For three straight weeks in June a group of mental health patients pleaded with the City Council to save the beleaguered center where they spend their days. 

After dozens of heartfelt stories the council obliged, rejecting a staff recommendation to cut funding and effectively kill the program. 

But a group of South Berkeley neighbors and merchants charge that councilmembers were thinking with their hearts and not their heads. 

They have declared war on the Berkeley Drop-In Center at 3234-3238 Adeline Street, which they insist has turned Adeline into a drug den, Fairview and Harmon streets into public urinals and the neighborhood into a summer shooting gallery. 

The drive to close the center has emerged as the most contentious issue in this year’s District 3 City Council race. At the heart of the campaign to oust the center from Adeline Street is community organizer Laura Menard, while one of her top rivals for the council seat, Max Anderson, whose wife recently sat on the center’s board of directors, has rushed to its defense. 

“Laura’s using the center as a political football to draw a wedge in the community,” he said. “Crime is not caused by the community’s most vulnerable people.” 

Menard replied that she started organizing against the center in April, and discussed the issue with Anderson long before she considered running for the council. 

“He knows I’ve been working on this for a while,” she said. 

Several residents and merchants, some who are supporting Anderson, insist the neighborhood concerns are genuine. 

Mike Gabel, who for 22 years has run an architectural firm on Harmon Street one block away from the center, wrote to the city council this week that he plans to move his business by the end of the year if the city doesn’t remove the center or make it clean up his act. 

“The current situation is unacceptable,” said Gabel, describing a constant scene of drug dealing, loitering and public drunkenness he said has grown worse in the past year. 

Anne Healy, who lives a block from the center, said when she tried to sell her house this year, her real estate agent told her to disclose the center as a nuisance to potential buyers. 

“It’s a pall on the neighborhood,” she said, adding that one prospective buyer saw two men smoking crack in a neighbor’s backyard. 

The drop-in center was founded over 20 years ago as an innovator in mental health. Instead of taking the traditional top-down approach, the center acts as an informal living room run by former clients. Clients with mental illnesses, many of whom are homeless and have drug addictions, come voluntarily for services and receive peer-to-peer counseling. 

Pioneered in the Bay Area, the peer-support model came into vogue nationally in the early ‘90s, said UC Berkeley Professor of Social Welfare Steven Segal.  

Seven similar programs now operate in Alameda County. 

Fred Madrano, the city’s health director attributed the recent woes at Berkeley’s center to the departure seven years ago of its founder and longtime executive director Sally Zinman. 

“They’ve tried hard, but I don’t know if they have the management capacity to run it,” Madrano said. “Certainly they haven’t achieved the results that we were looking for.” 

A report last June from the city’s housing department faulted the center for providing “little in the way of intensive services, maintaining no individual client files...and having no capacity to report on outcomes achieved.” 

To keep its $88,560 contract with the city, the council demanded that the center change its management, improve its services and repair relations with the community. A progress report to the city is due by Nov. 1. 

The center is in the process of merging with the Alameda County Network of Mental Health Clients, another conusmer-run organization that has an office upstairs from the drop-in center and operates six other client-run drop-in centers in Alameda County. 

The group’s executive director, Nancy Thomas, said the Berkeley Center has been providing adequate services, including providing housing vouchers and counseling, and that her focus would be to improve record keeping and document its successes. 

Center outgoing executive director Emmitt Hutson counts himself among one of the center’s many success stories. He said the center was “about to have its problems ironed out” and that neighbors were too quick to attribute every problem on Adeline to the center and unwilling to work with center management. 

“Everything they’ve done has been behind our backs,” he said. “They don’t want us here. That’s what it boils down to.” 

Robin Wright, the president of the Lorin Avenue Neighborhood Association and along with Menard a leader in the fight to expel the center agreed. “People don’t want any more promises, they want them out.” 

Sam Dykes, an Adeline Street merchant, said the center has exacerbated crime by making Adeline a lucrative territory for drug dealers.  

“When you concentrate a couple of dozen people with the same problem in the same place, dealers know that there’s good business to be had,” he said.  

A police crime map identifies the immediate vicinity of the center as one of the highest crime areas in the city. However, police spokesperson Shira Warren said that despite frequent reports from neighbors that crime is linked to clients of the center, the police had “no reason to believe there was a direct correlation.” 

Neighbors and merchants didn’t welcome the center when it moved 10 years ago from its original home at the former Edison School at Oregon and Grant streets.  

In 1994 council voted 5-4 to deny an appeal filed by local merchants challenging the center’s use permit at Adeline. To address neighborhood concerns, however, the council required additional conditions be added to the permit that neighbors say the center has disregarded. 

The conditions call for the center to prevent clients from congregating outside, post contact information so neighbors can call in complaints, post a schedule of events and establish an advisory board of center directors and neighbors to work out problems.  

Thomas said a report she will deliver to the city will address its compliance issues, but she questioned if she could reach common ground with the neighbors and merchants asking for the center to be closed. 

“South Berkeley has gentrified,” she said. “People want to see arts, they don’t want to see us.” 

ô

One of the most closely-contested local election races next month is expected to be in the Berkeley Unified School District, where three challengers are opposing incumbent board members Joaquín Rivera and John Selawsky. 

Rivera is seeking his third four-year term on the five-member board of directors while Selawsky, the current board president, is seeking re-election to his second term. Board members are elected at large. 

While both Rivera and Selawsky concede that BUSD has been plagued with problems in the past, they say that the situation has been turned around under their direction. In his filed candidate statement, Selawsky says that “during my term...we have restored fiscal integrity and rebuilt budget, payroll, and personnel systems, successfully preventing a state takeover.” And in a late September debate in the school board chambers, Rivera said flatly, “This district is better off than when I got on the board eight years ago.” 

But the two are facing a stiff fight from Emeryville Assistant City Manager Karen Hemphill and social policy analyst Kalima Rose, both of whom have already beaten the incumbents in the area of fund-raising in addition to garnering several powerful endorsements. Community volunteer Merrilie Mitchell is also running, but with no listed endorsements and no reported money raised, Mitchell is not expected to be a serious factor in the election. 

Hemphill and Rose have each raised 25 percent more than Rivera and close to 50 percent more than Selawsky. Rivera has $3,000 more in his campaign war chest than either Hemphill or Rose, but only because he gave himself a $4,000 loan. And while Rivera and Selawsky have the endorsement of State Senator Don Perata, among others, Hemphill and Rose have won the support of both Congressmember Barbara Lee and the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, which represents some 700 teachers. 

Hemphill and Rose, while maintaining separate campaign organizations, are running what their campaigns call a “joint effort,” distributing a portion of their yard signs with the names of both challengers, as well as leaflets for the two candidates printed back to back. In her filed candidate statement, Rose includes a note urging citizens “to vote for Karen Hemphill to serve with me.” 

In community debates, the joint effort tactic has allowed the two challengers to double-team the two incumbents, who do not always offer the same defense. 

In a League of Women Voters debate at Rosa Parks Elementary this week, for example, Rose charged that “while the two incumbents tout the fiscal recovery that has been taking place in the school system, they neglect to say that the financial problems from which we are recovering began on their watch.” 

But Selawsky countered “it wasn’t under my watch,” noting that the district’s budget deficit was “already there when I was elected to the board in November of 2000.” Rivera, who was already on the board when Selawsky was elected, stared straight ahead and did not respond to the charge. 

And the candidates often clash over just how bad a shape the Berkeley schools are actually in. 

Rose and Selawsky differed at last week’s BFT endorsement meeting over the issue of how Berkeley’s teacher pay ranks with other comparable districts in the state. 

In 1999, BUSD and the BFT negotiated a four-year contract that sought to raise teacher pay to a competitive level. The two sides developed a complicated formula called the Composite Compensation Index (CCI), which compared beginning, median, and highest teachers salaries—as well as health benefits—in 33 school districts similar in size to Berkeley Unified. The BUSD and BFT agreed that over the course of the four year contract, Berkeley teachers would move from near the bottom of that list to just a little over the midway point (the 55th percentile). 

That contract ended in 2002-03, and Berkeley teachers have been operating without a contract—or a pay raise—since then. 

In her presentation to the teachers, Rose charged that Berkeley teacher pay has dropped below that 55th percentile mark since the contract ended. But saying that he wanted “to correct Kalima,” Selawsky countered that, in fact, Berkeley teachers ranked five points above that mark. 

Determining who was right depends on whether verified or unverified figures are used. 

According to BFT President Barry Fike, Berkeley teachers did reach the 60th percentile of the CCI in 2002-03, the last year of the four-year contract. In 2003-04, Fike believes that Berkeley teachers maintained that position, based on his understanding that teacher pay raises across the state were almost universally frozen during that year. But Fike now believes that because several school districts in the 33 district list have received pay raises this year, Berkeley’s position on the CCI “could be dropping now. We’re not keeping pace.” 

Another issue of contention is the academic achievement of Berkeley’s minority students. 

Hemphill, who is African-American, says that it is important to elect a minority board member “who looks out for all students, of course, but looks out specifically for the interests of minority students.” It is a pointed jab at Rivera, who is Latino. 

At the Rosa Parks debate, when both Hemphill and Rose charged that African-American test scores are “lagging” in the district, Rivera disputed that allegation, saying that “African-American and Latino students have made humongous progress” in recent test scores. 

Although African-American and Latino students have made some test score gains over the past year, the use of the term “humongous” is something of an exaggeration, if you take a comparison between last year’s and this year’s API rankings for elementary and middle schools in the Berkeley Unified School District. 

API scores rose an average of 19 points between 2002-03 and 2003-04 among African-American students in Berkeley’s 11 elementary schools. They rose an average of 16 points among Latino students in the four elementary schools (Thousand Oaks, Emerson, Cragmont, and Rosa Parks) in which Latino scores were tracked. However, that compares to an average 18 point increase in the scores of white students during the same period, so that the total average elementary school gap between African-American students and white students (237 points) and between Latino students and white students (208 points) remains virtually the same over the last two testing years. 

In the city’s three middle schools, African-American and Latino gains were somewhat better. African-American middle school students gained an average 26 points in API scores between 2002-03 and 2003-04, while Latino students gained an average 39 points in the two middle schools (Willard and King) in which they were tracked. That compared to an average 15 point increase in the same period among white middle school students. But minority middle school students still trail their white counterparts by significant margins (270 points for African-Americans, 189 points for Latinos). 

And in four of the city’s middle and elementary schools, minority API scores saw significant drops in the last year, with Latino students dropping 53 points at Cragmont Elementary and African-American students dropping 60 points at Rosa Parks. White student scores dropped in only two of the city’s schools, neither of them more than eight points. 

The League of Women Voters has scheduled at least one other candidates’ forum in the Berkeley school board race, Tuesday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. at the Schwimley Little Theater at Berkeley High School. Telecasts of previous debates are also being broadcast on Berkeley Cable Channel 33.›

Berkeley residents who don’t want to wait for a flu shot will have to leave city limits to find an available vaccine. 

The city has zero adult doses of the flu vaccine and only 90 doses for children, said City Health Officer Poki Namkung. 

“We’re in a terrible situation,” she said.  

Without an adequate supply, Namkung said, the city has canceled its immunization program for city workers and has not supplied local health clinics and nursing homes as in years past. Local employers, including UC, Bayer, and Barra have also canceled their employee vaccination programs due to the shortage. 

Flu vaccines earmarked for Berkeley and all of California were destroyed last week after British regulators closed a Chiron Corp. plant in Liverpool citing manufacturing problems. 

The Emeryville-based company was contracted to supply the United States with 48 million doses of the flu vaccine, including those earmarked for Berkeley, Alameda County and California.  

Berkeley must now wait as the federal Center for Disease Control (CDC) rations the country’s remaining 22.4 million doses that were manufactured by the other supplier, Aventis Pasteur. 

Namkung said that officials at the CDC told her to expect about half of the city’s original order to arrive in six to eight weeks. Typically, she said, the city provides 2,200 vaccines. 

Other traditional sources of the flu vaccine are also in short supply. Maxim Health Systems, which runs vaccination centers at Walgreen’s, Long’s and Costco, have canceled scheduled vaccinations in Berkeley and will stop offering the shot altogether on Saturday. 

UC Berkeley’s Tang Health Center, which received 1,400 vaccines from Aventis, held its second and last public vaccination session Tuesday, said Dr. Peter Dietrich, medical director of University Health Services. The center still has some vaccinations, but is administering them on a case-by-case basis, he said. 

Alta Bates Hospital also received vaccines from Aventis, but as is standard procedure for the hospital, it only ordered enough to inoculate staff, said hospital spokesperson Carolyn Kemp. 

Berkeley Physician John Jones said his private medical group has been out of flu vaccines since they administered their first shipment of shots before the Chiron plant was shut down. 

He said most local physicians had ordered from Chiron because it is a local company and charged less for the vaccines than Aventis. 

In brighter news, he added that since the onset of flu season in the Bay Area doesn’t arrive until late January, the optimal time to get a shot is November. A shot administered in September or October can lose effectiveness towards the end of winter, he said, and is only recommended for people suffering severe medical conditions or traveling to colder climates. 

For those who need a vaccination immediately, there are several local options. Kaiser, which ordered from Aventis, has a stockpile of 45,000 doses for its patients who qualify. The insurance giant will hold flu shot clinics at 3801 Howe St. in Oakland from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. Saturday and 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday. 

The Safeway Pharmacy on Solano Avenue is scheduled to offer vaccinations to qualified patients on Oct. 25. However a store representative said the chain might cancel the clinic depending on availability. 

Further from home shots will be available at Alameda Hospital in Alameda from 3 p.m. until 7 p.m. on Oct. 23 and at the Safeway at 2020 Market Street in San Francisco on Saturday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. 

At all clinics, only eligible patients will be entitled to a vaccination. To qualify a patient must be either be between six months and two years old, older than 65, pregnant, a resident in a nursing home or long-term care facility, a health care worker involved directly with patients, or have a chronic medical condition. 

The City Council voted Tuesday to shrink the size of new buildings along University Avenue, ending an eight-year fight for clearer zoning guidelines on the city’s major east-west traffic corridor. 

But a group of residents along the avenue who back the new zoning rules still question whether the reform will be enough to stop developers from supersizing buildings. 

The council narrowly voted to pass the entire recommendation submitted by the Planning Commission. 

At first the council deadlocked 4-4-1, but immediately after the vote was recorded, with no motion to reconsider, Councilmember Maudelle Shirek reversed herself and voted to back the plan in its entirety. She joined Mayor Tom Bates and councilmembers Gordon Wozniak, Betty Olds and Miriam Hawley in voting to adopt the plan. Councilmembers Linda Maio, Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington favored sending the residential-only option in the plan to the Planning Commission for further study, and Margaret Breland, who has a substantial part of the plan area in her district, abstained. 

In other matters, the council approved a cost-savings plan to shut down City Hall on five days over the next three months, signed off on the purchase of “vandal proof” parking meters, set a quota on medical marijuana distributors, and held off on what to do with the city’s Creek Ordinance. 

The new zoning rules for University Avenue are aligned to a strategic plan approved in 1996 that called for concentrating larger retail spaces at designated intersections and implementing strict setbacks to keep buildings from towering over adjacent homes.  

The new rules allow buildings on University Avenue to rise up to three stories along the avenue and four stories at the retail nodes. However, developments often end up taller and bulkier, neighbors say, because of a state law that allows developers to exceed the height limit by including a certain percentage of low-income tenants, or designating space for cultural use. 

Members of Plan Berkeley, a group organized around building on University Avenue, urged the council to pass the commission’s recommendation, but also requested that a clause allowing some residential-only buildings on the avenue be returned to the Planning Commission for further discussion.  

They feared that without ground-floor retail space, the buildings could more easily qualify for additional space under the city’s interpretation of the state law. Adding to their concerns, earlier this month Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill increasing the bonus density, from 25 percent to 35 percent, allotted to developers who satisfy certain requirements. 

The new state allowance could swell residential-only buildings to five-stories or swallow the stricter building setbacks called for under the new rules, said Plan Berkeley’s Stephen Wollmer, who charged that the diagram shown to the council didn’t accurately display the size of the projects under the new law. 

“At this point, I’m just glad it got passed the way it is,” said Richard Graham of Plan Berkeley. 

The new zoning rules include a recommendation that the council commission a parking feasibility study on University Avenue to address concerns that a shortage of spaces has hampered retail growth. 

Planning Director Dan Marks said that development on University Avenue, independent of the new zoning regulations, would likely slow and migrate to San Pablo Avenue since University Avenue had become saturated with new buildings. 

Creeks 

Critics of Berkeley’s controversial creek law claimed a small victory Tuesday when city staff recommended that the Planning Commission serve as the venue for considering revisions to the law. 

However, the staff report didn’t reach councilmembers until late Tuesday afternoon, prompting the council to delay a vote on the staff recommendations until next week. 

Advocates of strengthening the city’s creek ordinance had called for the council to create a special taskforce to revise the law. A homeowner’s group, Neighbors on Urban Creeks, backed by several of the more moderate members of the council, countered that creek advocates could dominate a task force agenda. 

The creek law, which prevents most development within 30 feet of the center line of a creek, has become controversial in the past year when creek advocates began pushing for more protection for watersheds and their opponents demanded looser restrictions for property owners. 

City Manager Phil Kamlarz said he recommended taking the issues to the Planning Commission because a taskforce would take longer to form and get up to speed on the issues. 

The staff report called for dividing work on the creeks ordinance into three phases:  

Phase one, which the report estimated could be completed in three to six months, would take up a proposal for removing the 30-foot setback requirement from the ordinance and instead requiring all new developments to submit studies showing that they would not damage a creek. Phase one would also consider removing the 30-foot requirement entirely for areas where a creek has been culverted underground and rethinking the definition of a creek.  

Phases two and three, costing an estimated $500,000 over several years, would include an assessment of key creeks and the establishment of new creek protection policies followed by a feasibility study of daylighting culverted creeks on public property. 

Parking Meters 

The council voted unanimously to bank on another new type of parking meter. The manufacturer insists that this one is vandal-proof. Parking meter failures cost the city an estimated $1 million in lost meter revenue every year. 

The city will spend $332,460, not in its budget, for 32 pay stations that will replace 284 single space meters on the southside of the UC Berkeley campus. They are scheduled to be installed by the end of January. 

The meters, manufactured by Cale Parking Systems, rejects foreign coins, plastics, wood, and all other slugs preferred by meter vandals, according to a report from Peter Hillier, the assistant city manager for transportation. 

Hillier told the council that if the meters prove successful, the city would expand the pilot area. 

Other Items 

In other votes, the council approved a voluntary time off program designed to encourage city employees to use their accrued vacation days. Last year the city spent nearly $1.5 million buying back vacation days from employees who had accumulated more than the usable limit of 320 hours of vacation time. 

The council also passed the first reading of an ordinance to limit the number of medical marijuana dispensaries to no more than three and prohibit them from within 1,000 feet of a school or each other. 

After deadlocking last week the council voted 7-1-1 to increase the compensation given to tenants when their landlord chooses to leave the rental business from $4,500 to $7,000. 

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Berkeley Planning Commissioners got their first look Wednesday at new state legislation that increases density bonuses on affordable units in apartment and condominium projects from 20 to 35 percent starting Jan. 1. 

“The consensus was that we figure most developers will pull back their pending projects until the law becomes effective on Jan. 1,” said commissioner Gene Poschman, who predicted the law will have “horrendous impacts” on the size of future Berkeley developments. 

The so-called inclusionary bonus has been used to increase the height of new downtown developments from the five-floor limit mandated in the Downtown Plan to seven floors in the case of the Gaia Building and nine for the planned Seagate Building on Center Street. 

Zoning Adjustments Board member David Blake said an additional complication is the city attorney’s office interpretation of the existing state density bonus law. 

“The law says you can increase the density, but only in Berkeley has the law been interpreted to mean you can increase the size of the project,” said Blake. 

Planning Commissioners also rejected the pleas of Landmarks Preservation Commissioners and decided to hold a workshop on proposed changes to the city’s landmarks ordinance, which had been revised by landmarks commissioners in a lengthy four-year process in cooperation with the City Attorney’s office. 

Planning Commission members will submit their recommendations for topics to be considered at the workshop to city staff members, who will report back to the panel at their first November meeting. 

Harry Pollack, commission chair, said the workshop itself will be conducted during one of the commission’s two December meetings. 

While the first December meeting will be held as scheduled on the 8th, the second session has been rescheduled from the 22nd to the 15th to accommodate the holidays, Pollack said. 

Commissioners also discussed city staff suggestions for the upcoming Oct. 27 hearing on commercial parking requirements as raised by Mayor Tom Bates’ Task Force on Permitting and Development. 

The hearing will look at two issues, a recommendation that would allow reductions in parking requirements through a use permit or an administrative use permit and another that would allow grandfathered nonconforming parking for a transition from office to retail use. 

“It would apply when an office had either had no parking or a reduced allocation and there was no way for the new user to add parking,” Poschman said. ›

University of California service workers from all nine campuses plan to converge at UC Berkeley today (Friday) to protest stalled union contract negotiations with the university. 

According to workers, the 4 p.m. protest will start at Sproul Plaza, then move towards Telegraph Avenue. Several workers said they plan to get arrested for civil disobedience. 

Workers said they want to highlight UC’s mistreatment of its low-wage employees and hope to garner both public and student support for their new contract demands, which include higher pay and more opportunities for job promotion.  

About 7,000 UC service workers system-wide, who do everything from clean dorm rooms to cook the meals at dining halls, have been without a contract since their old one expired on June 30. They are represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union (AFSCME) local 3299. 

“We know that the union has gone to the table and bargained for us,” said Gilbert Nicholas, a senior cook at the UC Berkeley dining halls. “We also know that there has been no new offer [from the university]. The only thing for us to do is to demonstrate that there is a united front.” 

The university did not return calls concerning the protest. 

The protest comes a month after the release of a report called “Berkeley’s Betrayal,” authored by several UC Berkeley sociology graduate students and Barbara Ehrenreich, author of the best-seller, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.  

In the report, the authors detail how the university “betrays” its low wage workers by paying substandard wages, overworking them, and failing to train them properly. It also says there is a general lack of respect from students, administration and faculty for the work they do. 

According to Jose Martinez, an organizer with Local 3299, workers hope the protest is a way to unite with the Berkeley community, which has placed its own demands on the university. Residents and the city of Berkeley are currently struggling over how much the university should pay for the city services it uses. 

If contract negotiations continue to stall, Martinez said the union will use whatever means they have at their disposal to fight for the workers’ proposals. 

“The idea of a strike is not out of the question,” said Martinez. “It’s not that we’ve decided, but we consider that an option that all workers have when their backs are against the wall.” 

Workers said they are also ready to do whatever it takes to get better jobs.  

“I think the bulk of us believe that if the union comes to us and says we have done all we can do, that we would have no trouble passing a strike vote at all,” said Nicholas.  

›

Knock Leads to Knocks 

A knock on the door last Friday evening brought an unpleasant surprise to one Russell Street resident. 

Opening the door, he was assaulted by four angry juveniles who fled after administering a beating. They were last seen fleeing down Ashby Avenue in a brown station wagon, police said. 

Their victim wasn’t seriously harmed in the attack. 

No suspect have been identified. 

Strongarm Pair Sought 

Last Saturday noon, two men so admired the belongings carried by a gentleman outside the Longs Drugs at San Pablo and University avenues that they decided to take them. 

After strong-arming the hapless pedestrian, they gathered up his goodies, tossed them into their yellow car and headed off for parts unknown. 

Rat Pack Robbery Report 

A caller told Berkeley Police that he was attacked on the Berkeley Pier just after midnight Sunday by a gang of 10 to 15 males and females who relieved him of his wallet, cell phone and watch. 

The case is currently under investigation, police said. 

Caller Sees Club, Calls Cops 

Police rushed to the corner of McGee and Hearst avenues shortly after 7:30 p.m. Sunday when a caller reported seeing a man with a club threatening another fellow. 

Both threatener and threatened had vanished by the time officers arrived. 

Worried Mother Calls 

An anguished mom called Berkeley Police from Vallejo at 8:43 p.m. Sunday after her daughter called to report she been confronted by a knife-wielding man on Indian Rock Path near Indian Rock Avenue. 

When officers arrived, the furtive felon had fled. 

Battery by Bladder 

When an employee of the Touchless Car Wash at 2176 Kittredge St. tried to evict a fellow spending way too much time in the bathroom Monday morning, the disgruntled fellow committed a touchless battery—via urine. 

Police arrested the 38-year-old man on charges of battery and probation violation. 

Same Weapon, Different Crime 

The same instrument used to commit battery at the carwash led to another arrest 90 minutes later when officers were summoned to the corner of Colusa and Portland avenues. 

Arriving on scene, police found a 36-year-old fellow seeking manual relief for his sexual tensions. 

They booked him for indecent exposure and escorted him to new and more confining quarters. 

Simulates Gun, Grabs Pack 

A man claiming to have a gun approached a woman with a backpack near the corner of Fulton and Prince streets just before 6 p.m. Tuesday and demanded the pack. 

The woman complied and robber departed.

A page 10 article in the Oct. 12 issue mistakenly reported where Neal Blumenfeld earned his M.D. It was from UCSF, not San Francisco State.  

An article on Oct. 8 gave the wrong name for the actor playing Sheila in the production of Joe Egg at Mills College. She is Cynthia Bassham, not Cynthia Chadwick.

Colombia makes few headlines in the United States these days. But Washington’s involvement in the Western Hemisphere’s longest, bloodiest war is rapidly escalating, as the world’s attention is elsewhere. The latest signal of increased U.S. embroilment comes just as a vocal civil movement is emerging in Colombia to demand an end to the war.  

The U.S. Congress approved last weekend a doubling of the Pentagon’s troop presence in Colombia, where a wave of protest has erupted as some 1.4 million public-sector workers walked off their jobs and took to the streets for a one-day strike. Organized by major trade unions as well as civil organizations, the Oct. 12 strike demanded an end both to President Alvaro Uribe’s push to join Bush’s Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and to the rights abuses and atrocities associated with the government’s counter-guerrilla war—which the United States has funded to the tune of $3.3 billion since Plan Colombia was passed in 2000.  

The vote in Washington two days earlier doubled the cap on U.S. military advisors in Colombia to 800, and raised the cap on the number of U.S. civilian contract agents—pilots, intelligence analysts, security personnel—from 400 to 600. The measure came as a little-noticed part of the 2005 Defense Department authorization act, and was a defeat for human rights groups that were pushing for a lower cap. The new 800/600 cap is exactly what the White House asked for. An earlier House version would have set a 500 cap for military personnel and kept the cap for civilian contractors at 400, but this was rejected in joint committee. A proposal establishing these caps in the Senate—known as the Byrd amendment for Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.V.)—was defeated in June by a vote of 58 to 40. Among the two senators who abstained was John Kerry.  

The authorization measure is ostensibly aimed at helping the Colombian government fight “against narcotics trafficking and against activities by organizations designated as terrorists,” naming the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). But rights groups point to a long record of close collaboration between Colombia’s armed forces and the AUC, a rightist paramilitary group. And while U.S. troops are officially barred from actual combat missions in Colombia, many fear that Washington is on a slippery slope.  

“This amounts to authorization of increased involvement by U.S. troops in an internal armed conflict in Colombia,” says Kimberly Stanton, deputy director of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA). “And it was passed without significant public debate. We are sliding into a protracted civil war in Colombia.”  

In the general strike, hundreds of thousands of workers, joined by peasants and students, shut down cities throughout the country. Bogota’s central square, Bolivar Plaza, was filled with some 300,000 people—Colombia’s largest protest in recent memory. Business was also paralyzed in Medellin, Cali, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga and Cartagena, and traffic was blocked on the Pan-American Highway. In addition to protesting the war and FTAA plans, the strikers also opposed Uribe’s scheme to alter the constitution to allow himself to seek another term in office. The hardline Uribe, Bush’s closest ally in South America, has refused to negotiate with the FARC, Colombia’s biggest guerilla army. A negotiated settlement to the conflict was among the strikers’ demands.  

An Oct. 11 New York Times story on the troop cap authorization claimed that “Under Mr. Uribe’s administration, violence has ebbed in Colombia.” But Colombia human rights groups say that atrocities have more than doubled since Uribe took office in 2002.  

The Congressional vote also coincided with the release of a new Amnesty International report, “Colombia: Violence Against Women,” which finds that rape and other sexual crimes—including genital mutilation—are frequently used by both the paramilitaries and the official security forces against communities accused of collaborating with the guerrillas. The report says the guerrillas, in turn, have used similar brutal tactics against those thought to be collaborating with the army or paramilitaries.  

“Women and girls are raped, sexually abused and even killed because they behave in ways deemed as unacceptable to the combatants, or because women may have challenged the authority of armed groups, or simply because women are viewed as a useful target on which to inflict humiliation on the enemy,” said Susan Lee, director of Amnesty’s Americas program.  

The vote also came days after yet another peasant leader was assassinated. On Oct. 6, the body of Pedro Jaime Mosquera Cosme, an Afro-Colombian leader of the Campesino Association of Arauca, was found near the Venezuelan border, with what the group called “clear signs of torture.” Arauca is one of the most violent of Colombia’s departments, where numerous campesino leaders have been killed by paramilitaries and the army in recent years.  

Rights advocates fear that in next year’s Defense Dept. authorization act, Congressional hardliners will again push to get the cap on U.S. troop levels raised—or done away with altogether, as proposed by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA). WOLA’s Stanton says the lack of media coverage of the vote—and Colombia generally—is a bad sign. “The American people are not aware that we are increasingly involved,” she says, “with all attention focused on Iraq.”  

Bill Weinberg, author of Homage to Chiapas: The New Indigenous Struggles in Mexico (Verso, 2000) and editor of the online World War 3 Report (www.WW3 

Report.com), is working on a book on Plan Colombia.  

A veteran candidate for city council made a rookie mistake last month that has been brought to the attention of the city’s election monitors. 

Norine Smith, the challenger to Councilmember Betty Olds in District 6, must appear before the city’s Fair Campaign Practices Commission next Thursday to answer charges that she violated Berkeley election law. 

The complaint filed by Mark Berger, the husband of Olds’ legislative aide Susan Wengraf, alleges that Smith illegally used her personal credit card to pay for over $1,600 in photocopying services.  

City election rules prohibit candidates from mixing personal funds with campaign funds. For the purchase to have been legal, Smith would have had to make a check out to her campaign fund and waited for it to clear, or opened a separate credit card account. 

If she is found to have violated the law, Smith could face “a legal remedy” according to the notice sent to her from the city attorney’s office. 

Deputy City Attorney Prasanna Rasiah refused to comment on the charges or possible sanctions. 

Smith, who reported the error in her campaign filing, admitted making a mistake, but questioned why the Olds campaign would bother filing charges against her. 

“It’s harassment,” Smith said. “They know I walk the district and if I’m distracted by this I won’t be ringing doorbells.” 

Smith, who lost to Olds by nearly a 3-1 margin in District 6 four years ago, is also considered the underdog this year. 

Olds insisted she was unaware that Berger had filed a complaint, but didn’t understand why Smith would be surprised by the challenge. 

“It was a pretty dumb thing to do,” she said. “The first thing the instructions say is don’t use your own credit cards.” 

Smith, who has raised $1,115 compared to Olds’ $14,000, said she would consider lending her campaign additional funds if contributions didn’t pick up. 

Editor’s Note: A portion of this article ran in the Oct. 8 issue. It is rerun here in its entirety: 

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. 

Last week, U.S. representatives parted company with Canada and Mexico and announced plans to allow continued use of the pesticide lindane that persists in air and water and has been found at high levels in the Arctic. 

Canada plans to eliminate agricultural uses of lindane by the end of 2004 and Mexico plans a full phase out of agricultural, veterinary and pharmaceutical uses of the pesticide. 

Representatives from the three countries met in Montreal, Canada Sept. 28-30, 2004 to draft a North American Regional Action Plan (NARAP) for lindane through the Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America established by the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA).  

Public health, indigenous and environmental groups have called for elimination of the pesticide lindane, a neurotoxin banned in 52 countries and restricted in 33 more. Pam Miller, of Alaska Community Action on Toxics and the official Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) representative on the task force, called the U.S. position allowing continued use of lindane “downright shameful” urging the U.S. to join the growing movement to eliminate lindane worldwide. 

Fifty-eight public health, indigenous and environmental organizations recently sent a joint letter to U.S. agency officials and Task Force members urging elimination of lindane. More than 400 health care professionals in the U.S. sent a similar letter, and more than 800 individuals signed a petition to ban lindane. (See PANUPS Action Alert: Ban Lindane Now! on the PANNA website.) 

Environmental groups have also submitted a request to Bayer CropScience to voluntarily withdraw lindane products from the North American market. Bayer recently acquired Gustafson LLC, the primary distributor in the U.S. of lindane seed treatment products. 

International treaties on toxic chemicals have also targeted lindane. Included on the Prior Informed Consent list of hazardous chemicals in the Rotterdam Convention, lindane will also likely be one of the top candidates considered for addition to the list of chemicals slated for global elimination under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. 

Lindane is a known neurotoxin that causes seizures, damages the nervous system, and weakens the immune system. Exposure may also cause cancer and disrupt the human and animal hormone systems. Because lindane is highly persistent and travels globally via air and water, its continued use in agriculture poses an exposure risk to people far from the source. Lindane is now one of the most abundant pesticides in Arctic air, water, and wildlife; northern indigenous peoples consuming traditional diets risk lindane exposures above levels considered safe. Lindane residues have also been reported in a variety of common foods in the U.S. 

Pharmaceutical use of lindane also contaminates drinking water sources. The Los Angeles County Sanitation District estimates that one dose of a lindane treatment for head lice can pollute six million gallons of water to levels exceeding drinking water standards. This threat to clean drinking water, and the enormous costs of clean up, prompted California to ban lindane shampoos and lotions in 2002. 

Mark Miller, M.D., of the University of California at San Francisco Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit, an academic representative to the task force meeting in Montreal said that more effective and less toxic treatments exist for headlice. Children are particularly vulnerable to this chemical that presents a danger to the young nervous system, he added. 

The 2002 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Re-registration Eligibility Decision allows lindane to be used as seed treatment for six grain crops: corn, wheat, barley, oats, rye, and sorghum. These seed treatments account for 99 percent of lindane use in the U.S. Up to 233,000 pounds of lindane active ingredient are used annually in the U.S. on seeds. 

The draft North American Regional Action Plan for lindane is scheduled to be open for public comment in January 2005. 

Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA) 

San Francisco 

›

24. To Release Political Prisoners; To Stop Capital Punishment 

The deaths of innocent civilians on Sept. 11 set in motion greater concern for the deaths of innocent defendants on death rows across the U.S.  

One of the most successful efforts to free political prisoners, and to avenge their wrongful incarceration, was the movement of Japanese-Americans herded into internment camps from Pearl Harbor in 1941 until 1945, while their sons were fighting courageously in the U.S. military. In 1988, Congress finally agreed to compensate the surviving detainees. (Civil Liberties Act of 1988.)  

Efforts to deal with basic violations of the rights of Native Americans from many tribes continued, unsuccessfully, in the Bush Administration. The major losses they suffered due to U.S. seizures of their lands and destruction of their cultures were not redressed. 

Reparations for African-Americans for their torture, deaths, and mistreatment as slaves in the U.S. remains unresolved. One of the strongest and most effective proponents of reparations is Mumia-Abu Jamal.  

After progressive reforms in the Finnish prison system, today the Finnish percentage of people in prison is 52 per 100,000. The rate in the U.S. is 702 per 100,000. (Warren Hoge, “Finnish Prisons: No Gates or Armed Guards,” New York Times, Jan. 2, 2003.) 

Report 24.1 

Leonard Peltier, Native American Political Prisoner (“Leonard Peltier Nominated For President,” Democracy Now!, August 5, 2004.) 

Report 24.2 

Mumia Abu-Jamal, African American Political Prisoner on Death Row (“Death penalty again looms over Mumia's head,” SouthEndpress.org, July 12, 2004.) 

Report 24.3 

Almost One Hundred Political Prisoners On U.S. List (“Can’t Jail the Spirit: Political Prisoners and POW’s in the U.S.,” Prison Activist Resource Center, April 3, 2004.) 

Report 24.4  

Failure to Abolish Capital Punishment (“List of Defendants Executed by Year,” Death Penalty Information Center, Updated Aug. 5, 2004.) 

E. The Government’s Duty to Properly Fund the General Welfare 

In the Spring of 2004, the San Francisco Bay Area Progressive Challenge prepared the “Sensible Federal Budget Resolution” for adoption by the California state assembly. The Resolution calls on Congress and the President “to enact a budget that redirects sufficient amounts of money from the military budget to the states,” to allow for increased funding of social programs that provide “a decent level of healthcare and safety for all our citizens.” Many organizations have prepared similar resolutions in cities and states all across the country. 

Bush’s budget proposal for 2005 provided $401.7 billion for the Department of Defense’s base budget, an annual increase of seven percent, for a total increase in defense spending of 35 percent since 2001. 

2005 Discretionary Budget Authority sought by Bush for Departments: 

Defense $401.7 billion  

Health/Hum.Svc. 66.8 billion 

Transportation 57.4 billion  

Education 57.3 billion 

Homeland Sec. 33.8 billion 

Social. Security 9.1 billion 

EPA 7.8 billion  

(“Budget for the Executive Office of the President,” Office of Management and Budget, Aug. 16, 2004.) 

President Bush’s Department of Defense budget proposal for fiscal year 2005 is $25.3 billion more than all of the other 16 departments of the Government combined.  

25. Health and Human Services 

In November 2001, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar, concluded an agreement among all 144 member states, except only the U.S., to help poor nations buy medicines to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, etc., by relaxing patent laws that kept drug prices out of reach. In December 2002, the U.S. single-handedly destroyed the agreement by insisting that strong international patent protection be left in place, following intense lobbying from U.S. pharmaceutical companies. (Richard Du Boff, “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who’s the Biggest Rogue of All?” Z Magazine, September 2003.) 

In July, 2002, the U.S. cut off its $34 million annual contribution to the UN family-planning program and in November 2002, withdrew its support of the Cairo Action Plan of 1994. The Plan promotes “reproductive health services and health care” to help cut population growth in developing countries, including abortion. 

Rep. John Spratt (D-SC) said the Administration was draining the Governments ability to pay for Social Security and Medicare when 77 million baby boomers are approaching retirement, and it is saddling future generations with repayment of a national debt that could rise to $7 trillion by 2013. (AP, “CBO: Government Faces Years of More Deficits,” Kansas City Star, Aug. 26, 2003.) 

Report 25.1  

Administration Budget Cuts Sent More Single Mothers Into Poverty (Bernadette D. Proctor and Joseph Dalakar, “Poverty in the United States: 2002,” U.S. Census Bureau, September 2003.)  

Report 25.2 

Administration Urged Budget Cuts for Cancer Care (”Most Americans Unaware of Cancer Cuts in Pending Medicare Bills, National Poll Shows,” U.S. Newswire, Sept. 25, 2003.) 

Report 25.3 

Administration Proposed Shrinking Veterans’ Benefits (James Boyne, “Bush Honors Veterans By Slashing Veterans Affairs Budget by $1 Billion,” Irregular Times, June 1, 2004.) 

Report 25.4 

Administration Budgeted for Expanding War Powers, Not U.S. Needs (Peronet Despeignes, “Bush’s Priorities Under Scrutiny,” USA Today, Sept. 18, 2003.) 

Report 25.5 

National Budget Crisis Cut City Services (Richmond Resident, “Richmond Budget Bodes Ill for Future,” IndyMedia.org, April 6, 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 www.mcli.org for a complete listing of reports and sources, with web links. 

›

It was Albert Einstein who advanced the thought that all comparisons—among other things—are meaningless unless taken in context. Standing on the earth, you look up at the moon across a vast tract of space. Standing on the moon, you look up at the earth, along that same vast tract. Which one is up, which one is down...earth or moon? Depends on your point of view. 

Understanding this simple fact is the only way to explain the continuing coverage of Oakland’s continuing murder rate. In a Tribune story earlier this month about the West Oakland shooting death of 17-year-old Charleston Roberts, we find the obligatory line near the end: “Roberts’ death was the city’s 70th homicide of the year. Last year at this time there were 99 homicides.” How you view these numbers is entirely dependent on your point of view. For friends and relatives of Mr. Roberts, the only important number here is “one”—the one young man killed in Oakland on Oct. 5. For them, that number is ghastly, and it would not matter if Mr. Roberts were the first person murdered in Oakland this year, or the 701st. It would always be one murder too many. 

For local politicians seeking statewide office based largely on their law enforcement record (Mayor Brown, you think?), or police officials seeking to convince us as to how good a job they’re doing, the number to focus on is probably neither 70 nor 99, but the difference between the two. That allows them to say that murders in Oakland may be high, but they’re going down. And so we have Chronicle columnist Chip Johnson—who doesn’t always push the official Oakland City Hall line but is always in a good position to hear it—writes recently that “fewer people are being killed in [Oakland] this year than in the past two years, when homicides spiked to their highest totals since 1995. At the current rate, the city will finish 2004 with nearly 20 percent fewer slayings than the 114 killings last year.” And after praising Oakland’s homicide investigators for apprehending two particularly bad bad-boys, Mr. Johnson continues, “And maybe [these types of investigations and arrests] will ensure that the city’s homicide rate continues to head in the right direction—down.” 

That takes us back to Mr. Einstein’s theory, that what a thing “is” changes according to the point of view of the person observing that thing. Oakland’s homicides are going “down” only if you compare the number of homicides to the number that occurred by the same date one year ago. That’s a common way of comparing. However, you could just as easily argue that there never should be a single homicide, that we started out the year with no homicides, and that every killing since midnight on the first of January signifies that the number of murders in Oakland is going “up.” Same number of murders. Just a different point of view. 

And anyway, if we are going to use past years to judge how things are going this year, it would probably be better to look at long-term trends rather than year-to-year comparisons. If the murder rate drops 20 percent next year and again in 2006, then we could look back at 2004 and say that this was the beginning of a positive trend. On the other hand, if the numbers of murders jumps again in the next two years, then 2004 will probably be considered nothing but an aberration, a temporary lull in a horrific storm. 

Of course, looking at long-term trends is the territory of historians and sociologists and planners, all of whom get paid to take their time. Anxious Oakland residents—or visitors who might happen to just be passing through—can’t wait five years to see if they need to keep ducking. 

In that case, the best way to look at whether Oakland murders are going to continue to go “down” is to get some sort of idea as to why they went “down” this year. 

Some of the supporters of Measure Y—the Oakland ballot initiative that would raise taxes to increase the number of police officers—point to Operation Impact as the reason for the reduction in the murder rate. I’ve discussed this operation at length in other columns—basically, it involved flooding East Oakland’s high-crime areas with roving patrols of Oakland police officers supplemented by the California Highway Patrol and Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputies. These officers were not so much involved in investigating crimes as they were doing glorified traffic patrol, the theory being, I suppose, that if you stop enough cars in an area that has got a lot of murders, you’re bound to stop one or two actual or potential murderers along the way. At the time Operation Impact was initiated at the end of the summer of 2003, the murder rate was soaring. In February of this year, the Tribune reported that “during the first four months [of Operation Impact from September through December 2003], serious crime like homicide, robbery and assault were down 6 percent from the same period in 2002.” 

True. But while disrupting the flow of nighttime weekend traffic along International and Bancroft and MacArthur may have also disrupted the flow of criminal activity, it did nothing to attack the reasons for that criminal activity. One would have easily guessed that drug dealers and burglars and robbers would not stop drug dealing and burgling and robbing because they see squads of police officers riding around their neighborhood—they would simply move into other areas, where there weren’t so many police patrols. And so, apparently, they have. The Tribune recently reports that residents of the middle class Mills College-area neighborhood of Maxwell Park (just up from the crime hot-spot crossroad of Seminary and Bancroft) are considering suing the city because—as residents put it—the police have not been responding to a recently-rising crime rate in their area, including frequent gunshots in a community that rarely had them before. “[Police Chief] Richard Word has said we are getting more crime because the cops are chasing the criminals from East Oakland and they are coming here,” the Trib quoted Maxwell Park resident Gary Busboom. 

Is the flooding of crime areas with more cops causing a long-term reduction in the rate of Oakland’s murders? At this point, nobody can say. But one thing ought to be clear...there’s a danger in tossing buckets of water on this fire without first seeing what’s making it burn. If it turns out to be grease, you’ll only make it spread. 

Ã

CREEK CONTROVERSY 

The following is an open letter to Councilmember Gordon Wozniak: 

I read a message you sent widely on Oct. 8 about a recent communication from Neighbors on Urban Creeks. You wrote: “The existing flawed Creek Ordinance ...has the grand vision of daylighting every creek in Berkeley, irregardless of the cost.” 

As you well know, if you read the creek ordinance carefully, allusion to daylighting of creeks is by way of “encouragement” only: 

“Section 17.08.020 Findings, H. It is in the interest of the City of Berkeley to encourage the removal of culverts and channels...and to restore natural watercourses whenever safely possible.” The full text of the Creek Ordinance is in easy-to-access form on the LOCCNA website: loccna.katz.com/creek/ 

berkeleycreekordinance 

Your statement leads the reader to think that costs of culvert removals would have to be borne by the city. Cost does not necessarily have to be incurred by the city. Financing for culvert removals that are deemed desirable could be through significant state and federal funding sources now available. 

You also wrote to your friends and Neighbors on Urban Creeks: 

“...If you do not make yourself heard now, the same people, who put in the original ban of rebuilding ‘by right’ in a disaster, could  

end up rewriting this ordinance.” 

The ordinance, especially with the added condition allowing rebuilding passed by City Council recently, does not ban rebuilding  

after a disaster. Nor do I know of any supporters of healthy creeks who are in opposition to responsible rebuilding of homes destroyed in disasters. Your statement has a distinct “us” vs “them” tone that is largely unwarranted. 

It is only prudent to rebuild in a safe fashion, which does not necessarily mean rebuilding a home exactly as it was, if it was previously situated directly on top of a creek. Building on creeks is inherently unsafe, since it’s highly likely that a creek, as an inexorable force of nature, will ultimately have its way, house or no house, culvert or no culvert. Moreover, it would behoove the City of Berkeley to avoid lawsuits by requiring that rebuilding of homes after disasters avoid future problems as much as possible. This could include requiring rebuilding as far from the creek as possible and, yes, encouraging removal of culverts. I imagine this would be viewed favorably not only by supporters of healthy creeks, but by prudent city planners, city attorney, and City Council as well. 

Do you disagree? 

Regarding property value, which home do you think would have more value: a. a home built over a failing culvert (disclosure required) or b. a home built near (but not hazardously near) a lovely open creek? 

Alan Gould 

• 

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It’s been comforting to see so many letters in the local press chastising the 20 misguided African-American ministers in the East Bay who plan to vote for George W. Bush solely on the “same-sex marriage” issue (”Black religious leaders back Bush,” Oakland Tribune, Aug. 25). Ironic, too, since both Kerry and Edwards have stated their opposition to gay marriage, and Cheney supports state’s rights on the matter. 

With all due respect, I find the pastors’ position to be Old Testament and decidedly un-Christian. I can’t imagine that either God or Jesus would approve of their stance. And what has happened to separation of church and state, pray? This is a prime example of people voting against their own self-interests. (Recommended reading: What’s the Matter with Kansas?, a new book by Thomas Frank on this very subject.) 

Of all Americans, surely black people have the most to lose under a Bush administration: black kids dying in Iraq, air and water pollution, diminishing health care, vanishing jobs, AIDS and the “down low,” civil rights, urban violence, disenfranchisement of the black vote in Florida, Supreme Court apointments...the list goes on. 

Though it’s not much talked about, bad old racism was a key factor in putting Dubya in office. My native South used to be solid Democratic; today it’s solid Republican. President Lyndon Johnson, upon signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, reportedly remarked, “You can kiss the Southern vote good-bye for at least the next generation.” And, lo, it has come to pass. I’m betting, too, that Mississippi Senator Trent Lott spoke for many of his colleagues and constituents in his embarrassing defense of segregation at Strom Thurmond’s 100th birthday party back in 2002. 

I want my country back. 

Eric Mills 

• 

BANSNER RESPONSE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It seems that my letter (Daily Planet, Oct. 1-4) comparing the positions of Norine Smith to the actions of Councilmember Betty Olds unhinged Old’s aide. Susan Wengraf alleged in her letter printed Oct. 8 that I couldn’t know what I was talking about because I wasn’t here.  

For her information, I lived at 1311 Spruce, almost opposite the 1301 Oxford-Spruce site in question, since 1975. My two sons grew up playing in Codornices Creek on that site. I moved around the corner seven years ago.  

Perhaps I did not figure for her as being here because I did not participate in her attacks on her neighbor, the Chinese Christian Church. I was fully engaged as a planner for Hayward; the Church proposed no changes to the Creek so there was no need. Susan saw the need to insist that the only way the Church could build a Sunday school was to rebuild the original Byrne house which they could not afford. They sold their 2.2 acre property to Susan’s congregation for one million, convinced that the landmarking of the site and the presence of the Creek precluded much more development than the small church they had. Susan’s congregation got 35,000 square feet approved along with moving the creek to make room for off-street summer school bus loading. 

As Betty Old’s appointee to the Planning Commission, Susan Wengraf goes on to “unequivocally state” that Betty Olds has never gone along with development proposals that violate our adopted policies. Why didn’t she respond to the very specific example I offered on the lack of sidewalk setback called for in the adopted Downtown Plan? How are we to accommodate higher densities with narrow sidewalk spaces encroached upon by cantilevering buildings?  

Finally Susan Wengraf suggests that I move to a rural setting. For fighting to save a creek, I am to be banned by the current regime? I love my neighborhood. It embodies many of precepts of Jane Jacobs and of Ian McHarg’s Design with Nature that drew me to planning in the first place. When I moved here, I did the Berkeley Architectural survey for my block. My block includes many brown shingles that blend with the toe of the hills and the trees. Many contain apartment s created during World War II and in-laws built since. There is always at least one group house (ours). Susan Wengraf is the one who moved uphill, away from buses, stores and the huge development her congregation is putting on Codornices Creek.  

More than ever, I do think it is time for a change and hope Norine Smith will be elected. 

Eva Bansner 

• 

REACTION TO WENGRAF 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

I find it humorous that Susan Wengraf feels obliged to defend her actions so vehemently (Daily Planet, Oct. 8-11) in response to Eva Bansners letter (Daily Planet, Oct. 1-4). 

Methinks she doth protest too much! If I were Susan I would not be suggesting that a single taxpaying household move to the countryside! With ever expanding city housing, university property and theological schools paying no property taxes into the city coffers, she should not be belittling the remaining taxpayers. The financial base for this city’s excesses, property owners, cannot afford to continue to play ATM for a city council that has not and will not learn what the rest of us have had to learn, how to live on a budget! With twice the employees and half the efficiency of any comparably sized city and each with unbelievable pensions and health care plans, even YMCA memberships, our children and grandchildren will be paying for the excesses this city council has already committed, let alone those atrocities that the overactive imaginations of legislative aides like Susan (at several thousand a month and benefits each) can come up with for us taxpayers to foot the bill for. 

Lets replace the old guard and their legislative aides and vote in a new crew of council members who are in touch with reality and can think for themselves without having to poll the community to see how many votes or contributions it will provide next election. Maybe the mayor could do with less than four legislative aides that cost us taxpayers over $12,000 per month just to tell Mayor Bates how to “handle” a particular problem! The City of Berkeley’s 1,680 employees make it the second largest employer only outdone by the University. 

Norine Smith is a retired taxpayer like me and while I am not quite the tree-hugger she is, I believe that she understands the basic premise that you don’t spend money that you don’t have; how to live on a budget and that you don’t give very valuable free land and city money earmarked for affordable housing to large developers to build huge, ugly, high density housing that would make my cat claustrophobic and then remove them from rent control. Yes, I understand that all the usual organizations have endorsed Betty Olds, after all these years it has got to be force of habit. What does she promise to do in return for those endorsements? Norine is endorsed by residents who ask only that she reduce the glut in this city’s government offices to a reasonable level that will not put the 45 percent of the residents of the city paying 100 percent of the taxes in the poorhouse. After all, when you are taking blood from donors you don’t suck them dry. It kills them! Susan, if you kill us off (financially, of course) who will pay your salary? 

Alison K. Sale 

• 

MODERN CRUSADE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The first time, months ago, I heard President Bush declare that his foreign policy aim is to spread liberty and democracy throughout the world, I thought he was merely employing exaggerated rhetoric to make a point. His point being that we must become and remain engaged overseas, must not remain isolationist, we could no longer be insulated because terrorists by fiat on Sept. 11, 2001, had blown away any vestige of insularity we might have thought of maintaining.  

But Bush has repeated this rhetoric so much that I think he must mean it. Just yesterday he said: “Our goal is to defeat terror by staying on the offensive, destroying terrorist networks and spreading freedom and liberty around the world.” These are the words of a crusader, a medieval knight intent on invading sovereign nations across the globe. Nations whose governments, infrastructure, constitutions, ideas, and dreams differ from ours. This frightens me. And I think it should frighten the apparently complacent 49 percent of our country currently willingly to vote for the President.  

At a minimum, someone should be demanding an explanation: Just when did “spreading freedom and liberty around the world” become a United States policy objective? Who said so? Is this the Bush doctrine? What are its costs - military, lives, dollars? How does Bush define “freedom and liberty”? These words may sound nice. But, really, they can be twisted to justify whatever military war game our President has next in mind.  

Drew Steckler 

Oakland 

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RESISTING DEVELOPMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Just a note to tell you that I appreciate your newspaper’s coverage of City Council candidates. 

We residents in Berkeley need to realize how much is at stake locally in the upcoming election. Development in Berkeley is being rushed through without adequate planning. Almost 500 (495) new housing units were built during the past two years and 900 more housing units are now approved and ready to be built. I hope voters will consider new candidates for City Council—Norine Smith and Jesse Townley—who show integrity and intelligence. They are not supported by development and real estate interests. 

Jane Harada 

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PRO-BUSH VANDALISM 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Today when I pulled a Daily Planet out of the vending box, I noticed that there was writing all over the top of the paper. I looked in the box and discovered that every single paper had pro Bush propaganda written all over the top ending with “Vote for Bush,” perhaps a campaigning effort by young Republicans.  

In my mind it is easy to characterize Bush as a vandal because he has vandalized the American people’s future by building a huge deficit, but I really thought that most of Bush’s supporters were just duped by all the fear mongering. Now I’m wondering just how many of them are vandals.  

Connie Tyler 

• 

UNFAIR CITATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

For months the City of Berkeley has been educating motorists on “Pedestrian Right of Way.” Local press have reported on the police sting operations throughout Berkeley in which large numbers of drivers have been pulled over and issued citations for $104 for failing to stop for pedestrians. The City has also put up signs warning drivers of pedestrian crossing areas and of the $104 fine.  

Two weeks ago as I was driving down Oxford Street with the green light. I was about to cross Center Street when I was forced to stop for a pedestrian crossing against the light. Seconds later I was pulled over by the UC Police. When I asked what I was pulled over for I was informed it was for “anti-gridlock.” Even though the officer acknowledged that no other vehicles were behind me and that I had no choice but to stop, I was still issued the citation and informed that I would receive a copy of the ticket in the mail from the City of Berkeley in a few days. 

I just received my ticket in the mail—motorists beware: The cost of stopping for a pedestrian in Berkeley is a whopping $180 It’s actually cheaper not to stop for someone walking in front of your car and possibly hitting/killing them then it is to stop for them.  

It’s time for the City of Berkeley and the police to start educating and ticketing pedestrians and bicyclists for a change before more people get hurt. The added benefit is the staggering amount of revenue this could bring in to the city. 

Brett Brooks 

• 

NEW SMEAR AD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Sinclair Broadcast Group is planning to force the local television stations it owns to preempt network broadcasts and air a “documentary” called Stolen Honor. This is a one hour attack ad against John Kerry. By classifying it as “news”, the company can get around certain federal regulations.  

This is NOT news. It is a right wing attack, arriving just before Election Day. This is the same company that ordered its stations not to air Ted Koppel’s “Nightline” roll call of military casualties in Iraq; it deemed the program to be a political statement disguised as news content.  

Let’s be fair! Please help to stop this smear campaign.  

Amy McGonagle 

Oakland 



When you take the time to interview Republican voters, as I did over the past two weeks, you quickly come to the realization that there is more than an ideological divide between the two parties; there are two wildly divergent views of reality. 

In the Republican reality, George W. Bush is trustworthy and competent. “Sure,” conservatives say, “Bush may have difficulties communicating his thoughts, but he is doing a good job. He kept the country safe after 9/11. He is an honest man and a strong president.” 

There is no arguing with Republicans on this point. Bush’s character is taken as a matter of faith. GOP partisans may acknowledge that Bush Administration policies have failed with regards to Iraq or the economy, but they have no doubt that he is a sincere, competent leader. 

For many Republicans one phrase explains their attraction to Bush—“He’s a Christian.” Several folks I interviewed gave this as the crux of why they trusted him. When I countered that John Kerry is also a Christian, these voters responded in one of two ways: Some expressed surprise that Kerry is a person of faith. Many Republicans actually don’t know much about Kerry and, therefore, don’t know anything about his Christianity. All their information comes from the Republican Party, and from conservative media such as Fox news and the Rush Limbaugh show. These sources don’t say much about Kerry; what they do say is negative. 

The second response was to discount Kerry’s Christianity—to imply that he is not the “right kind” of Christian. Some Republicans snapped that they don’t trust Kerry and therefore don’t believe his profession of Christianity. When I looked further into these comments, I found that most of these interviewees had been negatively influenced by the scurrilous “swift boat” ads. 

There is also a big difference between Republicans and Democrats on the status of the war on terror and the war in Iraq. Those I interviewed felt that we are winning the war on terror and that our efforts have been helped by the invasion of Iraq. “Better that we fight them there, than here,” was a standard refrain. Once again, there is a fundamental difference of opinion. Republicans feel that there was a connection between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein—some maintain that Hussein helped with the 9/11 attacks; Democrats dispute this. Republicans feel that the invasion of Iraq was an integral part of the war on terror; Democrats see it as a diversion. Republicans believe that we are winning the struggle in Afghanistan and Iraq; Democrats disagree, saying, for example, that our occupation of Iraq has actually helped Al Qaeda win new recruits.  

Finally, there is a huge difference between Republicans and Democrats on the economy. The Republicans I interviewed felt that the economy is “getting better” and that a rising tide has, in fact, lifted all boats; Democrats believe that there are fundamental problems with this economy and that Bush administration policies have damaged the middle class. Republicans argued that the Bush administration is doing what needs to be done to deal with the health care crisis; Democrats feel that the response has been woefully inadequate. On a variety of related subjects from the future of social security to the provision of low-income housing, Republicans and Democrats have dramatically different perspectives. 

What explains the gulf between the Republican reality and that of the Democrats? One explanation is that Republicans and Democrats “frame” reality differently. As UC professor George Lakoff and others explain, voters in each party have a fundamentally different sense of the world we live in. Republicans see the world as a jungle, where everyone is out to get us, and conclude that Americans need an autocratic leader—George W. Bush. Democrats have a more positive perspective; one that sees problems solved through cooperation among nations. In the Democratic worldview, Americans need a smart leader who is capable of forming alliances. Each view is reinforced by information “silos;” that is, Republicans and Democrats get their information from radically different sources. Republicans watch Fox news, read the Wall Street Journal, and listen to Rush Limbaugh and James Dobson; Democrats watch the News Hour on PBS, read the New York Times, and listen to NPR and Al Franken. 

Does this mean that there is an irreparable split between the two parties? I don’t think so, but we do need to find ways to keep talking to each other. We do need a president who actually is, “a uniter, not a divider.” 

A couple of Republicans I interviewed were not completely sold on George Bush, but didn’t know much about John Kerry. I gave them some information during the interview; for example, referred them to the Kerry web site. After the conclusion of the first presidential debate, I called to get their reaction; they were less committed to Bush and said that they wouldn’t decide how to vote until after the last debate. That’s a hopeful sign. 

Bob Burnett 

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It is obviously long past time to think constructively about what the City should be doing to restore creeks and remove crumbling culverts. But it is obviously wrong to stampede into quick changes to the 15 year old creek ordinance under the cover of the most important national election in our lifetimes. 

We need to clearly identify the creeks we are going to establish as natural watercourses such as Codornices and Strawberry. Working for Hayward, I established open space designations on Ward Creek and San Lorenzo Creek in the 1986 General Plan. Berkeley is 20 years behind Hayward. 

If we had an open creek on Center Street, we could have regenerated our downtown as San Luis Obispo did theirs. We could have a market hall at BART concourse level on the B of A site looking down into Strawberry Creek. The sun would stream into casual dining areas and Berkeley institutions like the Cheese Board could be featured. Above we could have several levels of Berkeley’s best shopping: the Berkeley Hat Company, the Gardener… 

Instead we have invested in very expensive economic development staff who tell us the downtown won’t sustain commercial development. We have filled our little downtown with student housing and University support services that eat our tax base. Why are we so different from every other college town where commercial thrives, especially at a BART station second only to SF in ridership?  

If we started charting our culverts and storm drains and integrating and replacing the most hazardous sections, we would be on our way to averting earthquake deaths and destruction. Perhaps Contra Costa County is the best example in the Bay Area of the Public Works Department doing the long term planning to restore natural waterways and removing all culverts older than 50 years. They have demonstrated that this saves money long term from collapsing culverts and liability. We have a lot to learn from other jurisdictions who moved on the best practices in drainage as instructed by the Regional Water Quality Control Board. Why hasn’t our Public Works Department been given the direction and resources to start this work? 

Any kind of ad hoc task force is premature. Sending the Creek Ordinance to the Planning Commission is even worse. The Planning Commission failed to incorporate urban design and public safety implementable policies on culverts and natural watercourses in the last General Plan despite public testimony.  



In my years as Berkeley’s City Manager, it was my job to carefully manage the City’s budget. I am proud that our city was able to continue in its history of innovation and excellent service while maintaining a sterling bond rating on Wall Street.  

But the services we have all come to count on are being threatened by a fiscal crisis affecting cities throughout the state. While Berkeley is unique in many ways, we are not exempt from these fiscal problems. 

Prior to my retirement from the city a year ago, we worked hard to address this deficit. I helped cut millions from the city budget, implemented a hiring freeze, and took other actions to protect our budget and our services from serious reductions. Earlier this year, city employees agreed to open their contracts and take reductions that saved the city $1.2 million. But despite having cut over $14 million in the past three years, the city faces another $7.5 million deficit next year. 

To address this temporary crisis, Berkeley has placed several tax measures on the ballot. This year the stakes are too high for me to sit on the sidelines. I am asking my friends and neighbors to vote Yes on Measures J and K. 

Measures J and K make sense for Berkeley taxpayers. These temporary taxes will provide approximately $4.9 million to replace funding Berkeley lost due to state and federal cuts. Most importantly, they will protect the services that make Berkeley the kind of community we all want to live in. 

Measure J would increase the city’s existing utility tax by 1.5 percent to provide emergency funding for front-line city services until the state returns local funding and the economy improves. This would work out to about $4.50 per month for the typical Berkeley household. Without the new revenue Measure J would provide, the City is planning to reduce health and social services, eliminate seven police officers, and cut senior programs and community agencies. At the end of 2008, when the fiscal crisis should be ending, Measure J will automatically expire.  

Measure K is a temporary increase in the existing real estate transfer tax that will generate enough funds to keep essential youth services in place until the fiscal crisis is over. Measure K will save some of Berkeley’s most effective youth programs, including city-funded after school and summer programs, school crossing guards, school-based health and mental health programs, tutoring and mentoring, and emergency services for homeless youth. 

To pay for these programs, Measure K requires people buying expensive new private or commercial property to pay an increased transfer tax. For properties over $600,000, the transfer tax would be increased by 0.5 percent. For those over $1 million, the tax would increase by 1 percent. According to the City’s analysis, this will affect only about 250-300 corporate and private property sales a year. Measure K will automatically sunset in 2010.  

The City Council was careful not to try and balance the budget with tax increases alone. In fact, most of the deficit has and will be closed with spending cuts. But without some new revenue, serious cuts are inevitable. 

In the end, your vote in November is about choices. The city will continue to balance its budget every year even without this new revenue. The choice is whether we can afford to maintain the same level of services we provide today. 

I am choosing to protect what makes Berkeley special by joining with Congresswoman Barbara Lee, the Berkeley Police Officers Association, Mayor Tom Bates, and many other community leaders in voting Yes on Measures J and K. 

Weldon Rucker retired as Berkeley’s City Manager in 2003. 

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Editors, Daily Planet: 

Just as it has in every election for years, East Bay Regional Park District once again asks for additional funding with Measure CC. They claim, as before, they will use it for resource protection and restoration and they list a bunch of worthwhile sounding projects. In reality, this is a bit of a hoodwink. These projects could certainly have been done years ago, using the $100 million-plus of their ongoing revenues, if this were their priority. Perhaps its better to save these projects for campaign issues than actually do them?  

If that sounds harsh, consider this: The park district, almost alone under local government, has an ever increasing tax base. Each year their property tax revenue goes up—approximately $5 million per year every year—and this will continue to be the case so long as there is either new building in our two counties or increasing real estate valuation. While other agencies are facing actual layoffs, the park district continues to grow.  

And how does the park district choose to spend this automatic taxpayer largess they enjoy?: They have some of the highest comparable salaries in California and some of the best benefits. The general manager, for example, makes more than the governor. They also have an incredible ratio of managers to workers. For instance, while the California average ratio for police officers to sergeants is eight to one, at the district, there are less than four actual officers for each member of the brass.  

They have a $2 million-plus per-year, 14 person public relations department—far bigger than cities and counties ten times their size. And the irony is that this P/R expenditure is money spent to convince you how worthy the district is so that they can ask for even more money at election time.  

The district will dispute that they have all the money they need, of course. (Just like you and me, they certainly could easily spend more.) Their best argument is that they, like all of California, is being asked to tighten their belt by a loss of $6 million per year for the next two years, so the state can balance its budget. However, that amount of loss will be counterbalanced by the natural increase in property tax revenue explained earlier. And the cut is only for two years. The CC tax lasts for 15 years!  

The most significant objection to Measure CC, however, has less to do with its cost than with the source of the funding: The park district is proposing to tax some of its poorest residents—the urban corridor along the water, which includes Richmond, San Pablo and Oakland—while letting its richest off totally free. That’s right: Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Alamo and Blackhawk all are exempt from this new tax. The improvements proposed are intended for the urban corridor, it is true, but this is a regional park system and all of the residents will benefit. Shouldn’t all residents pay?  

How did it happen, do you suppose, that the Park District is proposing such a regressive tax measure, where the poor support the rich? This is the work of the district’s expensive team of consultants, who have been polling for years. It was no surprise, then, for the consultants to find that these were the very people who would support more taxes. That’s how the “urban corridor” concept came about: Let’s tax ‘em where we’ll win, social injustice be damned. Certainly the district should not be rewarded for such cynicism.  

Opposition to Measure CC is not a vote against parks. That’s why both the Alameda and the Contra Costa Green Party have taken positions against the tax scheme. Even the Regional Parks Association has refused to support it. What your vote against Measure CC really does is this: It tells a wasteful public agency that it needs to learn to live within its means—just like the rest of us—and that it should not try to use trickery to extract more from its poorest and its most supportive residents. Even the most ardent parks supporter, knowing the facts, should vote “NO-NO on CC.”  

Karen Weber, Former EBRPD Personnel Director, Oakland  

Alan La Pointe, Chair, Friends of Wildcat Canyon; Co-Chair, Friends of Parks, Richmond 

Harlan Kessel, Former EBRPD Director, Oakland  

Paul Merrick, Chairman, Dunsmuir Ridge Alliance; Co-Chair, Friends of Parks, Oakland  

›

On Nov. 2nd, Californians will have an opportunity to dramatically change the communities in which they live, for better or for worse, by casting a vote on Prop 63. Voting No on Prop 63 will increase the likelihood that some of the most vulnerable and troubled members of our communities continue to flounder in local jails, overcrowded shelters, and in doorways and on park benches, while much of the resources and wealth in our communities remain in the hands of the privileged few. Voting Yes on 63, on the other hand, will help ensure that those who have plenty reach out to those in the greatest need, so that they might be able to access the support and resources they need to get back on their feet. To be specific, Prop 63, also known as the Mental Health Initiative, will guarantee that care is available to the hundreds of thousands of people in California who are disabled by mental illness by initiating a 1 percent tax increase on incomes over $1 million (the first million dollars is not subject to the increase), thereby addressing the problem of economic inequality in our communities while lending a helping hand to those whose most basic needs have been severely neglected by our federal and state governments during the past several decades. 

More than forty years ago, California emptied its psychiatric hospitals with a promise to fully fund mental health services in the community. Unfortunately, that promise was never kept. The federal dollars that were promised never materialized, few community mental health centers were created, and the performance of the few that were created was dubious. Under President Reagan, the problem worsened as deeper cuts were made and those with psychiatric disabilities were consequently neglected by the communities that were mandated to serve them. As Walter Tratner writes: “As a result, many, if not most, of [those suffering from mental illness] were reinstitutionalized, not in mental hospitals under the care of physicians, but in substandard and poorly run nursing and old-age homes or in wretched boarding-houses, skid-row tenements, local jails, municipal shelters, and especially on the nation’s streets, which have become the nation’s new mental wards.” Today, conservative estimates suggest that 25 percent of the homeless people in California are mentally ill. 

While the plight of the mentally ill in California has steadily worsened since deinstitutinalization began in the 1960s, there are others in California whose experience has been quite the opposite. During the last thirty years, the wealthiest in California have been asked to give back less and less to their communities to the point where, today, those who make over $1 million a year pay only 7.2 percent of their income in state and local taxes, while for those making under $18,000, that number is nearly 12 percent. With Prop 63, we have an opportunity to address this grave inequality. The tax increase associated with Prop 63 would fund mental health services in California to the tune of $600 - $700 million each year. 

But money alone will not guarantee that the mentally ill in California will get the care they need to improve their lives. And this is why the money that is generated by Prop 63 will go to those programs that have demonstrated results. One such program is the City of Berkeley’s Mental Health Department. Several years ago, the city was awarded state funding to address the problems of homelessness, hospitalization, and incarceration associated with mental illness in Berkeley. Berkeley’s Mental Health Department launched an effort to tackle these community problems and the results have been remarkable. The City enrolled one hundred people in the program, all of whom suffered from mental illness, and the majority of whom were homeless and cycling in and out of local hospitals and jails. Among all program participants, there was a 61 percent reduction in the number of days spent homeless, a 73 percent reduction in the number of days hospitalized, and a 71 percent reduction in the number of days incarcerated. 

As a social worker at Berkeley’s Mental Health Department, I can assure readers that the city is committed and able to meet the needs of Berkeley residents with psychiatric disabilities, as are other mental health programs throughout California. But in order to accomplish our goals, more resources are needed. I urge you to vote Yes on 63. Together we can strengthen our communities by finally fulfilling the promise that was made to those suffering from mental illness and to their loved ones forty years ago. 

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Measure H on this November’s ballot provides for publicly funded elections for mayor and other city offices. Everyone seems to favor it in principle, but opponents say that they fear it is just too expensive in these days of fiscal stringency.  

Other Measure H supporters have rightly pointed out that cost of publicly funded elections will really be very small—only about five dollars a resident. I would like to present another reply to the “too costly” argument. Privately funded elections also “cost” the voter; it’s just the costs come in the form of unequal voice and insider-driven policies rather than government expenditures.  

The first cost of privately funded elections is a hit to democratic participation—most citizens can’t afford to be candidates. Campaigns in Berkeley are expensive; it can cost over 200,000 dollars to finance a city wide campaign. Often much of that money comes from the candidate himself or herself. But as the necessary candidate personal investment in the campaign goes up—sometimes reaching close to 50,000, dollars—the pool of potential candidates goes down. Do we want to hang an “Only the Well-To-Do Need Apply” sign on public office?.  

The second cost is unequal access. Most of the funding of the campaigns come, not from the candidate, but from private contributions. These might total over 150,000 dollars for a city-wide race. Many of the people who contribute to political campaigns have business with the government. They assure us they don’t want influence, only access to have their voices heard. Unfortunately, they get disproportionate access. The leader of a civil rights group once told me that she once tried to get a meeting with the then governor to discuss a pending civil rights issue only to be told the governor’s office was only granting meetings to contributors.  

Of course, Berkeley (thank God!) is not Sacramento, and nothing so unseemly would happen here. But the rules of human psychology apply in the Bay Area as much as the Sacramento Valley; one sound principle is “Be Nice to People Who Help You.” One way politicians apply this maxim is to give special “access” to contributors. That’s not necessarily corrupt, but it is undemocratic. One of the most hopeful consequences of the publicly-financed elections in Maine and Arizona has been that ordinary voters now feel they—not the contributors—own public officials.  

But unequal access is not the major problem. There is also the problem of unequal influence. Access is not worth much unless it results in influence. Contributors quite properly want to influence policy. There are myriad low visibility ways in which influence can be granted. For instance, Berkeley elected officials have power to appoint citizens to important bodies like the Planning Commission and Zoning Adjustment Board. These boards in turn make policy decisions that impact financially on some contributors to Berkeley campaigns. It would be only human for a politician to be influenced in appointments to these boards by the views of the groups who provide large amounts of much needed campaign funds. But to the extent that the contributors’ views don’t mirror those of the voters it results in unequal influence on public policy. Human—yes, democratic—no. 

That’s why those who know the “pay to play” system best at the national, state, and local level—people like Bill Moyers—call for publicly-funded elections. In elections like the rest of life, there’s no free lunch. You get what you pay for. Five dollars is cheap when you consider the costs of the alternative.  

John Denvir teaches Constitutional Law at the University of San Francisco School of Law. He is author of Democracy’s Constitution: Claiming the Privileges of American Citizenship (Univ. of Illinois Press 2001)  

John Gordon is downtown Berkeley’s biggest booster. 

“I’m a proponent of the downtown,” said the founder of Gordon Commercial Real Estate Services. “I live and work and buy buildings in Berkeley. It’s one of the few places in the East Bay that has a lively downtown at night.” 

A major Berkeley property owner in his own right—he owns “more than ten” buildings in the city, six of them designated as city landmarks—Gordon is also the man to see about renting space along the downtown corridors. 

“I see a lot of great things here. There’s been tremendous improvement over the last 10 years,” he said. 

With nearly three decades in the East Bay commercial real estate market, Gordon says that claims about inadequate parking and abundant vacancies in downtown Berkeley are overblown.  

Gordon moved to Berkeley in 1976, and after a brief residency in Oakland, he moved to the Elmwood neighborhood in 1988, where he’s lived ever since. 

After 15 years as a commercial real estate broker for Grubb & Ellis, he started his own firm in Berkeley in June 1995, which has since become the major player in the downtown area. 

“We’re transitioning out of an era when you used to see businesses that needed 100,000 square feet” in urban centers, he said. “Now downtown urban areas like San Francisco attract businesses that concentrate to service the commercial tenants” in offices “or retailers where you can order items”—a catalog store, or, in modern retailing parlance, a “clicks and bricks” merchandiser. 

As an example of the former, he cites Cartridge World at 2161 Allston Way, a business that refills printer and copier cartridges, and as an example of the latter variety he points to Design Within Reach at 1770 Fourth St., a home furnishings display showroom. 

“The challenge is to find space with access for delivery and parking where customers can load their purchases,” Gordon said. 

One possible solution, he said, might be to reserve some meters for particular retailers. 

Even so, he said, “there can’t be more than 10 vacancies downtown.” 

There are three major retail spaces now for rent along the downtown Shattuck corridor: the 8,000-square-foot ground floor retail space in the Kress Building, which Gordon owns, at 2036 Shattuck Ave. and the adjoining vacant storefronts at 2201-2209 Shattuck that earlier this year housed Eddie Bauer and Gateway Computers. 

The Gateway store, a consistent earner, closed as result of the computer maker’s decision to shutter all its retail outlets and rely on sales through the Internet and established retailers, mostly discounters. 

The local Eddie Bauer, however, was a consistent money-loser and was closed as part of a general downsizing by the parent firm, Spiegel & Co. 

Filling the bigger spaces has proven a challenge because of competition from major shopping centers in Emeryville and El Cerrito, he acknowledges. 

“Many retailers like to cluster,” he said. “That’s why there are so many clothing stores on Telegraph.” 

Gordon says he’s confident he’ll find tenants. 

Downtown Berkeley offers unique opportunities for retailers, Gordon said. “We have 75,000 people a day coming through downtown Berkeley, and there are 88,000 people within the marketing area,” defined as from North Berkeley to Highway 24 and from Sacramento Street to the Berkeley Hills. 

“Education is the most important thing in attracting retail, and within the marketing area you have a population where 64 percent have bachelor’s degrees and 32 percent have advanced degrees,” he said. “That makes us look very attractive to retailers.” 

While many argue that difficulty in finding parking poses a major challenge to downtown Berkeley, Gordon acknowledges that “we’re not Walnut Creek. You may have to walk three blocks to the store, but people forget that you’ll walk just as far from your parking space in a mall to the store you want.” 

Lots offer parking during the day, and at night even more lots are available, including the UC lots and the Great Western parking lot. 

“This is not like North Beach in San Francisco,” he said. “Talk about parking problems on Saturday night!” 

Another solution he offers is parking at the BART stations on Ashby and North Berkeley and riding the train one stop to the downtown BART station. 

Gordon said the rapidly increasing number of apartments and condominiums in the downtown area will also draw more retailers. 

“The more people there are who are out at night, the safer the streets,” he said. 

And what about the downtown area’s lack of a grocery store? 

“It will follow when the density is here. It might be smaller, like the stores in New York City that offer delivery,” he said. 

The 12-story hotel UC Berkeley plans for the northeast corner of Shattuck Avenue and Center Street would offer another plus for the downtown, he said, as would the associated museums and meeting facilities.  

The projected hotel site, now the location of a single-story Bank of America branch and accompanying parking lot, once housed its own 12-story building, which was torn down decades ago. 

“Having a parking lot there isn’t a good use of the land,” he added.  

Gordon says he is a leading proponent of the Downtown Arts District, especially the Addison Street corridor west of Shattuck with the Berkeley Repertory and Aurora theaters, the Jazzschool and the future site of Freight and Salvage Music House. 

When completed, the one-block stretch will offer a capacity of 1,700 seats for nighttime performances. 

He is also a member of the Downtown Berkeley Association and the Business Improvement District—which, he points out, differs from the Telegraph Avenue B.I.D. in that not only property owners are included but the tenants and users as well.  

While some might accuse Gordon of looking at the downtown through rose-colored glasses, he’s been investing heavily in his vision. 

“People are coming, and it’s a good place to be,” he said.

“I would’ve thought a pack of British boys would’ve put on a better show than this—you are all British boys, aren’t you?” 

The officer—resplendent in his dress whites, spit and polish, braid and brass—addresses a motley castaway crew before us: stageblood painted on smudged faces, school ties as headbands, sticks for spears. All are Bay Area women who have put on a rather good show as the schoolboys-gone-native of Lord of the Flies, breathing hard from the exhaustion of a deadly chase, eyes averted with shame or disingenuousness as the uniformed figure continues, “Is it a game you’re playing? Just a game?” 

Schoolboys’ games prove deadly on a desert island; William Golding’s parable—originally a novel half a century ago, part and parcel of the Doomsday literature of the ‘50s—early ‘60s—is undoubtedly the best-known piece by this Nobel laureate, in turn used by many schools in the way Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm used to be. What Woman’s Will, the all-women Shakespeare company, hopes to accomplish with these free performances at Eighth Street Studios during this late—and hot—campaign season is indicated by the panels and audience discussions that follow the shows. 

“The theater is one of the last great community gathering places,” Woman’s Will founder-artisic director Erin Merritt writes in the program. “Let the performance be only the beginning of the conversation, not the end.” And guest panelists range from campaign managers to academics, peace workers to political journalists—and include students from Berkeley High and youth activists. 

The story of boys on their own after a plane crash, their attempts to imitate parliamentary rule gone savage to chants of “Kill the pig! Spill his blood!” has been translated lucidly enough to the stage, thanks to Nigel Williams’ adaptation. It emphasizes a repetitive “public school” vernacular (”stupid” perhaps the principal buzz) that anticipates its own parody and mock ritualistic disintegration. 

Erin Merritt’s direction keeps the through-line clear, without too much sacrifice of nuance and dynamics amid the cacophony of boys on the loose. The ensemble of young women (and an 8th grader, Sarah Smithton, a familiar face on North Bay community stages) carry out the childish games and hazing that become so deadly. 

Outstanding are Jennifer Dean as Ralph, the liberal humanist of the island, prey to Jack (Jenny Debevec)—choir leader, rabble-rouser (”We can do what we like!”), leader of the pack in the hunt and spontaneous myth maker—who’s also tormentor of Piggy (Lizzie Calogero), bespectacled designated victim, shrill but usually right, attributing the common sense of his colloquial exhortations to his auntie. 

These and the other six women (and Wendell H. Wilson in the brilliant uniform) have to carry this stark tale of what should be a Peter Pan utopia become one apocalypse—primitive, adolescent—on an island, in the midst of another, adult and technological, that threatens to engulf the world. 

Woman’s Will Lord of the Flies plays Fri-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m., through Oct. 24. Free, with suggested donation. Eighth Street Studios, 2525 Eighth St., 420-0813, www.womanswill.org. 

ReOrient, in its sixth year of “exploring Middle Eastern culture and identity as represented throughout the globe,” is a festival of short plays staged by Golden Thread Productions that’s opening this weekend at the Ashby Stage after a run at SF’s Noh Space. 

ReOrient is becoming a Bay Area institution without losing that sense of being a well-kept (maybe too well-kept) secret that delights whoever discovers it, bringing them back every year. The excellent second series of three plays is playing in alternation with the first series, of five plays. 

The first play, “Don’t Eat the Tomatoes” is by Fatma Durmush, a Turkish woman poet and playwright, born in Cyprus, who writes in English. This is a strangely humorous tale of a young couple setting up housekeeping by a graveyard thronged with mothers whose sons were killed in the terroristic war with the Kurds. Durmush’s play takes stylized dreamlike turns that could be called Absurdist, for want of a better term to describe an original poetic logic. 

The mourning mothers become tomato plants, bear tomatoes (”In truth, the more sorrow, the better they taste”) and find peace; the young wife, pregnant and abandoned by her husband, markets this cemetery crop and becomes a consumer; her errant husband, newly educated (”To live without reason is worse than being a tomato!”) and weary of cities, returns. 

The situation of the Kurds in Turkey and the controversy around Kurdish militant Abdullah Ocalan’s condemnation to death isn’t so well known here. Torange Yeghiazarian (Golden Thread’s founder-artistic director) has directed this play with the sense of a parable or fable, underlining what’s in common with our own interminable War On Terror, and its almost familial social and cultural resentments. 

The second, “Compression of a Casualty,” by Brooklyn playwright Kevin Doyle, plays the fatuous smiles and mannerisms of TV news anchors announcing a death in Fallujah, then “moving on,” against the young fallen GI trying to recapitulate his own life and death amid the repetitions of teleprompter copy. Such a brief description misses the true compression and offbeat pace of banal, brutal meta-language with Laura Hope’s taut direction of three fine actors (Tiffany Harrison, Patrick MacKellan, Zak Kilberg) that drive this piece. 

“Dinner/Khnamakhos” by Lilly Thomassian—again with fine direction, by Meredith Weiss Friedman—is the barely-controlled madness of a dinner party in an Armenian home in Glendale to celebrate an arranged marriage. No one can see or hear the bride-to-be (Sara Luna), commenting on the crazy comic melodrama her family and the groom’s are playing out around the table. The groom-to-be looks oddly familiar—and he finally remembers where he’s seen her eyes before (as he stares at her picture with the bride-to-be looking over his shoulder). A chamber play out of one of Bunuel’s surreal movies, Sheri Bass, Maximilienne Ewalt, Ann Marie Donahue and Lisa Tateosian (all from “Don’t Eat the Tomatoes”) and David Fierro make a savage portrait of two families. 

The first series features “Chocolate in Heat, Growing Up Arab in America,” written and performed by Betty Shamieh; “Disheartened,” by Melgis Bilgin, “Between the Eyes,” by MacArthur Award winner Naomi Wallace; “Falling,” by William Borden (about the World Trade Center); and “Taziyeh” (the name of the Shi’ite passion play of Hussain’s martyrdom at Karbala) by Novid Parsi. 

Golden Thread Productions’ ReOrient 2004 Sixth Annual Festival of Short Plays Exploring the Middle East runs Oct. 15-24, Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Series 2 will run Oct. 15, 17, 22, and 24 matinee. Series 1 will run Oct. 16, 17 matinee, 21 and 23. There will be no show the evening of Oct. 24. The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., 986.9194, www.goldenthread.org. 

It’s amazing what you can talk yourself into doing based on an email. It was as if MoveOn knew just what sort of a Springsteen fanatic they were dealing with. A concert benefiting America Coming Together (ACT), a 527 that sends volunteers to swing states to get out the vote? Sure! (Well, they had me from “MoveOn members get first crack at Springsteen tickets.”) 

My country needed me. So here I was, arriving a few days early to stay with friends in St. Paul, Minn., then east 20 miles to the Wisconsin border and across the wide state (the signs going Bush/Cheney, Bush/Cheney, Bush/Cheney like a locomotive engine all along 94, till the pipsqueaky Kerry/Edwards signs started popping up on the outskirts of Madison, rising to a chorus as we reached our Madison friends’ home.) Old friends, but all we could talk about was, ‘Can Madison save the whole state? It doesn’t look like it—Bush is up seven points here.’ 

Tuesday, Oct. 5: Outside the sold-out Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, a small group of protesters with Bush/Cheney T-shirts, “Shut up and sing!” and “Don’t tell US who to vote for!” signs. They might as well have been selling Dead paraphernalia at a Pat Boone concert.  

Shortly after seven Springsteen appeared out of the dark alongside Michael Stipe, front man for REM, announcing opening act Bright Eyes and imploring his fans to hold off on the “BRUUUUUCE” chant until his turn. Stipe introduced the register-to-vote theme of the Vote for Change tour. Twenty-four-year-old Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes took advantage of his chance at the big time, playing a solid set of seven numbers in the angry-young-man/folk-rock/protest-song genre as his dark hair fell fetchingly into his eyes. He ended saying, “I’m looking for a landslide, but I’ll settle for a win!” 

REM’s Stipe kicked off their hour-plus set with a heartfelt “The One I Love.” “Losing My Religion” followed, along with a few songs off their just-released album “Around the Sun,” including the poignant new hit “Leaving New York.” Stipe, dressed in an elegant white suit, which he’d later remove to reveal a white T-shirt emblazoned with a Kerry logo, danced sinuously around the stage, leading up to the defining moment of the concert, when Neil Young appeared as an unexpected guest to join in on “Country Feedback” with a glorious, soaring guitar solo. It became clear during these moments that this was a concert of a lifetime. 

The speechifying was kept to a minimum. Stipe told us that even his 70-year-old military father was supporting Kerry. As an intro to “It’s the End of the World as We Know It,” he described the huge thunderstorm that had struck the last time REM played the Twin Cities and they’d performed that song—in 1999, which he said felt like “six centuries ago.” Now, “we’re back in the midst of the most terrific thunderstorm in our lives.” Springsteen joined REM to play harmonica on “Bad Day,” followed by alternating vocals with a delighted Stipe on “Man on the Moon.”  

After a break Springsteen returned, leading off his set with a twelve-string acoustic solo of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which metamorphosed seamlessly into an uninterrupted sequence of “Born in the U.S.A.,” “Badlands,” and the now emblematic if still unofficial theme song of the Kerry campaign, “No Surrender.” A soulful “Lonesome Day” and “The River” followed, with the E Street Band in fine form and playing as if the future of our country depended on it. 

Suddenly Springsteen asked, “Are there any Canadians in the house for Kerry?” Out popped Neil Young again to join in on “Souls of the Departed.” Like many of the evening’s lyrics, lines stood out afresh in light of the current situation in Iraq and the Bush administration’s disastrous policies (“Tonight as I tuck my own son in bed . . .”). 

As the chords faded away, Stipe returned to the stage to join Springsteen and Young on Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower,” with Young doing an awe-inspiring Jimi Hendrix–style electric solo, Clarence Clemons offering one of his famed saxophone riffs, and Stipe and Springsteen repeating the line “two riders were approaching” again and again, evoking the image of Kerry and Edwards riding to the rescue.  

A couple more numbers, then Springsteen brought out Creedence Clearwater Revival’s John Fogerty, introducing him as “our generation’s Hank Williams.” After reporting the score of the Twins-Yankees game, Fogerty launched into “Centerfield,” followed by his new single “It’s Like Deja Vu All Over Again.” Springsteen did backup and traded vocals with him on “Fortunate Son,” teasing Fogerty for singing the verses in the wrong order. 

As the concert raged into Springsteen’s generous overtime “encore” list (which in typical Bruce fashion lasted as long as the original set), “Born to Run,” “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” “Promised Land,” and “The Rising” gave way to everyone back on stage for a transcendent “Because the Night” and a roaring rendition of Fogerty’s “Proud Mary.” The energy built as the artists played off one another, for the thrill of the music and the thrill of the cause. 

During “Mary’s Place,” Springsteen did his signature preacher talk, urging members of the audience, “If you’re swingin’, can’t make up your mind, come forward now and say ‘I need help.’ Say ‘Halliburton’ five times real fast, and let the healing begin. . . . The country we carry in our hearts is waiting.” 

Everyone wrapped up with the Elvis Costello cover “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding” and Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” which I’m not sure is over yet. Stipe, if possible more energetic than Springsteen, was running nonstop along the proscenium and up against the seats raised 10 feet above him at the rear of the stage, gesturing emphatically at the Kerry logo on his T, then throwing his arms out to everyone as he danced to get them to stand up and sing. 

The $1.5 million the 19,000 concertgoers contributed will be doing its work in the coming weeks. And in next-door Wisconsin? Swung over magically in the tracking polls to Kerry! Some cavalierly attributed it to Kerry’s performance in the first debate, but I feel sure the aura of our vibes wafting eastward was decisive. On Wednesday I helped staff a Democratic Party office on the St. Croix River in Hudson, Wisconsin, which it turned out had been featured in that week’s Newsweek as emblematic of how the Democrats were determined not to yield the traditionally Republican small towns this election. 

People were swarming into the hole-in-the-wall headquarters, buzzing with excitement. Some women who’d driven from Milwaukee to see the concert took a break on their drive home to pick up buttons, thoroughly stoked. Another woman told me that although she was the only one of her six friends who went to the concert for the politics as well as the music, all five of her companions, infrequent voters at best, were now totally up for Kerry. And that’s what it’s all about.  

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FRIDAY, OCT. 15 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Betty Olds, Berkeley City Council on “Berkeley.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $12.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. 526-2925.  

Amy Goodman, host of “Democracy Now” at 6:30 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Sponsored by the ACLU Berkeley Chapter. rsaclu@earthlink.net 

Hills Emergy Forum Annual Meeting with representatives from Berkeley, Oakland, El Cerrito, EBMUD, UC Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley Lab at 10 a.m. in the California Room, 4th floor, Double Tree Hotel, Berkeley Marina. www.lbl.gov/ehs/hef/ 

“Making Sustainable Forestry Work: Trees, Land, People and Business” with Paul Harlan, Vice President of The Collins Companies, a leader in sustainable forestry, at 4 p.m. at Booth Auditorium, Boalt Hall. UC Campus. www.cnr.berkeley.edu/ 

forestry/lecture.html 

“Jerusalem Women Speak: Three Women, Three Faiths, One Shared Vision” at 7 p.m. at 2060 Valley Life Science Building, UC Campus. Sponsored by Partners for Peace, Cal Muslim Students Assoc., Students for Justice in Palestine-UCB. 644-3650. 

SWOP’s Sexy Circus to celebrate the rebirth of the prostitutes rights movement at 7 p.m. at Third and Jones warehouse on the RR tracks. 877-776-2004. www.swop-usa.org 

Bad Subjects Book Release Celebration at 7 p.m. at AK Press Warehouse, 674 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

Tibetan Buddhist Approach to Transforming Stress with Tsokni Rinpoche III at 7:30 p.m. Berkeley Shambhala Meditation Center, 2288 Fulton St. http://norcal.shambhala.org  

SATURDAY, OCT. 16 

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour of Dharma Publishing and Scharffenberger Chocolate Makers at 10 a.m. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0181. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc/ 

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

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

Dance for the Swing States with Country Joe McDonald and Kevin Griffin’s Rough Draft from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. at Thousand Oaks School, 840 Colusa. All proceeds go to A.C.T. Suggested donation $25. 

Albany YMCA Garage Sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Proceeds will be used to help support Albany YMCA Youth and Adult Financial Assistance programs. 921 Kains Ave. 525-1130. 

“Side By Side: A Journey With Depression” with Brian Wetzel at 7:30 p.m. at Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave. Tickets are $10-$15. 707-829-1872. www.frontporchspirit.com  

Plant Sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 1045 Leneve Place, El Cerrito. Sponsored by the Berkeley Garden Club. 843-9457. 

Creating Your Own Garden Paradise at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

Constructing the School Garden A workshop for teachers to learn how to build school garden beds using recycled or low cost products, and how to incorporate students into the process. Cost is $25. Pre-registration required. Held in Berkeley, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 231-9430. www.thewatershedproject.org 

Toddler Nature Walk for 2-3 year olds and their grown-up friends from 2 to 3 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“Foods of the Andes: Potato Festival” Learn how potatoes are traditionally prepared, with children’s activities and Bolivian music from noon to 1:30 p.m. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $10-$23. Registration required. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class on Light Search and Rescue from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 997 Cedar St. To sign up call 981-5605. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes.html 

Los Días de los Muertos Workshop Shrine and Altar Making at the Richmond Art Center from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 2540 Barrett Ave., at 25th St., Richmond. Cost is $30-$35. 620-6772. www.therichmondartcenter.org 

Gadabout Film Festival of independent filmmakers at 7 p.m. at AK Press Warehouse, 674 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

“Healing Through Buddhist Art” with Arnaud Maitland at 3 p.m. at Dharma Publishing, 2910 San Pablo Ave. donation $10. 548-5407. 

Dharma Publishing Open House and demonstration of sacred art craft from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 2901 San Pablo Ave. 548-5407. 

“What’s Going On? California and the Vietnam Era” a symposium with representatives from the arts, media, academia, politics and veteran services, Sat. and Sun. from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Cost is $25, $45 for both days. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Build Green, a free seminar covering building materials and practices that promote sustainability, from 9 to 11 a.m. at Truitt and White, 1817 Second St. Registration required. 649-2674. 

Benefit Yard Sale for Shotgun Players from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 2139 Curtis St. off of University. 841-6500. 

Mahea Uchiyama Center Auction Fundraiser and Tahitian dance performance to raise funds to bring master teachers and performers from Tahiti for the upcoming concert season. At 8 p.m. at 729 Heinz Ave. Cost is $15. www.mahea.com 

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. 17 

Bike Tour of Historic Oakland A leisurely paced 5.5 mile bike tour sponsored by the Oakland Museum of California. Meet at 10 a.m. at the 10th St. entrance of the museum. For reservations call 238-3514. www.museumca.org 

Early Morning Bird Walk We’ll look for birds making their way south and learn why and how they migrate at 8 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Dinosaur Day We’ll learn about them through puzzles, bingo and making tracks from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Mayan and Aztec Medicinal Plants Tour with Horticulturalist Eric Schulz from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical garen, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $8-$12. Registration required. 643-2755. http:// 

botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Kensington Library Book Sale from noon to 4 p.m. at 61 Arlington Ave., in the parking lot behind the library. 

Benefit for MoveOn.org with silent art auction, speakers, and Film screening of “Unprecedented: the 2000 Election” at 5 p.m. at Studio Rasa, 933 Parker St. Cost is $25. 843-2787. www.studiorasa.org 

Berkeley Cybersalon “There’s Something About W” at 6 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Donation $10. 

Train to End Stroke Movie Marathon Videos and films about people and animals overcoming various challenges at 3 p.m. at Parkway Theater, 1834 Park Blvd. Tickets are $7 at the door. All profits will benefit the American Stroke Association. 301-6822. 

Los Días de los Muertos Art, traditions, and procession masks at the Richmond Art Center from 1 to 4:30 p.m., 2540 Barrett Ave., at 25th St., Richmond. Cost is $30-$35. 620-6772. www.therichmondartcenter.org 

“Spiritual Citizenship and the Healing of America” with Barbara Hamilton Holway at 9:30 a.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302.  

Healing Friction Community Circle A free workshop for political engagement from 3 to 6 p.m. at 1428 Alice St., Oakland. Come share your voice, some food, and a way through and out of hopelessness. 866-236-0346. www.healingfriction.org  

Tibetan Buddhism with Abbe Blum on “Buddhist Tools for Well-being” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, OCT. 18 

Tea at Four Taste some of the finest teas from the Pacific Rim and South Asia and learn their natural and cultural history, followed by a short nature walk. At 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Cost is $5-$7, registration required. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Livable Berkeley Candidates Forum to discuss development and environmental issues in Berkeley, at 7:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 587-3390. 

“Potent Presidential Politics: Inequality, Race and Welfare Reform” a roundtable discussion with NYT reporter, Jason DeParle, KQED host Michael Krassney, Christopher Edley, Dean, Boalt Hall, at 7:30 p.m. at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. 642-4143. 

“Campus Life: Is It Good for the Jews?” with Adam Weisberg, Berkeley Hillel’s Executive Director, on the reality of Jewish life on the UC Berkeley campus, as well as a perspective on how and when the media get it right when reporting on campus anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and other issues of concern to the local Jewish community. At 7:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237, ext. 110. 

Soli Deo Gloria Auditions for experienced singers at 6:30 pm at Trinity Lutheran Church in Alameda, 1323 Central & Morton. All voice parts are encouraged to audition. 650-424-1242. www.sdgloria.org 

East Bay Private School Fair from 7 to 9 p.m. at Epworth United Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. Cost is $5-$10. 877-648-KIDS ext. 86. 

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

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

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. 19 

School Board Candidates Forum at 7 p.m. at Berkeley High School, Florence Schwimley Little Theater on Allston Way. Co-sponsored by Berkeley High School PTSA and League of Women Voters. Questions for candidates will be collected during the forum or may be emailed in advance to colemanbarbara@comcast.net  

Morning Bird Walk: Inspiration Point Meet at 7 a.m. at Inspiration Point to see the resident birds of the grassland and chaparral. Call for directions or to reserve binoculars. 525-2233.  

Return of the Over-the-Hills Gang Hikers 55 years and older who are interested in nature study, history, fitness, and fun are invited to join us on a series of monthly excursions exploring our Regional Parks. Meet at 10 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Registration required. 525-2233. 

Mini-Rangers Join us for an active afternoon of nature study, conservation and rambling through woods and waters. Dress to get dirty, bring a healthy snack to share, for 8-12 year old girls and boys, unaccompanied by their parents. Fee is $6-$8. 525-2233. 

Fall Fruit Tasting Discover the many varieties of apples and pears at the Tuesday Farmers’ Market, from 2 to 7 p.m. at Derby at MLK, Jr. Way. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.org  

Berkeley Garden Club “The Gardens at Filoli,” a talk by Grover Cleveland, Filoli docent. Meeting at 1 p.m., program at 2 p.m. at Epworth Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. Guests $2. 524-4374. 

Friends of Strawberry Creek with Kirstin Miller on “Daylighting Strawberry Creek as a Centerpiece for the University’s Plan” at 5:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library Community Room. 419-0850. 

Get Ready for Winter Cycling with bike specialist James Lanham at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

“End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of The American Dream” a film at 6:30 p.m. at The Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave.  

“Slavery in Early Modern West Africa” with Ugo Nwokeji of the Dept. of African Studies at 4 p.m. at 652 Barrows Hall. 642-8338. www.ias.berkeley.edu/africa  

“Time to Learn About Children: Parenting Through the Ages” with Dr. Mike Riera, at 7 p.m. at Redwood Day School, 3245 Sheffield Ave., Oakland. For reservations call 534-0804. 

Financial Planning Workshop: Investing 101 with Jarrett Topel, Certified Financial Planner at 7 p.m. at El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave. Free. 526-7512.  

“Introduction to Judaism” Explore Jewish spirituality and ethics with David Cooper at 7:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. 

Family Story Time at the Kensington Branch Library, 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 

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

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 

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 20 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters meets at 7:15 a.m. at Au Cocolait, 200 University Ave. 524-3765. 

Lawrence Berkeley Lab Public Hearing on the renewal of the Lab’s Hazardous Waste Handling Facility Permit for storage of hazardous and mixed waste in their Strawberry Canyon facility, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 1-866-495-5651. 

Tilden Tots A Holloween treasure hunt for 3 and 4 year olds each accompanied by an adult. From 10 to 11:30 a.m. in Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Jimmy Rutledge Award for Service to the Community The Berkeley Police Assoc. will honor Bay Area Outreach Recreational Program with the annual Award at 2:30 p.m. at City Council Chambers, 2134 Martin Luther King Way. 981-5900, ext. 4084. 

Walking Tour of Jack London Waterfront Meet at 10 a.m. at the corner of Broadway and Embarcadero. For reservations call 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

“A World Without the United Nations?” Discussion and Q/A with UCB Professors Nezar Al Sayyad, Richard Buxbaum and Urs Cipolat at 7 p.m. at 22 Warren Hall, Oxford and Berkeley Way. Sponsored by UCB Model UN, United Nations Association-USA East Bay and others. 540-8017. 

“Matías” a documentary about people trying to cross the US-Mexican border at 4 p.m. at Geballe Room, 220 Stephens Hall. 642-2088. www.clas.berkeley.edu 

“The Framing of Mumia” a documentary at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $3-$5. Sponsored by the International Council for Humanity. 419-1405.  

“The Environmental Challenge to China’s Future” with Dr. Elizabeth Economy at 5 p.m. at the IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St. http://ieas.berkeley.edu 

Will Durst will speak on why so many young people look to television comedians for their political news at 3 p.m. at 109 Moses Hall, UC Campus. http://politics.berkeley.edu 

Gray Panthers Wednesday Night Gathering A teach-in on Leo Strauss, philosopher behind the neo-conservative movement at 7 p.m. at 1403 Addison St. 548-9696. 

Tradition and Change: Conservative Judaism 101 at 7:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237, ext. 110.  

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. 548-9840. 

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

Writing Project with special guest Jane Juska at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-0861. 

Prose Writers’ Workshop An ongoing group focused on issues of craft at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 524-3034. georgeporter@earthlink.net 

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

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

CITY MEETINGS 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meets Mon. Oct. 18, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Pam Wyche. 644-6128 ext. 113. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/rent 

Public Housing Resident Advisory Board meets on Mon., Oct. 18, at 4 p.m. at Berkeley Housing Authority, 1901 Fairview St. Angellique DeCoud. 981-5475. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/publichousing 

Berkeley Housing Authority meets Tues., Oct. 19, at 6:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers. Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. ww.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/housingauthority 

City Council meets Tues., Oct. 19 at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wed., Oct. 20, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Katherine O’Connor, 981-6601. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/humane 

Commission on Aging meets Wed., Oct. 20, at 1:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Lisa Ploss, 981-5200. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/aging 

Commission on Labor meets Wed.,Oct. 20, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Delfina M. Geiken, 644-6085. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/labor 

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wed., Oct. 20, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Marianne Graham, 981-5416. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/welfare 

Design Review Committee meets Thurs., Oct. 21, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Anne Burns, 981-7415. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/designreview  

Fair Campaign Practices Commission meets Thurs., Oct. 21, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Prasanna Rasaih, 981-6950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/faircampaign 

Transportation Commission meets Thurs., Oct. 21, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Peter Hillier, 981-7000. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/transportationw

FRIDAY, OCT. 15 

CHILDREN 

Mo Willems introduces “Knuffle Bunny” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Objects and Representations of Balinese Religion and Culture” opens at the Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, 2400 Ridge Rd. through Jan. 15. 649-2541. www.gtu.edu/library 

FILM 

Berkeley Video & Film Festival at 7:30 p.m. at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. Tickets are $6-$8. 843-3699. www.berkeleyvideofilmfest.org 

Fiercely Primitive: Guy Maddin “Archangel” at 7:30 p.m. and “The Road to Glory” at 9:20 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

THEATER 

Acme Players Ensemble, “Ghost in the Machine” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., call for Sun. times., through Nov. 7, at APE Space, 2525 Eighth St. Suggested donation $5-$20. 332-1931. 

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

“Aya de León is Running for President” at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Tickets are $8-$10. 273-2473. www.ayadeleon.com 

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

Magical Acts Ritual Theater, “Heretics, Harlots and Heroes,” at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun at 2 p.m. through Oct. 23. Tickets are $16-$26. 883-0600. www.belladonna.ws 

Shakespeare in the Yard, “Notes From William, III” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 4 p.m. at Sister Thea Memorial Theater, 920 Peralta St. West Oakland, through Oct. 17. Tickets are $5-$20. 208-5651 

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

Un-Scripted Theater Company, “Fear,” a full-length improvised horror story, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave. through Oct. 30. Tickets are $7-$12. 869-5384. www.un-scripted.com 

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

READINGS AND LECTURES 

M. Steven Shackley, editor, “The Early Ethnography of the Kumeyaay” at 4 p.m. at at Phoebe Hearst Museum, UC Campus, Bancroft at College. 643-7648.  

Justin Frank, looks at “Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President” at 12:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Maxina Ventura at 7:30 p.m. at the Fellowship Café, Fellowship Hall, Cedar and Bonita. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Soli Deo Gloria “Spiritual Journeys” a concert of American music featuring spiritual, gospel and classical sacred works at 7:30 p.m. at Zion Lutheran, 5201 Park Blvd., Piedmont. Tickets are $15-$20. 415-982-7341.  

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

Wayne Wallace Quintet, a concert of Afro-Cuban music at 8 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100.  

Marvin Sanders and John Davis, flute and piano, at 8 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Donation $10. 

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

The Cosmosamatics at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $8-$15. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Palenque at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

David Mallet at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

DJ & Brook, jazz trio, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Jello Biafra, Daphne Gottleib, Meliza Banales, benefit for Jesse Townley, at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Plan 9, The Deep Eynde, S.M.D. at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

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

Stiletta, Top Brown, Chow Nasty, Secret Synthi at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

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

SATURDAY, OCT. 16 

CHILDREN 

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Princess Moxie Puppet Show at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $3-$4. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

Mary Spivey, “Watercolors” Reception at 5:30 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. at Ashby. Exhibition runs through Oct. 31. 604-1473. 

Worth Ryder Art Gallery First Year Graduate Exhibition Reception at noon at Worth Ryder Gallery, 116 Kroeber Hall, UC Campus. 642-2582. 

“Landscape” local landscape painters. Reception at 7 p.m. at Fourth Street Studio. 527-0600. 

FILM 

Berkeley Video & Film Festival Sat. and Sun. from 1 p.m. to midnight at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. Tickets are $5-$8. 843-3699. www.berkeleyvideofilmfest.org 

Fiercely Primitive: Guy Maddin “Twilight of the Ice Nymphs” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

THEATER 

Central Works, “A Step Away” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Through Nov. 21. Tickets are $8-$20. 558-1381. 

“Aya de León is Running for President” at 8 p.m. at Jahva House, 1428 Alice St., Oakland. Tickets are $7. 273-2473.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Thea Bellos talks about the photographs in “¡Cuba Viva!” at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100.  

Gish Jen introduces her new novel “The Love Wife” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

“Exploring Inner and Outer Landscapes,” with nature photographer Stephen Altschuler, at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Psychic Institute, 2018 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Trinity Chamber Concert with Amy Brodo, Paul Rhodes, baroque cello and gamba, Katherine Heater, harpsichord, at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864.  

Chava Albertstein at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22-$38.642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Barry and Alice Oliver, folk, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Tour at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $16-$18. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

SoVoSó at 8 p.m. at the Jazz- 

school. Cost is $15-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

West African HighLife Band at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The Wayward Monks at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $6-$15. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Michael Zilber Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

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

86 The Band, Bermuda Triangle Service, Wensler Willgain at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Poor Bailey, Three Hours Old, Fine by Me at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Animosity, Reflux, Botox Aftermath, The Clones, The Vice at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, OCT. 17 

FILM 

Fiercely Primitive: Guy Maddin “Seventh Heaven” at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Yossi and Jaeger” about two male soldiers in the Israeli army who fall in love, at 2 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Donation $5. 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Threshold: Byron Kim” Guided tour at 2 p.m., discussion at 3 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Poetry Flash with Julia B. Levine and Sarah Maclay at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

International Women’s Writing Guild readings at 3 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

Gary Paul Nabhan explains “Why Some Like it Hot: Foods, Genes and Cultural Diversity” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

“My Sister, My Sister” readings by The Sisters Project at 7 p.m. at Pacific School of Religion Chapel, 1798 Scenic Ave. Donation $10. 528-8198. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Spice of Life Festival with the Berkeley High School Jazz Combo at 11 a.m., Maria Marquez at noon, Wil Blades Organ Trio at 1:30 p.m. Misturada at 3 p.m. and Jazzschool Big Band at 4:30 p.m. at Cedar and Shattuck.  

Organ Recital with David R. Hunsberger playing ten chorale preludes by J.S. Bach at 4 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Donations accepted.  

Live Oak Concert 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 

Ancient European Folk Songs performed by Lily Storm, Tim Rayborn, Shira Kammen at 7:30 p.m. at Parish Hall, St. Alban’s Church, 1501 Washington St., Albany. Tickets are $12-$15.  

Brentano String Quartet at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $38. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Music, Dance and Ritual of Kerala, India at 7 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22-$42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

“Imagining a Map of the World” solo dance performance by Evangel King at 11 a.m. at 1374 Francisco St. Donation $7-$15. 841-9441. 

“Disaster Series–The Continuation” by Joe Goode at 2 p.m. at Zellerbach Playhouse. Tickets are $8-$14. http://theater.berkeley.edu 

Archiglas Acapella Choral Ensemble from St. Petersberg Russia at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan. Tickets are $12-$20 at the door. www.juliamorgan.org 

California Friends of French Lousiana Music at 2 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5-$8. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Austin Lounge Lizards at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Acoustic Ace of Spades at 1 p.m. at MamaBuzz Cafe, 2318 Telegraph Ave. 289-2272. 

Americana Unplugged: The Squirrelly String Band at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Blame it on the Sex, Music Box Serial Killer at 8 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

MONDAY, OCT. 18 

FILM 

“Mùa Oi, The Season of Guavas” A film by Dang Nhat Minh at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Followed by discussion with the director. 642-3609. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Dave Eggers, aka Dr. and Mr. Doris Haggis-on-Whey, introduces “Giraffes? Giraffes!” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Poetry Express, featuring storyteller Orunamamu, from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Okkyung Lee at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $7-$10. www.thejazzhouse.com 

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

TUESDAY, OCT. 19 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Somewhere Else” An exhibition of contemporary Middle Eastern artists. Reception from 4 to 7 p.m. Worth Ryder Art Gallery, 116 Kroeber Hall, UC Campus. 642-2582.  

FILM 

JPEX: “Expanded Visions” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Writers Harvest Readings by Tobias Wolff, Gail Tsukiyama, and Jervey Tervalon at 7 p.m. in the Student Union at Mills College. Donation $5-$20. Benefits the Alameda County Community Food Bank. 430-3250. 

Glenn W. Smith introduces “The Politics of Deceit: Saving Freedom and Democracy From Extinction” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Ernesto Quióonez talks about the gentrification of Spanish Harlem in “Chango’s Fire” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Wayne Bernhardson introduces “Moon Handbook: Argentina” at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 843-3533. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“The Songs of Donald Rumsfeld” with Bryant Kong, composer and pianist, and Ellender Wall, soprano at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery, 2324 Shattuck Ave. Tickets are $10. www.berkeleyartsfestival.com 

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

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

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

Peter Barshay & Murray Low at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 20 

FILM 

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

READINGS AND LECTURES 

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

Jennifer Traig describes “Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

As’ad AbuKhalil discusses “The Battle for Saudi Arabia: Royalty, Fundamentalism, and Global Power” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

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

Lit Glass Presentation by artist Eliot K. Daughtry at 6:30 p.m. at 2540 Barrett Ave., Richmond. 620-6772. www.therichmondartcenter.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

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

Billy Dunn & Bluesway at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Erik Jekabson Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Bluegrass Concert Benefit for Allison Fisher at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

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

Josh Workman at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200.  

THURSDAY, OCT. 21 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

Bella Feldman and Katherine Westerhout, sculpture and photography. Presentation by the artists at 7 p.m. at the State Office Building Atrium, 1515 Clay St. 622-8190. www.oaklandculturalarts.org 

“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 

“Casting Pebble, Flying Kite” Reception for artists Joyce Hsu and Chen-Ju Pan at 5 p.m. at 555 12th St., Oakland. Exhibition runs to Jan. 5. 238-6836. 

“l'Art de Vivre” Sculptures, bronzes and ceramics by Khalil Bendib. Reception at 5 p.m. at 340 Stephens Hall, UC Campus. 642-8208. 

FILM 

Documentary Voices: “In the Name of God” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“The Power of Giving” with artists W. A. Ehren Tool, Fariba Safai and Ashley Smith at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893.  

“Mexico at the Hearst Museum” with Ira Jacknis at noon at Phoebe Hearst Museum, UC Campus, Bancroft at College. 643-7648.  

Gerard Jones introduces “Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Word Beat at 7 p.m. with Stan Millard and Alice Templeton, at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Big Lou’s Polka Casserole at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

Bruce Molesky, Appalachian fiddling, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Megan Skalard Band at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Pladdohg at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Eric Schrifrin, solo piano at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Rick Braun at 8 and 10 p.m. through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $22-$26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.comª

In politically disturbed times such as ours, museums can provide welcome distraction. Berkeley Art Museum is located on Bancroft Way across the street from the university campus, a short walk from the city center, making it easy for town as well as gown to refresh themselves therein. 

The current exhibit of Byron Kim’s paintings, “Threshold,” can advantageously be approached by starting at the top level of the museum, in Gallery 6. This takes one past a side gallery of ancient Asian bronzes and ceramics. In this small area two tiny vessels of prehistoric origin make the detour worth the trip. Their dark-patina’d eggshell-thin forms, each with tiny handles and faint engravings, speak of delicate fingers, female surely, working in harmony with the agrarian cycle of seasons that so conveniently lends itself to creativity in both clay and field. 

One flight of stairs above, Gallery 6 has a few large canvases that represent adequately enough the painting world of the mid-20th century, starting with Clyfford Still’s large Untitled of 1955. Also an abstract color field, Mark Rothko’s 1961 Number 207 is however more mesmerizing, as he achieved a saturation of hue that has not been exceeded since. The works of Richard Diebenkorn, Helen Frankenthaler and Willem de Kooning echo some aspects of these expanses of color and little to no form, yet at the same time with much less spiritual resonance than Rothko’s. 

Leaving Gallery 6 one is brought up short by a Jay DeFeo painting hung where one can not fail to see it, on the right side of the way out. Resembling in style her masterpiece The Rose, which hung here a few years ago, this huge canvas, Origin, painted in 1956, is equally masterly. As in The Rose, mystery pulses from the canvas surface, as though a god of painting had dipped fat fingers into lush pigments of subtly varied grays and creams, with touches of black and ochre and hints of green, and trailed them in a cosmic, compelling, utterly sublime fashion across celestial space. 

After this knockout blow to the psyche, one expects Byron Kim to be an anticlimax. Instead, as one makes one’s way down through the lower galleries, his cool blues and pale terracottas spring gently from the walls to refresh and comfort the eye. With help in interpretation from curatorial text, this feast completes a comprehensible progression of 20th century style and ushers in the 21st. Gone are the hyperactivity of Abstract Expressionism, the dryness of Minimalism, the dizzyness of Op and Pop, and post Modern inclusion. Something is here that is as yet unnamed, that derives its essence direct from the fount of all art, nature, that makes it look as though the future does after all contain hope, and clear-sightedness, and surprisingly, given the turmoil of the times, serenity. 

If it is now time to feed body as well as soul, for looking at art can whip up an appetite, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. the museum’s Café Muse on the ground floor produces fresh, savory dishes at moderate prices. The stairway down is flanked by Ragamala paintings selected from Jean and Francis Marshall’s extensive donated collection. These tiny jewels, exquisitely rendered and imaginatively conceived—from horses that have stood in fields for so long that their legs are stained with scarlet and their flanks etched with minuscule meadow flowers, to many-headed deities or blue faced ones—were painted in the second half of the last millennium to give visual form to music, a genre said to have been particularly popular with Hindu royalty. 

These miniatures bring us back to the beginning of our tour, for they were painted by the same person who made the tiny Asian vessels, surely the most beguiling artist of all time: Unknown.  

›

For an all-too-brief and shining moment Friday noon, Sproul Plaza reverberated with the rhetorical fireworks that made Berkeley synonymous with radical ideas during the 1960's. 

Two firebrands of the Free Speech Movement (FSM) ignited a crowd of thousands in outbursts of cheers and applause, and a defeated but unbowed presidential candidate urged his listeners to join the political fray, both as activists and as candidates. 

In commemoration of one of the most celebrated moments of four decades earlier, the speakers addressed the audience from atop a police car—albeit on a wooden platform reached by a ramp. 

And though the firebrands were grayer, heavier and more stooped than in those September days of 1964 and some needed a hand to traverse the ramp, on ce atop the UC Police cruiser they demonstrated that they’d lost none of their spirit. 

While Howard Dean was the celebrity du jour, delivering a hearty stump speech on behalf of one-time opponent John Kerry, it was FSM vets Bettina Aptheker and state Ass emblymember Jackie Goldberg who delivered the fire to the crowd of 3,000 students and snowy-tressed baby boomers who had gathered in Sproul Plaza to celebrate the movement’s 40th anniversary. 

After Berkeley and a subsequent women’s studies teaching job a t San Jose State, Aptheker enrolled at UC Santa Cruz for additional graduate studies, staying to teach in and eventually chair the Women’s Studies Program. 

Her voice resonant with passion, her knees pumping with the rhythm of her words, Aptheker hailed t he memory of “the vibrant, effervescent, singing students of this campus. 

“This was my generation,” she said, baby boomers whose youth had been shaped by knowledge of the Holocaust and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 

“To see you today moves me t o tears,” she said, eliciting the first of several rousing ovations. 

In passing remarks to a reporter a few minutes earlier, Michael Rossman, an FSM vet and one of the key organizers of Friday’s gathering, had echoed her feelings. 

“All of us have been crying at some point today,” he sighed. 

Aptheker came by her radicalism naturally as a red diaper daughter of Communist Party members—her father was internationally known journalist and African American studies expert Herbert Aptheker, a white protégé of W.E.B. DuBois. 

Comparing the United States of 1964 and 2004, Aptheker found “periods of great social movements and government repression.” 

“This is the most significant election in American since 1860,” she said. “Vote,” she implored. “Register and vote. Let your voices be heard.” 

“She was my first Communist,” Goldberg said of Aptheker, at the start of an equally rousing, and fervently applauded address.  

“The most important lesson my parents gave me when I started at Berkeley was ‘Don’t sign anything!’” Goldberg recalled. 

The shadow of the McCarthy era was haunting America in 1964, when “radical” was synonymous with “subversive” and “un-American” and a signature on a petition could earn a file-creating, life-destroying label. 

But Goldberg signed. A nd more. 

Her politics, awakened by her involvement in the FSM, would eventually earn her “a couple of arrests and convictions” and a rejection when she later applied for a teacher’s job with the Los Angeles school system, which wouldn’t hire anyone withi n five years of an arrest. 

She applied for a job in Compton, an economically-depressed African American city in Los Angeles County. She would go on to teach for two decades, win election to the Los Angeles County Board of Education—where, after eight yea rs, she was finally able to end the rule that had barred her from a job. 

She later became a deputy to L.A. County Supervisor Dorothy Molina. Twice elected to the Los Angeles City Council in ‘93 and ‘97, she won a seat in the State Assembly four years ago. Her legislative record and her rhetoric from atop the police car match the values she’d espoused in Berkeley from atop another police car. 

She denounced the forces of reaction for creating a cynical mythology in which students lapsed into political ina ction, convinced “that you’re apathetic, that you can’t measure up to us. Hogwash!” she declared, leaning in toward her audience. “You are light years ahead of us!” 

Denouncing the tuition-raising mindset that holds that “we can’t afford to tax anybody an other dollar” to support education, sending college tuition ever-upward, she offered “a simple formula: ‘Tax the rich! They have all the money!’” 

Howard Dean opened his own stump speech with an homage. “Arnold, you better watch out, because Jackie Goldbe rg’s comin’ ta getcha!” 

While Dean’s call to political arms offered no surprises, the speech by UC Chancellor Robert Birgeneau did. 

No one missed the obvious irony of a Berkeley chancellor speaking from atop a police car in Sproul Plaza, but what evoked a few headshakes of surprise was his revelation that he too had been part of the same civil rights movement whose recruiting tables sparked the confrontation that led to emergence of the FSM. 

After introductory remarks by ASUC President Misha Leybovich, Birgeneau recounted the events after his graduation from Yale in 1964—where he’d done volunteer work in inner-city New Haven. 

Birgeneau and his spouse headed to the deep South as a volunteer in the civil rights movement, where they shared a dwelling wit h two FSM leaders. 

“I had only been out of Canada for two years, and it was an extraordinarily valuable experience,” he said. 

Birgeneau’s address did draw resounding boos with the mention of the former Secretary of State who was the architect of Preside nt Richard Nixon’s Southeast Asian war strategy.  

“I had dinner last week with Henry Kissinger and a senior official from Vietnam,” he said. The Vietnamese official “said we would not have had peace and unity in Vietnam if not for” the antiwar movement in the United States. 

The most poignant moment came when a frail Julia Vinograd, Berkeley’s well-known Telegraph Avenue street poet, was assisted onto the podium to read her poem about another iconic movement moment, “The Sproul Hall Sit In.” .

One long-standing bone of contention that the City Council might be able to resolve Tuesday is new zoning rules for University Avenue. After five months of debate, the Planning Commission reached a compromise last July that aims to decrease the scale of new buildings on the avenue. 

The council will take up the issue Tuesday at a jam packed session. Also on the agenda are the increasingly divisive issue of retooling the city’s creek ordinance and a plan to reduce the cost of unused vacation time. 

Both Livable Berkeley, a pro-development organization that wanted to see taller buildings on University and neighboring streets, and Plan Berkeley, a neighborhood group which had raised concerns that buildings on University had grown too tall and bulky, have recommended that the council approve the compromise. 

However, Kristin Leimkuhler of Plan Berkeley said her group would ask the council to reconsider allowing residential-only buildings on the avenue as called for under the plan. Because buildings without any ground floor retail would have more apartment units, she feared they could grow to five-stories under a state law that gives bonus space for including affordable housing. 

Since the Planning Commission finalized the new zoning rules, Governor Schwarzenegger expanded bonus space in such buildings from 25 percent to 35 percent. 

Unused Vacation Pay 

After paying city workers nearly $1.5 million last year for unused vacation days, Berkeley City Manager Phil Kamlarz is proposing that city hall go on vacation Christmas week and hoping that city workers follow suit. 

The voluntary time-off program is directly tied to the city’s structural budget deficit, which has grown to $7.5 million for the coming year. 

Under the union agreement, city employees may accumulate and carry over up to 320 hours, or about eight weeks, of unused vacation time. The city must pay employees for vacation time earned over that limit. Last year the city failed to budget for one-third of the nearly $1.5 million it spent “buying back” unused vacation days. 

Under Kamlarz’ plan, non-essential services would be closed on Friday, Nov. 12 and the four work days between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Employees would have the option of reporting to work for pay, using their vacation time or taking leave without pay. 

Police, fire and garbage collection and the library would all run at full strength. 

Kamlarz said he wanted the city to test the program this year to determine if the program could work. The council next year could be asked to impose mandatory days off to save money, he said. 

Councilmember Gordon Wozniak said ultimately the city should make sure future labor deals don’t allow workers to cash in excess vacation days. 

“I worked for UC and it was use it or lose it,” Wozniak said.  

Creeks 

On Tuesday the council is scheduled to decide the venue for revising the city’s embattled creek ordinance.  

Two weeks ago, under heavy pressure from over 400 homeowners, the council amended the law, assuring property owners’ right to rebuild after a disaster. The question remained whether to send the ordinance to the planning commission for revisions or create a special task force. 

Councilmember Wozniak sent a e-mail warning to homeowners, “If you do not make yourself heard now, the same people, who put in the original ban of rebuilding ‘by-right’ in a disaster, could end up rewriting the ordinance.” 

Phillip Price, a creekside resident, said in a responding e-mail, “The original Creek Ordinance did not ‘contain a ban on rebuilding by right in a disaster,’ nor was such ban the intent of its writers, again as Wozniak claims.” 

Juliet Lamont, a member of Friends of Five Creeks, broadcast her own e-mail accusing Wozniak and others of spreading myths about the ordinance “to foment anger and more hysteria.” 

The 1989 law, designed primarily to restrict the construction of new culverts that push creeks underground and are prone to collapse, forbids new construction of roofed buildings within 30 feet of the centerline of a creek or culvert. 

Creek advocates want the law strengthened so other types of construction like parking lots are also banned and they want to extend the 30-foot rule in areas where creek beds are wider. Opponents have called for the law to be suspended or at least applied only to public property. 

A planning department recommendation will not be released until Tuesday. City Manager Phil Kamlarz said one option might be to create a “hybrid” commission with members from commissions on planning, public works and parks and recreation. He added that any revision to the law will cost several hundred thousand dollars, much of it for consultants to measure the widths of the city’s creeks. 

Since the city doesn’t have the money budgeted to pay for the process, Councilmember Dona Spring, a creek advocate, said she wouldn’t be surprised if the council chose to let the ordinance stand until the city’s finances improved.  

“We’re in a budget cutting mode,” she said. “Right now, there isn’t much we can do.” 

›

Why would the Berkeley City Council ask voters to disregard long-standing city tradition and move mayoral elections to coincide with the vote for president? 

It depends on who you ask. 

For supporters of Measure I on the November ballot, the switch is simply a good government reform. 

More Berkeley residents vote in presidential elections and more voters means better democracy, reasoned Councilmember Kriss Worthington, the measure’s author. 

But Worthington’s colleague on the council, Betty Olds, sees a different rationale. 

“This is all because the mayor only wants to run for two more years,” she said.  

To align mayoral elections with presidential races, the measure dictates that the winner of the 2006 election receive only a two-year term, setting up the next mayoral contest in 2008. 

That year Assemblymember Loni Hancock, the wife of Mayor Tom Bates, will lose her seat to the state’s term limit law. Olds speculated that the couple wanted to retire together and then back City Councilmember Linda Maio for mayor. 

“I know [Maio] wants to run,” Olds said. “That’s one of the reasons they want to pass public financing of elections because otherwise she would have had problems.” 

Former Mayor Shirley Dean, who agreed with Olds’ synopsis, predicted the measure would essentially guarantee a Bates victory in 2006 if he chooses to run. 

“I don’t think anyone would run for a two-year term,” she said. “Who has the resources to raise money for just two years?” 

Bates is still raising money to pay back his campaign debt from his victory over Dean in 2002. 

A further disincentive to anyone challenging Bates in 2006 is that if city voters pass a separate measure to finance elections with city money, the 2006 election could be the last one to require candidates to raise private funds. 

The campaign finance reform measure gives the City Council discretion on when it implements public financing. 

Sam Ferguson, head of the public financing campaign, said Bates told him that if voters approved realigning the mayoral election, he would be hesitant to start public financing in 2006. 

“He said funding two mayoral elections in two years would be too expensive,” Ferguson said. 

Bates did not return a phone call for this story. 

Last January, Councilwoman Maio, with Bates and Councilmember Dona Spring at her side, told the city’s Fair Campaign Practices Commission that she had been interested in running for mayor, but without campaign finance reform, she would need to take a second mortgage on her house or possibly dip into her retirement savings. 

Maio isn’t the only potential candidate for mayor who could benefit from an election in 2008. Like Maio, the other two councilmembers most widely speculated as possible mayoral candidates, Gordon Wozniak and Worthington, are up for reelection in 2006. By setting the next election for mayor in 2008, none of them would risk losing their council seat if they lost a bid for mayor. 

Asked if the ballot measure he sponsored might work to his own political advantage, Worthington, one of the more left-leaning members of the council, replied that “progressive candidates do better when there’s a higher turnout.” As for the timing of the measure, he said he had proposed similar reforms before he won a seat on the city council. 

Councilmembers Wozniak and Miriam Hawley said they assumed there was a political component to the measure, but weren’t as forthcoming as Olds.  

“It’s a good government reform,” said Wozniak. “Are there other reasons for it? I think there are, but I don’t want to discuss it.” 

There is some precedent for changing the dates of Berkeley elections for both improved participation and political gain. In June of 1982 voters passed a progressive-sponsored charter amendment to move elections from April of odd-numbered years to Election Day of even-numbered years. In November 1982 the change netted progressives three out of the four open seats on the council after they were swept in the previous election, said the measure’s author Marty Schiffenbauer. 

Recent election returns leave little doubt that more voters in Berkeley come to the polls when the presidency is at stake. In 2000, 54,684 of Berkeley’s 72,299 registered voters cast a ballot, while two years later with approximately 2,000 fewer registered voters only 40,142 cast a vote for mayor. 

Worthington argued that if the mayoral and presidential elections were aligned, more Berkeley voters would take the time to study the mayor’s race. 

But Barbara Gilbert, who is running for the City Council in District 5, said her experience has been that local issues get lost in the heat of the presidential race. 

“People are totally distracted by Bush and Kerry,” she said. “This isn’t the opportune time to be talking about Berkeley.”›

Thanks to the city of Berkeley’s loose interpretation of one of its laws, along with support from the community and Elmwood commercial district, the Nabolom cooperative bakery says it will likely stay open after initially announcing that it was on track to go out of business by January.  

The bakery co-op, which has had financial problems for years, announced at a community meeting last month that if they could not figure out how to generate more money they would have to shut down because they are two months late on their $3,886 rent and $33,000 in debt—$22,000 of which is on high interest personal credit cards. 

“When we initially called the meeting, it was doubtful to me that we could go until December,” said Jim Burr, the co-op member in charge of the bakery’s finances. “I cannot say Nabolom has no problems, but we will be open through 2005.” 

In the last week or so, several UC Berkeley housing cooperatives approached the bakery about starting a wholesale accounts. According to Burr, one wholesale account will allow them to start paying off the debt.  

During the community meeting the co-op received thousands of dollars in promissory notes from customers. The notes are cash advances that the bakery has promised to pay back over time in baked goods. The initial contribution of $5,500 helped them pay off one month’s rent, and according to Burr, the contributions have continued to pour in.  

One of the hurdles the bakery faced was the need to expand services, which would force them to change their use permit from a take-out to a quick-service restaurant. In the Elmwood district, there is a quota system that sets guidelines for how many of each kind of business can operate. According to a report by the city’s planning department, the quota for quick service is full. 

The quota system was devised to insure diversity and to prevent restaurants, which are usually the most lucrative businesses, from taking over. Jeremy’s clothing store farther down on College Avenue faced the same problem when it tried to expand. A divided Zoning Adjustment Board narrowly approved the request.  

Burr, however, believes that the city will probably look favorably on their expansion and not prevent them from securing a change in their use permit. 

“Nabolom is a wonderful resource for the community,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who is a neighbor. “It’s an excellent example of a small locally owned business. The city should do everything we are allowed to do to keep their excellent bakery available.” 

According to Andy Katz, the chair of the Zoning Adjustment Board, which would hear Nabolom’s request for a change, the city has some leeway in interpreting the law. 

“At all times the [Zoning Adjustments Board] should keep the best interests of the neighborhood and the business district in mind,” even if that means exceeding a quota, said Katz 

Both Worthington and Dave Fogerty, from the Economic Development Department, said Nabolom’s case should be less controversial than Jeremy’s because the clothing store wanted to take over a space that occupied a quota spot reserved for arts and crafts, while Nabolom will stay within the food category. Both said Nabolom, which has been open for 28 years, is well-respected in the neighborhood, a point taken into consideration by the city. 

Jon Moriarty, the president of the Elmwood Merchants’ Association, said he does not have a problem with Nabolom’s exceeding the quota. He thinks the system needs to be reinterpreted anyway.  

“I think it should be restaurants and everybody else,” he said, instead of classifying each type of restaurant and each type of business. 

“Nobody up here would say a word,” he added. “Everybody wants them to stay, they have been around longer than most of us.”  

Burr said the financial situation has forced the seven current co-op members to develop a smarter business model. In the past, he said, members hired friends and then were too shy to confront each other when problems developed. 

“I think that Nabolom, due to the loose structure, has been more tolerant of people with eccentricities than other work places,” said Burr, who confessed that they’ve taken on people with substance abuse problems or people that did not have much baking experience. 

“People would tolerate and tolerate and tolerate until things had reached a point where they couldn’t deal with each other any more,” said Burr. 

“They just didn’t really get their act together,” said one patron who asked not to be named. “It was this hippy-dippy sort of unorganized thing. The good news is they are open to new things.” 

The same customer added that he’s been going there since 1982 and respects their effort to make the business as egalitarian as possible. 

“It would be really awful if that place was not there,” he said.

Berkeley Unified School District has received a Golden Carrot—a top national award for food service—from the Washington, D.C.-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). 

The awards go to food service facilities that offer innovative programs that help improve child health and reduce obesity. Berkeley’s Grand Prize comes with $1,000 in cash for BUSD Nutrition Services Director Karen Candito, as well as a $2,500 donation to the BUSD food program. 

Berkeley was one of four districts to win out of 60 nominated. The three others were in East Hampton, New York, Fairfax, Virginia, and Los Angeles.  

This is the first year of the award, which will be given annually. 

“Berkeley Unified really impressed us,” said PCRM director of nutrition, Amy Joy Lanou. “Karen Candito and her staff have done an extraordinary job of providing Berkeley’s students with healthy, diverse menus and teaching kids about the importance of good nutrition.” 

Among other things, Lanou cited BUSD’s vegetarian lunch, organic gardens, farm-to-school programs, and a policy banning fried foods, sugary desserts, and sodas as factors in the district’s receipt of the award. 

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is a nonprofit health organization that promotes preventive medicine, especially through good nutrition.

Facing the loss of a truck company if they don’t accept a reduction in salary, Berkeley firefighters have agreed to come to the negotiating table. 

City brass and union leadership are scheduled to hold their first formal talks Tuesday—six months after the City Council first sought concessions from the firefighters. 

Eliminating the truck company is expected to save $300,000 in overtime expenses and would cover the savings the City Council had hoped to achieve by compelling the firefighters to return nearly three percent of their scheduled salary increase this year. All other city unions have either negotiated or been forced into a similar one-time salary reduction to help the city close a $10 million deficit. 

If no deal is in sight by Oct. 19, City Manager Phil Kamlarz said the city will have to close one of its two ladder truck company during evening hours starting Nov. 8. The city council is scheduled to meet in closed session Tuesday to discuss the matter. 

Union representative Gil Dong indicated that the firefighters were now willing to surrender $300,000 in projected increases in return for a one-year contract extension with a six percent raise in 2006. The proposal would match the salary increase scheduled for police officers that year and would schedule both unions’ contracts to expire in 2007. 

Long-term contracts approved for city workers several years ago are seen as one of the sources of the city’s structural budget deficit, estimated at $7.5 million for the coming year. 

Dong said that firefighters were reluctant to accept a salary reduction after city leaders warned them not to expect any raises in the near future. 

“The feeling has been why give up a raise this year if we’re not going to get one in 2006,” he said. 

Firefighters have stronger leverage with the city than other unions because their contract lacks a clause allowing the city to force them to take a pay cut.  

The union’s willingness to bargain with the city breaks its vow not to enter formal negotiations until every other city union had agreed to a reduction in their scheduled raises. The lone holdout, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Engineers Local 1245 is still contesting the city’s move unilaterally to cut their scheduled raise.

Voters in Alameda and Contra Costa counties will be asked to consider a wide array of ballot measures in the Nov. 2 election. Two of these (AA and BB) are regional measures to be voted on by residents across both counties. One measure (CC) is a regional measure to be voted on only by residents in the East Bay Regional Park District Zone 1 (generally the western areas of Alameda and Contra Costa counties). One measure (J) will be voted on by residents of Contra Costa County. Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Oakland, and Richmond residents will all be voting on individual measures for their cities. The Berkeley ballot measures were detailed in the last issue of the Daily Planet. 

REGIONAL MEASURES  

(Alameda and Contra Costa counties) 

Measure AA — BART Bond Measure 

Would levy a real property tax to finance a $980 million bond to pay for disaster upgrading on the BART system, including strengthening and seismic upgrading in case of earthquakes. The term of the bond would not exceed 35 years. The rate of this tax is estimated to range between $4.85 to $12.79 per $100,000 in assessed valuation for the 35 year life of the bond. 

Measure BB — AC Transit Parcel Tax 

Would increase the AC Transit parcel tax in Transit District 1 in order to subsidize the operation and maintenance of bus service in this area. Transit District 1 includes Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Hayward, Oakland, Piedmont, Richmond, San Leandro, San Pablo, and the nearby unincorporated areas. The special parcel tax would be $48 on each parcel of taxable land. The parcel tax would expire in 10 years. 

Measure CC — East Bay Regional Park District Zone 1 Parcel Tax 

Would create a residential parcel tax to fund public access, wildlife protection, public safety, and environmental maintenance of East Bay Regional Park District lands in western Alameda and western Contra Costa Counties. Only parks within the Parks District Zone 1 will be funded from this tax, and only residents of Parks District Zone 1 will be eligible to vote on this parcel tax. The parks in Zone 1 include Alameda Point, Anthony Chabot, Crown Beach, Eastshore State Park, Huckleberry, Kennedy Grove, Lake Chabot, Martin Luther King Jr. Shoreline, Miller/Knox, Pt. Isabel, Pt. Pinole, Redwood, Roberts, Temescal, Tilden, Tilden Nature Area, Wildcat Canyon, Leona, Brooks Island, Claremont Canyon, Sibley, and Alvarado. The parcel tax would be $12 per year for a single-family residential parcel, $8.28 per year for each unit within a multi-family unit. The parcel tax would expire in 15 years. 

ALAMEDA COUNTY  

MEASURES 

Measure A — Albany Unified School District Bond Measure 

Would authorize the issuance of $13 million in bonds to support various school improvements in the Albany Unified School District. The bond money would be used to complete school modernization improvements at Marin and Ocean View schools, repair and upgrade Cougar Field and other playing fields, and provide matching funds for various state school funding. Would raise Albany’s ad valorem property tax between $25 and $51 per $100,000 on assessed valuation. The bonds would last no more than 25 years. 

Measure G — City of Albany Paramedic/ Ambulance Special Tax 

Would change the way non-residential properties are assessed under the Paramedic Advanced Life Support Tax passed by Albany voters in 2000. Under Measure N in 2000, Albany voters taxed every commercial or industrial property in the city at the equivalent of two residential units, regardless of the actual size of that commercial or industrial property. Measure G would change that assessment so that every 1,200 feet of commercial and industrial property would be assessed under the Paramedic Advanced Life Support Tax at the same rate as one residential unit.  

Measure T — City of Emeryville Pixar Headquarters Expansion 

Would ratify amendments to the Emeryville General Plan and the Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan. The amendments are necessary to complete the city’s proposed agreement with Pixar concerning the expansion of Pixar headquarters in the city. Among other things, the amendments would change the land use designation of certain properties connected with the Pixar expansion, would eliminate the extension of Emery Street between 45th Street and park Avenue, and would relocate the route of bicycle and pedestrian path presently designated for that area. 

Measure U — City of Emeryville Pixar Development Agreement 

Would ratify the agreement between the City of Emeryville and Pixar concerning the expansion of Pixar headquarters in the city. The Amended Development agreement would authorize the construction of three new Pixar buildings in addition to the existing headquarters building. It would also authorize the construction of a six-story garage. It would turn over to Pixar the section of Emery Street between 45th Street and Park Avenue. In exchange, Pixar would be required to pay the city a $1.5 million capital improvement and services fee. 

Measure Y — City of Oakland Parking Lot and Parcel Tax 

Would create a parcel tax and a commercial parking surcharge in order to fund fire services, paramedic services, violence prevention measures, and the hiring of new police officers. Would impose an 8.5 percent surcharge on every rented parking space in commercial parking lots. Would add an $88 per year parcel tax for single-family residential parcels, as well as a $60.12 per year per unit parcel tax for multi-unit residential parcels. Would also impose a parcel tax on all developed non-residential parcels. The parcel tax and the parking surcharge would expire in 10 years. Proceeds from the two taxes would go to hiring 63 new police officers. $4 million would go to fire and paramedic services, and at least 40 percent would go to violence preventive social services, including youth outreach counselors, after-school and in-school programs for at-risk students, domestic violence and child abuse counselors, and employment training for formerly-incarcerated individuals. 

Measure Z — City of Oakland Marijuana Law Enforcement 

Would set marijuana law enforcement as Oakland’s lowest law enforcement priority. Would require the City of Oakland to lobby for the legalization of marijuana use. Would license, tax, and regulate marijuana sale in Oakland when and if California allows such activity. Would create a city commission to regulate such activity when and if California allows such activity. 

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY  

MEASURES 

Measure J — Contra Costa County Sales Tax 

Would continue the present 0.5 percent transit tax on transactions and retail sales in Contra Costa County for 25 more years—from 2009 through 2034. The present transit tax (passed by Contra Costa County voters in 1988 as Measure C) is scheduled to end in April of 2009. The money from the tax would go exclusively for projects listed in the Contra Costa Transportation Authority’s Transportation Expenditure Plan, including extending and improving the BART system, adding a fourth bore to the Caldecott Tunnel, improving Highways 24, 80, 680, and 4, maintaining and improving local streets and roads, subsidizing ferry service, and improving transit for seniors and disabled persons. 

Measure K — City of El Cerrito Utility Users Tax 

Would ratify the existing City of El Cerrito eight percent utility users tax. The tax is collected on gas, electric, cable, and telephone bills. The tax is used to supplement the city’s general fund, and costs residents an average of $12 per month. The tax was adopted by El Cerrito City Council in 1991 without voter approval, but recently the California Supreme Court rulings has ruled that such general tax increases should be submitted to the voters. This vote asks El Cerrito residents to agree to continuing the utility tax in the future, as well as ratify the collection of the tax since 1991. 

Measure Q — City of Richmond Transaction Use Tax 

Would authorize a .5 percent retail sales and use tax in the City of Richmond for the city’s general fund. Would raise Richmond’s sales tax from the current 8.25 percent to 8.75 percent. The money raised would have no restrictions. 

Measure R - City of Richmond Charter Amendment 

Would reduce the number of Richmond City Councilmembers from nine to seven, effective for the November 2008 elections. In the November 2008 elections that would reduce the number of councilmembers elected that year from five to three. 

?

MEASURE B 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Jennifer Havens writes that she supports BSEP, but opposes Measure B because it would supposedly eliminate BSEP’s elected site committees and Planning and Oversight Committee (Daily Planet, Sept. 28-30) . 

Measure B does neither! She is misinformed! 

Measure B would supplement BSEP for two years until the voters consider BSEP’s reauthorization in 2006. Under Measure B, all aspects of BSEP would continue untouched. This includes the elected site committees (we are both members) and the Planning and Oversight Committee (which we co-chair). In fact, Measure B (Section 5.C.) explicitly requires a planning and oversight committee. 

Measure B is limited and highly specific. Most funds (68 percent) are restricted to reducing class sizes to specified levels. The dollar amounts were based on precise calculations of the additional costs required to reach these targets.  

Existing BSEP funds are also predominantly for reducing class sizes. Unfortunately, given the grossly insufficient funding coming from Sacramento, these funds are no longer sufficient to reach BSEP targets. 

The remainder of Measure B supplements other BSEP supported programs: school libraries (16 percent) and the school music program (seven percent). The remaining nine percent is for additional teacher training, program evaluation, and parent outreach. 

Under the current system for financing public education, almost all dollars available to a school district come from the state. When the state doesn’t provide adequate funding, only two options are available: (1) accept inadequate education for our kids; or (2) raise funds locally. Option 1 is not acceptable! It is for that reason that Measure B is necessary and why our community must act to support Berkeley’s schools. 

Don’t be misled by incorrect information. Please vote yes on Measure B. 

Dan Lindheim  

Susan Henderson 

Co-Chairs BSEP Planning and Oversight Committee 

• 

FIREFIGHTERS FOR M 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Berkeley Firefighters Association Local 1227 is requesting support for Measure M (Emergency Medical Services Tax) on Nov. 2, 2004. Measure M will provide funding to put a paramedic on every engine at every fire station and keep our fire department fully funded and staff. 

Berkeley is the only city in Alameda County that does not staff a paramedic on their fire engines. A yes vote on Measure M will provide the tools, equipment, and training to allow Berkeley Fire Paramedics to be available even if all of our ambulances are committed to other calls. 

Measure M will cost the average homeowner a modest $79 per year or less than 23 cents per day to keep the fire department fully funded and staffed with paramedics at every fire station. 

Berkeley Fire Department responds to approximately 8,000 medical calls per year. We need to keep all fire companies in service. Support your firefighters by giving them the tools, equipment, and training to keep Berkeley safe. Yes on Measure M! 

Gil Dong 

BFFA Local 1227 

MEASURES J AND K 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thanks to support from the City of Berkeley, over 2,000 low income Berkeley residents were able to visit Habitot Children’s Museum for free last year.  

The passage of both Measures J and K is absolutely essential to sustaining this non-profit museum’s Family Outreach Program which ensures that all Berkeley families, regardless of income, have access to Habitot’s rich learning environment for young children, year-round parenting education programs, and early childhood classes in literacy, science and art. Habitot helps prepare young children for kindergarten and fosters curiosity, learning and creativity.  

Without passage of Measures J and K, Habitot will lose funding for free field trips for Berkeley’s Head Start and low-income preschools, scholarships for children’s classes, subsidies for family memberships for needy Berkeley families, free admission days, invitations to home health nurses to bring clients, and admission passes for families through Berkeley agencies like A Better Way Foster Care, Through the Looking Glass, Smyth Fernwald (UC-Berkeley), BOSS Harrison House, McKinley House, and the Women’s Daytime Drop-in Center.  

Please vote for Measures J and K!  

Gina Moreland  

Founder and Director  

Habitot Children’s Museum  

• 

ANOTHER LOOK AT B 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Your voters guide to Berkeley ballot measures was pretty worthless when it came to Measure B. Saying it taxes homeowners at 9.7 cents per square foot is useless information. 

Better you should have pointed out that the average Berkeley home is 1,900 square ft and thus Measure B is a $184 tax on homeowners. You should have also pointed out that homeowners already pay an average of $200 in school taxes.  

Thus measure B doubles homeowner school taxes. That is information voters can use. 

Frank Greenspan 

• 

CULVERTS CONTROVERSY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The two commentaries that accompanied mine (Daily Planet, Oct. 5) asserted that there was never an intent to prevent the rebuilding of creekside homes after a disaster. Why, then, did the ordinance specifically set up bureaucratic obstacles to suchrebuilding, when it was the right of all other homeowners? 

While the City Council has resolved this problem, there are many aspects of the ordinance that need updating, This should be done by the Planning Commission in cooperation with Public Works, not by a special task force. This is not the time, fiscally or politically, to engage in endless meetings and discussions about rip-rapping, crib-walling, and the other esoterica of creekism, and the “utopian vision” that many of its adherents propose. The city needs to deal quickly and efficiently, in-house, with the huge 

impending problem of crumbling culverts.  

Jerry Landis 

• 

TENANT RECOMMENDATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It’s truly amazing that my vote, and the votes of Councilmembers Shirek, Olds, and Wozniak last Tuesday on the question of increasing relocation benefits to tenants has been cast as a vote “against tenants’ rights.” The question being considered was simple—whether to increase the amount of relocation payments to tenants when the landlord is going out of business. The entire council was in favor of upping the amount to reflect increases in the cost of living to low-income seniors and disabled persons. The entire council, that is. 

What my colleagues and I asked was that the rent board reconsider the second part of its recommendation—to extend these benefits to everyone over the age of 62, regardless of their income. We’d like to see some thought given to tailoring the recommendation to ensure the benefits are available to those who may truly need it, either because of their difficulties in relocating (e.g., a single mom with children, or someone with health problems) or because they lack the resources to pay their own relocation expenses. But one hysterical council member, whose out-of-control, politically-motivated remarks were echoed in last week’s Planet, chose not only to call our vote anti-tenant rights, but to suggest canceling the next council meeting until he’s assured of a majority who will vote with him. That’s not rational discussion. It’s not rational reporting. It’s political grandstanding that has nothing to do with the needs of tenants. 

Mim Hawley 

Councilmember, District 5 

• 

SOUTH BERKELEY POLICE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Berkeley police officers who work in beats 12 and 13 have a difficult assignment. We all live in Berkeley and we have every right to expect our police to be civil at all times. But gee, there’s a catch to that idea...how do we respond to violent crime? If you live in Berkeley, South Berkeley is far and away the most likely place for you to get shot. The crime statistics from this area don’t compare very favorably with other parts of the city. It’s easy to pick apart statistics to tell a story, but spending time in beat 12 means that you are 50 times more likely to experience an aggravated assault. The statistics are similar for many violent crimes. 

And in case you might be thinking that someone is looking to find crime in these neighborhoods by assigning more police, the answer is a flat no. Staffing in our city is assigned very strictly according to an area’s population. In Berkeley, to appease unrealistic notions of fairness, we ignore very strong factual evidence that crime happens more in some areas. 

Asking the police to not do their job is ridiculous. But we do have the problem of those pesky statistics. How about we ask the folks in the North Berkeley to do their share and start fighting the man! Forget about all that talk and put your feet on the street! Enough armchair activism and ideology, make a difference and scrap it out with those darn coppers! That should straighten out the statistical problems with pepper spray usage in Berkeley. 

I live in South Berkeley. It’s full of great people. We have the diversity that a lot of progressive people talk about but never experience. We’re very passionate about the good that we find in our neighborhoods. 

“The Pepper Spray Triangle.” Thanks so much for the label, Ms. Denney. I am certain the many fine residents of South Berkeley appreciate your comments about our fair little patch of the flats. Dang- I have that Dr. Pepper song stuck in my head now. 

Kevin Combs 

• 

MEASURE O 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

If the voters pass Measure O, who benefits? I am a little confused because the formula as it is written implies that my rent could go up to a maximum of 7 percent each year. That is a hefty increase compared to the 1.5 percent increases I have received over the past ten years. What would be the result if the formula had been applied over that time? I would like the Rent Stabilization Board to give us data that would allow us to make an informed decision when we vote. Here this measure seems flawed because it accounts for rents in the future. Was there any renters invited to this discussion?  

The argument for the passing of Measure O has no renters’ endorsement. It is understandable that property owners may find the measure streamlining $15,000 to $20,000 out of the city’s budget. However, the city shouldn’t complain because that money should have been made from the property owners collecting rents. Understandably Measure O will certainly benefit owners who are dependent on a rental market income. But streamlining twenty grand out or the budget is a pittance compared to the entire Berkeley taxed populace.  

So, my confusion is how does this benefit renters?  

What am I missing? 

T Dea Robertson-Gutierrez 

• 

MEASURE B UNDEMOCRATIC 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Measure B, the new tax measure by Berkeley School District is another $8.4 million tax, on top of the $13 million extra we are taxed each year to run the schools, and on top of the $275 million we have been paying since 1992 for new construction. The school district already gets a lot of money from us, but despite all this money, it is regularly in chronic financial crisis. More money to the schools needs strong safeguards.  

Measure B is being touted as the child of BSEP, but Measure B has none of the much needed safeguards which citizens wrote into BSEP. Measure B eliminates: elected school committees, elected district committees, parents and teachers helping to decide how to spend the money, elected oversight, and guaranteed fair share to each school.  

And, worst of all, any money is first used for overhead, not for the benefit of students and not to support teachers. 

Measure B’s citizen oversight is appointed. This means, the Superintendent and school board can continue doing what they have been doing, which is to remove all critics from the citizens oversight committees. The board dissolved the Food Committee, and got rid of all critics on the Maintenance Committee. And the school district is being sued for not doing necessary audits as required for Measure BB which we passed in 2000. 

Measure B is undemocratic. It has no checks and balances. There’s no guarantee that the money will actually benefit the kids.  

Vote No on Measure B.  

Ron Rice 

• 

CAPITELLI AN D RENT COSTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I have two strong impressions regarding Laurie Capitelli: (1) He is a nice guy. (2) His views are detrimental to the well-being of Berkeley tenants. 

He’d make a fine neighbor, but I have reservations about his becoming a city councilmember. 

For years, Mr. Capitelli has advocated what he considers a grand housing compromise. Rent control would stop being a program that benefited all tenants. Instead, it would be means- tested so as to cover only the poor. In exchange, landlords would pay a tax on their rents to finance housing subsidies for the poor. The result would be a disaster for tenants. 

Rent control would for the most part come to an end. New renters with incomes above Mr. Capitelli’s poverty line would be exposed to steep rent increases during their tenancies. Renters with incomes below that line would experience magnified difficulty in finding apartments—landlords would generally choose to avoid regulation by renting to those less badly off. 

Mr. Capitelli’s subsidies would help some of the needy. But to a substantial degree the money would come out of the pockets of moderate income tenants. Landlords would keep most of the additional rents they’d collect from these tenants due to the absence of rent control; a portion would be transferred to the subsidy program via the new tax. 

Mr. Capitelli’s proposed trade-off just makes no sense. All rent control does is prevent gouging. There is no rational basis for confining it to renters living on the edge of destitution. Moderate income renters, too, should be shielded from unstable housing costs. 

Rent control need not be sacrificed in order to assist the most vulnerable. We should both establish more generous policies to address the housing needs of the indigent and preserve rent control that protects every tenant. 

Randy Silverman 

• 

XXXXXXXXXX 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Why, I kept asking myself, did the crowds on TV respond to President Bush in such an enthusiastic manner compared to the ones listening to Senator Kerry? Now I know the answer. The audiences listening to President Bush are screened and Kerry supporters are threatened with arrest if they don’t leave. Something is very wrong here. 

Anne Smith 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Have U.S. voters forgotten how, with African-American Condoleezza Rice standing beside him before a public audience in Brazil, Bush stupidly asked the president of Brazil, “Do you have black people here like we have?”! Isn’t “President” Bush dangerously ignorant? 

How could he believe the Iraqis would welcome our second visit, and our troops not need body armor? On his daddy’s watch a little more than a decade earlier, the U.S., with bulldozers (making surrender impossible), buried alive uncounted numbers of Iraqis fleeing across the desert from Kuwait City to Baghdad. Those dead had family members, who know what the U.S. did, and who won’t forget. Following that earlier barbarity with more than a decade of intermittent bombing and sanctions that “wasted” millions of innocent Iraqi children and other civilians, vengeful “President” Dubya Bush unilaterally decided to “preemptively” and cowardly despoil already weakened Iraq—because, supposedly, they “tried to kill my daddy”—but didn’t. Daddy went to Kuwait as an ordinary citizen, for a medal from Kuwaitis, one of whose diplomats had, by a lying sob-sister act performed by his own daughter, tricked our Congress to do their fighting! 

Thinking people should never vote for such an unfeeling mental cipher as George W. Bush. 

Judith Segard Hunt 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

His long pauses before speaking, and long pauses between each clump of four-word phrases; his eyes darting right and left, as if listening to unheard voices; his sudden break in mid-sentence from incoherent rambling to terse, definitive answers. A growing number of observers speculate that Bush used a tiny, radio earpiece during the debate, from which an operative was feeding him the “correct” answers to the questions. The squarish lump protruding from the back of his jacket, the way he mispronounced words as  

if hearing them wrong, and his rapid eyeblink rate are further indications. 

Is the man who acts as our commander-in-chief actually an audio-telepromptered puppet? Not only would the use of this technology violate the detailed rules of the debate, but it would show him to be even worse than incompetent. The newsmedia should investigate this immediately. Readers can start at isbushwired.com/2004/10/voice-in-bushs-ear. 

Bruce Joffe 

Piedmont 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It is clear to even the dullest of intellects that George W. Bush is a liar, fraud, and a WAR CRIMINAL! 

No WMD’s in Iraq? Then why are US Troops torturing and killing off the people of Iraq by the thousands? Americans are not the good guys in Iraq! 

I strongly urge the representatives of the American people to make a stand against the War Criminals in the White House and to take immediate action to bring all appropriate charges for war crimes against the Bush administration, a.s.a.p. 

It was George W. Bush that terrorized the world with his line by saying “you are with us or against us” before he invaded Iraq, to torture and kill thousands of innocents! 

Tens of millions of us from around the world hit the streets to protest against the war crimes of the Bush administration, and refused to be a part of the mass murder taking place in Iraq. 

Dear Senators, you must make it clear, publicly, that you are not a part of this madness any further! 

Let history show that this body of representatives (the Senate) refused to cooperate with the war criminals in the White House and bring them to justice for their crimes against humanity. Show us that Americans’ representatives do not support the war criminals in the White House.  

Bring the troops home now, and return all stolen resources (oil) back to the people of Iraq with the sincerest of apologies to the world at large.  

Then offer reparations to all that faced property damage from the American bombs dropping in the midst of their communities. There can be no replacement for all of those that lost family members.  

Nothing can ever clean the stain of the Bush administration from the heart and soul of the American people, and there’s no point in allowing this madman to pursue his current path of mass murder now or ever again in Iraq.  

The Bush administration has shamed the American people for decades to come for the lies and deceit taking place that are being used to wage a war against the innocent people of Iraq. 

We will not ever forget! 

Lynda Carson 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Bush No More! – By Tim Simpson 

Look at the way that Bush ruled us,  

four years of turmoil, problems, and fuss. 

He thinks he is helping, when all he does is hurt.  

To me it feels like he’s stomping the American dream in the dirt. 

He believes that he can rule,  

And so he tries to gain our trust, 

But just you watch, and wait and see, 

Once more he’ll leave us in the dust. 

All he wants is money, power, and fame. 

Bush seems to think that ruling a country is just a childhood game. 

It’s time for someone new, and nice, to come along and rule, 

John F Kerry is our man, may he win this presidential dual. 

To you John F Kerry, we all wish you the best of luck, 

Because if Bushy wins again, 

That would surely suck. 

We need to have a president that isn’t so insane. 

One that cares for America’s people, 

Not personal financial gain. 

And after this last stanza, I shall say no more, 

But hope with all my heart and soul that Bush is shown the door. 

?

Editors, Daily Planet:  

As usual, Mr. Bush showed that he does not see reality. He cannot accept that he ever makes errors because he seems to have a “faith-based” sense of politics. He has clever coaches who have developed ways of stating things which grab the innocent but appall the knowledgeable. A Clear Skies initiative which deregulates polluting industries and is really a Dirty Skies Program. A leave-no-tree-uncut forest policy. No funding for school programs which sound good, but can do nothing. Too many of Bushes policies are based on the principles of select groups; tax refunds for the rich who fund his party, attitudes about sexual orientation, women’s right to choose, sex education that satisfies right-leaning religious groups. He says he does not want an activist Supreme Court then expresses preferences for justices who are right wing activists. 

Kerry has questionable directions on some issues, but his decisions are based on facts, truth, reality. He is not in bed with Halliburton! Or the 700 Club. We need that honesty for a refreshing change and for direction which benefits the nation and the world. 

David Dresser 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

It is incomprehensible that Bush can still try to defend the Iraq war in light of all of the evidence we now have. There were no weapons of mass destruction, no plans to develop WMD, and no proof that Iraq tried to purchase uranium as Bush claimed. 

The Bush campaign is all about fear. They would have you believe that it is unpatriotic to question the president’s methods. But Americans cannot fall into the same trap the president is in—where it becomes easier to follow the path you are on, rather than learning from new facts and evidence — even if that path leads to failure. 

Amy McGonagle 

Oakland 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Kerry just crushed Bush in the debate tonight. Kerry coherently and convincingly responded to every single one of the questions posed. Bush avoided clearly answering pointed questions and filled the evening with predictable and rehearsed comments. Kerry offers integrity and values at the same time as offering vision and intelligent leadership. What more could we ask for? 

George Bush is out of touch with reality concerning every issue of importance to the American people: the situation in Iraq, the economy, the environment, healthcare, constitutional rights. George Bush can’t fix the problems that he’s created, because he is either unable or unwilling to acknowledge that there are problems! We need honest, responsible, and competent new leadership. We can’t afford another four years of George Bush! 

Mariana Campbell 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

There can be no mistake about it - John Kerry has won two out of two debates about as decisively as any debate can be won. Senator Kerry had the president on the run, and he kept him there. And the president could not hide . . . . 

I’ll say one thing about this “George”: He would never have admitted it if he had chopped down the cherry tree. His dishonesty ought to earn him a pink slip in about twenty-five days. 

Drew Steckler 

Oakland 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Senator Kerry again showed his eloquence in tonight’s debate. He demonstrated great respect for personal beliefs yet made it clear that as a president he would have to do what was best for the nation as a whole, not just for special interest groups. 

Bush made several errors, even though he couldn’t directly answer the question posed to him about what three errors he has made during his term in the White House. The most obvious other than the tired Iraq war debate and the budget mess were Canadian drugs and embryonic stem cell research. First the Canadians will be seething when they hear that Bush is worried that the drugs we might get from them (sold to them by our companies) may not be safe. Now what is that supposed to mean? Secondly, when speaking about embryonic stem cell research Bush stated “Embryonic stem cell research destroys a life. I am the first president to fund embryonic stem cell research.” So, is he telling us that he is giving the go-ahead to destroy! y lives? 

Seems like Bush is not sure what he is saying! I’m voting for Kerry! 

Lauren MacDonell 

Grass Valley 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Boy, Kerry came across as presidential for the second time, in the second debate. Bush is just an angry and petulant child who is not used to challenges to his record. 

Fire the Bullshitter and the Cheater! 

David Eberwein 

San Leandro 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

After watching George W. Bush in these past two debates, it is extremely clear that President Bush is completely out of touch with, not only the U.S., but the rest of the world. 

However, the most troubling issue that I have with this current president is that he, and his staff, has consistently lied to the American people and the people of the world. I, as well as many others, not only expect, but demand, better from a president of the United States of America 

Thaddeus Campbell 

San Jose 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Tonight we again got to see the Democratic contender look far more presidential than George Bush, and actually level with the American people, in contrast to George Bush. While Kerry missed several opportunities to score on Bush (on Bush’s abysmal environmental record, for example), Kerry had clarity, vision and truth on his side. Are we better off as a country than we were four years ago? No way. Time for a change. 

Luke Cole 

San Francisco 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

The so called experts on TV after the debate want to re-debate the debate. They want to tell Americans are incapable of intelligent and analytical answers like that of John Kerry. They want to tell us simplistic replies of George Bush are better. I wonder why the media belittles the intelligence of Americans? 

If waging war on Iraq is justified not because of WMD or terrorism but because Saddam was a tyrant why didn’t Bush march into Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Sudan? Or is Bush going into all these places for the same reason he went into Iraq? 

Wolde-loul Kassa 

San Jose 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

After the second debate tonight between George Bush and John Kerry, it has now become crystal clear to me that this flip-flop/wishy-washy quality that John Kerry has been tagged with by the Republican Party just doesn’t wash. President Bush decided to initiate a war. Somehow, we’re suppose to think that this means that Bush is tough, NOT wishy-washy, and that therefore Kerry MUST BE weak and wishy-washy because he wouldn’t have done EXACTLY what Bush did. Does this decision make Bush a strong leader or an overly aggressive bully who made a rash decision? Having made the choice to go to war, it affords Bush the luxury of being able to show up in front of America and state rather patriotically, “see? I’m a strong leader” and talk about things like “defending America no matter what our allies have to say about it.” It pulls at people’s heart strings. It even makes me tear up to hear talk like that. But as I sat there watching the debate tonight, I thought to myself, “Could Bush have made the choice to have NOT gone to war in Iraq? Would he have had the courage and intelligence to make what appears to me now to be an even more difficult decision... to actually avoid going to war and instead to take another more diplomatic route?” Clearly that would have been a difficult decision for Bush to settle on. It would have meant sudden death for his re-election as President in 2004. Had Bush not invaded Iraq, what on earth would his campaign focus on as his strengths? The economy? Healthcare? The environment? I realized tonight that the only reason that anyone thinks John Kerry might be wishy-washy, a flip-flopper, weak on terror, etc. etc. etc. is because, yes, he’s campaigning against an aggressive bully. In this context, ANYONE would look weak in comparison. Sure, Kerry misspoke about “having voted for the 87 billion dollars before voting against it.” He admitted that tonight. But he stated clearly tonight that he wanted to give the president the authority he needed to do what was necessary, but that when the president brought forth the 87 billion supplemental, he didn’t like the way the money was to be allocated and that the president did not use the authority he had been given correctly in rushing to war. The fact of the matter is that John Kerry, as a young man, chose to fight in a war for our country. By God. It makes no difference whether or not he actually deserved his purple hearts. Bush chose to stay home. I would have probably done the same. Clearly, Kerry is the “tough” one between the three of us. He just has the unfortunate task of trying to figure out how to campaign against a man that acts tougher than he does. 

Michael Brayton 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

The only reason that anyone could imagine that Bush won the second debate is if they compared his performance to the first debate. Yes, he was somewhat less nervous and childish the second time around. But Kerry had new data and new arguments, repeating old ones only when he had to respond to Bush’s recycling of his old lies. A person I was watching the debates with turned to me and said “You know, I think Kerry might be a great president, not just a good one”. That’s an idea that’s starting to occur to a lot of us 

Teed Rockwell 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

President Bush has left a heap of mess in Iraq and he has consistently demonstrated his incapacitation at handling the fallouts of his “colossal error of judgment” on the necessity of Iraqi war. A fellow country man (Kerry) believes and has convinced us through the lopsided debates that he can save Bush’s face and indeed that of the rest of America in this rushed war of war (not war of peace). Kerry must be given the broom to sweep the mess clean. 

Kachi Adindu 

Holy Ghost Juniorate 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Three debates: two presidential and one vice presidential. At this point I am almost intrigued with the incumbents’ super-human ability to completely ignore or shamelessly deflect issues of gravest concern raised during the course of these televised interactions. In what area of domestic or international activity can people who are voting for Bush show, with facts and figures, that progress has been achieved? Is fear (the subliminal mantra of the Bush campaign) so strong that it eradicates all reason? It’s a mystery to me! 

Jeannine White 

Sausalito 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

George Bush said that if Kerry were elected he would be afraid that we would have terrorist in Iraq. Has he been breathing happy air? Who’s killing our troops and beheading innocent civilians?... Oh let me guess; those our just “some folks.” This president is more than delusional, he needs to stop memorizing what someone else tells him to say and start paying attention. More newspaper and news watching and less John Wayne movie of the week would be great. More Christine Amanpour and less O’Reilly. 

Tracy Haus 

Round Rock, Texas  

Editors, Daily Planet:  

When Charles Gibson asked both candidates how they intended to cut the national deficit in half over the next four years, only Senator Kerry gave his plan, (a well thought through plan to resolve the problem). Bush did not give any plan whatsoever, but Bush did try to degrade Senator Kerry. 

When one constituent advised he felt his civil rights are watered down by the Patriot Act, Bush responded that the individual shouldn’t feel that way because Bush didn’t feel that way. Bush refuses to hear anything can be better so he will not work to “better” anything. This shows Bush is weak in caring for the American people if they don’t agree with him. Bush has proven he is incapable of respecting & representing a nation that has more than one point of view. Kerry will lead this country by respecting all of the people. 

This country cannot handle another four years of Bush. What Bush defines as “leadership” has been toxic to the world. 

Renee Durante 

Sunnyvale 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

This is my opinion only; I don’t pretend to speak for others. But I believe that the qualities John Kerry has shown the public, including his controversial but honorable actions and testimony regarding the Vietnam war, are the qualities that a true leader must have: the courage to speak out against a wrong, the willingness to admit mistakes and miscalculations, the intelligence to process information, the ability to meet and work with people of differing social, religious, and national values and maintain credibility as an honest and flexible leader who can change course if the welfare of the American people will be better served. What I don’t want in a leader is a swaggering, bullying, inflexible, ideologically-driven person who is incapable of bringing people together to work for a common good. I don’t want a person who believes that favoring big industry and business concerns is better for our country and the world than working diligently to promote environmental treaties and regulations here and throughout the world. I believe George W. Bush and his gang should be fired, and I’m encouraged by the reactions to the debates that this will happen, and John F. Kerry and John Edwards will be elected. If this happens, we’ll begin to see our torn and stressed country heal, and we can look forward to a new era with confidence and trust. 

Jo-Ann Work 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Kerry pulled in front of Bush again in the second debate. Kerry was solid, compelling, articulate, direct and most of all presidential. Bush was anxious, repetitive, vengeful, desperate, out of touch and shrill. Bush blinked a lot during much of the debate, an obvious sign of discomfort. Kerry’s gaze, on the other hand, was steady and direct exhibiting his leadership qualities. Bush looked afraid, like a deer in the headlights. Unless his friends at Diebold intervene on his behalf he will likely lose this election. 

It’s disheartening to any reasonably intelligent person to listen to the pundits telling us what we know to be untrue, that Bush held his own during the second debate. In what way did he hold his own? Perhaps when he referred to the Internet as internist or how about when he called Senator Kerry, Senator Kennedy? Or most importantly when he insisted (again and again!) that we did the right thing by invading Iraq because Saddam could have sold WMD’s to terrorists? Anyone who has looked at a headline in the last 24 hours could tell Mr Bush that we now have INCONTROVERTIBLE proof that there are no WMD’s in Iraq, now or when we first invaded. Bush is so out of touch its frightening to witness and what is even more frightening is how the media takes the president’s side every time. If the corporate sponsored press had been doing it’s job in the lead up to the war we wouldn’t be in the mess we are in now and thousands of innocent lives wouldn’t have been lost. 

In this sober time in our country’s history we as citizens have the opportunity to defend our democracy on November 2nd by giving President Bush his walking papers which he so justly deserves. 

Mary Naples 

Sausalito 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

John Kerry offered real solutions to real problems. He told America the truth, and offered a plan for a fresh start on the economy, Iraq, and the war on terror. 

George Bush failed to make his case to the American people. 

He showed that he is out of touch with reality in Iraq. 

He offered no plan for jobs and no plan for cutting the cost of health care. 

He refused to level with the American people. 

Husain Ghoul 

Cerritos 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

After watching both presidential debates, I can say this: George W. Bush is far less presidential than John Kerry... The president’s manner and way of thinking will continue to affect our stature in the world, regardless of politics. 

As for this president’s political judgment, the results speak for themselves: a morass in Iraq and an impending economic disaster with deficits as far as the eye can see, and no plan for improvement. When are we going to acknowledge that increasing deficit spending is a coward’s tax increase—taxing future generations to avoid political pain today? 

War, denial of reality, economic irresponsibility, impetuousness.... I am appalled for our country that the election is even close. 

Denise Rushing 

Upper Lake 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

After watching the second debate between George W. Bush and John Kerry, I came away with a feeling of great respect for John Kerry. While George W. Bush worked the crowd like a bad used car salesman, trying to manipulate the public into buying his flip-flop liberal name-calling agenda like a bad lemon, we saw John Kerry in stark contrast, discussing issues such as Global Warming, Iraq, Medicare, and the Bush tax plan—which has made rich people in the U.S. 92 billion dollars richer while putting the U.S. government more in debt—in an articulate and direct way that was both informative and uplifting to see. There is no doubt in my mind, and in many Americans’ minds, that we are lucky to have John Kerry running, and we as Americans need to elect this man President for the sake of America, and the world. 

To not come away with this conclusion after the debate points to a lack of sincere critical thinking on the part of Americans. After the debate, I watched pundits like George Will and others talk about how well George W. Bush did in the debate, and that the debate was a “draw.” Will’s argument touched on no issues, but basically focused on the aspect that Bush was being more aggressive. 

This is about as Orwellian of an interpretation as one could get. It’s both laughable and scary that the press can put someone on such as George Will, who is a supposedly a respected intellectual in our society, and he espouses a view that most 9th graders would see as both political and pathetic. The American people need to wake up. We cannot continue on a course of seeking revenge for 9/11, but rather we need to follow a path that both protects our country, and develops understanding and cooperation with other countries, and serves all Americans—not just the rich. We have an obligation to elect someone who will represent these values, because that is what Democracy is about. John Kerry is our best hope for restoring Democracy to America, and respect for America abroad. 

And the press should take note, we don’t need idiotic pundits like George Will to interpret the debate for us. Let the American people decide who won the debate, and who is the better choice for President. Pundits are manipulative. For any critically thinking individual, it was plain to see from this debate and the one before it, that John Kerry would make a much better president that George W. Bush. It was like night and day. 

Lawrence Kobernus 

San Francisco 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

After Bush’s 2000 election the Cheney-Wolfowitz neocon network were bent on implementing the Project for the New American Century mission to transform America into a planetary empire by force of arms. Their policy report “Rebuilding Americas Defenses,” defined regime change in Iraq as the tactical lynch pin. The report struck a prescient note when it observed that “the process of transformation is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event-like a new Pearl Harbor.” It’s now clear from all the intelligence reports that prior to 9/11 the Bush administration chose indifference to the ubiquitous warnings of imminent Al-Qaeda terrorist attack—they knew! 

After 9/11, It’s clear the Bush administration cooked intelligence, and then engaged in active deception of the Congress, the American people and the international community that Saddam had nuclear/chemical weapons, was responsible for the terrorist attacks of 9/11, was an eminent threat to! America and the security of the world. Bush-Cheney knew all along that Saddam did not pose an immediate threat to us or to anyone else! 

Bush-Cheney can’t be trusted, can’t be depended on, they haven’t earned our vote and don’t deserve it. Stop the lie factory on Nov. 2 and vote for Kerry-Edwards to make America stronger-safer at home and in the world. Four more years of Bush-Cheney and the complicit Republican congress incompetence and deception will bankrupt our country, put our troops in endless wars, robs us of our liberties, and increase terrorism at home and throughout the world. 

William Rack 

Austin, Texas 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

We should vote for John Kerry because of following reasons: 

John Kerry offered real solutions to real problems. He told America the truth, and offered a plan for a fresh start on the economy, Iraq, and the war on terror. 

George Bush failed to make his case to the American people. 

He showed that he is out of touch with reality in Iraq. 

He offered no plan for jobs and no plan for cutting the cost of health care. 

He refused to level with the American people. 

Subhash Patadia 

San Jose 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

I thought John Kerry once again showed he has what it takes to stand up for what he believes in under fire. To counter the lies with truth in a strong (not blustery) way. He truly has people in mind, whereas I believe George Bush has been bought by the corporations and totally lied about the environment. If we want air to breathe, water to drink and land and animals who are in jeopardy of extinction WE NEED JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT! 

Sheila Ganz 

San Francisco 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

It disturbs me to see that the press says “President Bush won the second debate.” After the debate ABC, NBC, FOX, CNN all had Kerry winning from 60 percent to 70 percent. 

I saw a president that was getting challenged and interrupting the moderator several times. I saw a president that did not have his facts clearly in his mind, stuttered and looked down at the floor. I saw a president that shouted out “What about Tony Blair?” Are the American people unaware that many people in England did not support the war, or Tony Blair. 

I feel that it is your duty as the voice of all the people, that you should expose the truth to Americans. We have lost the world’s respect because of George W. Bush’s policies on the environment, international treaties not signed. the Geneva Convention trampled on, the invasion of a country under false pretenses of WMD, the list goes on and on. 

I believe that you must expose the right wing agenda of domination at any cost. 

It is my belief that the Constitution of the United States was created for all men, women and children to find their own religious beliefs. It does not specify that Christian fundamentalism is the only way. 

I believe that all Americans have a right, an obligation to follow whatever religion or spiritual “path,” Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, or the Jewish faith, but that each of us must acknowledge the right of our neighbor to follow their own religious way. 

How can President Bush be so exclusive in his religious perspective and expect to bring the whole world to follow. Each religion, each person must be shown respect or our democracy will fail. 

Mark Ehrmann 

Sebastopol 

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 

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South Berkeley needs and wants a strong, active, thoughtful and experienced voice advocating for us to get affordable housing, transportation, public safety, and economic development improvements. I will continue to be an activist, focused on practical effective work. My City Council office will take leadership in advocating for the needs of individuals and groups in our district and our city. 

My eight years of service on the Planning Commission reinforced my belief that a city can adopt policies that help the little people, and even a city as small as Berkeley can counteract some of the callous corporate mentality masquerading as national policy. 

My 11 years of service on the League of Conservation Voters underscores my love of nature and the importance of environmental issues. I reject the notion that unions and environmentalists must oppose each other, because I am both an environmentalist and a trade unionist. I know the importance of fighting for living wage jobs and protecting the environment. I have for 12 years been an active volunteer, right here in Berkeley, creating a successful school-to-work program to get young people in well-paying career opportunities. 

My professional work as registered nurse led me to become involved in working to address the health disparities that people of color and low income residents face right here in South and West Berkeley. As a co-founder of a neighborhood association I understand the importance of the nuts and bolts of issues that effect day-to-day life. I will go to neighborhood meeting, respond to calls from neighbors promptly, and ensure real public input on new development. I will help low income neighbors fight crime by providing funds to help organize neighborhood watch groups, and support alternatives for our youth, which reflects a lifelong commitment to address the underlying issues that drive crime in our community. 

I have always felt passionately about the importance of helping senior citizens live life fully and enjoy their retirement after many long years of contributing to the betterment of our society. Especially in Berkeley many of our seniors have contributed their full-time jobs and also volunteered thousands of hours to community service. I see seniors facing reduced services on a local, state and national level. As a City Councilmember I will rededicate myself to protecting Berkeley’s excellent services for seniors and resisting shortsighted proposals to reduce senior services.  

Our disabled residents face an enormous struggle just to survive. Today they face a battle for transportation to get to their vital doctor’s appointments and basic services. I will work with disabled community advocacy groups to make paratransit and/or some other service help them get where they need to go in a timely way. 

While I strongly support keeping Berkeley in the forefront of providing services, I also understand the need for fiscal responsibility and I will closely scrutinize budgets and tax proposals in order to minimize increases to homeowners. We must address the imbalance where millionaires get tax cuts and commercial real estate uses Prop. 13 to evade taxes while homeowners pay more. 

Most of my activism in the past 20 years has been right here in Berkeley. I joined others and fought long and hard for a full-service supermarket in our community. The result was the present successful Berkeley Bowl. I also understand the importance of being involved at the county, state and national levels. I serve on the California Consumer Health Council. My activities on numerous state and national issues include a wide range of human rights, disabled, senior, consumer and peace and social justice causes. Like many Berkeley residents I have trekked to Sacramento to lobby for affordable housing, healthcare and education legislation and funding. 

I am pleased to be endorsed by the Alameda County Democratic Party, Green Party, Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, Berkeley Citizen’s Action, East Bay Lesbian Gay Democratic Club, SEIU, Wellstone Democratic Club, AFL-CIO Central Labor Council, Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, Mayor Tom Bates, Peralta Trustee Darryl Moore, City Council Members Linda Maio, Dona Spring, and Kriss Worthington. 

My many years of community service in a wide range of groups, my love of Berkeley, my graduate training in public health and city planning, and my appreciation of our diversity have well prepared me for extending that service to the City Council. 

I appreciate the complexities of trying to balance the many competing interests. I understand the need for calm, persistent, but respectful manner of advocacy on the part of elected officials. I believe I can provide the strong, active, reasonable, thoughtful and experienced voice that South Berkeley needs. 

—Max Anderson 

District 3 City Council candidate

South Berkeley needs care and attention. We don’t need grand ideological schemes; we need real problem solving, community building and a responsive City Council. These are the reasons why I have the support of District 3 neighborhood leaders, school advocates, local businesses, and civic arts directors. I have lived in the heart of South Berkeley for 23 years, meeting my husband here, raising two sons, and buying a fixer-upper.  

I recognize this community is at a crossroads. South Berkeley needs vital business districts, effective youth services, well-managed social services, and neighborhood-based crime prevention strategies. Far too often, decisions made in City Hall exacerbate problems that interfere with the health of this community.  

An example: Despite the recommendation of the city manager to transfer underperforming homeless services provided at the Drop-In Center on Adeline Street to the Housing and Mental Health Departments, the City Council caved in to clients’ pressure based solely on anecdotal evidence. There was no discussion of the many complaints from merchants and residents, nor consideration of the impact on a struggling commercial district where there is public drug/alcohol use and violence.  

Why is it that across town in North Berkeley, the standard appears to be different? There, a professionally managed residential recovery program does not create nuisances or complaints. A complete assessment of the cost of the Drop-In program should include lost sales tax and the loss of the residents’ rights to a safe neighborhood. My opponent, Max Anderson, is an uncritical supporter of the Drop-In Center; his wife is a board member. The center has failed to comply with the conditions of their use permit to the detriment of the neighborhood and the clients. Recently, Mayor Bates publicly warned the center they had two strikes against them and they better get their act together.  

South Berkeley has a history of being saddled with every social service unwanted elsewhere in the city. Earlier this year a medical cannabis club looking to relocate chose an office building in a well-known drug hot spot. The activists first used deception to gain their lease, and then disregarded considerable crime statistics, the concerns of residents, and the fact that there is another cannabis dispensary a few blocks away. I coordinated nearby schools, neighborhood groups, and affected business interests to reconsider this location. This was accomplished in an open, transparent process; ultimately, some members of the cannabis collective apologized for the leadership’s lack of understanding toward residents’ concerns about the proposed relocation.  

As chair of the Russell, Oregon and California neighborhood group, I helped create a network of community groups, the South Berkeley Crime Prevention Council, representing more than 1,000 households, working to strengthen community based policing. The city has adopted our initial plan.  

We have also collaborated with the Community Action Team and neighborhood liquor store owners, encouraging the sale of healthy foods and reducing the emphasis on alcohol sales. We are excited about the potential of the Ashby Arts District. As a councilmember I will coordinate resources for the revitalization of the business districts, encouraging a pedestrian friendly and cultural vibrant commercial area.  

The recent murder of yet another young man underscores the importance of effective youth services, so youth are better equipped to avoid the attractions and pitfalls of a prevalent drug culture. I believe it is our responsibility to instill educational values, social responsibility and provide meaningful opportunities. Current expenditures for youth services are already significant, at least 11 million annually; the city has not completed their intended assessment to understand whom we serve and how effective those services are. I am concerned that without evaluation we will continue to fail to serve the most at risk youth.  

I am a passionate and informed advocate for youth. For six years I assisted parents in problem solving as PTA parent advocate. Over a four-year period, my initiatives led to changes to Berkeley High School safety and attendance policies, as well as the adoption of violence and bullying prevention curricula district wide. Kids can’t learn when they are being harassed. Understanding the benefits of arts education and importance of literacy, I served on the school district Music Committee and organized Family Literacy Nights.  

South Berkeley is home to fixed income seniors, low and middle-income families many of whom are facing economic challenges. Families are being squeezed out by ever increasing taxes, fees and assessments, while health care costs climb, and folks have less discretionary spending. The city must practice fiscal discipline, learn to live within its means and not expect homeowners to shoulder the burden. It is simply hard to believe that Berkeley is committed to economic diversity pretending all homeowners can easily pay more.  

I believe that when the neighborhood speaks out, there is a good reason to listen. I will be an energetic, dedicated, practical representative ensuring our voices are understood. 

—Laura Menard 

District 3 City Council candidate 

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Voters throughout the Bay Area received their ballot pamphlets last week—many finding that they seemed heavier than usual. It wasn’t just their imagination. 

No fewer than a dozen East Bay cities have placed one or more tax measures on the ballot. School districts from Livermore to Albany have bond or parcel tax measures. BART, AC Transit, and the East Bay Regional Park District all have tax measures.  

In Berkeley, this all adds up to eight local or regional tax measures—including funding for city fire, police, and health services, libraries, and schools. All of this is in addition to the long list of state propositions. 

What is going on here?  

Virtually every city and local government in California is in fiscal crisis. San Diego, until recently the poster child for perfect bond ratings, is now teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. San Francisco, a county and city in one, faced a deficit of $352 million this year. In Berkeley, we have cut over $14 million from our $115 million general fund in the last three years. Next year, we have another $7.5 million deficit. 

The reasons for this financial crisis are many, but much of the problem can be traced to poor choices made in Washington and Sacramento. As federal and state governments cut taxes, cut programs, and cut funding, they simply passed the burden of providing essential services to the cities—which are also struggling to make ends meet. 

In a study released earlier this year, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities found that Bush Administration policies have cost California $21 billion over the past four years. They wrote in their report that, “this has forced state and local governments to make much larger spending cuts and tax increases than otherwise would have been necessary.”  

In Berkeley, we have first hand examples of this trickle down phenomenon. Several months ago, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development quietly changed its formula for funding Section 8 housing. Overnight, Berkeley was required to come up with over $150,000 or turn families out of their houses.  

The State has been no better. Twice last year, Berkeley had to re-open its budget to make additional cuts to cover State reductions. This year, we lost nearly $2 million when the State shifted a portion of our property tax revenue to state coffers.  

All of this trickling down adds up to tough choices. This year Berkeley has eliminated 100 employee positions, our employees agreed to return some of their pay, and every city department has taken reductions.  

Now we are faced with more severe cuts next year. Services for our vulnerable populations—seniors, youth, low-income families and individuals—will likely be reduced again. Essential services—such as police and fire—face significant cuts for the first time in decades. If we want to continue to be a safe, livable, healthy community, we must find ways to pay for the programs and services we need.  

This leaves local officials throughout the state with the unenviable task of going to the voters with a stark choice—tax increases or reductions in the services communities have come to depend on. In the end, we joined cities from Fremont to Pinole to Piedmont to San Ramon in placing new taxes before the voters.  

Hopefully, when the voters pick up their unusually heavy ballot pamphlets this year, they will think about how much of that extra weight trickled down from the State and federal government and how much they’ve saved in state and federal tax cuts. Knowing that, voters can make an informed decision about the kind of community in which they want to live and what it costs to get there. 

Tom Bates is the mayor of Berkeley. Previously, he served as the member of the State Assembly representing East Bay cities for 20 years. 

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I am writing to ask for your vote in support for Measure B, “Protecting Quality Education in Berkeley’s Public Schools.” Measure B would bring $8.3 million of critically needed funds into the schools for each of the next two years, reversing the most dev astating impacts of recent budget cuts.  

When I was re-elected to the Berkeley School Board two years ago, along with Nancy Riddle and Terry Doran, our School District was in severe fiscal and organizational crisis. Berkeley High School was without a pr incipal and the campus environment was poor for teaching and learning. All of those elected in 2002, as well as the two serving trustees, Joaquin Rivera and John Selawsky pledged to correct these serious deficits. 

Two years later I am pleased to tell you that we have achieved these goals. Working together, with our superintendent, we now have a budget that is balanced and an organization that is more accountable, frugal and effective. Berkeley High School has a new building, a strong principal and a rene wed sense of pride. In fact, BUSD is now viewed as one of the stronger school districts in the county.  

In Berkeley, we have high expectations for our schools: to provide support for students that need it; ensure that every student has the opportunity to reach their personal best; to address achievement gaps. I know that each school director and our superintendent wants to meet these expectations, but as we strive to do so, we must confront the real facts about our financial circumstances. In order to br i ng our budget into balance we have had to increase class size, eliminate teaching positions, reduce library hours, and dilute our music programs. These actions have affected teaching and learning. That is why the School Board voted unanimously, to place M easure B on the November ballot. Measure B would reverse the worst impacts of these cuts: those that affect the classroom.  

I realize we are asking a generous community to give again, but it seems to me that these are times that call for sacrifice in pur suit of worthy goals. In my judgment, Measure B is a valid request for additional funds that will be properly spent to provide essential educational programs in our schools. Measure B will raise $8.3 million for each of the next two years which will b e us ed to reduce class size, keep school libraries open and staffed, restore music programs, and train teachers in curriculum and instruction. I hope that you will vote for Measure B and continue Berkeley’s proud tradition of investing in our schools. To learn more, please visit the Measure B website: www.yesonb.net.  

Shirley Issel is school director for the Berkeley Unified School District.l

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Measure “L” on Berkeley’s November ballot asks for 16 percent increase in the Library Tax. The total tax for an average homeowner would be about $300 a year if Measure L passes. This would increase every year afterwards by five per cent, effectively doubling over the next 13 years without any further vote of the people. 

The proponents have a mantra: “We all love the library, don’t we?”. As if that should be the end of the discussion. 

But should it? We all love our kids too. That d oes not stop us from asking questions when we think they’re doing something wrong. 

The question here is why, given the unprecedented generosity of Berkeley property owners, can’t the library live within its means? Despite all the talk about state cutback s and the economic slowdown, the library’s revenues keep going up far faster than inflation, just over 45 percent in five years: 

Year Revenues Increase from Prior Year 

1999: $8,495,000 

2000: $8,752,000 +3.03 percent 

2001: $9,197,000 +5.08 percent 

2002: $9,719,000 +5.68 percent 

2003: $10,532,000 +8.37 percent 

2004: $12,353,000 +17.29 percent 

Total percent increase 1999-2004: +45.41 percent 

What’s going on here? We all know the population of Berkeley is stable or falling. We also know that many libra ry functions have been automated, and that this should save on staffing costs. 

The answer is two-fold. First is a lack of basic controls over spending procedures within the library. Second is a wage and benefit package that is far, far more generous than in the private sector. 

Cost Controls 

In June of this year the City Auditor issued a detailed—and scathing—report. It included findings that it was “not uncommon for purchases to be made without a requisition or purchase order” (p. 6), that “voucher for ms are being inappropriately used” (p. 2), that “63 percent of purchase orders did not include a purchase order amount” (p. 8), that “there is almost no documentation” that multiple bids were being solicited as required (p. 8), and that “approximately hal f of the Library’s 149 budgeted cost centers are not submitting library material orders that have been reviewed and approved by a supervisor” (p. 12). The Auditor’s concluded that these failures “can lead to overspending”. Indeed. 

Then there are the wage/benefit packages. In flusher times, the city’s unions negotiated guaranteed annual wage increases of five percent (far more than cost of living), and a package of benefits including free YMCA memberships, full health care and pension guarantees: all fund ed 100 percent by the city. The mayor’s own Citizens Budget Review Commission finds that this fact alone has resulted in a “structural deficit” that will continue even with tax increases. 

What all this means is the city generally and the library in parti cular must answer hard questions before asking Berkeley homeowners to further increase tax bills which are already the highest in the state. 

We all love our kids. But when they overspend their allowance, we don’t reward them with an increase.  

It’s call ed “tough love.” 

Dean Metzger 

President, Claremont Elmwood  

Neighborhood Association  

David M. Wilson,  

Steering Committee, Berkeleyans Against Soaring Taxes 

When young psychiatrist Neal Blumenfeld read that students had staged a protest at Sproul Plaza, he drove his Triumph TR-3 sports car as close as he could get to the campus, then walked over for a first-hand look. 

Within days of that 1964 protest he’d been ousted from his part-time consultancy with the Berkeley Police Department and had established himself as what Free Speech Movement leaders described as “the movement shrink.” 

His activism’s never wavered in the years since, and most recently he’s been in the news as the leader of the movement to landmark and preserve the Sisterna Tract Historic District in West Berkeley. 

Blumenfeld earned his M.D. from San Francisco State in 1956, and completed his psychiatric studies five years later. Interested in the emerging field of community mental health, he signed on with Berkeley Mental Health a year later. 

“I did education and consultation, and when I heard that the Berkeley Police Department wanted someone for five hours a week, I volunteered,” he said. 

Berkeley Police were known in psychiatric circles for working with mental health professionals. 

“What they mainly wanted was for me to evaluate police officer candidates. I was already dubious, because I thought the best way to do it was to have a long probationary period, but they weren’t interested,” Blumenfeld said. 

A social democrat—“my mother told me I should go back to the U.S.S.R.”—Blumenfeld had been part of Friends of SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and had walked picket lines with the Congress of Racial Equality in San Francisco. 

“On my way to the campus that day, I was not expecting anything serious, but when I got there I found that the students were absolutely riveting.” 

Then he learned that UC administrators had called out a massive police presence from jurisdictions across the Bay Area. 

“They were hiding behind the buildings, so I asked where the Berkeley Police Department was,” he said. “I found them massed behind Sproul Hall, all decked out in their war paint. I could see that they were really tense.” 

Blumenfeld sought out one of the field commanders. “I said ‘I know you’re angry, but I’ve been listening to the students and you really ought to send someone over to listen.’” 

Berkeley had a good reputation for reasonable treatment of civil rights demonstrations, and Blumenfeld thought that if they really paid attention to what the students were saying, they’d realize how reasonable their concerns were. 

“The lieutenant just took me by the arm and said, ‘Doc, you’d better get out of here.’” 

But the more Blumenfeld listened, the more involved he became. No longer an observer, he was now a participant, meeting with FSM leaders and talking strategy. 

None of which went unnoticed by the BPD. 

“Capt. Jewel Ross was a good officer, an old-time Irish policeman, and he called me into his office, closed the door, and said, ‘Doctor, don’t you know that the communists are preparing to take over this country?’” Blumenfeld recalled. 

Soon after, he learned that his services were no longer need by the BPD. 

Blumenfeld wrote for FSM broadsides and participated in key meetings as the movement was making a segue into the anti-Vietnam war cause. 

“Jerry Rubin”—later a defendant in the “Chicago Seven” trial—“was asking me if it was too early to organize an anti-war movement,” Blumenfeld said. “I said yes. Fortunately, he didn’t listen to me.” 

That year’s Vietnam Day in Berkeley brought out a throng of 10,000. 

Blumenfeld would be there for the People’s Park protests, and he worked closely with members of the Black Panther Party. 

Like so many others caught up in the events of 40 years ago, Blumenfeld has remained deeply committed to the values embodied in the movement. 

In later years he would become involved in Central American issues, including trips to Nicaragua and Cuba through Global Exchange. 

His fight to preserve the Sisterna Tract is simply the latest episode in a decades’ old commitment. ?

Down at the end of Berkeley’s new Arts District on Addison Street, the East Bay Media Center has compiled a wide-ranging lineup of new talent for this weekend’s 11th Annual Berkeley Video and Film Festival.  

From small beginnings at Berkeley High in 1990, BVFF has morphed into a mini-Sundance, with 62 films in a dozen categories to be screened over Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  

Although the festival has always maintained a little local flavor (included in this year’s schedule is Jennifer Ann Blaylock’s “Bowling,” a ‘shopumentary’ about the Berkeley Bowl), Festival director Mel Vapour, who along with Paul Kealoha Blake has run the EBMC for a quarter century, is quick to point out the breadth of entries. 

“We received over 200 entries from all over, from Canada to Brazil,” says Vapour. “Not only are we the biggest independent festival in Northern California, but the world is getting to know us.”  

Vapour is particularly proud to premier the Robert Greenwald Group’s “Unconstitutional: the War on our Civil Rights,” which was produced by Nonny De La Pena. “Unconstitutional” is an indictment of the USA PATRIOT Act, and makes its Bay Area premier on Saturday night. 

As always, BVFF is heavy on documentary work, but there’s a lot more. Here’s a brief overview of some of the festival’s highlights: 

On Friday night, the festival opens with Samm Style’s “Black August” (9:00 p.m.), a short trailer for the George Jackson-related film slated for next year, but the young Oakland filmmaker packs the tension and drama of San Quentin, 1971 into just three short minutes. Next, Mary Fridley and Fred Newman’s “Nothing Really Happens (Memories of Aging Strippers)” (Friday, 9:10 p.m.) is an introspective look at a lost New York: the co-owner of a Bronx candy store who, through her writing tells the tale of the Gun Hill Road neighborhood and its denizens.  

Friday wraps up in Stoners’ Paradise with Clifford Roth’s irreverent “The Stoned Channel” (10:40 p.m.). Roth takes a sideswipe at drug-testing, network television and the Reagan-era “Just Say No” policies in this hemp-fueled spoof.  

Saturday’s bill is rich with documentary winners. Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer’s “Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea” is an interesting, disturbing and humorous look at the environmental disaster in the Imperial Valley, and the curious folks and fauna who still insist on living there. 

“Howard Hughes: The Real Aviator” (Saturday, 3:30 p.m.) chronicles Hughes’ ascent into the American imagination, setting distance and speed records in the air, romancing Hollywood beauties, before retreating into his final days in a Las Vegas hotel. “The Real Aviator” puts Hughes in the best light, before the freak show began and the tabloids told the lurid tale.  

“Unconstitutional: The War on our Civil Liberties” (8:00 p.m., Saturday) is a powerful critique of the Bush Administration’s ‘war on terror.’ Filtered through the experience of every day Americans, from immigrant grocers to champion athletes to ordinary librarians, “Unconstitutional” is timed for the November election. 

Much lighter fare is “My Friend Friedrich,” a fictional romp through New York City with Friedrich Nietzche and a Columbia graduate student. Directed and produced by Andrew Hasse, a graduate of both the East Bay Media Center’s summer camp and NYU film school, “Friedrich” is a romantic comedy with several funny scenes in 22 minutes 

Sunday’s “There’s Something About W” (7:30 p.m. Sunday) is a companion piece to “Unconstitutional” (get a two-day ticket and check out both), though more centered on the broader broken promises of the Bush Administration, including the “No Child Left Behind” Act. 

The excellent “Mauna Kea: Temple Under Siege” shows the ongoing conflict between indigenous culture and science atop Hawaii’s most sacred peak. “Daughters of Everest,” made by El Cerrito’s own Sapana Sakya, chronicles the ascent of the famous mountain—for the first time, by an all-female, all-Tibetan team.  

“Mad Twin” (Sunday, 9:45 p.m.) is a goofy look at the consequences of a nose job on a fictional high-school pep squad, while “IPO” heckles the greed and insanity of the dot-com boom-and-bust through the story of a start-up that offers genetically processed babies-on-demand. 

The BVFF offers all these pieces, and more, for $8 a day ($5 for students). So put down thy NetFlix and get thee to Wheeler Hall, and check out the next generation of movie-makers. You won’t get stadium seating or super-sized sodas, but you won’t be disappointed, either.  

m

We don’t hear much about the Anti-Trust Acts these days, and not too much about labor unions and their political action committees. 

But these two forces can play an important role in this post 9/11 era, as they played important roles at the end of the 19th Century and in the Great Depression.  

22. To Enforce Anti-Trust and Anti-Corruption Laws 

Mass movements of steel and railroad workers throughout the U.S. demanded the Sherman Anti-Trust Act in 1890 to stop large corporations from making deals to cut wages and speed up production even if it meant cutting safety standards and the quality of products. It was upheld in Standard Oil v. U.S., 221 U.S. 1(1911). By 1914, unions demanded the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. § 12). The Anti-Trust Division of the Department of Justice was established to enforce these laws. 

In the Great Depression, after the stock market crash, Congress established the Securities and Exchange Commission to oversee actions by corporations. 

After 9/11, more and more pundits began to comment on the total inactivity of the Anti-Trust Division in the face of mergers of huge corporations, from computers to grocery outlets to TV and radio stations. This led to hundreds attending hearings of the Federal Communications Commission in 2004. 

Labor unions, activists, and good government NGOs were on the path of action to enforce basic U.S. laws against corporate misconduct. 

Report 22.1 

DOD Awarded Iraq Reconstruction Contracts Without Competitive Bidding (Larry Margasak, “Report Links Iraq Deals to Bush Donations,” USA Today, Oct. 30, 2003.) 

Report 22.2 

Contracts in Iraq Awarded to Anti-Labor Monopolies (“The Corporate Invasion of Iraq: Profile of U.S. Corporations Awarded Contracts in U.S./British-Occupied Iraq,” U.S. Labor Against the War, June 6, 2003.) 

Report 22.3 

Congress Members Complain about Contracts to Political Contributors (“Letter from Henry Waxman, California State Representative, to the Honorable Joshua Bolten, Director, Office of Management and Budget,” Sept. 30, 2003.) 

Report 22.4 

Whistleblowers on DynCorp Corruption Win in Two Courts (Kelly Patricia O’Meara, “DynCorp Disgrace,” Insight on the News, Aug. 19, 2003.) 

Report 22.5  

Corporate Armies Wage War in Iraq, Afghanistan (Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman, “The Rising Corporate Military Monster,” Common Dreams.org, April 23, 2004.) 

23. To Protect the Rights of Workers and Unions 

U.S. workers won passage of the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment & Balanced Growth Act in 1978. It requires the President to report to Congress at budget time on the unemployment rate and to propose a plan to bring it down to three percent for adults and four percent for minors. Bush failed to make such a report in 2004. 

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (AFL-CIO) is one of the most militant unions, with strong ties to unions around the globe. President Bush after 9/11, got a Taft-Hartley injunction against the union. That did not stop the ILWU, which won most of their demands. Labor is calling for a million worker march on Washington on Oct. 17 demanding: universal health care, a national living wage, guaranteed pensions, repeal of the USA Patriot Act. www.millionworkermarch.org  

Report 23.1 

Bush Uses Taft-Hartley Act Against Militant Union (Doug Frechin, “Bush Declares War on West Coast Port Workers,” Justice, Issue 31, Sept.- Oct. 2002.) 

Report 23.2 

Immigration Service Raids Wal-Mart Janitorial Staff (Steven Greenhouse, “Cleaner At Wal-Mart Tells Of Few Breaks And Low Pay,” New York Times, Oct. 25, 2003.) 

Report 23.3 

Bush Failed To File Required Report Under Humphrey-Hawkins Act (M. Harvey Brenner, “Estimating the Effects of Economic Change on National Health and Social Well-Being,” prepared for Joint Economic Committee, Subcommittee on Economic Goals and Intergovernmental Policy, 98th Cong. 2nd Session, at p.53 [J. Rpt. 98-198, Serial No. J-98-17.], U.S. G.P.O, June 4, 1984.) 

Report 23.4 

U.S. Government Not Protecting Union Rights of Workers in “New” Iraq (“US Occupation Forces Raid Iraqi Union Headquarters,” Iraqi Federation of Workers’ Trade Unions, Dec. 11, 2003.) 

Report 23.5  

Oklahoma Workers Hunger Strike in Taiwan (Press Release, “Ponca Tribe and PACE Union Hold Protest March Condemning Environmental Pollution and Employee Lockout," Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire Service, Aug. 25, 2003.) 

To be continued... 

Berkeley resident Ann Fagan Ginger is a lawyer, teacher, activist, author 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. 

m

When I told friends I was flying back East with my two and a half year old nephew, Bryce, they looked at me like I was crazy.  

“Are you nuts?” Rose asked.  

“Better to travel with an alligator than a two year old,” advised Ruthie. “When the air conditioning kicks in, the alligator goes into hibernation.” 

No amount of explaining seemed to dissuade the skeptics. I bragged that Bryce had already flown to and from Philadelphia once before to visit his paternal grandparents, and that he had been to Japan three times for extended stays with his maternal grandparents. 

“He has more stamps on his passport than I do,” I boasted. “He was once handed over the customs desk in Tokyo and traded for a video camera. His parents flew to Bangkok. Bryce left in the arms of his Ji-ji and Ba-ba. He never looked back.” 

My explanations were met with deaf ears. Everyone said I was asking for trouble. After awhile I began to think they might be right.  

But my brother and sister-in-law are optimists. Every day for months they talked to Bryce about going to New Jersey with Aunt Suzy until he was waking up in the morning and yelling, “Is today the day I go to Jersey?” 

My brother answered, “No, not yet, but when you go, can I come too?” Bryce replied, “No way. I’m going to Granny and Pop Pop’s without you.”  

When our flight was called at SFO, Bryce shouted. “That’s us.” He barreled down the aisle and found his seat like a seasoned traveler. He snapped his seat belt in place and said, “What’s to eat?”  

By the time Bryce had finished the fish crackers and teddy bear cookies his mother had packed for him, our plane was speeding along the runway. It was when we were over San Francisco that he turned to me and asked, “Where’s Daddy?” 

Big crocodile tears formed in his eyes and I knew I was in trouble. “Where’s Daddy?” I repeated, stalling for time.  

Bryce nodded affirmatively.  

“Why he’s… he’s… he’s not here,” I stuttered.  

“Yes he is,” said Bryce. “Let’s find him.”  

Together we walked up and down the aisle fifty or sixty times. Bryce kept looking for his daddy while I sweated bullets and wondered how we were going to make it through the next four hours. Finally, after the flight attendants told us to sit down, and after bumping into the man in seat 3A for the hundredth time, Bryce fell asleep. I didn’t get a wink of shuteye, but Bryce snoozed all the way to Philadelphia.  

Our visit to New Jersey was magical. Granny and Pop Pop were the embodiment of doting grandparents and Bryce was only too happy to comply with their expectations that he was one of the greatest grandchildren of all time. After four days we headed back to Philadelphia International Airport, where all hell broke loose. 

At the check-in desk I learned that our flight had left two hours earlier. Apparently, I had been sent emails informing me of the change in the schedule. I had thought it was spam and erased the messages without reading them. I hadn’t confirmed the flight before the 90-minute drive to the airport, naively thinking that if the trip East had gone as planned, the return flight would do the same.  

There were no other US Air flights leaving that night for the Bay Area. We had to take a motel room and wait until morning. My nephew gutted out this unexpected change like a pro. My parents and I didn’t do as well, although liberal quantities of cheap red wine eased the pain. The return flight home was easy. Bryce slept the entire way. I had a headache. 

I once read an article that advised that one should visit Paris only with someone they love. I’d like to amend that statement by suggesting that if one has to go to New Jersey, one should go only with someone they adore. I’ve done it, and it’s fun.t

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 

Jerry Kuderna, piano concert at noon at 2324 Shattuck Ave. Free. www.berkeleyartsfestival.com 

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 

FRIDAY, OCT. 15 

CHILDREN 

Mo Willems introduces “Knuffle Bunny” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Objects and Representations of Balinese Religion and Culture” opens at the GTU, Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, 2400 Ridge Rd. and runs through Jan. 15. 649-2541. www.gtu.edu/library 

FILM 

Berkeley Video & Film Festival Awards and premieres at 7:30 p.m. at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. Tickets are $6-$8. 843-3699. www.berkeley- 

videofilmfest.org 

Fiercely Primitive: Guy Maddin “Archangel” at 7:30 p.m. and “The Road to Glory” at 9:20 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

THEATER 

Acme Players Ensemble, “Ghost in the Machine” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., call for Sun. times., through Nov. 7, at APE Space, 2525 Eighth St. Suggested donation $5-$20. 332-1931. 

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

“Aya de León is Running for President” at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Tickets are $8-$10. 273-2473. www.ayadeleon.com 

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

Magical Acts Ritual Theater, “Heretics, Harlots and Heroes,” at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun at 2 p.m. through Oct. 23. Tickets are $16-$26. 883-0600. www.belladonna.ws 

Shakespeare in the Yard, “Notes From William, III” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 4 p.m. at Sister Thea Memorial Theater, 920 Peralta St. West Oakland, through Oct. 17. Tickets are $5-$20. 208-5651 

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

Un-Scripted Theater Company, “Fear,” a full-length improvised horror story, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave. through Oct. 30. Tickets are $7-$12. 869-5384. www.un-scripted.com 

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. Free, donations encouraged. 420-0813. www.womanswill.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

M. Steven Shackley, editor, “The Early Ethnography of the Kumeyaay” at 4 p.m. at at Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology, UC Campus, Bancroft at College. 643-7648.  

Justin Frank, clinical professor, Dept. of Psychiatry, George Washington Univ., looks at “Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President” at 12:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Maxina Ventura at 7:30 p.m. at the Fellowship Café, Fellowship Hall, Cedar and Bonita. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Soli Deo Gloria “Spiritual Journeys” a concert of American music featuring spiritual, gospel and classical sacred works at 7:30 p.m. at Zion Lutheran, 5201 Park Blvd., Piedmont. Tickets are $15-$20. 415-982-7341. www.sdgloria.org 

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

Wayne Wallace Quintet, a concert of Afro-Cuban music at 8 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100. www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org 

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

The Cosmosamatics, featuring Sonny Simmons and Michael Marcus at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $8-$15. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Palenque at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Salsa dance lesson with Wendy Ellen Cochran at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

David Mallet at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

DJ & Brook, jazz trio, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Jello Biafra, Daphne Gottleib, Meliza Banales, in a punk rock and spoken word benefit for Jesse Townley, at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Plan 9, The Deep Eynde, S.M.D. at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

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

Stiletta, Top Brown, Chow Nasty, Secret Synthi at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

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

SATURDAY, OCT. 16 

CHILDREN 

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Princess Moxie Puppet Show at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $3-$4. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

Mary Spivey, “Watercolors” Reception at 5:30 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. at Ashby. Exhibition runs through Oct. 31. 604-1473. 

Worth Ryder Art Gallery First Year Graduate Exhibition Reception at noon at Worth Ryder Gallery, 116 Kroeber Hall, UC Campus. 642-2582. 

“Landscape” local landscape painters. Reception at 7 p.m. at Fourth Street Studio. 527-0600. 

FILM 

Berkeley Video & Film Festival Sat. and Sun. from 1 p.m. to midnight at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. Tickets are $5-$8. 843-3699. www.berkeleyvideofilmfest.org 

Fiercely Primitive: Guy Maddin “Twilight of the Ice Nymphs” at 7 p.m. and “Cowards Bend the Knee” at 8:50 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

THEATER 

Central Works, “A Step Away” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Through Nov. 21. Tickets are $8-$20. 558-1381. 

“Aya de León is Running for President” at 8 p.m. at Jahva House, 1428 Alice St., Oakland. Tickets are $7. 273-2473. www.ayadeleon.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Thea Bellos talks about the photographs in “¡Cuba Viva!” and the Bush Administration restrictions at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100. www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org 

Gish Jen introduces her new novel “The Love Wife” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

“Literature and Love” with Diana Paxson at California Writers Club, at 10 a.m. at Barnes & Noble, Jack London Square, Oakland. No charge. www.berkeleywritersclub.org 

“Exploring Inner and Outer Landscapes,” a slide show and lecture by Stephen Altschuler, featuring his nature photography of the Point Reyes National Seashore, at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Psychic Institute, 2018 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Trinity Chamber Concert with Amy Brodo, Paul Rhodes baroque cello and gamba, Katherine Heater, harpsichord, at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. www.TrinityChamberConcerts.com 

Chava Albertstein at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22-$38.642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Barry and Alice Oliver, folk, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Tour at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $16-$18. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

SoVoSó at 8 p.m. at the Jazzchool. Cost is $15-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

West African HighLife Band at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. African dance lesson with Comfort Mensah at 9 p.m. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The Wayward Monks, jam rock jazz, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $6-$15. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Michael Zilber Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

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

86 The Band, Bermuda Triangle Service, Wensler Willgain at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Poor Bailey, Three Hours Old, Fine by Me, Fat Kid Running at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Animosity, Reflux, Botox Aftermath, The Clones, The Vice at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, OCT. 17 

FILM 

Fiercely Primitive: Guy Maddin “Seventh Heaven” at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Yossi and Jaeger” about two male soldiers in the Israeli army who fall in love, at 2 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Donation $5. 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Threshold: Byron Kim” Guided tour at 2 p.m. and panel discussion at 3 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Poetry Flash with Julia B. Levine and Sarah Maclay at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852.  

International Women’s Writing Guild readings at 3 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

Gary Paul Nabhan explains “Why Some Like it Hot: Foods, Genes and Cultural Diversity” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Spice of Life Festival with the Berkeley High School Jazz Combo at 11 a.m., Maria Marquez at noon, Wil Blades Organ Trio at 1:30 p.m. Misturada at 3 p.m. and Jazzschool Big Band at 4:30 p.m. at Cedar and Shattuck.  

Organ Recital with David R. Hunsberger playing ten chorale preludes by J.S. Bach at 4 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Donations accepted.  

Live Oak Concert 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 

Ancient European Folk Songs performed by Lily Storm, Tim Rayborn, Shira Kammen at 7:30 p.m. at Parish Hall, St. Alban's Church, 1501 Washington St., Albany. Tickets are $12-$15.  

Brentano String Quartet at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $38. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Music, Dance and Ritual of Kerala, India at 7 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22-$42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

“Imagining a Map of the World” solo dance performance by Evangel King at 11 a.m. at 1374 Francisco St. Donation $7-$15. 841-9441. 

“Disaster Series–The Continuation” by Joe Goode at 2 p.m. at Zellerbach Playhouse. Tickets are $8-$14. http://theater.berkeley.edu 

Archiglas Acapella Choral Ensemble from St. Petersberg Russia at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan. Tickets are $12-$20 at the door. www.juliamorgan.org 

California Friends of French Lousiana Music at 2 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5-$8. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Austin Lounge Lizards at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Acoustic Ace of Spades at 1 p.m. at MamaBuzz Cafe, 2318 Telegraph Ave. 289-2272. 

Americana Unplugged: The Squirrelly String Band at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Blame it on the Sex, Music Box Serial Killer at 8 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com?

We have a few civic olive trees in Berkeley—the ones in concrete planters on lower Sproul Plaza and a few on the borders of the parks strip along Hearst between MLK and Sacramento come to mind. Those are all fairly young. There are older ones around, mostly privately owned.  

Age matters in an olive, because as they age they get more interesting, especially around their trunks. Next time you’re around a producing olive grove, take a look at the tree’s bases. They get marvelously lumpy and gnarled, while retaining a smooth gray bark that looks like a match for a Greek promontory. They make great natural bonsai—in fact, people do bonsai them, just for that appearance of having survived great character-building vicissitudes. Young ones look gangly, but need only time, no special treatment. 

If you were watching the Olympics, you saw lots of olive foliage, those distinctive gray-green narrow leaves; the winners of competitions were crowned with olive wreaths, in homage to Athena. Athens was names after the goddess when, in response to Poseidon’s gift of a horse, she gave the founding citizens the first olive tree. (I’ve always wondered if they got to keep the horse, too.) 

It was a capital offense to cut down an olive tree in parts of ancient Greece, and I suppose the powers-that-prune here ought to be grateful that Elliot Cohen didn’t consult the original Solon when he drew up his proposed tree ordinance. A real return to the roots of Western democracy might have some interesting results, and I don’t mean just naked athletes.  

Olives are officially Olea europaea, the European oil tree. I like eating olives, but it’s clear from the specific epithet what people find most important about this tree. Olive oil is tasty and distinctive, but also versatile because it has so many variations. There are delicate Spanish cookies made with olive oil and a bit of cinnamon; there are also olive oils whose strong flavor needs garlic and lemon for company. The oil was used for lamps as well as food, and to treat skin and wounds and prevent sunburn. You’d think it would just promote sizzling, but it seems to have worked for those athletes. A marathon would test more than one’s muscular endurance, run under a Mediterranean sun.  

Oh—hair pomade too. And royalty used to have their heads anointed with olive oil, not Crisco. We do indeed live in degenerate times.  

The tree itself is tough. Its only problem here is drainage, and planting it a bit above grade works well enough against that. It’s drought-tolerant, and seems reasonably resistant to city dirt and smog, and very resistant to diseases. Its one drawback is that the pollen, like that of most plants with such inconspicuous flowers, is windborne and allergenic. (I don’t care; I have a youngster in my backyard anyway. It was supposed to become a bonsai but I let it grow up instead.)  

It’s probably one more symptom of an insane society that there’s a hormone spray that prevents olives from fruiting, and that people use this on city trees because the dropped olives are “messy.” 

I have friends in San Francisco whose problem in that regard was solved for a few years by another friend, who drove over with a stepladder and harvested their street trees. He found he could cure them just fine in big plastic jugs, layered with salt. He kept the jugs on an out-of-the-way shelf, tilted so he could drain off the brine, and it took a month or less to get perfectly nice black olives. There are plenty of more elaborate methods, too, involving water, lye, brine, or olive oil, and cured olives can be marinated in all manner of interesting herbs and spices. 

Olive trees are fun to prune, too. They take to a weeping habit, if you remember to let the weeping twigs “bounce”—that is, if you keep the upper and cut off the lower bit, so the flow of the branch is open, reaching out, not cramped. They look great if you cut off only the twigs that cross and tangle with each other under the canopy, and leave an open, airy umbrella. 

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TUESDAY, OCT. 12 

Morning Bird Walk: Wildcat 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. Call for directions. 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.  

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

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

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. 

Voter Education Workshop Discuss the issues, get the information you need to vote, register to vote in the upcoming election at 6 p.m. at the South Branch Library, 1901 Russell St. 981-6299. 

“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. 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 at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze market, just west of the I-80 overpass. 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  

THURSDAY, OCT. 14 

“Lights on After School” Nonprofit organizations, parks and recreational centers, church and school-based programs in Berkeley will be open to the public from 3:30 to 7 p.m. to showcase after school programs. To locate a participating site, call 525-5272 or see  www.afterschoolalliance.org 

Berkeley Marina Volunteer Training from 9 a.m. to noon, at the Shorebird Park Nature Center, 160 University Ave. Topics cover each of the local estuarine environments. 981-6720. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/marina 

“Strictly Speaking” Paul Krugman will speak on the bust of the boom economy, the recent run of corporate scandals and the administration’s fiscal policies at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $18-$30. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Candidates for the Berkekey School Board will speak and answer questions at Longfellow School, Derby at Sacramento St. Starts promptly at 7 p.m. Sponsored by the Berkeley PTSA Council and the League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville. 843-8824. http://lwvbae.org 

Grizzly Peak Flyfishers meets at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Community Center, 59 Arlington Ave.,Kensington. We will preview the McCloud River outing scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 22-24. 547-8629. 

“Political and Religious Dissent in a Dumbed-Down Society” with Prof. Frank Haiman, Northwestern Univ. at 7:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. 

“Science and the Future of the California Coast” with Anthony Michaels, director of the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, at 11:30 a.m. at The Claremont, 41 Tunnel Road. Cost is $35. 213- 821-2478. www.usc.edu/events 

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 

East Bay Jewish Folk Chorus at 7:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. To arrange an audition email Mail@achibenshalom.com 

“In Exchange for a Homeland” with poet Yosefa Raz at 7:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. 

“Why It’s Necessary, Why It’s Possible” a film of a talk by Bob Avakian of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA at ACT 1&2 Theater, 2128 Center St. Tickets are $10. 848-1196. 

East Bay Mac User Group meets from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Expression Center for New Media, 6601 Shellmound St. http://ebmug.org 

Tibetan Buddhist Approach to Death and Dying with Venerable Tsokni Rinpoche III at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Shambhala Meditation Center, 2288 Fulton St. Sponsored by Northern California Shambhala & Pundarika Foundation http://norcal.shambhala.org  

FRIDAY, OCT. 15 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Betty Olds, Berkeley City Council on “Berkeley.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $12.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. 526-2925.  

Amy Goodman, host of “Democracy Now” at 6:30 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Sponsored by the ACLU Berkeley Chapter. rsaclu@earthlink.net 

Hills Emergy Forum Annual Meeting with representatives from Berkeley, Oakland, El Cerrito, EBMUD, UC Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley Lab at 10 a.m. in the California Room, 4th floor, Double Tree Hotel, Berkeley Marina. www.lbl.gov/ehs/hef/ 

“Making Sustainable Forestry Work: Trees, Land, People and Business” with Paul Harlan, Vice President of The Collins Companies, a leader in sustainable forestry, at 4 p.m. at Booth Auditorium, Boalt Hall. UC Campus. www.cnr.berkeley.edu/ 

forestry/lecture.html 

“Jerusalem Women Speak: Three Women, Three Faiths, One Shared Vision” at 7 p.m. at 2060 Valley Life Science Building, UC Campus. Sponsored by Partners for Peace, Cal Muslim Students Assoc., Students for Justice in Palestine-UCB. 644-3650. 

SWOP’s Sexy Circus to celebrate the rebirth of the prostitutes rights movement at 7 p.m. at Third and Jones warehouse on the RR tracks. 877-776-2004. www.swop-usa.org 

Bad Subjects Book Release Celebration at 7 p.m. at AK Press Warehouse, 674 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

Tibetan Buddhist Approach to Transforming Stress with Tsokni Rinpoche III at 7:30 p.m. Berkeley Shambhala Meditation Center, 2288 Fulton St. http://norcal.shambhala.org  

SATURDAY, OCT. 16 

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour of Dharma Publishing and Scharffenberger Chocolate Makers at 10 a.m. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0181. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc/ 

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

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

Dance for the Swing States with Country Joe McDonald and Kevin Griffin’s Rough Draft from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. at Thousand Oaks School, 840 Colusa. All proceeds go to A.C.T. Suggested donation $25. 

Albany YMCA Garage Sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Proceeds will be used to help support Albany YMCA Youth and Adult Financial Assistance programs. 921 Kains Ave. 525-1130. 

“Side By Side: A Journey With Depression” with Brian Wetzel at 7:30 p.m. at Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave. Tickets are $10-$15. 707-829-1872. www.frontporchspirit.com  

Plant Sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 1045 Leneve Place, El Cerrito. Sponsored by the Berkeley Garden Club. 843-9457. 

Creating Your Own Garden Paradise at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

Constructing the School Garden A workshop for teachers to learn how to build school garden beds using recycled or low cost products, and how to incorporate students into the process. Cost is $25. Pre-registration required. Held in Berkeley, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 231-9430. www.thewatershedproject.org 

Toddler Nature Walk for 2-3 year olds and their grown-up friends from 2 to 3 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“Foods of the Andes: Potato Festival” Learn how potatoes are traditionally prepared, with children’s activities and Bolivian music from noon to 1:30 p.m. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $10-$23. Registration required. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class on Light Search and Rescue from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 997 Cedar St. To sign up call 981-5605. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes.html 

Los Días de los Muertos Workshop Shrine and Altar Making at the Richmond Art Center from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 2540 Barrett Ave., at 25th St., Richmond. Cost is $30-$35. 620-6772. www.therichmondartcenter.org 

Gadabout Film Festival of independent filmmakers at 7 p.m. at AK Press Warehouse, 674 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

“Healing Through Buddhist Art” with Arnaud Maitland at 3 p.m. at Dharma Publishing, 2910 San Pablo Ave. donation $10. 548-5407. 

Dharma Publishing Open House and demonstration of sacred art craft from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 2901 San Pablo Ave. 548-5407. 

“What’s Going On? California and the Vietnam Era” a symposium with representatives from the arts, media, academia, politics and veteran services, Sat. and Sun. from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Cost is $25, $45 for both days. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Build Green, a free seminar covering building materials and practices that promote sustainability, from 9 to 11 a.m. at Truitt and White, 1817 Second St. Registration required. 649-2674. 

Benefit Yard Sale for Shotgun Players from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 2139 Curtis St. off of University. 841-6500. 

Mahea Uchiyama Center Auction Fundraiser and Tahitian dance performance to raise funds to bring master teachers and performers from Tahiti for the upcoming concert season. At 8 p.m. at 729 Heinz Ave. Cost is $15. www.mahea.com 

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. 17 

Bike Tour of Historic Oakland A leisurely paced 5.5 mile bike tour sponsored by the Oakland Museum of California. Meet at 10 a.m. at the 10th St. entrance of the museum. For reservations call 238-3514. www.museumca.org 

Early Morning Bird Walk We’ll look for birds making their way south and learn why and how they migrate at 8 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Dinosaur Day We’ll learn about them through puzzles, bingo and making tracks from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Mayan and Aztec Medicinal Plants Tour with Horticulturalist Eric Schulz from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical garen, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $8-$12. Registration required. 643-2755. http:// 

botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Kensington Library Book Sale from noon to 4 p.m. at 61 Arlington Ave., in the parking lot behind the library. 

Benefit for MoveOn.org with silent art auction, speakers, and Film screening of “Unprecedented: the 2000 Election” at 5 p.m. at Studio Rasa, 933 Parker St. Cost is $25. 843-2787. www.studiorasa.org 

Berkeley Cybersalon “There’s Something About W” at 6 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Donation $10. 

Train to End Stroke Movie Marathon Videos and films about people and animals overcoming various challenges at 3 p.m. at Parkway Theater, 1834 Park Blvd. Tickets are $7 at the door. All profits will benefit the American Stroke Association. 301-6822. 

Los Días de los Muertos Art and Traditions, and Procession Masks at the Richmond Art Center from 1 to 4:30 p.m. 2540 Barrett Ave., at 25th St., Richmond. Cost is $30-$35. 620-6772. www.therichmondartcenter.org 

“Spiritual Citizenship and the Healing of America” with Barbara Hamilton Holway at 9:30 a.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302.  

Healing Friction Community Circle A free workshop for political engagement from 3 to 6 p.m. at 1428 Alice St., Oakland. Come share your voice, some food, and a way through and out of hopelessness. 866-236-0346. www.healingfriction.org  

Tibetan Buddhism with Abbe Blum on “Buddhist Tools for Well-being” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

CITY MEETINGS 

Council Agenda Committee meets Tues. Oct. 12, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St., Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/agenda-committee 

City Council meets Tues., Oct. 12, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Commission on Disability meets Wed., Oct. 13, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Paul Church, 981-6342. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/disability 

Homeless Commission meets Wed., Oct. 13, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jane Micallef, 981-5426. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/homeless 

Library Board of Trustees meets Wed., Oct. 13, at 7 p.m. at 2940 Benvenue Ave. Jackie Y. Griffin, 981-6195.  

Planning Commission meets Wed., Oct. 13, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Ruth Grimes, 981-7481. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/planning 

Police Review Commission meets Wed. Oct. 13, at 7:30 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Barbara Attard, 981-4950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/policereview 

Waterfront Commission meets Wed., Oct. 13, at 7 p.m., at 201 University Ave. Cliff Marchetti. 644-6376 ext. 224. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/waterfront 

Commission on Early Childhood Education meets Thurs., Oct. 14, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Marianne Graham, 981-5416. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/earlychildhoodeducation  

Community Health Commission meets Thurs, Oct. 14, at 6:45 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. William Rogers, 981-5344. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/health 

Two-by-Two Meeting of City and School officials to dicuss common concerns, Thurs., Oct. 14, at 8:30 a.m., in the Redwood Room, 6th floor, 2180 Milvia St. 981-7000. 

West Berkeley Project Area Commission meets Thurs., Oct. 14, at 7 p.m., at the West Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7520. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/westberkeley  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., Oct. 14, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.ber- 

keley.ca.us/commissions/zoning  

The email this week brought a letter from a 17-year-old young man in Alabama listing all the reasons he’s supporting Kerry, and unselfconsciously confessing that he sent the letter via a form on the Kerry website. We’ve gotten a bunch of these letters lately, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Zack Exley, formerly a strategist with MoveOn.org, is now the Kerry campaign's director of online communications and organizing, and he’s clearly transferred what he learned in the slick MoveOn operation to his new job. As a result, Kerry supporters seem to be easily able to write, at one fell swoop, to hundreds of media outlets around the country to support their man. Some letters, like the one from our Alabama correspondent, are personal and heartfelt, while others have more of a canned flavor. In the interest of saving our printed pages for controversial local issues that don’t get aired anywhere else, we’ve relegated most of these letters to the web version of the paper, but that doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate them. Any undecided Planet readers (there must be a few of you out there) should check the website for some excellent arguments. We haven’t gotten many for Bush, though. 

Canned arguments have something of a bad name, though that’s not completely fair. Wednesday’s debate reminded me of nothing so much as the high school debate circuit of my youth, which roughly coincided with John Kerry’s youth. I don’t know if he was on his high school debating team, but it seemed like he might have been. In those days we went to the debates, which were held in grungy cafeterias after school, armed with cheap file boxes stuffed with three by five cards on which “facts” were written, mostly statistics taken out of context, suitable for insertion into any argument at the appropriate moment. Every year there was an official debate question, and teams were expected to be able to argue “both sides”—an early instillation of the cherished American myth that there are just two sides to any question. Enterprising publishers offered books of outlines of arguments pro and con the official topic: In my year it was whether to abolish farm price supports. (That one still hasn’t been settled after more than 40 years.) 

The champs on my L.A. circuit were the boys from the Jesuit high school, one of whom, a short, fat, intense kid named David Roberti, went on to become President of the California State Senate. They had the most professional looking file boxes containing the biggest stacks of index cards, and they knew how to deploy them.  

The newsies on CNN on Wednesday night complained about the way the candidates inserted statistics into their presentations, a la high school debaters. Candy Crowley, a bright woman despite her name who should know better, whined that the debate was excessively “wonkish”. She said that she particularly liked the part where Kerry talked about his late mother. But you know that if the obligatory statistics had been left out, there would have been another chorus carping about that.  

It’s tricky. Journalists (not the best ones of course) are notorious for picking numbers out of the air to decorate their stories regardless of appropriateness, so they can’t get away with knocking candidates for doing the same thing on occasion. What they could and should do is keep track of whether the proffered numbers pertain to the question asked or support the argument made, but they don’t do that very well.  

For example, post-game commentators were all over the question of whether Kerry’s statistics about net job loss in the Bush regime were accurate. It’s true, Kerry didn’t qualify his number by saying it referred only to private sector jobs and was somewhat balanced by an increase in public sector jobs. But this lapse has little effect on the truth behind Kerry’s argument, which is that the economy has suffered under Bush. Saying that public sector jobs have increased would only boost Kerry’s popularity among Republican sympathizers who are scared of “big government.” 

Most commentators, and Kerry too, seem to have missed the major logical flaws in Bush’s answer to the question of how the flu vaccine shortage happened, since it contained no checkable statistics. Bush said that “we relied upon a company out of England.” Actually, that would be an American company, Emeryville’s own Chiron, offshoring the manufacturing to be sure. Then he admitted he’s turning to Canada to help find some more vaccine, in spite of his previous statements that he rejected government purchase of Canadian drugs for safety reasons. Finally, he blamed fear of lawsuits for manufacturers’ short supplies. But Congress passed a liability-limiting bill into law in 1986 which should give drug makers all the protection they need. 

Kerry missed all of this. Instead, he went into his canned statistical routine, most of it true but not relevant, about the deficiencies in America’s health insurance system. Flu vaccine is one of the few kinds of preventative medicine that has been widely available at a reasonable price, even for the uninsured. The administration’s dropping the ball on vaccine is a giant step backward, but Kerry didn’t nail them on it during the debate. 

The pressure of the debate format causes candidates to miss opportunities like this occasionally. All in all, this debate series has been pretty coherent despite its cumbersome rules. But as long as the major media believe that Americans can only handle structured soundbites, even ones salted with “facts,” that’s all we’ll be offered in prime time.  

The Internet is starting to change some of this. Candidates can, if they chose, offer solid in-depth proposals on web sites, even if the debate format limits what they can say. When Kerry’s charged with not have a health insurance plan, he can say that he does indeed, and it’s on his web site. Perhaps future campaigns will be conducted on a more intelligent level as more voters learn how to go beyond the mass media for their information. 

—Becky O’Malley 

We have been deluged with calls and letters from proponents of various measures which will confront voters on the November ballot, at a time when most voters, including us, are preoccupied with the job of getting rid of George Bush. As I am writing this, I’ve been interrupted, at home, by a call from an old acquaintance who wants me to endorse Measure B.  

Proponents of ballot measures fall into various camps. First, there are the direct beneficiaries, those whose pay will come out of the proceeds. Berkeley measures J and K, increases to the utility tax and the property transfer tax, have received two thirds of their financial support so far from unions representing city workers such as Service Employees International Union Local 535. Then there are the indirect beneficiaries, for example some parents of children in the Berkeley Public Schools, who are working on behalf of Measure B, and users of medical marijuana, who support Measure R. Finally, there are the public-spirited citizens whose support of ballot measures is based on their perception, right or wrong, of what’s good for the city, without any personal benefit to themselves, like the supporters of Measure S, which aims to protect Berkeley’s publicly owned trees. Of course, there are also altruistic supporters of most ballot measures in addition to the interested parties.  

Here at the Planet, we haven’t finally decided how we’re going to vote on these measures ourselves, let alone deciding which ones we support or oppose strongly enough to share our recommendations with our readers. Here’s the big ethical problem which confronts us as voters when it comes to funding measures: Is it fair (or wise) to vote against taxes just because you think the current money is not being well-spent? 

The reason Berkeley has a record number of funding measures on our ballot is that our leaders have figured out a cute dodge to put a human face on tax increases. We’re not voting for raising taxes to support the general fund, we’re voting for libraries, paramedics and youth services. Measure N reauthorizes a group of similar special taxes, including one for the parks department. But the hook in this attractive bait (who’s against youth?) is that such schemes simply take the designated service out of the general fund allocations, thus freeing up more money to be spent elsewhere, perhaps unwisely.  

Consider the plight of the citizen who believes, for example, that the Economic Development Department has been responsible for dumb moves like axing the popular local Edy’s Ice Cream Parlor in favor of the soon-departed Eddie Bauer chain store. Where does she or he go to express this opinion? Elected officials? Forget it. Previous Mayor Dean was behind the Eddie Bauer debacle. Current Mayor Bates, theoretically supported by a different faction, has been involved with packing the Planning, Landmarks and Zoning Commissions with development hacks who want similar mistakes in West Berkeley and elsewhere. The temptation to vote to curtail this kind of institutionalized stupidity by cutting off funding is strong. And those who see through the “special tax” dodge are inclined just to vote no on everything, since the Economic Development Department will never come up as a direct vote.  

And yet, and yet, the city does need to have enough money to provide critical public services, and times are tough. But are public employees doing what the public really needs, or simply collecting ample paychecks and generous pensions? Citizens who interact with city employees on a regular basis have opinions on this topic, and they seem to be increasingly negative. Just try building a deck, for example. Several hundred public-spirited citizens serve on city commissions at any given point in time, where they have the opportunity to observe up close what’s not working. They write letters to the Planet about what they experience, and these letters are not enthusiastic. (That’s undoubtedly why city bureaucrats issue regular reports recommending abolition of commissions.)  

Some parents who volunteer in the public schools are shocked at the way funds are used, and they’re also not coy about expressing their opinions: witness recent controversies about landscaping at Willard Middle School. Other parents may think that everything’s not perfect, but the schools still need the money.  

If you don’t think that the city should donate Derby Street to BUSD to build a ball field for varsity athletes, should you vote against funding measures, and if so, for city or school district? It’s confusing. 

That’s why Measure S is attractive. Many citizens have tangled with city staff over what appears to be cavalier treatment of trees in public spaces. (Some years ago, bad pruning of Berkeley street trees was actually the subject of a photo essay in Pacific Horticulture Magazine.) Instead of urging voters to reject Measure N (which includes re-upping the parks tax) Measure S supporters have put together a carefully crafted measure which aims to solve the problem instead of throwing out the baby with the bath water. It’s moderate in scope, not nearly as comprehensive as the heritage tree ordinances in similar cities like Santa Cruz and Palo Alto, but strong enough to send a message to the city-paid custodians of our arboreal treasures that they should be doing a better job with their public funds. And of course, anyone who approves of how our public trees have been treated can vote against it. 

Would that all decisions were so simple. Most of the time, all we voters can do is vote candidates and tax measures up or down. Voting against taxes is strong medicine, which should be reserved for the direst cases.  

It’s no secret that many owners of single family homes, especially in the flats, feel massively dissed by Berkeley’s planning department, which seems to them to have been loading the dice in favor of big developers of fancy apartment complexes which end up, yes, in their backyards. But is voting no on J and K the right solution? Some recently formed organizations want to convince voters that this is indeed the remedy, and they’ve expressed this opinion in these pages and elsewhere. A few city council candidates (okay, maybe two or three so far) have come out against city planners’ mindless advocacy of excessive density. If more candidates had the courage to follow their example and take positions on controversial topics (and to keep their campaign promises), Berkeleyans would be less tempted to vote no on the taxes which might actually be needed to support essential city services.  

—