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Jakob Schiller:
          
          Julie Sinai, the senior aide to Mayor Tom Bates, monitors the vote tallies from the Yes on J,K,L headquarters Tuesday night as all three measures go down to defeat.
Jakob Schiller: Julie Sinai, the senior aide to Mayor Tom Bates, monitors the vote tallies from the Yes on J,K,L headquarters Tuesday night as all three measures go down to defeat.
 

News

Council Changes, Measure B Wins, Others Lose: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday November 05, 2004

When the freshly elected Berkeley City Council convenes next month it will have three new members and one unenviable challenge. 

After voters rejected all four tax increases that would have raised $8 million for libraries, paramedic services, youth programs, and the city’s cash-strapped general fund, councilmembers will have to start cutting and slashing themselves out of a $7.5 million general fund deficit projected next year. 

“We’re going to have our backs against the wall,” said Councilmember Gordon Wozniak, who was not up for reelection Tuesday. 

City voters did approve Measure B, an $8 million-a-year property tax for Berkeley schools. With two-thirds vote needed to pass, it was approved by 71.5 percent of voters, according preliminary results. 

Joining the council in December will be Max Anderson, Laurie Capitelli and Darryl Moore. Anderson defeated eight-term incumbent Maudelle Shirek, Jeffrey Benefiel and Laura Menard in District 3. Capitelli defeated Barbara Gilbert and Jesse Townley to succeed Miriam Hawley in District 5. Moore defeated Sharon Kidd to succeed Margaret Breland in District 2. In District 6, incumbent Betty Olds defeated Norine Smith. 

“Winning under these circumstances is humbling,” said Anderson, whose win effectively ends the political career of Shirek, a seminal leader in the civil rights movement. Earlier this year Shirek was thrown off the ballot when an aide failed to properly file her candidate papers. Representatives for Shirek did not return phone calls for this story. 

Menard, Anderson’s other main opponent, doubted that she and her supporters could work with him after a contentious campaign. “He went too low,” said Menard who accused Anderson of co-opting her issues and portraying her as lacking compassion. 

Opponents of the city tax measures, who took no position on tax measures not proposed by the city, painted the vote as a mandate for change in city hall.  

“We concluded that the city was out of control, but that we weren’t in a position to make judgments on other jurisdictions,” said David Wilson, a leader of Berkeleyans Against Soaring Taxes. Without a united opposition, voter passed the school district’s Measure B; Measure CC, a $42 million tax for the East Bay Regional Park District; and Measure AA, a bond measure to raise up to $980 million for seismic retrofits to BART. 

While privately several on the council had predicted that voters would reject some of the tax measures, the clean sweep left councilmembers second guessing their Election Day strategy. 

“We put too many things on at once,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington. “If we just had the library tax and one other one, they could have passed.”  

The library tax, Measure L, failed with 50.5 percent of the vote, far below the two-thirds threshold needed to pass. Measure K, a tax on youth services, won 53.5 percent of the vote. Measure M, an tax increase for the city’s Paramedic fund, netted 50 percent. Measure J, an increase to the utility tax and the only tax that needed a simple majority to pass, garnered just 37 percent of the vote. 

Worthington blamed the “sensory overload” of tax measures on the council’s impulse to appease council members who championed different taxes, but, which he said, only served to divide the council on the different proposals. 

Councilmember Dona Spring agreed that the council approved too many tax measures, but said legal constraints prohibited the city from proposing one large measure that the entire council could rally around. 

Mayor Tom Bates, who said he was most surprised that voters rejected the utility tax, chalked up the defeat not to a lack of confidence in City Hall but to a regional backlash against city taxes. 

“Look at San Francisco,” he said. “They have their most popular mayor in recent years and they rejected tax measures too.” 

Elsewhere in the East Bay, Oakland and El Cerrito passed taxes, while Fremont rejected a tax increase. 

The first groups to feel the pinch of the rejected tax measures will be about 20 community agencies that received six months of funding beginning last July with a contingency that the funding would expire at the end of the year if voters rejected Measures J and K. Among the groups slated for cuts at the start of the new year are the Berkeley Boosters and a youth homeless shelter. 

Next year the city must close a $7.5 million deficit. Already City Manager Phil Kamlarz has proposed $4 million in cuts that include permanently closing a fire truck company and eliminating vacant positions in the police department. 

The city over the next few months must now chart further cuts, said Budget Manager Tracy Vesely. She is scheduled to present a budget update when the new council convenes for the first time on Dec. 7. 

Service at the library, which reduced hours this summer, will remain the same through next June, when further cuts to the book budget or operating hours will likely be necessary, said Director of Library Services Jackie Griffin. 

“It’s going to be pretty devastating,” said Mayor Bates. “I don’t think people fully understood what they were voting for when they opposed taxes.” 

But councilmember Olds questioned “how much real cutting we’ll have to do. 

“Some of those measures are things we can live without,” she said. “It might not be that bad.” 

The defeat of the tax measures is expected to have pronounced ramifications for city unions, some of which pumped thousands of dollars into campaigns to support the measures. 

After most unions agreed to defer a portion of their scheduled salary increases this year in return for the city renouncing its right to force the unions to take the same action for the remainder of their contracts, union leaders are expecting the city to demand more sacrifices. 

“We expect them either to impose mandatory time off or initiate cuts in services, which might include layoffs,” said Leland Johnson, President of SEIU 535, which represents city librarians. He added that no matter the city’s demands, his union would refuse to defer scheduled salary increases for a second consecutive year. 

Eric Landes-Brenman, President of Public Employee Union Local 1, said he also feared layoffs, and called on the city to work with unions to identify areas where the city could operate more efficiently. 

The new council appears likely to maintain the fluid alliances that have become its trademark since Mayor Bates took office in 2002. Despite the defeat of the tax measures he supported, Bates, who has endorsed six of the eight members of the new council, remains a potent political force.  

Councilmember Olds predicted the new council would be loosely divided into three ideological groups with Anderson joining Spring and Worthington on the left, Moore joining Bates and Maio in the center, and Capitelli joining herself and Wozniak on the right. 

Spring, who like Olds often found herself voting in dissent, expected Anderson to bolster the progressive wing of the council, which she said suffered when Councilmember Shirek began voting more conservatively. 

 

 


Rivera, Selawsky Appear to Hold On to School Board Seats: By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Friday November 05, 2004

Race, which formed a quiet subtext to the Berkeley School Board elections, bubbled over the surface this week as a representative of presumed defeated candidate Karen Hemphill charged that “that Berkeley showed its true colors” on election day. 

“There is a lot of frustration in both the African-American and Latino communities [following the election],” said Hemphill campaign manager Marissa Saunders. “It shows once again that our voices don’t matter. I think Berkeley isn’t as progressive as it claims to be.” 

Preliminary results in the closely contested race showed incumbents Joaquin Rivera and John Selawsky defeating challengers Karen Hemphill, Kalima Rose, and Merrilie Mitchell. But with the preliminary tally showing Selawsky with only a 680 vote margin over Hemphill, city election officials cautioned that the still-uncertain number of uncounted provisional ballots could possibly change the election results. Rose finished 116 votes behind Hemphill and Mitchell trailed the field badly, some 7,200 votes behind Rose. 

Rivera, who finished 3,000 votes ahead of Selawsky, is of Puerto Rican descent. Selawsky and Rose are white. Hemphill is African-American. 

From time to time throughout the campaign, Hemphill made mild mention of her contention that another minority member of the board was needed because Rivera was ignoring the needs of Berkeley’s Latino and African-American citizens. But two days after the final votes were in, Saunders—who is African-American—was more harsh.  

“I’m surprised that Rivera came in first,” she said. 

Asked why she thought that happened, she replied, “Some people in the city don’t care that the African-American community and the Latino community said they didn’t like him. It doesn’t matter to them. He’s looking out for their kids. He’s never represented people of color, the eight years he’s been in office. And now we have another four years that he’s not going to be representing us. I like him personally. We’re friends. But in all honesty, he doesn’t represent me or my children. He never has, and he never will. It’s never been an urgency with him.” 

Saunders added that “the wonderful thing about the campaign was that we were able to develop a multi-racial, multi-economical campaign base which was something that we think the incumbents didn’t have, and never will have.” 

Rivera did not reply to telephone calls requesting comment on the election. 

Defeated challenger Kalima Rose was more philosophical.  

“I’m disappointed that Karen and I didn’t win,” she said, “but I thought that we made a strong showing and gained a lot of community support. I thought it was very interesting that our [my and Karen’s] numbers stayed very solid throughout the precinct results, so it wasn’t like we only had supporters in one community or in one part of the city. That was encouraging to me that we showed a broad base of support. The fact that she and I finished so close together showed that the message we took out to the communities for educational excellence resonated with those folks. It strengthened my resolve to keep working on those issues.” 

Rose said it was too early to talk about possible plans of running again. 

“I’m going to keep on with my work for reforms at the high school,” she said. “I expect that a lot will unfold in the next few years that would inform my decision.” 

Discussing the passage of Measure B—the tax measure for supplementary funding for the Berkeley Unified School District—Selawsky said, “Assuming that Joaquin and I have been re-elected, I think there was a recognition that the board has done its work over the past four years, and that we’re on the right track. I think it’s a recognition that the board has done what it needed to do to balance the budget, to get the systems back in operation, and to lay the foundation for the next four years.” 

But Selawsky cautioned that he wasn’t going to be complacent. 

“I also realize that there’s a lot of work that we have left to do,” he said. “The next step is the strategic planning process, which is coming up real soon. Measure B passed, and we have to plan for some of that funding. I also want to take a good look at our middle school program. Joaquin and I have been saying through the campaign that we’ve made real gains in the elementary school program, but it plateaus at the middle school. There’s been small progress at the middle school level, and we need to work on our program there—get more resources, if that’s what it takes—analyze what’s working and what’s not working.” 

Rose credited a portion of Measure B’s success to volunteers who also worked in her campaign and Hemphill’s, and the measure also benefited from a united front of support from the five school board candidates. During at least two candidates’ debates, Rivera closed by urging that however citizens voted in the school board race, they should all cast their ballots in favor of Measure B. 

Selawsky noted that a key factor in the tax measure victory was that unlike the city tax measures J, K, and L, Measure B escaped the opposition of the city’s anti-tax forces, particular that of BASTA (Berkeleyans Against Soaring Taxes). BASTA was formed this summer to fight the four city tax measures and a measure to publicly fund city elections on the November ballot, all of which were defeated on Tuesday’s ballot. 

“I think the biggest factor was the BASTA people and the anti-tax folks did not include Measure B in their anti-tax mailings and literature and publicity,” Selawsky said. “From talking to people and seeing the signs around, I would say about half the BASTA people supported Measure B. Looking at that, I figured that Measure B was probably going to be okay.”


Thousands of Ballots Still to Be Counted: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday November 05, 2004

Several thousand votes likely remain uncounted in Berkeley after an unprecedented surge in last minute voter registrations left nearly 5,000 residents off of the voter rolls. 

UC students appeared to have been disproportionately affected by the discrepancy between voter registration lists and people claiming to be registered voters. Approximately one out of three students going to vote had to cast a provisional paper ballot when their names didn’t appear on voter rolls, said Wanda Hasadsri, lead poll watcher for the UC Berkeley Graduate Assembly. 

“We definitely have a problem with what happened,” said Matthew McFeeley, organizing director for the University of California Student Association, which registered over 6,000 students statewide this semester. “There is no guarantee that the votes will count.” 

The State Legislature established provisional ballots for state and local races to ensure that voters not listed on registration lists would still be able to cast a vote. Before the votes can be counted, election officials must verify that voters casting the provisional ballots are, in fact, registered. 

In 2000, only 60 percent of the more than 100,000 provisional votes cast in Los Angeles County were ultimately declared valid, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. 

Verifying and counting the ballots will take about two weeks, said Elaine Ginnold, the assistant registrar of voters for Alameda County. In addition to provisional ballots, absentee ballots delivered to polling stations on Election Day also remain to be counted. Those are expected to take about two weeks for final tallies as well. 

Ginnold said that typically that the county receives between 50,000 and 75,000 absentee ballots on Election Day, but didn’t know how many were received in Berkeley on Tuesday. 

As of Thursday morning, out of 81,611 registered voters in Berkeley, 42,661 votes have been recorded, Ginnold said, a turnout, so far, of just over 50 percent. Depending on how many provisional ballots are accepted and how many absentee ballots came in on election day, the percentage of voter turnout should rise, she said. In 2000, the year of the last presidential election, 54,684 out of 72,299 registered voters cast a ballot, or about 75 percent. 

While it is unlikely to alter the outcome of any city-wide races, the number of uncounted ballots is estimated to exceed the current vote margin for two races: one, for school board director, where incumbent John Selawsky leads his closest competitor by 680 votes, and the other, for Measure R, an initiative to loosen medical cannabis laws which is losing by 866 votes. 

Ginnold attributed the high numbers of voters not listed on voter rolls to a new state law that pushed back the deadline for registering to vote to Oct.18—15 days before the election. Since the registrar printed the voter registration roster on Oct. 4—29 days before the election—the previous deadline for registering to vote, anyone who registered after Oct. 4 wasn’t included on the voter rolls. 

“It’s a clerical conundrum,” she said. 

As of Thursday, Ginnold said, 4,970 voters had registered in Berkeley after the rosters had been printed and thus weren’t included on voter registration lists given to election workers at Berkeley polling stations. It isn’t known how many of those voters showed up to the polls Tuesday. 

Raeanne Young, 20, a student at Mills College who registered within the last two weeks, wasn’t please to be handed a provisional ballot. 

“It’s unbelievable they made it such an ordeal just to vote,” she said. Young was one of over 100 voters—about one in four, according poll worker Gregory Willmore—forced to fill out a provisional ballot at the polling station in the basement of the Seventh Day Adventist on 2236 Parker St. 

Several blocks away at the YWCA, a poll worker identifying himself as Dak said the precinct had issued more than 200 provisional ballots and had recorded 468 votes on the touch screen machines.  

William Sutton, the precinct coordinator, said the high number of voters not appearing on the registration lists contributed to long lines at the precinct, where the wait to vote peaked at over two hours. 

To expedite voting, election workers at the YWCA—much to the dismay of UC poll monitors—encouraged voters to fill out provisional ballots while in line to speed up the process. 

“They were giving provisional ballots for people who were registered and requested a standard paper ballot and telling people they would definitely count,” said Wanda Hasadsri, UC Berkeley Graduate Assembly poll monitor. She counseled voters to remain in line and wait to vote electronically. 

Ginnold insisted that as long as voters filing out the provisional ballots had registered, their votes would be counted before the county is required to certify the election in three weeks. Voters who requested a paper ballot and those who filled out provisional ballots were all given the same form; there is no difference between the two ballots, she said. 

She said that all paper ballots were ordered to be placed in a provisional ballot envelope in order to efficiently account for them. Two years ago, she said, paper ballots were dumped into ballot boxes making them difficult to track. 

McFeeley of the ASUC said Berkeley was one of several cities with UC campuses where students had trouble voting. The worst case, he said, was at UC San Diego, where the county had only two precincts for the 24,000 student campus. With a large turnout of recently registered voters and a shortage of English language provisional ballots, hundreds of San Diego student voters were given the option of waiting hours for the delivery of new provisional ballots or filling out ballots written in Vietnamese, he said. 

Ginnold said that in comparison to recent elections, Alameda County’s electronic voting machines suffered few malfunctions. Berkeley precincts lodged 17 complaints to the registrar’s office, two of which involved problems with the voting machines, according to the Electronic Incident Voting System. 

At the Rose Garden Inn, one caller issued a complaint that the electronic machines failed intermittently and at the Claremont Library Branch, a caller issued a complain that voters were being given provisional ballots when several machines malfunctioned. 

 

 


Controversial Plans Pack Landmarks Panel Meeting: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday November 05, 2004

Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commissioners Monday approved plans for a pair of duplexes in the city’s newest landmarked historic neighborhood, ending a long and grueling battle. 

The same meeting also witnessed the start of what may prove an equally contentious and even more complex battle over the nearby site where a San Mateo developer hopes to building a four-story condo and retail complex. 

Three other projects—the expansion of one of Berkeley’s best-known landmarks, a proposal to landmark a West Berkeley industrial building and the fate of a home designed by one of California’s best-known architects—ensured that the meeting drew the largest turnout in recent memory.  

 

Sisterna duplex designs approved 

Residents and property owners along half-block sections of Fifth and Sixth streets and the south side of the block of Addison Street joined with preservation activists to apply for recognition as a city historic district, a status granted by the commission March 1. 

The move to landmark the historic Sisterna neighborhood was sparked by developer Gary Feiner, when he applied to turn two Victorian cottages at 2104 and 2108 Sixth St. into duplexes. 

In creating the Sisterna district, the commission refused to grant landmark status to the house at 2108 Sixth St. because the majority felt the structure had been remodeled to the point where the significant distinguishing features of the original had been obliterated. 

But the commission did landmark the lot as part of the district, giving it the final say over Feiner’s proposal. 

Commissioners rejected Feiner’s original designs as both too bulky and too similar to each other to fit into a neighborhood characterized by small and architecturally distinct 19th Century working class homes. 

During the following months, commissioners found themselves at odds not only with the developer but with city staff as well. 

Before Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board voted to issue a staff-prepared mitigated negative declaration on the project—a key pre-construction document—landmarks commissioners voted a unanimous resolution declaring the document erred in finding that Feiner’s project did not “substantially degrade the existing visual character or quality of the site and its surroundings.” 

Though the resolution detailed the commission’s objections to the design and laid out steps for resolving the issues, none of their recommendations and findings made it into the documents ZAB adopted, angering the landmarks panel and leading to heated exchanges with city staff. 

Many of the neighbors objected to any form of mitigated negative declaration and urged the city to order a more rigorous and costly environmental impact report, but city staff strongly disagreed. 

But the landmarks commission held final say over the project, and members set subsequent meetings between Feiner, his architects, neighbors and a specially appointed commission subcommittee led to a series of plan revisions, culminating in the design approved Monday. 

While neighboring property owners weren’t entirely happy with the new designs and requested an additional subcommittee meet before the final vote, commissioners voted unanimously to approve the project.  

The commission still retains final say over the design revisions they requested. 

 

Brennan’s Battle Brewing 

Monday’s meeting also saw the opening salvoes of what promises to be another development battle on a site two blocks away from Feiner’s duplexes. 

The fracas was triggered in July, when developer Dan Deibel of the Urban Housing Group of San Mateo filed plans to build a full-block condominium, retail and parking complex on the block lined by Addison Street, University Avenue, Fourth Street and the Santa Fe Railroad tracks. 

The project designer is Berkeley architect Kava Massih, who is also designing the new Berkeley Bowl further south in West Berkeley. 

The project would demolish two existing businesses at the site: Celia’s, a Mexican restaurant at 2040 Fourth St., and Brennan’s, a longtime Berkeleyan tavern at the corner of Fourth and University. 

While Celia’s owners have said they have no plans to reopen at the site, Deibel and the owners of Brennan’s have said the venerable pub will reopen in new quarters in the complex. 

Berkeley preservationist Gale Garcia added a complication in late October when she filed an application to landmark both structures, prompting the sizable turnout at Monday’s meeting. 

Elizabeth Wade, daughter of Brennan’s creator John Brennan and the current owner of the working class pub, favors the demolition, as do her son and daughter, Barney and Margaret Wade. 

Support for the Wades came from several people, including Steven Block of Moraga, who charged that neither building had any merit, industrial Realtors Don Yost and John Norheim, whose office is nearby, Bernie Ryan and Deibel. 

Supporters of the landmark designation included several proponents of the Sisterna Tract; John Brennan, a cousin of the Wades; and the daughter of Irwin Johnson, designer of the Celia’s building who requested by letter that the commission not act before their next meeting, where she promised to offer her own testimony. 

Deede Sloan, a long-time Brennan’s customer, recalled once standing in the food line with singer Bing Crosby and Jerry Brown. 

Another potential stumbling block came from an amateur historian, a well-known archaeologist, and representatives of Native American groups, who all sought to block any development on the land until a thorough scientific search can determine if ancient burials lie beneath. 

The buildings are a block away from where a dozen skeletons were unearthed in the 19th Century and a few blocks from the center of the Berkeley Shellmound, one of the oldest sites of human habitation in the Bay Area.  

Shellmounds served as burial sites, and are considered sacred sites by contemporary Native Americans. Smaller sites tended to cluster around the largest mounds, within a radius that could include the project site. 

Kent Lightfoot, a UC Berkeley archaeology professor who specializes in the shellmound cultures, told the commission that Deibel had promised a full two-stage archaeological survey to thoroughly probe the site for possible artifacts and remains. Richard Schwartz, an amateur historian and preservationist who assisted on the landmarking proposal, said he was present for the promise. 

Deibel said he had conducted a limited survey but had yet to receive the results. 

The possible presence of Native American remains sparked the interest of city Planning Manager Mark Rhoades. 

“I have very extensive concerns about the shellmound, which will require extensive testing,” he told the commissioners. “But that’s not before you tonight, only Celia’s and Brennan’s.” 

Several commissioners disagreed, offering the possibility that the presence of a Native American cultural site could be sufficient grounds for landmarking the entire site. 

The commissioners voted to continue the hearing until their Dec. 6 meeting. 

 

Fight Delayed over Nexus 

In an unusual twist, commissioners were confronted with the possibility of rival landmark applications for the same property. 

At issue is the distinctive brick structure at the southeast corner of Eighth and Carleton streets built in 1924 for Standard Die & Specialty by the Austin Building Co., the firm that also built the distinctive H.J. Heinz Co. factory at San Pablo and Ashby avenues. 

The building is owned by the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society, which uses part of the building for an animal training facility. The majority of the structure is used by the Nexus Collective, which has occupied the site for the past 30 years, and their gallery. Adjacent metal buildings house the collective’s workshops. 

Nexus supporters, who favor the original application written by veteran preservationist John English, fear the humane society will evict the collective to secure much-needed expansion space. 

Humane society supporters charge that English’s application devoted too much attention to the collective and too little to the earlier history of the building, an allegation English denied. 

The commission delayed any action until its February meeting to allow the humane society and its historical consultant to finalize its rival application. 

 

Howard Automotive 

Emeryville architect Sady S. Hayashida presented revisions of his plans for an addition to the landmarked Howard Automotive building at 2140 Durant Ave., one of Berkeley’s best-known landmarks and one of the few surviving Moderne structures in the city. 

Commissioners had found that the two-story addition to the southern part of the structure had mimicked the original too closely, and they praised his revisions—though they still were sufficiently distinctive to win their approval. 

A subcommittee of commissioners and citizens which has met once with the architect will hold a second meeting before revisions are submitted in December. 

The building will house the institute of Buddhist Studies, which is affiliated with the Buddhist Churches of America and the Graduate Theological Union. 

Chair Jill Korte told commissioners Carrie Olson and Leslie Emmington Jones that City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque had advised them that they should recuse themselves from any votes on the project because of their ties to the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA), which has taken a formal position on the project. 

Both said they intend to vote. 

Olson, who sits on the organization’s board, said she had never spoken on the project at BAHA. “I’m happy to work with staff to make this project work,” she said. 

Emmington Jones, a BAHA employee, said she was present for a BAHA discussion before the applicants filed for their permit, but “I have nothing to recuse myself from.”  

 

Last Ditch Battle 

Architects and writers may have moved too late to save a building by William Wurster, one of America’s most prominent mid-20th Century residential architects. Built in 1937, the home at 1650 La Vereda Road foreshadows designs which would become popular 15 to 20 years later. 

The application to landmark the modernist structure wasn’t filed until after the Zoning Adjustments Board had already approved a request to substantially alter the building. 

Planning Manager Rhoades told commissioners they couldn’t act on the proposal, and that the only way to block the remodeling was through an appeal already filed by architect Brian Viani, a coauthor of the landmarking application. 

Architect John Holey, hired by owner Marguerite Rossetto to design the remodel, strenuously objected to landmarking efforts. 

Her position was countered by Viani, architectural historian Ruth Rosen, Christopher Adams and letters from other architects and the senior architectural writer for Sunset magazine. 

Viani’s appeal comes before the council on Nov. 9. H


Election Day ‘Debacle’ at YWCA Polling Station: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday November 05, 2004

A new citizen seeking to cast her first vote and her husband screamed, yelled and threatened to call the police before they were allowed to cast their ballots at the YWCA polling station Tuesday. 

The ruckus, which occurred just after 8 p.m., capped off an election day that Precinct Coordinator William Sutton called “a debacle.” 

Margalit Lutskevich and her husband Aharon Habshoosh took their place in line outside the YWCA at approximately 7:40 p.m., 20 minutes before polls closed. They and others still waiting outside were ushered into the lobby to continue their wait. 

What they didn’t know was that the YWCA, at 2600 Bancroft Way, houses two separate polling precincts, one for the surrounding south campus neighborhood and the other for residents who li ve in a precinct just north of the UC Berkeley campus. 

While the south campus precinct was beset by complaints against poll workers and long lines caused primarily by large numbers of voters who didn’t appear on voter rolls, the north campus precinct ran smoothly. Assuming, after a quick survey of the remaining voters, that nobody in the jam-packed lobby was waiting to vote at the north campus precinct, election workers shut down voting machines promptly at 8 p.m. 

The election worker announced that the polls were closed, but didn’t specify that voting had ceased in the north campus precinct. 

When the couple learned that there were in fact two polling stations and that the north campus precinct was closed, they rushed to the precinct doors. 

“I’m going to go through this door and vote,” Habshoosh screamed at a poll worker. “My voting right is not going to be violated arbitrarily by a bureaucrat.” 

Other poll workers came to the couple’s defense. 

“I think that’s really scandalous and it’s totally undem ocratic,” said a poll worker named Dak, who said he saw the couple in the lobby at 8 p.m. “I would never think anything like that could happen in Berkeley.” 

Lois Fisher, an election worker at the north campus precinct said she hadn’t seen the couple when she surveyed voters waiting in the lobby. 

Election workers called police, who calmed tempers and brokered a compromise allowing the couple to vote via provisional ballot at the south campus precinct. 

As he left the polling station shortly after 9 p.m., Habshoosh was still angry over the ordeal. “It’s not all right,” he told Officer Michael McElroy. “We should have been able to vote on the touch screen machine.” 

The YWCA is notorious for long lines, said Councilmember Kriss Worthington who worked to se cure additional voting machines for the two precincts inside. 

But the extra machines were little help for the south campus precinct, said Poll Monitor Wanda Hasadsri, as nearly half of those who came to vote at the precinct weren’t on the voter rolls and had to fill out provisional ballots. 

Election workers needed more time to process unlisted voters and as a result, she said, voters waited in line for over two hours, while at times as few as two of the 10 voting machines were being used. 

Once inside t he precinct, Hasadsri said, voters faced unprofessional poll workers. One worker, Garfield Harris, refused to remove buttons urging support for Karen Hemphill, a candidate for the board of education, and for the Berkeley Drop-In Center, which was a controversial issue in the District 3 city council race. 

Hasadsri said that another poll worker berated students who weren’t on the voting rolls. “He told one person that he wished his foot was longer so he could kick him in the ass,” she said. 

Sutton called the behavior of the two poll workers “unacceptable” and said he would recommend that neither be allowed to work in future elections. 

Harris said he understood he was violating election law by wearing the buttons, but nevertheless decided not to remove th em. A veteran of over ten elections, Harris said Tuesday was “the worst” he had ever seen.  

“What do you expect if the count doesn’t put half of the voters on the rolls?” he said.›?


Local Election Night Parties Fizzle With National Results: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday November 05, 2004

On an election day when Republicans painted most of the country red, Berkeley called it an early night. 

Many of the election night gatherings advertised as “parties” better resembled group therapy sessions after news services called Florida for Bush shortly before 9 p.m. 

“It’s pretty depressing,” said Lori Belew, her face cupped in her hands. Like many at La Peña, she cheered wildly when Kerry took Pennsylvania only to watch the packed house slowly disperse as Bush staked out leads in two other key battleground states. 

The lone cause of hope for Democrats after 9 p.m. came when newscasters declared Minnesota for Kerry. The news spurred Jack Thorpe to lead the sparse crown in chants of, “Are we going to win in Ohio? Yeah! 

“Kerry has been fighting from behind the whole damn time. He’s going to win it,” Thorpe said. 

Shortly before 10 p.m., Thorpe’s optimism was shared at the headquarters for Measure B, a school tax, which was the only tax measure voters approved Tuesday. 

“Kerry still has a good chance,” District Superintendent Michele Lawrence said. 

What she and others didn’t know was that about five minutes earlier the Fox Radio Network called Ohio and the election for Bush. 

When alerted of the projection, the optimism quickly turned to skepticism and then to desperation. 

“That’s just Fox,” said one Measure B supporter. “I don’t see how they could tell yet.” 

But Measure B volunteer Mary Hilbert started to see the writing on the wall. “Please God,” she said. “I’m at that bargaining stage like I’d give up my first born.” 

Asked if forced to chose between a victory for Kerry or a victory for Measure B, which will pump $16 million into Berkeley schools over the next two years, School Board Director Shirley Issel didn’t mince words. 

“Kerry,” she said. 

While Measure B supporters could take solace in their local victory, there was no silver lining three blocks down the road at the headquarters for city tax measures J, K and L, which would have given money to the library, paramedics and the general fund.  

“They’re all going down,” said Calvin Fong, an aide to Mayor Tom Bates, as he watched returns trickle in on the county registrar’s webpage. 

By 10:30 p.m., with only half of the local returns counted, the spacious office, which doubles as the headquarters for the United Democratic Campaign, was nearly empty. Mayor Bates and other members of the City Council who championed the tax hikes were nowhere to be found. 

Vicky Liu, the campaign coordinator for the three tax measures, said the only matter still undecided was whether to bring out the cake they had ordered with icing that spelled out, “Victory 2004.” 

Like at other election gatherings, supporters of measures J, K and L closed shop long before final election results were tabulated. 

Laura Menard, who lost her bid for City Council in District 3, ended her party shortly before 10 p.m. “Everyone said they were tired and had to work tomorrow,” she said. 

La Farine Bakery on Solano Avenue, the site of a victory celebration for Laurie Capitelli, the winner in City Council District 5 and Betty Olds, the winner in District 6, went dark before 11 p.m. 

“Everyone was so depressed about the national results,” Olds said. 

“I should have known better. I grew up in the Midwest and there are only two things to do there, fornicate and go to church.” 

The party also ended early at the home of Dan Newman, one of the leaders behind Measure H, an initiative to publicly finance city elections. Newman sat dejected in his living room shortly after 11 p.m. as election returns showed Measure H’s $41,000 campaign could only garner 40 percent of the vote. 

“Clearly we need to educate Berkeley more on what a great system this is,” he said of the plan to fund local elections with public money. 

Marie Bowman reported that the mood was more upbeat at a party held by Berkeleyans Against Soaring Taxes, which opposed all of the losing tax measures. 

“I think it’s great news,” she said, adding that the apparent Kerry loss had dampened the festivities somewhat. 

Berkeley’s resident night owl Tuesday was Robyn Few, chief proponent of Measure Q, which called for decriminalizing prostitution. Few and a couple of loyal supporters remained at the Missouri Lounge past 1 a.m. as returns showed voters overwhelmingly rejecting the measure. 

With the help of several beverages, Few managed to stay upbeat in spite of the measure’s defeat and ready herself for the next four years. 

“We’re going to take Bush on,” she said. “We’re going to have to deal with him for four years, but he’s going to have to deal with us.”


Oakland Says Yes to Y To Help Curb Violence: By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Friday November 05, 2004

In the aftermath of the victory of Oakland’s safety Measure Y, supporters were calling it the result of a “measured, reasonable compromise” while progressive opponents said they lost because of defections from organizations and politicians “we would have expected to be fighting on our side.” 

The parcel tax and parking tax surcharge measure is expected to add $19.9 million in new revenue to fund safety and violence prevention programs in Oakland, including the hiring of 63 new sworn police officers, $4 million per year in fire department expenditures, and approximately $6.4 million to fund violence prevention social programs. 

Preliminary results this week gave the measure 69.8 percent of the vote. A two-thirds vote was needed to pass. 

Measure Y was Oakland’s third try at a violence prevention tax in recent years. In 2002, voters passed Mayor Jerry Brown’s proposal to hire 100 new police officers, but at the same time voted down the three companion tax measures to fund the hiring. In March of this year, progressive Councilmember Nancy Nadel’s measure to raise $10 million for violence prevention programs and hire 30 to 40 police officers—Measure R—barely missed the two-thirds vote needed for passage. 

A defeat of Measure Y would have been a severe political blow to Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, who has already announced his intention to run for California attorney general in 2006. 

Councilmember Jean Quan, who campaigned extensively for the measure, said that a defeat of Measure Y would have meant that a new violence prevention measure would not have been introduced until 2008. 

“Everything’s going to be tied up in 2006 in the Oakland mayor’s race,” she said. 

While preliminary tallies were coming in on election night at Alameda County election headquarters in Oakland, Quan said that she had predicted that Measure Y would get 68 percent of the vote. She said she was “obviously pleased” that the final tally exceeded her expectations. 

Quan praised the measure’s “good mix” between additional police and violence prevention social programs. “There was a lot of misinformation about the measure,” she said. “I think we convinced voters that it was carefully crafted, that we made sure a lot of checks and balances were in place. But the most important thing was that there are serious problems with violence in portions of Oakland, and we can’t handle those problems with the current number of police. Those concerns were reflected in the vote.” 

But former Councilmember Wilson Riles—who was defeated by Jerry Brown two years ago in the mayoral election—said that money and desperation were key factors in Measure Y’s victory. Riles campaigned against the measure. 

“There were a lot of well-recognized elected officials with powerful names like Barbara Lee who swayed a lot of people,” Riles said. “In addition, we weren’t able to mount a sufficient campaign to get in any kind of depth of the issue. People supported a political compromise without looking any deeper as to whether what they were supporting would actually make any difference in the city. People are just desperate and hoping that something can be done.” 

Riles estimated that Y opponents were badly outspent, with approximately $26,000 spent to defeat the measure and $140,000 spent to support it. 

Noah Zern, a member of the Education Not Incarceration coalition that opposed Y, agreed that Y opponents “didn’t have the resources or the experience to run a serious electoral campaign.” Zern said that his group was “disappointed in some of the progressive leaders, like Nancy Nadel and Barbara Lee, who took positions supporting Measure Y. We plan on meeting with them and doing follow-up work to make sure that doesn’t happen again.” 

Zern saw a silver lining in the defeat, however. 

“Our goal for the campaign was to challenge the notion that police make us safer,” he said. “We wanted to advance the debate that the community needed job training programs and health care, a better education system, adequate housing, and adequate food. We feel that through the campaign we were successful in strengthening the coalition against the prison-industrial complex.” 

And Wilson said that even though Y has passed, Oaklanders should not look for relief on the streets any time soon. 

“The police department has a lot of folks to hire to get up to the level of personnel that the city is committed to maintain before they can even start collecting and spending any of this Y money,” he explained. “It’s going to take a while to do that. In the meantime, the police department is in total disarray, both because they won’t have a chief for a while and to fulfill the requirements of the Riders settlement that they have not met the marks on.” 

Oakland Police Chief Richard Word will soon be leaving the department for a similar job in Vacaville, and a new police chief has not yet been chosen. The Riders settlement involved a recent multi-million dollar settlement by the city over claims that Oakland police officers systematically beat arrestees, lied on reports and on the witness stand, and manufactured evidence. As part of the settlement, Oakland is being monitored by a court-chosen team to improve its police department. 

“I’m not expecting there will be many new police very soon,” Riles said. “And those that do get into the system will be as poorly trained as those who are presently in the neighborhoods that are under the greatest stress from violence.”?


El Cerrito Keeps Utility Tax Court Had Sent to Voters: By JAKOB SCHILLER

Friday November 05, 2004

Measure K, one of the most heated issues this year in El Cerrito, went the way most thought it would, passing with 6,427 votes, or 65.3 percent. 

The measure approves an already existing 8 percent utility tax that generates $2.2 million dollars for the city’s general fund, or roughly 12 percent. 

“We’re thrilled,” said Debbie Weeks, one of the leaders of the Yes on K campaign and the host of the campaign’s election party on Tuesday night. “We felt pretty strongly that we were going to do okay, but you can’t tell until the very end.” 

Most of those gathered at the party, including a group of firefighters from the nearby fire station, said they knew they were in the homestretch after the initial absentee ballots came in with well over 50 percent in favor of the measure.  

The tax was on the ballot because it was originally passed in 1991 by the City Council without being put up to the voters. At the time, the council believed that general taxes, or taxes that don’t fund one particular program, do not need voter approval. Subsequently, the California Supreme Court ruled otherwise, so the city was forced to put the tax on the ballot. 

According to city officials, if voters rejected the measure, city services that depend on the money such the police department, fire department, senior programs and swim center would have been scaled back.  

Those opposed to the measure, many of whom joined a campaign called El Cerritans for Tax Justice, said they knew the odds were against them but were still satisfied with the results. 

“We got beat, there is no denying it, but they did not get two-thirds,” said Brit Johnson, one of the leaders of the tax justice campaign and the husband of Gina Brusatori, a councilmember who just stepped down to comply with the city’s informal term limit rule. 

Two-thirds of the vote was not required and the tax passed with a simple majority, but Johnson said he was glad to see significant, even if not decisive, opposition to the measure. 

Opponents claimed the tax was poorly drafted and were asking voters to delay the tax for a subsequent election to allow for more citizen oversight. In the meantime they wanted the city to use some of its reserve funds to keep existing programs alive. 

They also claimed the city is guilty of fiscal mismanagement and could have reduced the tax rate below 8 percent if there was better management of the city budget. 

Johnson said the tax justice campaign was grossly out-funded by the Yes on K campaign so they felt good about receiving more than a third of the vote. He said that the vote also disproves the claim by tax supporters that the tax justice campaign represented only a small minority. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Saturday Assembly Hearing Targets Campus Bay Cleanup: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday November 05, 2004

The heated battle over the cleanup and development of the heavily polluted South Richmond site of a chemical manufacturing complex heads to a higher venue Saturday. 

Assemblymember Loni Hancock and fellow legislators will conduct a formal hearing at UC Berkeley’s Richmond Field Station, one of two adjacent properties that housed the plants. The hearing runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Building 454 of the Field Station, 1301 South 46th St. The site is west of the I-580 Bayview exit. 

The immediate focus of the hearing is the cleanup of polluted muck from a portion of the bayfront Stege Marsh on property owned by Cherokee Simeon Ventures, a consortium which plans to build a 1,330-unit housing complex atop a buried toxic waste dump. 

“I am very interested in two things,” Hancock said Thursday. “First, that the cleanup now underway is conducted safely and that the concerns of the community are answered, and second, what, if any, new legislation is needed to insure that the proper procedures are in place to secure the best results for the public.” 

Nearby property-owners, businesspeople and area residents have complained repeatedly that the ongoing cleanup has been poorly managed, resulting in potential exposures to hazardous substances. 

Contra Costa County Public Health Director Dr. Wendel Brunner played a leading role in initiating the hearing, expressing particular concerns that bureaucratic turf wars were hampering the cleanup and citing a lack of concern for community anxieties. 

Community activists have consistently complained about dust escaping from the site, both during the current cleanup and during the larger operation two years ago that concentrated on the inland portion of the Campus Bay site. 

Tighter controls have been ordered for this phase of the cleanup after neighbors mobilized and one group, Bay Area Residents for Responsible Development (BAARD), retained legal counsel. 

While overall responsibility for supervising the site rests with the Bay Area Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB), Brunner and neighbors have asked that control be transferred to the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), which is regarded by many as more rigorous. 

On at least three occasions over the last 10 days, dust at the site has been detected at levels above the figures set for remedial action by the DTSC, which are ten times more stringent than levels set by the RWQCB. 

Hancock’s hearing will focus in part on the issue of jurisdiction, the role of public participation in the cleanup process, the status of current operations at the Campus Bay project, and the future of the site itself.  

The session is jointly sponsored by the Assembly Environmental and Toxic Materials Committee, chaired by John Laird, and the Select Committee on environmental justice, chaired by Cindy Montanez. Both legislators are scheduled to attend. 

Montanez has conducted hearings in Southern California on site cleanups supervised the Regional Water Quality Control Boards there, Hancock said. 

“We also want to determine how the supervising agency is picked, if it’s done by the developer or by the California Environmental Protection Agency,” Hancock said. 

Another concern is the proposed change of use from an industrial park to concentrated housing. Brunner and others have raised concerns that the requisite remediation standards for the two types of development, with permanent residency triggering significant lower levels of permissible exposures. 

Cherokee Simeon has proposed installing fans that would blow air beneath the residential structures to prevent concentrations of volatile organic compounds buried on the site. 

“We want to address how changes in end use trigger reexaminations of how remediations have been conducted,” Hancock said. 

Richmond city officials, reeling under a massive debt load and eager for tax revenues, have made no secret of their desire to see the housing project built, and Cherokee Simeon has emerged as a significant player on the Richmond political scene, contributing $2,500 each to four incumbent candidates in the just-concluded city council election. 

Three of the developer’s candidates won, all incumbents, including top vote-getter Tom Butt, Mindell Penn and Nathaniel Bates. The other recipient, Gary L. Bell, lost. Gayle McLaughlin, the other winner, is a member of the Richmond Progressive Alliance, which has been critical of corporate influence on municipal government. 

Richmond officials are expected to attend the hearing, said Michelle Milam, the member of Hancock’s staff who has been organizing the session. 

Among those currently scheduled to testify are: 

• A top official of Cherokee Simeon. 

• County Health Director Brunner. 

• Bruce Wolfe, executive director of the RWQCB. 

• Barbara Cooke of the DTSC. 

• Richmond City Planner Barry Cromartie. 

• Sherry Padgett of BAARD. 

• Jane Williams of California Communities Against Toxins. 

• Marlene Grossman of Pacoima Beautiful. 

Citizens and other stakeholders will also have the opportunity to testify during a public comment session, and Milam said she expects UC officials to attend as well. 

After a reporter advised Hancock earlier this week that a sizable hole had been cut into the fence surrounding the marsh excavation, her office has contacted Rick Brausch of the state Environmental Protection Agency to determine who is responsible for maintaining the site perimeter. 

While the marsh cleanup hearings are underway indoors at the Richmond Field Station, another marsh action will be happening outside. 

The Bayshore Stewards are conducting a restoration of native plants in the previously cleaned-up section of Stege Marsh on the UC property. 

Volunteers will be setting out native plants along the edge of the marsh to restore the breeding and nesting habitat of the endangered clapper rail shorebird. 

Program coordinator Elizabeth O’Shea said rain gear, tools, gloves and refreshments will be provided. 

For further information call 231-9566.


Daily Planet Faces Off With Wal-Mart Over Sealed Worker Records: By JAKOB SCHILLER

Friday November 05, 2004

On Tuesday the Berkeley Daily Planet had its first hearing in Alameda Superior Court concerning the unsealing of records filed in a class action lawsuit brought against California Wal-Mart stores. 

Represented by the Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld law firm in Oakland, the Daily Planet filed a motion in August to unseal the records after they found that nearly every document filed by Wal-Mart in the case was under “conditional seal” and inaccessible on the court’s Domain website.  

The suit that the newspaper is trying to gain access to is a statewide class action suit brought by 204,000 Wal-Mart workers who claim Wal-Mart violated their rights under state labor laws by denying them their meal and rest breaks, and by secretly deleting hours worked from their paychecks. The case was filed in 2001, granted class action status on Nov. 6, 2003 and is expected to go to trial in June 2005. 

“Wal-Mart seems to think that they do not have to play by the rules,” said Suzanne Murphy, a lawyer for the paper, about the sealing of all the documents. 

The Daily Planet is concerned the case violates the public’s constitutional right to access court records. It is also concerned that the case could set a precedent where the public, rather than the party that wants to keep its records secret, is forced to prove that court documents should be open to the public. 

According to Murphy, this is not the only lawsuit in California where Wal-Mart has tried to keep its documents secret. According to Jessica Grant, the attorney for the workers in the class action suit, Wal-Mart has designated nearly all their documents confidential in both this case and in other cases around the country. 

“Wal-Mart is hyper-sensitive and they do not want anyone to know about their company,” said Grant.  

Grant added that she believes the real point is that Wal-Mart doesn’t want the public to learn that they are artificially suppressing labor costs by intentionally understaffing their stores and secretly deleting hours from employees paychecks.  

At the hearing Tuesday, Judge Ronald M. Sabraw in the Complex Litigation Department of Alameda Superior Court heard arguments from both sides and is expected to issue a decision within the next couple of days. In a tentative ruling issued by Judge Sabraw the motion to unseal all the records was denied as premature. According to lawyers for the newspaper, that tentative ruling could change significantly with the final ruling. 

The records the newspaper is trying to access are those filed by the parties for the motion that granted the case class action status. The paper also wants access to papers filed in connection with a summary adjudication motion by Sabraw concerning certain legal issues in the class action suit. 

In their opposition to the newspaper’s motion, lawyers for Wal-Mart argue that many of the documents the newspaper has asked to see “contain and discuss highly sensitive proprietary information including trade secrets, business strategies and unique methodologies,” and therefore should remain under seal.  

In the same brief Wal-Mart says the parties followed procedures provided by a protective order entered in the case, and initially asked the court to permanently seal some of the documents submitted “conditionally under seal.” A protective order is an agreement drawn up between both sides in the litigation, which sets guidelines for how they will produce, designate and file confidential information. 

They add, however, that beginning in August 2002, rather than hold two hearings for each motion in the case—one on the motion itself, and another on the request to permanently seal the motion papers—the “court specifically allowed the parties to file documents ‘conditionally under seal’” without having to bring a formal motion to permanently seal. 

“Until now, Plaintiffs have never filed a challenge to the propriety of a document Wal-Mart filed under seal,” they write. 

A spokesperson for Wal-Mart declined to comment further on their argument or any of the other questions posed by the Daily Planet. 

Attorneys for the Daily Planet countered that the sealing of court records is governed by the California Rules of Court, which were mentioned in the protective order, but which Wal-Mart did not follow. Those rules were meant to give effect to the strict constitutional limits on sealed records announced by the California Supreme Court in a 1999 case, NBC Subsidiary (KNBC-TV) v. Superior Court.  

According to the Planet’s attorneys, those rules provide that a court record may be sealed only if the court finds that “the proponent of secrecy has an overriding interest in a particular court record that outweighs the public’s right of access to that record,” and enters an order sealing the record based on that finding. 

Wal-Mart was required to file a formal motion proving its “overriding interest” for every conditionally sealed document before the court made a decision based on the document, according to the paper’s attorneys. Under the protective order, Wal-Mart had to bring a motion to permanently seal no later than 30 days after the last paper filed by the parties in support of or opposition to the court’s decision  

Wal-Mart never filed a motion to have the records permanently sealed, so the conditional seal should no longer apply and the documents should be accessible, Murphy said. 

“If the party fails to jump through the right hoops and prove that the record should be under seal, it’s too late,” Murphy said. 

In the meantime, David Rosenfeld, another attorney for the Daily Planet, found that the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco had copies of many of the records the newspaper is seeking, which are publicly available and not under seal. According to Murphy, Wal-Mart filed the documents as part of a writ petition asking the Court of Appeal to reverse Judge Sabraw’s rulings on the class certification and summary adjudication motions.  

According to Murphy, Wal-Mart’s public filings in the Court of Appeal means it either knew the records were never properly sealed by the trial court, or waived any right, it may have had to keep those records secret.  

 

 

 

9


Report: UC Student Found Dead at Oregon Street House Had Taken Drugs: By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Friday November 05, 2004

An Alameda County Coroner’s office toxicology report has revealed that UC Berkeley senior Patrick McCann had illegal drugs in his system when he died under mysterious circumstances two weeks ago, but there is no evidence yet as to what may have caused his death. 

After McCann collapsed in his Oregon Street home in late October, his roommates took him to the emergency room at Alta Bates Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Berkeley police said at that time that there were no visible signs of injuries on his body. The death triggered a police raid on the two building Oregon Street complex shared by McCann and fellow UC students, ending with the arrest of four of his roommates on drug and weapons charges. 

The four roommates pleaded innocent Thursday to the charges, and will appear in Alameda County Court in Oakland on Dec. 8 to set a date for a preliminary hearing. 

The toxicology report found methadone and alcohol in McCann’s system. The coroner’s office said that a final determination of the cause of McCann’s death may be several weeks away. 


Neocon ‘Flex Players’ Await President Bush’s Second Term: By JANINE R. WEDEL

Pacific News Service
Friday November 05, 2004

As a social anthropologist I observed the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the rise of powerful, close-knit circles that filled the leadership vacuum and seized large chunks of state-owned wealth. These exclusive groups resemble the neoconserv ative or “neocon” core of 10 or so players who helped push the United States into Iraq. The rise of this neocon power circle—and its continued prominence within and without the second-term Bush administration—signals troubling changes in American governin g and policymaking.  

The Eastern European former apparatchiks and the American neocons share many characteristics. They specialize in blurring state and private interests and spheres. They are skilled at skirting both the government’s rules of accountabi lity and business codes of competition. They have created new norms that make bureaucracy more like business and business more contingent on government.  

In The Power Elite, written a half century ago, C. Wright Mills noted that three interlocking prongs of power—corporations, the military and the political elite—were diminishing the authority of elected officials. That trend is stronger today. The outsourcing and privatization of government functions in the name of efficiency and cost savings have led t o the delegation of more authority to private entities and new opportunities for strategically placed groups of actors to co-opt public policy agendas.  

This was certainly the case in Eastern Europe. After the revolutions of 1989, when states began divesting themselves of state-owned resources, informal groups worked in and around the crumbling systems to grab state-owned firms and other resources at fire-sale prices. Players soon learned that wearing multiple hats was the most effective modus operandi. In Poland, officials often presented visitors with two or more sets of calling cards—their official government ones, and cards naming their position in an NGO or consulting firm, sometimes even one that did business with the public office they headed. Schooled under communism in dodging the overbearing state, “mafias” and “clans” positioned themselves at the state-private nexus of activity to mold the emerging system to their advantage.  

I call these exclusive, informal factions “flex groups,” for their ease in playing multiple and overlapping roles and conflating state and private interests. These players keep appearing in different incarnations, ensuring continuity even as their operating environments change.  

The flex groups’ activity in unraveling c ommunist states was more intense than in stable societies such as the United States. However, with the outsourcing of government functions flex players are now becoming a fixture in American politics, too. Today, consulting firms, NGOs, think tanks and pu blic-private partnerships are doing more of the work of government than do civil servants. They write budgets, manage other contractors and make and implement policy. While government contracts are on the rise, driven in part by the demand for military, nation-building and homeland security services, the number of civil servants available to oversee them is falling. Clinton-era efforts to streamline bureaucracy have further decreased the government’s oversight capacity.  

The resulting labyrinth presents openings for flex groups to co-opt public policy portfolios and dilute effective monitoring and study of alternative policies. It also makes the flex group mode of operating attractive to an impatient administration. Cohesion and activism make it effectiv e and an asset to a president, except when it becomes a liability. The neocon core, with a long-held strategy for American policy toward the Middle East, had just such an appeal. The group not only had goals that coincided with those of the Bush II admini stration, it also had a ready-made strategy to achieve them.  

Flex groups’ interactions are far more complex than traditional good-old-boy networks-such as the “Wise Men” who re-fashioned American foreign policy at the end of World War II or John F. Kenn edy’s “Best and Brightest” who executed the Vietnam War in the 1960s.  

As flex players, the neocons have had myriad roles over time. They quietly promoted one another for influential positions and coordinated their multi-pronged efforts inside and outsid e government in pursuit of agendas that were always in their own interest, but not necessarily the public’s.  

Consider the ties among three members of the neocon core: Richard Perle, former chairman of the Defense Policy Board; Paul Wolfowitz, deputy sec retary of defense; and Douglas Feith, undersecretary for policy in the Defense Department. In 1973, Perle helped his friend Wolfowitz find work in the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. In 1982 Perle, as assistant secretary for international security po licy in President Reagan’s Defense Department, hired and later promoted Feith after the latter was fired as Middle East analyst from the National Security Council. A couple of years after leaving the Pentagon, Perle became a highly paid consultant for the lobbying firm International Advisers Inc., which Feith set up in 1989. By serving as a consultant to the firm, Perle-who had just finished a seven-year stint at the Pentagon, during which he supervised U.S. military assistance to Turkey-was able to bypas s federal regulations that prohibited officials from serving foreign interests ri ght after leaving government.  

The “mutual aid society” of these three central figures continues to this day. In 2001 Perle and Wolfowitz (as deputy secretary of defense) s aw to it that Feith was appointed undersecretary for policy in the Defense Department. Feith, in turn, selected Perle for appointment as chairman of the Defense Policy Board. (Perle resigned as chairman in March 2003 amid allegations of conflicts of interest, and from the board altogether a year later.)  

Flex players are not necessarily engaged in unethical activity, but they always help each other out in furthering their careers, livelihoods and mutual aims. Even when some players are “in power” within an administration, they are flanked by people outside of formal government. Flex groups have a culture of circumventing authorities and creating alternative ones. They operate through semi-closed networks and penetrate key institutions, revamping them to marginalize other potential players and replacing them with initiatives under their control.  

The neocon core has set up its own duplicative entities in government that often enable them to bypass or override the input of otherwise relevant bodies. Two s ecretive units in the Pentagon were created under Feith and staffed in part by people recruited by Perle from neocon circles. The core empowered shadow hubs of decision-making, including the “mini National Security Council,” a small circle of influence wi thin the NSC, and a similar group in the vice president’s office.  

The blurring and overlapping public and private roles and offices enable players to avoid accountability. Perle, for example, surfaces at the epicenter of a head-spinning array of busines s firms, consultancies, lobbying and ideological initiatives, consistently evading accusations of impropriety that have been leveled against him.  

Today’s most successful players have gone beyond the revolving door, in which executive-branch officials an d members of Congress become industry lobbyists upon leaving office, or industry leaders become officials who help regulate their own industries. Revolving-door careerists are now joined by flex players, who may be on both sides of the door at the same ti me—or for whom the door itself has vanished.  

Flex groups bring impressive energy and staying power in pursuit of their financial and/or ideological bottom line, but they are inherently unaccountable to the public. Their rise pre-dates the George W. Bush administration. But Bush’s second term will likely embolden this growing cadre of flex players, to the detriment of democracy.  

 

Janine R. Wedel is an associate professor in the School of Public Policy at George Mason University. She is writing a book tentatively titled Chameleons in Command: Shadow Power in a Globalizing World..u


2 Shootings, 4 Arsons on Harmon Street: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday November 05, 2004

After two shootings, one serious, and a series of four vehicle arsons in seven days along a three-block stretch of Harmon Street in South Berkeley, police are declining to say if the crimes are related. 

The first incident took place shortly before 3 a.m. on Oct. 27, when a man was shot on the street outside a home at 1611 Harmon St. 

The victim was taken to Highland Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries and has refused to cooperate with police, said BPD spokesperson Officer Shira Warren. 

The second shooting, logged as a shot or shots fired into a dwelling or vehicle, occurred near the corner of Harmon and Sacramento streets at 11:02 p.m. on Oct. 30. Police declined to offer any details of the incident. 

The first of the arson incidents was reported at 10:25 p.m. the following evening, said Deputy Fire Chief David Orth, followed by a second at 11:34. 

Two cars sustained relatively minor damage in the fires, he said. 

The next fire was reported at 12:28 a.m. Tuesday, followed by a second blaze at 3:27 a.m. The arsons resulted in significant damage to a camper unit and a car, he said. 

All four fires were near the intersection of Harmon and California streets. 

Orth said police had a description of an individual seen in the area at the time of one of the blazes. 


Editorial Cartoons: By JUSTIN DEFREITAS

Friday November 05, 2004

http://www.jfdefreitas.com/?path=/00__Latest%20Work¯


Letters to the Editor

Friday November 05, 2004

INKWORKS PRESS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Inkworks Press, a union printshop, proves daily that union printing is not synonymous with high costs, contrary to the implication in your article on union printing and political campaigns in Berkeley (“Emeryville Printer Wins Big in Election Sign Business,” Daily Planet, Nov. 2-4). For 30 years Inkworks has been meeting the printing needs of the peace and social justice community and progressive businesses by finding ways to reduce costs. 

Most recently we acquired a cutting edge full color press to provide affordable printing on short-run color jobs, using 100 percent recycled papers and vegetable oil inks. By being smart on printing options and working with our customers we demonstrate that union printing combined with a “beyond compliance” environmental commitment makes good business sense. 

Bernard Marszalek 

Inkworks Press 

• 

OF, BY AND FOR THE RICH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Unfortunately, it appears that a government of, by and for the rich will continue for at least four more years. I take a small comfort from the fact that voters in my home state and my home town showed a great deal more wisdom than the country as a whole. 

Michael Fullerton 

 

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DIEBOLD VOTING MACHINES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Who knows, who can know, how many electronic ballots might have been flipped by the Diebold voting machines? Without a paper trail, like a cash register receipt, election officials can not verify and validate the count. Flipping between one and two percent of the votes would be enough to produce the apparent results. And Diebold’s president is one of Bush’s deepest supporters. 

If any good can come from this election, let it be new regulations to ensure fair, verifiable vote counting. Our democracy is more valuable than partisan politics. 

Bruce Joffe 

Piedmont 

 

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FOR KERRY BY DEFAULT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

My vote for Kerry was less for him and more against Bush. 

I have been told that Kerry was told he had to say he would continue Bush’s war on Iraq in order for him to win. I never could figure out how Kerry could say the war was a mistake and then say that he would continue it. 

The reasons that Kerry gave for opposing the war in Vietnam were that the U.S. government had lied about it and that it could not be won. 

These are two of the reasons that I believe the war on Iraq should be stopped. 

Had we known that Kerry was going to be defeated we might have chosen Howard Dean to be the candidate. At least we could have listened to some lively speeches. Until the Democrats get control of at least one house of Congress they will not be able to change the course Bush has set this country on. 

Max Macks 

 

• 

BRENNAN’S 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

According to a Contra Costa Times article entitled “Brennan’s isn’t going anywhere” (July 30, 2004), developer Dan Deibel of the Urban Housing Group stated that after the initial construction was complete, Brennan’s might be asked to move to a new location a block away, “but such plans are at least five years off, and may never materialize.” 

When we learned in September that a demolition permit had already been applied for, I and others sought signatures for landmark applications for the Brennan’s and Celia’s buildings. Signers said about Brennan’s, “it’s a Berkeley institution” and “it’s a piece of history!” I realized that the Brennan’s building is a landmark, even if it never receives such designation, and wrote the applications myself. 

Regarding the Celia’s building, which had been the beloved Boy Scout Building when I was growing up, it was a pleasure to learn about its gifted architect, Irwin Johnson, and a delight to interview former boy scouts and Scout Executives. It was a sad endeavor, however, as this charming little building will likely be lost. 

I was chagrined to learn, approximately a week before the landmark hearing, that the proprietors of Brennan’s, the Wades, were opposed to the application.  

No one I have talked to believes that the Brennan’s bar and restaurant will survive moving into a smaller venue with insufficient parking. I sincerely hope that the Wade family receives very generous monetary compensation for moving. If so, they might be the first party in Berkeley to benefit from making a deal with a developer. Remember that there is no Fine Arts Theater in the Fine Arts building. The Gaia building contains no Gaia Bookstore nor Shotgun Theatre, and to this day, fails even to house a jazz club. 

The Brennan’s and Celia’s buildings are in danger of demolition to accommodate yet another neighborhood insult—a lot-covering condo or rental block (its use is undecided). Perhaps out-of-town developers are unaware that the rental market has tanked, even as in-town developers scramble to turn their rental blunders into condos.  

While condo construction might be sensible in areas with insufficient buildings or a growing population, Berkeley has neither. When the first condo colossus opens, we will see how much purchase demand there is for small units in big blocks. Most people want a home attached to a portion of land, while buyers of new condos own mainly sheet rock and air. 

Deibel’s Urban Housing Group is a subsidiary of Marcus and Millichap, a national real estate investment brokerage company. Two years ago, local carpetbaggers were ravaging Berkeley. Now national corporations want a piece of the action. If this project goes through as either condos or rentals, I’m convinced it will be a financial disaster, and only wish that the corporation behind this venture would find a MacDonald’s and a Taco Bell to demolish, rather than part of our history. 

Gale Garcia 

 

• 

MORE ON BRENNAN’S 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I don’t particularly have an opinion on the merits of Brennan’s as a building worthy of landmark status, but I do have an observation. Under the recently proposed revisions to the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance, no building less than 50 years old that occupies the site of a developer’s application for a use permit will automatically be considered by the Landmarks Preservation Commission for landmark status. The current LPO has a forty year threshold. The proposed new ordinance, now finally being considered by the Planning Commission after a four-year-long process at the LPC, was approved by some of the same commissioners who now seem to vocally favor living by the old standard. What we can conclude, therefore, is that if this 46-year-old building is indeed approved for landmark status, it is very likely to be the last one of its age to gain such approval. And as such it deserves even closer attention than such a relatively youthful building normally receives. 

Alan Tobey 

 

• 

CODEPENDENCY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It’s election day and I was out shopping. When I exited a middle age woman was sitting by my bike. “Have you already voted?” I asked her. “No, she responded. I’m still thinking.” It turned out she is both a U.S. citizen and one of 2 million Iranian exiles who fled the fundamentalist Iranian regime. I don’t trust Kerry, she said. I asked her why. I’m politically active in the Iranian community and we’ve seen a 12 million dollar check his campaign accepted from the mullahs. That’s not likely, I told her. It’s illegal, and if you’ve seen it they would be caught and exposed. I’ve seen the check, she insisted. I couldn’t convince her it was implausible, an “October surprise.” 

I don’t trust the Democratic party myself. But if the DNC was even thinking of risking the election by accepting money from Iranian clerics they wouldn’t be stupid enough to accept a big fat check signed by an Iranian mullah. That’s just common sense. But not to people who are inexperienced in how the art of political manipulation is applied in the U.S. system; or unaware of how computers can generate phony photos of anything. Carl Rove and his minions apparently had a squadron of people assigned to figure out the vulnerability and gullibility of numerous specific voter groups that might be sold a bill of goods about John Kerry being a threat to them in particular. We all know about the Swifties developed to neutralize the military and veteran vote for Kerry, but how many more of these stories about $12 million dollar checks from militant Iranian fundamentalist Muslims, (or people knocking on your door in the black community in Florida and telling you they can write down your official vote right then and there so you won’t have to go to the polls) are yet to surface? How many before the “other America” realizes their co-dependency in a fraud to undermine our democratic rights?  

Marc Sapir  

 

• 

POINT MOLATE RESORT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

There has been an attempt to obscure the merits of the Point Molate Resort proposal by those with special interest. It is up to us to find out what this resort proposal really means to our community. 

One of the many benefits that the Point Molate Resort will bring to this community is a youth job apprenticeship program. Studies have shown that Richmond has one of the highest unemployment rates particularly among the youth in the state. An employment apprenticeship program will make a huge impact on the jobless rate in this community. I strongly believe that early preparation would lend to more stable career opportunities for the youth. 

Many Richmond youth have not been exposed to mentors, sharing the importance of an education or the acquisition of a trade, skill, or job readiness training. It is surprising to note that many youth surveyed were unable to demonstrate the fundamentals of job retention. These among other essentials skills necessary to advance on the career ladder are offered through our apprenticeship program, and have been proven to reverse the lack of socio-economic responsibility. 

The Point Molate Resort has committed to financially support the proposed local youth apprenticeship program as a way to open doors to a more stable future. Employers such as the building and trades unions have commented that this program “hits the nail on the head,” and welcomes this opportunity to help meet their diversity workforce requirements. Now is the time to implement this program to ensure its success. 

As we examine the positive impacts of the Point Molate Resort, keeping in mind the future of our community, we realize that it rests in the hands of the youth. We have the privilege of passing the torch to them. Say yes to the Point Molate Resort . 

Larry Fleming, 

Executive Director 

Visitacion Valley Jobs, Education, and Training 

 

• 

PROUD AMERICANS? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The saddest thing about this election is that so many Americans support a “president” who (1) was not legitimately elected, (2) violates binding treaties, (3) puts the profits of corporations above the protection of our health and our environment, (4) waged war without the Congressional declaration of war required by our Constitution, (5) killed approximately 40 times as many innocent people as Osama Bin Laden, (6) has no respect for the United Nations, and (7) is almost universally hated around the world.  

And we are expected to be proud to be Americans? Not at the moment. 

Michael J. Vandeman 

Hayward 

 

• 

A NEW REPUBLIC 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

What went wrong with the recent “election”?  

So many Americans are jumping for joy that Bush was elected that I feel like Cassandra for even trying to point out Bush’s flaws.  

Bush ignored 28 different warnings that 9/11 was about to happen. He cost America over 2 million jobs. He’s run up the largest debt in history, effectively bankrupting America, the richest country in the world. He has exhibited the ethical behavior of an alley cat. He’ll promise anything for cash. And even his cult Christian backers’ worst nightmares—terrorism, abortions and homosexuality—have vastly multiplied in the last four years. And don’t tell me that nobody voted for Kerry—we had voters standing out in the rain in Ohio at 4 a.m. to vote against Bush. 

So. What went wrong with this election? Why were the “official” results so much different from the exit polls? Ask Diebold. Ask Karl Rove. And ask the Americans who voted for Bush.  

“Why did you vote for Bush?” 

“Because we didn’t know any better. Because we didn’t want to know any better.” I feel like Cassandra, standing out in the rain, saying gloomy things while everybody else laughs. 

Nobody else wants to live in a progressive country where Christian values are still honored, our government doesn’t lie to us, the buck stops here—and we still have bucks? Nobody else wants that? Too bad for them. I still do. 

I hereby declare the Independent Republic of 2009 Stuart Street! Stop me if you dare. I have my own army, navy, air force and White House. I even have my own Gross National Product. “Thou shalt not kill” is my country’s motto. I build my own highways and salute my own flag. And I’m not going to recognize the USSRA either! (Unless of course they beg.) 

Is this a good idea? Probably not. 

Got a better one?  

Jane Stillwater 

 

• 

TOO DAMN CEREBRAL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

There has been some talk in leftist circles to the effect that the flamboyant actions of Gavin Newsom over gay marriage gave the election to George Bush, but that is just another rationalization by the left, in my humble opinion. The real problem seems obvious in retrospect. The Kerrys were just too damn cerebral. Maybe Kerry had guts, but he had a conscience too. Middle America intuited a logic that is probably irrefutable. A measured response to terrorism, no matter how competent, would probably be ineffective in protecting the homeland. It is only the threat of an overreaction by a madman in the whitehouse that has any deterent value at all. As in the cold war, when mutual assured destruction was the doctrine, so it is now. In retrospect, Ted Kennedy was wrong, and Al Gore was right—Howard Dean was the right choice. First of all, he is less cerebral, and second of all, like a modern-day Buddha he would have challenged the whole chain of events that necessitates the doctrine of mutually assured destruction. There is a chance that Middle America might have responded to a sincere argument along those lines, coupled with the sincere argument that was made concerning Bush’s commitment to big business. From Kerry they got only cognitive dissonance on the terrorism issue, and that is what cost him, and us, the election and a chance to radicalize Middle America. 

Peter Mutnick 

 

• 

CREEK ORDINANCE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

On Nov. 9 the Creek Ordinance will again be before the City Council. A sudden effort to get rid of the 15-year-old ordinance was generated by telling homeowners that they could not rebuild if there was an earthquake. One entity that would want to dump the Creek Ordinance at this time is Congregation Beth El, currently building on Codornices Creek. Five of the nine members of the Planning Commission are currently Beth El members. The plan was to send the Creek Ordinance to the Planning Commission to change and then for council to simply drop the setback requirement without a public hearing.  

Unfortunately the city attorney and top planning staff are not to be trusted. The city attorney was blind to the conflict of interest in proposals to send the ordinance to the Planning Commission. Rather, she identified conflict of interest for members of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association that prevented them from participating in the hearings on development of the creek site of Berkeley’s first farm. The Planning Department allowed Beth El to get its permits without submission of grading and landscape plans for the creek portion of the site and did not apply the Creek Ordinance consistently with its stated purposes. 

Beth El should not now be allowed an occupancy permit for their 35,000 square foot erection at 1301 Oxford until a parking plan is produced and approved. In order to accommodate cars attracted by a social hall seating 200 for dinners, they would need to rent parking from Mary Magdalene and mitigate the impacts on that site.  

A landscape and grading plan for the creek portion still needs to be submitted, approved and implemented. The plan should detail restoration of the entire creek on the Beth El site, planted with bay trees to continue the green canopy of Live Oak Park.  

If Beth El continues not to have a parking plan and a landscape plan to continue the creekside tree canopy, they are in violation of their conditions of approval. 

The Chinese Christian Church that had the site before Beth El bought it was not allowed to build anything except a facsimile of the original farm house. On southside, First Presbyterian and St. Johns Presbyterian both had to build underground parking in order to expand. All religious institutions in Berkeley need to be treated equitably. 

Eva Alexis Bansner 

 

• 

BADLY PRUNED CAPTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The photo in “Prostitution Opposed, Marijuana and Trees Ignored” (Daily Planet, Nov. 2-4) is not an example of bad pruning, as the caption states. The photo shows a tree with dieback, most likely suffering from root and trunk damage due to sidewalk reconstruction, since the dieback is located mainly over the sidewalk, but also probably from drought, pollution, vehicle impacts, and compacted, poorly aerated soil. Pruning is not the apparent cause of damage, and it is only part of the solution. However, it is difficult to remove the causes of damage; they are prevalent in the urban environment. Urban street trees generally face all these problems, and more. Together, these problems shorten the trees’ life expectancy and diminish their appearance. 

The photo does not support the notion that the city is remiss in its tree maintenance. Rather, it displays a symptom of a financially strapped municipal tree program limited not by a lack of vision, expertise or public oversight, but by a lack of funds. For the public to be helpful to city trees, it needs to support the city forestry staff, not divert authority and funding to a Tree Board. (I’m glad that a majority of voters have agreed.) Short of  

additional funding, what the Forestry Department needs from citizens is to be notified of potential problems and be allowed to establish priorities. Their job is difficult enough without undermining their authority. 

T. Gray Shaw 

 

• 

SUPREME COURT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Chief Justice Rehnquist’s illness and the doubtful health status of three other Supreme Court Justices prompt me to advocate that the new Congress restrict to two the number of Supreme Court justices that in his lifetime any U.S. president may seat on the court when it has one or more remaining members, and to three should the entire court be extinguished—as may have been planned for 9/11. 

With no present limit, in the worst possible event—total court elimination—one man, the president, would seat nine new justices, all to serve for life, and as they age over many years, offering few changes, except from resignation, impeachments or early death. 

Isn’t that, for the same bleak scenario, far worse than to be served for a maximum of seven-plus years by a minimal Court of three, to increase to full size over several administrations? 

No matter who is President from 2005 to 2009, four Supreme Court replacements loom large as a near possibility, bringing, almost inevitably, sharp acrimony and confirmation “Borking”—unless Congress anticipates, and legislates early the above limits. 

While, with four possible retirements looming, limiting replacements to two could soon shrink the court to seven seats for part of a term or two, it should also, for our present and future, minimize long-lasting Court imbalances and favor there a healthy diversity of views, age, sex, race, ethnicity, and economic class. 

Judith Seagard Hunt 

 

• 

PIMPS AND PROSTITUTES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I appreciate the people who want hookers to be safe in Berkeley, but frankly, I’m more concerned for my own safety and the safety of the neighborhoods we shop in and visit. Father O’Donnell worked very hard with neighbors to rid University Avenue of the violent pimps who were stalking the students who sat at bus stops, like my friend Joyce’s daughter. Both Father O’Donnell and I received death threats while we were standing up to the pimps and the johns. I was accosted on University Avenue twice by young men who assumed I was a hooker (perhaps because I was wearing a red coat?) and found it amusing, since I was quite middle aged at the time, but it was not amusing when a pimp threatened Father O’Donnell with a gun. 

People understandably do not want to shop in areas where women are accosted, nor do we want the problems with drugs that always accompany prostitution. Please do not ignore the dangers to neighborhoods by asking police to non-prioritize the issue of prostitution. Pimps are not friendly guys, in my experience. 

Alta Gerry 

 

• 

ABSENTEE BALLOTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The absentee ballots that we requested well before the deadline did not arrive by Oct. 29. We were leaving town for five days so we went down to Berkeley City Hall on the 29th to vote because we have cast ballots there before. We were very surprised to learn that we could not vote at City Hall. We were given a slip of paper that gave us driving instructions via the freeway to the Alameda County Courthouse on Oakland’s Lake Merritt. No instructions for public transpoirtation were offered. Berkeley promotes the use of public transportation and its access facilities cause many differently abled people, elderly people and students to reside in Berkeley and use public transportation. I wonder how many people who rely on public transport were unable to vote and I wonder who made the decision to require Berkeley citizens to travel to Oakland to cast a ballot? We were told by the Alameda County Registrars Office on the 29th that our ballots had been mailed on Friday, Oct. 29, but we were allowed to vote a full regular ballot on a court house machine rather than a provisional partial ballot. The absentee ballots were not in our mailbox when we returned to Berkeley on November 3. I wonder if they will ever arrive? I trust that the Daily Planet will urge the Berkeley City Council to work on behalf of Berkeley citizens to be certain that we can cast ballots in Berkeley. 

Sally Williams 

 

 

 

?


A Preliminary Question About The Election Results: By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

UNDERCURRENTS OF THE EAST BAY AND BEYOND
Friday November 05, 2004

On Tuesday evening, as actual vote tallies in the presidential race began coming in, television commentators immediately noted that there was a marked difference between the actual vote tallies and the projected vote tallies as worked out in the exit pol ls. The exit polls were being conducted outside of voting booths across the country by Edison Media Research/Mitofsky International in a national election pool jointly sponsored by the Associated Press, CNN, Fox News, and the three broadcast television ne tworks. 

Consistently, the actual votes recorded for Kerry were coming in less than the vote projected by the exit polls. And so, for much of the evening, television commentators batted around the question of how the exit polls could have gotten things so wrong. 

As if there might be no other possible explanation. 

In elections, people steal votes. That is the way of elections, whether they take place in Kabul or Kansas City. If enough votes are stolen, one way or another, the results of an election can be altered. If you call that a conspiracy theory, you are either very naive, or you’re covering up. 

Probably the most infamous example of American vote-stealing occurred in the 1960 presidential race, which ended with a 49.7 percent/49.5 percent split i n the popular vote, one of the closest on record. Nixon dropped a widely-anticipated challenge of that election based upon allegations of Democratic vote-stealing in Illinois and Texas, but only after outgoing President Eisenhower withdrew his support for such a challenge. Rumors later surfaced that Eisenhower took that position only because of fear that a court challenge might reveal that Republican vote-stealing had given Nixon the electoral victory in other states. 

In those old paper ballot days, vote s were manually counted at each polling station, one by one, after the polls closed. Usually, the poll workers would open the ballot boxes and empty the ballots out on a table. One worker would read out the vote, ballot by ballot, while another worker wou ld mark down each tallied vote on a sheet. To guard against fraud, candidates would have observers in the room standing behind both the reader and the tallyers, making sure the votes were both called out and written down right. To steal votes at the count in g table in those days, you had to get rid of the other candidates’ observers. And so, I remember that in the first election I worked as an observer—1966, in Dallas County (Selma), Alabama—two of us got run from the polling station by Jim Clark, the Dal las County sheriff who became infamous a year earlier when he ordered the beating of civil rights marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge during the Selma-to-Montgomery march. 

Still, paper ballots served American elections well during much of the life of the r epublic. The big advantage was that, so long as you preserved the ballots and made sure no one tampered with them, you could always go back and count them again if someone suspected that someone had cheated on the first count. In most states, in fact, when the difference between the winner and loser gets to within a certain small percentage point, recounts were mandatory in order to make sure an election was not won or lost by human error. 

But that was in the old, paper ballot days. 

Somewhere along the line, we decided that paper ballots were too old-timey, too old school, and we needed to move up to the modern age. Why such a move was necessary, I’ve never been able to figure, but move, we did. First to the mechanical devices like the old punch-card ma chines-the ones made famous in the 2000 “butterfly ballot” and “hanging chad” Florida election-in which the voter pulled a lever that punched a hole in a card, rather than the voter simply taking a pencil and marking an “x” on the ballot. Then, when we be came enamored with computers, we decided that we just had to computerize our voting as well. And so, en masse, counties around the country have been running their elections through computer touch screens. Touch your finger to your favored candidate on the screen, an “x” appears in its place, something happens somewhere inside the guts of the computer, and the voter walks away satisfied that the correct vote has been recorded. 

And so, trust in human observers has been replaced by trust in computers. In an age when we see clever hackers run circles around computer programs, entering the most “secure” spaces, we ought to be wary of that. 

How do we know that the votes in those touch-screen machines are being correctly counted? Actually, we don’t. 

In the 20 03 California gubernatorial election, I got thrown out of the polling counting station in Berkeley, California—the first time that had happened to me since 1966—when, in my job as a reporter for the Berkeley Daily Planet, I attempted to observe the vote c ount procedure being used on the Diebold computerized voting machines. Representatives of the Alameda County Registrar of Voters office later said that barring observers from the counting station was a mistake, but the workers who called the Alame da Count y sheriff’s deputies and ordered me out insisted they were doing so on orders from their superiors. Who gave those orders, I’ve always wondered since then, and why? What were they trying to hide? 

In that same 2003 recall election, two minor cand idates go t close to 40 percent and 30 percent, respectively, of their entire statewide vote total in one county using Diebold computerized voting machines. That widely-publicized discrepancy was caught only because it was so out of whack with the statewi de results. But if some clever computer wizard were to secretly program in a shift of say, one-half of one percent of the vote from one candidate to another in each computer voting machine in each precinct across the state, the shift would never be notice d, and it could change the results of a statewide race. 

We could guard against such a problem if voters were issued a paper receipt when they finished voting on one of those computerized voting machines. The voter could check the receipt to make sure eac h vote was listed correctly, and then drop the receipt in a ballot box on the way out, just as they used to drop their paper ballot in the old days. In a dispute, the receipts could be manually recounted to make sure the electronic tally given by the comp uters was correct. ATM’s give such receipts. Computerized cash registers give such receipts. But so far, makers of the computerized voting machines have resisted installing such receipt devices on their machines. One wonders why. 

Between 2000 and 2002, D iebold—the most popular computerized voting company—gave $200,000 to the Republican National Committee, and Diebold CEO William O’Dell pledged his support to help George W. Bush win re-election in 2004. One wonders how. 

Were the Edison Media Research/Mitofsky Inte rnational exit polls wrong on Tuesday night, and the votes reported by such computerized voting devices as Diebold right? Or was it vice versa? 

No accusation, friends. Just a preliminary question, from a curious election observer. 


Police Blotter: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday November 05, 2004

Suicide Victim Found 

Berkeley paramedics were summoned to the 2200 block of University Drive on the UC Berkeley campus at 7:25 Monday morning after a student discovered a body in the bushes. 

“There was a clothesline rope and bruising around his neck,” said Deputy Fire Chief David Orth. “He had hanged himself from an overhead branch, and the rope had broken.” 

The dead man was identified as Eduardo Zamudio-Zee, 32, of Oakland. A search of the body turned up a suicide note and a receipt for the rope. 

 

Robs Dollars from Depot 

At 10:30 Monday morning, a gunman masked by a scarf walked into the Dollar Depot at 1440 University Ave., pulled a pistol and demanded cash from the cashier, said Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Shira Warren. 

The bandit escaped on foot carrying the contents of the till. The cashier was shaken but otherwise uninjured. 

 

Punches Victim, Grabs Purse 

A 39-year old woman was punched and robbed of her purse shortly before 6:30 p.m. Tuesday near the corner of Blake Street and San Pablo Avenue. 

 

Gunpoint Purse Heist 

A gunman accosted a woman walking near the corner of Fourth and Delaware streets about 8:15 Wednesday evening and demanded her wallet. The victim complied.


Shipping Out the Vote: A Tribute to Poll Workers: By EDITH HALLBERG

COMMENTARY
Friday November 05, 2004

Some people do it for civic duty. The pay certainly doesn’t attract any but the most desperate or the most dedicated. Retired seniors accept the $80 for a 14-hour day (minus a one-hour break) as pin money for being useful. 

I was asked by the Registrar Of Voters (ROV) in 1996 if I would be willing to work at the polls. My memory of working a long day in a damp dark basement in 1972 wasn’t appealing and I hesitated. When I was told that there was a short version of helping on election day, I leapt at the chance. 

The position was precinct center captain, and involved supervising one of four such centers where the votes and equipment for 19 precincts would be processed and sent on to ROV headquarters. It started at 8 p.m. and ended around 11 or 12, or as s oon as all of the precincts came in. Even with a class and some preparation and set up, at $34 the pay was tolerable. 

My site at the Corporation Yard was a five-minute walk from my home. I took the class and took home the Return Center box with the equip ment needed to set up the operation. I followed directions, and for several elections worked the job like a pro. 

I set up the room like an assembly line. There were at least two burly men to unload the cars of flags, booths and heavy ballot boxes. Two or three teens had clipboards, one with a list of the precinct numbers to check off, the other with triplicate forms for each precinct (signed by me in advance) for the judge and inspector of each precinct to sign. 

The ballot boxes with locks contained the precious cargo—the blue register bag with all of the signs and registers and unused ballots, and the red box with the actual voted ballots. These had been counted at the precincts and sealed. My job was to put the red boxes into boxes and label them and to do the same with the blue bags. When the teens weren’t doing the clipboards, they helped me with the boxes, and when the men weren’t unloading cars they were loading a U-Haul truck with the booths and other equipment. The boxes went in at the end of a load. We had a driver who would pitch in, and a troubleshooter with radio contact between ROV and all of precinct centers. I packed the boxes, but floated where needed. 

The building had many advantages. It had bathrooms, a pay phone, and vending machines. There was a sink and a microwave. I carried several dollars worth of change for the workers to get snacks or to make calls for rides home. 

There was a driveway from the gate with an overhang at the entrance where the vehicles lined up to be unloaded. Everything worked according to plan under my charge for years until March 2000, the day of the first March California primary. 

I’d left home with my Return Center box at 7:45 well prepared. There was a light rain and as I unpacked and greeted my crew, it became a steady rain. 

In the box there were four heavy duty flashlights, and several forest green plastic ponchos. I passed these out, along with the W-2 forms to the crew. Amongst them was my neighbor, Fred, who the ROV said that I could recruit to insu re enough help. 

Everyone was at their stations as the first of cars came it. The most experienced crews came in within the hour. 

What had been a steady rain turned into torrents. Precinct lists and forms were getting wet. Pens wouldn’t write, sticker la bels wouldn’t peel, and permanent markers were smearing. Tempers, were getting short, but incredibly, the crew was avoiding back ups. I was getting tired with damage control, and we had half the shift to go. 

One of the men complained about the weather. H e was wearing a Teamster jacket under his poncho, and he had half boots to match those ones with the steel toes. He complained that his boots had a slow leak and that his socks were soaked and he was getting chilled. He took a quick break and, removing hi s socks, wrung them out and wadded them in paper towels and dried them in the microwave. I pretended not to notice....After all, if they were well wrapped...... 

Cardboards were put on the floor while most of the precincts came in. I flew around filling a nd labeling boxes, checking the tally of the precincts left to come in. Occasionally there was a “lost” precinct, one that went somewhere else, or one that was dumped on us. That’s what the troubleshooter was for. 

Suddenly Fred called out “Hey, Edie, loo k at what that guy is doing! He’s putting his boots into the microwave!” I looked up, and started across the room. Too Late! The timer dinged and the guy had his shoes on and was back outside. 

Somehow the night ended and everything was cleaned up by 11:3 0. Most of the crew was released to rides home. I got a ride home with the troubleshooter. At midnight I put myself in bed only to get a call from ROV saying that they couldn’t find the Return Center box. (They found it the next day). 

I decided to stop d oing that job. Fred still teases me about that day, and I decided that doing the day shift would allow me to go to those victory parties that I’d been missing.. 

In November 2000 I worked at North Berkeley Senior Center. The 51 bus went close by. I quickl y learned the job. It was more comfortable than the site was in 1972. I did get little over an hour because I voted at Strawberry Creek Lodge and still got Lunch. We all took turns on the registers and counted ballots against the register pretty fast. The inspector drove me to Outback to the victory party for BCA. I didn’t stay long, and went to bed for a fretful night of listening to the election returns. 

I worked the March 2002 primary at the Corporation Yard. I had the advantage of voting and getting lunch in an hour. It was relaxed and even social, as friends and neighbors came in that I hadn’t seen in years. Jokes were cracked about “hanging chads,” and the day moved smoothly. There were a few snafus, like lost registrations or confusion about polli ng places. Those registered Peace and Freedom, which was not on the ballot, could vote any party but Green. Bummer. 

In November, I returned. Despite the efforts of the wonderful couple who set up the computer voting machines, there were snags with registered voters. There was the white register, a green one, and a pink one. There were many voters who were on none of them. While in a line going out the door, voters whipped out their cell phones to call ROV. We had several visits from ROV, as well as from community volunteers who checked the white registers. We had a lot of backups as we traded jobs working the voting cards and the registers. 

I really like computerized voting. When the machines came to City Hall, it was a joy. No waiting, helpful clerks, you could sit down. Best of all, the user friendly screen was easily read and you could review your vote. The paper trail and the tampering issue gives one pause , but frankly, we should be like other countries and vote on Sunday or solely by mail. There should be REAL inspectors at the headquarters to see that the counts are valid. 

I worked the recall election. I didn’t favor the recall and hesitated about working it, but decided at the last minute that I would. 

I had to go to Friends Church at Cedar a nd Sacramento at 4 am for a ride with the inspector because the busses didn’t go there at six am. (They are worse now). So, I brought coffee and lots of food. There was a full kitchen there. 

It was a long and tiring day. Precincts were combined because i t was expected to be a low turnout with a short ballot. There was confusion about polling places but that was nothing compared to the use of the computerized voting machines. 

We were given a script to use in assisting the voters to use the machines. I me morized it; the only things that we couldn’t do were to 1) influence the voter, and 2) touch the screen. Many voters were confused by the number of candidates (134?) and by the process of going back and forth on the touchscreen to review, cancel, or re-se lect. I would review the instructions according to the script, but one senior just got so frustrated that he left the screen without completing his vote! 

When I voted at City Hall, my method was to memorize the number of my candidate. This might not have worked in all parts of Alameda County as the lists were scrambled on different Sample Ballots. 

We had some computer malfunctions, including at the one that my senior voter had abandoned. This happened during our inspector’s break, so we had to put an “o ut of order” sign on that computer and call ROV. They did send out troubleshooters and observers other than at times that we called them. 

At last the day was done, that whirlwind of assisting voters at the machines, working the cards and the registers. W e cleaned up in record time. I counted the Absentee and Provisional ballots and comparing them against the registers, and by helping to disconnect the computers with their scrolls of recorded votes. Each scroll showed how many had voted at each machine, a nd it was a matter of adding up the numbers along with the ballots counted and recorded against the register. Everything tallied right away, and the inspector packed it up dropped it at the Corporation Yard. I was dropped at home and had some evening left to enjoy.  

This year, I opted out. I voted absentee. Maybe next time...... 

 

Edith Monk Hallberg is a Berkeley resident.ª


The Speech Kerry Should Have Made: By BART SELDEN

COMMENTARY
Friday November 05, 2004

It is traditional for the losing candidate in a presidential race to give a concession speech thanking his or her supporters, and calling on them to join together with those who did not vote the same way. John Kerry followed that tradition in his concess ion speech, but as one of his supporters, here is some of what I would have liked to hear him say: 

My friends, after a long and hard-fought campaign, it has become clear that a majority of the American people voted yesterday in a way that we had hoped th ey would not. Millions of our fellow Americans have given their support to four more years of fear, of war and its attendant profiteering, to the repression of working people, and the suppression of some of our most cherished individual liberties. They ha ve backed an empty strategy of denial where objective facts do not support the policy choices of the current administration, of bluster where those policies have no hope of success, and of threats when those policies are questioned.  

I am deeply disappoi nted in the choice made by that slim majority, but I am an American, and I humbly accept it. And now, for those of us who make up the nearly half of the electorate whose votes are our only record of the beliefs, the values, and the moral choices we have m ade in this election, I say to you that we too have won something. We have declared ourselves as true Americans, we have stood up and been counted in opposition to the wrongheaded and dangerous policies of the current administration, and we have won the r ight to remain in patriotic and loyal opposition to the continuation and extension of those policies. An opposition loyal to the values that made this country a beacon of light and hope to the rest of the world for generations, loyal to the preservation o f individual liberties and the basic principles of tolerance which underlie our Constitution, loyal to the founders’ precepts of freedom and justice for all.  

If we remain united in our resolve, dedicated to standing firm against the tide of fear, of suspicion, of intolerance and of selfish greed that has temporarily prevailed in our great country, we will withstand the onrushing forces of extremism and unilateralism, and preserve the basic rights and freedoms which over the last five decades brought us to the levels of power, strength, and prestige that we enjoyed until the start of the current administration.  

To those who are discouraged by the events of the past 36 hours, I say, “Remain steadfast, remain united, remain faithful to our fundamental pr inciples, and when the current swell of nearsighted and mean-spirited politics fueled by fear and suspicion has ebbed, we will stand ready to welcome back those voters, those Americans, who recognize that in 2004 they were swayed by appeals couched in a morality that holds no virtue, security that offers no protection, and self-interest that provides no relief from the very real problems that face our nation.”  

I stand before you today, humbled by the extraordinary effort that you have made on my behalf, and on behalf of all of us. I have spent years in public service, and I will not leave this stage now without promising you this: The Democratic Party, including the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party, has important, vital work to do over the next f our years, and there is no time or place for lethargy or depression. We will oppose, patriotically, those policies that we have identified time and time again during this campaign as being bad for our working families, bad for our security interests at ho me and abroad, and bad for the long-term prospects of this great experiment we call America. It is our home, and we will fight loyally to preserve all that is important and vital to us, at home and overseas. In a short time, only two years from now, we wi ll have the chance to regain control of Congress, and in the meantime, we need to defend our liberties, our freedom, and our fundamental values, at every turn. That is the work we have in front of us today, and for the next four years, and I promise you I will remain dedicated to those tasks, inspired by your dedication over the long course of this campaign. Good luck to all of us, and God bless America, and all its people. 

 

Bart Selden has lived in Berkeley for more than 25 years. 

 


Defeat of Tax Measures Favors Individuals, Not Common Good: By NANCY FEINSTEIN

COMMENTARY
Friday November 05, 2004

Berkeley, what are we seeing about ourselves this morning? Many of us woke up this morning feeling a deep depression about the state of our country, especially as we absorbed the vast numbers of people who supported the arrogant, self-serving, mean spiri ted leadership of our president. I, like many others in Berkeley, felt marginalized in my perspectives about everything from international policy and national priorities to individual and social concerns. But when I look at my own community, I see some of the same trends that I see in the national results. I am heart sick at the defeat of Measures J, K, L and M—which would have paid for youth programs, libraries, police, fire and other front-line services. In the decision to save those of us who might hav e had to spend a few hundred dollars a year, from having to spend those dollars, I see a community that is trying to “protect” individuals at the cost of our commonwealth. Sound familiar?  

In Berkeley, like many other places all over, many of us feel mor e pressed financially than we felt five years ago as well as more worried about our childrens’ future and the future of the world. And when I look at the local election results, I see us responding to our fears, by doing exactly what Republicans have been trying to make us do in response to our fears, i.e. think about how each one of us can take care of “me and mine” better (the first step of which is always to tighten our own pocketbooks). The Republicans want us to turn away from believing that what wi ll take care of each of us, is to do whatever it takes to make our communities stronger—whether they be local, national, or international communities. They want us to turn away from those who argue that we need to increase our generosity with each other d uring hard times, rather than accept a scarcity model that has us holding on, for dear life, to our individual piece of “security.” 

But it is strong community, and a sense that people will come forward to take care of each other, (each and every one of u s) in hard times, that gives people a real sense of security, as well as a hope in humanity and the world. It is continuing to invest in community—especially in the hard times—that will help our children not feel as afraid to inherit the world they are gr owing up in. It is not solutions that imply that we should watch out because our civil servants are incompetent, or trying to milk us, that truly help our children, (or any of us for that matter), to feel less afraid.  

There are segments of our community, who have become increasingly proud of themselves simply because they are willing to not feel “pressured” to toe what they consider to be the Berkeley “correct” line. These segments have begun to associate “integrity” with being the person who is willing to fiercely stand up to another segment of our community—rather than to define integrity as that part in each of us that enables us to do what is difficult to do as an individual, because we understand that it is in the service of the common good to do s o (emphasis on “in the service of the common good”).  

And what does it mean, anyway, to join the Right in pointing the finger at government, or civil servants for our problems? It is government; our elected representatives and civil servants who spend th eir every working hour trying to serve the public good. We are pointing our fingers at the non-profit entities in our communities—e.g. libraries for heavens sake, as the source of problems and pressures we are each feeling. I am sure that there are inefficiencies in government, and that there are things that are not perfect in the ways that money is spent in government. (These are problems one finds in the private sector as well). But I look at our city representatives and civil servants as the people in our community who most have to deal with the economic and social disparities of our town. It is 

they who are devoting their work lives to trying to deal with some of the trickiest challenges facing our society, (including representing the will of supposed ly one of the most progressive communities in the country). Could the people who backed BASTA—the people in those businesses and associations do these jobs better? Whether or not they could, they are not the ones who have chosen to devote their lives to t rying. They are business owners, professionals, and whoever else, trying to make a living in whatever ways they do. But they are not dealing with the limited resources and growing needs of our community as a whole. 

Shame on those of us who have voted dow n raising our taxes to support city services; the city’s request of us that we tighten our individual belts to enable our Berkeley to hold on to our community values. In this moment of history, with Bush and the Republicans pushing the public to believe t hat the problems we are experiencing are caused by government and will be alleviated if we cut taxes, what does it mean that we, in Berkeley, find people in our midst making the same arguments. And what does it mean that we, in Berkeley, supported those v oices? In the wake of the tax cuts many of us have received from the Republican-controlled congress, their unfunded mandates and cuts to all kinds of human services, what does it mean that we feel that we cannot raise our local taxes? 

When each of us, wh ether we voted for, or against these measures, feels depressed and incredulous at the support for Bush and his administration throughout this country, let us look to what we need to do to change the dynamics within our own community. Let us prepare for th e next election in which the same needs will be there, and the same arguments will be made against putting any more of “our own money” to meet the needs. Let us prepare to answer even the argument that it is not worth giving any more money to our city government services until the city gets rid of all its efficiency problems. 

Our children deserve to see this community of adults as role models of generosity, role models of knowing the importance to our own sanity, and even world peace, of our taking care of “the other,” and asserting a public priority on serving every member in our community. Our children deserve to believe that it is possible to live together in community without believing that in order to meet individual needs we have to close our eyes to the needs of the community as a whole. Let us show them that “go it alone” and “take care of ourselves” are not every American’s reaction to hard times.  

 

Nancy Feinstein is a North Berkeley resident. 

 


City’s Failed Tax Measures: Mourning Vs. Morning After: By BARBARA GILBERT

COMMENTARY
Friday November 05, 2004

On Election Day, Berkeley voters trounced five ballot measures put forth by our political establishment (mayor, City Council, city manager, city labor unions, and various vested and invested friends of). Four of these (Measures J, K, L, and M) would have resulted in direct tax increases upon an already overtaxed population. The fifth (Measure H) was an indirect tax increase, since it would have committed the city to creating a $1,800,000 fund for political candidates. 

There are some lessons here. 

You c an’t assume that the people spending and browbeating the most always win. While the campaign finance filings are not complete, and in some cases may hide the ball, it appears that the proponents of Measures H, J, K, L, and M outspent the opposition by som ething like seven to one. Most of the proponents’ money came from labor unions, developers, political interest groups, and other organized sources. 

In Berkeley, there is a substantial disconnect between the governors and the governed. The tax measure ele ction results were not entirely unpredictable, had any of our leaders really listened to the community during the last year. Last fall, the first parcel tax package was routed. Subsequently, the City Council heard repeatedly from an informed citizenry about the city’s tax and budget situation Instead of listening, the political establishment assumed that voters would not (could not?) think critically, and would vote reflexively for any tax with a feel-good label and heavy-duty marketing. The focus of the pro-tax campaign: “It’s for our kids, our library, our very physical survival.” However, no real citizen support ever developed for these measures. Instead, voters listened to and learned from the budget expertise of a coalition of homeowners, neighborhoo ds, and citizens. Voters successfully absorbed complex information about Berkeley’s relative tax burden, structural deficit, labor costs, General Fund backfilling, skewed program priorities, and unevaluated expenditures. 

The city’s budget problems are tr uly structural and not amenable to a quick fix. Revenues in every recent year have gone up by far more than inflation, but costs have gone up even more! The library, with a 45 percent increase in expenditures over just five years, may be the most flagrant example, but it is not alone. The built-in causes of cost escalation are overstaffing, excessive wage/benefit packages, and duplicative or outmoded programs. Our residents, knowing this, do not want a budget band-aid—they want a budget cure. 

Given the v oters’ wisdom on the tax measures, the big question is “How will the political establishment and its allies respond?” Will there be a new attitude and approach after Nov. 2, or just more of the same? Mourning or Morning? More of the same will be hand-wrin ging, then anger, then punishment--announcements of reductions in essential or cherished city services, such as a fire truck or Sunday library services.  

Taxes versus service cuts is a false choice and not what the voters are seeking. Those of us who led the opposition to the tax measures may be underfunded political neophytes, but we are not unintelligent. For nearly a year we have been studying this city’s budget. Along the way, we have repeatedly made constructive suggestions for new revenue streams, prioritizing and evaluating services, and resolving labor issues in a fair manner. If implemented, our suggestions will move us toward a balanced and reasonable budget for hard times and will actually improve the quality of city services.  

The city’s own Citizens Budget Review Commission made similar points in their June report, a report that was effectively buried by the city. It should now be exhumed and read.  

The city needs a plan for long-term financial stability that does not rely on the return of Good Times and does not extract a pound of flesh from our overtaxed populace. The city must truly act as a good steward of the peoples hard-earned money, rather than as a vengeful overlord protecting the interests of its retainers. Berkeley residents and taxpayers deserve no less. We have a vested interest in the long term social and economic sustainability of our community.  

So, now that there will be no cash infusion for a quick fix, it is time for reconstructive work at the drawing board and bargaining table. Those of us in the community who have worked so hard on these matters are on call to assist. 

 

Barbara Gilbert was a candidate for the District 5 City Council seat. 

 

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Divided We Stand: By REBECCA PARIS

COMMENTARY
Friday November 05, 2004

 

A presidential race that nearly split America in two ended today with both candidates urging unity. To quote John Kerry in his concession speech, “[There is] the danger of division in our country and the need—the desperate need—for unity, for finding common ground and coming together.” However, characteristic of much of their campaigns, neither the president nor the senator offered up a plan as to how we begin to fuse together the fractures caused by a dichotomous nation. 

No matter where you stand on issues after the presidential election, half of your fellow Americans disagree. Today, the country is divided across cultural, moral, and economic lines—the same lines that were drawn in the 2000 election. According to exit polls, Bush supporters tend to be culturally and religiously conservative married rural voters, a large majority with an annual salary of over $150,000. Those who favored Kerry appear to be polar opposites of the Bush backers: single, urban voters earning a more modest salary. Moral issues appear to be most important among those who voted for the president, while Kerry voters are most concerned about the economy.  

So, after the speeches are made and the confetti is swept up, the key question remains how do we heal a divided nation? If you do not agree with the current agenda, it is imperative that you remain vocal and active. Real change does not happen overnight. It requires patience and the insistence that if an issue matters to you, you will not stand by and let injustice happen. Continue to fight for what you believe in, even after the ballots are cast.  

Younger voters need to be taught that their voices will eventually be heard, if they speak up loud and long enough. The efforts to send this new generation to the polls, found in the energetic display of P. Diddy’s “Vote or Die” campaign and the “in-yo-face” politics spewing from the lyrics of Eminem’s “Mosh” should not be overlooked in their power to educate, empower, and motivate the young, disillusioned populous, who most of the time exude apathy about any issue not involving Paris Hilton or the latest celebrity du jour. 

Even though they find themselves on the losing side, it is dangerous for Democrats to concede to four more years of the same. Instead, they should harness the energy that brought a record number of voters to the polls this year and made possible smaller, but significant, victories, such as the historic election of Barack Obama in Illinois. 

Most importantly, there arises the need to recognize and embrace each other’s differences, realizing that we have a lot to learn from each other. Refuse to succumb to the gray waters of the melting pot of yesterday. If Bush is truly seeking “the broad support of all Americans” make him earn it. Only then, in the words of Senator John Kerry, “we can begin the healing.” 

 

Rebecca Paris is graduate student at UC Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare.  

 


Wurster’s Jensen Cottage Endangered: By RUTH ROSEN and CHRISTOPHER ADAMS

COMMENTARY
Friday November 05, 2004

On a narrow, winding country lane in the lower Berkeley hills stands an empty house, described affectionately by its neighbors as the Jensen Cottage. It is one of the most famous homes designed by the distinguished mid-century architect William W. Wurster. And Wurster Hall, the building that houses the College of Environmental Design on the UC Berkeley campus, is named after this famous architect. 

The Jensen Cottage formed part of complex owned and occupied by the same family for over 100 years. During the late 1990s, a retired professor and his wife rented the home. They loved its elegant simplicity and graceful flow of space.  

Built in 1937, the Jensen Cottage, like many modernist homes, is outlined by simple, straight, box-like lines. Inside, the rooms gracefully open to one another, giving the home a spacious, airy feeling. Both the downstairs living room and dining area, as well as the two bedrooms upstairs, open to views to the west.  

Then, the Jensen Cottage was sold to an elderly woman, Mrs. Marguerite Rossetto. Behind that purchase, however, was her son, Louis Rossetto. The founder of Wired Magazine, Rossetto had sold the publication and bought a home at the far end of the same narrow, winding road on which the Jensen Cottage has stood since 1937.  

When Rosetto began building additions to his own home, no one publicly complained, despite the fact that deafening noise and immense trucks that stopped traffic created a permanent nuisance. It was, after all, his property and everyone understood that he had a right to keep expanding his home. And, so he did, year after year.  

But then, using his mother’s name, Rossetto applied for permits to increase the size of the Jensen Cottage by about 65 percent. The architectural plans call for a two-story addition which would add a second cube to the original home, significantly increase the footprint of the structure, alter its exterior, increase its floor area by about 60 percent and expand its street-side elevation by 100 percent.  

In short, the proposed addition would obliterate the prismatic shape of the original house. While the architects did plan to replicate materials and window dimensions, they rejected designs that could have situated the addition behind the original home, slightly down the hill, and leave the form of the original house recognizable.  

That’s when neighbors realized they needed to preserve the integrity of this historic home. Mrs. Rossetto, who lives on the East Coast, has only spent a few weeks in this home. She also confided to one neighbor, Sue Martin, that she doesn’t even want the house to be expanded.  

But her son has different ideas.  

Neighbors asked to meet with Louis Rossetto, but he refused their request. Then, they asked him to consider a compromise that would preserve the integrity and scale of the home. Instead of discussing the problem with his neighbors, he sent his architects and a “hired expediter” who explained that they had no authority to change the plans.  

For those who may be unfamiliar with William Wurster’s historic reputation, he is, along with Bernard Maybeck and Julia Morgan, responsible for creating and influencing Berkeley’s distinguished architectural landscape.  

Many authoritative sources not only document Wurster’s distinguished career and reputation, but also describe the historical significance of the Jensen Cottage.  

An article about this home, which was built in 1937, was featured in the periodical Western Homes in 1938. In 1983, Berkeley’s Architecture Heritage Calendar featured the Jensen home in its appointment calendar. In 1995, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art curated a major exhibition of Wurster’s work, which included the Jensen Cottage. In 1996, the University of California Press published a book that accompanied the exhibit, edited by Marc Trieb and titled An Everyday Modernism, the Houses of William Wurster.  

And what do architectural historians and critics have to say about Wurster’s significance?  

Above all, they emphasize that he was a preeminent residential architect from the 1920s to the 1960s, who created a model for homes that influenced the distinctive Bay Area architectural style.  

Words like “humility” and “everyday” crop up frequently in their descriptions of Wurster’s work, which never aspired to exotic shapes and showy materials:  

“Wurster’s secret was that he never saw his houses as any more than a backdrop for well-lived lives and good views. ‘The picture frame and not the picture,’ he often said; and on that frame the best detail was ‘the unlabored thing that looks as inevitable as something that comes out of a frying pan just right, like an omelet in France.” 

Architectural historians also praise Wurster for taking commissions for modest and inexpensive homes, of which the Jensen Cottage is a classic example. “This little house with its ship-cabin scale reflects Wurster’s belief that no job was ever too small for his interest,” wrote one architectural historian. Wurster applied remarkable skill to make his homes respect their sites, as well as modest budgets. As a result, the Jensen Cottage of 1937, wrote one critic, “has remained an enduring example of Wurster’s skill in planning compact dwellings. Disposed on two floors to maximize the minimal land provided by the tight and sloping site, this house of under 1,800 square feet appears much larger than its actual dimensions.” 

Fortunately, William Wurster was not ignored during his lifetime. In 1969, the American Institute of Architecture awarded their highest honor, the Gold Medal Award. Marc Trieb, Professor of Architecture at U.C. Berkeley, wrote “For almost three decades William Wilson Wurster occupied a preeminent position in American residential architecture. His everyday modernism, which tempered national and international architectural trends with a concern for things local, provided a model for living in California, and through coverage in publications, the nation at large. As dean of the schools of architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later the University of California at Berkeley, Wurster also exerted a formidable influence on architectural education from the late 1940s through the 1960s. Yet despite this list of impressive achievements Wurster is no longer well known.” 

Thankfully, that is no longer true. Already, one Wurster house, “The Glass House,” located in Berkeley, has received landmark status. The Jensen Cottage, an early and classic example of elegant modernist architecture, deserves the same protection.  

Unfortunately, the community which wishes to preserve this historic gem have encountered some obstacles. When they appealed to the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB), the members of that board—for whatever reasons—failed to recognize the historic significance of the structure. As a result, ZAB quickly approved Rossetto’s plans to build a two-story addition to the cottage.  

In response, the local community immediately filed an application to the Landmark Preservation Commission, asking them to designate the Jensen Cottage a historic landmark. At the same time, they appealed the ZAB decision to the City Council, which will take up the matter on Tuesday, Nov. 9.  

What do these folks want? According to Brian Viani, who wrote the appeal and the application for landmark status, they want “the City Council to either approve their appeal of ZAB’s hasty decision or to defer any decision until the Landmark Preservation Commission has had time to evaluate the Jensen Cottage for landmark status.” 

With a few minor exceptions, this historic home remains almost as it was built. Should the Jensen Cottage receive a landmark designation, it would be protected from turning into yet one more ostentatious McMansion in the East Bay hills.  

The City Council should approve this community’s appeal and send the issue back to where it belongs—the Landmark Preservation Commission.  

Berkeley is famous for preserving its architectural and historical heritage. The Jensen Cottage is part of that precious legacy.  

 

Ruth Rosen is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Davis. Christopher Adams is a retired architect and city planner.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Viewless Apartments Mar Buildings of Distinction: By JOHN KENYON

Special to the Planet
Friday November 05, 2004

Long ago in England, in a bizarre BBC interview, an ancient Irish countryman with a voice from a J.M. Synge play was expressing his low opinion of architecture. Asked about St. Paul’s Cathedral, he opined that, “All buildings are ugly, but some are uglier than others.” Fifty years later I feel somewhat the same about the “built environment” of Berkeley, particularly the new crop of downtown apartments squeezed into landlocked “opportunity sites.” 

Two in particular, one facing Shattuck Square and the other at University Avenue and Milvia Street, are worth a hard look. Touted as “smart,” they might qualify as architecture, i.e., exterior style, but they surely fail as civilized development. Each is hemmed-in by existing old structures that rob perhaps a third of the new living units of light, views, or both. At the same time, each is respectablized culturally by presenting lovingly designed entrance facades to the main avenue. Both are projects of Panoramic Interests, a Berkeley infill development company. 

Kirk Peterson’s Bachenheimer Building at 2119 University Ave., with its cleverly designed Italianate fantasy overlooking Shattuck Square, yearns to be dominating a pedestrian plaza in Rome or Venice, but the narrow lot leaves it looking squeezed, like a disappointed half of a grander edifice. Thus the long, more casual westerly frontage with its not-quite-matching corner towers, seems to be happier, less forced, despite its appearing to sit on a giant podium of very un-Classical “retail-commercial.” 

In total contrast, the more severe, less nostalgic Touriel Building, design by Assembly Architects, at 2004 University Ave. fits comfortably into its strident setting. Its main frontage on the avenue manages to look striking and elegant without the aid of round-headed windows, red-titled roof or rusticated base (pretend heavy masonry). Even contextually, it one-ups the Shattuck Square building. Set off against a handsome deep-green wall, the narrow boards of the projecting window-bays nicely echo the tan brickwork of the old building immediately east. 

Round the corner, set back from MIlvia, the long facade facing the bay is a novel composition of lively red stucco and more wood boarding, enhanced by a system of horizontal sliding exterior shutters that should create an ever-changing visual reading of this sunny westerly frontage. Extroverted and to some eyes brash, time will soon soften this bold wall. The red will gently fade, and the extensive boarding weather, as wood always does. Meanwhile, the odd-looking wire fencing up on the roof, designed to receive flowering vines, will eventually add a crown of vegetation. 

In the face of all this imaginative creating, it feels almost unbearable that most of the lowest-level apartments on this bay-view side look out at a strip of sky and the back wall of Au Coquelet, while many of the east-facing units are 15 feet from a old blank masonry wall. And the Shattuck Square apartments are as bad if not worse. For an architectural thrill, stand across from University Avenue from Peterson’s seductive Palladian facade, and notice how the building’s easterly wall angles back from the front corner, running closer and closer to the brick side of the old Acheson Medical Building until it passes the latter’s back corner a medieval-handshake away. Now stroll around to the north end off Berkeley Way, and observe how new apartment windows enjoy a close-up view of UC Press’s uninspiring back. As for the long westerly side, it’s much the same condition as the bottom-level apartments on Milvia—no civilized view. 

Regarding this whole question of sub-standard “basement apartments” in new, architecturally significant buildings, I hear a surprising number of comments to the effect that, after a hard day on the campus, most students will close the curtains and hit the books. Similarly, young working couples will stagger in exhausted, roll down the blinds, and watch TV. These seem cynical assumptions by people who, in many cases, inhabit single family houses with windows on all sides and views of the garden if not the bay. One suspects here an elitist attitude towards apartment dwellers, strangely mixed with passionate support of ‘smart growth,’ here meaning more apartments close to BART. 

What then can be done to prevent this anomaly of architectural quality and sub-standard units? Two ideas come to mind, one optimistic and long-term, the other effective immediately. First, the city could introduce design-studies of problem sites in the central district where apartment building has happened or could happen. These could take the form of competitions that would, among other benefits, show off the work of local designers. The block of the Gaia Building (also a Panoramic Interests project, completed in 2001, at 2116 Allston Way) would make a good first study. A more drastic step, but one that could yield faster results, would be to introduce new rules requiring, along with light, ventilation, etc., a tolerable view or outlook for main living areas, whether panorama, street scene, or quiet garden court. 

Strictly applied, the second concept would stop some developers dead in their tracks, driving them out of the denser parts of downtown, and this would be a great blessing. Instead of it becoming the over-built westerly edge of a patently over-built campus, this oddly-laid out old area between, say, Hearst and Durant avenues, could become a delightful, pedestrian friendly district of low- to medium-height buildings clustered around interior garden courts. Trumpetvine Court, connecting Shattuck Avenue and Allston Way, is a good living demonstration. 

Throughout the greater downtown-area this ‘mini-park’ concept still applies. More and bigger structures have appeared—the Fine Arts Building at 2471 Shattuck Ave.—or will soon appear—the nine-story Seagate apartments on Center Street—further increasing the need for quiet public open-space removed from the frenetic traffic of the streets. 

V


Arts Calendar

Friday November 05, 2004

FRIDAY, NOV. 5 

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. 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley, “Present Laughter” by Noel Coward at 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. at Berryman. Through Nov. 20. Tickets are $10. 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Berkeley Repertory Theater, “Eurydice” at the Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. through Nov. 14. Tickets are $20-$55. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

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. 

Contra Costa Civic Theater, “Noises Off” Fri., Sat., and selected Sun., through Nov. 20. Tickets are $10-$15. 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito. 524-9132. www.ccct.org  

Impact Theatre, “Meanwhile, Back at the Super Lair” by Greg Kalleres, Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. through Dec. 11, at La Val’s Subterranean Theater, 1834 Euclid. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. www.impacttheatre.com 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Paris and Other Obsessions” Photographs, drawings, sculpture by Leonard Pitt, at Giorgi Art Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Reception at 6 p.m. Exhibition runs to Nov. 21. 848-1228. www.giorgigallery.com 

FILM 

Ximena Cuevas and the Laboratory of Life Salon with Ximena Cuevas at 1:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Bollywood/Tollywood: “I Have Found It” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Chris Carlson reads from “After the Deluge” at 7 p.m. at AK Press Warehouse, 674-A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

By the Light of the Moon, open mic for women at 7:30 p.m. at Changemakers, 6536 Telegraph. Cost is $3-5. 482-1315. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Bolshoi Ballet, “Raymonda” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $48-$110 available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

En Pointe Youth Dance Company’s “Autumn Excerpts” by Berkeley’s youth founded and directed dance company, at 7:30 p.m. at Longfellow Middle School Auditorium, 1500 Derby St. Tickets are $5. enpointedance@yahoo.com 

Renaissance and Baroque Lutes at 7:30 p.m. at MusicSources, 1000 The Alameda. Tickets are $20 at the door. 792-9146. 

Quijerema at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $10-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Ray Cepeda with Los Pinguos at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Bob Sheppard Quartet at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazz- 

school.com 

Stompy Jones at 9 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club. 848-7800. www.berkeleycityclub.com  

Bill Kirchen, rockabilly, dieselbilly and truck-stop rock, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Kuma, Zonk, The Volumes at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

The Tiptons, Beth Custer Ensemble at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com  

Rhonda Bennin Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

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

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

Will Bernard & Friends at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277 

The Plus Ones, Sabrina Steward, The Fictions, Safeway at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Improvised Music and New Compositions with Kris Tiner, Noah Phillips, Jack Wright and Phillip Greenlief at 8:30 p.m. at 1924 Tea House. Donation $5-$10. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

SATURDAY, NOV. 6 

CHILDREN 

“Wild About Books” storytime with storyteller Marijo at 10:30 a.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6223. 

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Gerry Tenney at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

THEATER 

Rebel Comedy Night Progressive and provocative stand-up comedy with Louis Katz, W. Kamau Bell, Brent Weinbach, Jasper Redd and Sherry Sirof, at 9 p.m. at Fellini Restaurant, 1401 University Ave. Cost is $5. 841-5200. 

FILM 

Bollywood/Tollywood: “Anything Can Happen” at 6:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Paris Transforming: The Beauty and Horror of Urban Reconstruction” with photographer and sculptor Leonard Pitt, at 8 p.m. at Giorgi Art Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Cost is $12. 848-1228. www.giorgigallery.com 

Derrick Jensen speaks on the “Dismantling of Civilization” at 7 p.m. at AK Press Warehouse, 674-A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Two Redheads and 88 Solenoids New work for disklavier piano at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery, 2324 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $8-$12. www.berkeleyartsfestival.com 

Berkeley Chamber Group at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. www.TrinityChamberConcerts.com 

Bolshoi Ballet, “Raymonda” at 2 and 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $48-$110. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Choreographers’ Performance Alliance with host Aileen Kim and performances by local dancers at 7:30 p.m. at Eighth Street Studios, 2525 Eighth St. Tickets are $10. 644-1788, ext. 2. 

Philharmonia Baroque “An Evening in Old Vienna” at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant Sts. Tickets are $28-$62. 415-392-4400. www.philharmonia.org 

Baroque Etcetera “German Idol” music of J.S. Bach at 8 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church, 5201 Park Blvd., Oakland. Donations suggested. 540-8222. www.baroquetc.org 

Taj Mahal Benefit concert for the Native American Health Center, at 8 p.m. at the Paramount Theater, Oakland. Tickets are $15-$100. 625-8497. www.ticketmaster.com 

Four Seasons Concerts, Leon Bates and Jeanne StarkIochmans, pianists, at 7:30 p.m. at Calvin Simmons Theater, 10 Tenth St., Oakland. Tickets are $25-$35. 601-7919. www.fourseasonsconcerts.com 

Transcendence Gospel Choir, the first all-transgendered choir, at 7:30 p.m. at Pacific School of Religion Chapel, 1798 Scenic Ave. Donation $10-$20, reservations suggested. 704-7729. 

Nguyen Dance Company presents “Close to the Trai Tim (Close to the Heart)” at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $10-$15. 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

Samba Ngo at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenez. Premiere screening of Tom Weidlinger’s new documentary at 8 p.m. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Ray Cepeda at 9:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$18. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Lisa Sangita Moskow and Unity Nguyen at 7 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Cost is $15. 883-0600 www.belladonna.ws 

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

Insolence, Everything Taken, Aphasia at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Grey de Lisle, Crooked Jades at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

David Jacobs-Strain, traditional and future blues, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50-$16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Eric Swinderman Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

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

Signal Lost, Look Back and Laugh, Desolation at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Patrick Greene Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Gojogo and Transmission Trio at 8 p.m. at the 1924 Tea House. Donation $5-$10. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

SUNDAY, NOV. 7 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Eye Talk Art” visions from three NIAD artists, reception at 1 p.m. at Britt-Marie’s Gallery, 1369 Solano Ave. 527-1314. 

Urban Photography by Lauren Murphy. Reception at 4 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

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

FILM 

The World of Astrid Lindgren: “The Brothers Lionheart” at 3 p.m. and Bollywood/Tollywood “I Have Found It” at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Pursuing the Irish Healer: Valnetine Greatrakes” with Leonard Pitt, at 8 p.m. at Giorgi Art Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Cost is $12. 848-1228. www.giorgigallery.com 

Abe Ignacio and Jorge Emmanuel on “The Forbidden Book: The Philippine-American War in Political Cartoons” at 3 p.m. at Eastwind Books, 2066 University Ave. 548-2350. 

Poetry Flash with Stephen Kessler and Marcia Falk at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Bolshoi Ballet, “Raymonda” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $48-$110 available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Baroque Etcetera “German Idol” music of J.S. Bach at 4 p.m. at Episcopal Church of the Good Shepard, 1823 Hearst St. at Ninth. Donation $10 suggested. 540-8222. www.baroquetc.org 

Volti, “New American Directions” contemporary choral music at 4 p.m. at St. Mark’s episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $8-$20. 771-3352. www.voltisf.org 

Philharmonia Baroque “An Evening in Old Vienna” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant Sts. Tickets are $28-$62. 415-392-4400. www.philharmonia.org 

Broceliande, Celtic music, at 4 p.m. at St. Alban’s Parish Hall, 1501 Washington Ave., Albany. Donation $10-$12. 569-0437. www.broceliande.org 

Choreographers’ Performance Alliance with host Andrea Mok at 7:30 p.m. at Eighth Street Studios, 2525 Eighth St. Tickets are $10. 644-1788. 

Candido Camero and “Patato” Valdez at 7 p.m. at the Calvin Simmons Theater, Oakland. Tickets are $22-$42. www.sfjazz.org 

“Share the Music” Celebration of First Congregational Church’s Birthday with Babá Ken Okulolo and the Nigerian Brothers, Oakland Interfaith Youth Gospel Choir and others at 4 p.m., at 2501 Harrison St. at 27th, Oakland. Tickets are $10-$15. 444-8511, ext. 15. 

French Cabaret, presented by the Alliance Française at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

ChoZen at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

The Bobs, a cappella quartet, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Steve Erquiaga and “Trio Paradiso” at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Rachel Sage and Lisa Alice at 8 p.m. at the 1924 Tea House. Suggested donation of $5-$10. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

MONDAY, NOV. 8 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Manuscript Illumination 700 AD to 2020 AD” Slide lecture by Mel Ahlborn at 6:30 p.m. in the Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, GTU, 2400 Ridge Rd. 528-1709. www.friendsofcalligraphy.org 

Penelope Duckworth examines “Mary: The Imagination of her Heart” at 7:30 p.m. First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way at Dana. Sponsored by Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Monday at Moe’s with Alan Bern and Lucinda Weaver at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Chris Carlsson, editor, discusses ways local politics can transform urban life in “The Political Edge” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Patricia Wells introduces “The Provence Cookbook” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

Poetry Express featuring Debra Grace Khattab from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

UC Jazz Ensembles at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, NOV. 9 

FILM 

Loose Ends: “Recent College Cinema” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

David Sedaris ”Strictly Speaking” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $20-$38. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

“In the Name of Justice” a staged reading by Shotgun Players of a new translation of Albert Camus‚ “Les Justes” at 7:30 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. 841-6500.  

“Greek Art and Architecture in Italy” by Barbara A. Barletta, Prof. of Art History, Univ. of Florida, at 7:30 p.m. at the Archeological Research Facility, 2251 College Building, UC Campus. 415-338-1537. 

Ivan Eland discusses “The Empire Has No Clothes: U.S. Policy Exposed” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Ntozake Shange on “The Sweet Breath of Life: A Poetic Narrative of the African-American Family” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Joseph Fischer describes the “Story Cloths of Bali” at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 843-3533. 

The Whole Note Poetry Series, with Randy Fingland and Bert Glick at 7 p.m. at The Beanery, 2925 College Ave., near Ashby. 549-9093. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Molly’s Revenge, traditional music of Ireland, Scotland and england at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50- $16.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

“Gigi’s Fabulous Adventure,” music inspired by myth and Taoism at 8 p.m. at Teance/ 

Celadon Fine Teas, 1111 Solano Ave. Tickets are $20, including tea samples. 524-1696. 

Cyril Guiraud and Dave Michel-Ruddy at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Jovino Santos Neto Trio at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 10 

THEATER 

Royal Court Theatre, “4.48 Psychosis,” by Sarah Kane. Wed. - Fri. at 8 p.m., Sat. at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sun. at 3 and 7 p.m., at Zellerbach Playhouse. Tickets are $65. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

FILM 

“O Primeiro Dia” in Portuguese with English subtitles at 7 p.m. in the CLAS Conference Room, 2334 Bowditch. 642-2088. 

Video Art: “Home, Home on the Range” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Cafe Poetry and open mic hosted by Kira Allen at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Russell Banks introduces his political historical novel set in the U.S. and Liberia, “The Darling” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Don George, Global Editor of Lonely Planet, introduces “The Travel Book” at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 843-3533. 

Thais Mazur reads from her new book “Warrior Mothers” at 7 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. 883-0600. www.belladonna.ws  

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 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert, solo piano with Karen Rosenak at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Music for the Spirit with The Pacific Boy Choir Academy at 12:15 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway. 444-3555. www.firstchurchoakland.org 

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

Anthony Paule and Mz. Dee at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Matt Berkeley Group at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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

Lenka Dusilova, Company Car, Hazerfan at 8:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $4. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Cedar Walton Trio with Kenny Burrell at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $12-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

ª


Berkeley This Week

Friday November 05, 2004

FRIDAY, NOV. 5 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll learn about our fine feathered friends from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

November is We Give Thanks Month! Join participating restaurants in supporting the Berkeley Food and Housing Project. For a list of participating restaurants please visit www.bfhp.org  

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Dr. Saba Mahmood, Prof. Middle Eastern Studies, on “Retooling Democracy and Feminism for Today’s Burden of Empire.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $12.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For ireservations call 526-2925.  

Literacy & Beyond Celebrates Dia do los Muertos Family Literacy Night with altar making, and storyteller Olga Loya, at 7 p.m. at the Downtown Berkeley YMCA, 2001 Allston Way. 665-3271. 

“News from Native California” with Frank LaPena, Laura Cunningham, L. Frank, Julian Lang/ 

Xatimniim, and Malcolm Margolin, of Heyday Books, at 7:30 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St. 549-3564, ext. 307. 

First Fridays Film Series “Hidden in Plain Sight” on the School of the Americas, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. Free. 482-1062. 

Womansong Circle Community singing with Betsy Rose. Potluck snacks at 6:45 p.m., singing at 7:15 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. 525-7082. 

Asian Business Association Charity Fashion Show at 7 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Cost is $10-$12. Proceeds benefit A Safe Place domestic violence shelter in Oakland.  

Literary Friends meets at 1:15 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. We will discuss Ayn Randh. 232-1351. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Players at all levels are welcome. 652-5324. 

“Three Beats for Nothing” meets to sing 16th century harmony for fun and practice at 10 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 655-8863, 843-7610. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 548-6310, 845-1143. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions are welcome to join us. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169. www.bpf.org 

Overeaters Anonymous meets every Friday at 1:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Church at Solano and The Alameda. Parking is free and is handicapped accessible. For information call Katherine, 525-5231. 

SATURDAY, NOV. 6 

Potential Water Transit in Berkeley A Joint Workshop of the City of Berkeley Transportation and Waterfront Commissions and the San Francisco Bay Water Transit Authority from 9 a.m. to noon at Berkeley Yacht Club, 1 Seawall Drive. 981-7010. 

Sick Plant Clinic The first Sat. of every month, UC plant apthologist Dr. Robert Raabe, UC entomologist Dr. Nick Mills, and their team of experts will diagnose what ails your plants from 9 a.m. to noon at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755. 

“Fire in Your Backyard - Friend or Foe?” A program on fire history in the East Bay, fire ecology and homeowner safety, with demonstrations of a fire engine, firefighters’ personal protective equipment and wildland firefighting techniques. At 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. Free. Youth age 14 and up are welcome. 525-2233. 

Kids Garden Club For children 7-12 years old to explore the world of gardening. We plant, harvest, build, make crafts, cook and get dirty! From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $5-$6, registration required. 525-2233. 

Junior Rangers of Tilden meets Sat. mornings at Tilden Nature Center. For more information call 525-2233. 

“Plant Selection and Installation” A hands-on class in Berkeley from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. We will visit a local nursery and botanic garden to view and discuss why, and how, to select appropriate plants for a variety of situations. Students will participate in designing and planting a residential garden. Emphasis on Native Californian plants. Sign up by calling the Building Education Center at 525-7610.  

Help Clean up San Pablo Creek and its tributaries. Learn about the Dumping Abatement and Pollution Reduction Program and the trash assessment monitoring tool as we remove harmful trash. Refreshments, tools, and gloves provided. Call for meeting place. Sponsored by The Watershed Project. 231-9566. Elizabeth@thewatershedproject.org 

An Afternoon with Ram Dass from 2 to 5 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. Donation $20 at the door. 302-3302. 

Benefit for the Bay Area Search and Rescue Council with music by Built to Spill and Citizen Cope at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Pyramid Alehouse, 901 Gilman St. Cost is $16. www.pyramidbrew.com 

Moment’s Notice a monthly salon for improvised music, dance and theater at 8 p.m. at Western Sky Studio, 2525 8th St. 415-831-5592. 

Noche Tropical Silent Auction Party to benefit Albany Schools. With food, music and wine at 7 p.m. at Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave., Albany. Tickets are $35-$40. 528-0848. a_saint@pacbell.net 

Artisan Marketplace with jewelry, art, readings and more from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. 883-0600. www.belladonna.ws  

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, NOV. 7 

Search for Salamanders Watch carefully for the slippery amphibians, they love the wet weather so hope for rain. Learn the difference between a newt and a salamander on this easy hike. Meet at 9 a.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Military Families Speak Out with Cindy Sheehan whose son was killed in Sadr City in April, at 10:30 a.m. at Berkeley Fellowship, 1924 Cedar at Bonita. 

“Tribute to Veterans” Retired military personnel are offered a complementary lunch or dinner entree at Spenger's Fresh Fish Grotto, 1919 Fourth St. Present a VA card, a VFW card, discharge papers or a DD214 to your server when you are seated. Reservations are suggested but not required. 845-7771. 

“The Sound of Success: Fine Tune Your Music Business Skills” A day-long seminar for musicians sponsored by California Lawyers for the Arts. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Alice Arts Center in Oakland. To register call 415-775-7200, ext. 111. www.californialawyersfor- 

thearts.org 

“The Civil Rights Movement and Activism Across Communities” with Ron Dellums at 2 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Cost is $7-$10. In conjunction with the exhibition “What’s Going On? California and the Vietnam Era” 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

“Dharma and Democracy: A Global Perspective, Beyond the Elections” a conversation with Joanna Macy and Sulak Sivaraksa at 6 p.m. at Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, 2304 McKinley Ave. 655-6169. 

“End of Life Decisions” with Susan Rubin from 2 to 4:30 p.m. at Salem Lutheran Home, 2361 East 29th St., Oakland. 534-3637. 

Healing Friction a free facilitated open council and speak out for hearing all voices to improve the political process at 2 p.m. at Redwood Gardens, 2951 Derby St. 866-236-0346. 

Autumn in Asia, a walk through the Asian area with Asian plant expert Elaine Sedlak at 10 a.m. at UC Botanical Garden. Cost is $8-$12, registration required. 643-2755. 

Celebrating Native Californian Cultures with music, crafts and storytelling from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Phoebe Hearst Museum, Bancroft at College. 643-7648. 

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring warm waterproof clothes. www.cal-sailing.org 

Tibetan Buddhism with with Elizabeth Cook on “The Stupa: Sacred Symbol of Enlightenment” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, NOV. 8 

Safe Driving Class for Seniors from 1 to 5 p.m., and on Nov. 10. Seniors who complete both sessions will get insurance discount. To register send a check for $10, made out to AARP, to Helen, at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2717 Garber St., Berkeley, 95705. For more information call 869-6737. 

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 

Peace Corps General Information Meeting at 6 p.m. at the Berkeley Central Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 415-977-8798. www.peacecorps.gov 

The National Organization of Women Oakland/East Bay Chapter meets to discuss the election at 6 p.m. at The Oakland YWCA at 1515 Webster St. 287-8948.  

“Women in Latin American Politics” with Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Senator and first lady of Argentina, at 4 p.m. in the Maude Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall, UC Campus. 642-2088. www.clas.berkeley.edu 

“The Medicare Prescription Drug Card” with Susan Haley, Legal Assistance for Seniors at 1:15 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190. 

East Bay Mobile Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Albany YMCA, 921 Kains Ave. 1-800-GIVE-LIFE.  

“Cafe Society in Japan, or Why Starbucks May Not Prevail” with Marry White, Prof. Boston Univ., at 5 p.m. in the IEAS Conference Room, 2233 Fulton St., 6th Flr. http://ieas.berkeley.edu 

Financial Planning Workshop: College Planning 101 with Jarrett Topel, Certified Financial Planner at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043. 

Women’s Cancer Resource Center, volunteer training, every second Monday of the month, from 6 to 8 p.m. at 5741 Telegraph Ave. To sign up call Emily at 601-4040, ext. 109. emily@wcrc.org 

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. 

“Ulysses” Discussion Book Group at 7 p.m. at the Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. We will meet every Monday night and hopefully finish by Bloomsday 2005. 

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. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, NOV. 9 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll learn about our fine feathered friends from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

“Secrets and Lies from Vietnam to Iraq” with Daniel and Patricia Ellsberg at 7:30 p.m. at College Preparatory School, Buttner Auditorium, 6100 Broadway, Oakland. Cost is $5-$10. 658-5202. www.college-prep.org/livetalk 

“The Implications of Eco-Justice for a Theological Anthropology” with Reverend Peter Saltwell, Director of Eco-Justice Ministries at 7 p.m. in the GTU Dinner Board Room, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2560. www.gtu.edu/studentgroups/trees 

“When Myth Trumps History: The Reclamation Bureau and the Family Farm, 1902-1935” with Donald Pisani, Professor of History, University of Oklahoma, at 5:30 p.m. in 10 Evans Hall, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Water Resources Center Archives. 642-2666. 

“The End of Suburbia” a film about how peak oil production will change our lives, followed by a discussion with Jan Lundberg, founder of the Sustainable Energy Institute, at 6 p.m. at Redwood Gardens main hall, 2561 Derby St. www.berkeleybest.org 

ID Theft Workshop Find out how to reduce your chances of becoming an innocent victim, at 7 p.m. at the El Cerrito Senior Citizens Center, 6500 Stockton St. Sponsored by the El Cerrito Crime Prevention Committee, the El Cerrito City Council, and the El Cerrito Police Department. Reservations required. 215-4414, ext. 30.  

“Growing Up in a Bay Area Orphanage for Chinese Youth” A narrated video of historical photos that tells the story of the Chung Mei Home for Chinese boys and Ming Quong Home for Chinese girls. Panel discussion follows featuring former residents. At 7 p.m. at El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave. 526-7512.  

Free Quit Smoking Workshop from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. with a follow-up class on Nov. 23 at the South Berkeley Senior Center. To register call 981-5330. 

Free Depression Screenings from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Stephens Lounge, MLK Student Union, UC Campus. 642-7202. 

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Streets every Tuesday from 3 to 7 p.m. This is a project of Spiral Gardens. 843-1307. 

Family Story Time at the Kensington Branch Library, Tues. evenings at 7 p.m. at 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

Acting and Storytelling Classes for Seniors offered by Stagebridge, at Arts First Oakland, 2501 Harrison St. Classes are held at 10 a.m. Tues.-Fri. For more information call 444-4755. www.stagebridge.org 

Belly Dancing Lessons at 7:30 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Cost is $5. 883-0600 www.belladonna.ws  

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Marge Robinson, who has lived in Berkeley for the last 90 years, will speak on “Remembering Berkeley” at 11 a.m. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 10 

Kathy Kelly, Founder of Voices in the Wilderness and Iraqi Solidarity Activist at 7:30 p.m. at Firts Congregational Church, 2501 Harrison St., at 27th. Tickets are $12 in advance, at independent bookstores, $15 at the door. Benefit for KPFA. 848-6767, ext. 609. 

“KPFA/Pacifica: Democracy Deferred?” A panel discussion with speakers Solange Echeveria, Bill Mandel, Susan Stone, and others at 7 p.m. at La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 415-424-8311. 

“Jews Among Muslims and Christians in Late Antiquity” a symposium from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Dinner Boardroom at the GTU, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2482. 

“Jewish Families in Context” with Olga Silverstein, MSW, CSW, at 11:30 a.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $5. 848-0237.  

“Fruitful Flailings: Reading the Anger of the Prophet Jonah” with Barbara Green, Prof., Biblical Studies, Dominican School, at 7 p.m. in the GTU Chapel, 1798 Senic Ave. 649-2440. 

East Bay Genealogical Society with Margery Bell of the Family History Center at 10 a.m. in the Library Conference Room, Family History Center, 4766 Lincoln Ave., Oakland. 635- 6692. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday, rain or shine, at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes, sunscreen and a hat. 548-9840. 

Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine College Open House from 6 to 8 p.m. at 2550 Shattuck Ave. Learn about how you can become a licensed acupuncturist. RSVP to 666-8248, ext. 106. 

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

Poetry Writing Workshop, led by Alison Seevak, every second Wed. 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, corner of Shattuck and Center. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

CITY MEETINGS 

Council Agenda Committee meets, Mon. Nov. 8, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St., Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/agenda-committee 

Peace and Justice Commission meets Mon., Nov. 8, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Manuel Hector, 981-5510. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/peaceandjustice 

Public Housing Resident Advisory Board meets on Mon., Nov. 8, at 4 p.m. at Berkeley Housing Authority, 1901 Fairview St. Angellique DeCoud, 981-5475. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/publichousing 

City Council meets Tues., Nov. 9 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., Nov. 10, 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., Nov. 10, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jane Micallef, 981-5426. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/homeless 

Planning Commission meets Wed., Nov. 10, 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., Nov. 10 at the South Berkeley Senior Center, Barbara Attard, 981-4950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/policereview 

Waterfront Commission meets Wed., Nov. 10, at 7 p.m., at 201 University Ave. Cliff Marchetti, 644-6376 ext. 224. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/waterfront 




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. 

According to teachers, the election was part of a curriculum developed to teach students about the election process. For the past several weeks students have learned about the history of voting, written comparative essays about the presidential debates and conducted interviews with registered voters in the community. Students ran the registration drive and the polls, and several math classes will be analyzing the vote count based on grade and gender.


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. 

Barring an appeal to the City Council, Pacific Bay Investment has the city’s green light to build a five-story condominium and ground floor retail complex at the site of the former Tune-Up Masters facility at 1698 University Ave. 

Only members Dean Metzger and Carrie Sprague voted against issuing the documents. 

The board also took its first formal look at plans for the new Ed Roberts Campus at the site of the Ashby Avenue BART station, and heard concerns of neighbors who compared the architecture to a typical airline terminal. 

The center will provide training for the disabled and office space for disability rights, job training and related programs. 

Meredith Sabini, one of the most vocal opponents of the University Avenue project to testify before the board, has vowed to file a legal challenge. 

A clinical psychologist, Sabini owns the landmarked Fox Commons cottages, which will be thrown into three hours of morning shadow when the new building is completed. 

The board rejected pleas from project critics—including the Rev. George E. Crespin, pastor of the landmarked St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church, and Ifshin Violins owner Jay Ifshin—to require an environmental impact report (EIR) for the project. 

“I am very concerned about the traffic and parking impact in a neighborhood that is already congested,” wrote Crespin, addressing similar concerns raised by Ifshin. 

Eric Cress, project manager for Pacific Bay, said the developers had made significant changes in the project following a series of eight meetings with area residents, five design charettes and seven meetings with the city Design Review Commission. 

“We have reduced the number of dwelling unites from 38 to 25, reduced the height from 64 feet to 50 feet and increased the parking spaces from 16 to 33,” Cress said. 

The developers gained additional height for the building under the state density bonus law by including four so-called inclusionary condos, priced to be affordable to those earning 120 percent of the area median income. 

Rental figures for inclusionary apartments are based on much lower income figures. 

Many of the critics who appeared Thursday are members of PlanBerkeley.org, a group of University Avenue area residents and merchants which has been critical of the large residential/commercial structures rising along the main thoroughfare into the city. 

While neighbors were concerned with the immediate impacts of traffic, parking and noise impacts of construction, criticism also focused on the way the density bonus has been used to create structures taller than those fixed by the city plan and zoning requirements. 

One critic, architect John Alff, said that because the city doesn’t mandate densities for specific neighborhoods, “an averaging is taking place which is inflating the bulk of buildings to the point where they are becoming artificially large.” 

Alff said the city “needs to calculate densities in a way the average human can understand. I’m an architect, and I find it confusing. We need to nip this in the bud and decide what an appropriate density is. I wish you could say ‘We don’t want a five-story building here.’” 

Robin Kibby, who lives near the project and is an active member of PlanBerkeley.Org, agreed. “I’m concerned about how the density bonus is calculated. The general plan calls for a three-story building here.” 

“They are allowed a 25 percent bonus under the existing state law,” said city Principal Planner Debbie Sanderson. 

The developer did reduce the structure’s bulk, scaling back the fifth floor, but that wasn’t enough for Sabini. 

“I really resent the impact on our buildings,” she said. She also charged that the city shouldn’t build atop a site where hazardous chemicals had been used without requiring an EIR. 

The one unqualified neighborhood proponent was Dorrit Geshuri, a community organizer who lives at 1630 University Ave. “This is the kind of infill, development that should exist,” she said. “The density creates a population that will shop and use public transportation locally.” 

Most of the critics acknowledged that the developer had significantly improved the structure’s design, reducing the grossest impacts the building might have made. But they said they remained unconvinced the compromise was appropriate for the neighborhood. 

ZAB member Sprague agreed. 

“Compared to where we started, the building has really improved,” said ZAB Chair Andy Katz, while acknowledging that “the density bonus law results in enormous confusion.” With further changes allowing for increased density mandated by a new state law that comes into effect in January, “I’m glad we’re going to start putting our procedures in writing to really clarify things and allow people to all be on the same page.” 

Acknowledging that the density law poses serious problems, “if we step back from neighborhood concerns we can see that there are really profound reasons the Legislature provided” for them, said member Cheryl Tiedemann. 

“I don’t think we have a choice in terms of denying the variances” requested by the developer, said ZAB member and City Council candidate Laurie Capitelli. “The law compels us to grant the variances.” 

Board member Robert Allen told the critics they were preaching to the choir. “I dislike five-story buildings, and the city’s parking requirements are ridiculously low,” but he said he had no choice but to vote for the project. 

The proposal carried on a five-to-two vote. 

The Ed Roberts campus wasn’t up for a vote, although supporters turned out en masse in a carefully staged appearance managed by the center’s public relations firm. 

Every speaker who urged approval was greeted with applause, and critics—who largely found fault with the architecture—were met with silence. The proposal returns to ZAB for a second hearing next week. 

?


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. 

In the past several days and weeks northern California residents have flocked to swing states across the nation doing whatever they can to get Kerry supporters to the polls and mesh with the locals. 

“Being from Berkeley I don’t think I’ve ever met an undecided voter before,” said Wendy Hallinan, a medical worker, who arrived in Las Vegas Monday. “It’s kind of shocking. I don’t know what to say to them.” 

On Election Day, Hallinan will participate in the Democratic Party’s sophisticated get-out-the vote campaign aimed at moving traditionally Republican Nevada into the Kerry column. 

Volunteers will track voters via palm pilots and swarm Los Vegas neighborhoods where turnout has traditionally been low, said Chris Krohn, the former mayor of Santa Cruz, who has been working for the Democratic Party in Nevada for the last 25 days. 

With voters waiting for as long as two hours at early polling stations, Krohn said party volunteers have served food, drinks and even offered acrobats to entertain voters and keep them waiting in line to vote. 

Internal Democratic Party polls show Kerry with a slight advantage in Nevada, Krohn said, but he added that party officials were concerned that the Republican Party would use state election laws to challenge voters on Tuesday. Nevada allows for election officials to review the eligibility of voters, a practice outlawed in Ohio by two federal judges on Monday. In prior elections, Krohn said Republicans had challenged first-time voters to disqualify them and slow lines at heavily Democratic precincts. 

Krohn said he has already seen some dirty tricks. On Monday, he said, a man entered party headquarters claiming to be an electrician sent by the landlord to fix the lighting. A call to the landlord from party officials determined that the landlord hadn’t sent the electrician. 

“I think they were trying to obstruct our computer system,” Krohn said. 

Bob Burnett, a Berkeley resident volunteering for the Democratic Party in Boulder, Colo., said he has also witnessed shenanigans. He blamed Republicans for bombarding the Democratic Party’s e-mail system so messages couldn’t get through and said Republicans at the University of Colorado had told likely Democratic voters to go to the wrong precinct on Election Day. 

Still, Burnett, who is working 15 hour days organizing volunteers and phone banks, is optimistic that despite most polls showing Colorado swinging towards Bush, Kerry will take the state. 

“I’ve worked campaigns since 1968 and this is the best reception I’ve ever had,” he said. 

In West Palm Beach, Florida, Muriel Waller, a retired environmental consultant, has encountered a more skeptical electorate. 

“The real concern among voters I’ve talked to is that the election will be stolen again and that no matter how many more votes Kerry gets than Bush it won’t be enough,” the Berkeley resident said. 

Waller said she was troubled to hear about a woman whose granddaughter spent money she earned working at a fast food restaurant to make 25 pro-Kerry t-shirts but couldn’t get any recognition from the Kerry-Edwards campaign. 

“She told me that the campaign had been elitist in reaching out to college students but ignoring other college-age kids who joined the work force.” 

About 70 miles to the south, Conchita Lonzano, a local attorney, spent Monday monitoring lines at early polling stations in Miami. The biggest challenge, she wrote in an e-mail, came from local Cuban-Americans who told voters in line that monitors like Lonzano were there to commit voter fraud and taking Cuban voters into booths and voting for them. 

Lonzano met one woman who felt so harassed that she took a Bush button and pinned it “straight onto her ass” as a sign of protest. 

All of the campaign workers are either paying for their own accommodation or staying with friends or a local family, yet they said they have no regrets at sacrificing money or comfort to make an impact on the election. 

“After 2000 I promised myself I would do everything I could to make sure the election wasn’t stolen again,” Hallinan said. “Staying in Berkeley wouldn’t have done a whole lot.” 


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. 

The 500-pound gorilla on the Richmond political scene, the oil giant is also one of two bidders for Point Molate, an abandoned U.S. Navy fueling base, offering enough up-front cash to wipe out the city’s sizable debt. 

A rival plan by Berkeley developer James Levine and gambling industry giant Harrah’s calls for even bigger potential payouts to the city, provided the developers and the Guidiville Rancheria Band of Pomos can win federal and state approvals for a massive gaming, hotel, entertainment and shopping resort at the site. 

The City Council could reach a decision on the two offers as early as next Tuesday. 

Oil refinery officials say they want Point Molate to serve as a security buffer for their refinery, and contend that the high traffic that would be generated by Levine’s plan is incompatible with protecting the site against possible terrorist attacks. 

ChevronTexaco has also generated a flurry of controversy by flooding the city with expensive endorsement mailers in the closing days of the city elections. 

Incumbent Tom Butt, the only City Councilmember who called for an environmental impact report when the refinery filed papers with the city to build the LPG tanks in 2001, is not one of the ChevronTexaco’s election day picks. 

“Chevron’s involvement is drawing more interest than usual this year because of Point Molate. When they come back to the council with their latest offer later this month, it’s likely that some of their endorsees will be sitting on the council,” Butt said. 

Newly elected City Councilmembers won’t take office until the council’s first January meeting. 

Butt estimated the cost of the Chevron mailers at more than $100,000. “It’s the local equivalent of soft money,” he said. 

All sides agree that as the largest employer and property owner in the city, ChevronTexaco wields considerable influence in the city.  

Everett Jenkins, interim Richmond city attorney, was unavailable for comment either on the Point Molate offer or on the court ruling. “It being election time, he decided to take off until Wednesday,” said a spokesperson for his office. “’Til then, the media talks to nobody.” 

Calls to Mayor Irma Anderson and acting City Manager Rich McCoy were not returned. 

ChevronTexaco External Affairs Manager Dean O’Hair said the ruling should have little impact on the refinery’s plans. 

The case against the city and Chevron was filed by Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), an Oakland-based environmental group on July 3, 2002. The suit followed unsuccessful appeals of its challenges of city planning commission and council votes approving the refinery’s request for a conditional use permit to add the two tanks to the complex of 14 at the Chevron “sphere farm.” 

A Contra Costa County Superior Court judge ruled for Chevron and the city, and CBE appealed. 

CBE charged that the approval was part of an illegal attempt by Chevron to “piecemeal” a portion of the refinery out of the production of banned fuel additive MTBE and into an LPG tank farm. 

“Piecemealing,” the implementation of a strategic planning effort through incremental stages submitted without revealing the larger plan, is banned under the California Environmental Quality Act, and CBE was demanding a full-scale environmental impact report addressing what it claimed was a broader plan. 

CBE wanted the EIR to address the possible hazards and impacts that might be produced by leaks or an explosion of the highly combustible compressed gas, and to address the issue of how the spheres might fit into a larger reformulated gasoline project at the refinery. 

Chevron contended that the spheres were needed to make the refinery more efficient at handling LPG and to allow them to take existing spheres out of service for inspection. 

While the appellate court denied the piecemealing claim, the three justices ruled that the city’s failure to address the cumulative impacts of several refinery project, including the spheres, constituted an abuse of discretion. 

Citing existing precedents, the justices held that the initial study wrongly denied that the tanks would add to the impacts of earlier changes at the plant. 

Presiding Justice William R. McGuiness wrote, “CBE submitted evidence showing Chevron had applied for permits for over a dozen projects at the refinery during the twelve months before the city issued its notice of negative declaration on November 30, 2001... under the CEQA Guidelines, the city had an obligation to consider not only current projects ‘in the immediate vicinity’ of the proposed project, but rather the effects of all past, current and reasonably foreseeable future projects that could produce a combined environmental impact.” 

The appellate court last week ordered the trial court to direct the city to set aside the resolutions adopting the negative impact declaration. The decision also forces the city to conduct a study to determine if an EIR should be required “after examining the cumulative impacts of the project in connection with past, present and probable future projects at the refinery.” 

Each side was ordered to pay their own costs. 

Adrienne Bloch, attorney for CBE, called the decision “a significant victory for environmental justice, and an excellent decision for the City of Richmond.” 

Bloch said CBE entered the legal fray following complaints by people living near and around the refinery. “As soon as we started to look into it, we realized it was part of something much larger. We engaged an expert and started out on what became a very long fight. 

“The decision is the first case in the district based on cumulative impacts, and now the city will have to start all over with a new Environmental Impact Statement and new scoping sessions offering the opportunities for more public participation,” she said. “It’s significant also in that it serves as notice to the City of Richmond that they’re not exempt from real environmental review of projects—that they have it do it just like everyone else.” 

But ChevronTexaco’s O’Hair downplayed the claim. “They did not tell the City of Richmond that they had to do an Environmental Impact Report,” he said. “They just have to check off the box saying they’ve examined the cumulative impacts of the project and found that a negative declaration is all that’s necessary.” 

Councilmember Butt, a longtime Chevron critic, hailed the decision. “Chevron has owned our City Council for years,” he said, “and the council does whatever the city staff says.” 

Meanwhile, Chevron presented the city with the latest draft of its offer for Point Molate on Friday, offering a $50 million payment as early as Dec. 23, another $5 million within 10 days of signing to fund new jobs in the city, plus a special tax assessment of $1 million per year for 25 years, 

The refinery is also offering a $1 million account to fund a comprehensive land use plan and a $2 million fund payable over five years to develop and maintain a shoreline park and trail system, which will include land already owned by the refinery. 

Chevron also agrees to take the land on an “as is” basis. 

The offer also includes long-term use of a valuable 25-acre tract commercial/industry tract near the Richmond marina. 

O’Hair described the $1 million a year offer as payments in lieu of property taxes, “though I expect there will also be some type of regular property taxes, too.”


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. 

The nation-wide flu shortage is hitting the Bay Area and Berkeley especially hard, and it’s an impossible game of numbers to match the scant supply with the demand, said Berkeley Director of Public Health Poki Namkung Monday. 

Although health officials say an estimated 26,000 Berkeley residents fall into the highest risk categories determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and should get a flu shot, the City of Berkeley only has control over 1,200 doses, 300 of which it had purchased from Aventis and the rest from the state’s portion given by the CDCP. 

That’s about half the number of shots it has had in normal years. 

The City of Berkeley will hand over its flu shots to doctors and community clinics to issue to their most high-risk patients. The department is still in the process of deciding who gets what. 

An additional 4,000 vaccinations exist in the private sector, at hospitals, clinics, the University of California, and non-profit organizations. 

“It’s a heartbreaking situation. It’s going to leave a huge number of people out,” Namkung said. “We are literally counting dose by dose, person by person.” 

Namkung estimates that about 80 percent of the city’s health care providers appear to have ordered their supply of flu shots from Emeryville-based Chiron Corporation, which announced last month that none of its influenza vaccine would be available for the 2004-05 flu season. 

Sutter VNA and Hospice, an affiliate of Sutter Health, is making 1,000 doses available at four Berkeley flu clinics. The non-profit group recently received 15,000 additional doses to be sold to high risk patients for $20 each in 11 California counties including Alameda, said spokeswoman Gerri Ginsburg. 

The doses came from Aventis, although it was the Visiting Nurses Association of America, a national organization that works closely with the CDC, that advocated for the local group, Ginsburg said. 

The group hasn’t advertised the new shipment aside from communicating with senior centers and posting the clinic schedule on its website. 

“We’ve been keeping the word local and toward our target groups,” Ginsburg said. 

Because of the shortage, California’s Public Health Officer Richard Jackson issued an order Oct. 8 with guidelines on who should receive the available vaccines. 

Among them are adults over 65, children six to 23 months, and residents of nursing homes and long term care facilities. Namkung Oct. 13 reinforced the order with one of her own to include a declaration that must be signed by anyone receiving the vaccine stating they fall into one of the high-risk categories. 

While all medical providers must follow the orders—to violate them is a misdemeanor—the state hasn’t issued additional guidelines to determine whether a pregnant woman, for example, should receive a flu shot before a person with asthma, said California Department of Health spokesman Robert Miller. 

For its own 1,200 public-owned shots, the Berkeley City Health Department has itemized some of the criteria they use. 

Its first priority, Namkung said, is to maintain the city’s health infrastructure. That means making sure emergency room doctors and critical care nurses—health care workers who come in close contact with patients and would be difficult to replace—have the opportunity to be vaccinated. 

“We know, given the shortages, there will be many more flu cases than normal and there have to be health care providers to take care of sick patients,” Namkung said. 

Next are the elderly who live in nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities and senior housing. The city’s vaccine supply won’t stretch beyond those two groups, Namkung said, although she does plan to hold onto about 100 doses to be used for small children, if necessary. 

Those guidelines won’t extend into the private sector, where doctors will be left to determine which high-risk patient needs to be vaccinated the most. 

Nurses at the VNA clinics will require flu shot recipients to sign the VNA’s own itemized sheet declaring that they are indeed high risk. 

That could leave uninsured patients without access to the vaccine, Namkung acknowledged, especially since Berkeley canceled its senior flu vaccine clinics this year. About 3,000 of the 26,000 high-risk group are uninsured, she estimated. 

While the health department will attend scheduled vaccination clinics, like the Sutter VNA clinic to be held at the Berkeley Jewish Community Center on Nov. 3, they won’t observe what goes on inside private medical centers to make sure they are following the CDC’s guidelines. 

“I trust health care providers to do the right thing,” she said. “I haven’t seen any evidence that there is mishandling or misuse.” 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center has an additional 3,100 vaccinations, but will use them for their workers, Namkung said. 

Elsewhere in the Bay Area, the San Francisco Department of Public Health has a policy similar to Berkeley’s—first vaccinating health care workers and people in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, according to Director Mitchell Catz. 

Sonoma County Deputy Health Officer Leigh Hall said his health department’s plan for vaccine distribution is “evolving.” 

In a normal year the county health department isn’t allowed to share its vaccines with the private sector, but this year they’ll be allowed to use their 3,300 doses to fill holes. 

“We’ll need a whole lot more than what we got,” Hall said. 

 

Helen Rippier Wheeler contributed to this report.à


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. 

Rubicon Programs Inc., a nonprofit based in Richmond, is scheduled to take over an office at 2801 Telegraph Ave., where the Jobs Consortium for the Homeless has conducted business since 1988. 

In July, the Department of Housing and Urban Development froze funding to the Jobs Consortium after a department review determined that the nonprofit owned HUD $1.2 million for already expended grant funds which were supposed to have been matched with local cash contributions equaling 25 percent of the total. A HUD review last July determined that the organization had instead accounted for nearly 70 percent of the required match with in-kind services provided by a local union. HUD has disqualified grants for prior years and is now demanding reimbursement from the Jobs Consortium. 

With the HUD sanction driving the Jobs Consortium to the brink of collapse, the city has been negotiating with HUD to bring Rubicon to Berkeley. The goal is to retain HUD funding of approximately $1 million per year which has paid 75 percent of the costs for the job training program.  

Earlier this month the City Council voted unanimously to transfer the city’s $19,000 share of the cash match for the grant from the Jobs Consortium to Rubicon. 

Rubicon Deputy Director Jane Fischberg said the move to Berkeley “seemed like a sensible expansion” since the nonprofit already served homeless people in Alameda County. She refused to speculate on the services Rubicon planned to offer until the deal to bring them to Berkeley was final. In addition to providing services for the homeless, Rubicon is also an affordable housing developer. 

In order to pave the way for Rubicon, the city must keep the Jobs Consortium afloat until it can repay the $1.2 million. As a condition of transferring the grant to Rubicon, HUD is demanding to be paid back in full by the Jobs Consortium, said Berkeley Community Services Specialist Jane Micallef. 

Already, Berkeley and Alameda County have spent a combined $150,000 to sustain the Jobs Consortium through next June, when it is scheduled to receive the second and final installment of a $1.5 million payout from the Port of Oakland Army Base Reuse Authority. 

The money is part of a multi-million dollar relocation compensation package for social service providers on the base, which is slated for retail and residential development. 

If the Jobs Consortium can survive until it receives payment for removal of its job training center on the army base, Micallef said it could repay its debts, and then likely disband. 

“The organization has really toppled under the pressure,” she said.  

Representatives of the Jobs Consortium did not respond to telephone calls for this story. Many of the Jobs Consortium’s top officers, including its longtime executive director Michael Daniels, have departed, Micallef said.  

The organization is currently being run by a consultant, Paul Leonard, a former HUD official. 

Without money from HUD, the Jobs Consortium has ceased its jobs training programs, but still manages the Haste Street House, a Berkeley affordable housing development owned by the Northern California Land Trust. 

Before HUD cut off funding, the Jobs Consortium, which had served between 700 and 800 Oakland and Berkeley residents a year, ran job training programs in construction work, asbestos abatement, janitorial work and food service. 

Rubicon’s job training services have traditionally specialized in assisting people with mental disabilities and has sent graduates to work jobs in health care, biotechnology, construction and transportation fields, Fischberg said. The group also runs a landscaping business and a bakery that employees graduates of its training program. 

Started in 1973, Rubicon has an extensive list of corporate and foundation partners that Micallef said would enable it to meet HUD’s grant requirements. 


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. 

Many local candidates and campaigns are hosting parties where the featured display will be a computer with an Internet hook-up providing updated local returns from the Alameda County Registrar of Voters. 

For those with their eyes on the biggest electoral prize, La Peña and UC Berkeley are holding events to watch the race for president. 

Starting at 4 p.m., UC Berkeley will host election night spectators at 102 Moses Hall, home to the Institute for Governmental Studies. Department faculty will stop by to offer commentary as events unfold. 

For a more partisan flavor, La Peña, starting at 5:30 p.m., is inviting progressives to watch election returns on its big screen television at 3105 Shattuck Ave. While election results are broadcast in the background, Aya de Leon, a political satirist, will perform and attendees will discuss future activism work, regardless of who wins. 

On the opposite end of the political spectrum, the UC Berkeley College Republicans will abandon their usual election night clubhouse, Kip’s Restaurant, and watch news coverage at the home of their chapter president in an undisclosed location. 

In Oakland, the Wellstone Democratic Club will watch election returns at Everett and Jones Barbecue on 126 Broadway in Jack London Square.  

Cafe de la Paz is hosting a “Re-defeat Bush” party at 1600 Shattuck Ave. and starting at 6 p.m. the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts is hosting a gathering at 2640 College Ave.  

Berkeley Greens will gather at “Grassroots House” at 2022 Blake St. to watch the race for president and stay tuned to local results via the Internet. 

The lone Green candidate for City Council this year, Jesse Townley, will host an election night gathering from 8 p.m. until midnight at his home at 1354 Carlotta Ave. Other campaigns hosting house parties include District 2 Candidate Darryl Moore at 1411 Channing Way, District 6 Candidate Norine Smith at 2350 Eunice Ave., Measure H, a campaign to publicly finance local elections, at 1305 Henry St., and Berkeleyans Against Soaring Taxes, who will gather from 7-11 p.m. at 262 Hilcrest Road.  

City Council candidates Betty Olds and Laurie Capitelli will hold a joint gathering starting at 9 p.m. at the brand new La Farine French Bakery at 1820 Solano Ave. Max Anderson, a candidate in District 3, will hold an election night party at The Vault Cafe at 3250 Adeline St. Just one block away, his opponent, Laura Menard, will host a potluck at the soon to be opened Spuds Pizza at 3290 Adeline St. 

Supporters of Measure Q, an initiative to push for decriminalizing prostitution, will host a party starting at 7:30 at the Missouri Lounge on 2600 San Pablo Ave. 

The committee to pass tax measures J, K and L will host supporters at its headquarters at 2026 Shattuck Ave. Just two blocks away, the Committee for Measure B, a tax for the Berkeley Unified School District, will keep abreast of local returns via Internet at their headquarters in the former Radio Shack at 1944 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

Unless otherwise noted, all gatherings are scheduled to begin when polls close at 8 p.m. Since the registrar’s office began downloading returns on-line, results have not come quickly. In 2002 it was nearly midnight before returns showed that Tom Bates had been elected Berkeley’s next mayor. 

Anyone who would rather remain at home but not rely on the local news for local results can access city and county returns from the Alameda County Registrar of Voters at www.acgov.org/rov.›


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. 

Parker and Lieber said that the Concerned Albany Citizens group was essentially a front for the campaigns of candidates Jewel Okawachi and Alan Riffer. 

Documents filed with the Albany City Clerk’s office indicate that the amount spent by the Concerned Albany Citizens group would not put Okawachi and Riffer over Albany’s $6,000 voluntary campaign spending limit. The Concerned Albany Citizens have filed an expenditure report with the Albany City Clerk’s office listing $380 in expenses producing the campaign handout, and both Okawachi and Riffer are several thousand dollars short of the expenditure limit. 

In addition, Albany City Councilmember Peggy Thomsen, who is listed as a member of the independent group, denied there was any coordination between the citizens group and any candidate’s campaign. 

“That’s a totally ridiculous, baseless charge,” she said. “Can you imagine anyone trying to coordinate me? Just ask around town.” 

Parker, Lieber, Okawachi, and Riffer are among six candidates running for three seats on the Albany City Council. Okawachi is the only incumbent in the field. Thomsen is not up for re-election this year. 

Also running in the race, but not mentioned as part of the controversy, are candidates Richard Cross and Farid Javandel. Many of the campaign issues have centered around development of Albany’s waterfront, including a possible casino at Golden Gate Fields race track. 

Parker and Lieber filed their complaint with the CFPPC last week, charging that “the campaigns of Alan Riffer and Jewel Okawachi have violated the California Fair Political Practices Act by having a supposedly independent committee coordinate its last-minute, personal Swift Boat style attack on rival candidates Brian Parker and Robert Lieber. The supposedly independent committee is comprised entirely of the campaign workers of the Riffer and Okawachi Campaigns.” 

A spokesperson for the Fair Political Practices Commission said that the commission could not comment on an ongoing investigation, even to confirm whether or not a complaint has been received. 

The target of the Parker-Lieber complaint was an Oct. 26 leaflet entitled “An Open Letter From Concerned Albany Citizens” and hand-delivered to homes in the city. The letter, which criticized several political positions taken by Parker and Lieber, was signed by 18 citizens, including Mayor Jon Ely and Councilmembers Peggy Thomsen and Allan Maris. 

Of the 18 individuals listed on the handout, four of them are among the seven persons listed on an Alan Riffer For Albany City Council brochure as members of Riffer’s campaign committee. Ten more Concerned Albany Citzens members are among the 105 Riffer supporters listed on that brochure. Seventeen of the 18 Concerned Albany Citizens members are among the 218 individuals who were listed in an Okawachi campaign flyer as being “citizens of Albany [who] are voting for Jewel Okawachi.”  

“They’ve all gone and sat aside and said, ‘Oh, we’re a new committee,’” Parker said in a telephone interview. “But if you’ve got people in decision-making roles in your campaign, they cannot be involved in the independent expenditures. That would be coordination. It would be impossible not to be coordinating between the two campaigns, because these people are these candidate’s campaigns. You can’t play ball on two teams, under California law.” 

Parker added that the Concerned Albany Citizens’ expenditure “should be reported as an expenditure of the individual candidates’ campaigns.” 

Parker called the independent expenditure “pretty slimy” and even mocked the organization’s name, saying that “concerned citizens sounds like something out of the 50s burning down black churches or something.” 

Councilmember Thomsen said that the Concerned Albany Citizens group was formed “because we just felt that we had to put the record straight. These guys [Parker and Lieber] have run a campaign where they’ve distorted issues, where they’ve engaged in name-calling, where they’ve spent the most money. They’ve taken the civility out of elections in Albany. It’s very disappointing, quite frankly. Some of us didn’t appreciate that, and we certainly didn’t need to consult with any candidate.” 

Thomsen noted that the Concerned Albany Citizens listed their names on the leaflet and filed a financial report with the city clerk; “we wouldn’t have done that if we were trying to be deceptive.” She also noted that the leaflet did not endorse any candidate in the race, but only called upon voters to “join us in supporting candidates who have not debased Albany’s values.” 

Thomsen said that referred to any of the four candidates running besides Lieber and Parker. 

Okawachi and Riffer have agreed to operate under Albany’s voluntary campaign finance limit ordinance; Parker and Lieber have opted not to. 

Candidates who operate under the ordinance are limited to contributions of $6,000 total and $250 per individual, with no more than 10 percent of their contributions coming from individuals or organizations outside of Albany. Candidates who choose not to operate under the city’s campaign finance limit ordinance may raise campaign funds in excess of $6,000 with no limit on the percentage coming from outside Albany, but individual contributions are limited to $100. 

As of their latest filings with the Albany city clerk, the Lieber campaign has raised and spent close to $6,000, while the Parker campaign has raised and spent approximately $10,350. Okawachi has raised $4,600 and spent $2,300, while Riffer has raised $2,500 and spent $1,800. 

Two other independent campaign committees have filed expenditure reports in the Albany City Council race with the Albany clerk’s office. The Albany Peace Officers Association listed an expenditure of $980 for a newspaper ad in support of Okawachi, Riffer, and candidate Farid Javandel. A group called the Californians Against Waste reported spending approximately $1,800 in support of the candidacies of Lieber and Parker. 


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. 

While local politicians battle for supremacy Tuesday, Bel Aire Displays appears likely to remain king of the political printing business for years to come. 

The political sign dominance of the company, which moved to Emeryville from Berkeley 28 years ago, is emblematic of the decline of Berkeley’s union print shops, and the city’s inability to profit from its political energy. 

This year, five candidates for City Council and five ballot measure campaigns will spend over $12,000 at the Emeryville shop, according to campaign filing statements. 

What is the secret of Bel Aire’s success? It is the only unionized print shop in the East Bay and San Francisco that makes waterproof signs. 

“We don’t have much competition,” said Chris Shadix, owner of Bel Aire, a silk screen printer that specializes in large signs that can withstand rain. Shadix said his biggest rival for political silk screen prints is more than 100 miles away in Oakdale. 

Since July, the shop on Hollis Street has stayed open seven days a week making signs for candidates from San Francisco, San Mateo and across the East Bay. 

There are other silk screen printers in the East Bay, but none of them are union, and in Berkeley politics, few things are more important than a union bug on campaign signs. 

“We’re old-timers, we know better than to go anywhere that wasn’t union,” said Councilmember Betty Olds. Both she and her opponent, Norine Smith, had their lawn signs made at Bel Aire. 

While Bel Aire has cornered its share of the political printing market, Berkeley’s major union printer has seen its market share decline. 

Inkworks, which specializes in smaller pieces like campaign mailings and environmentally friendly inks and dyes, used to be the printer of choice for Berkeley progressives, said Bernard Marszalek, Inkworks’ manager of marketing. But this year, according to candidate campaign filings, only Max Anderson used the shop that once did work for former progressive mayoral candidates Don Jelinek and Loni Hancock, but now usually only does work for the Green Party. 

A chief contributor to the company’s loss of political business has been the rise of political consultants that bundle services and sometimes outsource print jobs to preferred shops, often outside of the Bay Area. 

“A lot of jobs are going to Los Angeles or Nevada,” Marszalek said. “Mailers are a major part of political printing and they can be sent from anywhere.” 

Although Berkeley was never a center for the Bay Area printing industry, the city has lost several union shops over the past two decades, said David Blake, owner of Turnaround, a local graphic design and book production company. 

In the last couple of years, two Berkeley union print shops, Thunderbird and New Earth Press (represented by the International Workers of the World) both closed down. 

“In the ‘70s and ‘80s unions gave up on printing,” Blake said. “Employees settled for lifetime job security in return for stopping union recruiting.” 

Also, he said, the Graphic Communications International Union doesn’t certify one-person shops because they offer little union dues. 

Dan Watanabe, owner and printer at Berkeley’s Salmon Graphics, said that about 10 years ago he was denied union certification for his one-person shop.  

“They said you have to have enough employees for dues,” said Watanabe, who was looking to break into the business of political printing. 

With few local options and higher prices at union shops, a few local candidates have forsaken the prized union tag. 

Laura Menard, a candidate for City Council District 3, opted for Gilman Street Press, a family-owned non-union Berkeley printer. “Inkworks was about three times more expensive and I’m running a low-budget campaign,” she said. “I know I broke the rule, but there’s something to be said for using a Berkeley business.” 

Others to choose non-union printers this year included City Council candidates Barbara Gilbert and the Committee For Measure R, whose signs promoting an initiative to loosen Berkeley’s medical cannabis laws were made in Dublin. 

Norine Smith, who did have her campaign mailings printed at Copyworld, a non-union shop in Berkeley, said she struggled with the decision. “I’ve never been inside a Wal-Mart or Kmart because they’re not union, but the union shops were just too expensive.” 


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. 

The vote followed lobbying by members of the Brower family and Mayor Tom Bates, a friend both of Brower and of the Maxwell family, which commissioned the giant work. 

Still to be decided is the statue’s location, which will be selected by a panel formed from commission and community members. 

Voting against the proposal were Bonnie Hughes and Sherry Smith. 

Hughes, who opposed the controversial piece on esthetic grounds, expressed her frustration in one pithy sentence: “How would you like to have a 350,000-pound political football tossed in your lap?” 

Richard Duane, the attorney for the sculpture’s patrons, the late Brian Maxwell and his widow, Jennifer, said a plan to revise the sculpture will address concerns voiced by several critics, who saw the life-size bronze representation of the environmentalist atop the globe as an icon of imperialism ill-suited to the environmentalist’s message. 

Eino, the Finno-American sculpture who created the piece, offered an alternative to the commission. He will recast the figure seated on a bench contemplating the twelve-foot Brazilian quartzite sphere with the landforms cast in bronze. 

The reconfigured piece was also endorsed by the Brower family, represented by David’s son Ken, and Dave Phillips, program executive director of the Earth Island Institute, an environmental group created by David Brower. 

The next step will be determining a location for the new sculpture, a task assigned to a soon-to-be-formed site selection committee consisting of Civic Arts Commission staff and citizens. 

The city also needs additional engineering and other data to ensure the safety of the statue, Duane said.  

 

—Richard Brenneman›


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. 

The measure seeks supplemental financial support for Berkeley’s public schools. 

The superintendent was working in her office from a wheelchair on Monday, a week after surgery to repair the break and torn ligaments. Her doctors estimate that she will be in a cast for eight weeks, but will be able to navigate on crutches in about a month. 

BUSD Public Information Officer Mark Coplan said that Lawrence is “feeling okay, full of energy,” and that “the outpouring of support from the community has been phenomenal.” 

He said the district has received more than 100 calls from citizens offering assistance to Lawrence, from bringing her dinner to picking her up from home and driving her to work at the district office. 

Coplan said, “It’s nice to have people calling and asking about the well-being of the superintendent.” 

 

—J. Douglas Allen-Taylor


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.”  

As both historian and anthropologist, I have spent many years researching Flores. It was during my initial trip to the island in 1992 that I first heard about “small people who looked like monkeys” who used to live alongside the current villagers’ ancestors. These creatures were referred to as the Ebu Gogo.  

I first heard the term when one of my local informants—the term we anthropologists use to describe local elders and other residents who share community knowledge—was teasing a group of small children. He told them they’d better go to bed or Ebu Gogo would get them. Off they scampered, squawking and laughing into the adjacent room where they quickly fell asleep.  

Curious, I asked my informant what Ebu Gogo meant. He smiled and told me it is what they tell children to scare them. I explained what the “boogie monster” was in English, and he agreed that it was similar. However, there was one difference—he claimed that Ebu Gogo had actually once lived just outside that very village. He insisted the story was true, and he sent me to one of the elders so I could hear more.  

Again I was told that Ebu Gogo (”Ebu” meaning grandparent; “Gogo” has no literal translation, I was told) had indeed lived outside the village, as recently as several hundred years ago. They were not monkey, nor were they human. Their arms were longer than humans and their bodies were covered with hair. At one time, the Ebu Gogo had lived in close proximity to the local people. Over time, however, these Ebu Gogo became more and more trouble to the villagers. They would steal crops from the village and take villagers’ animals. Conflict and tension built between the two groups.  

The villagers decided to have a party and invite the Ebu Gogo to see if this might help ease tensions. They built a big fire to cook meat for the festivities, but the Ebu Gogo would not come near it—they were afraid of it. So the villagers brought the Ebu Gogo food, with plates and utensils, but the Ebu Gogo threw the plates and utensils in the dirt and gobbled up all of the food. The villagers were insulted by this and a fight ensued, which ended in the killing of several Ebu Gogo. The rest fled to a cave in a cliff outside the village. The villagers could not pursue them because the cliff was too steep. The Ebu Gogo could climb there because of their monkey-like bodies.  

After this incident, the raids on the villagers’ crops and animals became more frequent, and the villagers became more and more angry. The Ebu Gogo got so bold they stole a baby from the village—and the villagers could take it no more. Pretending to want to befriend the Ebu Gogo again, men from the village went to the bottom of the cliff and offered clothes to the Ebu Gogo, something the Ebu Gogo did not have. They used long poles of bamboo to pass the clothes up to the cave, and the Ebu Gogo received them gratefully. What the Ebu Gogo did not know, however, was that the villagers had soaked the clothes in cooking fuel and lit a small fire in the last packet of clothes before handing it up. The Ebu Gogo were burned alive in the cave, and that was the end of their existence outside the village.  

I found the story—and my informants’ adamant insistence that it was all true—fascinating at the time. What was more intriguing, however, was that no one had ever entered the cave. A young man once tried, but plummeted to his death. The villagers believe the place is cursed and no one has dared try to enter again.  

In light of this recent scientific discovery of Homo floresiens, this story becomes far more exciting. If, as the scientists have hypothesized, these creatures died out at least 13,000 years ago, the story of the Ebu Gobo illustrates the power of oral history and collective memory. But if the scientists are wrong and my insistent informants are correct, these creatures lived alongside the human population much more recently. Perhaps now is the time to return to the village and enter that mysterious cave.  

 

Caty Husbands is a historian of Southeast Asia, and has spent several years conducting research on the island of Flores. She is currently working on her Ph.D. in modern Flores history.›



Letters to the Editor

Tuesday November 02, 2004

UNREPRESENTATIVE 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Matthew Artz’s recent article on some of the Berkeley tax measures was well written, but the example he chose to highlight was unrepresentative and unfair (“Tax Measures Spur Opposition From Property Owners,” Daily Planet, Oct. 29-Nov. 1). The writer has done similar heavily slanted pieces in articles about Rosa Parks Elementary School. This kind of writing does a disservice to productive dialogue in our community. Please try to be more balanced in the future. 

David Stark 

 

• 

INACCURATE 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Was it a hidden agenda or just plain lazy journalism that was the cause of Matthew Artz’s factually inaccurate and intellectually dishonest hit piece against Berkeley measures J K and L? 

Friday’s Daily Planet article by Mr. Artz featured the story of Mr. McMurray, a North Berkeley property owner who described his primary source of income as being a monthly disability check totaling $8,000 annually. Mr. McMurray is understandably worried over any potential increase to his property taxes. Let me assure Mr. McMurray that he need not fear these measures. 

Unfortunately, Mr. Artz’s article played to the scare tactics orchestrated by J K and L’s opponents. Had Mr. Artz actually read the measures, he would have known that Mr. McMurray is unlikely to be impacted by J K or L. 

As a low-income homeowner earning less than $29,800 a year, Mr. McMurray is exempt from the library tax. 

As someone on a fixed income, Mr. McMurray is likely eligible for discounted billing programs offered by most utility companies. As such, he would be only marginally impacted by Measure J. 

As someone who is not planning on selling his Berkeley home, Mr. McMurray would not be subject to the transfer tax. 

Mr. McMurray and other fixed income residents of Berkeley will not be devastated by these ballot measures. In fact, they will benefit from the 

continuation of valuable and needed services. 

Like Mr. McMurray, I am not planning on selling my Berkeley home. I am fortunate to live in a community like Berkeley—a community that not only values its neighborhood-engaged police department and its quick-responding and effective fire department, but one that recognizes the importance of its senior centers, community pools, health services, world-class library system, and nationally recognized youth programs. 

Obviously, maintaining these innovative and effective services requires the commitment of a caring community. We must demonstrate a commitment that the state and federal governments clearly will not. In response to state and federal takeaways, the city has cut $14.5 million from the General Fund. We’re cutting closer and closer to the lifeline of Berkeley. 

Measures J, K and L represent an honest effort to maintain Berkeley’s renowned community services for all our residents. 

Eric Riley 

• 

HEALING WAVE 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

J. Douglas Allen-Taylor’s column (“Applying Theory of Relativity to Oakland’s Murder Rate,” Daily Planet, Oct. 15-18), insightful as ever, pointed out once again the danger of treating the symptoms but not the causes. It is a practice we see too often, globally, nationally, and everywhere in between. It applies to the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism, among other international conflicts. It applies to California, where the “three strikes” law increases the number and length of costly jail sentences, often for non-violent crimes, and decreases both rehabilitation services and opportunities that may deter potential (especially young) criminals. It applies in Oakland and in Berkeley, where continuing high rates of homelessness, substance abuse, and crime reflect the chasing of perpetrators from one neighborhood to another (a policy sometimes assisted by well-meaning neighborhood watch groups who perhaps unwittingly demonstrate NIMBY attitudes). In my experience, Berkeley police can be commended for responding to citizens’ concerns to the best of their ability. But the causes remain, and another youthful generation is maturing with drug dealers and other unethical capitalists as role models, broken homes as backgrounds, and a paucity of wholesome and constructive activities available from schools and social services to counteract the negative influences on their lives. 

There are certainly admirable institutions attempting to address this situation by providing guidance and opportunity for the future to youth beyond just keeping them off the street, and supporting these represents investment in the future rather than a constant outflow of money to simply control immediate problems. One such is Berkeley Youth Alternatives (BYA), in southwest Berkeley, which brings in youngsters from the age of five to very inexpensive after-school programs that provide homework help, sports, music, and gardening programs, good nutrition (both food and education), individual counseling and mentoring, and career help that includes both advice and training. 

Most importantly, BYA has decades of experience, an admirable track record, efficient operation, and visionary direction. Of course its success rate is hardly in the 90th percentile, but its alumni attest to enough lives turned around to really make a difference, one that increases with time. Yet BYA is constantly struggling for funding from the various sources it taps, including the City of Berkeley. In my opinion, the failure to address causes keeps us in a slough of despondency. The elimination of social blight is not achieved overnight, or even over a decade, but nurturing our youth is surely a logical and effective way to start the process. 

During the few years I spent in Washington DC it became obvious to me that trends considered crazy when started in California are often later adopted by Easterners, and even continue worldwide. That gives us a heady power and a heavy responsibility. Let’s start sending a healing wave across the ocean of a society at risk. 

Jeanne Pimentel 

 

n


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

Tuesday November 02, 2004

San Francisco State  

MFA Fiction Workshop 803 

Fall, 2004 

 

Requirements of this course include the submission of two works of fiction no longer than 20 pages, double spaced, plus one rewrite. Also required is a critique of fellow workshop participant’s creative works using the following format: What this story is about; What I liked; For the next draft. Use thoughtfulness, sensitivity, and attention to detail when critiquing. 

 

Hi Brad! 

What this story is about: Two surfer “dudes” (their gender is unclear) who go to Ocean Beach for a day of surfing and wind up on an island somewhere (Pacific? Atlantic? unclear). They have traveled in a time warp of some sort (forward? backward?) and are searching for something (gold? life’s answers? the perfect soy burger?). Along the way they meet many odd people and creatures and the story ends when they run into a surfer chick (small child? mermaid?) who shows them where to get a soy burger (could be the symbol of life?). 

What I liked about this story: It’s really creative! 

For the next draft: I think it would be helpful to the reader if you were more specific about the gender of the characters, where they are physically in time and place, and what they are searching for. Other than that, I think it’s great and that you should keep going with it! Good luck! 

 

Dear Marcy, 

What this story is about: This is the poignant tale of a young, attractive nanny who can’t do anything right in the eyes of her wicked, (and I mean wicked), employers. Although the nanny loves the two beautiful, needy children she takes care of, she is having a difficult time getting along with their parents. The mother of the children is skinny, self-centered and spends most of her time doing yoga and getting her nails done. The father is rich, successful, cold and may have the hots for the nanny. When the nanny breaks an expensive, ostentatious vase in the solarium, all hell breaks lose.  

What I liked: Very realistic! 

For the next draft: I think you need to develop the relationship between the nanny and the father of the children. Maybe there could be a scene where he forces her against her will to have sex with him, (think in terms of Kobe Bryant!). Or if you want to go for the Stephen King/Rosemary’s Baby thing, you could have the nanny become possessed by some kind of evil, demonic being, kidnap the kids, and join a satanic cult. Also, although you did a great job with physical descriptions, (I really know what’s inside that house in Beverly Hills!), I think the nanny should look more like Jennifer Lopez or Halle Berry, and less like Jennifer Aniston. It’s people of color who often do this kind of work! Great start! Keep at it! 

 

Tyler: 

What this is about: This is a stream of consciousness tale about a kid who takes a lot of drugs and questions his identity, gender, and reason for being. It chronicles his involvement in Goth clubs, his first year in community college, his sex life, (or lack thereof), and his suicidal tendencies. He is very unhappy, and yet there is a spark of positive, vulnerable optimism beneath his weird haircut and black trench coat! 

What I liked: I really liked the scene where he tries to get into his parent’s Saturn with a Mohawk and so has to drive with his head sideways. Hilarious!!!! 

For the next draft: I’m probably not the best person to give you advice on this piece because I don’t know much about Goth clubs, and to be honest, I like stories that have a definitive, happier ending, but if you are going for the post Columbine or Generation X genre, I think you’ve nailed it! Does Josh get laid (and if so, by whom?), get another tattoo, tell his parents he wrecked the Saturn, drop out of school, change his haircut, or commit suicide? It may be that you want to leave readers wondering and, if so, you have definitely achieved that state with this reader! Thanks for the interesting, thought-provoking story! Yeah for purple Mohawks!›


Police Blotter: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday November 02, 2004

A Trio of Robberies 

Berkeley Police arrested two teenagers in a series of three armed robberies between 9:32 and 11:44 Friday evening. 

In the first heist, a 19-year-old gunman and his juvenile companion confronted a 32-year-old Berkeley woman as she was walking near the corner of Acton and Virginia streets. 

They fled with the woman’s cash. 

The pair struck next outside 1799 University Ave., taking cash and a cell phone from a 20-year-old Berkeley woman. 

The final incident took place just 18 minutes later, near the corner of Hearst Avenue and California Street, when the robbers confronted a 46-year-old woman but fled before completing the robbery. 

Police initially arrested the pair in connection with one of the heists, then linked them to the other two, said Officer Shira Warren. 

The two were not connected with another robbery at 9:17 p.m. that same evening, in which a lone gunman confronted a woman at 2626 Bancroft Way and relieved her of cash and an ATM card. 

No Details in Shooting 

Police declined to reveal any information about another incident Saturday night involving the shooting into an inhabited dwelling or vehicle near the intersection of Harmon and Sacramento streets. 

That location is not far from the scene of a Wednesday evening shooting involving a victim who was shot on the street outside a home in the 1600 block of Harmon. 

Police have refused to identify the victim, his condition or other details about the case. 

 

Feuding Pair Gets Nasty  

Berkeley Police were responding to the corner of 65th and Idaho streets shortly after 3:30 p.m. Thursday after callers reported a fight between two women. 

The two combatants, both women, wound up taking out their aggressions not only on each other but on their vehicles as well, smashing out each other’s windshields in the course of the fracas. 

One woman had already fled the scene when officers arrived, and the other had developed a sudden case of temporary amnesia. 

No arrests were made, said Officer Warren.


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. 

The FSM—along with the anti-war, civil rights, women’s, and environmental movements—attacked a damaging status quo, changing power relations and moving us closer to our ideal of “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” UCB is the de facto “government” of much of Berkeley, much more powerful than City Hall. But unfortunately it’s a feudal government, an unwarranted anachronism in the 21st century.  

Unlike municipal government, UC is not answerable to those it impacts most. We the people have no constitution to defend our rights or powers in relation to this institution; quite the contrary, our state constitution and legal structure make California’s universities unconstrained overlords over their host cities and their residents. This is a corrosive flaw in our democracy that must now be corrected. 

Berkeley’s grievances against its overlord are little changed in 50 years. In the 1950s UCB initiated its takeover of Southside. After ousting homeowners by threat of seizure through eminent domain, UC demolished block after block and replaced vibrant neighborhoods with gruesome, Soviet-style dorms. UCB shamelessly attempted to demolish the Maybeck Church on Dwight Way, a building of national architectural significance; although the elegant church managed to avoid UC’s bulldozers, much more of our history has fallen before the expanding university population. In the 1960s UCB brutally destroyed the community located on what is now People’s Park. In the 1970s UCB illegally installed a high-intensity satellite campus on a small seminary property in Willard neighborhood. And today, UC construction projects, like the designer prisons being stuffed into Units I and II, are conducted in a way designed to drive long-term residents from the campus area. Can Berkeley really take 2.2 million more square feet of this?  

No. UC’s relentless expansion is as destructive as ever. UCB maintains its park-like “core campus” by tossing its problems over the castle wall. Neighborhoods near UC suffer from overcrowding, parking and traffic intensity, excess noise, and nuisance crimes and quality-of-life problems created—but neither acknowledged nor repaired—by UC. The entire city is damaged by the skewing of Berkeley’s demographic toward young, short-term residents, the erosion of the property tax base, and uncompensated use of city services. UC spews out detriments like an angry volcano—but where is the moral voice of the University assuming responsibility for the damage it causes? Maybe I just can’t hear it over the sound the jackhammers.  

UCB is not just randomly gobbling up a little property here, a little livability there. It is engaged in a systematic, uncompensable taking of the commons (roads, parking, views, open space, history, demographic balance, business diversity)—in other words, the taking of an entire city. And for what? Apparently to attract ever more corporate sponsorship for prestigious research facilities at this, UC’s flagship campus. But UC’s educational mission would not be compromised if UC expanded elsewhere; in fact, Berkeley is an expensive place to build, live, and work, and California would benefit if both research and reputation were more evenly distributed among campuses. Nor would UCB compromise its ability to educate by conforming to local land use visions and procedures, and it should do so. 

People might argue that UC is no different than governments or other public agencies with eminent domain or sovereign immunity. But the usual system of checks and balances is missing from UC—the Regents and their local appointees are so far removed from the affected citizens that there is no effective electoral check on UC’s power. In fact, it was this very distance that fueled the street wars of the later 1960s, as decisions were removed from local control and imposed from the state level through the Regents.  

The FSM expanded public speech. But UCB has no more use for speech now than it did in 1964. Speech enables us to communicate, solve problems, build community, and collectively shape our destiny. But UCB steadfastly refuses to engage in meaningful communication with Berkeley residents, or even City Hall. Flimsy pretenses of interaction, through pro forma exercises like LRDP scoping sessions, are staged not to solve problems but to deflect anger and meaningful action. UC decision makers, including former chancellor Berdahl, Vice Chancellors Mitchell and Denton, and Dean Sherwood of UC Extension, have all refused to speak with neighborhood leaders to resolve problems created by UC, but we cannot vote them out of office. Likewise Berkeleyans had no voice in selecting the new chancellor; we can only hope, like eager subjects awaiting a glimpse of our new sovereign, that the new regime will be kinder than the last. “The king is dead; long live the king!”  

Berkeleyans more than most are willing to sacrifice for the public good, but enough is enough. So to whom shall we petition for redress of grievances? Even when the people have defined rights, “the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” But neither vigilance nor any legal action can protect us from the university until we have meaningful rights in relation to it. Berkeleyans must assert our right to maintain and protect a livable community and healthy urban and natural environment around the university. 

Berkeleyans fight to bring human rights, democracy, equity, and self-government to others. But what should they mean for us in the 21st century? No less than this: 

1. The right to a healthy urban environment, free from expansion and activities by the university and associated institutions that damage the quality of life in the City of Berkeley and its neighborhoods. 

2. The right to a healthy natural environment in the Berkeley area. 

3. The right to guide, through necessary and appropriate municipal powers, decisions and actions by the university and associated institutions that affect us, our environment, and our quality of life. 

4. The right to participate in the selection of Regents and chancellor. 

5. The right to be informed about all decisions and actions by the university and associated institutions that affect our environment and quality of life, who enacts them, when, and through what mechanisms. 

6. The right to receive compensation, both monetary and non-monetary, for costs and damages to the city and its neighborhoods created by the University and associated institutions. 

How do we get these rights? Perhaps by lobbying our representatives and winning them from the State Legislature, which has the power to limit UC’s sovereignty. Or perhaps by lobbying the people and winning them in the street, as happened in the 1960s. But history proves that Berkeleyans will never save their city from UC by “negotiating” within such a power imbalance. We will have to change the rules, or change the game. And eventually these rights will become the status quo, as natural and self-evident as free speech on campus. The only question is: “When?” 

 

Sharon Hudson is a 23-year Berkeley resident who lives ever closer to the expanding southern front of the UC campus. 


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. 

City Manager Scott Hanin prepared for battle by getting a 20 percent raise, just prior to declaring fiscal doom should the tax fail. He now matches the governor’s or San Francisco mayor’s take-home. He’s mobilizing all city resources, possibly illegally—pro-tax mailers paid from city funds, “Save our Services” rallies by city workers at City Hall venues. Scott has mastered the eternal victim role, and his chutzpah is perfect for a Borscht Belt skit, with a whiny shlemazl style, matching his nebbich complaints against “staff-bashing malcontents.” As my grandma used to kvetch, “Mit Geld weint es sich besser”—“Early retirement at 90 percent salary helps dry the tears.” Scott will make sure his money’s there. 

El Cerrito’s Measure K extends the tax to water and to solar power—even if the meter runs backwards! Anything to up the city’s take. No sunset clause. No cap to reflect soaring energy costs. All calls for discussing financial needs before settling details were ignored. By waiting to coincide with a council election the tax can pass by simple majority vote, but the city is taking no chances. It mobilized employees’ unions and council supporters by threatening layoffs, cuts in police and fire services, eliminating the Senior Center, curtailing swimming pool hours The city’s service providers (i.e. garbage) were strong-armed to contribute. Controversial developers, such as would be builders of an absurd proposed BART parking garage, were forced to give campaign donations. City operations have come to a halt, so managers and employees can distribute door hangers and staff phone banks. 

Measure K opponents agree that the city could use more money, but are incensed by the steamrolling. Should Measure K be defeated, they suggest immediately sitting down with council and staff to craft a modified new measure, to minimize using up reserve funds. Residents would be asked to not request refunds in the interim. 

While tax supporters proudly contribute large donations, opposing residents carefully reduce contributions so they don’t have to be reported—few will risk coming to the attention of “City Hall.” But the tax supporters are running scared in spite of their 10 to 1 financial war-chest. To manage the campaign they hired “hit-piece master” Kevin Reikes, who helped oust popular Councilwoman Kathy Perka two years ago. Her crime? Asking too many questions about where the money goes. 

There’s some chance Measure K will be defeated. It’s sure to stay below a super-majority, making it easy to challenge as the extent of the city’s half-truth arguments and strong-arm tactics sinks in. A new compromise utility tax could follow. There remains a greater problem. After the Perka experience, there’s no serious opposition contender for City Council office. There may not be a council capable of common sense. It would take three months of precinct walking and perhaps $20,000 in startup campaign funds to stand a chance against El Cerrito’s dominant political establishment. Who’d want to sacrifice what it takes? With the last independent voice leaving the council in November, El Cerrito can expect total hegemony, a homogeneous council serving the same political machine as Scott Hanin. But there’s hope. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, they’re bound to mess up royally. El Cerrito voters are not dumb, they just pay more attention to global issues than to local ones. President Bush will be lucky to get 10 percent of El Cerrito’s vote. So maybe, after we’ve cleaned up Washington, D.C.... 

 

Peter S. Loubal is an El Cerrito resident.›


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.” 

It might also be a good time to unwind from all the hard work when Ngo brings his eclectic blend of African, jazz and funk to the Ashkenaz on Saturday night. 

It’s hard to imagine that Ngo’s positive outlook is actually derived from a host of difficult experiences growing up. Originally born in the Congo, Ngo lived through his country’s civil war and anti-colonial struggle. In an environment full of chaos, he said that he needed to find an outlet or risk being consumed by it. He eventually found music and ever since has produced a unique blend that mixes his political past with his spirituality and love for life. 

“I admire humankind because I recognize that humankind will keep going,” said Ngo, who constantly smiles and ends every other sentence with “C’est bon,” French for “that’s great.”  

Ngo, who currently lives in Santa Cruz and works out of his studio in El Cerrito, is known world-wide and has played a major part in promoting and popularizing Congolese music. He originally learned to play from his father, the only doctor in their village of Dibulu, which is now part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  

Besides his father, Ngo said he is heavily influenced by the well-known South African musician Miriam Makeba. After leaving the Congo, he said his exposure to American music, including gospel and artists like Ray Charles and James Brown, all helped him develop his own style. To date he’s released 18 albums, including his newest, called Ndoto. 

Ngo describes his music as a mix of “the country and the city,” with its roots back in his African village and its flavor in the American music he’s come to love. 

Ngo performs this Saturday at the Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. There will also be a screening of Heart of the Congo, a documentary by Tom Weidlinger about aid workers trying to rebuild the Democratic Republic of the Congo after the civil war. Ngo composed and performed music for the documentary. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the film begins at 8 p.m. The concert will begin at 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 and the show is open to all ages. 525-5054. www. ashkenaz.com. 


Arts Calendar

Tuesday November 02, 2004

TUESDAY, NOV. 2 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Scenes from the East Bay Regional Parks” paintings by George Ferrell, opens at the Environmental Educational Center, Tilden Park, and runs through Dec. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Zabava! Izvorno and Orkestra Sali at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Balkan dance lesson with Lise Leipman at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Peter Barshay and Andre Bush at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Mindi Abair, contemporary jazz, at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Wed. Cost is $10-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 3 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Painting in Everyday Life in Traditional Japan” opens at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

FILM 

Ximena Cuevas and the Laboratory of Life: “Half-Lies and Other Works” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Ecumenical Religious Art: The Reign of Akbar in Mughal India” with Joanna Williams, UCB Professor, at 7 p.m. in the Dinner Boardroom at the GTU, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2440. 

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

Tad Williams introduces his new fantasy novel, “Shadowmarch” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert, chamber music, at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Bolshoi Ballet, “Romeo and Juliet” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $48-$110 available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Improvisations in the French Baroque Style on the harpsichord at 12:15 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway. 444-3555. www.firstchurchoakland.org 

Tee Fee Swamp Boogie at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson with Cheryl McBride at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

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

Karashay featuring Chirgilchin, Stepehn Kent & Sarymai, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Bunny, Hazy, Swirl, and Tim Reynolds at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

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

THURSDAY, NOV. 4 

CHILDREN 

Tales for Dia de los Muertos with storyteller Olga Loya at 3:30 p.m. at Berkeley West Branch Library. 981-6270. 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

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

FILM 

Ximena Cuevas and the Laboratory of Life: “Beyond the Poseidon Adventure” at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Free first Thursday. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Lunch Poems Reading Series with Frank Paino at 12:10 p.m. at the Morrison Library in Doe Library, UC Campus. 642-0137. http://lunchpoems.berkeley.edu 

Truong Tran reads his poetry at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720. 

Pratep Chatterjee investigates the role of corporations in “Iraq, Inc.” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com  

Eric Hansen tells stories of his travels in “The Bird Man and the Lap Dancer: Close Encounters with Strangers” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Khaled Hosseini reads from “The Kite Runner” set in contemporary Afghanistan at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 843-3533. 

Prose and Poetry by St. Mary’s College students at 5 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with Lynn Ruth Miller and Vince Sorti, followed by an open mic at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. 526-5985.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Bolshoi Ballet, “Romeo and Juliet” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $48-$110 available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Vukani Mawethu Choir and Friends, including E.W. Wainwright’s African Roots of Jazz at Kimball’s East, 6005 Shellmound, Emeryville. Tickets are $10. 444-5009. 

Matrix 213: Some Forgotten Place Sound performance by Loren Chasse at 6 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Neglected Voices: Music of a Lost Generation” with Fern Glass-Boyd, cello and Lorraine Glass-Harris, violin, at 1:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237, ext. 126.  

Faun Fables, 2 Foot Yard, Big City Orchestra at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Terri Hendrix, Texas original, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50-$16.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Billy Brouchard, Mandrake, Paul Panamarenko at 9 p.m. at the Ivy Room, 858 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $5.  

Gary Rowe, solo jazz piano, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Bud Shank Quartet with Phil Woods at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $12-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

FRIDAY, NOV. 5 

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. 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley, “Present Laughter” by Noel Coward at 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. at Berryman. Through Nov. 20. Tickets are $10. 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Berkeley Repertory Theater, “Eurydice” at the Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. through Nov. 14. Tickets are $20-$55. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

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. 

Contra Costa Civic Theater, “Noises Off” Fri., Sat., and selected Sun., through Nov. 20. Tickets are $10-$15. 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito. 524-9132. www.ccct.org  

Impact Theatre, “Meanwhile, Back at the Super Lair” by Greg Kalleres, Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. through Dec. 11, at La Val’s Subterranean Theater, 1834 Euclid. No show Nov. 25. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. www.impacttheatre.com 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Paris and Other Obsessions” Photographs, drawings, sculpture by Leonard Pitt, at Giorgi Art Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Reception at 6 p.m. Exhibition runs to Nov. 21. 848-1228. www.giorgigallery.com 

FILM 

Ximena Cuevas and the Laboratory of Life Salon with Ximena Cuevas at 1:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Bollywood/Tollywood: “I Have Found It” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Chris Carlson reads from “After the Deluge” at 7 p.m. at AK Press Warehouse, 674-A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

By the Light of the Moon, open mic for women at 7:30 p.m. at Changemakers, 6536 Telegraph. Cost is $3-5. 482-1315. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Bolshoi Ballet, “Raymonda” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $48-$110 available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

En Pointe Youth Dance Company’s “Autumn Excerpts” by Berkeley’s youth founded and directed dance company, at 7:30 p.m. at Longfellow Middle School Auditorium, 1500 Derby St. Tickets are $5. enpointedance@yahoo.com 

Quijerema at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $10-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Ray Cepeda with Los Pinguos at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Bob Sheppard Quartet at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazz- 

school.com 

Stompy Jones at 9 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club. 848-7800. www.berkeleycityclub.com  

Bill Kirchen, rockabilly, dieselbilly and truck-stop rock, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Kuma, Zonk, The Volumes at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

The Tiptons, Beth Custer Ensemble at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com  

Rhonda Bennin Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

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

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

The Plus Ones, Sabrina Steward, The Fictions, Safeway at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SATURDAY, NOV. 6 

CHILDREN 

“Wild About Books” storytime with storyteller Marijo at 10:30 a.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6223. 

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Gerry Tenney at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

THEATER 

Rebel Comedy Night An evening of progressive and provocative stand-up comedy with Louis Katz, W. Kamau Bell, Brent Weinbach, Jasper Redd and Sherry Sirof, at 9 p.m. at Fellini Restaurant, 1401 University Ave. Cost is $5. 841-5200. 

FILM 

Bollywood/Tollywood: “Anything Can Happen” at 6:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Paris Transforming: The Beauty and Horror of Urban Reconstruction” with photographer and sculptor Leonard Pitt, at 8 p.m. at Giorgi Art Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Cost is $12. 848-1228. www.giorgigallery.com 

Derrick Jensen speaks on the “Dismantling of Civilization” at 7 p.m. at AK Press Warehouse, 674-A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Two Redheads and 88 Solenoids New work for disklavier Piano at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery, 2324 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $8-$12. www.berkeleyartsfestival.com 

Trinity Chamber Concert with the Berkeley Chamber Group, at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. www.TrinityChamberConcerts.com 

Bolshoi Ballet, “Raymonda” at 2 and 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $48-$110. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Choreographers’ Performance Alliance with host Aileen Kim and performances by local dancers at 7:30 p.m. at Eighth Street Studios, 2525 Eighth St. Tickets are $10. 644-1788, ext. 2. 

Philharmonia Baroque “An Evening in Old Vienna” at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant Sts. Tickets are $28-$62. 415-392-4400. www.philharmonia.org 

Baroque Etcetera “German Idol” music of J.S. Bach at 8 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church, 5201 Park Blvd., Oakland. Donations suggested. 540-8222. www.baroquetc.org 

Taj Mahal Benefit concert for the Native American Health Center, at 8 p.m. at the Paramount Theater, Oakland. Tickets are $15-$100. 625-8497. www.ticketmaster.com 

Four Seasons Concerts, Leon Bates and Jeanne StarkIochmans, pianists, at 7:30 p.m. at Calvin Simmons Theater, 10 Tenth St., Oakland. Tickets are $25-$35. 601-7919. www.fourseasonsconcerts.com 

Transcendence Gospel Choir, the first all-transgendered choir, in a benefit concert at 7:30 p.m. at Pacific School of Religion Chapel, 1798 Scenic Ave. Donation $10-$20, reservations suggested. 704-7729. 

Nguyen Dance Company presents “Close to the Trai Tim (Close to the Heart)” at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $10-$15. 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

Samba Ngo at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenez. Premiere screening of Tom Weidlinger’s new documentary at 8 p.m. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Ray Cepeda at 9:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$18. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Lisa Sangita Moskow and Unity Nguyen at 7 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Cost is $15. 883-0600 www.belladonna.ws 

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

Insolence, Everything Taken, Aphasia at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Grey de Lisle, Crooked Jades at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

David Jacobs-Strain, traditional and future blues, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50-$16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Eric Swinderman Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

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

Signal Lost, Look Back and Laugh, Desolation at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, NOV. 7 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Eye Talk Art” visions from three NIAD artists, reception at 1 p.m. at Britt-Marie’s Gallery, 1369 Solano Ave. 527-1314. 

Urban Photography by Lauren Murphy. Reception at 4 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

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

FILM 

The World of Astrid Lindgren: “The Brothers Lionheart” at 3 p.m. and Bollywood/Tollywood “I Have Found It” at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Pursuing the Irish Healer: Valnetine Greatrakes” with Leonard Pitt, at 8 p.m. at Giorgi Art Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Cost is $12. 848-1228. www.giorgigallery.com 

Abe Ignacio and Jorge Emmanuel on “The Forbidden Book: The Philippine-American War in Political Cartoons” at 3 p.m. at Eastwind Books, 2066 University Ave. 548-2350. 

Poetry Flash with Stephen Kessler and Marcia Falk at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Bolshoi Ballet, “Raymonda” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $48-$110 available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Philharmonia Baroque “An Evening in Old Vienna” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant Sts. Tickets are $28-$62. 415-392-4400. www.philharmonia.org 

Baroque Etcetera “German Idol” music of J.S. Bach at 4 p.m. at Episcopal Church of the Good Shepard, 1823 Hearst St. at Ninth. Donation $10 suggested. 540-8222. www.baroquetc.org 

Choreographers’ Performance Alliance with host Andrea Mok and performances by local dancers at 7:30 p.m. at Eighth Street Studios, 2525 Eighth St. Tickets are $10. 644-1788. 

Candido Camero and “Patato” Valdez at 7 p.m. at the Calvin Simmons Theater, Oakland. Tickets are $22-$42. www.sfjazz.org 

“Share the Music” Celebration of First Congregational Church’s Birthday with Babá Ken Okulolo and the Nigerian Brothers, Oakland Interfaith Youth Gospel Choir and others at 4 p.m., at 2501 Harrison St. at 27th, Oakland. Tickets are $10-$15. 444-8511, ext. 15. 

French Cabaret, presented by the Alliance Française at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Volti, “New American Directions” at 4 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $8-$20. 415-771-3352. www.voltisf.org 

Broceliande, Celtic music, at 4 p.m. at St. Alban’s Parish Hall, 1501 Washington Ave., Albany. Donation $10-$12. 569-0437. www.broceliande.org 

ChoZen at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

The Bobs, a cappella quartet, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Steve Erquiaga and “Trio Paradiso” at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

 


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. 

New ones are being planted in auspicious places like the walk next to Berkeley High’s big new building, and along Shattuck near the Berkeley Bowl. I’m all for it, myself; this is one exotic that I can get behind.  

Its species, Ginkgo biloba, is pretty much extinct in the wild, and its relatives are even longer gone; it’s the only living member of its genus and family and order. Its brethren’s distinctive leaves show up in the fossil record in several variations, though, as far back as the Permian. 

These trees saw the dinosaurs come and go. Assuming the dinosaurs have indeed gone. The school of thought that sees latter-day birds as dinosaurs keeps coming up with new evidence for that. It’s an interesting debate, and still more interesting when you watch the winter immigrants, the warblers and white-crowns, sheltering in the young representatives of so old a life form.  

That we still have ginkgoes with us is one of a few hopeful stories of our interactions with other species. Like North America’s Franklinia alatamaha, ginkgo lives on because people love it and have planted it in their gardens; in this case, around monasteries in China and Japan.  

I like the tree’s attitude. It’s dignified and graceful at the same time. Its pale bark is pretty; its winter profile is distinctive (and it’s easy to identify in winter, with those peglike leaf attachments); its leaves turn a gorgeous, cheerful gold in fall, even in our mild climate. Isn’t it a treat to see a gilded ginkgo spotlighted by a late-afternoon sun against a backdrop of lead-gray fogbank?  

Ginkgoes can get big, but it seems generally to take them a long time to do it, so they’re a civilized city tree. They habitually shed their leaves in a very short time, almost all at once, which is handy for raking and it’s neat to see one standing in a golden circle that it’s spread around itself overnight. They seem to be tough as regards smog, too; maybe they’re just renewing old acquaintances with the fossils in those fossil fuels. They don’t have a lot of pest problems, either—maybe because they’ve outlived those species too. 

It’s not just an old soul; it’s a weird one in many ways. It’s two-sexed, which is fortunate for civic virtue, I guess. Most of the trees you’ll meet are males, selected because the females bear fruit that looks and feels disconcertingly like a bit of human earlobe and smells like dog droppings. The seed’s edible, and you can buy them at specialty groceries and “roast lightly,” whatever that means. I’m keeping an eye on the menus at Japanese restaurants, where they turn up in chawan-mushi or grilled or boiled to accompany sake, Beer Nuts-fashion.  

But the male’s half of the equation is strange, too, though harder to observe. Unlike nearly all plants, ginkgoes have motile sperm—it swims, like an animal’s. It also hangs out on the surface of the ovule from fall till spring, and then it does its fertilizing thing. Vegetable love indeed—a quarter of a year’s foreplay? 

Maybe that’s a subconscious reason for thinking that ginkgo makes you smart. It seems to be in fashion recently—is it for memory enhancement? I forget. I think the jury’s still out about whether it’s the scholar’s tree because it has brain-enhancing qualities, or there’s a placebo effect of the sort that makes incense a meditation aid. I’m not sure I care, myself, because the tree’s aesthetic qualities are so good. It’s somehow almost crass to think it needs to have some utilitarian medicinal role, too. 

That it’s a symbol of longevity does seem to have absolutely practical roots, though. Not only does it age slowly; it survives serious insults. Several ginkgoes survived the atomic blast at Hiroshima, including one just over a thousand meters from Ground Zero, by a temple that was destroyed. That tree budded out the following spring, and is alive today. Maybe the species will survive even us. ›


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday November 02, 2004

TUESDAY, NOV. 2 

REMEMBER TO VOTE TODAY 

To Find Your Polling Place see www.mypollingplace.com 

To Report Voting Problems or Irregularities call 1-866-OUR-VOTE (The Electronic Frontier Foundation). 

Election Night Watch at La Peña Cultural Center, starting at 5:30 p.m. until ? at 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Children Cast Your Vote from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. with miniature voting booths, play ballots, and red, white, and blue art projects at Habitot, 2065 Kittredge St. Cost is $5-$6. 647-1111. www.habitot.org  

Mid-Day Meander in Tilden Park from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. With luck we may find migratory newts. Meet at the Little Train parking lot at Lomas Cantadas and Grizzly Peak Blvd. 525-2233. 

Tilden 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. Girls and boys ages 8-12, unaccompanied by their parents. From 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area. Cost is $6-$8. Reservations required. 636-1684. 

Berkeley Salon Discussion Group meets to discuss the election from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Please bring snacks and soft drinks to share. No peanuts please. 601-6690. 

“Involving Local Communities in Marine Conservation in Tanzania” at 4 p.m. in 652 Barrows Hall, UC Campus. 642-8338. www.ias.berkeley.edu/africa 

Hallway Sale Popular garage-type sale benefiting the Coffee Bar from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190. 

Family Story Time at the Kensington Branch Library, Tues. evenings at 7 p.m. at 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

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 

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Streets every Tuesday from 3 to 7 p.m. This is a project of Spiral Gardens. 843-1307. 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 3 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters meets the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7:15 a.m. at Au Cocolait, 200 University Ave. at Milvia. For information call Robert Flammia 524-3765. 

40th Anniversary of the 1964 Wilderness Act Celebration at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Sponsored by the Wilderness Committee of the Sierra Club. 415-561-3474. 

Mini-Farmers in Tilden A farm exploration program, for ages 4-6 years accompanied by an adult. We will explore the Little Farm, care for animals, do crafts and farm chores. Wear boots and dress to get dirty! Fee is $3-$5. Registration required. 525-2233. 

Anti-War March and Rally Meet at 5 p.m. at Powell and Market, San Francisco for an evening march to 24th and Mission. Bring flashlights, drums, and noisemakers. Sponsored by Not in Our Name. 601-8000 bayarea.notinourname.net  

“Exodus, Black Colonization, and Promised Lands” with David Brion Davis, Pulitzer Prize winner, at 4:10 p.m. in the Lipman Room, Barrows Hall, UC Campus. 

“Last of the Dogmen” and “Smoke Signals” Two films presented by the Intertribal Friendship House at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., midtown Oakland. 452-1235. 

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Volunteers are needed to support the more than 40 blood drives held each month. Advance sign-up needed. 594-5165. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday, rain or shine, at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes, sunscreen and a hat. 548-9840. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Sta- 

tion, corner of Shattuck and Center. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

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

THURSDAY, NOV. 4. 

Morning Bird Walk “Some Gulls I Know” Meet at the Berkeley Municipal Pier at 7:30 a.m. 525-2233. 

Tilden Explorers An after school nature adventure for 5-7 year olds who may be accompanied by an adult. No younger siblings please. We’ll learn about birds, bird brains and bird migration. From 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Seniors in the Peace Corps Volunteers discuss their experiences in Fiji, Uzbekistan and Ethiopia at 1:30 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720. 

Post-Election Benefit for the Center for Popular Education at 7 p.m. at La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568. 

“Education and Political Transformation in Brazil” with Cristovam Buarque, member, Brazilian Senate, at 4 p.m. in the Geballe Room, 220 Stephens Hall, UC Campus. 642-2088. www.clas.berkeley.edu 

Berkeley Farmer’s Market with all organic produce at Shattuck at Rose, from 3 to 7 p.m. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.org 

FRIDAY, NOV. 5 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll learn about our fine feathered friends from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

November is We Give Thanks Month! Join participating restaurants in supporting the Berkeley Food and Housing Project. For a list of participating restaurants please visit www.bfhp.org  

Literacy & Beyond Celebrates Dia do los Muertos Family Literacy Night with altar making, and storyteller Olga Loya, at 7 p.m. at the Downtown Berkeley YMCA, 2001 Allston Way. 665-3271. 

“News from Native California” with Frank LaPena, Laura Cunningham, L. Frank, Julian Lang/ 

Xatimniim, and Malcolm Margolin, of Heyday Books, at 7:30 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St. 549-3564, ext. 307. 

First Fridays Film Series “Hidden in Plain Sight” on the School of the Americas, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. Free. 482-1062. 

Womansong Circle Community singing with Betsy Rose. Potluck snacks at 6:45 p.m., singing at 7:15 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. 525-7082. 

Asian Business Association Charity Fashion Show at 7 p.m. a the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Cost is $10-$12. Proceeds benefit A Safe Place domestic violence shelter in Oakland.  

Literary Friends meets at 1:15 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. We will discuss Ayn Randh. 232-1351. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Players at all levels are welcome. 652-5324. 

“Three Beats for Nothing” meets to sing 16th century harmony for fun and practice at 10 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 655-8863, 843-7610. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 548-6310, 845-1143. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions are welcome to join us. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169. www.bpf.org 

Overeaters Anonymous meets every Friday at 1:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Church at Solano and The Alameda. Parking is free and is handicapped accessible. For information call Katherine, 525-5231. 

SATURDAY, NOV. 6 

Potential Water Transit in Berkeley A Joint Workshop of the City of Berkeley Transportation and Waterfront Commissions and the San Francisco Bay Water Transit Authority from 9 a.m. to noon at Berkeley Yacht Club, 1 Seawall Drive. 981-7010. 

Sick Plant Clinic The first Sat. of every month, UC plant apthologist Dr. Robert Raabe, UC entomologist Dr. Nick Mills, and their team of experts will diagnose what ails your plants from 9 a.m. to noon at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755. 

“Fire in Your Backyard - Friend or Foe?” A program on fire history in the East Bay, fire ecology nd hoemowner safety, with demonstrations of a fire engine, firefighters’ personal protective equipment and wildland firefighting techniques. At 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. Free. Youth age 14 and up are welcome. 525-2233. 

Kids Garden Club For children 7-12 years old to explore the world of gardening. We plant, harvest, build, make crafts, cook and get dirty! From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $5-$6, registration required. 525-2233. 

Junior Rangers of Tilden meets Sat. mornings at Tilden Nature Center. For more information call 525-2233. 

“Plant Selection and Installation” A hands-on class in Berkeley from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. We will visit a local nursery and botanic garden to view and discuss why, and how, to select appropriate plants for a variety of situations. Students will participate in designing and planting a residential garden. Emphasis on Native Californian plants. Sign up by calling the Building Education Center at 525-7610.  

Help Clean up San Pablo Creek and its tributaries. Learn about the Dumping Abatement and Pollution Reduction Program and the trash assessment monitoring tool as we remove harmful trash. Refreshments, tools, and gloves provided. Call for meeting place. Sponsored by The Watershed Project. 231-9566. Elizabeth@thewatershedproject.org 

An Afternoon with Ram Dass from 2 to 5 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. Donation $20 at the door. 302-3302. 

Benefit for the Bay Area Search and Rescue Council with music by Built to Spill and Citizen Cope at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Pyramid Alehouse, 901 Gilman St. Cost is $16. www.pyramidbrew.com 

Moment’s Notice a monthly salon for improvised music, dance and theater at 8 p.m. at Western Sky Studio, 2525 8th St. 415-831-5592. 

Noche Tropical Silent Auction Party to benefit Albany Schools. With food, music and wine at 7 p.m. at Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave., Albany. Tickets are $35-$40. 528-0848. a_saint@pacbell.net 

Artisan Marketplace with jewelry, art, readings and more from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. 883-0600. www.belladonna.ws  

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, NOV. 7 

Search for Salamanders Watch carefully for the slippery amphibians, they love the wet weather so hope for rain. Learn the difference between a newt and a salamander on this easy hike. Meet at 9 a.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Military Families Speak Out with Cindy Sheehan whose son was killed in Sadr City in April, at 10:30 a.m. at Berkeley Fellowship, 1924 Cedar at Bonita. 

“Tribute to Veterans” Retired military personnel are offered a complementary lunch or dinner entree at Spenger's Fresh Fish Grotto, 1919 Fourth St. Present a VA card, a VFW card, discharge papers or a DD214 to your server when you are seated. Reservations are suggested but not required. 845-7771. 

“The Sound of Success: Fine Tune Your Music Business Skills” A day-long seminar for musicians sponsored by California Lawyers for the Arts. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Alice Arts Center in Oakland. To register call 415-775-7200, ext. 111. www.californialawyersfor- 

thearts.org 

“The Civil Rights Movement and Activism Across Communities” with Ron Dellums at 2 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Cost is $7-$10. In conjunction with the exhibition “What’s Going On? California and the Vietnam Era” 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

“Dharma and Democracy: A Global Perspective, Beyond the Elections” a conversation with Joanna Macy and Sulak Sivaraksa at 6 p.m. at Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, 2304 McKinley Ave. 655-6169. 

“End of Life Decisions” with Susan Rubin from 2 to 4:30 p.m. at Salem Lutheran Home, 2361 East 29th St., Oakland. 534-3637. 

Healing Friction a free facilitated open council and speak out for hearing all voices to improve the political process at 2 p.m. at Redwood Gardens, 2951 Derby St. 866-236-0346. 

Autumn in Asia, a walk through the Asian area with Asian plant expert Elaine Sedlak at 10 a.m. at UC Botanical Garden. Cost is $8-$12, registration required. 643-2755. 

Celebrating Native Californian Cultures with music, crafts and storytelling from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Phoebe Hearst Museum, Bancroft at College. 643-7648. 

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring warm waterproof clothes. www.cal-sailing.org 

Tibetan Buddhism with with Elizabeth Cook on “The Stupa: Sacred Symbol of Enlightenment” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, NOV. 8 

Safe Driving Class for Seniors from 1 to 5 p.m., and on Nov. 10. Seniors who complete both sessions will get insurance discount. To register send a check for $10, made out to AARP, to Helen, at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2717 Garber St., Berkeley, 95705. For more information call 869-6737. 

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 

Peace Corps General Information Meeting at 6 p.m. at the Berkeley Central Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 415-977-8798. www.peacecorps.gov 

The National Organization of Women Oakland/East Bay Chapter meets to discuss the election at 6 p.m. at The Oakland YWCA at 1515 Webster St. 287-8948.  

“Women in Latin American Politics” with Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Senator and first lady of Argentina, at 4 p.m. in the Maude Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall, UC Campus. 642-2088. www.clas.berkeley.edu 

“The Medicare Prescription Drug Card” with Susan Haley, Legal Assistance for Seniors at 1:15 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190. 

East Bay Mobile Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Albany YMCA, 921 Kains Ave. 1-800-GIVE-LIFE.  

“Cafe Society in Japan, or Why Starbucks May Not Prevail” with Marry White, Prof. Boston Univ., at 5 p.m. in the IEAS Conference Room, 2233 Fulton St., 6th Flr. http://ieas.berkeley.edu 

Financial Planning Workshop: College Planning 101 with Jarrett Topel, Certified Financial Planner at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043. 

Women’s Cancer Resource Center, volunteer training, every second Monday of the month, from 6 to 8 p.m. at 5741 Telegraph Ave. To sign up call Emily at 601-4040, ext. 109. emily@wcrc.org 

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. 

“Ulysses” Discussion Book Group at 7 p.m. at the Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. We will meet every Monday night and hopefully finish by Bloomsday 2005. 

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. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., Nov. 3, at 7:30 p.m., at the West Berkeley Senior Center. Tasha Tervelon, 981-5347. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/women 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., Nov. 4, at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Oscar Sung, 981-5400. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/housing 

Public Works Commission meets Thurs., Nov. 4, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jeff Egeberg, 981-6406. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/publicworks 

Council Agenda Committee meets, Mon. Nov. 8, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St., Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/agenda-committee 

Peace and Justice Commission meets Mon., Nov. 8, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Manuel Hector, 981-5510. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/peaceandjustice 

Public Housing Resident Advisory Board meets on Mon., Nov. 8, at 4 p.m. at Berkeley Housing Authority, 1901 Fairview St. Angellique DeCoud, 981-5475. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/publichousing 

City Council meets Tues., Nov. 9 at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers, Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil?


Opinion

Editorials

Second Guessing the Voters Again: By BECKY O'MALLEY

EDITORIAL
Friday November 05, 2004

A friend has a post-election analysis: “I’m disgusted and fed up with the working class in this country. They sold out their own self interest for the right to yell ‘faggot’ out of their pick-ups.” She’s got a point. About half of the American electorate has once again distinguished itself by preferring snake oil to vitamins—not the first time this has happened historically, not even the first time in my lifetime, but it’s always disheartening to see this self-destructive behavior in action.  

They did it for Ronald Reagan, at a time when the designated evils were long hair and marijuana. Now many of the small towns of rural America are plagued with methamphetamine and crack, and hair as a guide to values has morphed so many times it doesn’t matter anymore, but the suckers have just shifted to buying a new brand of snake oil, “defense of marriage.” The pollers haven’t finished telling us exactly who voted for what and why, but the media (per the small number of NPR minutes I’ve been able to stomach since the election) is already hot on the trail of “moral values” as the decider in this election.  

Nancy Pelosi isn’t fooled. Marc Sandalow (a bright fellow who went to kindergarten in the Midwest with one of my daughters) quotes her in Thursday’s Chronicle: “The Republicans did not have an election about jobs, health care, education, environment, national security; they had an election about wedge issues in our country, and you know what they are…This was not a referendum on privatizing Social Security.”  

When moral values are reduced to telling the gay guys down the street that they may not promise at City Hall to love and take care of each other, we’re in Parodyville, or perhaps Disneyland. Religious leaders, real religious leaders, if there still are any, have a lot to answer for in this election. A special circle of hell will be reserved for the Catholic bishops who chose in this election to ignore real evils—the thousands of deaths of living human beings in Iraq, this country’s devotion to capital punishment, nearly unique in the modern world, and some of their own clergy’s fascination with abusive sexual exploitation of children—in favor of denouncing gay marriage. Low-church Protestants, the bible-thumpers of yore, have been transmogrified into “evangelical Christians” by the media, but they’re still the fools Sinclair Lewis nailed in Elmer Gantry 75 years ago. His description of Elmer would fit any of the two-bit preachers who are being interviewed today crowing over the Bush victory: “He had, in fact, got everything from the church and Sunday School, except, perhaps, any longing whatever for decency and kindness and reason.” Even many Jewish leaders (from whom, sorry, I might have expected better) have been AWOL in surprising numbers from the battle over reducing moral values to nothing but sexual mores.  

Does anyone out there even remember “Sabbath observance”? That was a “moral issue”, for a good part of the country for more than half of the twentieth century. As recently as the early 1970s, everything was required by law to stop on Sundays in much of the country: in Massachusetts, in Michigan and in Mississippi. More from Elmer Gantry: “The Maker of the universe with stars a hundred thousand light-years apart was interested, furious, and very personal about it if a small boy played baseball on Sunday afternoon.” Now, however, the preachers at the drive-in churches would never, never suggest that Wal-mart should shut down for the Sabbath. The supposedly moral questions have a way of shifting with the political winds. 

And one more quote from Elmer Gantry: “He was born to be a senator. He never said anything important, and he always said it sonorously.” That’s Dubya, and he’s damned good at it. I rarely watch television, so when I finally happened to catch Bush and Kerry side by side a couple of weeks ago, outside of the debates, I was worried. Bush was pink, perky and pontifical; Kerry was grey, lugubrious and moved his arms like a robot.  

I know, image questions like this shouldn’t matter, but they do. My old friend George Lakoff got it half-right when he urged Democrats to re-frame the issues in this election using language which would resonate with the electorate. They picked up on his advice, and Kerry started using loaded words like “strength” more often. But in retrospect his campaign attempt to portray himself as a warrior just looked silly a lot of the time. Kerry in battle fatigues carrying a hunting rifle was uncomfortably reminiscent of Michael Dukakis in a tank.  

Those of us on the progressive left, whatever that might mean these days, played our part in the drama like good soldiers, though we had our doubts from the beginning. We contributed our brains to designing elaborate web systems for optimizing the campaign, our bodies to get-out-the-vote drives in Nevada and Florida and Oregon and Ohio, and our money to the Democratic National Committee and America Coming Together. It doesn’t seem to have made a whole lot of difference, because the good grey candidate of the Democratic Leadership Council was never able to get the attention of the electorate with his cautious middle-of-the-road positions.  

Jim Hightower has often been quoted as saying that there’s not much in the middle of the road except yellow lines and dead armadillos, and the timid centrism of the DLC has now given us two successive armadillo tickets. Would’a, could’a, should’a, but what if Kerry had launched his campaign by saying vigorously, “I was wrong about Iraq, but now I’ve changed my mind?”  

Kerry was fooled about Vietnam, though he later repented. He was fooled again on Iraq, and he never fully repented. How about, just for variety, a Democratic candidate who catches on early to what’s going on and is not timid about saying so? It’s entirely possible that Howard Dean might have won this election if he hadn’t been sandbagged by the DLC and its media allies. Me-too Democrats fighting for the middle of the road will just continue to be blindsided by the hard right’s shifting compass of phony “moral values.” 

• • • 

Some nuggets of good news from the hustings: an environmentalist self-starter, Green Gayle McLaughlin, spent less than $11,000 and won a seat on the Richmond council with a platform of protecting Point Molate. The most conservative Santa Cruz councilmembers were defeated. There were more write-in votes for a Democratic self-starter in San Diego than regular votes for both of the ballot candidates, two sleazy Republicans running against each other in a non-partisan mayoral election, and she might even win.  

 

 

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The Post-Election Struggle: By BECKY O'MALLEY

EDITORIAL
Tuesday November 02, 2004

That uncanny silence you hear all over Berkeley is the sound of more than a hundred thousand people simultaneously holding their breath until the election is over. This paper will be on the stand for three days, and it’s a pretty fair bet that most Berkeleyans won’t be able to exhale until the next issue comes out, if then. The good thing about this election is that it’s got people talking to one another who have managed to disagree about a lot of the important issues for the last 30 years, give or take a few. Whoever wins the presidency, there’s sure to be a post-election honeymoon during which born-again Democrats will continue to talk to one another about what’s best for the country—it’s just that different tactical responses will be required depending on who wins the presidency. Not even very different, really, because the Republicans are likely to retain control of Congress in any event. 

Here are three issues which won’t go away no matter who wins: 

(1) Health care. The current crisis over flu vaccine points up exactly how dangerous our chaotic market-driven health care system is. There’s a fantasy in the air that the U.S. health care system is the best in the world, and that consumers are free to choose their own personal physician and their excellent private insurance policies will take care of the bills. Ha! Not here in northern California, for sure, and probably not in, say, North Dakota, either. If you need flu vaccine, your “private physician” most likely has a voice mail message these days saying, in effect, “tough.” If you get sick any time except Monday-Friday from 9-5 you have to take your chances with the rapidly eroding emergency room system, run by the “non-profit” regional hospital monopoly for maximum profit. If you do go into a hospital, your “private physician” probably won’t bother to stop by to visit you. Your in-hospital care will be supervised by a changing cast of characters which might or might not include a “hospitalist” (a physician who only works hospitals, whom you’ve never met before and will never see again) or a “traveling nurse” (a non-union floater who may or may not speak your language, know your name or read your case file.) And don’t think that just because you have the “best” insurance you can get the “best” medical care. Even the university hospitals these days are nightmares—a friend had relatively straightforward brain surgery at one of them recently, and the surgeon operated on the wrong area by mistake, causing crippling injuries. The hospital pretended, for as long as it could get away with it, that there was no problem. Thanks to a member of the world’s most unfairly maligned profession, trial lawyers, at least she’s gotten enough compensation from the hospital to pay for her future care, but the Republicans promise to change that.  

(2) Education. Both Democrats and Republicans bought into the dubious premise of “No Child Left Behind” that testing on basic skills was closely connected to ensuring equal education for all. Education means a lot more than learning to pass reading and arithmetic drills on cue. If schools which serve poor students are penalized for their students’ failure to catch up on a fixed time schedule which has no basis in scientifically observed reality, the injustice is compounded. Neither presidential candidate has demonstrated any particular understanding of what real education is, or how to extend the benefits of the American system to kids whose families are, for whatever reason, unable to do enough to help them succeed.  

(3) War and peace. Both candidates were fools enough to think that there was some good reason to invade Iraq. Kerry still doesn’t seem to know how he got suckered. Why didn’t either of them figure out what just about everyone in Berkeley, including the DLC-symps in our midst, knew from the beginning, that the invasion was a stupid idea doomed to fail? How will either one of them manage to get out? How will they avoid doing it again? 

You might just as well start breathing normally right away, under the circumstances. You’re going to need to be in training for the continued struggle, no matter who wins. 

—Becky O’Malley