News

Kerry Landslide at Longfellow

Tuesday November 02, 2004

Max Sinton, 11, a sixth-grader at Longfellow Junior High School attentively fills out his ballot in the school courtyard. In a mock presidential election at Longfellow Junior High on Monday, John Kerry won by a landslide with 245 votes. President George Bush came away with only 8 votes, and 22 ballots were thrown out. Of the 433 students at the school, 297 registered to vote, a requirement in order to participate. At right, a voter enjoys a post-decision lollipop while showing off his “I Voted” souvenir sticker. -more-


University Avenue Project Clears ZAB: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday November 02, 2004

Over the protests of neighboring business and property owners, Zoning Adjustments Board members Thursday issued a mitigated negative declaration and a use permit for a major University Avenue project. -more-


Area Residents Call In From Swing States: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday November 02, 2004

If John Kerry emerges triumphant Tuesday, he will have thousands of volunteers to thank, including quite a few from Berkeley. -more-


Chevron Faces Setback at Point Molate: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday November 02, 2004

Richmond city officials abused their discretion three years ago in approving a plan by ChevronTexaco to create two 30,000-barrel liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanks, a state appellate court ruled Friday. -more-


Flu Vaccine Shortage Raises Access Questions: By ANNA OBERTHUR

Special to the Planet
Tuesday November 02, 2004

With the supply scarce, Berkeley health officials are struggling to decide how to dole out potentially life-saving flu vaccines this winter—a challenge made more complicated by the fact that most of the doses are in private hands. -more-


Rubicon to Take Over for Jobs Consortium for Homeless: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday November 02, 2004

One of the largest homeless service providers in the Bay Area is slated to take over a jobs training program in Berkeley after the current provider ran afoul of federal regulators. -more-


Election Night Parties Around Town To Watch the Winners and Losers: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday November 02, 2004

Political junkies who don’t want to spend election night alone staring at television news anchors have plenty of social opportunities Tuesday night. -more-


Albany City Council Race Ends With Allegations: By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday November 02, 2004

Albany City Council candidates Brian Parker and Robert Lieber have filed a complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission, charging two of his opponents with attempting to subvert Albany’s campaign finance ordinance by illegally coordinating with an independent campaign committee. -more-


Emeryville Printer Wins Big In Election Sign Business: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday November 02, 2004

Many of the campaign posters plastered on Berkeley telephone poles and staked into lawns this political season, no matter the political slant, have a common thread: They’re made in Emeryville. -more-


Art Panel Okays ‘Spaceship Earth’: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday November 02, 2004

Civic Arts Commission members Wednesday voted 7-2 to accept “Spaceship Earth,” a massive quartzite and bronze sculpture honoring the late Berkeley-born environmentalist David Brower. -more-


Lawrence Breaks Ankle At Measure B Party: By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday November 02, 2004

The Berkeley elections claimed at least one victim last week when Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Michele Lawrence accidentally fell and broke her ankle in two places during a block party where she had planned to give a talk promoting Measure B. -more-


When Did ‘Hobbit’ Humans Die Out? Not So Long Ago, Say Indonesian Villagers: By CATY HUSBANDS

Pacific News Service
Tuesday November 02, 2004

The recent announcement that scientists had found the bones of a “human dwarf” species on the remote island of Flores in Eastern Indonesia shocked anthropologists across the globe. Could these human dwarf people, dubbed Homo floresiensis, have lived alongside our taller human ancestors just 13,000 years ago? Before the discovery, scientists would have said “impossible!” But if you asked people I know on the island of Flores, they would say, “Yes, we know they lived here—until very recently, in fact.” -more-



Letters to the Editor

Tuesday November 02, 2004

UNREPRESENTATIVE -more-


Nannies, Purple Mohawks And the Meaning of Life: By SUSAN PARKER

Tuesday November 02, 2004

San Francisco State -more-


Police Blotter: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday November 02, 2004

A Trio of Robberies -more-


Self-Government: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?: By SHARON HUDSON

COMMENTARY
Tuesday November 02, 2004

Berkeley recently—and rightfully—celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement. But news coverage of the events barely mentioned the heavy-handed role the university played, in first causing the movement by curtailing speech, and later in ratcheting up the violence that accompanied subsequent protest activities. Today UCB basks in the glow of the FSM, but don’t forget: UC was the oppressor that made Berkeley radical. And still does. -more-


El Cerrito Utility Tax Steamrolls Voters: By PETER S. LOUBAL

Tuesday November 02, 2004

El Cerrito aspires to be Contra Costa County’s progressive bastion, providing supermajority support for school, library and transit taxes. But emulating Berkeley cuts both ways, and the city, seemingly inspired by Berkeley’s “Budget Watch,” now has a like tax revolt battling “Measure K”—an attempt to legitimize a hitherto illegal 8 percent utility user’s tax. The City Council ignored a 2001 court decision forcing it to get voter approval. All it did was cut its statute of limitations exposure to a year, to minimize tax rebate requests in case of a lawsuit. Now it plays catch-up in a very heavy-handed manner. Political satellites tend towards theatrics, achieving a nuttiness of their very own. -more-


Samba Ngo Invites All To Dance at Ashkenaz: By JAKOB SCHILLER

Tuesday November 02, 2004

Everyone who’s been anxiously awaiting the national election might learn a thing or two from Samba Ngo, an African musician who lives by the motto “Let’s dance now, because tomorrow who knows.” -more-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday November 02, 2004

TUESDAY, NOV. 2 -more-


Ginko Trees: Exotic Old Souls Flourish on Berkeley Streets: By RON SULLIVAN

Special to the Planet
Tuesday November 02, 2004

There’s a pretty row of ginkgo trees along the curve where Shattuck Avenue meets Henry Street in North Berkeley, and shorter rows and isolated specimens elsewhere around town. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday November 02, 2004

TUESDAY, NOV. 2 -more-


Preservationists Fight to Save Venerable West Berkeley Pub: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday October 29, 2004

While most of the Tuesday night crowd at Brennan’s were cheering the Red Sox, a half-dozen others huddled at a back table, brainstorming ways to save the venerable West Berkeley tavern. -more-


Tempers Flare Over Campus Bay Project: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday October 29, 2004

Long simmering anger burst into the open Wednesday night as anxious Richmond residents threw heated questions and charges at state officials and representatives of the firm planning a major residential development atop a Richmond toxic waste site. -more-


Pryor Named New Fire Chief: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday October 29, 2004

A near life-long Berkeley resident has gotten the nod to become the city’s next fire chief. -more-


Traditional Allies Divided Over Parks Measure CC: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday October 29, 2004

Spanning 96,000 acres in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, the East Bay Regional Park District is the largest local park system in the country. But when its residents go to the polls on Tuesday, only those who live along the bay shore from San Pablo to Alameda will see a new park tax before them. -more-


Tax Measures Spur Opposition From Property Owners: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday October 29, 2004

Bruce McMurray’s home in the Berkeley hills is a testament to frugality. -more-


Complaint Dismissed Against Anti-Tax Groups: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday October 29, 2004

Berkeley election monitors effectively dismissed Wednesday a complaint filed against the Council of Neighborhood Associations (CNA), but failed to address the question of whether the group had violated Berkeley election law by mailing to non-members its newsletter urging the defeat of city tax measures. -more-


Newest West Berkeley Bowl Plans Unveiled to Neighbors: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday October 29, 2004

Architect Kava Massih unveiled the latest version of the new Berkeley Bowl planned for the southwest corner of Ninth Street and Heinz Avenue in West Berkeley, at a meeting Tuesday night for project neighbors. -more-


Prostitution Opposed, Marijuana and Trees Ignored: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday October 29, 2004

Last summer members of the City Council seemed ready to fight three citizen-initiated measures on the November ballot that would promote decriminalizing prostitution, liberalize medical pot laws and set up a board to protect trees. -more-


Richmond Candidate Cries Foul Over ‘Hit Pieces’: By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Friday October 29, 2004

A Richmond City Council candidate has condemned two last-minute campaign flyers in that race as “eleventh-hour mudslinging” and “hit pieces” that have become “far too typical of Richmond politics” and “have nothing to do with issues that matter to Richmond residents.” -more-


UC Hotel Project Talks ‘Moving Forward’: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday October 29, 2004

Plans for a major UC Berkeley-sponsored hotel and convention center at the northeast corner of Shattuck Avenue and Center Street are moving forward, says Kevin Hufferd, UC Capital Projects senior planner. -more-


Bush, Kerry Endorse Return to the Braceros: By DAVID BACON

Pacific News Service
Friday October 29, 2004

“I believe there ought to be a temporary worker card that allows a willing worker and a willing employer to mate up, so long as there’s not an American willing to do that job, to join up in order to be able to fulfill the employers’ needs.” —George Bush, presidential debate, Oct. 14, 2004 -more-


Top Contra Costa Physician Blasts Campus Bay Turf War: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday October 29, 2004

The physician charged with safeguarding the health of Contra Costa County residents issued a stinging rebuke Thursday of the bureaucratic turf battles he believes are compromising the Campus Bay toxic waste cleanup. -more-


Campaign 2004: Perspective From Colorado: By BOB BURNETT

NEWS ANALYSIS
Friday October 29, 2004

Dreading the notion of sitting around Berkeley, filling the anxious hours until Nov. 3 by reading contradictory polls and phoning undecided voters in swing states, we decided to travel to Colorado and immerse ourselves in get-out-the-vote activities. -more-


Sanctions, Not Pre-Emption Softened Qaddafi’s Libya: By PAOLO PONTONIERE

Pacific News Service, NEWS ANALYSIS
Friday October 29, 2004

Libya’s decision to junk its WMD program confirms that sanctions, not pre-emptive war in Iraq as George Bush claims, worked. Diplomatic pressures punctuated by stiff commercial and military sanctions convinced Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi to take stock of Libya’s international isolation and brought him to the negotiating table. -more-


Letters to the Editor

Friday October 29, 2004

MEASURE Q -more-


Police Blotter: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday October 29, 2004

Berkeley Police are investigating two shootings and a stabbing attack that took place this week, and are celebrating a raid on a South Berkeley drug house that netted cocaine, heroin, a 9 mm. semiautomatic pistol and three arrests. -more-


Oakland Police Must Work for Neighbor Support: ByJ. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

UNDERCURRENTS OF THE EAST BAY AND BEYOND
Friday October 29, 2004

A reader from a local newsgroup takes issue with the assertion in last week’s column that Chief Richard Word’s tenure as Oakland Police Chief was a failure. Chief Word recently announced that he is resigning from that position. -more-


Berkeley’s Stormwater Property Tax: Where’s the Money?: By L.A. WOOD

COMMENTARY
Friday October 29, 2004

For nearly a hundred years, Berkeley has struggled to maintain its storm system of inlets, culverts and pipes that carry rain and other surface waters to our creeks and into the San Francisco Bay. Historically, our city has always placed a very low priority on the general maintenance and the annual repairs of the storm system. However, in 1992, there was a serious legislative move to fix Berkeley’s beleaguered storm system when voters authorized a new stormwater property assessment. -more-


Yes on Measure B for Berkeley Schools: By NANCY RIDDLE and DAN LINDHEIM

COMMENTARY
Friday October 29, 2004

Why is Measure B so important? -more-


‘Eurydice’ Offers New View of Orpheus Myth: By KEN BULLOCK

Special to the Planet
Friday October 29, 2004

Against a blue-green expanse of tiled stage and backdrop, a young couple, swimming goggles pushed back, dallies at the beach. He’s always thinking about—or hearing—music. She’s talking about the books she’s read, and can’t get the rhythm right when he asks her, “Will you remember my melody underwater?” -more-


Arts Calendar

Friday October 29, 2004

FRIDAY, OCT. 29 -more-


‘Calliope’ Shines Again at Marina Mall: By JAKOB SCHILLER

Friday October 29, 2004

After 22 years of weathering the elements at the Berkeley Marina Mall, Calliope, a sculpture by Berkeley artist Joseph Slusky has received a facelift. The 11-foot steel sculpture recently got a new paint job and had its dent repaired thanks to the money from the city’s Public Arts Program. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Friday October 29, 2004

FRIDAY, OCT. 29 -more-