Features

Letters to the Editor

Friday January 07, 2005

BICYCLE BOULEVARDS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

As a member of the board of directors of the Bicycle-Friendly Berkeley Coalition, I’d like to respond to Ray Quan’s letter about Bicycle Boulevards (Daily Planet, Dec. 31-Jan. 3). 

First, to address Mr. Quan’s unanswered question about whether there is a “...city ordinance governing the mutual use of the boulevard...” let me say that my understanding is that Bicycle Boulevards are still regular streets and all the usual traffic laws are in force for both motorists and cyclists. 

It isn’t special traffic rules that make Bicycle Boulevards work but rather design details that facilitate cycling—such things as the placement of stop signs, provision of bike-sensitive pickup loops that let a bicycle trip a stop-light the same way a car does, location of on-street auto parking, traffic calming measures, etc, etc. 

From Mr. Quan’s letter, I gather that he thinks there is only one Bicycle Boulevard in Berkeley. There is actually a network of them that allows cyclists to cross town both north-south and east-west on routes that closely parallel the major arteries, thus facilitating the use of bicycles for everyday transportation. Berkeley’s Bicycle Boulevards are very much a work in progress, and many of the refinements that are called for in the design standard have not yet been implemented. The first phase was identification of routes and installation of signage, but there’s lots more to come. 

Anyone who wants more information about our city’s Bicycle Boulevard network can contact BFBC and we’ll be happy to help them. Here’s how to contact BFBC, from our website at www.bfbc.org: e-mail: bfbc@lmi.net or phone: 510-549-RIDE (549-7433). 

Note also that at the BikeStation in the Berkeley BART station (concourse level, south end) you can park your bike on weekdays in the care of an attendant at no charge.  

David Coolidge 

 

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CYCLISTS AND  

THE LAW 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

I am disappointed by the attitude that too many car drivers have toward bicyclists. It results from ignorance of the California Vehicle Code that classifies bicycles as vehicles with the same rights and responsibilities as motor vehicles (CVC 21200). While bicyclists are required to “ride as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway” (CVC 21202), exceptions are made that include “(w)hen reasonably necessary to avoid conditions …that make it unsafe to continue...” This would include staying at a sufficient distance from cars parked at curbside to prevent being struck by car doors that might open in front of them.  

The “bureaucrats” Mr. Quan refers to in his Dec. 31 letter are our elected City Councilmembers who are responding to their constituents’ concern for the safety of bicyclists and pedestrians. Public workshops were held to plan the bicycle boulevard system. Most of the residents who participated favored the creation of bicycle boulevards. Routes were selected to include streets near public schools in order to qualify for grants under federal and state “Safe Routes to School” programs.  

Cyclists who fail to obey the traffic laws need to be cited for those violations. Drivers of motor vehicles need to respect the right of bicyclists to use the roadway. Several weeks ago, I was attempting to make a left hand turn from the center of the right lane on the Heinz Street bicycle boulevard onto Seventh Street, also permitted by CVC 21202. I was cursed out by the occupant of a taxi behind me to “get off the f…ing street.” There have been other times when I have been cursed or honked at while in a bicycle boulevard, including being told I should be riding on the sidewalk. Vehicles are not permitted on the sidewalk.  

While bicycles have the right to use all of the streets in the city, bicycle boulevards allow riders the option to avoid busy streets and unsafe conditions. While cars are not banned from the boulevards, the signs and decals should alert drivers to the presence of pedestrians and cyclists. The riders on Virginia Street that Mr. Quan encountered were not “oblivious” at all. They were well aware of the dangers of riding on either University Avenue or Cedar Street and chose Virginia to avoid those busy cross-town routes. If car drivers are in such a hurry to get across town, they should drive on the higher traffic streets such as Cedar, University, or Dwight Way.  

While drivers such as Mr. Quan may believe the roads are made for cars alone, the vehicle code states otherwise. If Mr. Quan needs more reasons to share the road, he might consider why many of us choose to pedal. We are concerned with the negative environmental impact of cars, including smog and global warming. Cars are rapidly depleting the world’s oil, a non-renewable resource. Bicycles take less space on the road and need less space to park. The next time Mr. Quan finds himself stuck in a traffic jam or is fighting for a parking spot, he should remember that too many cars are the problem, not bicycles. Tax money spent on the bicycle boulevards benefit everyone, not just cyclists.  

Tom Yamaguchi  

 

• 

ROBERTS CAMPUS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

The City of Berkeley Housing Department is undertaking a review of historic resources in the neighborhood surrounding the east parking lot of the Ashby BART station. This western portion of this lot is proposed for development as Ed Roberts Campus, a universally-accessible community resource center for people with disabilities.  

The area the city is interested in is within Ashby Avenue on the north, Shattuck Avenue on the east, Woolsey Street on the south, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Way on the west. This area, coincidentally, corresponds to the approximate boundaries of a ranch owned by Mark Ashby, an early Berkeley resident.  

This neighborhood was originally developed at the turn of the 20th century as a streetcar suburb, and possesses a number of prominent examples of Colonial Revival-style homes. According to records assembled by the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, this area saw six different electrified trolley lines going through. These lines linked together downtown Berkeley and the University of California campus with south Berkeley, north and west Oakland.  

In addition, state of California records indicate there are three historic buildings that may be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, including the Webb Building at 1985 Ashby, the Hull & Durgin Funeral Home at 3031-51 Adeline, and Luke’s Nickelodeon building at 3192 Adeline. 

Ed Roberts Campus has received funding awards from the federal government toward its development. To receive funding commitments from the government, the Campus must have the City of Berkeley (acting on behalf of the federal government in this instance) consider what, if any, effects the Campus would have on historic resources in the Ashby BART, and the City wants to hear from the public about the history of this south Berkeley neighborhood.  

Members of the public who wish to contribute their knowledge, photographs, testimonies, or memories of this neighborhood—or who know someone who might be willing to contribute such information—are urged to contact Tim Stroshane, senior planner, City of Berkeley Housing Department, 981-5422, or via e-mail at tstroshane@ci.berkeley.ca.us. We look forward to hearing from you! 

Tim Stroshane 

Senior Planner 

City of Berkeley Housing Department 

 

• 

JOHN YOO 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Months after learning that John Yoo, currently a law professor at UC Berkeley, has no moral compass, being willing to draft briefs for his masters justifying tossing overboard long established prohibitions against torture, we now find that he has no ethical compass, either. He is quoted in the “Justice Thomas Leads Court in Getting Gifts,” a Dec. 31 article in the San Francisco Chronicle, saying, “I don’t see anything wrong in this. I don’t see why it is inappropriate to get gifts from friends. This (questioning of the propriety of Thomas accepting $42,200 in gifts over six years) reflects a bizarre effort to over-ethicize everyday life. . .”  

I suppose John fantasizes that it’s just charm that attracts this kind of largesse, not the fact that Thomas can pass judgments affecting people’s lives and fortunes. Frankly, I think I am pretty charming, and I haven’t garnered $42,200 in gifts in over 68 years. I guess some professions are just inherently more charming than engineering. 

Since it seems unlikely that John is imbuing his students with morality or ethics, I guess Boalt Hall wants John to teach the drafting of clever arguments to justify whatever the client wants to do. I think his services would be in great demand in Washington today. 

Incidentally, I think I learned more about the propriety of torture and what constitutes torture in a one-hour class on the Geneva Conventions in Army basic training 50 years ago than John apparently did in years of study of the law. 

Armin Wright 

Oakland 

 

• 

SHIRLEY CHISHOLM 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Regarding your stupid, racist and sexist editorial on Shirley Chisholm (“Chisholm Campaign Recalled,” Daily Planet, Jan. 4-6): Frankly, Chisholm was not all that great, either as a candidate or an orator. That people would waste time on her candidacy in the very year when it was imperative to defeat the war criminal Nixon, just boggles the mind. Talk about juvenile ultra-left self-indulgence ! But then her death is just a good excuse to bash white males, a longtime project of the braindead PC Left in Berkeley. And a major reason why the Left will keep losing election after election. No critical thinking, no cogent analysis, just the same old sex and race baiting that was vogue in 1969. Identity politics is the reason the Left is dying. You PC Berkeley types are no different from the rankest bigot in Alabama, just a reverse choice of targets. I do admire your struggle to keep a local paper going but you can do better than being a print version of KPFA, can’t you ? 

Michael P. Hardesty 

Oakland 

 

• 

POINTING FINGERS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

How convenient for Mayor Bates for the university’s long range plan to come along. Bureaucrats always love a big target. Irrespective of whether the university’s expansion plan will drastically affect “pollution and congestion ,” as he pretends to care about, guess what? 

We already have pollution and congestion, and it’s the city’s fault! In addition to approving hundreds of new housing developments over the past years, you might also notice hundreds of new traffic signs in Berkeley, telling you where you can and cannot drive. New stop signs, new Right Turn Only signs, illegal barricades everywhere, and traffic signals timed perfectly to turn red after you’ve gone one block traveling at the speed limit. If the city really cared about congestion and pollution, they’d insist on an EIR every time the traffic engineer got bored and ordered more signs to clutter our city. Clean your own house, Mr. Bates before starting to point fingers elsewhere. 

Tim Cannon 

 

• 

MORE ON ROBERTS CAMPUS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Several articles and letters in recent weeks have covered the use permit issued to the Ed Roberts’ Campus by the Zoning Adjustments Board in November and its pending appeal by neighbors who argue that the building’s design doesn’t fit in with the neighborhood. It seems to me that response to this project has become unnecessarily complicated by issues that are not pertinent either to the core mission of the ERC project or to the architectural history of Berkeley. Since when is it okay in Berkeley for the aesthetic tastes of a few individuals to trump the social good of the community? 

The ERC is not demolishing any historic structure. Rather, it is replacing an eyesore parking lot with a building that will set the standard for universal and sustainable design. Berkeley prides itself on its diversity and tolerance—erecting a modern building in a neighborhood that has many kinds of buildings and land uses does not in any way detract from the historical interest of older parts of the neighborhood. And the ERC project stands to benefit its neighbors and the city of Berkeley in a variety of ways: providing needed services and a landmark community center for people with disabilities, paying tribute to a great East Bay resident and to the independent living and disability rights movements he helped to found, and revitalizing a mixed use and mixed income part of our city. 

The ERC partners have worked for years with the neighbors of the Ashby BART station and have made many compromises regarding the size of the building and the parking and traffic flow around it. The design is innovative and contemporary; some may not like its aesthetics. But the architects and planners have more than taken the neighborhood into account, and the building will welcome everyone and be a source of pride for Berkeley.  

Julia Epstein  

 

• 

PEPPERSPRAY 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Really enjoyed the Pepperspray Times in the Jan. 4-8 print issue of the Daily Planet. Funny stuff, with no (or few) cliches. I only moved to Berkeley this September so don’t know if this is an occasional feature or entirely new—but hope you will repeat it. 

Randy Reed 

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Pepperspray Times is written by Berkeley musician and activist Carol Denney and appears in the Daily Planet on the first Tuesday of each month.) 

 

• 

TAX MEASURES 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Rob Wrenn blames Proposition 13 for the failures of the tax increase measures on the November ballot. I once met the person who ran the Prop 13 campaign; he remarked that he had a lot of respect for the democratic system and that it is difficult to fool the electorate. 

Berkeley taxpayers know when they are being fooled to by its leaders and that is why the measures failed. Mr. Wrenn blames fire and police budgets for taking a large share of the general fund but makes no mention of the city’s large number of employees compared to other cities. The electorate knows that the city is run for the benefit of the unions and not for the benefit of its citizens. 

As long as Berkeley continues to fail to address these structural problems, tax increase measures will fail. 

Robert Cabrera 

 

• 

PROVING IT 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

While I was on vacation, I talked with people from all over America. “I have here in my hand,” I told them, “absolute proof that George Bush stole the 2004 election.”  

No one wanted to see my proof.  

No one even cared. 

If I had made this outrageous statement to George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, they would have ripped the documents right out of my hand in their haste to get to the truth. “What do you mean—election fraud? That’s a serious accusation. Can you really prove it? Either show us some real proof or shut up about it.” 

If I were a patriotic American and someone offered to show ME proof that a U.S. presidential election had been stolen, I would want to see it. Is this actually true or is this person some kind of nut or kook? 

Americans all want to find out more about Ripley’s two-headed calf. But what about the strange case of the stolen 2004 election? It is possibly an even bigger scandal than that Bush was warned at least 28 times about an attack on America prior to 9-11. It is the Mount Rushmore of chicanery, the amazing shrunken head of deceit, the Grand Canyon of skullduggery and the two-ton pizza of voter fraud. 

So. What was the reaction of the average American when I promised them all this irrefutable proof of massive voter fraud? “Ho hum. That’s boring. Let’s talk about something else.” This is the most shocking accusation ever made and no one is interested. 

“Please!” I begged Americans. “If you care about honesty and decency and the soul of America, please just read this!” They sighed, shook their heads, looked inconvenienced and fervently hoped that I would just shut up and go away. 

“Five convicted felons wrote the Diebold software!” I cried. “Every single one of the thousands of errors detected on Florida voting machines were in favor of George Bush! Private companies sworn to elect Bush counted 80 percent of America’s votes! In at least 10 Ohio precincts with only 600 registered voters each, 4,000 per precinct voted for Bush!” 

Even though every word of what I say about the 2004 stolen election can be proved, no one believes me. No one listens to me. No one cares. 

This response by Americans is so strange, so weird, so truly bizarre that is deserves to be published in Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Plus two stolen U.S. presidential elections in a row should surely make the Guinness Book of World Records. 

Steal the election once—shame on Cheney/Bush. Steal the election twice—shame on America. 

Jane Stillwater 

 

• 

DROP A LINE 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Readers who may be wondering about which way our country is headed should consider reading the “Union Democracy Review” which covers the ferment going on in unions all across the country to have honest unions. 

Drop them a note requesting a sample copy at: Association for Union Democracy, 104 Montgomery St., Brooklyn, N.Y. 11225; Phone: (718) 564-1114, e-mail: aud@igc.org; or watch for the review of Rebels, Reformers and Racketeers by Herman Benson which will be out early in 2005. 

Charles Smith 

 

• 

BAY BRIDGE 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

With all the controversy about the Bay Bridge, thought you would like to see a picture of a bridge we passed under as we floated down the Nile in Egypt, in Feb. 2003. It is beautiful! I hope that we can have a lovely bridge like this in the Bay Area. 

Margot Smith 

*picture in Edit/Comm