The Week

Jakob Schiller: 
          Tony Kozlowski, the executive director of the Seva Foundation in West Berkeley, takes calls Monday afternoon from people interested in donating to the foundation’s relief fund for victims of the tsunami that hit south Asia.
Jakob Schiller: Tony Kozlowski, the executive director of the Seva Foundation in West Berkeley, takes calls Monday afternoon from people interested in donating to the foundation’s relief fund for victims of the tsunami that hit south Asia.
 

News

Nonprofit Gets Aid To S. Asia By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday January 04, 2005

The Seva Foundation, a Berkeley-based non-profit organization best-known for its work on international eye care medical programs and community development has been pressed into disaster relief because of the crisis surrounding the South Asia Tsunami. -more-


City Pans UC’s Long Range Plan By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday January 04, 2005

Mayor Tom Bates slammed UC Berkeley’s revised expansion plan released Monday and warned that Berkeley would likely resort to a lawsuit if the plan didn’t detail specific projects or exact locations where the university intends to build over the next fifteen years. -more-


Drop-In Center Sees New Life in State Aid By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday January 04, 2005

Catherine Debose has experienced the best and worst of the pioneering effort in Berkeley to allow mental health patients to seek help from one another. -more-


Zaentz Film Center Lays Off Staff By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday January 04, 2005

Though the Saul Zaentz Film Center, Berkeley’s own little bit of Hollywood, will lay off all its employees Jan. 14, efforts are underway to find someone to pick up the reins. -more-


New Peralta Trustee Says Board Reforms Needed By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday January 04, 2005

In the wake of a fiasco in which three of Chancellor Elihu Harris’ planning and development initiatives were abruptly canceled or put on hold, a newly-elected member of the Peralta Community College District’s Board of Trustees said that trustees need to end the practice of “instant voting” on land development and facilities proposals without proper study. -more-


Dust Prompts Shutdowns at Richmond’s Campus Bay By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday January 04, 2005

Repeated problems over the past two weeks have forced operational changes and three temporary shutdowns during the latest round of cleanup operations at Campus Bay, where developer Russ Pitto hopes to build a 1,330-unit housing complex atop a mound of buried industrial waste. -more-


Letters to the Editor

Tuesday January 04, 2005

-more-



Never Getting A Break, Trouble Just Keeps Coming By SUSAN PARKER

COLUMN
Tuesday January 04, 2005

In the past ten years I have hired people to take care of my disabled husband who often have had physical and psychological problems of their own. I have employed manic depressives who could not get out of bed, sufferers of ADD who were too hopped up to follow instructions, illiterates who could not read labels on pill bottles. I once hired someone and neglected to find out if he could make a simple sandwich and a salad for Ralph. He couldn’t. Another man had spent so much time in prison, he was unable to figure out how to use the coffeemaker. Coffee and tea had always been served to him. -more-


Police Blotter By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday January 04, 2005

Date Beater Charged -more-


Letter to Leaders on Housing Cuts By FRANCES HAILMAN Commentary

Tuesday January 04, 2005

An economic tsunami is rapidly approaching this land. Those of you in the national congress, as well as state and local leaders, who are going along with HUD housing cutbacks, as well as myriad other Bush & Co inequities, are contributing to the ever-mou nting waves headed our way. -more-


Activist Judges Approve Sex Stereotypes By PAUL GLUSMAN Commentary

Tuesday January 04, 2005

Those activist judges that President Bush warned us about have struck again! -more-


Tax Refunds Help Rich, Hurt Poor By MICHAEL MARCHANT Commentary

Tuesday January 04, 2005

Not since 1929, the year that marked the beginning of the Great Depression, has wealth in the U.S. been so heavily concentrated among the richest 1 percent of the population. This trend towards economic inequality increased sharply in 1970, and since that time there has been an enormous shift in the distribution of national income from the working class to the wealthiest Americans. For every consecutive year between 1970 and 2000, the annual incomes of the richest 10 percent of Americans have risen, without exception, while the annual incomes of the bottom 90 percent have declined. Even more startling, however, is that this income shift went almost entirely to the richest 5 percent (annual incomes of $178,000 and above), with the richest 1 percent (annual incomes ranging from $384,000 to $777,000) seeing the greatest increase compared to all other income groups. This trend is likely to grow by leaps and bounds during Bush’s second term in office. -more-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday January 04, 2005

TUESDAY, JAN. 4 -more-


The Mystery of How Jesus Bugs Can Walk on Water By JOE EATON

Special to the Planet
Tuesday January 04, 2005

Walking on water is not part of the normal human behavioral repertoire. But for some insects, it’s routine. Check out almost any pond or creek and you’ll see water striders, known to some as Jesus bugs, skating along the top with their cruciform shadows tracking them below. There’s a nice collective name for these creatures and others that exploit this liminal habitat: neuston, dwellers on the surface. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday January 04, 2005

TUESDAY, JAN. 4 -more-


Controversy Over Development of Toxic Richmond Site Continues Into New Year By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Monday January 03, 2005
Richard Brenneman:
                 
                A backhoe loaded up caustic lime at the Campus Bay site in Richmond Wednesday so that the material could be mixed with marsh muck to neutralize the sulfuric acid produced by iron pyrite ash. Site neighbors complained of burning eyes and running noses after clouds of lime and steam burst into the air.

To Richmond officials, it looked like a much-needed boost to an ailing city and a major source of new city revenues. -more-


New Landmarks, More Building Battles Marked 2004 By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Monday January 03, 2005

The year just ending added some stellar landmarks to the city’s architectural pantheon, while triggering some feisty showdowns before the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). -more-


Measure R Proponents Contest Vote Recount By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Monday January 03, 2005

Proponents of Berkeley’s medical marijuana Measure R have filed a state lawsuit contesting the recount of the proposition. -more-


The Bell Tolls for Berkeley Nonprofits By MATTHEW ARTZ

Monday January 03, 2005

In Berkeley, a new year will mean the clock has struck midnight for more than a dozen community agencies dependent on city funds. -more-


Too Many Tax Measures Spells Defeat at the Polls By ROB WRENN

Special to the Planet
Monday January 03, 2005

In November’s election, Berkeley voters decisively rejected four City of Berkeley tax measures, while giving solid support to Measure B, a parcel tax for the schools. -more-


Berkeley’s Best: Nomad Cafe By MICHAEL KATZ

Monday January 03, 2005

Nomad Café -more-


Ohio GOP Election Officials Ducking Subpoenas By BOB FITRAKIS, STEVE ROSENFELD and HARVEY WASSERMAN

The Columbus (Ohio) Free Press
Monday January 03, 2005

Ohio Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell refused to appear at a deposition on Monday, Dec. 27. The deposition was part of an election challenge lawsuit filed at the Ohio Supreme Court. Meanwhile John Kerry is reported to have filed a federal legal action aimed at preserving crucial recount evidence, which has been under GOP assault throughout the state. -more-


Local Activists Back Plan to Challenge Presidential Vote By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Monday January 03, 2005

Bay Area social and political activists have scheduled two actions in the next few days in support of a pending Jan. 6 Congressional challenge of the Nov. 2 presidential election. -more-


Letters to the Editor

Monday January 03, 2005

MARIN AVENUE -more-



A Longer-Range View of Oakland’s Homicides By J.DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

UNDERCURRENTS OF THE EAST BAY AND BEYOND
Monday January 03, 2005

Most Oaklanders—crossing racial, ethnic, age, community, and class differences—want a significant end to the murders in their city. Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown—deep in his run for California attorney general in the election two years away—needs for it to appear that Oakland murders are ending. There is, you can guess, a significant difference between the two positions. -more-


In Defense of Oakland School for the Arts By By MARIAN O’BRIEN and KEITH WHITAKER Commentary

Monday January 03, 2005

We are parents of a current Oakland School for the Arts junior. She is a member of the first class to begin the school. Not only will we sign our letter, so as not to be speaking out anonymously, we can provide you with any number of parents you choose, who would like to be interviewed regarding specific information about the benefits their child has received from being at the school, and our hopes for other children who will benefit from the school in the future. -more-


KPFA Board Election Challenge Enters Unclear Territory By CAROL SPOONER Commentary

Monday January 03, 2005

While I share Brian Edwards-Tiekert’s frustration at KPFA’s messed-up elections (“Democracy Derailed at KPFA,” Daily Planet, Dec. 28-30), he has mischaracterized the issue as factional. I believe the real question is: What should the Local Station Board do under Pacifica’s bylaws in the case of an elections challenge to insure that the election is legally certified and the proper winners are legally seated? -more-


Police Blotter By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Monday January 03, 2005

BHS Rat Pack Robbers -more-


Fire Department Log By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Monday January 03, 2005

Alerted by the smell of burning clothes and plastic, residents of a home at 813 Addison St. called the Berkeley Fire Department after discovered their dryer ablaze. -more-


Arts Calendar

Monday January 03, 2005

FRIDAY, DEC. 31 -more-


Marin Headlands Whispers Stories of Bygone Days By MARTA YAMAMOTO

Special to the Planet
Monday January 03, 2005

High on a bluff in the Marin Headlands, breathtaking views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Pacific Ocean surround me in panoramic splendor. Fog drifts through the Golden Gate, the foghorn sounding its mournful call, and the wind blows through my hair and the trees. I breathe in the sea-scented air as I watch the play of light on the currents below. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Monday January 03, 2005

FRIDAY, DEC. 31 -more-


Opinion

Editorials

Chisholm Campaign Recalled By BECKY O'MALLEY Editorial

Tuesday January 04, 2005

News came over the weekend that Shirley Chisholm had died at 80. Obituaries quoted her chosen exit line, delivered as she left Washington after 14 years in Congress. “I’d like them to say that Shirley Chisholm had guts,” she said. “That’s how I’d like to be remembered.” And that is indeed how we remember Shirley Chisholm, as a person who had the guts to do what she believed was right, regardless of what other people thought she should be doing. She was the first African-American woman in Congress, and is still the only African-American woman—and the only woman—to seek the presidential nomination of a major party. -more-


Equal Opportunity Offender By BECKY O'MALLEY Editorial

Monday January 03, 2005

This week we got a voice mail message directed to the “editor-in-chief” from a woman asking us for a public apology for running a “Kwanzaa commentary” that was deeply offensive. She said that we should have known it would be offensive, and that the author “Mr. McGruder” should be fired. I couldn’t remember running any Kwanzaa commentary—for a moment I thought one could have slipped by me in the readers’ contribution issue we published on Christmas Eve. And we don’t have anyone named McGruder working for us. -more-