A downtown Berkeley bank robbery ended Friday with the arrest of the dye-smeared suspect aboard a packed AC Transit bus in rush hour traffic. -more-
Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board has greenlighted the most controversial building yet in the downtown area, the nine-story luxury Seagate apartment—or is it condo?—on Center Street. -more-
With its final meeting before Election Day scheduled for Tuesday, city councilmembers insist they won’t duck quite possibly the most controversial issue of the year. -more-
With Berkeley voters set to decide the fate of $8 million in proposed tax increases, Mayor Tom Bates publicized Monday a preliminary report claiming that the city on average offers more services for about the same price than comparable California cities. -more-
Zoning Adjustments Board members voted Thursday to allow an upscale Shattuck Avenue pasta eatery to sell take-out vino along with their penne and linguini. -more-
Berkeley native Ulysses Ellis never imagined that failing to buckle his safety belt could land him in a legal morass. -more-
While the three candidates for the Albany Unified School District agreed that overcoming fiscal challenges is one of the top two priorities in the district, they divided over what they believe is the other most important issue. -more-
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory—formerly the Radiation Laboratory—will hold a Wednesday evening public hearing on the proposed 10-year hazardous waste facility permit for the site. -more-
With two of its five members up for re-election in two weeks, the Berkeley Unified School District Board of Education has set a light agenda for Wednesday night, its last scheduled meeting before the Nov. 2 vote. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at the Old City Hall on Martin Luther King Jr. Way. -more-
The on-line Berkeley Police Bulletin for Friday, October 15, reported a homicide at 1:54 a.m. Berkeley Homicide Det. Robert Rittenhouse told the Planet on Monday that the death is considered suspicious and is under investigation. Police did not return subsequent calls about the incident. -more-
I have seen firsthand that while the current board is well intentioned—the board has not been able to engage our community in the open, inclusive, and interest-based dialogue necessary to address student achievement from kindergarten through grade 12 in a comprehensive, effective and sustainable way. After more than ten years, the district has yet to develop a district-wide student achievement plan that addresses students at every academic level and need. Over the years, school communities have been forced to develop plans on their own, without clear district guidelines, data-driven research, training on how to develop adequate plans, or set evaluation standards, which has resulted in a piecemeal, hit or miss approach in addressing the success of our schools and students. -more-
I am running for this office because I believe there is too much politics on the Berkeley School Board. Examples include closing Franklin School and the former adult school, and turning school playgrounds into parking lots (at Franklin School and the Berkeley High tennis courts). The Berkeley Citizen Action (BCA) majority is beginning again the same old plan—closing schools to free up land for development—just as they did in 1984. That was disastrous, and it took years for our schools to begin to recover from it. -more-
I believe improving our educational system must be a top priority in our communities. We need good, dedicated School Board members who are committed to the institution of public education, to inspire our children and to build a better future for ALL young people. That is why I am running for re-election to the School Board. -more-
I am Kalima Rose, a parent of two Berkeley school students, and a CAL alum. -more-
I am running for a second term for the Berkeley School Board. It has been a privilege to serve you these last four difficult years; I look forward to serving you another four. I was the only new boardmember when I assumed office in December 2000. I immediately started asking the hard questions. Superintendent McLaughlin would leave by Feb. 1, 2001, and left the district with several administrators in the wrong position or in over their heads, and fiscal, payroll, budget, and personnel systems in complete disarray. We hired an interim superintendent, Steve Goldstone. For several months we conducted a search for a permanent superintendent, eventually hiring Michele Lawrence in July 2001. During the first months of my term we discovered a budget deficit estimated at five to six million; estimated because there was no confidence in the ability of our business office at that time to generate accurate numbers. I am not exaggerating when I say the entire business operations had been neglected, abandoned, and mismanaged for years. -more-
George W. Bush has been good to me. To call him my savior would be overstating the case, but not by much. I was drifting, with little sense of direction or purpose, when he came to me and showed me the way. It will be difficult to vote against a man who has given me so much. -more-
Slogging onward towards Babylon on a diet of fast food politics, I cannot bring myself to wear a Kerry button or put his bumper sticker on my car. I cannot support him, but I would, if I have to, vote for him. -more-
Editors, Daily Planet: -more-
The real debate story was not President Bush’s poor performance or the fact that John Kerry’s skill changed the dynamics of the election. What will be discussed long after the election is over, and these events fade in our memories, is the fact that Bush agreed to the debates at all. -more-
At its Oct. 12, 2004 meeting, the City Council passed the first reading of a recommendation from the Rent Board for an amendment to the Ellis Implementation Ordinance. The three reasons given for the increase of the fixed relocation payment from $4,500 to $7,000 were: 1) what Berkeley has done in the past, 2) what other rent-controlled communities have done, and 3) analogy to the state and federal eminent domain laws, which are designed to protect the constitutional rights of tenants and others. -more-
It’s hard to believe that I was jealous of a man who could not move his arms or legs, or breathe on his own, but I was. You see, in 1995 Christopher Reeve became paralyzed from the neck down, just as my husband Ralph did in a Claremont Avenue bicycling accident in 1994. But Reeve was less fortunate than Ralph. His injury was higher up on his spinal chord, and he was forced to use a ventilator in order to move his lungs. Even so, I was suspicious that because of his celebrity, Christopher Reeve received better treatment from his doctors than Ralph experienced at our HMO. -more-
26. Education for All -more-
G. B. Shaw famously quipped, “Those who can, do, and those who can’t, teach.” He obviously had never met anyone like Jerry Kuderna, for whom the acts of performing, teaching, and learning blend irresistibly, growing from the same root of almost religious devotion. -more-
When Sana Makhoul started studying for her master’s degree in art history at San Jose State University, she noticed that her native Arab culture was either unexamined or misrepresented in all the books she used for class and decided to find out why. -more-
Boas in Berkeley? Unlikely as it seems, we do have a native species of boa. But this isn’t one of the giant constrictors of the tropics, big enough to swallow a deer. Rubber boas max out around 26 inches in length, prey on small vertebrates, and are among the most inoffensive of serpents. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
Berkeley residents who don’t want to wait for a flu shot will have to leave city limits to find an available vaccine. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
Editor’s Note: A portion of this article ran in the Oct. 8 issue. It is rerun here in its entirety: -more-
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. -more-
24. To Release Political Prisoners; To Stop Capital Punishment -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
Editors, Daily Planet: -more-
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-
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. -more-
John Gordon is downtown Berkeley’s biggest booster. -more-
“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?” -more-
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. -more-
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.”) -more-
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. -more-
A friend of ours has been planning to go to Florida in the next couple of weeks to help with the get-out-the-vote effort. As the date approaches, she’s begun to wonder if it would be more effective to donate the cost of the trip to an organization already working in the field. Trying to help her make up her mind, I offered to poll my several politically astute cousins who live in Florida to see if they thought she should go. Their return emails were a good window on what’s going on in their part of the country. -more-
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. -more-
