With only two dissents, Zoning Adjustments Board members Thursday approved construction of a five-story condominium project at 2700 San Pablo Avenue. -more-
While many of the sharply dressed partygoers gathered Thursday at Jupiter can expect a generous Christmas bonus, their guest of honor, Mayor Tom Bates, is facing about a $60,000 loss. -more-
Finding an apartment in Berkeley may no longer be difficult, but finding Homefinders is another matter. -more-
The City Council tonight (Tuesday) is scheduled to decide whether to shrink North Berkeley’ major east-west thoroughfare in half for motorists. -more-
Mayor Tom Bates fumed Friday, blasting the Schwarzenegger administration’s decision to scrap an expensive tower design for the new span of the Bay Bridge. -more-
A Berkeley Unified School District oversight committee designed to assist the BUSD board in monitoring school construction funds has had difficulty providing such assistance in the past year because of lack of a quorum. -more-
A requested recount of Berkeley’s medical marijuana Measure R vote could cost the Yes On R Committee about $21,000, according to an estimate by a representative of the Alameda County Registrar of Voters office. -more-
Planning Commissioners will get their first look at plans for the proposed new Berkeley Bowl at Ninth Street and Heinz Avenue during a special meeting Wednesday night. -more-
The passions stirred by plans to build a major casino in unincorporated North Richmond have been spelled out in 600-plus pages of documents released by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). -more-
The aftershocks of the dollar’s fall are still felt far and wide by Europeans. Yet, slowly but surely, the continent is beginning to appreciate the newfound power of a strong euro. -more-
In Nona Caspers’ Teaching Creative Writing workshop at San Francisco State, my classmates and I spent the semester exploring educational theory and pedagogy. We created curriculums and gave lectures on different aspects of craft; we read about teachers whose lesson plans worked and others who left their students confused and disappointed. Guest speakers told us about their experiences in the classroom, warned us about pitfalls and false expectations. We asked questions and took notes. We were earnest and sincere, scared and inspired. -more-
Readers of the Daily Planet’s Dec. 7 issue could easily come away with the impression that NIMBYs appealed the Zoning Adjustments Board’s recent decisions on the Ed Roberts Campus in an attempt to block the project. In fact my co-appellants and I support the project: this appeal is part of the ongoing fight for fair and open permit approval practices. -more-
On Tuesday, Dec. 14, the Berkeley City Council will be asked to approve city staff’s recommendation to re-stripe Marin Avenue west of The Alameda for only two auto lanes, plus a center left-turn lane and two bicycle lanes, absent an environmental impact report (EIR). The City of Albany has already approved the project for its portion of Marin. -more-
Four of the Berkeley High jazz program’s most illustrious graduates are coming home to the East Bay for a series of holiday gigs. And the teenagers now in the school’s Jazz Ensemble are doing all they can to follow closely in their footsteps. -more-
If you still don’t have a Christmas tree, and would like one you can feel good about, the place to go is Rancho Siempre Verde. It’s on Highway 1 on the San Mateo Coast, about half way between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz, and about five miles south of the Pigeon Point Lighthouse on the east side of the road. -more-
There are only a few official redwoods, Sequoia sempervirens, on Berkeley’s streets, but many people have planted them in yards and gardens, and there are still a few within city limits in the hills, trees that we can fancy grew there on their own. They aren’t a patch on what we used to have. Over a century ago there were redwoods in the hills big enough to be seen from ships at sea many miles away, and used as navigation markers, beckoning ships to San Francisco Bay. -more-
It began inside a classroom, where a world-renowned professor was holding his last session with students, barring a decision from UC Berkeley’s new chancellor. -more-
Berkeley gained two new landmarks this week, one a massive structure familiar to all, the other a small redwood-shaded cottage in the hills. -more-
The day after Landmarks Preservation commissioners approved his mother’s plans for a two-story addition to her La Vereda Road home, WIRED magazine co-founder Thomas Rossetto was on the Internet, flaming her neighbors and the Berkeley landmarking process. -more-
When Cal named Jeff Tedford to coach its football team three seasons ago, the prospect of rustling up more than $140 million to rebuild the antiquated and often half-empty Memorial Stadium seemed like a hail mary. -more-
A 175-ton sculpture honoring former Sierra Club President David Brower is coming to Berkeley, but where it will end up remains unknown. -more-
Faced with proposed changes to the Berkeley Landmarks Ordinance, Planning Commissioners posed questions and pondered options during a two-and-a-half-hour workshop session Wednesday. -more-
Since Nov. 2, progressives blogs have been rife with talk about how to build a broad-based coalition that can change the way we do business in this country. On the evening of Thursday, Dec. 2, Tradeswomen, Inc. showed how to walk such talk, as it celebrated its 25th anniversary with a joyous event at the Oakland Museum. -more-
The lingering effects of Berkeley’s hotly contested school board battle spilled over into the reorganization meeting of the newly-re-elected board Wednesday night, as members held a brief but emotional public battle over the board vice-presidency. -more-
Berkeley’s John Muir School—which earlier this summer had to fight off concerns that its student achievement might have been dropping—got vindication this week with the announcement that the College Avenue elementary was one of 35 California schools nominated for a national academic award. -more-
After three months of heated negotiations, employees at Cody’s Books will be voting to ratify or reject a new union contract that cuts health care costs in half for employees who have families. -more-
It’s worth remembering that John Kerry came within 2.7 percentage points of beating an incumbent wartime president. Bush won, but his margin of victory was the smallest of any sitting president in more than 100 years. Rather than dwell in grief or anger, Democrats should take the time to understand why Kerry failed to win, because there are important lessons to be learned. -more-
We’re trapped in a quagmire with no apparent strategy except one that has consistently failed, with leaders too distracted by their futures in the next elections to explore other choices, and a public left generally uninformed because the press only gives us the official line. -more-
My grandfather, George Price, followed my grandmother, Mary Perry, from Texas to Arkansas to Chicago to California, declaring to her mother—referred to as “Miss Maggie” even by her employer—that he would marry Mary or he wouldn’t marry at all. Mary had graduated from Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas and she advised her suitor that if he was planning on coming west to California he had better get an education and a good job. He did and they married and set up housekeeping, integrating their South Berkeley neighborhood in 1934. My father grew up in that house and my two children are growing up in the same house now. -more-
The West Berkeley Bowl supermarket, proposed for Ninth Street near Ashby, is on a very fast track. It is double the size of the University Avenue Andronico’s. According to industry standards, a supermarket that size is expected to generate more than 51,000 cars per week. That level of traffic would put an enormous strain on an already stressed system, and would transform the area, hampering industries, damaging the mixed residential neighborhood, and gridlocking commuters. -more-
On Tuesday, Dec. 14, city staff will ask the Berkeley City Council to give final approval to a plan to change Marin Avenue west of the Alameda to Tulare from four car lanes to two car lanes with a center left-hand turn lane and a bicycle lane on either side. -more-
At Nabolom Bakery, Crow Bolt has been soaking nuts and fruits in vats of rum and schnapps for weeks to make fruitcake. Paul Masse has purchased his weihnachtsgewurze—a special German spice blend—to make Masse’s stollen bread and at Crixa Cakes owner Eliz abeth Kloian has pulled out her set of intricately carved molds for honey cake. -more-
“Film is like a battleground: Love. Hate. Action. Violence. In one word—Emotion.” -more-
So one of the things that happened during World War I was that a significant number of creative people took off to go live in Switzerland for the duration. Quite a few of those in flight turned out to have pretty significant names. -more-
Anyone who thinks Franz Kafka’s writing is college-level material should stop by Margot Pepper’s second-grade classroom. Now in her eighth year teaching at the Rosa Parks Environmental Science Elementary School, Pepper uses Kafka’s short story “Metamorphosis” in a project about insects that exemplifies the school’s curriculum-wide integration of science and the environment. -more-
and
The March Issue and
The February Issue and
The January Issue and
The December Issue and
The November Issue and
The bit old October Issue
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