beaches are ideal spots for viewing resident and migrating shorebirds. A shaded picnic table overlooking marshland rich in native grasses, reeds and cattails in a tapestry of autumn colors, with the waters of the strait before your eyes, provides one more reason to plan a return visit to Benicia. Not even close to a fading violet—still glowing strong.  

]

Backed into a corner by a mounting deficit and an obstinate firefighters’ union, the City Council Tuesday will contemplate approving the first cut to fire response services in over 20 years. 

On the table is a proposal to ground one of the city’s two fire truck companies from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. every day starting Nov. 8 to save $300,000 in overtime expenditures needed to staff it.  

City Manager Phil Kamlarz is also recommending that the council vote Tuesday to reinstate the truck company—which is scheduled for complete elimination next summer to help balance the budget in fiscal year 2006—should voters pass the paramedic tax on the November ballot. 

Opponents of the tax measure were quick to charge that the proposal is pure political gamesmanship. 

“The paramedic tax has to pay for paramedics,” said former Mayor Shirley Dean, who added she believed the city manager’s proposal was intended to get the firefighters’ union behind the tax measure. 

Councilmembers hope to keep both truck companies at full strength this winter by making a deal with the firefighters’ union for a $300,000 salary giveback. Other city unions have either been cajoled or forced into a one-time giveback of a portion of their scheduled raises, but the firefighters’ contract lacks a clause allowing the city to compel it to take a cut.  

The loss of the truck company would come on top of about $250,000 in cuts to the fire department this year, mostly in the elimination and reconfiguration of administrative posts, to help the city close a $10 million budget shortfall. 

In prior lean years, the department has also balanced budgets by shedding top positions. The most recent cut to actual fire response teams came in 1981 when the city reduced engine and truck companies from four firefighters to three. 

Truck companies, armed with aerial ladders and equipment including “the jaws of life,” undertake rescue operations and cut ventilation holes in roofs of building fires.  

With the deadline coming at the end of the month and no formal negotiations underway, some councilmembers ex-pressed frustration at the predicament they face Tuesday. 

“The firefighters have to come around on this,” said Councilmember Betty Olds, who opposes any cut to fire services. 

The union and the city have not seen eye-to-eye since the firefighters signed a contract in 2000 surrendering two years of raises in return for more generous retirement benefits. Union representative Gil Dong said the firefighters were told other unions would have to follow the same formula, but then watched as the city gave police officers a better deal. Although the city extended the firefighters’ contract in 2002 to give them parity with the police, Dong said that animosity lingers. 

“There’s a sensitivity here because the last time we took the city at its word we got burned.” 

Dong, though, seemed to back off the union’s previous stance that it wouldn’t negotiate with the city until every other bargaining unit negotiated a giveback. With the Public Employees Union Local 1 preparing to take an agreement to its members next week, only the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245—the city’s smallest union—is fighting the giveback. 

“We’re trying to make it work,” said Dong, who confirmed both sides have had “informal discussions” on a salary giveback. 

Instead of shutting down the truck company or giving up pay, Dong said the union has proposed subtracting $300,000 from a department fund earmarked for a new truck. Since the city’s fiscal year 2006 budget calls for eliminating the truck company entirely to save $1.3 million, Dong didn’t see the point in keeping the money tied up in the fund. 

But now that City Manager Kamlarz is asking that revenues from the Paramedic Tax go keep the truck company in operation next year at a cost of $1.3 million, tax opponents are again charging that the council isn’t being upfront about the tax. 

Although the $1.2 million Paramedics Tax is billed as preserving and bolstering emergency medical services, it would free up money in the general fund to be spent any way the council chooses. Currently the city is subsidizing its paramedic fund with $1 million from the general fund, which would be replaced by the tax. 

Dean, the former mayor, questioned why councilmembers waited until one month before Election Day to announce their plans for the tax revenue when they could have done so during budget negotiations last June. 

Noting that the city council had already given Kamlarz the authority to exact $300,000 in cuts to fire services, Dean charged that the vote on Tuesday amounted to nothing more than political theater aimed in part at presenting a dire budgetary scenario to voters. 

“I think it’s an out-and-out ploy to frighten people so they can pass the taxes,” she said. 

But Councilmember Gordon Wozniak, who supports the tax, said the proposal “made sense” and that when the council placed the tax on the ballot, the implicit assumption was that the money would go to save public safety programs. 

Should the council approve the city manager’s intention to use the tax to restore the truck company, Dong said the firefighters would likely endorse it. 

The current plan would reduce the hours of the truck company at Station Two on Berkeley Way and Henry Street, leaving Station 4 on Shattuck Avenue and Derby Street as the city’s only night truck company. 

The loss of a second truck will change the department’s response to fires, Acting Chief David Orth said. Currently for a two-alarm fire the department dispatches five engine companies and two trucks. If the truck company is cut, he said, the department would send out six engine companies and one truck, which might limit the department’s ability to get on top of a fire and control it quickly. 

According to a report Orth delivered to the council, over the last three years, the department has only needed a second ladder truck between 10 and 12 times a year. When the need for a second truck arises, Berkeley would rely on a neighboring department, Orth said. Response time for mutual aid from North Oakland averages 10 minutes for South Berkeley and 20 minutes for North Berkeley, he said. 

›

As crews prepare to dredge a shoreline marsh in Richmond on the edge of one of the region’s most polluted sites, Assemblymember Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) is pushing for a legislative hearing. 

“This is extremely important and the public is clamoring for a complete hearing that will get their questions answered,” Hancock said. 

Hancock, who serves on the Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials, hopes to hold a formal hearing within the next two weeks, although the office of state Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez has requested that no hearings be slated until after the election. 

“We’ll do an informal hearing if we can’t do it formally,” Hancock said. “This site is a poster child for environmental cleanup and environmental justice. It needs to be done right.”  

Excavators will begin construction today (Tuesday) of a waterproof berm to contain the 25,000 cubic yards of muck they will excavate from the start beginning Friday. The polluted soil will be replaced by clean dirt already stored on the site. 

The muck will remain on site through the winter, worrying neighbors who fear dust from the drying surface could blow onto their properties. San Francisco Bay Regional Quality Control Board (RQWB) staffers, development company officials and the firm handling the cleanup all insist that adequate safeguards have been installed. 

Beyond the immediate issue of the marsh cleanup, Hancock is challenging the plans of developers to build a 1330-unit housing unit over a buried toxic waste dump adjacent to the marsh. 

“This would be the first time housing would be allowed in California on capped toxic soil,” Hancock said. “I don’t want the experiment to be done on my constituents.” 

For the 100 years ending in 1997, chemical plants on the waterfront site produced a wide range of compounds, many of them toxic in and of themselves and together generating a noxious brew that were either buried or penetrated the soil beneath the plants. 

Toxins range from burned iron pyrites to heavy metals and highly dangerous volatile organic compounds. 

The latest phase of the project calls for excavation of saltwater-saturated muck of Stege Marsh between the housing site and the shoreline. The muck contains metals and other toxins hazardous to wildlife, and the cleanup was mandated as part of the work on the site of the larger site. 

The RWQB, as lead agency in the cleanup, gave the go-ahead for the dredging last week despite opposition from neighbors and environmental activists. 

In the second phase of the project, Cherokee Simeon Ventures, a joint venture partnership formed by a Marin County developer and a Colorado venture capital firm, plans an adjacent 1330-unit residential complex on the site of the chemical plants, which contains a concentrated brew of hazardous substances buried under a clay soil cap. 

Site cleanup has been conducted by LFR Levine-Fricke, a firm once headed by James D. Levine, now a Berkeley developer who is pushing plans for a major tribal casino resort, shopping and entertainment complex at Point Molate in Richmond. 

Project critics, including the owners of buildings and businesses adjacent to the site, have said they aren’t satisfied with the level of information they’re been receiving about plans for the site from the developer and the state. 

During a recent meeting at the site, Brunner told RWQB officials that while the level of information had improved, he still wanted a complete breakdown on toxins present on the site. 

Hancock and Contra Costa County Public Health Director Wendel Brunner have both urged state Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Terry Tamminen to take control of the project from the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board and transfer it to the Department of Toxic Substances Control. 

Brunner made a plea for the transfer in a July 16 letter to Tamminen, noting that while the toxic agency had taken the lead on all previous toxic sites in the county, the water board has retained control of this one. 

Tamminen refused the request. After a meeting at the site two weeks ago, Barbara J. Cook of the DTSC declined to comment on the matter. 

Brunner wrote that the state’s Regional Water Quality Control Boards “have neither the expertise nor experience to properly oversee characterization of a site this complex, appropriately evaluate comprehensive remediation plans, assess health hazards and risks from the site and the clean-up process.” 

“A major problem is that this site has been cleaned up only to light industrial standards, and not for residential use,” Hancock said. 

The assemblymember said one problem with current environmental law is that it allows developers to go agency shopping, to find the state entity that will offer the least possible resistance to a project. 

“Since the developer proposes housing, it should be cleaned up to residential standards,” Hancock said. 

“DTSC usually fills the lead role on toxic cleanup. They have the expertise, and they have the authority to set standards, and their process is very open to the public. That’s not the case with the water board, which can only enforce standards and is not nearly as open to public participation,” she said.?

The math of building affordable housing in Berkeley looks especially troubling this year. 

With affordable housing developers requesting about $8.7 million and the city’s rapidly diminishing housing trust fund now down to $2.4 million, it appears that not even the most creative calculating can prevent the Housing Advisory Commission from putting some projects on the back burner when it meets Thursday to study the proposed developments. 

“There is no way I can see how we’re going to be able to fund all the projects coming in,” said Berkeley Housing Director Steve Barton. “It certainly does potentially put projects at risk.” 

Heading into the year, the Berkeley Housing Trust Fund stood at a relatively flush $3.4 million, but a series of unexpected cost overruns on projects already approved has essentially cut the fund drastically. The trust fund is a reserve set aside by the city to fund permanently affordable housing developments. 

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development gives the bulk of the money to the city’s affordable housing fund, which is then allocated to non-profit developers as seed money so they can qualify for other forms of public and private financing.  

Since 2002, the city has developed 2,209 units of affordable housing through grants awarded from the fund. Typically, city allocations equal about 10 percent of the development costs. 

In past years affordable housing developers usually received their entire request, but this year when they are asking for more money, overruns have exhausted the trust fund before they could press their case. 

The trust fund sustained its first hit in July when the council took $450,000 to pay for extra costs at Jubilee Senior Homes on San Pablo Avenue, which had already received $2.3 million from the fund. 

Then last month, the council allocated an extra $529,000 from the fund to Affordable Housing Associates’ University Neighborhood Apartments to pay for unexpected water damage and unbudgeted expenses. 

And before new projects can even vie for the remaining $2.4 million, the Housing Advisory Commission is expected to recommend allocating an extra $727,000 for AHA’s Sacramento Senior Homes, where a lawsuit filed by neighbors has delayed construction for months. 

“This year is going to be really tough,” said Dan Sawislak, executive director of Resources For Community Development (RCD), which is asking for $2.2 million—essentially the entire trust fund—to help pay for its planned 96-unit building beside the proposed David Brower Center on Oxford Street. 

RCD’s building is part of a trend, Barton said, of non-profit developers proposing bigger projects that require bigger city subsidies. 

“We just haven’t had developers coming in and asking for an entire year’s worth of money before,” he said. 

To give developers like RCD a fighting chance, Barton has proposed that the city allocate an extra $1.3 million this year from funds HUD has given to the city for allocation in 2006. The move would leave the city with $500,000 to divvy out next year. 

Competing with RCD for trust fund money is an AHA project requesting $2 million to build 55 live-work units on the 1000 block of Ashby Avenue, a Jubilee Restoration proposal for $1.9 million to build 118 units on the 2600 block of San Pablo Avenue and a Satellite Housing project for $1.9 million to build a 79-unit affordable senior apartments on the 1500 block of University Avenue. 

Todd Harvey, housing manager at Jubilee, said his firm can’t afford to lose out on city financing. 

“If we don’t get the funding our project is probably dead,” he said, adding that Jubilee was scheduled to start making mortgage payments on the property next month. The firm is partnering in the development with The Related Companies of California, one of the state’s biggest for-profit housing developers. 

Working in Jubilee’s favor is that, at $16,102 a unit, the project has the least expensive per unit in the group seeking financing. However, the city has only invested $60,000 in the project to this point, far less than on the other projects, for which the city has already spent hundred of thousands of dollars in pre-development funds and loans. 

The biggest benefactor so far has been the Ashby Avenue AHA lofts project, to which last year the city allocated $1 million from the housing trust fund.  

“We have all our permits, we’re ready to go,” said Housing Manager Kevin Zwick. “I don’t know if the project can sit around for two years until they have enough money for a new round of funding.” 

The AHA proposal runs $72,369 per unit, an expense which has become a growing concern among some councilmembers. 

AHA’s most recent project on University Avenue, after the cost overruns were taken into account, ended up costing the city $90,000 per unit—about a third higher than the city average. 

That raised red flags with Councilmember Gordon Wozniak, who questioned if the city could afford such expensive projects. 

“$90,000 per unit is just way too much,” he said. “If we keep building projects like this we’re doing a disservice to the low income people in the community.”  

Getting costs down could be difficult in a market where the price of construction has skyrocketed. 

The price of steel has surged 66 percent over the past year, primarily due to rising demand in China according to a report published in USA Today. 

With the city not likely to have money to fund much affordable housing development next year and the cost of construction skyrocketing, Zwick said he expected AHA to refocus its efforts. 

“In the last few years the city let housing developers know they wanted new construction,” Zwick said. “But, if there’s no money available for a couple of years we’d probably just look to acquire buildings and rehab them.” 

There are 16 state ballot propositions this year. Enjoy. 

Prop. 1A - Legislative Constitutional Amendment on Local Government Revenues 

This is the compromise proposition worked out between the governor and the California League of Cities and other local governments that replaces Proposition 65. This proposition would prohibit the state from reducing local governments' property tax proceeds except on a two-thirds vote, and only after the governor declares a fiscal necessity. Any money taken by the state under this "fiscal necessity" trigger must be repaid to the local governments, in full, before the state can invoke the "fiscal necessity" trigger again. 

Prop. 59 - Legislative Constitutional Amendment on Public Records and Open Meetings 

Would increase public access to government meetings and writings of government officials 

Prop. 60 - Legislative Constitutional Amendment on Election Rights of Political Parties 

This would put into the state Constitution the present statutory requirement that each party holds its own separate primary, and the winners of the respective primaries then run against each other in the November general election. Prop 60 is directly opposed to Prop. 62, which would establish a Louisiana-type open primary where a single all-y'all-come primary is held for all candidates for a given office-regardless of party-and the top-two vote getters in the primary advance to run against each other in the general election. 

Under Prop. 60, if Democrats and Republicans and the Green Party (for example) hold primaries, the winners of each of these three primaries would run against each other in the general election. Under Prop. 62, there would only be one primary, and the top two vote-getters in that primary would run against each other in the general election. That means that a general election could see two Democrats running against each other, or two Republicans, or a Republican and a Democrat, or any other combination. 

Prop. 60 and Prop. 62 are in conflict. Therefore, if both of them pass, only the proposition that gets the most "yes" votes will be put into effect. 

Prop. 60A - Legislative Constitutional Amendment on Surplus State Property 

Would require the use of revenues from sale of surplus state property to go towards the repayment of some existing bonds. 

Prop. 61 - Bond Initiative for Children's Hospital Projects 

$750 million general obligation bond for construction, expansion, remodeling, renovation, furnishing, and equipping eligible children's hospitals. 

Prop. 62 - Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute on Primary Elections 

Would establish a Louisiana-type open primary where a single all-y'all-come primary is held for all candidates for a given office-regardless of party-and the top-two vote getters in the primary advance to run against each other in the general election. Prop. 62 is directly opposed to Prop. 60, which would put into the state Constitution the present statutory requirement that each party holds its own separate primary, and the winners of the respective primaries then run against each other in the November general election. 

Under Prop. 62, there would only be one primary, and the top two vote-getters in that primary would run against each other in the general election no matter party affiliation. If both Prop. 60 and Prop. 62 pass, the one with the most “yes” votes will be put into effect. 

Prop. 63 - Initiative Statute on High-Income Taxes for Mental Health Services Expansion 

Would establish 1 percent new tax on taxable personal income above $1 million to fund expanded health services for the mentally ill. 

Prop. 64 - Initiative Statute on Private Enforcement of Unfair Business Competition Laws 

Would limit the ability of individual or class action "unfair business practice" lawsuits by private citizens. While the State Attorney General or local district attorneys would still be able to bring such lawsuits on behalf of the public if Prop. 64 passes, individuals would only be able to bring such lawsuits if they show that they, themselves, have suffered injury or lost money or property. 

Prop. 65 - Initiative Constitutional Amendment on State Mandates for Local Government Funds and Revenues 

Essentially, this is an orphan proposition without a current major sponsor. Would require voter approval of any legislative changes to certain local government revenues (particularly the Vehicle License Fee givebacks) that fall below the January 2003 levels. Would also allow local suspension of state mandates if the state fails to reimburse local governments for those mandated programs within 180 days. This proposition was crafted by the League of California Cities in response to the governor's VLF reduction, and came before the compact was reached with the governor that led to Prop. 1A. The league has since abandoned its support for Prop. 65 in favor of Prop. 1A, but since it had already qualified, it remains on the ballot. 

Prop. 66 - Initiative Statute on Three Strikes Law 

Would limit three strikes law to violent and/or serious felonies as well as increase punishment for specified sex crimes against children. 

Prop. 67 - Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute on Emergency Medical Services Funding 

Would increase telephone surcharge by 3 percent and allocate other state funds for various presently-unreimbursed emergency medical services. 

Prop. 68 - Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute on Non-Tribal Commercial Gambling Expansion and Tribal Gaming Compact Amendments 

This initiative has to be seen in conjunction with Proposition 70, as well as with current state gambling laws. Both 68 and 70 would expand casino gambling and slot machines in California and bring in more tax revenue to the state. They would do it in different ways. 

Under current law, on-site and televised "simultaneous-cast" gambling is allowed on horse races at certain locations (at Golden Gate Fields, Bay Meadows, and the Alameda County Fairgrounds, for example). Gambling at certain so-called "gaming" establishments on certain types of card games is also allowed (at card rooms in Emeryville and San Pablo, for example). And slot machines and other casino-type gambling (the type you normally see in Nevada) is allowed on certain Indian lands which have worked out tribal-state gambling compacts. The key here is that the Indian gambling tribes have a monopoly on slot machine establishments in California. In addition, they are paying a relatively low amount to the state in return for the privilege of operating those slot machines. 

64 tribes signed compacts with the state in 1999 that limited them to operating no more than two gambling facilities with a total limit of 2,000 slot machines. In 2004, five of these tribes signed amended contracts with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger which allowed them to increase the number of slot machines they can operate. One of these amended contracts was the controversial Casino San Pablo expansion negotiated with the Lytton Indian tribe. 

Prop. 68 would allow a significant expansion of slot machines—in existing Indian gambling establishments if new tribal-state gambling compacts can be worked out with all of them, or on certain non-Indian gambling establishments if new gambling compacts can't be worked out with all of the Indian gambling tribes—with increased gambling tax revenues expected to be passed on to the state. If the tribes agree to the compacts, they would have to pay 25 percent of their slot machines' net winnings to the state. 

Essentially, Prop. 68 holds a bargaining club over the Indian tribes presently operating gambling establishments in the state. If Prop. 68 passes and the gambling tribes don't all agree to new gambling compacts that give over more of their revenue as taxes to the state, the proposition will trigger a breakup of the Indian monopoly on slot machines in California. 

Prop. 68 and Prop. 70 are in conflict. Therefore, if both of them pass, only the proposition that gets the most "yes" votes will be put into effect. 

Prop. 69 - Initiative Statute on DNA Samples 

Requires collection of DNA samples from all convicted felons, from all adults arrested for or charged with a felony, and from all juveniles arrested for or charged with certain specified crimes. 

This is a significant expansion from present California law, which only requires blood samples for DNA purposes from persons convicted of a serious felony offense. 

Prop. 70 - Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute on Tribal Gaming Compacts  

While Prop. 68 allows the state to expand casino gambling to non-tribal areas if the gambling tribes don't all agree to give up more revenue in new gambling compacts—essentially giving the state more of the bargaining chips— Prop. 70 reverses the bargaining chips, giving more of them to the existing gambling tribes. 

It requires the state to renegotiate gambling contracts with gambling tribes within 30 days after the tribes request such renegotiations. Under those new contracts, the old restriction on numbers of slot machines would be thrown out. The new compacts would subject Indian gambling establishments to California's 8.4 percent corporate tax rate. If for any reason, casino gambling in California was expanded to non-Indian tribes, the tribes would no longer have to pay the corporate tax rates, although they would still be subject to the fees owed to the state under their old compacts. 

Prop. 68 and Prop. 70 are in conflict. Therefore, if both of them pass, only the proposition that gets the most "yes" votes will be put into effect.  

Prop. 71 - Constitutional Amendment and Statute on Stem Cell Research 

Stem cell research, which is in its infancy stage, is associated both with a search for cures for certain diseases as well as with human cloning. Prop. 71 would establish the constitutional right to conduct stem cell research in California. It would both regulate, oversee, and provide state financing for that research. But it would prohibit that research from going into the area of human cloning. 

Prop. 72 - Referendum on Health Care Coverage Requirements 

This initiative allows voters to decide whether a recently-passed state law on worker health care coverage will go into effect. 

Under the 2003 law (SB2), California businesses with 50 or more employees would be required to provide health care coverage to their workers, either by setting up their own health care plans, or by paying a fee to a state agency that would then purchase privately-operated health insurance for those employees. The key here is that the state would not operate its own health insurance program for private employees. It would only purchase that health insurance—from, say, Blue Cross or Kaiser—in the same way that any private employer would purchase that health insurance. 

If Prop. 72 does not pass, SB2 will not become state law, and existing worker health care coverage will remain as it is now. 

With school board elections less than a month away, controversial items are generally absent from BUSD’s board agenda for Wednesday night. One such contested item, however, may be a fee for the Middle School Extended Day Program. 

After some discussion, this item was tabled at the board’s last meeting for the purpose of “further study.” It is a staff recommendation for charging fees for participation in the After School Learning Programs at King, Longfellow, and Willard Middle Schools. The programs include academics, homework tutors, enrichment classes, and recreation. 

Superintendent Michele Lawrence’s office says such fees are needed because of funding changes caused by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.  

Under the proposal, families will be charged on an income-based, sliding scale ranging from $75 to $25 per month per child (each additional child will be charged on a scale ranging from $38 to $13). The proposed policy also states that families which cannot pay the fees will be given the opportunity to meet with school staff to work out other arrangements. 

At the board’s last meeting, directors expressed concern that some eligible students might be kept out of the program because of inability to pay the fees. 

The superintendent has said that she will not recommend funding the middle school after school program out of General Funds. 

In other agenda items, staff has recommended that the board: 

• Authorize the restructuring of $29 million in outstanding General Obligation Bonds. Because of the present interest rate climate, staff believes that restructuring can result in $3.2 million in savings to the district over the life of the bonds. 

• Authorize a $100,000 updating of a portion of the district’s aging technology infrastructure (these routers and switches were five years old, but in computer life, that’s considered “aging”). The new equipment will be purchased from SBC Datacom. The replacement will help the district’s computer network move from the old ATM system to the new Ethernet system. District staff is recommending that the money come from a reduction in bond expenditures for West Campus and not out of the General Fund. 

In addition, the board will have a second reading of: 

• Adoption of an integrated policy for nutrition education, physical activity and food. 

• Adoption of a district food policy. 

• Adoption of a physical education policy. 

• Adoption of an environmental education policy.

As string trios played and wait staff served up wine and munchies Friday evening, a hundred or so Berkeley business and political leaders got their first look at Patrick Kennedy’s newest additions to the downtown. 

The tour, organized by the developer’s Panoramic Interests and Panoramic Management corporations and the Downtown Berkeley Association, took in the Bachenheimer, Touriel and Fine Arts buildings, which opened in time for the fall semester at UC Berkeley. 

Among the officials in attendance were City Councilperson Betty Olds, Zoning Adjustment Board members Bob Allen and Deborah Matthews and Civic Arts Commission Chair David Snippen. 

All the schmoozing occurred on the rooftop expanses where musicians played and food and drink awaited, but tour participants also viewed the unfurnished apartment available for inspection in each building. 

The unit that drew the most attention was the two-bedroom fifth floor apartment on the Shattuck Avenue side of the Fine Arts Building, where architect Daniel Solomon’s oddly angled walls prompted comments. 

The Fine Arts apartments, at 2471 Shattuck, were the most spacious of the three structures. 

The Fine Arts Building also offered the most unusual deck. 

Though the building appears a solid mass from the Shattuck Avenue side, the structure is U-shaped, with the roof of the parking area in the center of the U serving as the floor of a deck. 

The Touriel Building at 2004 University Ave. offered the most unusual hallways, with lines of poetry painted on the walls a foot or so above the floor and unusual art works adorning the hallway ends of and the walls of staircases. 

The most distinguishing feature of the roof garden at the Touriel is a section toward the rear marked by heavy gauge square wire fencing stretched between upright boards, which spurred one of the tour members to quip that it reminded her of a jail exercise yard. 

The courtyard atop the Bachenheimer Building at 2119 University Ave. offered the most spectacular views, taking in the downtown streetscape, the UC Berkeley campus and the hills above, all bathed in the golden hues of twilight. 

Like many of you, I came to Berkeley to be a student at the University of California and I liked so many things about the city that I have lived here ever since. My wife Marilyn and I raised both of our children here, and Sarah and Matt went through the Berkeley schools. I graduated in 1967 with a degree in political science and began teaching social studies. I chose to teach high school because I wanted to help people understand the forces, policies, and even mythologies that shape the lives of ordinary people not only in this country but all over the world, and because I wanted to help give young people some of the tools they could use to change those conditions and to create better and fairer conditions for themselves and others. Although I changed careers in 1978, those values are still fundamentally important to me. They are the reasons I became active in city government 25 years ago, and they are the reasons why I’m running for City Council in District 5.  

Serving on the City Council would be an extension of the things I’ve been doing for the past 25 years. As a private citizen, I co-founded ROOF, a non-profit fund that has raised more than $300,000 over the past decade to support Berkeley public schools, housing, and other non-profits. I helped found Ecohouse, Berkeley’s demonstration project in ecological living, and I was a co-founder of the Elmwood Theater Foundation, which raised more than $400,000 to preserve the College Avenue landmark. I’ve also served on the board of the Berkeley Public Education Foundation for 15 years, including two years as president, overseeing more than $8 million in fundraising for our schools.  

Within city government, I’ve served on the Planning Commission and the Zoning Adjustments Board, chairing both bodies at different times. I also served as chair of the Mayor’s Task Force on Development and the Permit Process. The task force accommodated a wide variety of interests and managed to send a comprehensive set of recommendations supported not only by the members of the task force but also by many of the neighborhood activists who participated in the process.  

I want Berkeley to continue to be a city that preserves its rich heritage, its architecture, and its cultural and economic diversity; that continues to celebrate and defend the intellectual nature of Berkeley; and that supports and nurtures our neighborhoods and the small commercial districts that help define our community. At the same time, no city is static. We need to maintain the best of what we have built and developed, but we also need to adapt to the future.  

We need to revitalize our sales tax base and commercial property tax base. We need to continue to make our city more receptive to suitable businesses. It shouldn’t take 11 months to open a bakery on Solano Avenue or seven months to rent a warehouse in West Berkeley.  

We need to work harder to revitalize the downtown. As part of that process, I support the building of the museum, hotel, and conference center project planned by UC for the Shattuck block between Center and Addison provided that the museums remain an integral part of the project and that the buildings are designed to be architecturally significant. 

We need to re-examine the problem of homelessness in Berkeley. In particular, we need to pay careful attention to the comprehensive solution to homelessness that San Francisco is undertaking and to determine if that is a model that could work for Berkeley. 

We should continue the public discussion about the size, scale, and design of new buildings. At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that the recent increase in rental units has helped lower rents in Berkeley.  

I believe I will be an effective councilmember. For the past five years, I’ve managed with my partners a substantial business with over 100 persons. I know budgeting; I know that organizations must live within their budgets; and I know how to make that happen. The successes I’ve had in both my business and civic lives have come from negotiating solutions among individuals and groups who have very specific interests at stake and who have felt strongly about their interests and values.  

The people of Berkeley have very high expectations for our city. We want quality schools; a healthy, vibrant public library system; responsive, highly competent health care, and reliable public safety services. But we also have limited resources, and we need to make careful decisions. I believe that I can continue to help build consensus in making those decisions and to help find solutions that work for all of the different segments of our community. I hope to do so as the City Councilmember for District 5.  

—Laurie Capitelli  

District 5 City Council candidate›

District 5 and the city need Barbara Gilbert as councilperson because, put simply, the points of view for which I speak are not now adequately represented on our City Council.  

I will represent and defend the legitimate interests of homeowners and taxpayers, particularly their interest in a fairer system of taxation and an expanded tax base to support city government. We need to expand the tax base to encompass all residents and service users, including students, renters, UC and other wealthy tax-exempt landowners. We need to impose development impact and mitigation fees on developers. And we need to increase our sales tax base through exciting and appropriate retail development. 

I will speak forcefully for the need to reduce the cost and size of city government, to fix the city budget without new taxes, to prioritize essential services, and to establish better city management. Yes, the city budget can be fixed without new taxes. I know that the essential services are fighting crime, fighting fire, disaster readiness, fixing our infrastructure (including creeks and culverts), and providing safety net services for the truly needy (with support for the community agencies that assist them). 

I offer a vision of our city’s future that is not dense, teeming, overpopulated, and family-unfriendly. We need to feel comfortable enough to shop, be entertained, and to mingle in our downtown and along our major corridors. We must restore and maintain Berkeley as a sophisticated college town with a thriving downtown, friendly incremental development, adequate parking, and a place for middle-income, home-owning families in its diverse neighborhoods.  

I will continue to defend the right of the public, the press, and our council to receive accurate, timely, pertinent, and readily-available information so that sound public policy is more likely. I deplore the current trend of late and politically-slanted staff reports. 

With respect to District 5 in particular, I pledge to be a councilmember who is ahead of the curve when critical issues arise, such as creek regulation. Recently, I was the only candidate in District 5 who had already studied the issue, understood its importance, notified creekside homeowners, and knew the correct answer when it came to the right of creekside homeowners to re-build after a disaster with no ifs, ands, buts, or bureaucrats. I did not have to wait for a public meeting of angry constituents to exercise common sense and leadership. The story of creeks regulation, too long to go into here, provides a textbook case of how common sense and property owner interests are too often hijacked in our Berkeley community. 

I have discussed all of the above over the last few years in many publications, forums, meetings, letters, and on my website. Unlike my opponents, who have yet to study and develop positions on most of the critical community issues, I have been articulating my informed perception of the problems and the possible solutions. You know where I stand, but do you really know that much about my opponents, except that they are supported by the usual suspects? My candidacy however, is supported by ordinary Berkeley residents, homeowners, taxpayers, neighborhood leaders, preservation activists, and citizen budget experts. 

District 5 and other concerned Berkeley residents should support my candidacy because the city and our local democracy do not need another machine-made and development-mad clone of the reigning establishment. The establishment candidates always talk about consensus. But if all interests and parties are not adequately represented at the highest council of our local government, then this is a premature consensus and a consensus without content. Positive change, real compromise, and a healthier consensus require that all legitimate viewpoints be expressed and pursued at the City Council level, and by an independent, informed, and articulate proponent.  

If you are one of the thousands of District 5 residents who are fed up, disgusted, dismayed, or simply turned off and worn out by our city’s politics and policies, and if you feel that your interest in homeowners, neighborhoods, sound government, and open government are not now adequately represented, then I urge you to please join my other supporters in our neighborhood and throughout the city, and vote for me on Nov. 2.  

—Barbara Gilbert  

District 5 City Council candidate 

›

As important as the national elections are, we need to remember that our local democracy is also at risk. While I am not suggesting that we have local equivalents of Dick Cheney or John Ashcroft in our city government, I am suggesting that there is a connection between development and the democratic process which demands our attention. At a time when malign neglect of the economy at the national level and irresponsible grandstanding by our own governor have left cities such as Berkeley in severe economic distress, it is tempting to let the richest and most powerful segments of our community “solve” our problems for us.  

This is a temptation we must resist. Bigger is not better—we need to carefully evaluate all large-scale developments, even though they may bring in more tax dollars than smaller-scale developments. Clearly Berkeley needs new housing and business development to remain an economically vital city. However, we need to make sure that development is sustainable and desirable, and that developers are accountable. In the long run, unfettered development will cost Berkeley dearly in terms of the democratic process and quality of life.  

Development is a partnership between the community and the developer, and it must be a two-way street. If the city reneged on providing infrastructure needed for a project like water or sewer lines, the developer would rightfully cry foul. However, what happens when the developer reneges on promises made to the city? Nothing. 

The Gaia Building developer promised space to the non-profit Gaia Books, yet after Gaia went out of business the space is now available to for-profit businesses. The Fine Arts developer promised space for the Fine Arts Cinema, and subsequently priced the cinema out of its eponymous building. Since the city allowed extra profit-making stories and other bonuses to the developers based on these promises, why aren’t the developers being held accountable for breaking these promises in ways that benefit our city? How about municipal equity, repossession (if it’s formerly city property), or 50 percent “very low income” apartments for 20 years?  

We can also strengthen our economy by encouraging local businesses, which reinvest in the local community instead of shipping profits out of town. We have a long, proud local history of cooperatives, as well as a city full of entrepreneurs, and we should encourage locally-owned businesses and worker-owned businesses over yet another chain. What would downtown look like today if a home-grown cooperative like the Cheese Board or the Juice Bar had moved into the Edy’s building instead of the now-departed national chain Eddie Bauer? 

We need development that serves the entire community. Too often developments are presented as a done deal, with just minor mitigations possible. Developers will always be able to make their profits for their out-of-town investors and move on, while the rest of us have to live here. Shouldn’t we—the person-on-the-street, the neighborhood associations, the community at large—have a real seat at the table from day one instead of just lip service? 

If the larger community has a say in how a development evolves, then we’ll have real community perks like more parks, opened creeks paid for by developers, and appropriately-sized buildings. Developers will face fewer appeals and less litigation, and projects will progress faster since there will be less community resistance. 

We need to make sure decisions about development are made democratically. Otherwise—as a recent Daily Planet article about the financing of development in Berkeley showed—we risk placing our economic future in the hands of global financiers who will make decisions for us from places like Australia and Bahrain. 

As a matter of fact, such financiers have too much influence already. In the last municipal election three percent of registered voters gave money to our mayoral candidates. It’s a safe bet that 100 percent of the developers donated to the candidates. It’s also a safe bet that the lack of democracy in development decisions is related to that disparity in campaign financing.  

Passing Measure H, which provides public financing for candidates with broad-based local support, is the simplest and smartest way to level the playing field and make sure that elected officials make the interests of their constituents their first priority. Monied interests—from developers to realtors to polluters to financiers—will no longer be at the front of the line.  

Berkeley’s economy is supposed to serve the community and not the other way around. It’s time for us to stop allowing our physical space—OUR city—and our local democracy to be used to line private pockets while leaving the public poorer.  

—Jesse Townley 

District 5 City Council candidate 

›

Paula Casio wants President Bush out of office. But with a daughter and a full-time job, she can’t spend the next month canvassing the streets of swing states. 

With the help of a Berkeley-based organization, Casio is reaching those swing voters nonetheless from her home in Lomita, about 20 minutes south of Los Angeles. 

The organization, Party For America (PFA), which has partnered with America Coming Together (ACT), the largest anti-Bush canvassing group, is providing alternatives for people like Casio who want to make a difference in the election, but don’t have much time or don’t live near a central organizing spot. 

“I was looking for a way to help with the campaign,” Casio said. “I finally determined that I couldn’t travel because I have a daughter. I was looking for something I could do on the phone.” 

She looked on ACT’s website, but saw there was not much she could do without traveling. Then she saw PFA’s link at the bottom of the site for alternative ways of getting involved. After entering her information, she received an e-mail from an organizer offering suggestions.  

The organizer suggested that Casio help the campaign by making calls to swing states from her home. She now has a list of 30 phone numbers for women who live in rural West Virginia whom she’s been trying to convince to vote for John Kerry next month. Those names came from a list of about 11,000 potential women swing voters whom ACT didn’t have time to visit or call. 

“We needed to give [volunteers] an alternative to driving 50 miles” to the nearest event or to canvass, said Robert Vogel, PFA’s director who lives in Berkeley’s Claremont/Elmwood neighborhood. 

Since starting in March, PFA has helped organize about 2,200 people like Casio, Vogel said. And while that’s small compared to the numbers ACT or MoveOn.org have organized, Vogel said that he is happy with the group’s contribution, moving thousands of people who otherwise would have likely sat by the sidelines. 

Large parts of PFA’s organizing strategy come out of the Howard Dean house parties that Vogel, his wife Simona Carini and several of their Berkeley friends, attended and helped organize leading up to the primary elections.  

Attendees to those gatherings saw the power of talking other people instead of sitting in front of their computers, Vogel said.  

Sandi Smith, a volunteer in Austin, said every time she has a question about organizing, she send an e-mail to her organizer and usually gets a response within an hour. She tests software for a living is comfortable with computers and familiar with Internet organizing, but still appreciates the human help. 

Smith joined PFA because she knew Texas is going to be won by Bush and wanted to organize outside her state without leaving her job. Like Casio, she is calling women in West Virginia.  

“I have not been involved in politics much,” said Smith. “The fact that Bush has done such a horrendous job as president has woken me up and made me realize that I need to get off my lazy butt and do something.”  

For those interested in helping PFA contact women in swing states, please visit PFA’s site at http://partyforamerica.editme.com.w

Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Seymour Hersh, political humorist Molly Ivins and satirist Paul Krassner are among the voices speaking out as the Free Speech Movement’s 40th anniversary commemoration continues throughout the week. 

Texas political commentator Molly Ivins will deliver the annual Mario Savio Memorial Lecture during a 7-10 p.m. program Wednesday in Zellerbach Hall that will also feature the Young Activist Award presentation. 

Free tickets will be available at the hall from 5 p.m. 

Hersh, a reporter for the New Yorker, won journalism’s most coveted honor in 1970 for breaking the story of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. He will be interviewed by Michael Krasny, host of KQED’s Forum program, in the Pauley Ballroom on the UC campus from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. Friday.  

Hersh is the featured guest at a conference on “Resisting Government Secrecy in a Time of Terrorism” to be held this weekend at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. The conference is being co-sponsored by the journalism school and the California First Amendment Coalition. 

Hersh won his Pulitzer Prize in 1970 while reporting on the My Lai massacre for the Dispatch News Service. After the Washington Post broke the Watergate story, Hersh’s reporting on that story for the New York Times helped that newspaper keep pace with the dispatches of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Earlier this year he broke the story about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib jail. He is the author of Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib, published this year by HarperCollins. 

Other conference topics will include media coverage of the Iraq war, Supreme Court decisions on national security and civil liberties, subpoenas against reporters, and homeland security and restrictions on information access. 

While conference registration is not required for attendance at Hersh’s presentation, seating priority will be given to those who have registered. Registration for the conference is $45 for First Amendment Coalition members, $55 for non-members, and $25 for students. 

Paul Krassner, whose outrageous essays and offerings appeared in The Realist, one of the seminal satirical zines of the 1960s, will participate in a 6:15 p.m. interactive broadcast Friday as he, Scoop Nisker and Kris Welch dissect the evening’s presidential debate between John Kerry and Molly Ivins’ favorite target. 

Other events on the agenda include two programs Tuesday evening, a 6 p.m. DeCal panel on “Students, Power, and the Desires of Society” in the FSM Cafe and a “FSM and Civil Liberties” poetry reading at the Bears’ Lair. 

Wednesday events include a noon showing of the documentary film Berkeley in the ‘60s in the FSM Cafe, a panel discussion on “Effective Strategies of Change” from 3:15 to 5:30 p.m. at 2050 Valley LSB, and a 6 p.m. concert in Lower Sproul Plaza featuring Utah Phillips and other performers, followed by a 9:30 p.m. open poetry reading at The Starry Plough Pub, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

On Thursday, Jo Freeman, author of At Berkeley in the Sixties will talk on “How Cold War Culture Shaped ‘60s Protest” from noon to 1:15 p.m. in 119 Moses. 

Panel discussions will be “Focus on the FSM & Sixties: Lessons for Today,” starting at noon in Sproul Plaza, “How it Worked: Nuts and Bolts of the FSM” from 1:30 to 3 p.m. at International House followed immediately in the same location by “Berkeley and the Black Freedom Struggle: Then and Now.” The day’s last International House offering will be “Focus on the FSM: Its Genesis, Meanings, and Consequences” from 6:45 to 9:30 p.m. 

For theater buffs, there’s a 3:30 to 5 p.m. play For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge in the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union 

Friday’s main even happens—where else?—around a police car in Sproul Plaza at noon. The rally features movement speakers, campus representatives and a dissection of the Patriot Act.  

Other events that day include a 9 a.m. to noon Ideas Fair to be held at political tables in Memorial Glade and another panel, “Effective Strategies of Change,” will be held at 160 Kroeber from 9:15 to 11:45 a.m. 

From 1:30 to 4 p.m., a teach-in on 12 current civil liberties issues will be held in and around Sproul Hall and in 20, 110, 126 and 166 Barrows. 

From 7 to 11 p.m., there’s a Sixties Film Festival featuring Berkeley in the Sixties and Freedom on My Mind at 142 Dwinelle. 

For a complete list of programs and participants see the web site at http://www.straw.com/fsm-a/ 

Staff writer J. Douglas Allen-Taylor contributed to this report.?

The organizers of the Free Speech Movement commemorative activities are still looking for a bit of help for next week. According to Michael Rossman, they’d be grateful for facilitators/moderators for most of the Friday workshops and Saturday panels. As of press time, these workshops also need additional panelists: 

Friday: 1:30-4 p.m. The Internet and Civil/Cyber Liberties, The Media and C.L., Drug Policies and C.L., Academic Freedom, Libraries and C.L.  

Saturday: 10 a.m.-12 p.m., Affirmative Action, The Internet and Civil/Cyber Liberties; 1-3 p.m., The Media and C.L., Drug Policies and C.L, Marriage Equality; 3:15-5:15 p.m., The Patriot Act, Libraries and C.L., Racial Justice Disparities  

There’s an updated list and contact information on their website at fsma.org/stacks/FSMat40/program.

SAN FRANCISCO—Outside of a Vietnamese coffee shop in the Tenderloin district, two older Vietnamese men are smoking and talking about Bush and Kerry. “Kerry did very well, but Bush came out solid and strong,” says Mr. Tinh Nguyen. “Kerry might still have a fighting chance. Too bad we are voting in California. We can’t help President Bush from here.”  

The scene reflects typical Vietnamese American voting patterns. A recent poll conducted before the debate by Bendixen and Associates and New California Media—a part of Pacific News Service—found that a whopping 71 percent of Vietnamese American said they would vote for George W. Bush, and only 27 percent for Kerry.  

It’s not surprising, coming from a community that considers Viet Dinh and Anh Nguyet Duong among its heroes. Dinh, as assistant to Attorney General John Ashcroft, drafted the Patriot Act, and Duong, called “the Bomb Lady” by the press, created the thermobaric or “bunker-busting” bomb that was mentioned in the first Bush-Kerry debate and was used against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Both Duong and Dinh had been boat people escaping communist Vietnam.  

While the number of Vietnamese registered to vote in 2000 was near 325,000, according to the U.S. Census, Sergio Bendixen, president of Bendixen and Associates, says the number of Vietnamese registered voters now could be as high as 600,000.  

“Their vote will be a little less than one percent of the total registered voters. If you were to look at the 18 battleground states, at most there will be 100,000 Vietnamese votes in those states,” Bendixen says.  

The numbers are small. On the other hand, given the tight race, a few thousands votes could very well make a big difference.  

But Francois Truong, on the other hand, says he definitely belongs to the 27 percent. An openly gay Vietnamese living in San Francisco, Truong says he can’t believe that Vietnamese would vote overwhelmingly for Bush. “I’d do anything to get Bush out.” What does he think of Vietnamese who support Bush? “They’re stupid. Haven’t they seen what happened to this country since Bush has been in office?” 

Nam Nguyen, publisher of Calitoday, the largest Vietnamese paper in San Jose, where over 100,000 Vietnamese reside, says he understands why Vietnamese will still turn out to vote, when many know that California will go for Kerry. “We are forming an impressive voting block. We are saying ‘I’m here, we’re here.’ This large block will solidify in the mind of local politicians... I think especially that’s important when it comes to the next governor’s race in California, where we need to have our voice heard.”  

The reasons Vietnamese Americans are voting for Bush are many, but it comes down essentially to this: Republicans are perceived as being strong against terrorism and, more important, communism. The majority of the Vietnamese population is foreign born who were once refugees fleeing communism, and many still remember what it was like to live under dictatorship. Senator Kerry, who fought in the Vietnam War, but turned into an anti war activist, is perceived by many as untrustworthy. Recently, Kerry blocked a bill that, in order to pressure Vietnam to end its human rights abuses, would have reduced U.S. aid to the country. His opposition to the bill solidified many Vietnamese in their decision to vote against him.  

Minh Tran, who lives in San Jose and who came to the United States in 1981 at age 22, for instance, said that Kerry doesn’t deserve his vote because “Kerry did not support the U.S. resolution against human rights violations in Vietnam.” 

In recent years, polls have also showed Vietnamese consistently voting conservative. Says Bendixen, “They are very conservative in the war of Iraq. On issues like gay marriage they are strongly against. On 9/11, they were very patriotic. So they tend to feel best represented by Republicans.”  

But those who are voting for Kerry are no less vocal. David Ho, on a Vietnamese-language chat room recently urged fellow Vietnamese Americans to rethink a vote for Bush. “With Bush in the White House the next four years, imagine where the U.S. will end up? Please think of the future of your children. Bush will cut all financial support that will help a better life for people in America and move that wealth to finance war in the Middle East.”  

And Pham Phan agrees: “In the last four years all the social supports have been dwindling while taxes for the richest 1 percent are cut. There is no security in America and no WMD in Iraq. Does Bush deserve our votes?”  

The Bendixen poll also found that among Asian Americans aged 18 to 39, only 27 percent would vote for Bush, versus 51 percent for Kerry. Calitoday publisher Nam Nguyen says that within another generation, Vietnamese Americans may become less conservative “as more and more are born in the United States, and their concerns are more domestic and not formed by Vietnam. 

“But,” Nguyen adds, “I don’t know. The next generation may just be as conservative as their parents.”  

WILLARD SCHOOL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I walked to Willard to play some basketball. I was shocked. The entire school is a disaster area. (The garden is only the tip of the iceberg.) How can kids go to school in such a mess? 

What idiot runs the school? A person with half a brain would know to do one project, and finish it, and then start the next. Instead, the whole school is torn up. Unbelievable! No wonder schools are always asking for more money. 

Thinking about it, the schools are asking for more money in November. If Willard’s an example of the incompetence running schools, giving them the money they’re asking for would be foolish and dangerous. 

Mark Schapiro 

• 

WAR DEAD MEMORIAL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you for including Matthew Artz’s article, “Iraq War Dead Remembered in Ashby Resident’s Tribute” in the Sept. 24-27 Daily Planet, and please convey my thanks to the anonymous woman who is recording every death in Iraq on her front fence. 

I have opposed our vainglorious and deadly war in Iraq since its beginning and have seethed at the daily naming tributes to Americans killed in the war while murdered Iraqis remain nameless and uncounted.  

The Ashby resident’s posted tribute does not bring the dead back but at least it tries valiantly to give equal honor to all who have died needlessly and unjustly in Iraq. My tearful thanks to Ms. Nameless. 

Fay M. Blake 

• 

POLICE TICKETING 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

On Monday, Sept. 27, around 8:45 a.m., I was driving south on Martin Luther King. I made a left turn onto Rose. Surprise! A policeman had stationed himself on Rose one block east from Martin Luther King and gave me a ticket for making an illegal left turn. This letter summarizes my concerns with that event. 

There is only one no-left-turn sign going south on MLK and it is at Rose. (No left turn from a.m. to 9 a.m. weekdays.) People living in the area are prone to forget the sign, because its presence is illogical, unnecessary, and capricious. There is no school and not much traffic going east on Rose from MLK. If the object of the no-left-turn sign was to lessen congestion, Cedar would have been a better choice. People living in the area are more liable to get a ticket making this left turn than strangers looking carefully at every sign. This is a “left turn trap” for Berkeley residents, as opposed to the typical “speed trap” of a town preying on strangers for revenue. 

Is this how Berkeley wants to finance its schools? Should police be spending their time lurking on a side street in the pursuit of this kind of revenue rather than patrolling the streets and being on the lookout for reckless drivers? Does Berkeley have so many police that this is their most pressing task at 8:45 a.m. on a weekday? Is this good for community relations between Berkeley citizens and police?  

Marek Kanter 

• 

BRENNAN’S 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I urge the people of Berkeley to contact their mayor, the Planning Department, the Landmarks Commission, and their neighbors concerning the terminal fate to be inflicted on Brennan’s restaurant. Word about town has the developer, Urban Housing Group, wanting to speed the timeline up by demolishing this famous structure as soon as possible.  

Forget what you’ve read in the tabloids or heard otherwise. These people are out to erase a Berkeley institution, and my family’s rooted heritage. The voice of the community has yet to be heard on this issue. Come to the Nov. 1 Landmarks Commission meeting (7:30 p.m.) and get the real story. 

In the meantime, tell everyone you know that Brennan’s restaurant needs their friends to spread the word. A vital, historic and family run Berkeley 

institution is in danger of being lost. We need a big turn-out next month. Let them build condominiums somewhere else, and leave our native, and pioneer 

history intact.  

John Brennan, cousin 

• 

FREE SPEECH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The organizers of the Free Speech Movement commemoration are correct that free speech is under threat today, but not for the reasons they identify. I can pick up any newspaper and find letters and editorials critical of Bush, Ashcroft, and the Patriot Act. 

Compare that with what happens when a conservative attempts to speak in Berkeley. Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Benjamin Netanyahu, David Horowitz, and Michelle Malkin are just a few of the individuals that leftist brownshirts have attempted, sometimes successfully, to prevent from speaking. 

It’s ironic that Berkeley, the home of the Free Speech Movement, is now the spot in the U.S. where there is the least free speech. Perhaps I should expect it in a city where the mayor stole newspapers that endorsed his opponent and then lied to the police about it. 

Mark Johnson 

• 

SACRAMENTO STREET HOUSING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Like many in this neighborhood, I was delighted to hear that at last the Sacramento Street Senior Housing project “almost certainly” will be going ahead. Many of us who have supported this worthwhile and classily designed project have despaired at the seriously negative tactics and persistently absurd nitpicking legal maneuvers of Marie Bowman. Every time there was a design adjustment, Ms. Bowman would pull a “bait and switch,” next complaining of changes she herself had suggested! This process has needlessly cost our city taxpayers a substantial hit just when funds are so tight.  

Even sadder is how much this expensive delay parallels the opposition pattern to the impressive disabled housing that was constructed next door on the corner of Dwight and Sacramento years ago. (That was the site of a gas station, not the Outback building as the Daily Planet article said.) The corner housing has proved an excellent neighbor, although never using all the numerous parking spots demanded by the opposition grumpies.  

Having participated as an interested neighbor for all these years, I was impressed from the first meetings with the architects and Affordable Housing Associates’ flexibility and openness to suggestions. I can’t even recall how many critically altered versions of the project were created over this amount of time to answer local concerns. I join my neighbors in looking forward to the groundbreaking.  

YES in my back yard!  

Lee Marrs  

• 

TREES IN BERKELEY 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

I have heard about the Ron Sullivan articles and Michael Farrells letters focusing on the importance of careful selection of trees with an eye toward the long term impact and notice that the focus seems to be exclusively on privately owned trees, but the problems addressed in both writings also affect our public trees. In making tree planting decisions it is important to think about the success of the tree fifty or a hundred years from now. Trees that drop fruit or having rooting systems likely to lift sidewalks are better suited to parks and median strips, and should not be planted along side walks, although the loss of the some of the mock orange trees along Shattuck with their heavenly aroma is still regrettable. The ability to withstand compacted soil, and drought tolerance (since the small soil area reduces available water, which can not penetrate concrete) are important qualities to look for in sidewalk trees. Some trees, such as those with brittle wood likely to cause falling branches should not be planted in urban environments. Measure S, the Berkeley Public Tree Act, will create a citizen board take these factors into consideration before trees are planted. The detriment of creating a new board far out weigh the deficiencies and waste of the city’s present policy, which seems to be to plant trees and tear them out years later, when a problem that could have been avoided by proper selection becomes apparent. 

Mr. Farrell also talks about the danger of fire-prone trees. Since the 1991 Hills fire every major report on the issue has recommended removal of fire prone trees in the hills, Just a few weeks ago Eucalyptus trees caused a dangerous fire in Marin. Measure S deals with the issue, requiring the tree board to bring all concerned parties together to create a plan to remove of fire-prone trees in the hills and mandating they be replaced with native, more fire resistant species. The issue is somewhat complicated because soil stabilization provided by the trees root system is essential to prevent the hills from collapsing or causing mud slides due to rushing water and the effect of gravity during the rainy season. Measure S thoughtfully requires a plan of successive planting so as to phase out fire-prone species and replace them with native, more fire resistant species. 

The article also mentions the benefits native trees have for birds and other local wildlife. In addition to requiring that fire-prone species in the hills be replaced with native species Measure S also requires the use of native species and prohibits the city from planting “invasive exotics.” Although the city does allow residents to pick the tree they prefer from a variety of species as one who looked into the program by examining the book of trees offered at the libraries reference section I was surprised to learn that the city offers hardly any native species. Measure S specifically encourages the use of native species, which, I believe, would be a substantial improvement over the present policy. 

Gail Garrison 

• 

HONKING IN SUPPORT 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

In the Oct. 1-4 story “Berkeley Cops Ticketed Claremont Protest Supporters,” Carol Harris complained about the ticket she got for honking her horn at 11:30 p.m. as she drove past the Claremont Hotel a few weeks ago. I can understand how she might think the ticket was unfair, since she was just trying to show her support for the picket in front of the Claremont. 

But as always, there are two sides to every story. My family lives on Tunnel Road across the street from the Claremont Hotel. Carol Harris’s car was only one of many cars that honked as they drove past our house during the 24-hour picket on Aug. 27-28. Tunnel Road actually runs through a residential district. More than 30,000 cars drive by our homes every day, and whenever the union has a picket, many of the 30,000 cars honk to show their support. Some only honk “three short times” at 11:30 p.m., like Carol. Others hold their horns down as they drive up the hill past our homes. Every car that honks is cheered on by the picketers, who hold up signs urging people to honk. These pickets have been going on for more than three years, so I’ve attended lots of them and have heard lots of horn honking. And the honking isn’t even the worst of it. Imagine coming home from work on Friday afternoon, as we did on Aug. 27, expecting to wind down for the weekend, only to be met by 200 people marching up and down in front of your house, some shouting through microphones, others chanting loudly, accompanying themselves with drums and even air horns, urging passing cars to honk. Now imagine that this goes on from Friday afternoon, throughout Friday night, and continues all day Saturday, loudly enough that the words of the chants can be heard clearly in every room of the house with all the windows closed and the radio turned up. This is what it’s like for those of us who live around the Claremont when there is a picket. Whenever this happens, and it’s happened many times in the last three years, we neighbors are at the mercy of the union. The last time, my family was driven out. We had to leave home for two days to stay with friends because the noise was too great to allow us to sleep or even to sit down together for a meal. 

In the article, Claire Darby, a union rep, remarked on the irony of a motorcycle policeman issuing a citation for noise. I would like to assure Claire and others that the noise of a motorcycle is nothing compared to 24 hours of many people shouting through microphones, banging drums, blowing whistles, setting off air horns, and urging passing cars to honk. I don’t need to tell anyone there is lots of traffic noise on my street—Tunnel Road is one of the most heavily trafficked streets in our city. We don’t expect the kind of quiet at home that most other people take for granted. But the noise made by the union on these occasions is truly unbearable for neighbors. The union rep is quoted in the article as saying that the neighbors asked “respectfully” that we be notified in advance of the pickets. Yes we did. Many, many times in the last three years we’ve asked union members “respectfully” to remember the neighbors. We’ve pleaded with them “respectfully” when we’ve been awakened at 6 a.m. by bullhorns, drumming, cheering, and whistles in front of our house. We’ve pleaded with them “respectfully” late at night, when our baby was unable go to sleep because of the flood of noise coming into our house. We’ve pleaded with them “respectfully” when they’ve knocked on our door to give us fliers or ask us to put signs up in our yard. We’ve pleaded with them “respectfully” when they have parked in our driveway and sat in their cars honking along with the chanting. We have phoned the union, and we have written to our councilmembers who have also spoken with the union. The only response we have ever had in three years is that it’s not the union’s fault, it’s the Claremont Hotel’s fault, and that’s who we should complain to. 

The real irony is this: It’s not the Claremont Hotel that suffers when the union has a picket. It’s the neighbors. And the union has made it pretty clear to us that our suffering is not their concern. In three years I have learned not to expect any change in the way the union treats us, but I do hope that our Berkeley neighbors who read my letter will remember the families who live on Tunnel Road, and be supportive of the union without honking. Thanks. 

Ginger Ogle 

• 

WILLARD PARK INCIDENT 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

On Saturday afternoon (Oct. 21) I was walking with my husband in the Willard Park when suddenly some police cars got there and sent us away saying that it was a “Death or Life” issue.  

I haven’t found any news about it this morning, and I would like to know what all that operation was about.  

Sabrina Restituiti 

• 

CAL SAILING CLUB 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Jane Morson’s excellent opinion piece in the Oct. 1 Daily Planet might have left the impression that the rent increases being proposed for Cal Sailing Club are driven by the city’s ongoing financial crisis. In fact the two are unrelated: There is a statutory and contractual firewall between the Marina Fund and the city’s General Fund, such that all revenue generated in the marina has to stay in the marina. The Berkeley Marina is self-supporting and financially autonomous from the rest of the city. 

No matter how much financial trouble the city may be in, raising the rent on waterfront nonprofits like the Cal Sailing Club has absolutely no effect on the uptown budget or the city’s ability to support other vital services and organizations. 

But this doesn’t mean that the Marina Fund can’t be put to good use in meaningful ways to benefit the greater Berkeley community. Jane tried to explain the value of the Cal Sailing Club as a public resource, and other waterfront organizations make equally important contributions in their own ways. 

The city should not be trying to squeeze a few more dollars out of struggling waterfront nonprofits—especially when there is potential for expanding water-related recreation to supplement some of the shore-based programs now suffering under current funding constraints. 

Playing fields cost $2 million each. A dragon boat (large racing canoe) big enough for 22 novice paddlers costs $8,000, and the water doesn’t have to fenced, landscaped or mowed. Youth programs based on these boats—or on outriggers, kayaks or small sailboats—can serve more kids at a small fraction of the cost of field sports, requiring far lower maintenance and staff resources. Support for the organizations and volunteers who make this happen would be an appropriate use of marina revenue, fully consistent with both the spirit and intent of the financial separation between the Marina Fund and the rest of the city’s finances. And support for water-related programs costs the General Fund nothing. 

Perhaps even more important, water-based sports appeal to many youth who are not attracted to the culture of field sports. Paddling, rowing and sailing offer alternatives that can be found nowhere else, and this can and does happen within the Marina Fund boundaries where the subsidy—if a subsidy is even required at all—comes from private boat berthing fees and restaurant and hotel revenue that has to stay on the waterfront anyway. 

On the other hand, the marina may be facing a financial crisis of its own. This is mostly driven by an ambitious reconstruction project that will replace nearly half of the private boat berths in the harbor. The project is being funded by a $7 million state loan, with a possible $2 million additional to cover likely overruns. Another $5,000 per year in rent from the Cal Sailing Club will have no significant effect on the Marina Fund’s solvency—but it means life or death for the Sailing Club. 

I am only one member of the Waterfront Commission, and can only speak for myself. But my sense of the commission is that we have no interest in seeing the Cal Sailing Club put out of business or forced into a commercial rate structure because of a Marina Fund deficit driven by the high cost of landscaping the marina parking lots and upgrading the docks for private berths. 

Paul Kamen 

Member, Berkeley Waterfront Commission 

• 

HARDWARE VOLUNTEERS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

If Susan Parker’s father knows a toggle bolt from a toggle switch, she should tell him to check out the hardware stores in his neighborhood. Most hardware stores welcome experienced older people who can help customers. I am a retired engineer of a similar vintage as your father now working half time at a large hardware store in Berkeley. The oldest employee in the store is in his mid 80s and still going strong. The variety of customers and situations in a hardware store is endless and fascinating. Give it a try!  

Furthermore, there is an insatiable need for volunteers of every kind—meals on wheels, hospital support, food pantries, big brother, tutoring. You name it. You’re wanted! 

Chuck the divots and do something worthwhile! 

Harlan Head 

?

Peeper Popped 

A 42-year-old Peeping Tom observed ogling a juvenile through a window along Berryman Path shortly after midnight last Thursday morning was given another sort of window to contemplate, this one featuring bars, after he was spotted and police were summoned, catching him in the act. 

Gunman Gets Wallet 

A man with a gun confronted two pedestrians walking along Ridge Road near Euclid Avenue just a block from the UC Campus shortly before 1 a.m. Thursday and departed with a wallet.  

Alta Bates Sexual Battery 

Police are investigating a report that a 53-year-old woman was subjected to sexual battery at Alta Bates Hospital on Ashby Avenue early Thursday morning. 

Battle Brandisher Busted  

Berkeley Police arrested a 62-year-old man on charges of brandishing a deadly weapon after he was reported slashing the tires of a car on Cedar Street near San Pablo Avenue and threatening the vehicle’s owner with jagged glass. 

Hot Checks and Cold Drugs 

One of Berkeley’s less-than-stellar criminal masterminds suffered a severe setback when he tried to cash checks he’d stolen and forged at the Shattuck Avenue Union Bank at 1 p.m. Friday, said Berkeley Police spokesperson officer Joe Okies. 

The 46-year-old felon was so obvious that bank official called police as he attempted his transaction, enabling Berkeley’s finest to bust him on the spot on no less than 10 criminal charges, including forgery, possession of stolen property (the checks), parole violation, possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia and parole violation. 

Gunmen Get Wallet 

A 24-year-old woman was robbed of her wallet by two armed bandits who approached her near the corner of Adeline and 63rd Street just after 4 p.m. Friday. 

Shell Station Robbed 

A gunman walked into the Shell Station at University Avenue and Bonar Street about 8:30 p.m. Friday and demanded cash. Receiving same, he departed. 

Robbery Try Fails 

Two strongarm artists failed in their attempt to stage the strong-arm robbery of a pedestrian near the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Way and University Avenue at 9:15 Monday evening. 

Stabbing Investigated 

A Saturday night dustup ended when a 66-year-old man stabbed his victim in the chest, inflicting non-life-threatening injuries. As the victim was transported to the hospital, the suspect was hauled off to jail and booked on two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. 

Strongarm Duo Gets Green 

A pair of strongarm artists robbed a 55-year-old man of his cash near the corner of California and Ward streets just before 1 p.m. Sunday. No suspects have been arrested.

Arsonist Strikes Julia Morgan Shed 

Flames threatened one of Berkeley’s most venerable architectural landmarks Sunday morning when an arsonist torched a recycling shed adjacent to the Julia Morgan Theater at 2640 College Ave. 

Acting city Fire Chief David Orth said the flames, which were reported at 6:30 a.m., totally demolished the eight-by-ten-foot shed where recyclables were stored and caused minor damage to the front exterior and several windows of the theater. 

Prompt action by firefighters limited the damage to about $15,000, he said. 

Willard Park Chopper  

Residents of the Willard Park area were surprised to see a helicopter landing at the site at 4:15 p.m. Saturday. Acting Fire Chief David Orth said the aircraft was there to transport a critically ill patient from nearby Alta Bates Medical Center to Stanford for emergency treatment.

Attending the first day of an MFA fiction workshop at San Francisco State, I listened as the instructor took roll. When he came to the name Kirk Read, he hesitated, and then mumbled something about Kirk Read telling him he wouldn’t be taking the class. My ears perked up. The name Kirk Read was familiar. During the school year of 1982-83 in Virginia, when I was teaching fourth grade, I had a student named Kirk Read. Could it be the same little boy, all grown up and enrolled in graduate school?  

The name Kirk Read didn’t come to me completely out of the blue. Several years ago Kirk wrote How I Learned to Snap: A Small-Town Coming-Out and Coming of Age Story (Penguin Books). Former students told me about Kirk’s memoir, and said that he had moved to San Francisco. It wasn’t hard to find him. His name was splashed across the pages of many Bay Area newspapers. He was giving readings, performing, and emceeing practically everywhere.  

I looked up Kirk’s website, e-mailed him to reintroduce myself, and ordered his book. Kirk was out of town, but his automatic e-mail response said he’d return my message soon. When his book arrived I devoured it. Full of juicy tidbits about kids and adults I knew while living and teaching in Lexington, Kirk writes with tenderness and sensitivity about growing up gay in a conservative, southern town. Kirk’s father was a retired colonel in the United States Army and I remember him well. Director of alumni affairs for Virginia Military Institute, Colonel Read was rarely without a smile, a firm handshake, or a highball in his hand. I ran in footraces when I lived in Lexington and Col. Read was often my running partner. He once said to me, as I beat him over the finish line, “once a damn Yankee, always a damn Yankee.” 

After I finished Kirk’s book, I looked on his website in order to catch his next performance. He was going to be at the LBGT Community Center of San Francisco. 

It was easy to find Kirk at the center. Surrounded by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Kirk let out a squeal that could be heard around the block when he saw me coming toward him. “My fourth grade teacher!” he wailed. This set off the Sisters, who began to screech in unison with Kirk. Next thing I knew, I was attacked with hugs and kisses.  

After a blessing from the Sisters, I settled into a chair and watched Kirk perform. Full of amazing energy and enthusiasm, Kirk had the audience follow along as he chanted the Lexington High School football cheer (Go Scarlet Hurricanes!), and later had us weeping as he read about the awkwardness of finding his gay identity in a town known for its military heritage: Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson are buried in Lexington; Generals George C. Marshall and George Patton attended Virginia Military Institute.  

Months later, while in Manhattan, I caught another Kirk performance, and periodically I’d read about him in local newspapers. How I Learned to Snap was a finalist in the 2001 Lamda Literary Awards; Kirk selected and wrote the introduction for Best Gay Erotica 2004 (Cleis Press). 

During a break in the MFA class I asked the prof if the Kirk Read he had called during roll was the author of How I Learned to Snap. “Yes,” said the instructor. “Do you know him?” 

“I was his fourth grade teacher,” I said with pride. 

“No kidding,” he exclaimed. “Amazing!” 

“Yes,” I said returning to my seat. “Can you believe it? That ought to be good for an A in this class, don’t you think?” 

Kirk Read hosts Smack Dab, a monthly open mic/talent show in the Castro. The next Smack Dab will be held at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 20 at Magnet, 4122 18th St. between Castro and Collingwood. Go to www.kirkread.com for further information.e

Probably the best-known human rights in the U.S. are the right to a lawyer and the right to due process. Anyone who has ever been arrested in a mass protest or in a strike may have also heard of the right to habeas corpus: the right, immediately after being arrested, to be brought before an official in the judicial system and told on what charges you are being held. 

18. The Government’s Duties to Guarantee Due Process of Law, Right to Council, and Habeas Corpus 

(continued) 

The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures by the Government of the person, and property, of any person suspected of a crime. The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to counsel in all criminal prosecutions, a speedy public trial, a trial by an impartial jury. All defendants have a right to know the charges against them and to “be confronted with the witnesses against [them]; ...” they can have “compulsory process” to bring people to court to testify for them, and they have the right to have lawyers assist in their defense. The Seventh Amendment protects the right to jury trial in civil cases. The Eighth Amendment spells out the right to be freed on bail that is not “excessive” and “no cruel and unusual punishments” shall be “inflicted.” 

These historic procedural rights are also spelled out in modern terms in the UN Charter, Articles 55 and 56, Int’l. Covenant on Civil & Political Rights Arts. 1-27, and Convention on Elimination of Racial Discrimination Arts. 1-9. 

Report 18.2 

PATRIOT Act Labels Ordinary Crimes “Terrorism,” Increasing Penalties (PL 107-56) (David B. Caruso, “Antiterror Laws Often Used Against Street Criminals,” Mindfully.org, Sept. 15, 2003.)  

Report 18.3 

Ashcroft Arrested Well-Known Defense Lawyer for Egyptian Sheik: Lynne Stewart (Susie Day, “Counter-Intelligent: The Surveillance and Indictment of Lynne Stewart,” Monthly Review, Nov. 2002.) 

Report 18.5 

U.S. District Court Kept Secret Habeas Case of Detained Algerian: Bellahouel (Dan Christenson, “Scrutinizing ‘Supersealed’ Cases,” Miami Daily Business Review, December 2, 2003.) 

Report 18.6 

Courts Reject Sections of Anti-Terrorism Act and PATRIOT Act (Press Release, “Key Provisions of Anti Terrorism Statute Declared Unconstitutional,” Center for Constitutional Rights, December 3, 2003.) 

Report 18.7 

Jury Acquits One Charged with Terrorism; DOJ Public Integrity Section Investigates Charges: Koubriti (David Cole, “The War on Our Rights,” The Nation, December 24, 2003.) 

Report 18.9 

U.S. Takes Native Land for Nuclear Waste Repository and Resource Extraction: Despite 1863 Treaty (“Bush signs Western Shoshone legislation: Tribal leaders view bill as massive land fraud,” Western Shoshone Defense Project, July 7, 2004.) 

19. Not to “Detain” “Enemy Combantants” at Guantanamo or Anywhere 

The most pervasive human rights violations since 9/11 occurred during the detentions of people on various grounds. The clear legal right to retain a lawyer, and to go before a judge in a habeas corpus proceeding to find out the charges—the Bush Administration uniformly denied these due process rights to detainees, in violation of federal and international law. 

Most people were detained before they were killed or disappeared by the U.S. Government, or before they were subjected to torture. Thousands were detained after they:  

•Exercised their right peaceably to assemble.  

• Went to register at the request of the U.S. Government. 

• Tried to exercise their right to travel. 

• While awaiting decisions on their applications for political asylum. 

• While the military decided what to do with military personnel seeking conscientious objector status Political prisoners continued to be detained. 

The largest category of detainees, and those held the longest without any due process or procedure for determining why they should be detained, were the men arrested all over the world and held by U.S. military forces at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. 

Victims and their lawyers argued that many provisions of the U.S. Constitution were violated by these detentions, including: 

Art. I, §§§ 8; 9, cl. 2; Art. II, §1, cl. 8; §2, cl. 1; §3; Art. VI, cl. 2; 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 14th Amendments; UN Charter Art. 1.3, 2.2, 55, 55(a)-(c), 56, 73 (a)-(d), 74; OAS Charter Art. 106; ICCPR Preamble, Arts. 1- 27; CAT Preamble, Arts. 1- 10; 3rd, 4th Geneva Conventions 

Report 19.1 

UN and OAS Concerned that U.S. Ensure Competent Tribunal for Guantanamo Detainees (Petition to Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on Behalf of the Guantanamo Detainees,” Center for Constitutional Rights, August 2004.) 

Report 19.2 

U.S. Sends U.S. Citizen Hamdi to Guantanamo; Supreme Court Exercises Jurisdiction (“Jailed American's Parents Sue U.S.,” Associated Press, July 29, 2004.) 

Report 19.3 

Middle Eastern Men Detained, Tortured, Denied Rights (Associated Press, “Guantanamo Camp Expands,” Aug. 26, 2003.) 

Report 19.4 

U.S. Navy Arrested U.S.-Syrian Airman Al-Halabi, Seized His Defense Papers; Released Him (Barbara Grady, “Judge Frees Accused U.S. Guantanamo Spy From Jail,” Reuters News Service, May 12, 2004.) 

Report 19.5 

U.S. Supreme Court Grants Detainees Rasul and Al Odah Habeas Review (321 F.3d 1134; Rasul v. Bush, 124 S. Ct. 2686 (2004).) 

Report 19.6 

U.S. Supreme Court Vacated Judgment for Detainee Gherebi, Remanded (Bush v. Gherebi, 124 S.Ct. 2932 (2004).) 

Report 19.7 

Released British Detainees Allege Abuses at Guantanamo (Clare Dyer, “Britain stands firm against Guantanamo Bay trials by tribunal,” Guardian, June 25, 2004.) 

To be continued... 

Berkeley resident Ann Fagan Ginger is a lawyer, teacher, activist and the author of 24 books. She won a civil liberties case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1959. She is the founder and executive director of the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute, a Berkeley-based center for human rights and peace law. 

Contents excerpted from Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations Since 9/11, edited by Ann Fagan Ginger (© 2004 Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute; Prometheus Books 2005). 

Readers can go to mcli.org for a complete listing of reports and sources, with web links. 

›

Matthew Artz’ article “Owners Can Rebuild Near Creeks and Culverts,” (Daily Planet, Oct. 1-4) focused on the contentious nature of the Sept. 28 public hearing. Readers may remain unaware of some underlying details and issues. 

The hearing was packed with homeowners and creek advocates who were all in favor of allowing rebuilding after disasters. The creek supporters in attendance have always advocated this position, and publicly stated this as a major recommendation in a presentation made to City Council last March. But we also advocate the protection and restoration of our creeks and watersheds, because we believe that this is the responsible environmental action for homeowners and the city alike. 

Unfortunately, the majority of the hearing attendees had been led to serious misconceptions about the nature of the Berkeley Creek Ordinance. Many seemed to think that the ordinance exists in a vacuum in Berkeley, while the fact is that state regulations are getting more and more stringent with respect to water quality, creeks, and watersheds. We’ll have to adhere to these regulations, whether we want to or not. Moreover, city after city—and county after county—have passed ordinances in recent years that far surpass Berkeley’s in their stringency and sophistication about creek and watershed protection. We’re well behind the curve now—not ahead of it. 

City staff made an excellent presentation at the hearing, explaining the many reasons that it’s important to protect our creeks and to avoid building close to culverts. Building too close to creeks can catalyze bank erosion and failure, while culverts can exacerbate flooding. Culverts fail over time, causing costly and potentially catastrophic damage if buildings are built close to them, while damaging water quality and wildlife habitat. This is painfully obvious in the Strawberry Creek case currently being fought in courts, which involves a failing culvert on North Valley Street. Building new structures over or near culverts creates a no-win situation for homeowners, the city, and for creeks. 

As communities, we regulate our water, our air, our building sizes, and we implement fire and safety codes—both to protect and benefit individuals, as well as our communities and environment at large. Berkeley’s Creek Ordinance provides important protections to the environment, to homeowners, and to the city. Before the ordinance was passed, construction near creeks and culverts was common; the costs of these ill-conceived projects will be borne far into the future by homeowners and by the city, which faces at least tens of millions of dollars in expenses to remedy these problems, and perhaps much more. All city taxpayers should be grateful for the ordinance’s success at limiting these costs, no matter how they feel about the additional benefits to the environment. 

We believe that revisions can be made to the Creek Ordinance that will help homeowners, protect the city from future liabilities, and protect the vital ecological assets that are our creeks. Hopefully, now that the City Council has reaffirmed that the ordinance will not prevent people from rebuilding after disasters, we can move beyond fear, and into substantive, thoughtful discussions about how to improve and update the ordinance to reflect the expansive knowledge now existing about the importance of creek health to water quality, flood control, and habitat restoration. Many people see our creeks and watersheds as positive, wonderful treasures in our cities. These treasures deserve our careful stewardship. 

We urge the City Council to create a truly independent, multi-stakeholder Creeks Task Force that will look at the many issues surrounding our creeks, and develop recommendations and innovative funding ideas so critically needed to address the interests and concerns of all residents of the city. 

›

Daily Planet letter writer Doug Pestrak (Sept. 21-23) doesn’t have to look far for an answer to the homeless situation which puzzles him so much. If he just turns a few pages in the issue of the Planet in which his letter appeared, he’ll see that a site which once housed more than 70 low-income people with come-as-you-are (no large security deposits, leases, etc.) units runs the risk of being replaced with a building housing only 20 people, with possibly one or two “low income” units for the $35,000 a year set. 

The wonderfully researched front-page article by Richard Brenneman (“Building Proposed for Vacant Lot at Telegraph, Haste”) doesn’t mention one important and relevant fact about the building that once stood at Telegraph and Haste, a fact known only to a few. The 1986 fire which rendered the building unlivable was deliberately set. Friends of mine who lived in the building told the story of one entire wing of the building being told to evacuate just before the fire to reporter after reporter, most of whom would not print the story for fear of being sued. No one was ever prosecuted for the arson. 

Mayor Bates and the current council love the theory that condominium and property owners “contribute to community stability” and have “a long-term interest in the community,” neglecting to acknowledge that the rest of us do, too. They neglect to mention that the median income is so distorted by those who never have to think about the minimum wage as to be a useless measure of affordability. 

It is a measure of intellectual bankruptcy to ignore this fact, and an obvious recipe for the most vulnerable, and perhaps occasionally ill-tempered, to end up on the street. Berkeley cannot point to its pathetic assortment of inadequate shelter beds and argue that they are meeting the same need as the building which once stood at Haste and Telegraph. The poor are chased from one end of town to the other and repeatedly, punitively, ticketed; the people who burned down their houses were never charged. 

Our community is understandably bothered by aggressive behavior, name-calling, and maybe begging itself. But the Mayor and the Berkeley City Council, in their aggressive enthusiasm for housing only the wealthy and the upper middle class in the name of “stability” while whining ceaselessly for more taxes, are far more guilty of such behavior than the poor.  

Carol Denney is a Berkeley resident and activist.

I attended the public hearing on the Berkeley Creek Ordinance on Wednesday and was taken aback by the degree of fear and anxiety over the ordinance. The fear is based on the mistaken belief that you could not rebuild your home to the same footprint and height after a disaster or fire. I cannot think of any instance where the Creek Ordinance prevented a home from being rebuilt. Nevertheless, the City Council passed Alternative No. 2 with some amendments to make that clear. When misconceptions are repeated frequently enough, it can give listeners a mistaken impression that the idea is true. This is reminiscent of FOX news. 

The meeting was dominated by frightened property owners. However, several reasonable issues were raised by the participants. Some of these issues are not addressed by the ordinance and others need to be addressed by an updated ordinance and by city staff. Creeks and culverts are not unique to Berkeley. Other cities have had to deal with the same problems, and these cities have enacted newer creek ordinances which can be a model for us. 

The intent of the ordinance is to protect and watersheds and creeks from new or further development, i.e.. not to add insult to injury. It encourages daylighting of creeks, whenever possible. This is not to create a utopian vision, but to provide quality improvement for basic flood control and public and private safety. It is an effort to prevent construction of new culverts and to protect creek corridors that are currently free of “civilized” encroachment. As far as I am concerned, property owners, such as the Friends Church who have an existing parking lot and playground over a culverted creek, should have no fear about rebuilding. This would not be the case if there was an open space and someone proposed building a parking lot over culverted creek. To many people, a creek out of sight, is out of mind. But, putting a creek in a culvert does not make it cease to exist. This may sound like a Zen concept, but whether you see the creek or not, it still exists. 

Creeks are living. It is somewhat akin to the circulation of the human body. Like a bypass graft that circulates blood to parts of your body, a culvert sends water to other areas downstream to the bay, Sooner or later, and more likely sooner, we will pay for the lack of foresight by previous landowners and government who put in these old culverts in the first place. The system is aging and in need of repair. This brought up a separate issue, who is liable for a failed system. Will it be the private property owner, the city, or both? Can there be incentives for homeowners and landowners to rebuild in a more creek friendly manner? Should there be a tax measure? Bond is a four letter word. Another issue that was raised was that the city should have a better map to delineate the creeks and culverts to the best of its ability. Many homeowners were not only surprised by the ordinance, but surprised they were on a culverted creek.  

If there is a disaster, one can rebuild, but it would make sense to check out whether the culvert was damaged. For the safety of the residents, it makes sense to check. Creek ordinance or not, does one think an insurance company would feel comfortable paying for a home rebuilt without checking the status of the culvert? 

So there are many questions that need to be addressed. I support the formation of a Creek Task Force, comprised of representatives of involved stakeholders, including but not limited to creek and environmental advocates, homeowners and landowners, businesses, city staff including Public Works who will have to repair failed culverts and stormwater systems, California state and regulatory boards on water quality management, and hydrologists/scientists who can provide evidence based information. We would want people who are willing to listen to each other and want to work out a compromise that can protect our watersheds and address the concerns of homeowners, institutions, and businesses. A task force is far preferable to  

the Planning Commission because there will be more diverse opinions at the table. The Planning Commission does not have the expertise to deal with the creeks. An independent task force would be less controversial than the Planning Commission. Berkeley’s creeks are more than a land use issue.

In 1989 a group of creek enthusiasts, presumably with personal ties to members of the City Council, surreptitiously sold the City a strange bill of goods – an ordinance filled with nitpicking regulations and a glossary of arcane terms (rip-rap, crib-walls, fascines, gabions) – that reads as if it were written not by common-sense conservationists but by a cult of creek-worshipers intent on imposing their obsession on the world. It offered some reasonable constraints – no new construction within thirty feet of a creek, the day-lighting of culverted creeks where feasible – but hidden within it and unnoticed for fifteen years wasa larger vision. Following a major disaster – something like the ‘06 quake and its attendant firestorms – no creek-side structure could be rebuilt without a special variance from the City’s notoriously willful and erratic Zoning Adjustments Board. Thus, after such an event, great swaths of homes and businesses could be replaced by parkland with footpaths and biketrails.  

On Tuesday evening, September 28, 2004, the creek-dreamers were rudely awakened: There would not be trout fishing in Berkeley. This is a denselypopulated city, not a sylvan glade. Fortunately, our conservationist predecessors passed down to us rich gifts: access to natural creeks in Codornices Park,Live Oak Park, John Hinkel Park, the Rose Garden, the U C campus, not to mention the East Bay Regional Parks – 90, 000 acres of natural habitat laced with endless miles of creeks. 

Over 400 residents attended the Tuesday meeting. The City Council, having received many letters and e-mails, and a petition with 600 names collected by Neighborson Urban Creeks, announced that they would amend the rebuilding aspect of the ordinance – and they did. During the speeches by dozens of attendees, however, there were repeated demands that the ordinance be revoked, repealed, thrown out entirely, all met by rousing applause. The Council chose not to take such action, fearing that in the subsequent hiatus someone would build on a creek and a new crisis would erupt.  

They were probably wise not to revoke it, only because it poses another matter of major importance: culverted creeks. Many parts of our creeks, on both public and private property, run through old and deteriorating culverts. The rupture or collapse of a culvert under a structure can be catastrophic. The Council expressed their commitment to deal with the problem of inspecting, repairing, replacing culverts, or day-lighting the creeks flowing through them, and of the enormous cost involved. Some culverts are large enough to allow workers to enter them. Presumably these may be strengthened with internal bracing or sections of precast lining. In the case of smaller culverts, it may be more practical to divert their water into new culverts under adjacent streets, like sewers, for future access. Then the old culverts may be filled with concrete slurry to prevent their collapse. Given the scope of this problem and its potential cost, the City would be wise to forget about open creeks, except to prevent new construction or wanton pollution. Whatever may be done to them, a thousand years from now the creeks will prevail. 

How the matter of culverts will be addressed was not resolved. Creek people want a special task force where their “expertise” may be heard – presumably the same expertise that produced the misbegotten ordinance. A more appropriate venue would be the Planning Commission, where issues of engineering and cost analysis can be co-ordinated. The best choice would be the Public Works Commission, which is devoted to public safety. The Council will address this further on October 12. Stay tuned! 

In the past 40 years the world of ceramic art has undergone a metamorphosis. In the 1960s every Berkeley housewife was a potter, producing clunky mugs and vases in the muted, often glassy, grays and browns of high temperature reduction firing. The influence of Bernard Leach was strong.  

Beginning in the 1980s, gradually this mediocrity began a transformation into truly stunning work. Artists such as Gabrielle Koch and Ewan Henderson produced large, even larger than life, forms with resonant, integral finishes. This has raised questions. Is pottery, or ceramics, an art or a craft? If art is of a ceramic nature, what makes it different from the potter’s craft?  

The Trax Ceramic Gallery at 1812 Fifth Street just north of Hearst in west Berkeley (where all the potters live) currently features the work of five artists working with clay in an exhibit that seems to straddle the art-craft divide without worrying about either side. Gallery owner Sandy Simon has a talent for attracting top names (such as Warren McKenzie) in the world of ceramics to her gallery. She is married to sculptor Bill Brady, whose fine figurative work in wood and metal can often be seen in the gallery. His clay figures are part of this show sculptures that although quite large, are more monumental in concept than in size. 

These pieces elevate the argument of art versus craft to one in which concept becomes fundamental to the process of making art. Exhibitor Trent Burkett believes that both art and craft are part of this process: a good idea has to be delivered in a way that exhibits the poetry of the material that embodies it. This is a timely reminder that the word poet derives from the Greek for “maker.”  

All the pieces in the show were fired in Scott Parady’s anagama kiln in Pope Valley. Anagama means tube kiln in Japanese. Such kilns are long, elevated either internally or against a hill, and wood fired. Mr. Parady’s kiln is sixteen or so feet in length. It takes over half a week to load, eight days to fire to 2,470 degrees Fahrenheit, and a week to cool. A crew of 20 people stokes the kiln day and night with pine and oak from dead or pruned trees. Needless to say, two or three firings a year are enough. When one factors in breakage, this is obviously a labor of love. 

Technically (or should one say pyrotechnically) it is also a type of high temperature reduction firing, but what a difference in the end product compared with that of the 1960s. Here, the results are absolutely worth the effort. Because many of the pieces are hand made rather than thrown on the wheel, and because they are fired just once (bypassing the modern practice of a preliminary low-temperature bisque firing), thereby allowing the raw clay to be integrated with pigments and oxides, and to be flashed and even glazed by the hot ashes within the kiln, each piece has an antique quality, a depth and glow, sometimes crusty, always surprising, that is as unique as it is lovely.  

Grand concepts are hard to find these days. We live in an era where heroes and gods have been replaced by terrorists and sociopaths. There are no pharaohs to immortalize, no natural forces to appease. Yet surely this holistic, indeed elemental approach to the process of producing art has a spiritual essence to it. After all, concept alone does not mitigate poor workmanship. And is a well made functional vessel “merely” craft? As Trent Burkett points out, in this kind of art, skill and idea constantly interweave as they reach for the same spiritual point. 

Craig Petey and Tim Rowan are also well represented in the exhibit, which ends on Oct. 31. 

Trax Gallery is open noon-5:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. 1812 Fifth St. 540-8729. 

In the shimmering, intricately beautiful music of the Balinese gamelan orchestra, the recurring cycles of melody are marked by the stirring ring of a gong. 

When Gamelan Sekar Jaya, the Bay Area’s internationally renowned gamelan ensemble, takes the stage this Saturday, the gong will resound sweetly to mark the end of a long cycle and the beginning of a new one, as the Berkeley-born ensemble celebrates its 25th birthday.  

For their Oct. 9 concert at a private amphitheater in Kensington, a fundraising gala for the group, the 50-member troupe of dancers and musicians has invited ten of Bali’s most brilliant musicians and dancers, the largest group of guest artists ever to appear with the ensemble on a single program. 

The lineup will include the group’s three current guest artistic directors: I Nyoman Windha, considered by many to be Bali’s leading composer, I Gusti Agung Ayu Warsiki, an expert in the classical legong dance, and multi-instrumentalist and composer I Made Terip who is currently in residence at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum. The famed mask dancer I Nyoman Catra and virtuoso drummer I Dewa Putu Berata will also be among the performers.  

The 2 p.m. concert will take place in a tree-sheltered setting that Sekar Jaya founding member Jim Hogan calls “a beautiful, magical space.” The show is open to the public. 

The program will feature four different gamelan ensembles, including the rarely seen orchestra of giant bamboo marimbas, gamelan jegog. This most recent addition to the group’s family of ensembles arrived via the generosity of local music luminary Mickey Hart, and will be directed by Terip, also a renowned builder of bamboo instruments. The celebration will also include an appearance by the Barong, the magical Balinese lion that is one of the most powerful figures of Balinese dance; the ethereal singing, dance, and storytelling of a Prembon play; and other rare gems of Balinese arts.  

Over the past quarter-century, the group has toured throughout North America and has made four tours to Bali itself, where it has performed in venues ranging from the Art Center in the island’s capital of Denpasar to remote village squares. Its performances have been greeted with wild enthusiasm by local audiences, artists, and media, and during the group’s most recent tour, they became the first non-Balinese group to receive the Dharma Kusuma award, the Balinese government’s highest award for artistic excellence.  

The ensemble enjoys its international reach, but found the most fitting place to celebrate its anniversary milestone just up the road from its origins in Berkeley. When the group formed in 1979, the Julia Morgan Center was home to the Center for World Music, a fruitful meeting ground for outstanding teachers of music from around the world and the many serious students who were drawn to them.  

At the time the ensemble came together, the great Balinese musician I Wayan Suweca was teaching a workshop in Balinese music at the Center, and the charismatic teacher attracted an energetic group of students who saw the potential for his workshops to evolve into a permanent ensemble. Several of the group’s original members are still performing with it today. Balinese dancer-musician I Nyoman Wenten, who performed in the group’s very first concert and now chairs the World Music Program at the California Institute for the Arts, will also be returning for this program.  

Wayne Vitale, director of Gamelan Sekar Jaya, said, “None of us who gathered in October, 1979, in a friend’s living room in Berkeley to start a ‘six-week gamelan workshop’ had any idea that this workshop—one of the most eye-opening (and ear-opening) cross-cultural experiments I have ever known—would still be happening, a quarter-century later.” 

The anniversary concert’s collaborative spirit typifies Gamelan Sekar Jaya’s cross-cultural work, which has been recognized for its contributions to Bali’s dynamic musical and artistic culture. Over the past twenty-five years, the group has sponsored the creation of more than sixty major new works for gamelan and dance, created both by Balinese and U.S.-based artists. The ensemble has collaborated with theater artists, puppeteers, Indian dancers, film composers, and symphony orchestras.  

In addition to performances, the organization conducts workshops, lecture demonstrations and private lessons for schools, students and the public.  

Ben Frandzel is a member of Gamelan Sekar Jaya.›

Although nature writers are supposed to have benign feelings about their (nonhuman, anyway) fellow creatures, I draw the line at raccoons: garbage-raiding, koi-eating thugs that make alarming noises in the dead of night. But to give the Devil his due, they’re good with their hands. Lacking opposable thumbs doesn’t seem to slow them down much. Scientists have claimed that raccoons far outrank their fellow carnivores in manual dexterity and are almost up there with the primates. 

The raccoon, in fact, caught the attention of a roboticist named Ian Walker about a decade ago. Walker was interested in nonhuman models for mechanical graspers, and analyzed the kinematics of the raccoon hand as a possible prototype. I don’t think this got much further, though, and Walker seems to have moved on to boneless manipulators like octopus tentacles and elephant trunks. 

Hands and brains work together, of course. It was established around the beginning of the 20th century that raccoons could quickly figure out how to open latches and other fasteners to get at food—not quite as quickly as rhesus monkeys, but faster than cats. And they could remember how they did it for up to a year without practice. 

The anatomy of the raccoons’ brain and nervous system, on which there’s a ton of literature, has tended to reinforce the idea that these critters have superior manual skills. In all of us mammals, there’s a chunk of the cerebral cortex—the somatosensory cortex—where the rest of the body is mapped; there’s a bit where sensory input from the face winds up, another for the forelimbs, and so on. Biologists had learned by the 1940s that some mammals had disproportionately large cortical regions for specialized body parts. In the pig, the area corresponding to the snout is larger than in other hoofed mammals. The spider monkey has extra room for input from its prehensile tail, which serves it as a fifth hand.  

Raccoons—no surprise—have an outsized cortical region corresponding to their forearms and hands. W. L. Welker and Sidney Seidenstein, neurophysiologists at the University of Wisconsin, reported in 1959 that 60 percent of the raccoon’s somatosensory cortex was devoted to the forelimbs, as opposed to 30 percent in the domestic cat and 20 percent in the dog. The hand-related proportion was even higher than in rhesus monkeys and chimpanzees. Welker and Seidenstein also found that raccoons’ auditory and visual cortical regions were relatively smaller than in dogs and cats, and speculated that their somatic cortex had “blossomed” at the expense of those areas. 

The Wisconsin study and others that followed made raccoons a favored lab animal for research on how the brain reconfigures itself after injury. Amputating a forefinger was found to cause a compensatory rewiring of the corresponding part of the cortex. (It turns out that the brain responds to less traumatic influences as well. In most right-hand-dominant musicians, the cortical region mapping to the right hand is enlarged. But for violinists, who finger with the left hand and bow with the right, it’s the left-hand region.) 

Meanwhile, other scientists found the skin of the raccoon’s fingers to be packed with specialized cells which were supersensitive touch receptors. Add that to the presumed superior dexterity, and you have an animal with enormous promise as a safecracker. 

It turns out, though, that the dexterity claim may have been oversold. 

Two neuroscientists at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Andrew Iwaniuk and Ian Whishaw, decided a few years ago to test the notion that raccoons were as skilled as primates by videotaping captives and analyzing their hand movements frame by frame. Their conclusion: the raccoon hand is a relatively crude instrument—not bad for a carnivore, but not in the primate league. And even other carnivores, including otters, mongooses, and the giant panda, may excel the raccoon in fine manipulation. (Giant pandas may be bamboo-eating vegans, but they’re carnivores by ancestry. As Stephen Jay Gould famously pointed out, they have “thumbs” which are actually modified wristbones.) The raccoons made little use of their individual fingers to grasp or manipulate food. 

What impressed Iwaniuk and Whishaw was that raccoons, unlike most carnivores, seemed to rely on their sense of touch alone to locate food items. Their filmed subjects often turned their heads away while fingering an object, and rarely sniffed an item before picking it up. Instead of a specialized manipulator, the hand of the raccoon appears to be a specialized tactile organ. 

That notion would be consistent with other studies that found raccoons did as well as humans in making blindfold distinctions between objects of the same shape but differing in size by as little as half a percent. The world a raccoon experiences must be very different from our own, with exquisite nuances of shape and texture. I have to wonder if their neural wiring enables them to somehow generate a visual image of what they’re touching, as appears to happen in readers of Braille. 

As to how this came about, Iwaniuk and Whishaw have an interesting speculation. The only other carnivore as touch-dependent as the raccoon is the marsh mongoose, which feeds on aquatic crustaceans. Common raccoons, of course, have a penchant for crayfish, and a tropical relative specializes in crabs. The evolution of the raccoon’s hand and brain may have been driven by grabbling in shallow water for food that could deliver a painful pinch if you grasped it wrong. 

Racoons, like them or loathe them, are remarkable creatures. They’re smart, tough, adaptable, and as likely as any species to outlast us. But their future seems unlikely to include tool use.  

›

TUESDAY, OCT. 5 

Free Speech in Dangerous Times Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement, Oct. 5 - Oct. 10. at UC Berkeley. For details on events, see www.fsm-a.org  

“Is God a Republican?” with Theodore Roszak and David Randolph at 9:45 a.m. in Mudd Hall 103, Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave. 

Berkeley Ballot Tax Measures, a panel discussion at 5 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 3rd flr., 2090 Shattuck Ave. Sponsored by League of Women Voters Berkeley Albany Emeryville. 

Mid-Day Meander Meet at 2:30 p.m. by the bulletin board at Big Springs parking lot in Tilden Park for a rocky trail hike to ponder the “mystery walls” and muse about trees. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

“Introduction to Judaism” Explore Jewish spirituality and ethics with David Cooper at 7:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. 

Docent Training at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden every Tuesday through Feb. 8 at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Cost is $125. For more information call 527-9802. www.nativeplants.org 

Eastern European Singing Workshops with Esma Redzepova and Ansambal Teodosievski at 7 p.m. at Eckhardt Room, Naropa University, 2141 Broadway, Oakland. Cost is $25.00. 444-0323. www.kitka.org 

“Cuts to Low-Income Housing” a video at 1 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190. 

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

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

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 6 

Wednesday Bird Walk Discover the first of the migrants and help us with the monitoring of the shoreline, at 8:30 a.m. at Martin Luther King Jr. Shoreline. Turn into the park off Swan Way, follow the drive to the end and meet at the last parking lot by the observation deck. 525-2233. 

Molly Ivins on “The State of the Union” at 7 p.m at Zellerbach Auditorium, UC Campus. Event is free but tickets are required and will be available at 5 p.m. on Lower Sproul Plaza. Part of the Free Speech Movement’s 40th Anniversary. www.savio.org 

Candidates Night for School Board and Districts 2 and 3 at 6:30 p.m. at Frances Albrier Center at San Pablo Park. Hosted by South and West Berkeley Community Action Team and San Pablo Park Neighborhood Council.  

No Child Left Behind Town Hall Meeting with Graduate School of Education Dean P. David Pearson, UC Berkeley education professors Judith Warren Little and Alan Schoenfeld, and Phil Daro, executive director of the Public Forum on School Accountability, at 7 p.m. at Room 2040, Valley Life Science Building, UC Campus. 

Human Rights Video Project will show “Every Mother’s Son” about police brutality and “Books Not Bars” about the prison industry at 6:30 p.m. at Richmond Public Library Community Room, 325 Civic Center Plaza, near 26th and MacDonald, Richmond. 620-6561. 

“The Issues: Values and the Social Issues” with Kristin Luker, Prof. of Sociology and Doug Strand, UCB Survey Research Center at 3 p.m. at 109 Moses Hall, UC Campus. http://www.politics.berkeley.edu 

“Behind the Sun” a film of rival families living in the desert landscape of the Brazilian Northeast at 7 p.m. at the CLAS Conference Room, 2334 Bowditch St. In Portuguese with English subtitles. 642-2088. www.clas.berkeley.edu 

“To Serve and Protect” A documentary on police brutality at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $3-$5, no one turned away. Sponsored by the International Council for Humanity. 419-1405.  

Neighborhood Coffee at 10 a.m. at Cafe Roma, College and Ashby. Hosted by the Council of Neighborhood Associations. www.berkeleycna.com 

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

Bellydance Benefit for John Kerry Performances from classic cabaret to techno tribal and beyond at 7 p.m. at the Afghan Oasis Restaurant, 2086 Allston Way. Donation $15. 684-6530.  

Friends of the Oakland Public Library Booksale at 10:30 a.m. through Oct. 9 at The Bookmark Bookstore, 721 Washington St., Oakland. 444-0473. 

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

Prose Writers Workshop from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut, at Rose. 524-3034. 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters at 7:15 a.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 524-3765. 

THURSDAY, OCT. 7 

Morning Bird Walk: The Birds of Jewel Lake From 7 to 9 a.m. Call for directions or to reserve binoculars. 525-2233.  

Foods of the Americas An exhibit of the abundance of the fall harvest from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Oct. 27 at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Survey of California’s Native Trees A class on Thurs. evenings to Nov. 4, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $155, $135 members. Registration required. 643-2755. http://botanical 

garden.berkeley.edu 

Public Hearing on Housing Trust Fund Proposals at 7:30 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Copies of the proposals are available for review at the Central Library, 2090 Kittredge. 981-5400. 

BHS South Campus Construction Plan Workshop with school officials, students, staff and designers at 7 p.m. at Berkeley High School Library, 1980 Allston Way. 644-6320. 

“A Class Divided” A film on a lesson in discrimination taught by Jane Elliott to her third graders in the small, all-white town of Riceville, Iowa in 1970. At 7 p.m. in the Albany High School Library, 603 Key Route Blvd. in Albany. Please enter the gymnasium doors on Thousand Oaks Blvd., turn right, go through another door and walk straight down hallway to the library. Sponsored by Embracing Diversity Films and Albany High School PTA. 527-1328. 

An Evening at the Auction House A benefit for St. Vincent’s Day Home in Oakland. From 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the Harvey Clars Auction Gallery, 5644 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $50. For tickets call 526-3883. 

FRIDAY, OCT. 8 

Presidential Debates Meet betterbadnews.tv at 5:30 p.m. at International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. The debates will run from 6 to 7:30 pm and will be followed by the premiere presentation of Better Bad News.tv Sponsored by Berkeley Arts Festival. www.berkeleyartsfestival.com  

“Resisting Government Secrecy in a Time of Terrorism” Investigative reporter and New Yorker writer Seymour Hersh in discussion with KQED talk show host Michael Krasny, at 6:30 p.m. in the Paulley Ballroom, UC Campus. Free tickets on day of event, starting at 5:30 p.m. at Pauley Ballroom. http://journalism.berkeley.edu 

Candidates for the Peralta Community College District, Districts 2 and 4, will speak and answer questions at Vista College Annex, 2075 Allston Way. Starts promptly at 5:30 p.m. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville. 843-8824. http://lwvbae.org 

Paul Krassner on the second Presidential debate at 6 p.m. in the Redwood Gardens Community Room, 2951 Derby St. Part of the 40th Anniv. of the Free Speech Movement. www.fsm-a.org 

Sustainable Seafood: Your Role in Saving World Fisheries from noon to 6 p.m. at El Cerrito Natural Grocery Store, 10367 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito. 526-1155.  

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Fran Packard of the League of Women Voters on “Ballot Issues for November 2.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $12.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For reservations call 526-2925.  

Womansong Circle: Sending Light, Sending Song and get out the vote letter writing at 6:45 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way at Dana. Bring light snacks to share. Suggested donation $10-$15, no one turned away for lack of funds. www.betsyrosemusic.org 

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride meets at the Berkeley BART the second Friday of every month at 5:30 p.m. 

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. 

SATURDAY, OCT. 9 

Shellmound Run in honor of Indigenous Peoples Day. From Berkeley Shellmound to Civic Center Park. Registration at 7:30 a.m. at University Ave. and 4th St. 595-5520. 

Indigenous Peoples Day Pow Wow and Indian Market Native American foods, arts and crafts with intertribal dancing from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Civic Center Park. 595-5520. 

Indigenous People Films Screenings of the documentaries “Shellmound” and “The Rules of the Game” at 4, 5:30 amd 7 p.m. at Florence Schwimmley Little Theater, 1920 Allston Way. Donation $5-10 requested. 508-9069. 

Richmond Shoreline Festival from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with bird and plant walks, kite-flying and children’s activities, BBQ and live music. 461-4665. www.eastshorepark.org 

Berkeley City Council Candidate Forum from 2 to 4 p.m. at 2239 MLK in Berkeley High School 'G' building, southwest side facing Bancroft. Sponsored by local transportation and environmental groups, including BEST, Carfree Cities, EcoCity Builders and BFBC. 486-1528. 

Albany City Council Candidates Forum from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Avenue, near Solano. Sponsored by the Albany Chamber of Commerce.  

Free Energy Audit for Berkeley Residents on Oct. 9 and 10 offered by California Youth Energy Services. To sign up for a visit, call 428-2357. www.risingsunenergy.org  

Kids Garden Club How our garden attracts birds. We will also go birding and make a bird feeder. From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. For ages 7-12. Cost is $3-$5, registration required. 525-2233. 

Autumn Arachnids A slide show, followed by exploration for orb weavers, jumping spiders, wolf spiders and more at 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Junior Rangers of Tilden meets Sat. mornings at Tilden Nature Center. For more information call 525-2233. 

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour “Downtown Berkeley as a Possible Eco-City Center” led by Richard Register. At 10 a.m. Cost is $8-$10. For information call 848-0181. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc/ 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland uptown to the Lake to discover Art Deco landmarks. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of the Paramount Theater at 2025 Broadway. For reservations call 238-3234. 

Gardening Basics: Soil Preparation, Planting and Mulching at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

San Pablo Creek Restoration Workday from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the El Sobrante Library. Join us as we extend the native plant garden toward the creek. Refreshments, tools, and gloves provided. Sponsored by San Pablo Watershed Neighbors Education and Restoration Society. 231-9566. 

Best Buddies Fundraiser with lemonade stand to raise funds to fight pediatric cancer, through Sun. at McKevitt Volvo, 2700 Shattuck Ave. Additional funds will be raised for each test drive. 848-2206. 

Bureau of Humane Law Enforcement, an evening of karaoke, food and wine to benefit the protection of animals. At 6 p.m. at Paws and Claws, 2023 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. Cost is $10-$15. 925-487-4419. info@eastbayanimaladvocates.org 

Know Your Rights A free citizen training in observing police and asserting your rights. From 11a.m. to 2 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 548-0425. 

Innovative Independent Films, Hot Political Discussion A benefit for the Jesse Townley Campaign at 8 p.m. at The Ivy Room, 858 San Pablo Ave., Albany. Donation $5-$15. 524-9220. 

Moment’s Notice a monthly salon for improvised music, dance and theater at 8 p.m. at Western Sky Studio, 2525 8th St. 415-831-5592. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, OCT. 10 

Autumn Insects We’ll look for insects under logs, in the grass and on trees and learn how they adapt to different habitats, at 10 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Early Peoples’ Ways We’ll search for the plants the Miwok ate, and make some native tea. Bring your good luck charm for games based on native traditions. from 1 to 3 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

After Summer, What is Left Behind Seeds, cones and other plant parts dry up and fade away in autumn. We’ll look for them and see what is left after a season of growth and change. From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233.  

Natural and Cultural History of the Ohlone Peoples Please join us at noon at the Ohlone Greenway, at the intersection of Neilson St and the Greenway for the dedication of an interpretive exhibit featuring the natural and cultural history of the Ohlone Peoples. karllinn@lmi.net  

California Indian Food and Culture Learn how the Ohlone Indians make acorn soup, soap root brushes and berry cider, from 12:30 to 2 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5-$15. Registration required. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Sunday Greens: Sex, Drugs & Rock n’ Roll, The Bottom Line is $$$ Join us for a discussion about Measure H: Public Financing of Local Elections, Measure Q: the Angel’s Initiative, the Oakland & Berkeley Cannabis Initiatives and other local measures on the ballot in Alameda County, and meet musician, activist and progressive candidate for Berkeley City Council, Jesse Townley. From 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave. at 65th in North Oakland. 

Candidates for the Albany School Board will speak and answer questions in the Albany High School multi-purpose room, 603 Key Route Blvd. Starts promptly at 2:30 p.m. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville. 843-8824. http://lwvbae.org 

Candidates for the Albany City Council will speak and answer questions in the Albany High School multi-purpose room, 603 Key Route Blvd. Starts promptly at 4 p.m. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville. 843-8824.  

“Zionism, The Democrats & Kerry” with Lenni Brenner and Ralph Schoneman, at 7:30 p.m. at Fellowship of Humanities, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $5. Benefit for Voices for the Middle East & North Africa. 415-867-0628. 

“Truth in Reporting on Iraq” with Dahr Jamal at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar at Bonita. 528-5403.  

“Early Twentieth-Century British Women Travelers to Greece” A lecture by Prof. Martha Klironomos at 3 p.m. at 370 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus.  

Los Días de los Muertos Altar Making at 1 p.m. at the Painting Studio, Richmond Art Studio, 2540 Barrett Ave., Richmond. Cost is $30-$35. 620-6770. www.therichmondartcenter.org 

Contra Costa Civic Theatre White Elephant Sale from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the parking lot adjacent to the theater at 951 Pomona Ave. at Moeser Lane, El Cerrito. To arrange drop-offs call 533-0698. To arrange rental space, call 524-8559. 

Kol Sippur: A Celebration of Jewish Storytelling from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Tickets are $5-$25. Registration required. 848-0237. 

Iron Chef Cook-off benefit for the Berkeley Historical Society, 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Spengers, 1919 Fourth St. 845-7771. 

Ahoy There! Pancake Breakfast aboard the Red Oak Victory Ship moored in Pt. Richmond. From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1500 Dornan Drive, through the Ferry point Tunnel to the end. Cost is $6.  

Folk Art Society Art Sale featuring artists with disabilities from noon to 5:30 p.m. at the National Institute of Art and Disabilities, 551 23rd St. Richmond. 620-0290. www.niadart.org 

Hands-On Bike Maintenance Class Learn how to perform basic repairs on your own bike from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $85 members, $100 non-members, registration required. 527-4140. 

Small Press Distribution 35th Anniversary Celebration at 4 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church. Tickets are $35. 524-1668, ext. 340. www.spfbooks.org 

Hunger Project global relief program with Lynne S. Twist, author of “The Soul of Money,” at 9:45 a.m. St. John’s Episcopal Church, at 1707 Gouldin Rd., off Thornhill Road, Oakland. 339-2200. 

“Moral Responsibility: Evolutionary and Genetic Aspects” with Gunther Stent, Prof. of Molecular and Cell Biology, UCB, at 9:30 a.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302.  

Tibetan Buddhism with Sylvia Gretchen on “Dream Yoga: Dream Awareness and Compassion Practice” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues., Oct. 5, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers, Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., Oct. 6, at 7:30 p.m., at the West Berkeley Senior Center. Tasha Tervelon, 981-5347. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/women 

Fire Safety Commission meets Wed., Oct. 6, at 7:30 p.m. at the Public Safety Building, 2100 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, 2nd floor. David Orth, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/firesafety 

Community Environmental Advisory Commission meets Thurs., Oct. 7, at 7 p.m., at 2118 Milvia St. Nabil Al-Hadithy, 981-7461. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/environmentaladvisory 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., Oct. 7, at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Oscar Sung, 981-5400. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/housing 

Public Works Commission meets Thurs., Oct. 7, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jeff Egeberg, 981-6406. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/publicworks 

ª

Wow. Last time we checked, we had more than 9,000 words of letters in the queue, at a point where we would usually expect to have about 2,000, and that doesn’t include letters from out of town, which we don’t usually print. And it doesn’t include long commentary pieces. We have amazing readers, and they keep those letters coming. Most, though not all, are writing about the upcoming election these days. We’ll try to find room by adding extra opinion inches over and above what the advertising volume would normally permit.  

We’re particularly proud of the Berkeley City Council candidates. The statements we’ve gotten from them have been thoughtful, coherent, articulate and individual. For the most part, they’ve resisted the temptation to rely on platitudes instead of ideas. They’ve supplied almost exactly the 800 words they’re entitled to, instead of just issuing short sound bites. Eight hundred words is about the length of a 10-minute speech, whereas candidates’ nights usually limit speakers to five minutes at best and are poorly attended. So voters know a lot more than usual about these candidates. If you missed the first installment, District 5, we have back issues at our office. 

Propositions and ballot measures are a challenge. We’ve opted to run long informative explanations of what they are, instead of just doing endorsements, which even at the best papers are often arrived at by a somewhat casual process. We are running opinions from proponents and critics as space allows. Some have also opted to take out ads for their cause, which is fine with us.  

The presidential contest is a special case. Enthusiastic Kerry-Edwards supporters have deluged the press, including us, with letters saying that their guys won the debates so far. We haven’t gotten any local letters—not even one—expressing the contrary conclusion. So we are opting to put most of these letters only on our website, on the theory that scarce print space is best saved for controversial topics. We do reserve the right to print any letter which seems unusually interesting or clever to us. But thanks, all of you, for sharing your opinions with us.  

And in the further interest of saving space for readers’ opinions, we’ll keep this short today. Clearly, Berkeley Daily Planet readers don’t really need us to tell them what to think.  

y

This week Berkeley is remembering the grand excitement of the Free Speech Movement, at a time, 40 years later, when a sizable number of movement veterans are still around to reminisce. I wasn’t here in 1964 myself, so what’s entertaining for me is finding out which of my current friends and acquaintances who still live here took part in the action, considering who they are now. Landlords, teachers, corporate lobbyists, lawyers, stock market investors, gardeners, small business owners, farmers, political organizers, librarians…their jobs, if they still have them, run the gamut, as do their experiences over the last 40 years. What was remarkable about the FSM is that it swept up a broad cross-section of students who understood that it was a bad idea for a state university to ban free expression of ideas from its campus.  

It’s a week for nostalgia, but there are still plenty of live controversies today about what constitutes appropriate expression of ideas. In particular, there are two topics that can always raise a ruckus in any gathering, hate speech and heckling.  

It’s become popular in Europe, and even now in some parts of the United States, to ban what’s called “hate speech.” It’s a concept that’s loosely defined, which is one reason it’s a problem, but it most often is applied to speech which denigrates by allusion to race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual preference. European advocates of banning such speech refer to Europe’s experience with the rise of the Nazis to justify their position. In the United States, our tradition, bolstered by the First Amendment though often violated, has been that free expression of ideas in a democracy is a safety valve which lets us know when trouble is brewing. It’s one reason the Nazis never got much of a toe-hold here. 

Many universities, particularly private ones, have lately been seduced by the European concept, in the interest of maintaining order on campus, but it’s a bad idea. If hating is going on, better we should all know about. Just shutting up nasty people doesn’t put an end to whatever nefarious action plans they may be contemplating, and in fact it makes it harder for the rest of us to combat their influence with effective counter-speech. And it’s easy for those in power to slide over from banning “hate speech” to banning any form of expression of ideas which is annoying someone. Just last week we got a report that the Berkeley police, on orders from above, had been ticketing people who honked their horns to show support as they passed a union demonstration.  

The constitutional analysis of First Amendment rights often has two parts: the speaker’s right to talk and the listener’s right to hear. The second part is what’s the subject of active debate when heckling is the topic. Our letters column today has a typical expression of the anti-heckling point of view. The writer notes that a number of odious right-wing speakers (not his characterization, of course) have lately appeared on campus, standing at a podium in a publicly funded building, with a substantial sound system at their disposal, and, horrors, people who don’t like them have shouted insults from the audience, presumably without benefit of microphone. Some have even chanted outside the building. Now, if the hecklers came with their own PA system, one so powerful that they could drown out the David Horowitzs and the Michelle Malkins, the whiners might have something of a case, but that’s not what’s been happening. Before Malkin spoke on campus a couple of weeks ago, her sponsors, the California Patriot magazine and the College Young Republicans, put out inflammatory press releases drooling over her support of racial profiling and the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. Despite their best efforts, not much happened. Malkin exercised her constitutionally protected right to hate speech and a sizable number of hecklers loudly expressed their countervailing views. 

She came, she was heckled, and she left. Some newspapers believed the hype and covered the talk looking for excitement, but they reported on what turned out to be a non-event. We didn’t bother. In our view, that kind of exchange is what should be happening regularly on campuses, and is not news.  

Today’s letter writer also implies that a choleric candidate who trashed a few papers constituted a serious threat to freedom of the press. No, speaking for the press, that’s not the biggest problem we face. The biggest problems that newspapers face today are economic: on the macro level, concentration of ownership in a few super-rich mega-corps like Rupert Murdoch’s empire, and on the micro level, here in Berkeley, the refusal of some small-time merchants to advertise in the Planet because they wish some of our news stories could be suppressed or they don’t like our cartoons. Which is, of course, the signal to cue up the usual tune, A.G. Liebling’s signature refrain, frequently quoted, often misquoted, but still true: "Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one" and can also afford to pay the operating expenses if advertisers don’t approve of what they say. 

M

FRIDAY, OCT. 8 

Presidential Debates Meet betterbadnews.tv at 5:30 p.m. at International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. The debates will run from 6 to 7:30 pm and will be followed by the premiere presentation of Better Bad News.tv Sponsored by Berkeley Arts Festival. www.berkeleyartsfestival.com  

“Resisting Government Secrecy in a Time of Terrorism” Investigative reporter and New Yorker writer Seymour Hersh in discussion with KQED talk show host Michael Krasny, at 7:45 p.m. in the Paulley Ballroom, UC Campus. Free tickets on day of event, starting at 5:30 p.m. at Pauley Ballroom. http://journalism.berkeley.edu 

Candidates for the Peralta Community College District, Districts 2 and 4, will speak and answer questions at Vista College Annex, 2075 Allston Way. Starts promptly at 5:30 p.m. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville. 843-8824. http://lwvbae.org 

Paul Krassner on the second Presidential debate at 6 p.m. in the Redwood Gardens Community Room, 2951 Derby St. Part of the 40th Anniv. of the Free Speech Movement. www.fsm-a.org 

Sustainable Seafood: Your Role in Saving World Fisheries from noon to 6 p.m. at El Cerrito Natural Grocery Store, 10367 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. 526-1155.  

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Fran Packard of the League of Women Voters on “Ballot Issues for November 2.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $12.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For reservations call 526-2925.  

Womansong Circle: Sending Light, Sending Song and get out the vote letter writing at 6:45 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way at Dana. Bring light snacks to share. Suggested donation $10-$15, no one turned away for lack of funds. www.betsyrosemusic.org 

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride meets at the Berkeley BART the second Friday of every month at 5:30 p.m. 

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. 

SATURDAY, OCT. 9 

Shellmound Run in honor of Indigenous Peoples Day. From Berkeley Shellmound to Civic Center Park. Registration at 7:30 a.m. at University Ave. and 4th St. 595-5520. 

Indigenous Peoples Day Pow Wow and Indian Market Native American foods, arts and crafts with intertribal dancing from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Civic Center Park. 595-5520. 

Indigenous People Films Screenings of the documentaries “Shellmound” and “The Rules of the Game” at 4, 5:30 and 7 p.m. at Florence Schwimley Little Theater, 1920 Allston Way. Donation $5-10 requested. 508-9069. 

Richmond Shoreline Festival from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with bird and plant walks, kite-flying and children’s activities, BBQ and live music. 461-4665. www.eastshorepark.org 

Berkeley City Council Candidate Forum from 2 to 4 p.m. at 2239 MLK in Berkeley High School 'G' building, southwest side facing Bancroft. Sponsored by local transportation and environmental groups, including BEST, Carfree Cities, EcoCity Builders and BFBC. 486-1528. 

Albany City Council Candidates Forum from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Avenue, near Solano. Sponsored by the Albany Chamber of Commerce. 

“All Satire, All The Time” with Paul Krassner and other satirists at 2 p.m. at the Alumni House , UC Campus. www.fsm-a.org 

Free Energy Audit for Berkeley Residents on Oct. 9 and 10 offered by California Youth Energy Services. To sign up for a visit, call 428-2357. www.risingsunenergy.org  

Kids Garden Club How our garden attracts birds. We will also go birding and make a bird feeder. From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. For ages 7-12. Cost is $3-$5, registration required. 525-2233. 

Autumn Arachnids A slide show, followed by exploration for orb weavers, jumping spiders, wolf spiders and more at 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Junior Rangers of Tilden meets Sat. mornings at Tilden Nature Center. For more information call 525-2233. 

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour “Downtown Berkeley as a Possible Eco-City Center” led by Richard Register. At 10 a.m. Cost is $8-$10. For information call 848-0181. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc/ 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland uptown to the Lake to discover Art Deco landmarks. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of the Paramount Theater at 2025 Broadway. For reservations call 238-3234. 

Gardening Basics: Soil Preparation, Planting and Mulching at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

San Pablo Creek Restoration Workday from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the El Sobrante Library. Join us as we extend the native plant garden toward the creek. Refreshments, tools, and gloves provided. Sponsored by San Pablo Watershed Neighbors Education and Restoration Society. 231-9566. 

Best Buddies Fundraiser with lemonade stand to raise funds to fight pediatric cancer, through Sun. at McKevitt Volvo, 2700 Shattuck Ave. Additional funds will be raised for each test drive. 848-2206. 

Bureau of Humane Law Enforcement, an evening of karaoke, food and wine to benefit the protection of animals. At 6 p.m. at Paws and Claws, 2023 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. Cost is $10-$15. 925-487-4419. info@eastbayanimaladvocates.org 

Know Your Rights A free citizen training in observing police and asserting your rights. From 11a.m. to 2 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 548-0425. 

Innovative Independent Films, Hot Political Discussion A benefit for the Jesse Townley Campaign at 8 p.m. at The Ivy Room, 858 San Pablo Ave., Albany. Donation $5-$15. 524-9220. 

“Sacred Prostitutes Perform” an exorcism of shame performance to benefit the Berkeley ballot initiative for sex workers’ rights at 8 p.m. at Loop Gallery, 6436 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Donations encouraged. 590-0040. debbiemoore@xplicitplayers.com 

Moment’s Notice a monthly salon for improvised music, dance and theater at 8 p.m. at Western Sky Studio, 2525 8th St. 415-831-5592. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, OCT. 10 

Autumn Insects We’ll look for insects under logs, in the grass and on trees and learn how they adapt to different habitats, at 10 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Early Peoples’ Ways We’ll search for the plants the Miwok ate, and make some native tea. Bring your good luck charm for games based on native traditions. from 1 to 3 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

After Summer, What is Left Behind Seeds, cones and other plant parts dry up and fade away in autumn. We’ll look for them and see what is left after a season of growth and change. From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233.  

Natural and Cultural History of the Ohlone Peoples Please join us at noon at the Ohlone Greenway, at the intersection of Neilson St. and the Greenway for the dedication of an interpretive exhibit featuring the natural and cultural history of the Ohlone Peoples. karllinn@lmi.net  

California Indian Food and Culture Learn how the Ohlone Indians make acorn soup, soap root brushes and berry cider, from 12:30 to 2 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5-$15. Registration required. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Sunday Greens: Sex, Drugs & Rock n’ Roll, The Bottom Line is $$$ Join us for a discussion about Measure H: Public Financing of Local Elections, Measure Q: the Angel’s Initiative, the Oakland & Berkeley Cannabis Initiatives and other local measures on the ballot in Alameda County, and meet musician, activist and progressive candidate for Berkeley City Council, Jesse Townley. From 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave. at 65th in North Oakland. 

Candidates for the Albany School Board will speak and answer questions in the Albany High School multi-purpose room, 603 Key Route Blvd. Starts promptly at 2:30 p.m. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville. 843-8824. http://lwvbae.org 

Candidates for the Albany City Council will speak and answer questions in the Albany High School multi-purpose room, 603 Key Route Blvd. Starts promptly at 4 p.m. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville. 843-8824.  

“Zionism, The Democrats & Kerry” with Lenni Brenner and Ralph Schoneman, at 7:30 p.m. at Fellowship of Humanities, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $5. Benefit for Voices for the Middle East & North Africa. 415-867-0628. 

“Truth in Reporting on Iraq” with Dahr Jamal at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar at Bonita. 528-5403.  

“Early Twentieth-Century British Women Travelers to Greece” A lecture by Prof. Martha Klironomos at 3 p.m. at 370 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus.  

Los Días de los Muertos Altar Making at 1 p.m. at the Painting Studio, Richmond Art Studio, 2540 Barrett Ave., Richmond. Cost is $30-$35. 620-6770. www.therichmondartcenter.org 

Contra Costa Civic Theatre White Elephant Sale from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the parking lot adjacent to the theater at 951 Pomona Ave. at Moeser Lane, El Cerrito. To arrange drop-offs call 533-0698. To arrange rental space call 524-8559. 

Kol Sippur: A Celebration of Jewish Storytelling from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Tickets are $5-$25. Registration required. 848-0237. 

Iron Chef Cook-off benefit for the Berkeley Historical Society, 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Spengers, 1919 Fourth St. 845-7771. 

Ahoy There! Pancake Breakfast aboard the Red Oak Victory Ship moored in Pt. Richmond. From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1500 Dornan Drive, through the Ferry point Tunnel to the end. Cost is $6.  

Folk Art Society Art Sale featuring artists with disabilities from noon to 5:30 p.m. at the National Institute of Art and Disabilities, 551 23rd St. Richmond. 620-0290. www.niadart.org 

Hands-On Bike Maintenance Class Learn how to perform basic repairs on your own bike from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $85 members, $100 non-members, registration required. 527-4140. 

Small Press Distribution 35th Anniversary Celebration at 4 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church. Tickets are $35. 524-1668, ext. 340. www.spfbooks.org 

Hunger Project global relief program with Lynne S. Twist, author of “The Soul of Money,” at 9:45 a.m. St. John’s Episcopal Church, at 1707 Gouldin Rd., off Thornhill Road, Oakland. 339-2200. 

“Moral Responsibility: Evolutionary and Genetic Aspects” with Gunther Stent, Prof. of Molecular and Cell Biology, UCB, at 9:30 a.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302.  

Tibetan Buddhism with Sylvia Gretchen on “Dream Yoga: Dream Awareness and Compassion Practice” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, OCT. 11 

Ralph Nader and Peter Camejo at 7 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $2-$5. Sponsored by Students for Nader and the International Socialist Organization. 642-9988. 

“The Human Person: Beyond the Nature-Culture Divide” with Niels Heinrik Gregersen of Aarhus Univ., Copenhagen, at 7:10 p.m. at the GTU Dinner Board Room, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2560 www.gtu.edu/studentgroups/trees 

Kerry/Edwards Fundraiser with an auction and music, 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Ethnic Arts, 1314 10th St., at Gilman. Minimum donation $25.  

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. 

“Reading Yiddish Texts” a reading and discussion group, on Mon. eves at 7:15 p.m. through Dec. 13. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $110. To register call 845-6420. 

“The Golden Age of Spain” exploring the culture and poetry, Mon. at 7 p.m. through Nov. 11, at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $45. To register call 845-6420. 

Copwatch Class from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at 2022 Blake St., near Shattuck. Free and open to the public. 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, OCT. 12 

Morning Bird Walk: Willdcat Canyon meet at 7 a.m. at Alvarado Staging Area, Tilden Park. Call for directions or to reserve binoculars. 525-2233.  

Afternoon Bird Walk from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr. Shoreline. For directions and meeting place call 525-2233. 

“Berkeley Candidates 2004” A video from the League of Women Voters at 1 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190. 

Candidates for the Berkekey School Board will speak and answer questions at the Rosa Parks School, 930 Allston Way Starts promptly at 7 p.m. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters. 843-8824. http://lwvbae.org 

“Bush Science Policy” A forum on the Bush Administration’s uses and abuses of science in policymaking at 7:30 p.m. at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. Tickets are $10, available from 642-9988. http://journalism.berkeley.edu 

“Fluids & Faulting: Water & Earthquakes in California” with Mark Zoback, Professor of Geophysics, Stanford University at 5:30 p.m. in 10 Evans Hall, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Water Resources Center Archives. 642-2666. 

Blood Drive from noon to 4 p.m.at UCB Hillel, 2736 Bancroft Way. 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. 

“Caring for Others, Caring for Yourself” a six-week program on the spiritual dimension of caregiving on alternate Tues. at 7 p.m. in Berkeley. Suggested donation $75 for whole session. 845-1963. www.spcare.org 

“Introduction to Judaism” Explore Jewish spirituality and ethics with David Cooper at 7:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. 

Financial Planning Workshop: College Planning 101 with Jarrett Topel, Certified Financial Planner at 7 p.m. at El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave. Free. 526-7512.  

Family Story Time at the Kensington Branch Library, Tues. evenings at 7 p.m. at 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

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

Acting and Storytelling Classes for Seniors offered by Stagebridge, at Arts First Oakland, 2501 Harrison St. Classes are held at 10 a.m. Tues.-Fri. For more information call 444-4755. www.stagebridge.org 

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

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 13 

Presidential Debates Meet betterbadnews.tv at 5:30 p.m. at International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. The debates will run from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and will be followed by a presentation of Better Bad News.tv Sponsored by Berkeley Arts Festival. www.berkeleyartsfestival.com 

Measure A Public Hearing for Alameda County Health Care Services, with Supervisor Keith Carson, at 6:30 p.m at Stovall Recreation Center, 1728 Alcatraz Ave., at King St. 272-6695. 

“Baffled by the Ballot?” A discussion of state and local measures at the national Women’s Political Caucus General Meeting at 6 p.m. at Rockridge Library Community Room, 5366 College Ave.  

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/walkingtours 

Palestinian and Israeli Doctors Speak Out on the health effects of the occupation on civilians at 7 p.m. at La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10-$20 sliding scale. Benefit for Middle East Children’s Alliance and International Solidarity Movement. 548-0542. www.mecafrpeace.org 

“A Modern Rabbi in Search of Historical Jesus” with Rabbi Harry Manhoff at 11:30 a.m. at Berkeley Richmond JCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $5, registration at 11 a.m. 848-0237. 

“Vanishing Prayer” A documentary on the Dineh resistance in Arizona, plus “The Zapatista’s Mayan Uprising” at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $3-$5, no one turned away. Sponsored by the International Council for Humanity. 419-1405.  

Lesbians and Cancer Video Night “My Left Breast” at 6:30 p.m. at Women’s Cancer Resource Center, 5741 Telegraph Ave. Space is limited, please RSVP to 420-7900, ext. 111. 

Basic Balkan Singing Workshop on four Wed. evenings at 7:30 p.m. at Lake Merritt Church, 1330 Lakeshore Blvd., Oakland. Cost is $75 for the series. Registration required. 444-0323. www.kitka.org 

“Corsets to Crampons: Pioneers of Mont Blanc” The film of six women who made the climbing/skiing trip in 1808, at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Gardening for Wildlife Learn how to turn any small garden space into a refuge for birds, frogs, insects, and other wildlife using California native plants. Reduce waste and avoid the use of pesticides that affect water quality and harm beneficial insects and other wildlife. Class meets Weds. from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m at the Self Reliant House on the Merritt College campus. Cost is $41. 434-3840. ecomerritt@sbcglobal.net 

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. 

Prose Writers’ Workshop An ongoing group focused on issues of craft, at 7 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 524-3034. georgeporter@earthlink.net 

Poetry Writing Workshop, led by Alison Seevak, at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, Edith Stone Room, 1247 Marin Ave. Registration required. 526-3700, ext. 20. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www. 

geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil  

™

Editors, Daily Planet: 

During the debate last night Senator Kerry displayed a far better grasp of foreign policy and security issues than did President Bush. Asked why he took us to war with Iraq, the president responded, “The enemy attacked us.” He still seems to confuse Al Qaeda with Hussein. When Kerry pointed out that Osama Bin Laden uses our invasion of Iraq to get recruits, Bush responded that “Osama Bin Laden doesn’t get to decide”. He totally missed the point that more Al Qaeda recruits means more American and Iraqi dead and wounded. He just doesn’t understand war. As Kerry stated, the president’s plan is “more of the same”.  

Nuclear proliferation was another area in which the John Kerry showed the president’s failed leadership. North Korea became a nuclear power on George W. Bush’s watch. Also, Kerry charged that Bush seems to value tax cuts for the wealthy more than containing Russia’s nuclear material from terrorists. Kerry promised to do the job in 4 years. Unbelievably, Bush responded with “How are we going to pay for all of these promises?”, proving Kerry’s point.  

During this debate on foreign policy, John Kerry showed that he is the candidate who understands the realities of war, nuclear proliferation and homeland security. He showed that under his leadership we would be safer, stronger and without the huge debt burden caused by Bush’s rush to war without our allies while cutting taxes for the super-wealthy.  

Patricia Francis-Lyon  

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Tonight I watched my first presidential debate. This is not to say that I had never seen a presidential debate before, but for the first time ever, on Nov. 2, I will be casting a vote for our next president. This debate was the first one I watched with the intent of studying the important issues of the election, listening to the words of Senator John Kerry and President George W. Bush, and being able to learn about the different platforms represented this year. After an hour and a half of this so-called “debate” I left my television screen feeling disappointed. How can you expect young people to vote? I am a great proponent of voting. I feel that we have fought long and hard to acquire the vote for everyone ˆ men and women of every color, race and ethnicity. We have come a long way and are lucky to live in a society where everyone has the opportunity to make their voice heard and has the right to express their opinion. People always complain about voter apathy, especially among young voters. But here I ask: How can you expect us to be motivated with the selection provided to us? Walking away from the presidential debates, I cannot help but feel that the presidential candidates are not engaged in a battle over policies, but rather a battle of rhetoric. Every few minutes Kerry referenced his service in Vietnam ˆ we got the point. Bush repeatedly stated that he thinks being president is “tough” ˆ it does not inspire much confidence. The key phrase of the question remains. What is each candidate planning to do?  

Essentially, Bush and Kerry are saying the same things. They spent the debate pointing fingers and blaming each other for mistakes in the past. Neither candidate presented a concrete plan for the future. I do not want to vote for a president who makes general statements with the goal of pleasing everyone so that he can garner votes. I want passion, direction, and conviction. If no candidate can be passionate about his ideals, how can we be expected to be passionate about either candidate? Perhaps I’m naïve. Perhaps I’m idealistic. But in the world we live in, with genocide being perpetrated under our nose in Sudan, with suicide bombers killing civilians in the Middle East, with terrorists slaughtering children in Russia, with high unemployment, low funding for education, nuclear proliferation and global warming, is it not my right and my duty to be passionate about the ways I want to change the world? 

In order to mobilize young voters, both Bush and Kerry will have to take a stand and proclaim their plans for America’s future. We are faced with the challenge of choosing a president capable of leading our nation in the right direction. I call it a challenge because I feel that the two candidates are all talk, with nothing to say. And so I challenge them. I challenge President Bush and Senator Kerry: Stop talking and start saying something! When you start saying something, when you actually let your voice be heard over the drowning noise of political slogans, then we will be inspired. Set the example and we too will allow our voices to be heard. 

Noga Firstenberg 

UC Berkeley, Senior 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Well, the presidential debate tonight was quite entertaining, but I think John Kerry definitely was the winner. He proved to be a strong debater, yet I wish he defended President Bush’s erroneous claims. For the first time, Kerry stated that the Iraq war was a “mistake”. He made a great analogy that the way Bush responded to the war would be like if when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, we would respond to attack Mexico. That is exactly what Bush did with attacking Iraq, and I’m glad that John Kerry highlighted it tonight. According to an ABC Poll, John Kerry led Bush by double digits in who the audience thought won the debate. Hopefully this will show up in the polls. If Americans were even to read the front page of a paper, or watch a newscast (besides Fox News), they would get smacked in the face of the failure of this war. Beheadings and large deaths have been on the cover almost daily now. While Bush’s argument relied on repeating over and over that John Kerry is inconsistent, or that if Kerry does not support the war (which he does), he does not support the troops. While Kerry may not be the best candidate, let us wait to criticize him after we get this current disaster out of the White House. Please be informed and vote for John Kerry on November 2. I would too if I could vote. 

Rio Bauce 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

I thought the first debate good. I spoke with Hawaii resident Ed Siedensticker by ‘phone from Tokyo before the debate; that National Book Prize winner had written a snippet for a Japanese-language newspaper noting that many Americans weren’t too fond of Bush’s foreign policy, either. Before going to Seoul yesterday I thought about the “back door draft” issue brought up by candidate John Kerry. My former submariner friend David Sangster was kept from being a “twenty year man” so the government could save a few dollars by not paying him retirement. I oppose reinstitution of the draft—it’s one thing to have a volunteer die in a conflict which could be only indirectly related to the national interest, and quite another for a conscript to die in the same situation. Rep. Neil Abercrombie has co-sponsored legislation to reinstate the draft. In 1808, Prussia instituted a system of forced conscription without distinction of class or right of exemption. Dissenters were put in mental colonies. Between 1825 and 1855, under Czar Nicholas, male Jews of the Ukraine and Lithuania, between the ages of 12 and 25, could be pressed into military service at any time and would remain under arms for a period of 25 years! Abercrombie is right to be concerned, but he is overreacting. Candidate Bush said in the debate that, if reelected, there would be no draft in the next four years. Abercrombie introduced legislation in 1991, the Reservists and Guardsmen’s Home Protection Act, that would have paid a differential up to a maximum of $40,000 to those drafted through the backdoor. The economy is picking up and over 1,000 military personnel have been killed in Iraq. Harvard University will host more employment recruiters on their campus before next June’s commencement—125—than at any time since the collapse of the dot.coms. I am pleased to learn that Harvard Law will now allow the military to recruit, too—something that has not happened in recent years because of the perceived discrimination against gays in the military. If Britney Spears made a movie a la Goldie Hawn, voluntary enlistment would jump. Allowing more twenty-year enlistments would ease reenlistment blues, too. I am wary of Bush’s promise not to reinstate the draft (”he kept us out of war”; “read my lips”). I hope to get my absentee ballot from Hawaii soon. 

Richard Thompson 

Visiting Professor, Kyung Hee University, Republic of Korea 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

John Kerry won Thursday night’s foreign policy debate. America saw John Kerry as our next President Thursday evening. Kerry showed strength, conviction and steady command of the facts.  

Kerry left no doubt he can lead the fight to hunt and kill the terrorists. Kerry offered hope for a fresh start in Iraq so we can finish the job. 

Alex Kaplinsky 

Palo Alto 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am writing to give my reactions to the Sept. 30 debate between Bush and Kerry. I feel strongly that Kerry showed his ability to lead this nation and be our next president. He clearly beat Bush throughout the debate and proved to have much stronger arguments. He also provided a vision of hope for the future in Iraq. Bush failed to point out that he has made mistakes and offer solutions to those mistakes. All in all, it seems very clear that John Kerry should be our next president. 

Aaron Calander 

Berkeley 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

John Kerry raised some important questions in the debates that I hope undecided voters will think about. Why did we invade a country that had never attacked us and was not even close to the top of the list in terms of ability to produce nuclear weapons? If the president agreed that nuclear proliferation is the single greatest threat to our nation, why did we not have a workable plan for securing the supposed weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as we invaded? When does “steadfast” become “stubborn” and then degenerate into simply “stupid?” We need a president who can think on his feet - a president who can not only set a goal but is sufficiently grounded in reality to develop a realistic plan for achieving it. 

Serena Clayton 

Oakland 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Lately, I’ve become more and more concerned about the number of eligible voters who aren’t voting. In the 2000 presidential election, only 51 percent of the eligible voters voted! Why didn’t they vote? I tried to find out. There seems to be an unlimited number of reasons that people say they don’t vote. Most fall into two categories. The first relates to effort: inconvenient, not enough time, too complicated, etc. The second relates to futility: my vote won’t make any difference, I don’t like any of the candidates, all the politicians are the same, they never do what they promise, etc. The list is overwhelming, and the reasons are ones we can all relate to.  

Rather then, let’s look at it from a different point of view: Why everyone should want to vote. Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy. It’s what makes a “government by the people and for the people” possible! We invest a lot of effort and resources in fostering and encouraging democracy around the world. Why are so many here at home not participating in the democracy our ancestors fought so hard to institute and protect, and that we are fighting so hard to protect today? We should all want to vote, because we are so very fortunate that we can vote! 

Cliff Swartz 

Napa 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Watching the entire debate tonight, obviously, John Edwards performed much stronger and convinceful. He understood fully the issues facing to the country and has resolutions that are constructive and doable. 

Karl Huang 

Albany 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’m thrilled that Edwards stunned Cheney into silence: regarding Halliburton, regarding his voting record, regarding gay marriage...it was beautiful! No one was surprised that Bush could barely put a sentence together, but Cheney is intelligent. Even intelligence doesn’t help when the Bush/Cheney team has done so badly for America and American values. Yippee! America is waking up! 

Allyson Klein 

San Francisco 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The vice presidential debate was extremely informative and displayed the candidates for what they truly are; a sincere, passionate and hopeful senator from North Carolina, and a hateful fear-mongering bully. Cheney spoke about his plans for the war, health care, social security, and education but has made no significant progress in these areas in the last four years. It is just as Edwards pointed out: a long record does not mean you have made smart decisions. It is time that the American people stand united and hold this administration accountable for the atrocities of the past four years both at home and abroad. Edwards’ performance tonight was one of hopeful promise for a better tomorrow. I am emphatically in favor the Kerry/Edwards ticket and will not be frightened nor bullied into voting for the current administration. 

Tamara Tal 

Chapel Hill 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In my opinion, Kerry and Edwards will do better for 98 percent of individual Americans. Bush and Cheney will do better for the top tier of Americans, say the top two percent. Kerry and Edwards will deliver more strength, more clarity and more focus in the overall war on terror and specifically in Iraq, returning America to peace time faster than Bush and Cheney. The Bush administration will invest in the software and hardware of war. Millions and millions of more Americans will continue to suffer without health care under another Bush administration. Bush and Cheney are bad for Americans. 

Under a new Kerry administration, all Americans will have access to the same health care plan available now to U.S. Senators. Small business owners will enjoy greater relief for providing health care benefits to employees while Kerry and Edwards reduce the U.S. deficit by 50 percent AIDs will continue to annihilate Africans in Africa and African Americans in the U.S. at unacceptable rates. Kerry and Edwards will usher in billions more in research and treatment dollars during their upcoming administration. Kerry and Edwards will make Americans think about the moral implications of the genocide happening now in Sudan. Kerry and Edwards are better for Americans. 

With Bush, Halliburton will continue to earn millions in profits from trade with Iran, which is condoned via legislative loopholes and by the former CEO, Dick Cheney. Kerry and Edwards will put the interests of individual Americans in front of the interests of corporate conglomerates. Kerry and Edwards will fight to keep America strong, investing in creativity and innovation for the future while battling to brings jobs to Americans instead of incentivizing corporations to outsource to countries not far from Iraq. Under another Bush administration, the rights of individuals will be curtailed by Bush’s federal influence over states and individuals living in them. Bush and Cheney are bad for Americans. 

In my opinion, Bush and Cheney are taking America down a Darwinian path of survival of the fittest both domestically and globally. And they seem intent on proving that America belongs at the top of the global food chain while those with the most gold at home deserve even more tax relief than those with less. Where will this path lead us? Kerry and Bush will do more for Americans. Kerry and Edwards will do better for Americans. Cast your vote for Kerry and Edwards even if your normally vote republican . . . your life, your husband’s life, your wife’s life, your son’s life, your daughter’s life, your friend’s life . . . all of our lives may very well depend on it. 

Garth Bradley 

Benicia 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Dick Cheney is totally out of touch with reality in Iraq and totally out of touch with the struggles of the middle class. This is nothing new to a man with a lifetime record of protecting the powerful and well connected. He came across as smug, arrogant, mean and defensive -- but his trademark distortions and scare tactics didn’t work. John Edwards refused to let him play the politics of fear and forced Dick Cheney to confront his administration’s record of failure. 

Naomi Quilala 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

While the vice president was much better tonight than the president at the prior debate, Cheney is totally out of touch with reality in Iraq. At one point he claimed that he did not connect Al Qaeda with Iraq - however, a year earlier on another TV program, he did just that. 

Cheney came across as smug, arrogant, mean and defensive. In the horrible event that the vice president has to take over the office of president, I pray that Cheney is not that person. 

Laura Owen 

Foster City 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Tonight’s debate further highlighted the Bush administration’s isolation from reality. 

Cheney’s snarling performance illustrated the “smallness” of a small but vocal minority in this country. This minority (1) pontificates about military valor and sacrifice as long as others do the dying, (2) excoriates government except when it offers them a job or a no bid contract for their company, and (3) dismisses evidence of their mistakes by repeating lies previously found out. 

In times of peace and prosperity we can ignore these cranks. Hence it didn’t matter that the sitting Senator from Wyoming voted against Head Start and Meals on Wheels for seniors. We can make him a caricature and laugh about it. 

But now that same sitting senator is running the White House and the laughter has stopped. Our troops are dying without proper equipment or allies, our children are plunging into poverty and our country is fracturing due to cultural wars started by an administration that has nothing of substance to offer America. 

John Edwards not only articulated America’s actual problems tonight, he offered real solutions. It’s time to send the cranks home and put the real grownups in charge. 

Catherine Daly 

El Cerrito 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In tonight’s debate, Dick Cheney lied. He lied when he said he never said there was a connection between Iraq and Al-Qaeda, and we expect your news organizations to make this clear to the American people. He said there was a connection when he was on Meet the Press and during many campaign stops and speeches. He lied about Kerry votes on taxes, voting Medicare premiums, and malpractice reform. 

John Edwards won this debate hands down. He was forthright, strong, clear, and above all, honest. One cannot win a debate based on evasions and lies, and that’s what we saw from Dick Cheney tonight. He is an embarrassment to our nation. 

Now that Bush and Cheney have divided America and made a mess of Iraq, we need the kind of resolute, honest leadership that only John Kerry and John Edwards can offer. It’s time for the all-liar ticket (Bush/Cheney) to be voted out of office. 

Rose MacDowell 

San Francisco 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Democrats are two for two. Tonight, in Cleveland, John Edwards showed real strength and conviction -- he was in command of the facts and in control of the debate and a powerful advocate for John Kerry. The American people saw John Edwards as somebody who is ready, if necessary, to be president of the United States. 

Dick Cheney is totally out of touch with reality in Iraq and totally out of touch with the struggles of the middle class. This is nothing new to a man with a lifetime record of protecting the powerful and well connected. He came across as smug, arrogant, mean and defensive -- but his trademark distortions and scare tactics didn’t work. John Edwards refused to let him play the politics of fear and forced Dick Cheney to confront his administration’s record of failure. 

Americans are tired of growls and scowls from our leaders, and John Edwards and John Kerry offer America hope and optimism. 

I’m voting for John Kerry and John Edwards! 

Joan Borame 

El Cerrito 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

When I was a boy, my parents watched Channel 7 News, an ABC affiliate in Detroit, every evening at 6 o’clock. Through the years, the Eyewitness News Team felt almost like members of our family. The ABC nightly news followed the local edition. As I grew up, and started my own family, ABC remained a constant fixture in my home. But this evening, after watching the Vice Presidential Debates, my lifelong devotion to ABC has come to an end. 

This election year has highlighted, more than ever before, the persuasive impact the media has over public opinion. I specifically avoid FOX network because of their shameless and obvious political slant. I’ve remained loyal to ABC because I believed they had more integrity than the other networks. But when ABC aired the results of a “scientific” Poll that declared the Vice President the winner of the debate, when they knew the participants of that poll were significantly weighted with Republican voters, my faith in the impartiality of ABC has been destroyed forever. Shame on you ABC. 

T.J. Parsell 

Sag Harbor 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The vice presidential debate on Tuesday presented a vivid contrast between the negative, fearful, divisive style of the Bush/Cheney administration vs. the buoyant, caring, practical and hopeful style of the Kerry/Edwards team. 

Vice President Cheney’s main argument seemed to be “watch out, there might be a nuclear attack in our cities so we have to keep President Bush in office so that he can continue waging war to keep us safe.” Whenever Senator Edwards mentioned that America troops are bearing 90 percent of the casualties and 90 percent of the costs, VP Cheney retorted that many Iraqis are also dying. The Iraqis could well ask the question are they better off with a Bush administration or under the sadistic dictator Saddam Hussein, who at least kept the sewers working, the hospitals open and the lights on. 

Senator Edwards also pointed out that there are Al Queda cells in 90 countries and yet we are not invading them. Iran and North Korea possess nuclear capability or weapons, and we are not attacking them. I believe that there needs to be a more fine-grained strategy to combating fundamentalism and terror than trying to force people to embrace democracy at the barrel of a gun and using 1950’s tactics to suppress dissenting views and debate here at home, as well as in Iraq. John Kerry and John Edwards are the team to lead us forward to a better future. 

Marianna Grossman Keller 

Palo Alto 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It was clear to me that the Republican candidates can no longer sustain their calm behind all the lies that they have been telling us. There is a huge gap between what Bush and Cheney are saying and what is happening in reality in the world. 

This last debate only reaffirms that. 

Edwards had a though contender tonight but even against all Cheney’s arrogance, Edward proved that he’s better fit to lead this country. 

Celso Alberti 

Alameda 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Edwards clearly won the debate. 

Jason Bauer 

San Francisco 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I watched the vice presidential debate and I was inspired by what Senator John Edwards from North Carolina said. I think that Senator Edwards was smart because he thought of what Vice President Dick Cheney might say and planned to diffuse Cheney’s attacks. 

President Bush got a lot of suburban moms to vote for him in the 2000 election because he presented his speeches in a way that they could relate to. John Edwards’ answers in the debate appeal to all sorts of people from kids to grandparents. 

They talked about the war in Iraq. John Edwards talked about jobs, health care, education and taxes that penalize companies for outsourcing jobs. Senator Edwards said that gays should have the right to be in relationships but that the federal government shouldn’t interfere. 

I think that Gwen Ifill did a great job of being a moderator and was equally positive to the debaters She also asked excellent questions. 

I think that both men should have shown more respect by calling her “Ms. Ifill” instead of “Gwen.” I was astonished that Dick Cheney, in his closing two minutes did not thank Senator Edwards after Senator Edwards had thanked him. Cheney was also very attacking when he said that Senator Edwards didn’t come to some meetings when Cheney said “F--- Y-” to another senator on the Senate floor. 

Sophie Keller, age 11 

Palo Alto 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I strongly believe that all public servants must be held to the highest standards. Senator Edwards impressed me greatly tonight with his strong tone on the Iraq mess and his passion about our domestic problems that have gotten much worse under this administration. I was equally upset with Mr. Cheney for his continued dishonesty and outright lying to all Americans. Republican or Democrat, we deserve the truth from this administration, something which Cheney and Bush refuse to do, even as Rumsfeld came clean yesterday. The current administration has mystery arithmetic techniques, everyone else, including the U.S. government knows we have spent close to $200 Billion dollars in Iraq and we spend over $250 Million more every single day! Yet Cheney kept knocking that number down by subtracting from the 200 billion what others may have spent. This does not change what the U.S.A. has already spent! He did the same thing with the number of voters he claims have signed up in Afghanistan. 

Senator Edwards showed all Americans how they will fix the terrible mess our country is now in due to the corporate control the Bush Administration has so freely given. From health care, pollution, job losses, to massive tax giveaways, another four years of the looting of our country by the New Century’s Robber Barrons and America will be bankrupt and a toxic waste dump. Never in American history has more money been spent in such a short time, even during WWII! Bush claimed he was a fiscal conservative, he sure fooled everyone. Giving tax cuts at a time of war is unheard of in most of American history, yet Cheney said “it was their due,”most of the tax cuts go to the top one percent of Americans and almost none of the tax cuts are on earned income. They are unearned income like dividends, estate taxes, etc. This money does not trickle down and create jobs. Here is the proof, the richest companies that now pay little or no tax, or even better that pay nothing and get billions in tax payer subsidies (40 percent more companies pay nothing under Bush) these companies have done less investing in equipment and hiring than the companies that got nothing from Bush. The job losses are continuing, the numbers Bush gives are only who is actually on unemployment right now, not who has run out of benefits or who has given up looking for a job, or who has taken a minimum wage job when they were making double or triple that before. That is not progress, that is a downward spiral. All Bush knows is crony handouts that will wipe America out. These people care nothing for America, or Americans, they care for their money and their ultra rich friends like the Grinch. 

The Democrats are not perfect, but never in history has any administration been so dishonest and so arrogant to the people that they are supposed to serve. Considering that my health insurance for my wife and I just went up $2,400 a year and I am on disability, we have to sell our house, oh yeah, our property tax doubled in the last three years, just to cover the grossly under funded No child.... Our company could not get a $50,000 SBA even after 11 years in business with growing profits every year and a house to back up the loan, yet Bush gives billions away to companies that don’t even need it. We had to let 21 people go after an electrical fire and an Insurance company that stalled 8 months on paying our claims. America is in big, big trouble, and close to half of you have your blinders on. You worry about medals that are 30 years old, but don’t care about lies last week or beheadings yesterday. You worry about long sentences but not about prisoners being tortured or held for two years without a lawyer or a phone call. You worry about how someone dresses but not about the biggest deficit in history and the biggest job loss since the great depression. America has become addicted to the fear mongering and has let the terrorist attack put them under total control of leaders with no morals, no care for human life (we don’t do body counts) and no respect for the world community, which we can never escape unless we go to Mars like Bush wants to. Well I am staying here on Earth and I will elect John Kerry and John Edwards and president and vice president of the U.S.A., if you want Bush and Cheney then move with them to Mars. 

Cary Brief 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

John Edwards clearly won this debate. Cheney looked exhausted and tired and unable to answer some very damning charges. 

Mike Lewis 

San Francisco 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Edwards was obviously superior, despite the lies and misrepresentations of Dick Cheney 

Thomas Werth 

San Jose 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It becomes clearer and clearer as we get closer to the election that Cheney and bush and this administration have used any excuse for their agenda in this game of Risk that they are playing. We must put an end to this very dangerous game they are playing at human expense. 

Get out the vote to turn this around. 

Frayda Garfinkle 

Oakland 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

After the vice presidential debate I got the felling that Cheney, like the president, was defensive and evasive with the answers. 

Mr. Edwards did a great job, he’s ready to lead us fixing this mess in Iraq and here at home. 

With all the vice presidents, Mr. Cheney, political experience, it was a shame he wasted three answers to the senator’s responses, for him not to even take advantage of the time, he choice to avoid the opportunity to share with the American people his thoughts. That was disrespectful to the American people and was not a polished politician like he claims to be. 

Carlos and Sharon Soto-Aguilar 

Pittsburg 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Despite Dick Cheney’s dubious debate claims, Sen. John Edwards (D- N.C.) missed just seven votes out of 1,307 in his first four years in office, During his first five years in the Senate, Edwards voted 1,551 times out of 1,626 roll-call votes, or 95.4 percent. Compared to George Bush’s combined vacation days and campaigning on the road days, John Edwards has been available and on the job. 

In his first eight months in office before 9/11, George W. Bush was on vacation, according to the Washington Post, 42 percent of the time. President Bush has spent all or part of 166 days during his presidency at his Crawford, Texas, ranch or en route. Add the time spent at or en route to the presidential retreat of Camp David and at the Bush family estate in Kennebunkport, Maine, and Bush has taken 250 days off as of August 2003. That’s 27 percent of his presidency spent on vacation. - Yahoo News 

And that’s before you add to that his increased vacation days and! on the road campaigning this year. 

As of December 1999, President Bill Clinton had spent only 152 days on holiday during his two terms. Jimmy Carter took 79 days off. 

As far as never meeting John Edwards, besides somehow missing Edwards 95 percent of the time when he voted 1,551 times in five years, John Edwards escorted Elizabeth Dole when she was sworn in as North Carolina’s other senator on Jan. 8, 2003, by Vice President Dick Cheney. 

“As per Senate tradition, Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., escorted her.” “Dole took the Senate oath administered by Vice President Dick Cheney, the Senate president.” “Her husband, former Senate majority leader and GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole, also was by her side.” - 1/8/03 Gannet News Service 

As well as Cheney’s own words on Feb. 1, 2001, while sitting next to John Edwards: “Thank you. Thank you very much. Congressman Watts, Senator Edwards, friends from across America and distinguished visitors to our country from all over the world, Lynne and I are honored to be with you all this morning.” He also shared the “Meet the Press” set with John Edwards before. 

I’m also glad that Cheney urged people to FactCheck.org where He and Bush are held to the truth. 

“Cheney wrongly implied that FactCheck had defended his tenure as CEO of Halliburton Co., and the vice president even got our name wrong. He overstated matters when he said Edwards voted “for the war” and “to commit the troops, to send them to war.” He exaggerated the number of times Kerry has voted to raise taxes, and puffed up the number of small business owners who would see a tax increase under Kerry’s proposals.” - 10/6/04 FactCheck.org 

“Edwards was talking about Cheney’s responsibility for earlier Halliburton troubles. And in fact, Edwards was mostly right.” 

“The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Aug. 3 that Halliburton will pay $7.5 million to settle a matter that dates back to 1998, when Cheney was CEO.” - 10/6/04 FactCheck.org 

“Cheney made a puffed-up claim that “900,000 small businesses will be hit” should Kerry and Edwards raise taxes on individuals making more than $200,000 a year, as they promise to do. As we’ve explained before, 900,000 is an inflated figure that results from counting every high-income individual who reports even $1 of business income as a “small business owner.” Even Cheney and his wife Lynne would qualify as a “small business owner” under that definition because Mrs. Cheney reports income as a “consultant” from fees she collects as a corporate board member, even though she had no employees and the business income is only 3.5 percent of the total income reported on their 2003 tax returns.” - 10/6/04 FactCheck.org 

Jim Boales 

San Jose 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Five days after President George Bush gloated that John Kerry “forgot Poland,” Dick Cheney and John Edwards met for the first and only vice-presidential debate of 2004. 

That same day, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski discussed reducing Polish forces in Iraq beginning next January, with a complete pullout by the end of 2005. 

Meanwhile, as Cheney continued to insist, in Tuesday’s debate, on the existence, preceding the war, of a clear and present Iraqi threat to our national security, chief U.S. weapons inspector Charles Duelfer prepared a final report, presented Wednesday to the Senate Armed Services Committee, concluding that Iraq did not have rumored stockpiles of banned weapons, and that Hussein “did not vigorously pursue” WMD programs after the inspectors left. 

Even as Cheney defended his claims of disputed connections between al-Qaeda and Hussein on Tuesday, news of a new CIA report revealed “no conclusive evidence” of such a connection. 

While the debates this fall were supposed to be between George Bush and John Kerry, and between Dick Cheney and John Edwards, they’re increasingly turning into debates between George Bush, Dick Cheney, and the reality we see reported in the news every day. 

Christopher Roy 

Seattle 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The polls have found widely ranging after-debate results. CBS found that undecided voters put challenger Senator John Edwards ahead of Vice President Dick Cheney by a wide margin (41 percent to 28 percent). ABC declared Mr. Cheney the winner by a 42 percent to 35 percent margin. In both polls, the remaining people believed that the two men were tied. 

The vice president would have done far worse in the debate if he had been required to stick to the facts. Continuing a pattern of misleading statements, dishonesty and deception, which has characterized the Bush administration from the outset, continued through Tuesday’s debate. The vice president faced the American people, looked into the camera and said that he had never claimed a connection between Iraq and the attacks on American soil on September 11, 2001. Even knowing that he had given interviews on Sunday morning television shows saying exactly that and knowing that the tapes would be replayed after the debate, the vice president told the American people he never said what he had said over and over again. 

The vice president did not respond to the charge that Halliburton has received special treatment by being awarded no-bid contracts, which they still have even after they were fined for acts of over-billing and fraud. His comment that it would take more than a few minutes to explain his position was not reassuring. Yes, he has a lot of explaining to do, but that’s not a good thing. 

When Mr. Cheney was on the campaign trail, outside the Cincinnati venue, he questioned the patriotism of John Kerry. Inside the hall of Case Western Reserve University, he told the American people that it is one thing to talk tough in the context of a campaign but it is quite another thing to stand up and fight when necessary. When Mr. Cheney was a young man he took five draft deferments. They were legal then, and maybe he wasn’t a coward, but he was no war hero, and when his country called he did not stand up and fight for it. It is one thing to be ready to die for your country, and it is quite another to send young men to their death when the vice president was not willing to make the same sacrifice. 

James G. Lion, Jr. 

Sonoma 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

John Edwards proved himself able to be “a heartbeat away” from the presidential seat in last night’s vice presidential debate. 

Cheney blatantly lied to the American people on public television last night when he said he never insinuated that there were connections between Iraq and 9/11. He must think the American people are stupid! Cheney’s voting record is a microcosm of the Bush administration’s policies... Cheney voted against Meals on Wheels...(a self serving administration) Who could have voted against the Martin Luther King holiday other than a bigot...which Bush seems to have surrounded himself with. I’m ready to vote Kerry and Edwards into the oval office, as leaders of this country, to clean up the mess Bush & Cheney have gotten us into. I’m holding Bush & Cheney personally responsible for the American deaths during the Iraq war. I highly suggest we imprison both of them for war crimes and manslaughter of Americans. They have done nothing but spread hate around this country ..and divided this country from the rest of the world. 

Renee Durante 

Sunnyvale 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

John Edwards soundly beat Dick Cheney in Cleveland last night. 

John Edwards refused to let Cheney play the politics of fear and forced him to confront his administration’s record of failure. 

The American people saw John Edwards as somebody who is ready, if necessary, to be president of the United States 

Subhash Patadia 

San Jose