Opinion

It’s been just about two years since we launched our crackpot scheme of reviving the Berkeley Daily Planet, which had gone under suddenly in November of 2002. We signed the papers on Dec. 12, the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe, who according to legend appeared in the 16th century to a humble Mexican peasant and left a miraculous image of herself printed on his cloak. A day celebrating a miracle, in other words, fitting because it seemed that it would take a miracle to get the paper started again. -more-

On Wednesday of this week the Planning Commission has scheduled a workshop to discuss proposed revisions to the Landmark Preservation Ordinance. More hours of my life than I care to count, over a four-year period while I was on the Landmark Preservation Commission, were devoted to work on a revised LPO which was ultimately endorsed last summer by a majority of LPC commissioners. Practically every clause represents a compromise between commissioners who are dedicated to conserving old buildings as much as possible and those who regard some old buildings as opportunity sites for new construction. But like most compromises, the attempt to please everyone might turn out to have pleased no one. -more-