For members of the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church on Ashby Avenue, the best way to celebrate the upcoming anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday is to take action and continue his legacy, instead of just reminiscing about it.  

Accordingly, the church organized a three-day event addressing women’s rights. They chose that theme, event organizers said, because church members saw it as one the most pressing social justice issues today. 

“I think it’s time to have a new perspective on how we can take Dr. King’s dream and make it more relevant for all of us,” said Jackie DeBose, one of the organizers. “What better way to recognize women and their struggle than to do it around the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., who was the epitome of struggle and liberation?”  

Included in the event, which runs from Saturday through Monday at the church, is a panel of guest lectures, two prayer services and a liturgical dance workshop. 

The AME Church has had its own struggles with women’s rights, DeBose said, but is gaining ground, electing its first woman bishop in 2000. St. Paul in Berkeley has always had women leaders, she said. 

The upcoming event was organized by the church’s Women’s Missionary Society, which also runs programs for the local community and participates in events around the world. Two members recently traveled to Mozambique to donate birthing kits to communities where babies were being born in unsanitary conditions. 

The public is welcome at the weekend church events. Organizers are especially encouraging people to attend the Saturday dance workshop showcasing what is emerging as the newest form of worship at the church. 

The dancers, all women, range in age from 2 to 60. For Faye Combs, an older participant, the dance is one of her favorite ways to express herself in church. It’s also good exercise. 

“I don’t dance as well as some of the younger members but I do a little something something,” she said. 

The panel on Sunday morning, called “What Would Martin Think of Women Today,” features several African-American women clergy, as well as Ka’Dijah Brown, a 13-year-old church member, who will address issues concerning young women today. 

Other events in Berkeley include what Rabbi Ferenc Raj said is at least the fifth time that Congregation Beth El and the McGee Avenue Baptist Church will be celebrating the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. together.  

On Sunday, both groups will participate in a service at the McGee Avenue Baptist Church where participants will pay tribute to King and discuss his relationship to the Jewish community. Afterwards, there will be a potluck with traditional food cooked by members of both Beth El and the Baptist Church. Both events are open to the public. 

Also, a musical tribute to Dr. King will be held at the Calvin Simmons Theater and a celebration with Vukani Mawethu at Ashkenaz. For times and dates for all the events, or for more information, see the Arts and Berkeley This Week calendars in today’s issue. 

Mayor Tom Bates chastised UC Berkeley on Tuesday over recent revelations that it has set January deadlines for architects to submit qualifications to renovate Memorial Stadium and build a new academic building for its business and law schools. 

In a public address before the City Council meeting, the mayor questioned why the projects weren’t detailed in the university’s final Long Range Development Plan (LRDP), released last week. 

“Come on,” Bates said. “To be fair they have to tell us what their projects are going to be and how much they are going to cost.” 

Bates’ speech came a day after the council voted 6-0 (Olds, Maio and Anderson were not present) to sue the university if it refused to address the city’s concerns over the plan. Designed to guide university development through 2020, the plan projects 2.2 million square feet of new academic and administrative space, but only identifies one project—the 100,000-square-foot Tien Center For East Asian Studies. 

At its regular meeting, the council declined to discuss the university’s plan further. In other matters, it postponed a vote on an appeal of the nine-story Seagate Building, approved by the Zoning Adjustment Board, and denied an appeal to a condominium project the ZAB approved for the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. and Dwight ways. 

City officials fear UC Berkeley’s long range plan would give it free rein to build on city streets without environmental review and make residents pay for the increased demand on municipal services. They have demanded that the university either describe planned developments or agree to subject major projects to strict environmental review.  

News of the university’s proposals to rebuild Memorial Stadium, a $120 million project which it hopes to begin after the 2005 football season ends in November, and to construct a building at the southeast edge of campus, estimated to cost between $100 and $200 million, affirmed city suspicions that university officials were withholding details about future development from the long range plan. 

In a letter to Regents’ Chair Gerald Parsky urging him to postpone a vote on the plan, Bates wrote, “After five years of developing a ‘master plan, preliminary programming and design studies,’ and with football season ending in less than 11 months, I find it hard to believe that the university cannot be more transparent and forthcoming...”  

Twenty-two state legislators, at the urging of Assemblywoman Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley), have signed a letter also urging Parsky to hold over the vote to certify the plan’s environmental impact report scheduled for Jan. 20—two weeks after UC Berkeley released the 1,300 word document. 

In addition to the new administration space, the university’s plan projects 2,600 new dorm beds and up to 2,300 new parking spaces. 

Seagate Building 

Although the majority of councilmembers expressed support for the project, the council voted 7-2 (Olds and Wozniak, no) to hold over the appeal to the Seagate Building one week at the request of Councilmember Dona Spring. 

Spring feared that the city was offering too many concessions to the developer Darrell de Tienne. She questioned why city staff had allowed him to build a nine-story building on a street zoned for five stories and to designate less desirable units for low income tenants. 

“This sets a bad precedent for future developers to claim economic necessity,” she said. 

The Seagate building planned for Center Street between Shattuck Avenue and Milvia Street would contain 149 apartments, theater space leased to the Berkeley Repertory Theater, retail space and 160 underground parking spaces on three subterranean levels. 

To help de Tienne maximize profit, the Zoning Adjustment Board approved concentrating the 23 low income units, required under Berkeley housing law, on floors two through seven and in locations that were smaller, had poorer views, and less light exposure and less access to open space. Low income units were also disproportionately one-bedroom apartments. 

Responding to concerns about tenant equity, Housing Director Steve Barton told the council that the project is billed as a luxury building. “These are going to be the nicest [affordable] units in Berkeley,” he said. 

The building’s height remained a point of contention. To allow the building to rise nine stories, the city granted Seagate two extra floors as a bonus for including arts space and a 25 percent bonus as part of a state law requiring a additional space for including affordable units in the project. 

In calculating the 25 percent bonus for affordable housing, city officials included the two extra floors granted for the arts space, thereby giving the developer 25 percent of seven floors instead of five floors. City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque said that since the developer hadn’t needed a separate permit for the arts space, the two additional floors given for the cultural use counted as part of the base project. 

However, the city’s zoning ordinance does require that theaters receive a use permit. 

“[The staff] clearly didn’t want to do a use permit for the theater because it would have made it a five story building,” said Gene Poschman, a former planning commissioner, who worked on the appeal of the project. 

Poschman calculated that for the 12,067 square feet of ground floor theater space, de Tienne received 53,543 square feet in bonus space. “That’s a hell of a deal,” he said. 

In other maters, the council voted to oppose the establishment of the Low Lake Rancheria-Koi Nation Casino proposed to rise near the Oakland Airport. The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs will have the final say over the casino proposal. 

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In the wake of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s decision to renege on last year’s education funding agreement, Berkeley education leaders were united on one conclusion: If the governor gets his way, the financial impact on Berkeley public schools will not be good. 

There was disagreement, however, on the best way to respond. 

Last January, Schwarzenegger announced the funding agreement with the Education Coalition, an unofficial partnership of various statewide education organizations, including the state PTA, the state school board association, and teachers and service employees unions. Under the agreement, the coalition accepted cuts in constitutionally guaranteed Proposition 98 funding in 2004-05 in return for restoration of that funding in 2005-6 and beyond. 

But following a State of the State address where he declared that “last year, we worked together to avert a [budget] crisis; this year we must address its causes” and calling the state’s education system a “disaster,” Schwarzenegger proposed last week that the Prop. 98 cuts—amounting to some $2 billion statewide—be made permanent. In addition, the governor proposed shifting more of the burden of teacher pension funding from the state to local boards of education. If the Legislature didn’t agree, the governor proposed to bring the matter to California’s voters in November. 

Representatives of the California Federation of Teachers and the California School Boards Association, among other educational groups, met this week to discuss the possible impact of the governor’s proposals, as well as to plan strategy. On Thursday, BUSD Deputy Superintendent Glenston Thompson was at a Sacramento meeting, in part to gather details on Schwarzenegger’s plans. 

At the School Board Associations meeting on Wednesday, State Senate President Don Perata (D-Oakland) told participants that it is not likely that the state Legislature will agree to Schwarzenegger’s proposals. 

“Even if we wanted to, it would be almost impossible to fully discuss what the governor wants in the short time frame that we’re being allowed,” Perata said. “I think the real idea all along was for him to get these things on the ballot.” 

Perata added that he would fight to protect the education funds. “If the governor is declaring war on education, then I’m ready for that,” he said. 

In a telephone interview, Berkeley Federation of Teachers President Barry Fike said that while it is too soon to know what the possible effects of the proposed education cuts and funding shifts might mean, “from the teachers’ perspective, it certainly wouldn’t be positive. This is a wholesale, significant change.” 

Saying that it was a “fair assessment” to characterize the governor’s actions as an attempt to force local school boards to cut benefits to teachers, Fike said that the Berkeley Unified School District “already has a pretty big burden on pensions. Teachers put in 8.25 percent of our check and the district contributes a matching amount. For the state all of a sudden to pull the rug out from the portion that they have carried so far is a huge issue.” 

Fike added that “the governor’s agenda is above and beyond just an assault on local school districts and teachers’ pension benefits. It’s really an attack on labor in general all across the state. It parallels what the Bush administration is trying to do with Social Security.” 

Fike, who sits on the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) executive council, promised that reaction from teachers’ unions would be swift and unified. 

“For labor to be able to survive all this, we’re really going to have to come out strong,” he said. “We’re mustering our forces and figuring out all the different ways we are going to fight this. I’m pretty confident that the CFT is going to be pretty solidly united along with the California Teachers Association (CTA). They aren’t always united on every single issue, but I’m sure they will be on this one.” 

One response, Fike said, will be for the CFT and CTA to send teams of lobbyists to Sacramento to urge lawmakers to reject the governor’s education plans. And if the governor chooses to put his measures to the voters in November, Fike said that labor unions may do likewise. 

“One thing that we’re obviously talking about doing here in response is not to just be on the defensive—although we certainly are going to have to do that—but also be proactive and take the offense. If there are going to be all kinds of initiatives on the ballot this coming November, we don’t just want to be running around telling people to vote no on this and no on that. We want to be asking people to vote yes on some of our ideas, as well.” 

In addition, Fike said that the BFT is forming an action committee which will be meeting soon to plan local teacher strategies to fight the governor’s plans. “I’ve been fielding calls all day from agitated Berkeley teachers, asking what they can do on a local level,” he said. 

But while Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Michele Lawrence agreed with the teachers’ union leader that Schwarzenegger’s proposed education cuts “would have a significant effect on Berkeley Unified,” she disagreed that the old style of lobbying would be of help. 

“Yes, you can lobby,” Lawrence said. “Typically that’s what has happened in these types of circumstances. That’s what went on last year when the deal was cut with the Education Coalition. There was incredible momentum that was generated from communities who were concerned about the proposed cuts in education. And so we could lobby our parents and get people going up to Sacramento.” 

But Lawrence said that such lobbying is becoming less and less effective. “That kind of marching on Sacramento and waving your flag doesn’t seem to be getting the results that we would like any longer,” she said. “It has helped in public relations to get the taxpayers to support particular bond measures, because the lobbying effort talking about what desperate straits we are in has filtered back into the community and generated a sympathy with the taxpayer. But I don’t see it changing the behaviors of legislators.” 

She added that pulling together the Education Coalition to work out another deal with the governor is also not in the cards. 

“Clearly after now being slapped in the face by the governor, that isn’t a strategy that will get us anywhere,” she said. “In backing off that agreement, the governor has shut the door to that easy bringing people together collaboratively. So it’s yet to be decided what the response of the education community should be and is likely to be. That’s something that is still being worked out.” 

Meanwhile, according to the superintendent, the potential financial effect of the governor’s proposed cuts on Berkeley’s school district will be difficult, but not devastating. 

“Most of the educational community around the state was anticipating the restored Proposition 98 monies coming in based upon the deal made with the governor. Berkeley wasn’t,” she said. “I have just made it a practice not to anticipate revenues coming from the state. I don’t put it in the budget until I see the dollars. Our budgets are always based upon what we know we have, and I didn’t know that we had the restored money.” 

à

Facing an estimated $1 million shortfall, library officials Wednesday presented their board of trustees with a restructuring plan that calls for laying off between 11 and 13 employees and centralizing teen-service librarians in the main branch. 

If approved by the board and the City Council, the library, which has 157 full and part-time employees, would be the only city department to suffer layoffs. 

“There’s no realistic way to cut $1 million from a $13 million budget without letting people go,” Library Director Jackie Griffin said. 

The cuts would take effect July 1.  

Griffin attributed the library’s deficit to soaring pension contributions that this year are estimated to cost 21 percent of each employee’s salary. To plug a $600,000 deficit last year, when pension contributions amounted to 11.3 percent of salaries, the library closed its doors on Sundays and reduced hours during the week.  

High pension rates, caused by new union contracts and consecutive years of poor stock returns for the state retirement fund, have also plunged the city into a deficit. While Berkeley has been promised a state refund from vehicle license fees in two years to help balance its budget, Griffin said the library has no recourse this year other than to cut workers.  

“We live and die on the tax and right now we’re dying on it,” Griffin said.  

In November voters defeated an 18 percent library tax hike that would have restored hours and prevented layoffs. Griffin said the proposal presented Wednesday should keep the library’s budget balanced through 2008—the next year she would consider asking residents for a tax hike. 

Currently the library receives no city funding outside the library tax, although if it chose to, the city could allocate money to cover the library’s shortfall. 

Librarians and union officials faulted the director for not allowing more employee input to the plan and targeting primarily lower-level positions for elimination. 

“This was done pretty much in isolation,” said Claudia Morrow, a children’s librarian. “That’s not the way the library used to operate.”  

Morrow, who said her job is secure, said many librarians were taken aback at the reality of losing the ballot initiative and now facing layoffs. 

“It’s been a rude awakening for us,” she said. “We’ve had such incredible support from the community in the past.” 

Anes Lewis-Partridge, field director for SEIU, Local 535, which represents Berkeley library workers, charged that Griffin had added a managerial position in the midst of cutting workers and dismissed the union’s offer to take voluntary time off and reduce work schedules to save jobs.  

Griffin insisted that new managerial classifications didn’t represent new spending because they were converted from discontinued positions, and that neither cost saving measure the union proposed would affect the library’s bottom line enough money to spare jobs. She added that reducing the work week from 40 hours to 37.5 hours, as the union proposed, could hamper the library’s ability to hire new personnel.  

The restructuring plan calls for eliminating positions held by 31 employees, replacing them with 22 new positions, most of which will be filled by current staff now holding the eliminated positions. 

Lower ranking library aides and library assistants would account for about two-thirds of the cuts. Griffin said those job classifications, which perform mainly clerical duties, will be less useful as the library this summer completes installing Radio Frequency Tracking Devices (RFIDs) on its materials.  

The devices, which cost the library $650,000, are anticipated to boost self-check-out rates from 15 percent to around 90 percent. Griffin also hopes the technology will cut down on workers’ compensation claims, mostly for repetitive motion injuries that she said have cost the city $1 million over the past five years. 

“We need a workforce that can be more flexible and serve people in different ways,” Griffin said. 

The library is proposing to use money from salary savings to train lower level employees in house for new positions. However, Griffin added that the library has not determined how it would chose which employees facing layoffs will be selected to receive the training. 

If the trustees and council adopt the plan, the Claremont Branch would lose roughly one position, the West Branch would roughly three positions, because of changes to its literacy program, the South Branch would lose one position and the North Branch would lose roughly 2.5 positions.  

Several Berkeley High students attended the meeting to voice their opposition to a proposal to lay off one teen-service librarian and shift the remaining three from local branches to the central library. 

“It’s nice to know I can go to any library in the city and know there is a teen librarian there,” said Ariana Cortesi, a Berkeley High sophomore who participates in a teen play reading program at the north branch. 

At the trustees’ request, the union is scheduled to present its proposals to save money at the next meeting on Jan. 26. Griffin has requested that the trustees approve the plan by March so that it can go before the City Council as part of the overall budget to be approved in June.  

The library tax revenue for the coming year is unknown. The City Council can base the tax either on an increase to the Bay Area Consumer Price Index (CPI) or California Personal Income Growth. The city has asked the library to structure the budget assuming a 2 percent increase in the CPI. However in recent years the personal growth indicator has far outstripped CPI allowing the council to approve larger increases in the tax. Last year the library tax rose 13.9 percent.e

Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Commission gave their blessings Monday to the Ed Roberts Center, a starkly modern building planned for the western entrance of the South Berkeley BART station. 

In a lengthy session preceding the vote, commissioners blasted city Housing Director Tim Stroshane for presenting the issue only after the city Zoning Adjustments Board had voted authorization to build the project. 

The center will house a consortium of disability rights and training organizations, and because some of the building funds come from federal coffers, the city has to demonstrate that building the facility won’t adversely impact structures or a district that might qualify for the National Register of Historic Places. 

That requirement is spelled out in Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. 

The center’s proposed location at 3075 Adeline St. is in the heart of a district built at the start of the last century when the area became a hub for street car lines. Many of the structures are built in the Colonial Revival Style that became popular after the Spanish-American War. 

A nearby building, the Webb Block at the southwest corner of Ashby Avenue and Adeline Street, had been landmarked by the commission in December, and other structures in the area are cited on a state list of buildings that may be eligible for the National Register. 

Monday night’s hearing was prompted by a Nov. 17 letter to Berkeley Planning Director Dan Marks from state Historic Preservation Officer Milford Wayne Donaldson, roasting the city for failure to respond a letter sent to Stroshane 13 months earlier asking for specifics about the project and its surrounding area. 

That Oct. 21, 2003 letter from Donaldson’s predecessor, Knox Mellon, notified Stroshane that “At this point, I cannot concur with the city that the Ed Roberts Center will have no impact on historic resources.” 

Mellon also faulted the city’s designated area of potential effects for the project and urged Stroshane to consult with the landmarks panel and the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA). 

All the commissioners made clear their disappointment with city staff’s handling of the state agency’s concerns—most particularly Stroshane’s failure to bring them into the process well before the project came up for ZAB’s approval. Many also voiced frustration with Stroshane’s written submissions to the commission. 

“I was really, really disappointed at the lack of information in the packet,” said Lesley Emmington. “I was really surprised not to find something as basic as a map. There are some pictures of some things, not of others,” she said, 

“The information wasn’t comprehensive,” added Commissioner Carrie Olson. “This is very out of the ordinary. Very disappointing.” 

“Didn’t the State Office of Historic Preservation ask that the Landmarks Preservation Commission be a consulting body?” asked Patricia Dacey, a commissioner. 

“Yes,” said Stroshane. 

“It seems the first step is to identify and document the historic resources and determine their elegibility” for the register, said Jill Korte, commission chair. “I’m having difficulty understanding how we as a commission can accomplish that tonight.” 

“How do we define the area of potential effect? Is there an official standard? You defined it more broadly than” Page & Turnbull Inc., the architectural consultants hired by the center. 

“It’s not like a legal property definition,” said Stroshane. 

“The language about a historical district defines quite a formidable process in itself. I don’t think it’s possible in a short period,” said James Samuels, the newest commissioner. 

“What I’m having difficulty getting my head around is what kind of effects it could have on buildings. I’m having a hard time understanding,” said Commissioner Aran Kaufer. “I’m really eager to hear from the public.” 

Monday’s meet drew a large turnout of center supporters, including Zona Roberts, the mother of center namesake Ed. She became a disability rights advocate after her son was stricken with polio at age 14 and went on to become a counselor for Berkeley’s Center for Independent Living—which her son ran for years—and for UC Berkeley’s Physically Disabled Students’ Program. 

Ed Roberts is credited as the founder of the independent living movement, and had become a world-renowned figure by the time of his death nine years ago. He served as director of the California Department of Rehabilitation for eight years and won numerous awards, including a MacArthur grant. 

Residents of a nearby apartment praised the project. Other neighbors and BAHA activists, including President Wendy Markel, said they had no objections to the center’s location; their issue was the architecture, a glass-fronted curvilinear design many compared to an airport terminal. 

The design, they said, was too strong a contrast with the historic structures in the area, both the nearby residences and the potential landmarks immediately to the north along Adeline Street. 

Architect Bill Leddy defended the design, citing it as an example of universal architecture, fully accessible to the disabled and welcoming to all in stark contrast to the dark, closed institutions where the disabled had been warehoused throughout much of American history. 

The design impressed commissioners, too. And when it came time of vote on a statement declaring the project wouldn’t have negative impacts on the neighborhood, only Emmington, a BAHA employee, voted no. Two other commissioners, Korte and Dacey, abstained. ?

San Mateo developer Dan Deibel has yielded to critics of his proposed condo and commercial project for the 700 block of University Avenue and agreed to more testing for archaeological artifacts at the site. 

As a result, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) Monday voted to postpone two scheduled hearings on landmark applications for two properties scheduled for demolition at the site. 

Preservation advocate Gale Garcia has submitted proposals to landmark Brennan’s Irish Pub at 720 University and the building on the other half of the block housing Celia’s Restaurant at 2040 Fourth St. 

During hearings in December, amateur historian Richard Schwartz and UC Berkeley archaeology Professor Ken Lightfoot reported that Deibel had only performed one of two promised tests at the site, which the two suspect may contain remains of the Berkeley Shellmound. 

Both said that Deibel had promised to conduct a second, more detailed core drilling if the first, limited test failed to find any traces of artifacts and Native American remains. 

Both said that the initial cores were conducted at a shallower depth than promised, a contention denied by one of Deibel’s consultants. 

After consulting with Lightfoot, Deibel agreed to conduct more extensive and deeper corings, and promised to present the results to commissioners at the Feb. 7 meeting.  

Reinforcing Schwartz’s contention that shellmound remains might be found at the site, LPC member Carrie Olson presented her colleagues Monday with copies of a panoramic photo taken in the late 1890s showing University Avenue bisecting the shellmound. 

She also presented an 1852 map of Strawberry Creek, showing the stream curving to the south of where the mound appears in the photo.

Berkeley Planning Commissioners Wednesday voted to give developer Avi Nevo their tentative approval of his plans to convert two apartment projects into condominiums. 

One project, a 74-dwelling/four-commercial-unit four-story at 2131 Durant St., is currently under construction, while construction has yet to begin at the second, a 29-dwelling/four-commercial-unit four-story at 1809 Shattuck Ave. 

But the largest part of Wednesday’s meeting was consumed by an often-intense discussion of the city’s handling of potential landmarks. 

By the time the meeting ended, no one had any doubt that Chair Harry Pollack wasn’t a fan of the city Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). 

The LPC spent four years formulating proposed changes to city ordinances to allow would-be developers and remodelers to determine whether their properties merited landmarking before, rather than after, they launched into the complex process of applying for city permits. 

Under the current system, anyone who spends the 20 to 40 hours it typically takes to research and write a landmarking application can file the document right up until the Zoning Adjustments Board issues the final construction permits. 

The proposal drafted by the commission is designed to front-load eligibility issues, eliminating delays in later stages of projects. 

But Pollack found fault with a proposed provision that he declared “a striking and extraordinary attempt to increase the purview of the Landmarks Preservation Commission.” 

The provision would place all demolitions of, and exterior alterations to, structures 50-year-old and more on the LPC agenda when the initial application was filed. 

“This creates additional conflicts between the Zoning Adjustments Board and the LPC,” Pollack declared. 

When LPC member Carrie Olson attempted to explain, Pollack refused to let her speak. Reached Thursday afternoon, Olson said that Pollack was simply wrong when he attributed the proposal to an LPC power-grab attempt. 

“Nothing could be further from the truth. What we’re trying to do is clear up the process so that when someone comes in for a permit they can get an early determination that will clear the way for the Permit Streamlining Act,” she said. “It was never the intention to cause a bottleneck at the front end.” 

Olson said her commission’s original intent was to create a list that applicants could check to see if their building had landmarking potential. 

She praised a motion by Planning Commission David Stoloff to have city staff draft alternative language that wouldn’t have all projects involving older structures sent to the LPC. 

Olson did get to speak when Planning Commissioner Susan Wengraf asked her why the commission didn’t create districts that would alert city staff to potential landmarks. 

“Each landmark application takes 20 to 40 hours to do, and we just don’t have the staff to do it,” she said. 

The recent Sisterna Historic District was created by neighbors, who did all the research and filed the application. The same is true of the just-proposed Panoramic National Historic District, Olson said. [See pages 12-13.] 

“All of Santa Barbara is a historic district,” she added. 

Pollack then stopped Wengraf from posing further questions. 

Pollack also said he wanted to make ZAB superior to the landmarks panel, so that the LPC would recommend but ZAB would hold the decision-making power. 

“Why say ZAB is superior to landmarks?” said commissioner Sarah Shumer. “To me, they should be co-equal. They have very different foci. ZAB’s focus is broader, but I’m not sure it’s inclusive the way the City Council is.” 

“The LPC has very special concerns, and I’m loathe to make it inferior to ZAB,” said Stoloff. 

Commissioner David Tabb backed Pollack, saying that concurrent jurisdiction “normally delays the process considerably from the point of view of the applicant.” 

“I don’t think we’re going to come up with anything better,” said Commissioner Helen Burke. 

By the time the hearing ended, the commission had covered only a few of Pollack’s suggestions, leaving plenty more to cover when they reconvene in two weeks. 

The panel did approve the LPC recommendation to place all proposed demolitions of older structure on the landmarks agenda, overriding Pollack, Stoloff and Tabb by a 5-3 vote. 

A scheduled hearing and workshop on plans for the proposed new Berkeley Bowl and Ninth Street and Heinz Avenue heard limited testimony and was ultimately rescheduled for Feb. 9 at the request of Bowl owner Glen Yasuda, who was unable to attend.

Berkeley schools will apparently see the effects of the passage of Measure B sooner than expected. 

When voters passed the school supplementary fund measure last November, it was anticipated that the class size reduction portion of the money would be spent in the 2005-06 and 2006-07 school years. 

“It would be extremely disruptive to children to reduce class sizes mid-year and transfer them to other teachers,” BUSD Superintendent Michele Lawrence wrote this week in a message to the BUSD Board of Directors in announcing why teaching personnel additions were not anticipated this winter and spring. “Further, recruitment of teachers in such a short time was not practical.” 

On Wednesday night, however, Lawrence told boardmembers that an immediate partial implementation of the Measure B monies was possible in the district’s library program. 

The board agreed, approving at its regular meeting an increase in the hours of elementary school library media technicians. The increased hours will begin in February, and are scheduled to run through the end of the 2006-07 school year. 

School Board Vice President Terry Doran said that it was “exciting to see things increasing in the district, rather than decreasing.” 

In other action at Wednesday’s meeting, the board informally announced support for a resolution of the student participation dispute between Berkeley High School and Berkeley Alternative High School. 

On Monday night, after a heated meeting with BAHS staff, parents, and students about concerns that BAHS students were being excluded from BHS extracurricular activities, Lawrence said that she would mediate a meeting between representatives of the two schools. 

Doran, who—along with fellow Board Director Shirley Issel—attended the Monday meeting, said at Wednesday’s Board meeting that “the intensity of feeling demonstrated by participants at that meeting emphasizes that we need to analyze the relationship between the two schools.” 

Director John Selawsky said that the two schools “need to work out the shared protocols of events and proms.” Meanwhile, though Lawrence said that the participation dispute needs immediate attention and resolution, she is also preparing for a longer-range discussion with the board as to “the role the alternative high school plays.” 

Lawrence said that she was currently reviewing documents on the evolution of BAHS “to see if their relationship with Berkeley High was board-approved over the years, or if it is something that just evolved.” 

The board also voted, on the recommendation of district staff, to hold off on the addition of lights to the east parking lot at Franklin Adult School. The $150,000 proposal was part of a modification to the district’s facilities plan, but BUSD Director of Facilities Lew Jones said that the utilization of the two parking lots at the school should be studied over the next year before the board decides whether or not to proceed with the lights. 

Director Doran told Board members that the lights had the support of the Adult School’s site committee, but his motion to include the lights in the budget failed for lack of a second.

On Jan. 6, a soldier from Afghanistan’s nascent national army was killed, along with two assailants, when troops were sent in to eradicate an opium field in Uruzgan province. The central government of President Hamid Karzai recognizes that these could prove the opening shots of a new opium war. A month earlier, on Dec. 11, Karzai’s finance minister, Ashraf Ghani, published an op-ed piece in the New York Times, “Where Democracy’s Greatest Enemy Is a Flower,” pleading for international support for crop-substitution programs. Opium is the key to power for Afghanistan’s warlords, who still control much of the country.  

It would be impolitic for Karzai’s government to remind his U.S. underwriters of Washington’s own complicity in creating this reality. The apparent December suicide of Gary Webb, the journalist responsible for the “Dark Alliance” sensation in the San Jose Mercury News in 1996, sparked at least a brief media recollection of the contra-cocaine claims of the Reagan era. That a CIA-backed rebel army was also turning to the drug trade at that same time in Afghanistan seems almost entirely forgotten.  

Webb’s controversial series documented the links between the CIA-spawned “contra” guerrilla army in Nicaragua and a top California cocaine ring. The series was met by a campaign to discredit it by major media, which relentlessly trumpeted its real flaws. But whatever Webb’s failings, the Nicaraguan counter-revolution was a major player in the 1980s coke boom. In 1989, the congress of Nicaragua’s neighbor Costa Rica permanently barred Lt. Col. Oliver North, ex-National Security Advisor John Poindexter, the U.S. ambassador and CIA station chief from the country’s territory, finding that their contra re-supply operation had doubled as a cocaine ring. Such disturbing realities were forgotten as Webb’s work was dismissed as “conspiracy theory.”  

Even more forgotten is that the contra-coke connection was mirrored in an Afghan mujahedeen-heroin connection. Just as the CIA groomed an army of right-wing exiles to destabilize revolutionary Nicaragua, the agency turned to Islamic insurgents to drive Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Once again, the CIA proxy army turned to the drug trade to boost its war chest. And while Nicaragua has seen some reconciliation since the 1980s, Afghanistan is still violently divided—and under U.S. occupation.  

Moreover, the contra war was small potatoes compared to the Afghan campaign, which never received nearly as much media exposure. All told, the CIA sunk some $450 million into the contras, compared with over $2 billion for mujahedeen.  

In a 1988 series for the Philadelphia Inquirer, “The CIA’s Leaking Pipeline,” Tim Weiner found that weapons for the Afghan resistance were being diverted to the armies of opium lords. The CIA admitted one of every five dollars in war material bound for the mujahedeen “disappeared.” It was during the mujahedeen war that the Afghan-Pakistan “Golden Crescent” overtook Southeast Asia’s “Golden Triangle” as the top source of global heroin.  

This didn’t slow down the Reagan administration. Following a 1986 bid by CIA director William Casey, Congress approved Pentagon advisors and hundreds of Stinger missiles for the mujahedeen.  

Support for the mujahedeen led directly to the emergence of Al Qaeda. In 1984, Osama bin Laden arrived in Peshawar, the Pakistan border city then serving as the mujahedeen’s staging area, and trans-shipment point for their heroin. It was there he established his Maktab al-Khidmat (”services center”), or MAK, a clearinghouse for mujahedeen volunteers from the Arab world, where they were armed, indoctrinated and dispatched to the front. CIA money flowed into the MAK through Pakistan’s secret service. Osama assumed command of the MAK in 1989, the same year the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan. He quickly transformed the MAK into his Al Qaeda network of trained terrorists.  

Given the extreme Islamic fundamentalist ideology of the mujahedeen, it was only logical that they would turn their guns on their erstwhile American underwriters after the Russians were driven out. When the Taliban took power in 1996, pledging to restore order after years of war, Afghanistan became a staging ground for global terrorist operations—culminating in 9-11, and the U.S.-led occupation that continues today. 

Now “liberated” Afghanistan has become again the world’s top heroin producer, supplying an estimated 90 percent of the global market, according to the United Nations, which monitors world production via satellite. Opium cultivation has in fact skyrocketed since the fall of the puritanical Taliban, which had effectively if briefly suppressed the trade. Growers have repeatedly opened fire on government workers sent to eradicate their fields. Any effort by President Karzai to challenge the opium economy could antagonize the warlords and plunge the country back into civil war, making Bush’s victory in this ravaged land a Pyrrhic one.  

America will be dealing with the legacy of Afghanistan’s Dark Alliance for years to come. It is sad that Gary Webb’s passing has prompted more dismissive condescension than serious grappling.  

DOESN’T GET IT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Bob Burnett, in his Dec. 28 article “Campaign 2008,” still does not get it. He fails to mention the obvious fact that President Bush won re-election because he supports the marriage amendment and Sen. Kerry does not. Eleven more states voted for referendums to declare that marriage is only between a man and a woman, and there is not now, and never has been, any right of a person to marry a person of the same sex. If two persons of the same sex live together we do not have to give them the endorsement or approval of their relationship that either governmental or social recognition implies. I do not want to have the right to marry a person of the same sex as I, and nobody else should have such a right, because all persons should have exactly the same rights and no person or persons should have any special rights. The Democrats will stay in the minority until they understand and accept this. Besides, President Bush and Congress and most of the country support the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” rule in the military services, and that ought to be the rule everywhere. 

Charles J. Blue, Sr. 

Albany 

• 

UC LONG RANGE PLAN 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

As a citizen of Berkeley, the revised version of the 2020 UC LRDP gives me great concern.  

First, the cost of building structured parking is at least $30,000 per space for above-ground, and at least $40,000 for underground parking. UC Berkeley doesn’t raise enough money from parking fees to cover the cost of the planned 1,800-plus-500 new parking spaces. Unrealistic planning, it would seem. 

What is really worrisome, however, is the cost this plan represents for the City of Berkeley. Already in deficit and cutting millions of dollars from current services, how will the city pay for the infrastructure necessary to support the construction planned by UC? How will the COB cover the cost of sidewalk, roads and signalized intersections for its own plans, let alone those of UC? 

With all the new students, staff, housing and traffic, more traffic and parking enforcement will be needed. Who will pay for these services? What will happen without these services, if there is no money to cover these costs? Maybe this plan goes too far. 

While UC Berkeley claims to have adequate programs in place to encourage use of alternative transportation modes (it doesn’t), mention isn’t made showing how it will mitigate the planned increase in traffic in the city. UC Berkeley doesn’t have a plan to promote alternatives beyond what it is currently doing, which obviously, according to the university, won’t be adequate. 

In fact, UC Berkeley doesn’t have a mitigation plan at all. 

UC Berkeley should develop its own Transportation Im-provement Plan, and Pedestrian Improvement Plan, and should fund improvements necessary to make alternative transportation and walking to campus safe, accessible and comfortable, thereby encouraging these modes, reducing traffic congestion, and being a responsible member of the community. 

UC Berkeley should be leading the way in encouraging their sizable staff to use alternative modes. Some large employers pay employees a stipend of $100 per month for use with any alternative modes they wish. UC Berkeley should, again, lead the way in this regard.  

It is feasible for no increase in traffic, and certainly no increase in single occupancy vehicles (SOV) to result from UC Berkeley’s 2020 LRDP. But what does UC Berkeley say? That an increase in a mode switch from alternatives to automobile travel is inevitable. This is ill-informed and unconscionable in a time when global warming has become a real and present concern in every day life. 

Mayor Tom Bates certainly did the right thing by opposing this revised version of the LRDP. We should all back him on his position, since we will all be losers if the plan goes through as written. 

UC Berkeley’s LRDP will diminish the quality of life in Berkeley. The university appears to want to take over more land within city boundaries, while continuing without any fiscal or environmental responsibility. It is quite clear that this represents poor stewardship, spoiling their own nest. 

Marcy Greenhut 

• 

A NEW YEAR’S WISH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I joined the generous multitudes of Berkeley’s voters last November in supporting a significant tax increase for our public schools. This tax increase is larger than all the city tax measures which were defeated. I hope that our community’s generosity and support will be appreciated and reciprocated by the Berkeley Unified School District in the form of greater cooperation with the community, concern and interest in the community’s needs, a broader welcome for community participation, and adherence to prior agreements made with the city. 

I live in West Berkeley, near Washington Elementary School. Washington School is a Measure Y park. As a Measure Y park, Washington’s school yard is to be open to the community to use whenever school is not in session. Unfortunately, BUSD has taken on the practice of locking the gates, especially during holiday weekends, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas holiday. We, who live in West Berkeley, lack open space. There are no large parks, there are no greenways. What is available are schoolyards. Keeping the Washington schoolyard open is a promise that BUSD made many years ago. It is a promise, which BUSD needs to keep. 

There are other Measure Y schools, but keeping the schoolyards open is something BUSD needs to do, not only for Measure Y schools, but for all schools. Schools are a community institution. For the 60 percent of us who do not have children in schools, schoolyards are a small way in which we can enjoy what our substantial tax dollars are paying for. 

I enjoy walking in my neighborhood, which I do daily. I enjoy sitting in the schoolyard and watching children play. And it pains me to watch the disappointed faces of young children as they rattle the locked gate. 

On another note, I recently learned that BUSD is planning to make changes in Washington’s and perhaps other schools’ schoolyards as part of the Measure AA bond money. However, the community was not informed of any meetings to discuss such changes. No signs were posted at the school yard. Nothing was mailed to neighbors. Nothing was publicized in the newspaper. Recently, BUSD took out one of the basketball courts at Willard, also without inviting any community participation, nor informing us of the proposal, until after it was done. Unfortunately, that basketball court was one of only a few in south Berkeley, and it’s now sorely missed. 

BUSD: Your community includes everyone who is paying your bills, not just the students who attend your schools. I have lived for 32 years near Washington School. I urge you involve all neighbors and the community in any playground changes you are contemplating. You have now fenced off the grassy area for over six months, and the pond area has been dilapidated and fenced off for over eight years. Our schoolyards are very important to our neighborhood, and we would like to be involved in any changes. And most importantly, keep the schoolyard gates open. 

Sally Reyes 

• 

DOWNTOWN’S FRIENDS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

In your article about the objections to the Seagate Building being built downtown you give extensive coverage to the “Friends of Downtown Berkeley.” What does it mean to be a friend of downtown Berkeley? Some of the “Friends of Downtown” specific complaints about the Seagate Building underscore pressing issues for downtown and Berkeley as a whole.  

The downtown plan called for a push to increase the profile of the arts district, as if on its own it would solve all downtown’s problems. We need to also push the profile of movie screens and clubs, ice rink and sports centers (the CAL stadium), shopping, business large and small. The “Friends” complain that the Seagate’s proposed three levels of parking are too much. The developers plan to build more parking than is required for their tenants. And the problem is…? They should be applauded. Extra parking downtown, underground, could be a solution for any new building downtown. It should be required just as low income housing is required.  

How vital and viable is our downtown? It may not be economically sound to plan a revitalization of downtown and then just stomp your feet and say I don’t like cars. If we don’t want cars in our downtown but we do want the people cars carry we should provide for parking at the periphery of town with frequent shuttles in. In addition, more parking underground with easier access would work too. Perhaps one day, with the right kind of incentives, these three levels will be filled with electric and alternative vehicles. And, yes, we should make it easier to use public transportation too. But simply making it impossible to park downtown will not encourage the kind of active and vital economic and cultural downtown that Berkeley deserves. The “Friends of Downtown” also complain about the proposed height of the Seagate building. Our downtown is already a node of density but the “Friends of Downtown” want to limit the addition of a 14-story building next to an existing one. One might argue that a cluster of taller buildings is a natural evolution of a downtown and an environmentally ethical solution to the pressure for more housing. There already is a plan to increase housing downtown why not reduce sprawl too. 

Finally, the “Friends” complain that the lower floors of the Seagate building would house lower income apartments and smaller apartments. They complain that this is discriminatory. Nonsense. Inclusion of these units is excellent public policy and needs to be applauded. My only complaint about this building is that these units are not available for purchase. Another housing need in our community is opportunity for middle income individuals or lower income families to purchase anything in Berkeley. But I think the plan at the Seagate for higher floor units with better views and higher rents to subsidize lower rent units makes sense. Supply and demand, public policy goals for lower income housing all intertwine here to the make the whole work, and makes our community better and richer.  

The downtown plan has not yet gone far enough. We need to support the full vision. We have new stages but the movies theaters are not re-investing. The ice skating rink is on the brink. The university is one of our biggest resources but town and gown relations are strained. The natural tensions between development and preservation are perhaps failing in an untenable stasis. 

The plan needs to bring people back to our streets. We are not yet there. The “Friends of Downtown” might just be one minority group speaking about what what should be the majority’s playground. 

Peter Levitt 

• 

AMUSEMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Tee hee hee! I want to thank Charles Siegel (Letters, Daily Planet, Jan. 11-13) for providing some much-needed amusement, since running my “hate campaign against buses” is a pretty humorless job. But as they say, somebody has to do it.  

Seriously, however, I ride buses frequently and obviously they are a necessary and useful part of the urban environment. But the truth is, although improving, they are still hard on the eyes, ears, and nose. Nonetheless, I was unkind to buses and I hope I didn’t hurt any of their tender little feelings. 

Since we’re talking intimately about buses, however, I admit that I do not find 60-foot long buses pedestrian-friendly. Many other places in the world use flexible, non-monopolistic systems of smaller buses or vans, and we might rethink our own bus system. And the new buses with multi-level seating are apparently not intended for people with walkers, strollers, or bags of groceries—to say nothing of the frail and non-acrobatic. But back to BRT: Remember, a merely “enhanced” bus service will achieve two thirds of the ridership gain of BRT at only one fourth the cost—with no damage to local traffic flow or to nearby neighborhoods. On some things, I regret, AC Transit seems to have its headlights up its exhaust pipes.  

As for the charge that I am only concerned about my own neighborhood, it is the constipation of Telegraph Avenue that disturbs me. A secondary concern is about traffic in Willard Neighborhood south of me, because Willard, unlike its barricaded neighbors on its right and left, has not so assiduously protected its own back yard.  

As for myself, when I wrote my commentary, I didn’t think that BRT would cause much additional traffic near me. But now that you draw my attention to it, I realize that BRT would send thousands more cars in my direction—and I’d also completely forgotten about the massive loss of trees and parking. Uh-oh, now what shall I do? Does this mean that since I am affected by BRT, I must remain silent or be a NIMBY? Or maybe I actually have to support BRT, because the more we Berkeleyans hurt ourselves, the better it is for the planet.  

Sorry, but I don’t buy it. The World Health Organization states: “Good health and well being require a clean and harmonious environment in which physical, physiological, social and aesthetic factors are all given their due importance. The environment should be regarded as a resource for improving living conditions and increasing well being.” The neighborhood environment is where we spend most of our lives. So I support everyone’s pursuit of a healthy and livable neighborhood, Mr. Siegel, and I’m sure you do, too.  

Sharon Hudson 

• 

BUSH THE ACTOR 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

For years now, I’ve been waiting for George Bush to hesitate, to show some shame or remorse. 

“We have brought freedom and democracy to Afghanistan and Iraq,” says George. I keep waiting for him to break down and cry at the tragic untruth of this statement—or even to laugh at this joke—but he never does. Could he be a male Stepford Wife? 

Half the nation hates George Bush—yet on TV, he is perky, actually perky. He’s like a political version of June Cleaver! How can a man bomb 10,000 civilians one day and glad-hand church ladies the next?  How does he do it?   

He’s an actor. 

Here’s an example: Bush gets up in front of the TV cameras and badmouths frivolous lawsuits. AND he sues a rental car company for damages in one of his daughters’ fender-bender where no one was hurt. Can’t he see the contradiction? 

Example two: He speaks to America about “Clean Air” but the reality is that America’s air is now polluted, putrefied and cancerous thanks to George Bush. 

Example three: “Our economy is booming!” sez George, just as the value of the dollar drops through the basement floor. 

Example four: Bush gets in front of the cameras and plays the role of President like he is the star of West Wing or something but, in actuality, unimpeachable documentation in New Mexico, Florida, Ohio, etc. shows that Bush only “won” the 2004 election by use of massive vote fraud. Plus accurate exit polls clearly indicate that Kerry won.   

How does Bush keep up this charade? How does he live with himself? Easy. He is an actor. Leonardo DiCaprio, in real life, is NOT Howard Hughes.  He hangs up that persona when he walks off the set. It’s the same with George Bush. 

When we watch Bush glad-handing women and children on TV -- and Karl Rove makes sure that we see this benign image 24/7 (You can’t even turn on the TV and not see Big Brother George)—and then wonder at the terrible disconnect between what we see and what we get, please remember that our George is an actor. 

Like when O.J. Simpson was the kindly spokesperson for Hertz rent-a-car, Bush is now the kindly spokesperson for America.  And, like Simpson, Americans have found Bush “not guilty” of what he does off-camera. 

With George Bush, reality doesn’t matter.  It’s all an act. 

PS:  Sometimes I think that having to watch Bush on TV 24/7 is Karl Rove’s way of torturing American dissidents.  And his diabolical plan is working too!  You want me to confess to supporting the Bill of Rights or being fond of the Sixth Commandment?  I’ll talk!  ”Ask me anything!  I’ll name names!  Only, please!  No more George Bush!” 

Jane Stillwater 

• 

STATE OF PALESTINE 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

On Jan. 4 you chose to republish your senseless and vile cartoon of a Jewish-American flag buried in the back of a poor “State of Palestine.” It is senseless, because it impossible to understand by what mechanism the U.S. has killed Palestinian statehood. President Clinton spent more time with Yassir Arafat than any other head of state in a ceaseless, though ultimately futile, attempt to help the Palestinians toward statehood. The U.S. is the largest single donor to the United Nations Palestinian refugee organization (UNRWA). Now that Arafat is dead, there is palpable breath of life in the peace process, proving what almost everyone involved has known for a long time, that Arafat was the main obstacle to the peaceful emergence of a Palestinian state. But your cartoon transcends the senseless and enters the world of the vile, because by replacing the 50 stars of the American flag with a single Jewish Star of David, the Daily Planet is repeating the old canard that the Jews somehow control the country, or the banks, or the world (choose your favorite form of hate). Stalin’s secret police made this villainy infamous when they first forged and published The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which purports to be the minutes of a meeting of rabbis out to control the world. The Daily Planet might just as well republish that fine piece of propaganda in full instead of your cartoon to the same effect. 

John Gertz 

• 

BIGOTRY 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

When there is the slightest doubt, most of us who have worked as journalists like to believe the best about those who don the mantle of the publisher, supposedly to better inform the populace. Correspondingly, although I was appalled when Becky O’Malley ran a cartoon several months ago depicting a Palestinian impaled by and American flag with the Star of David on it, I wanted to believe that O’Malley simply was one of the ignorant 10 percent who associate the Star of David with only the State of Israel rather than the Jewish people.  

Sure, Hitler and the Third Reich correlated the six pointed star with anyone of Jewish heritage in utilizing it as a symbol of everything the German fascists found evil in the world. Today, the Arab press does the same.  

But nevermind that nine of 10 people you might ask on a Berkeley street would first and foremost associate the Star of David with Jews rather than Israel; I harbored hope against hope that O’Malley printed the cartoon simply because she is that tenth person who more guilty of ignorance than anti-Semitism. 

Alas, O’Malley marked the end of the news year (Dec. 31) with a rationalization of printing the cartoon and in the Jan.4-6 edition, republished the cartoon giving it prominence at the very top of the page. She did this despite the earlier outpouring of letters, e-mails and phone calls from both the Jewish community and many outside of it who found the cartoon profoundly offensive when it was first published. 

It saddens me to conclude that despite the hurt and anger this odious image inflicted upon so many of her readers, that O’Malley would both justify and reissue cartoonist DeFreitas’ toxic age-old message of “international Jewish conspiracy.” In retrospect, I have no problems with those who sought to have advertisers desist from giving their money to the BDP for it is now crystalline that O’Malley is little more than a Merchant of Hate and by extension, her publication a promulgation of the worst sort of bigotry. 

Dan Spitzer 

Kensington 

• 

MORE ON PALESTINE CARTOON 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

I was saddened, though not surprised, to see that Mr. DeFreitas selected his cartoon depicting the field of the American flag filled with Jewish Stars of David and placing the great blame for the Palestinians’ plight on the American government which, according to the cartoon, simply does Israel’s bidding. In the wake of the original publication, your paper received many letters alleging anti-Semitism, a claim Mr. DeFreitas rejected. A statement from the website of the Free Palestine Now! organization at Virginia Commonwealth University comments on this very type of cartoon: www.studentorg.vcu.edu/fpn/mission.html. 

Since the beginning of the second Intifada those objecting to the existence of Israel as a Jewish state have obfuscated their true goal by describing themselves and their allies as peace activists and progressives. I thank Mr. DeFreitas, however, for finally clarifying the paper’s position. His commentary explains that the cartoon expresses his opposition to any Israeli policy that would “permanently bar displaced Palestinians from ever returning to their homes.” This full right of return, of course, and the concomitant eviction of Israelis from property once owned by Palestinians, would signal the end of Israel as a Jewish state. Mr. DeFreitas does not stand alone. Barbara Lubin, whose views this paper has championed, supports this position, as does the organization ANSWER, which views Israel as simply illegitimate, ab initio. Mr. Arafat, too, was an adherent, praising martyrs who died for its realization. 

While you have every right and even obligation to provide readers with your solution to the Palestinians’ plight, support for that solution—as opposed to the compromise proposed by President Clinton and the Saudis in January 2001—is not a prescription for lasting peace. Instead, unyielding support for the right of return simply stokes the irredentist dreams of Palestinians and implies support for any means used to realize them.  

Thom Seaton 

EDITOR’S NOTE: The letter writers continue to distort the cartoonist’s views. The artist supports Israel’s right to exist, but reserves the right to criticize that nation’s government, as he would any other. The use of the Star of David as a symbol for Israel begins with Israel’s decision to place that symbol on its national flag. DeFreitas’s explanation and defense of the cartoon (“From the Cartoonist,” April 23, 2004) is available in the Daily Planet’s archive at www.berkeleydailyplanet.com. 

Click here to view the latest work by Justin DeFreitas ›

It is always interesting to see the great fits of outrage that flow in recent years from the camp of my liberal-progressive-Democrat friends whenever there is some revelation of a moral transgression of a prominent conservative. First there was Bill Bennett and his gambling binges, then Rush Limbaugh and his prescription drug habit, and Bill O’Reilly and his sexual harassment of a Fox News employee. Now comes Armstrong Williams, the conservative commentator, who admits accepting a quarter of a million in public dollars from the Bush Administration to promote the president’s education law. In a column, Williams calls this “an obvious conflict of interests.” 

Yes, but not much of a surprise. To me, in any event. 

Some years ago, in that period in the early 1980s when Republicans briefly took control of the U.S. Senate, black South Carolinians held demonstrations around the state in protest of Senate Judiciary Chair Strom Thurmond’s plans to kill the Voting Rights Act. (For those of you who don’t remember, most Southern blacks were barred from voting—much less holding office—until Congress passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965.) Looking for a black voice-any black voice-to speak against the demonstrations, a local newspaper found the young Mr. Williams, a South Carolina native and resident, who pronounced something to the effect that the demonstrators “looked foolish” out there marching around in a circle in the hot sun. 

What readers might not have known at the time was that while Mr. Williams might have honestly held those beliefs, he had some financial incentives for making them public—Mr. Williams had served as an intern in the senator’s office and, if I recall correctly, his father had been a long-time Thurmond employee. 

But the problem with doing more than merely pointing out such transgressions is that in making too much of a deal of them, you appear to buy into the conservative spin that conservatives are presumed to be more moral than the rest of us, merely because they say they are. 

Which, like they say down in Charleston, ain’t necessarily so. 

Still, one must give conservatives—particularly conservative Christians—A’s for persistence and creative effort to impose their views upon the rest of us on the theory that they are getting instructions from on high. 

The most recent one—of many—comes from the good people of the Cobb County (Georgia) Board of Education, who ordered that stickers be placed on the cover of biology textbooks to inform the students that “This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered.’’ 

This is no three-school district at the fork of a creek, by the way. The Atlanta suburb school district is responsible for more than 100,000 students, making it the second largest school system in Georgia and among the 30th largest in the United States. 

A federal judge—Clarence Cooper—this week ordered the stickers removed, ruling that “By denigrating evolution, the school board appears to be endorsing the well-known prevailing alternative theory, creationism or variations thereof, even though the sticker does not specifically reference any alternative theories.’’ 

The theory of evolution—based upon Charles Darwin’s ideas on the origins of species—is, in fact, religion-neutral, neither advocating the existence of the guiding hand of a God in creation, nor eliminating that possibility. The mainstream Christian child—whose beliefs are so affirmed in many ways throughout American society—can easily hold the belief that the collection of assembled bones from australopithecus to homo erectus is merely the recorded evidence of God’s work on earth, all intended, all inevitable, all set out by prior plan. 

That, apparently, is not enough for many of our evangelical Christian friends, who are convinced that not only must that Christian child be free to draw that conclusion, but it is the duty of God’s advocates to do their best to make sure that all the rest of us draw it as well. 

Falling back on another old theory—that of the goose and the golden egg—they ought to take more care to leave well enough alone. 

Christians have it extraordinarily good in America, which has for its entire lifetime operated under pro-Christian national and state governments that have allowed mainstream Christians—and even many of their more unorthodox brethren—to go about their business without undue interference. That the national Constitution under the First Amendment requires that the government remain neutral in religious affairs is what has led to American Christian freedom and flowering, not to its stifling. 

While other religions are allowed, of course, our official acceptance is less tolerant. 

For many years, American politicians equated the practice of religion with attendance at church, and it is only relatively recently that the phrase “or synagogue” has been generally added, as an acknowledgement of the Jewish brethren amongst us. But when was the last time you heard an American politician urge Americans to attend the church, or synagogue, or the mosque of their choice? (Mosque being the designation of the Muslim house of worship.) And that leaves out such transgressions as President Bush—at the start of the invasion of Iraq—referring to it as a “crusade,” a phrase which might have some bad memories for our Muslim friends, who recall that the last time that name was given to a military operation, it signaled an attempt by Christian soldiers to take the Holy Land from the hands of the Saracens. 

It gets worse for the non-Abrahamic in our midst. Wicca and Ifa are two of the older religions of the world, predating Judaism, Christianity, and Islam by many thousands of years. But their practitioners in America are subject to intolerance and ridicule so regular that we hardly notice it—the broom-riding witch of black hat and pointed nose is our national symbol of evil, after all, and when we want to pronounce something ridiculous, we equate it with voodoo. 

I once met an old South Carolina man who told me that his view of God was like a light brighter than the sun-we could only look at it indirectly, and so our attempts to describe it were at best, imperfect. Religion—humanity’s various interpretations of God’s ways and intents-were always going to be imperfect and from various points of view, he said, because folks could only once in a while get a quick view of the light before either blinking or going blind. Since no-one could see the full God, he concluded, no-one could tell which interpretation was closest to being right. We could all only do the best we could, and leave it at that. 

In such a world, our conservative Christian friends might be moral, or they might be not, but they hold no special claim to a crown. Faith is judged by acts and acts alone, that old South Carolina man would say, thus ending the sermon, again. 

?

(Names have been changed to prevent me from embarrassing and being therewith scorned by my otherwise adoring children.) 

“Who won the game?” a buddy of my 10-year-old son asks. “They beat us by one point.” Jason responds. (In fact, they lost by 10.) 

“This was our first loss of the season,” he explains. (Not.) “Our last game, I scored the winning point!” he brags. (What? Where was I?) 

While driving home I admonish him, “Jason, you didn’t lose by one point. Why did you say that?” 

He laughs. “I don’t know,” he shrugs. 

A single comment made by a sportscaster during the summer Olympics coverage really stuck with me and I recall it now. “What is sports without winning?” It was a declaration, not a question. And the answer to be inferred was “nothing”. 

I recently attended a Cal basketball game and was distracted from the players by the intensity of their coaches. Their faces twisted, eyes flashing, fists raised to match the volume of their voices. They were screaming, livid. As a Cal student in the ‘70s, I attended few games but I do remember them being fun, full of good natured rivalry. During this game, each time the other team went to the foul line Cal fans and cheerleaders not only waved their hands to distract the shooter but they also made an eerie howling sound that my teenage daughter found amusing and I felt to be quite rude. 

“It’s just team spirit!” Liana insisted. Perhaps the definition of “fun” has changed along with that of “dating”, “good study habits” and ”a clean bedroom” but that’s another story. 

One thing that hasn’t changed is the identification of fans with their team players. In fact, both the emotional and physical boundaries between them appear to be thinning, as evidenced by the recent NBA debacle in which both fans and players assaulted each other.  

This blurring of boundaries begins at an early age. When my son and his friends play sports video games I hear them declaring; “I’m Jerry Rice!” “Well, I’m Terrell Owens!” “I just made a touchdown!” “Watch me tackle this guy. I got him!” They even dance around the room, mimicking the buffoonish antics of too many of these athlete/entertainers. 

These days, young sports fans have new, complex issues to deal with. 

When the news media reported the suspected use of steroids among professional athletes, I asked my son what he thought of it all. “Bad.” he stated. “Well, do you think Barry Bonds should keep his records?” I asked. “Yeah. He’s a great player,” Jason said. “But, if he took steroids,” I prodded, “that means he cheated to make himself stronger. What would you think of him if he did that?” “Stupid.” “Why?” (I have to dig a little deeper with this kid.) “Because he probably could have done it without that stuff.” Perhaps. “So,” I continued, “if he did take steroids, do you think he should keep his records?“ Jason looked worried. “I don’t know,” he answered. “What’s wrong?” I pushed. “I feel stupid, too.” “Why?” “For believing in him,” he said. 

Recently and much to my dismay, Jason and his friends have acquired a huge interest in wrestling. He has a play ring and several wrestling figures who body slam and headlock each other on a daily basis. I dislike violence in any guise and I tell him so. “Don’t worry,” he assures me. “No one’s really getting hurt. Everybody knows wrestling’s fake!” 

I take Jason to the park and we toss the football back and forth. I love the spin and twirl of it, the feel of the cone shaped bit of leather as it leaves my fingertips, like an arrow gliding through the air. I share this with Jason and he gets it. I feel swell and for now, this is all there is. And it’s enough. 

¿

Spat Takes Nasty Turn 

A couple’s argument inside a moving car took a dangerous turn just before 1:30 Monday morning when the male driver opened his female companion’s door and threw her out of the moving car along the 2200 block of San Pablo Avenue. 

Berkeley Fire Department paramedics rushed the woman to a local hospital for treatment of her injuries, and police busted the 39-year-old driver on a felony charge of battery with serious bodily injury, said Berkeley police spokesperson Joe Okies. 

I saw, iPod, I stole 

A music-loving bandit spotted a pedestrian absorbed in the tunes streaming from his iPod near the corner of Shattuck Avenue and Center Street Monday noon and decided he wanted the device for himself. 

After strong-arming the expensive item away from its owner, the speedy teen fled. 

Spousal Abuse 

Seventeen minutes later, Berkeley police arrested a 43-year-old woman on charges of spousal abuse and corporal injury to a cohabitant after they were summoned to a residence in the 2000 block of Delaware Avenue. 

Knife-Wielder Sought 

Police arrived at a home in the 1500 block of Sacramento Street at 6:15 p.m. Monday, where the occupant told officers that during an argument with a visitor, the man brandished a kitchen knife at him when asked to leave. The visitor eventually dropped the knife and fled, and officers have yet to make an arrest. 

Hot Goods, Burglar Tools 

Police arrested a 26-year-old man on charges of possession of stolen property and burglary tools at 3:21 Tuesday morning after they stopped to question him outside the Steam Works in the 2100 block of Fourth Street. A records check yielded an additional charge of probation violation, said Officer Okies. 

Arco Heist 

A middle-aged man claiming to have a gun in his pocket robbed the Arco Station at 833 University Ave. about 4:30 Wednesday afternoon. After handing over the contents of the till, the station clerk pursued the robber on foot, losing him before officers arrived. 

Assault by Auto 

Police are seeking three teenage girls who were in the car that tried to run down a pedestrian near the corner of Sacramento Street and Alcatraz Avenue just before 5:30 Wednesday afternoon. 

The would-be victim ran after the car, losing it near the corner of 65th and Dover streets.

Firefighters rushed to the vacant home at 2828 Fulton St. Monday evening for the second time in as many weeks. 

When they arrived at 7 p.m., they found a small fire in the unlocked garage, where furniture and other household goods were stored. 

After the flames were quickly extinguished, investigators estimated structural damage at $2,000 and damages to contents were placed at $1,500. 

“We’re treating it as a suspicious fire because a week-and-a-half earlier, someone tossed a lit flare through the living room window and started a small fire,” said Deputy Fire Chief David Orth.

Brian Edwards-Tiekert and Carol Spooner cover many of the issues regarding the recent Staff Local Station Board (LSB) election at KPFA. However, to really understand what the LSB did you must know some pertinent facts that Brian Edwards-Tiekert left out of his article on the LSB decision.  

The first thing that needs to be addressed is Edwards-Tiekert’s point that the staff turnout was the second highest in Pacifica’s five stations. However, this statistic only has meaning if every voter received a ballot. If they chose not to vote that is their right. Ballot return numbers mean nothing if a significant number of voters didn’t receive a ballot, which is the case here.  

Among those that didn’t get ballots were Miguel Molina and Solange Echevarria, both staff candidates. Because of numerous complaints of staff not getting ballots, the Local Election Committee (LEC) voted unanimously to ask that the staff election be redone with first class mail. Third class mail had been used in November to mail the ballots out despite the fact that the Pacifica National Board Election Committee had recommended first class mail. Kenny Mostern, the National Election Supervisor (NES), agreed to redo the staff election but never did redo it, despite the fact that it could have been done quickly and inexpensively. There were approximately 220 ballots to be mailed. Below are two e-mails regarding this issue. Brian refers to Brian Johns, the Local Election Supervisor. Nicole Milner is Chair of the LEC. Max and Mary are members of the LEC and LSB members. 

Dear Solange,  

At the election committee’s Nov. 30 meeting, we made a strong recommendation that the staff ballots go out again immediately, because so many ballots had still not been received by staff. Brian Johns, the LEC, was present at that meeting and agreed to speak with Kenny Mostern the NES to make the case. Kenny agreed within a day or so to send out new ballots immediately first class. We don’t know what happened in the interim. This has been a very difficult process all around, and we more than hope it will be vastly improved in the future. Our committee is doing all it can to analyze the various issues and we will make our own report.  

Nicole Milner 

Mary, 

Thanks for providing this information. As it stands, Kenny has agreed to redoing the staff election. It looks like we’ll have TruBallot reprint ballots on  

Monday. You, Max, and others can help us distribute them. Then, we’ll have a recount (on a date yet to be scheduled). So —absent a few details—this  

looks like a go.  

Brian 

It was a very complicated situation, where it is known that one staff seat on the board could be changed by the number of ballots not received by staff candidates. The NES left without redoing the botched Staff Election as agreed. So the LSB held up seating the new staff members until it was cleared up.  

The election uses the Single Transferable Voting method to insure that one group with a majority doesn’t get all the seats, it is proportional representation. By the past elections and what is known of the KPFA staff, the Miguel Molina/Solange Echevarria group had enough support to get one of three seats if the election was done right. It wasn’t, since neither Miguel Molina or Solange Echevarria received a ballot and their votes would have changed the outcome. Some have raised the issue that Miguel Molina and Solange Echevarria didn’t try hard enough to get a ballot. I don’t think that we want subjective criteria for voting unless we want to go back to 1950 Mississippi and poll taxes and literacy tests. Here is what Solange said about that in her Formal Complaint: 

On a personal note, I telephoned Brian Johns on several occasions in the weeks leading to the election and left message after message that I had not received a ballot and that there were serious issues regarding the election. I never got a call back until after the election. 

It is not as simple as Brian Edwards-Tiekert would like you to believe. If Democracy was Derailed at KPFA it was with the staff election needing to be redone and not being redone as agreed. The staff election could be redone with first class mail in two weeks for a few hundred dollars. Why is Brian Edwards-Tiekert not concerned with this denial of democracy?  

Richard Phelps is a KPFA Local Station Board listener representative.Ù

Kudos to Superintendent Michele Lawrence, Shirley Issel and Terry Doran of the Berkeley School Board, and City Councilmember Darryl Moore for attending the packed Berkeley Alternative High School Meeting Jan. 10, where they heard touching stories of seniors who have overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles in their young lives to make it to their last year of high school. Worried parents, passionate students, and some outraged adults gave much heartfelt testimony to a sympathetic Michele Lawrence about their very real concerns. 

Alternative High School and Independent Study students, who share a campus a few blocks from Berkeley High School, have worked hard to survive and thrive in school, expecting to graduate at the Greek Theatre graduation ceremony, attend junior and senior prom, have access to needed services on BHS campus, and be welcomed to attend rallies, games and have other opportunities that are available to their peers at BHS. 

When one senior told of his heartbreaking path, from being abandoned, homeless, and escaping from foster “care” (not) to live with his elderly and ill grandmother, to becoming a straight-A student at AHS, expecting to graduate on the Greek Theatre stage even though he’d never seen it, there were few dry eyes among the listeners who could feel the pain this courageous young man was projecting. There are about 30 2005 graduating seniors at AHS, each with a moving and triumphant story of courage, and determination to complete high school in spite of any odds against their success. There are many more students coming down this long, hard road who should not in the future face barriers to educational opportunities and social intercourse with peers. 

We must not allow any group of students to again be segregated and isolated from opportunities available to their peers, as has happened recently when AHS students were not allowed to attend a function they should have been able to participate in at BHS. It is not fair to come to AHS, or IS, asking for gifted students to contribute to successes in our community and at BHS, such as at sports or music, while telling them they cannot have treatment equal to that given to BHS students. 

We need to make sure that all assets and opportunities for any students of BHS are available to all students of AHS and IS. There should be no discrimination, isolation, or prejudiced treatment of any group of students, regardless of their economic status, or any other criteria. The audience heard that some students of AHS and IS actually attend some classes at BHS but are not welcomed there in many ways because of their official status of enrollment at AHS or IS. 

No specific group should be singled out as undeserving of sharing in the opportunities, resources, and recognition that BHS students have. We all have a responsibility to see that all children in Berkeley have every possible chance to succeed, and are equally rewarded for their hard earned achievements. 

When we pay taxes in Berkeley that go to the school district there is no box that we check that says to be sure to disregard youth that are not in the upper socio-economic strata; no box to check that says if you are having a rough time in life we want our tax dollars used to kick you when you are down and desperately trying to climb up to a better life. As adults we have a responsibility to see that every student gets every chance, every reward, and every opportunity that they have worked so very hard for, and deserve. No student should be left out. 

There must not be segregation of Alternative High Students, Independent Study students, and Berkeley High students, from each other, or from the resources and assets of the community that should be helping all of our high school students. We need to equally share all resources among all of our children—who must depend on the good judgment of adults to ensure they are fairly treated. Not separate but equal. Not segregated. Not discriminated against. But integrated and having equal opportunity to be educated and succeed. 

Hans Barnum is a Berkeley Youth Commissioner and an Independent Study student. 

Thai Garlic Restaurant 

2042 University Ave.665-6005. 

Thai Garlic restaurant, on University Aveune between Shattuck Avenue and Milvia Street, was launched by alumni of the popular Hua Hin Thai restaurant (at Bancroft Way and Fulton, with the big yellow e lephant out front). Hua Hin fans will feel right at home when they notice the colorful and extensive menu, delicious food, tasty and affordable house wines, and friendly and efficient service. 

Southeast Asian restaurants have opened and closed on Univer sity Avenue’s top three blocks with alarming speed over the last year. This one really deserves to stay around, and could use a bit more traffic. Its owners picked a storefront on the same block as landmarks like the venerable Plearn Thai, Tibet Café, and the former UC Theater. That wasn’t empty bravado: Thai Garlic is in the same world-class league. 

—Michael Katz››

Sandwiched between the two UC Berkeley campuses and Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve is a narrow wedge of hillside marked by narrow one-lane roads threading through some of Berkeley’s most distinguished houses, including the creations of Frank Lloyd Wright, Julia Morgan, Bernard Maybeck and William Wurster. 

And if two residents of Panoramic Hill have their way, their neighborhood will become a federal historic district, a proposal endorsed Monday by Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Commission. 

In a 62-page application submitted to the state Office of Historic Preservation, Janice Thomas and Fredrica Drotos single out 61 homes for specific designation, including Thomas’s own 1911 home at 37 Mosswood Road, designed by noted Berkeley architect Walter H. Ratcliff. 

The next step comes Feb. 4, when the State Historic Resources Commission considers the application during a meeting in Bakersfield. 

Maryln Lortie, historian with the state office, is optimist about approval: “In my 20 years with the office, this is one of the nicest residential districts I’ve ever seen. It has all of the stars of California architecture, everyone from Maybeck to William Wurster. It’s really quite beautiful.” 

Lortie said state approval is highly likely, as is the final step—acceptance by the federal Keeper of the National Register, who typically responds within 45 days. 

“We have a really good track record in winning approvals,” Lortie said. 

When landmarks commissioners were informed of the proposal this week, one mused, “I wonder if there’s a hidden agenda behind this.” 

“Isn’t there always?” quipped another. 

And Janice Thomas is the first to agree. 

“Take a look at the university’s latest Long Range Development Plan, Volume IIIA, page 9-1.8, second paragraph, where it talks about historic resources. In the tables listing representative conditions, our neighborhood isn’t identified as having any historic resources,” she said. “We should at least be mentioned. 

“So much for accuracy and thoroughness.” 

Hillside neighbors have had ongoing battles with the university and hope that national recognition will give them added leverage against UC intrusions. 

Thomas and other neighbors stopped a 1999 effort to install permanent television lights at UC Memorial Stadium, winning their victory on the grounds that the proposal would adversely impact the historic resources embodied in the homes on the hillside. 

A second try by the school was rejected last year on the same grounds. 

At the same time of UC’s first try for lights, neighbors were disturbed at the construction of new housing on the slope that was starkly out of character with the others. 

“On one property we went to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, and we were told we would have more influence of designs for new projects if we formed a historic district,” she said. 

Berkeley has four local historic districts, all created by the city Landmarks Commission, with the newest being the West Berkeley Sisterna Tract, created last spring. The others are the Delaware Street District, between Page and Fifth streets; La Loma Park District; and the Civic Center Historic District, which is also on the National Register of Historic Places. 

If the National Park Service chooses to add the Panoramic neighborhood to the national list, it will become the first Berkeley residential neighborhood to be granted national historic status. 

Panoramic neighbors held preliminary meetings two years ago to begin the process, and Thomas and Drotos began the actual work last spring. 

Asked what it took to create the detailed report, Thomas laughed. “I try not to think about it,” she said, “probably thousands of hours and I don’t know how much money.” 

Approval would yield several benefits for homeowners, Lortie said, ranging from protections detailed in the California Environmental Quality Act to federal tax credits for owners who rent or lease their property. 

But for Thomas and her allies, the biggest advantage would be the district’s enhanced ability to stave off their biggest, most powerful neighbor, the University of California.›

Workers assemble the last of the scaffolding that now encloses the entire western and southern walls of the Gaia Building. Though representatives of developer Patrick Kennedy declined to state the reason for the recent work, tenants have reported more leaks in a structure that has been partially stripped of stucco. The stucco has been replaced at least three times in the last two years.

FRIDAY, JAN. 14 

THEATER 

“The Bright River” written and performed by Tim Barsky and the Everyday Ensemble at Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave. through Jan. 16. Tickets are $12-$35 available from A Traveling Jewish Theater, 415-285-8080. www.atjt.com 

FILM 

David Thomson History of Hollywood: “Shanghai Express” at 7 p.m. and “Only Angels Have Wings” at 9:05 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Page to Stage, a conversation with playwright Tony Kushner and director Tony Taccone at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Repertory Theater, 2015 Addison St. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

James D’Allesandro reads from “1906: A Novel” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Dance Production 2005” Berkeley High’s dance performance, choreographed by students, at 8 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Allston Way, on the BHS Campus. Also on Sat. Tickets are $5-$10.  

The Pacific Collegium “From Advent to Epiphany” at 8 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $12-$18. 415-392-4400. www.pacificcollegium.org 

Songwriters in the Round Monica Pasqual, Sonya Hunter and Emily Bezar at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198. 

Wake the Dead at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The Kathy Kallick Band, bluegrass and originals, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761.  

Captured! by Robots at 9:30 at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8. 848-0886.  

The Phenomenauts, Freak Accident, Left Alone at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Cathi Walkup Quintet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

DJ & Brook, jazz trio, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Plays Monk at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Groovie Ghoulies, Jason Webley, Teenage Harlots at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Poncho Sanchez Band at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $20-$24. 238-9200.  

SATURDAY, JAN. 15 

CHILDREN  

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

EXHIBITIONS 

“Emerging Masters” an exhibition showcasing eight Masters of Fine Art students from San Jose State University. Reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at 1717D 4th St. 525-4101. www.fourthstreetstudio.com 

Addison Street Windows Gallery Anti-Bullying Art and Essays by Berkeley Middle School students opens and runs through Feb. 25. 981-7546. 

“Becomming Free” works by Lowell Brook. Reception from 2 to 5 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. 883-0600. 

FILM 

David Thomson History of Hollywood: “Pierrot le Fou” at 6:30 p.m. and “The Shining” at 8:40 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Autumn Stephens, editor, and eight other local authors will read from their new book “Roar Softly and Carry A Great Lipstick” a 7 p.m. at A Great Good Place for Books, 6120 La Salle Ave., Montclair. 339-8210. 

Juried Annual at Pro Arts Artist Talks at 1 p.m. at Pro Arts Gallery, 550 Second Street, Oakland. 763-4361. www.proartsgallery.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Jon Raskin, solo saxophone, at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St., between Bancroft and Durant. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. http://trinitychamberconcerts.com 

“Music for the King of Prussia” performed by The Novello Quartet at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. at Garber. Tickets are $10-$25. 528-1725. www.sfems.org 

Tom Rigney & Flambeau at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054.  

Fingertight, Unjust, hard rock, at 9:30 at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10. 848-0886.  

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

Loose Wig Quartet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Bob Franke, singer-songwriter, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Kugelplex at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Vanessa Lowe & Bug Eyed Sprite at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 

Montuno Groove Dance at 9:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568.  

The Art of the Trio with the Dred Scott Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com  

The Mercury Dimes, The Earl White Band at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Gini Wilson “Chamberjazz” at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Gravy Train, Clorox Girls, Two Gallants, Red Tape Apocalips at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, JAN. 16 

EXHIBITIONS 

Salon at the Giorgi Designers Bill Bowers and Mark Phillips show their wearable art at 2 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. at Ashby. 848-1228. 

FILM 

Screenagers: Seventh Annual High School Film and Video Festival at 12:30 and 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

David Thomson History of Hollywood: “My Man Godfrey” at 5:30 p.m. and “Sullivan’s Travels” at 7:25 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Addison Street Poetry Reading in celebration of the new anthology with Robert Hass and other Berkeley poets at 4 p.m. at Berkeley Rep., 2025 Addison St. RSVP to 549-3564, ext. 316.  

Poetry Flash with Laurie Glover and Yosefa Raz at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“In the Name of Love” A musical tribute honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at 7:30 p.m. at Calvin Simmons Theaater, 10 Tenth St. Tickets are $6-$22. 866-468-3399. www.ticketweb.com 

Richard Goode, piano, at 3 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $26-$56. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Organ Music with Ron McKean playing Buxtehude, Scheidt, Sweelinck and Bach at 4 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 658-3298. 

Sean Hayes and Black Bird Stitches at 1 p.m. at Mama Buzz Cafe, 2318 Telegraph.  

Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration with Vukani Mawethu at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Rebeca Mauleón Quartet at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $20. 845-5373. www.jazz- 

school.com 

Pappa Gianni and the North Beach Band, Italian songs & opera from 2 to 5 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Eric Thompson & Henry Kaiser, roots music guitars, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Banjo for Brunch with Liam Carey at 10 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

MONDAY, JAN. 17 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

PlayGround, readings by emerging playwrights, at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Rep, 2025 Addison St. Tickets are $15. 415-704-3177. www.PlayGround-sf.org 

Richard Walker describes “The Conquest of Bread: 150 Years of Agribusiness in California” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Poetry Express, Other People’s Poems theme night from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Trovatore, traditional Italian songs at 6 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Songwriters Symposium at 8:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Faye Carol sings a MLK Birthday Celebration at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$15. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, JAN. 18 

CHILDREN 

“Peter and the Wolf” presented by The Fratello Marionettes at 6:30 p.m. at Kensington Branch Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

FILM 

Japanese Experimental Fim & Video at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Temple Grandin, celebrated animal advocate, introduces “Animals in Translation” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Kermit Lynch on “Inspiring Thirst: Vintage Selections from the Kermit Lynch Wine Brochure” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Marilyn Sewell and Sandy Boucher discuss “Breaking Free” a collection of personal essays by women in the second half of their lives, at 6:30 p.m. at Berkeley Central Library, Shattuck and Kittredge Streets. 981-6151. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Courtableu at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Peter Barshay and Murray Low at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Rady Craig Trio, jazz, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Chris Botti, contemporary jazz trumpeter, at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Also on Wed. Cost is $10-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

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

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 19 

FILM 

Film 50: History of Cinema at 3 p.m. and “The Most Dangerous Game” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Nicole Galland reads from “The Fool’s Tale” an historical novel set in 12th century Wales, at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Sandra Gilbert reads from her new collection of poems, “Belongings” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082. 

Café Poetry hosted by Richard Moore, aka Paradise Freejahlove, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donation $2. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

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

Whiskey Brothers at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Peau de Chagrin at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Trouser, The Art Ghetto, Burke at 8:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $4. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

THURSDAY, JAN. 20 

THEATER 

"Bridge & Tunnel" workshop performances by Sarah Jones at 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., 7 p.m. Sun. through Feb. 20 at Berkeley Repertory Theater’s Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. Tickets are $30-$40. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

FILM 

David Thomson History of Hollywood: “Greed” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Phyllis Whetstone Taper reads from her novel of a 1927 California summer, “On Kelsey Creek” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Malcolm Gladwell describes “Blink: Thin-Slicing, Snap Judgements, and the Power of Thinking Without Thinking” at 7:30 p.m. at at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Word Beat Reading Series with featured readers Jan Steckel and Hew Wolff at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Suzy & Maggie Roche at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Emma Zuntz at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

David K. Matthews, solo piano, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Selector at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Bobby Hutcherson All-Stars, with Nicholas Payton, James Spaulding, George Cables, Dwyne Burno and Lewis Nash at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $16-$26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

FRIDAY, JAN. 21 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley, “Seduced” by Sam Shepard opens at 8 p.m. at the Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck at Berryman, and runs Fri. and Sat. through Feb. 19. 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org 

"Bridge & Tunnel" workshop performances by Sarah Jones at 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., 7 p.m. Sun. through Feb. 20 at Berkeley Repertory Theater’s Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. Tickets are $30-$40. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Contra Costa Civic Theater, “The Mousetrap” Agatha Christie’s classic mystery Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. through Feb. 19 at 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito. Tickets are $10-$15. 524-9132. www.ccct.org 

FILM 

“Operation Free Mohawk: A Retrospective” Video installation and performance by Pete Kuzov and Edie Tsong at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Community Media, 2239 MLK, Jr. Way. Cost is $5-$15. 848-2288. www.betv.org 

David Thomson History of Hollywood: “The Crowd” at 7 p.m., “Sunrise” at 9 p.m. at Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Indie Film Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ward Churchill talks about “Kill the Indian, Save the Man: The Genocidal Impact of American Indian Residential Schools” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland East Bay Symphony, mostly Mozart at 8 p.m. at Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway. 625-8497. www.oebs.org 

Peking Acrobats at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22-$42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Los Cenzontles at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Lecture and demonstration at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Hali Hammer singer/songwriter at 7:30 p.m. at Fellowship Café, Cedar and Bonita Sts. A donation of $5-10 is requested. 

Jamie Laval & Hans York, Celtic fiddle and guitar, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

The Real Thom Thunder, Lucy at 9:30 at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10-$15. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

The Rulers, El Faye at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Clairdee & The Ken French Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Monkey Knife Fight, original funk-jazz, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

All You Can Eat, Challenger, Gift of Goats, Abi Yos Yos at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Bobby Hutcherson All-Stars, with Nicholas Payton, James Spaulding, George Cables, Dwyne Burno and Lewis Nash at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $16-$26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com

In a genre of architecture where squat and boxy seem perpetually in vogue, Cragmont Elementary School is a resplendent, 45,000-square-foot, $8 million exception. Nested into a hillside on Regal Road, Cragmont frames views of San Francisco Bay.  

Between the bay and the hillside, however, sits San Pablo Park, a neighborhood that is home to most of Cragmont’s African American and Latino pupils. Nearly half of the school’s 450 students are from these two demographic groups. Forty percent of the students are white, and many live in the school’s surrounding neighborhood where the median household income is roughly three times that of San Pablo Park. 

“People say it’s the school for rich people up on the hill,” third-term PTA president Ann Williams, said regretfully. Williams’ son Henry is a Cragmont third-grader.  

While many parents, like Williams, volunteer regularly in classrooms, attendance at monthly PTA meetings has steadily waned. Almost entirely absent are Cragmont’s African American and Latino parents. 

Clearly it’s harder for working-class parents to make time for PTA, but the problem is generally seen as more complex.  

“The issues the PTA addresses really are not the same issues that concern our kids,” said Vikki Davis, an African American mother who served with Williams as PTA co-president while her son attended Cragmont. “Our issues are, why are our kids failing, the disciplinary problems at the school.” 

Williams said her pet projects this year will be fixing the acoustics in the lunchroom where after-school meetings are held and getting more balls and Hula-Hoops on the playground. 

She said she regrets that Cragmont’s agenda centers on “upper-middle-class white people’s interests. That’s what it’s going to be if that’s who shows up.” Neither woman knows how to solve this dilemma. An experiment with holding every other PTA meeting near San Pablo Park failed to draw a more diverse crowd.  

Jason Lustig, Cragmont’s principal for eight years, said he wants to get more African American and Latino parents involved in the school. But at the same time, he said, research shows that the diversity of parents involved in an elementary school does not greatly affect its student achievement.  

He also said that Cragmont made significant leaps in the Academic Performance Index because of minority students’ improvement.  

Davis, however, said that minorities’ API improvement should be viewed relative to the entire student body. While it’s narrowing from past years, there was still a significant gap between white and African American scores at Cragmont in 2003. And Hispanic and Latino students’ scores actually decreased slightly from the previous year.  

Such a discrepancy, said Davis, is a problem for everyone. “Do you think your child is doing well in the classroom when other children are not doing well? And what social message is that sending them?” she asked. 

Williams said, in response to the issue, “The school feels they’ve addressed it, [that] the basics are covered—we have diversity, we have programs for this, programs for that.” 

Seated one afternoon at a café on Shattuck Avenue, Williams describes Cragmont’s annual African American Heritage Festival, an elaborate night-time event with exceptional parent attendance. “That evening is so culturally encouraging—to everyone,” she said. “There is so much culture to mine in our schools and our community.” 

Cragmont, Williams said, still has room to grow. “But I feel, there’s a deeper experience possible.” 

“I think Ann finally got it, because we really became friends,” Davis said. “And if we get one person at a time to ‘get it,’ that means a lot to me.” 

This is the sixth in a series profiling the Berkeley elementary schools. The reports are written by students of the UC Berkeley Journalism School.

FRIDAY, JAN. 14 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Robert Ashmore on “The Unspoken and Unsayable in Chinese Poetry and Philosophy.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020.  

The Owl Told Me Join us for an evening of owl exploration. Listen and learn to call for the Great Horned Owl as they woo their mates. At 6 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. Fee is $5-$7, reservations required. 525-2233. 

“Visual History of the Albany Shoreline” Photographs and maps of cattle ranching, dynamite factories, horseracing, military operations, dumps, art, and wildlife on display at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin. 

“Torture: the CIA and the White House” with Jennifer Harbury, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Stop Torture Campaign and Bob Kearney, Associate Director, ACLU of Northern California, at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, One Lawson Road, Kensington. Donation $5. 525-0302.  

Inspiration Point Hike with Solo Sierrans Meet at 4 p.m. in the parking lot off Wild Cat Canyon Rd. Optional dinner in Orinda after the hike. Please call Phyllis at 525-2299 to confirm time. Rain cancels. 

Radio Camp Build an FM trasmitter and learn the fundamentals of micropower broadcasting in this 4-day workshop in Oakland. Class runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Cost is $150-$200 sliding scale. For information and to register call 625-0314. www.freeradio.org 

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

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride meets at the Berkeley BART the second Friday of every month at 5:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 548-6310. 

SATURDAY, JAN. 15 

“Winter Blooms!” Free garden tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden. Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. 845-4116. www.nativeplants.org 

Help Bring Back the Wild Join the Bayshore Stewards as we restore a rare tidal marsh on the UC Richmond Field Station, near the Bay Trail in Richmond, from 9 a.m. to noon. We will install native plants along the marsh edge and help create habitat for endangered species. We provide tools, gloves, rain gear and refreshments, and instruction on planting. Heavy rain will cancel the event. For more information call Elizabeth 231-9566. 

Green Design for Everyday People We will discuss the process of green design and how we all can have beautiful living and working spaces that are not toxic to ourselves or our environment. Topics will include cleaners, paints, sealers, furnishings, flooring, energy efficient systems and products. Bring a rough plan of your space if possible. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $10-$15. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

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

Junior Ranger Aide Training in the afternoon at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. For more information call 525-2233. 

Berkeley Alliance of Neighborhood Associations meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Sproul Conference Room, 2727 College Ave.  

California Writers Club, Berkeley Branch meets from 10 a.m. to noon at Barnes and Noble, Jack London Square, Oakland. The speaker will be literary agent Ted Weinstein talking about the business of writing. www.berkeleywritersclub.org 

Winter Color in the Garden at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

Historical and Botanical Tour of Chapel of the Chimes, a Julia Morgan landmark, every third Sunday at 10 a.m. at 4499 Piedmont Ave. at Pleasant Valley. Reservations required. 228-3207. www.chapelofthechimes.com  

“Women on the Move” a three day workshop commemorating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and exploring his message for women of faith. Sat. - Mon. at the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, 2024 Ashby Ave. Cost is $20. 658-0817. 

Pre-School Storytime for ages 3-5 at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext.17.  

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, JAN. 16 

Winter Flowers on the Ridge Explore a fragile ecosystem on this 3 mile hike. Meet at 10 a.m. at the staging area at the end of Coach Drive, El Sobrante. For ages 10 and up. 525-2233. 

Our Neighbors, The Mountain Lions Is it a puma, panther, cougar or mountain lion? Learn how to make hiking safe and fun if you are lucky enough to see a big cat. At 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Labyrinth Peace Walk at 3 p.m. at Willard Community Peace Labyrinth, on blacktop next to the gardens at Willard Middle School, Telegraph Ave. Enter by the dirt road on Derby. Free. Wheelchair accessible. Sponsored by the East Bay Labyrinth Project. 526-7377.  

Adult CPR Certification and Standard First Aid Class from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Training Room, Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society, 2700 Ninth St., entrance on Carleton St. Cost is $70 per person, $10 will benefit the homeless animals at BEBHS, $60 will go to ER PLUS for the instruction. 845-7735, ext. 19. 

Interfaith Celebration of Martin Luther King with Congregation Beth El and McGee Avenue Baptist Church from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at McGee Avenue Baptist Church, 1640 Stuart St., at McGee. Please bring food to share along with a card explaining what your dish is, where it is from and its cultural or historical significance. 848-3988, ext. 15. 

“Faith-Based Activity During the Vietnam War” at 2 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. in conjunction with the exhibit “California and the Vietnam Era.” 238-2200. www.museum.ca.org 

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 

Finding Yourself in Rhythm A TaKeTiNa Rhythm Workshop from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Ashkenaz back dance studio, 1317 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $25-$45 sliding scale. 650-493-8046. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Sylvia Gretchen on “The Tibetan World Peace Ceremony at Bodh Gaya, India” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

Personal Theology Seminar with Ron Nakasone on “The Indigenous Religions of Okinawa” at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302. 

“Humanistic Judaism 101” with Marcia Grossman at 10 a.m. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. Donation $5. info@kolhadash.org 

MONDAY, JAN. 17 

New Era, New Politics Walking Tour of African American history in Oakland. Meet at 10 a.m. at the African American Museum, 659 14th St., Oakland. Free. Tour lasts two hours. 238-3234. 

Living the Dream Intergenerational Activities at 10 a.m. and at 11:30 a.m. at the deFremery Recreation Center, 1651 Adeline St. Free, but reservations requested. 238-7739. 

Embracing the Dream of Peace A health, jobs and peace fair at the Calvin Simmons Ballroom, Oakland Marriott City Center from noon to 6 p.m. 548-4040, ext. 357. www.embracingthedream.org 

Multicultural Peace Celebration and Rally from 10 a.m. to noon at the ILWU Warehouse Local #6 Hall, 99 Hegenberger Rd. at Pardee. Celebration includes speakers, youth poets, singers and dancers. 638-0365.  

“Unbossed and Unbought” a film on the life of Shirley Chisholm at 1 p.m. at the African American Museum, 659 14th St. 637-0200. www.oaklandlibrary.org 

Martin Luther King Day for Children Make a dream collage with African textiles from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Habitot, 2065 Kittredge St. Cost is $5-$6. 647-1111. www.habitot.org 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60 years and over meets Mondays at 9:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Join at any time. Cost is $2.50 with refreshments. 524-9122. 

Fitness for 55+ A total body workout including aerobics, stretching and strengthening at 2 p.m. 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, JAN. 18 

Bird Walk in Wildcat Canyon Meet at 7:30 a.m. at the end of Rifle Range Road to look for birds of the forest and creek-side. 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 Garden Club “Care and Culture of Orchids,” potting demonstration, orchids for show and sale, by Sue Fordyce, grower at Orchids Ranch. Meeting at 1 p.m., program at 2 p.m. at Epworth Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. 524-4374. 

Great Snowshoe Destinations in California Slide presentation at 7 p.m. with Michael White, author of Wilderness Press guidebooks at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Marin Avenue Reconfiguration Public Hearing at 7 p.m. at Berkeley City Council Chambers, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 981-7062. 

Fitness Tests for people 50 and over from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Free. You will receive personalized scores and tips on how to maintain or improve your fitness. 981-5367. 

School Age Storytime for ages 5 and up at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext.17.  

Brainstormer Weekly Pub Quiz every Tuesday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Pyramid Alehouse Brewery, 901 Gilman St. 528-9880. 

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation at 6 p.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Advance sign-up needed, 594-5165.  

Get Organized for the New Year, with Eve Abbott, author and personal productivity consultant, at 7 p.m. at El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave., 526-7512.  

“Getting Along with Your Adult Children” a participatory workshop at 7:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $35-$40. 848-0327, ext. 110. www.brjcc.org 

“Tu B, Shuvat: A Meeting Point between Cyclical and Linear Time” with Avital Plan at 7:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $5. 848-0327, ext. 110. www.brjcc.org 

Berkeley Salon Discussion Group meets to discuss “O.J., Peterson and The Death Penalty” 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. 

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Streets every Tuesday from 3 to 6 p.m. This is a project of Spiral Gardens. 843-1307. 

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 

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. 

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 

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 19 

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. 

Mini-Farmers in Tilden A farm exploration program, from 10 to 11 a.m. 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. 

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

Grizzly Peak Cyclists at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2268 Cedar St. David Milne Smith, Ph.D., adventurer, author, and leadership trainer, will speak about “The Aging Athlete: How To Turn Each Moment into an Adventure.” 527-0450. 

“The Doors” Oliver Stone film of Jim Morrison’s self destruction at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Free, $5 donations accepted. 393-5685. 

Health and Sexuality for the Mature Woman A lecturesponsored by the Alexander Foundation at 6:15 p.m. at the Claremont Resort, 41 Tunnel Rd. Cost is $10-$15. 527-3010. www.afwh.org/about/claremontlectures.htm 

Tap Into It Jazz and Rhythm Tap classes at Montclair Recreation Center, 6300 Moraga Ave., Oakland. Experienced at 6:30 p.m., beginners at 7:30 p.m. 482-7812. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

Stitch ‘n Bitch Bring your knitting, crocheting and other handcrafts from 6 to 9 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198. 

Fun with Acting Class every Wednesday at 11 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Free, all are welcome, no experience necessary.  

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www. 

geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, JAN. 20 

Inauguration Protest “Let America Be America Again” at 9 a.m. at the Downtown Berkeley BART Station. The rally to read the Langston Hughes poem “Let America Be America Again” will start at the very moment the oath of office is being administered in Washington D.C. Everyone will have an opportunity to join in. www.artistsandwritersforpeace.org 

“Stop the War: Fight the Right” on GW’s inaguration at 5 p.m. at Civic Center, San Francisco. 415-821-6545. www.internationalanswer.org, www.actionsf.org 

“The Future of Energy: Transitioning from Fossil Fuels to Renewables” A panel discussion moderated by former PUC Commissioner Loretta Lynch at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $5-$15, sliding scale. 548-2220, ext. 233. www.ecologycenter.org 

Berkeley City Club Anniversary Events from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. including tours of the historic Julia Morgan building and dinner. Cost is $15-$25. For reservations call 848-7800. 

Simplicity Forum on “Removing Anxiety to Simplify Your Life” at 6:30 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, Claremont Branch, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 526-6596. www.simpleliving.net 

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping in Berkeley Public schools at 3 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

WriterCoach Connection Volunteer Training Help students improve their writing and critical thinking skills. Training session from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. To register call 524-2319. Other Trainings on Feb. 9, 16, Mar. 8, 15. www.writercoachconnection.org 

Montclair Safety & Improvement Council Public Meeting at 7 p.m. at the Montera Middle School, 5555 Ascot Dr. Presentations include Emergency Preparedness, Crime Prevention, Pedestrian & Traffic Safety, and Beautification. www.montclairsic.org 

“Krill: Constant Currency in the Fluctuating Oceanic Economy” with Dr. Baldo Marinovic at 12:30 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museum.ca.org 

ONGOING 

Albany Berkeley Girls Softball League is looking for girls in grades 1-8 to play girls softball. Season runs March 5-June 4. Scholarships available. To register call 869-4277. www.abgsl.org  

Youth Speaks Winter Workshops in writing and spoken word begin Jan. 24 in Berkeley and Oakland. For more information call 415-255-9035. www.youthspeaks.org 

“Half Pint Library” Book Drive Donate children’s books to benefit Children’s Hospital and Research Center Oakland. Donations accepted at 1849 Solano Ave. through March 31. 

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues., Jan. 18, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www. 

ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Berkeley Housing Authority meets Tues., Jan. 18, at 6:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. ww.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/housingauthority   

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wed., Jan. 19, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Katherine O’Connor, 981-6601. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/humane 

Commission on Labor meets Wed., Jan. 19, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Delfina M. Geiken, 981-7550. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/labor 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meets Thurs. Jan. 20, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Pam Wyche, 644-6128 ext. 113. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/rent 

Fair Campaign Practices Commission meets Thurs., Jan. 20, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Prasanna Rasaih, 981-6950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/faircampaign 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., Jan. 20, at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Oscar Sung, 981-5400. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/housing 

Transportation Commission meets Thurs., Jan. 20, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Peter Hillier, 981-7000. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/transportation

Along the back hallway of North Berkeley’s Jefferson Elementary School, the teacher and 20 students of Room 203 have mounted a display on the recent South Asia earthquake and tsunami. 

Next to a globe with a cardboard arrow pointing to the epicenter of the disaster in the Indian Ocean, a student has written a brief explanation: “A tsunami,” it reads, “is a big wall of water!” 

Another student has drawn two pictures, before and after—one depicting a pastoral scene with a tower and a coconut palm, a second showing the same scene now covered by thick brown lines of water or mud. 

Another display is a letter by 8-year-old Carlin X. Hudson to an imaginary young person in Sumatra which attempts to summarize the tragedy in more detail: “Indonesia must be very unhappy right now. I am very sorry about what happened in the tsunami. I hope all of your loved ones didn’t die.” And then, in conclusion, a message of hope: “You’re not alone. I am with you. We will do whatever we can to help. I wish you the best during this very sad and horrific time.” 

The students of Room 203 at Jefferson Elementary School are, indeed, doing what they can to help. 

In three days since returning from the holiday break, students in Sean Keller’s third grade class have raised close to $1,300 for South Asia disaster relief. 

“We’re bringing in money that we’ve gotten from our parents and our other relatives,” Carlin told visitors to the school on a rainy Friday afternoon. “Students are bringing in $5 and $20, and one person even brought in $200 at one time. But if each person in Berkeley gave only $1, there would be a lot of money. It’s nice to help other people. And if you need help, it’s nice to feel that people are helping you.” 

Another student, Katiri Williams, 8, said in a quiet voice that the contributions were needed to help disaster victims “because they should be able to have a home to live in; they should have food and clothing.” Williams, added that she “felt very sorry for the people who may have died or been injured.” 

Essy Robinson-Abrams, 9, selected by Keller as a co-spokesperson for the drive because she has been to Bali, has been leaving voicemail messages urging citizens to support the effort. Bright-eyed and direct, she is mature beyond her age. “I think it’s good that we’re helping,” she said. “It’s sad that people died in Indonesia and Sri Lanka—” she pauses to try to remember the names of the other countries— “and all of the other places.” 

Keller said that the fund-raising effort came out of a class session to talk about the disaster. 

“I asked them what they wanted to do to help,” he said. “We tossed around a number of ideas—a rummage sale, clothing donations, an auction, a bake sale—and we finally came up with raising the money and giving it to a relief organization. On the first day I set what I thought was a lofty goal—$1,000—and afterwards I wondered why I set it that high. But, of course, the students came through on their own and surpassed it in a couple of days. I’ve stepped back from it now and let them take the lead.” 

Keller said the money would be sent to the Save The Children, a Connecticut-based nonprofit (www.savethechildren.org), one of the international-aid groups involved in the disaster relief effort. 

He said a second class at Jefferson has begun working on a fundraising project on their own, and that money raised by other classes is being funneled into Room 203. “We’ve become the hub of the activity,” he added. 

Jefferson principal Betty Delaney said the school has not yet decided when it will gather al the funds together and send them off. “I understand there are other fund-raising efforts being organized throughout the school district,” she said. “We’re still looking into whether we are going to work with the district in a combined effort, or simply send the money straight off, ourselves.” 

Meanwhile, she said she was “thrilled” at the students’ activities. “It’s just marvelous that they’re taking the initiative to work on something like this,” she said. “I’m very proud of them.”"

A group of environmental activists yesterday launched a campaign to get Apple Computer to “think different” about what happens to old computers and music players—and the lead and other toxic materials they contain. 

Under a giant banner reading “From iPod to iWaste, toxic trash in your pocket,” the Computer TakeBack Campaign—a national network pressuring high-tech manufacturers to take responsibility for their products when consumers, schools, and businesses no longer want them held a small demonstration outside Apple’s Cupertino headquarters on Monday. The group plans another one today (Tuesday) at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, where Apple chief executive Steve Jobs is scheduled to kick off the annual West Coast version of Macworld Expo, a trade show dedicated to Macintosh computers and related products. 

The campaign, an affiliate of the San Jose-based Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, announced that it plans to make Apple its top target in 2005. It also launched a Web page (www.badapple.biz) through which visitors can send Jobs an electronic message urging him to take the lead in the movement for recycling of tech equipment and to stop testifying in opposition to legislation that would require manufacturers to take back discarded products in the United States, as they are already required to do in Europe and Japan. 

“People tend to assume Apple would be a leader in this sort of thing, because it projects such a hip, counter-cultural image, but it’s not,” said Ted Smith, senior strategist at the toxics coalition and one of the founders of the take-back campaign. “We think they should be, and we think a significant number of people from the Mac community will be right there with us.” 

Smith and Robin Schneider, a leader of the take-back initiative in Austin, Texas, tried Monday to deliver a letter about the issue to Jobs, along with supporting testimonials from some 75 Apple customers. A receptionist denied their request to see the CEO, but promised to pass along the materials.  

For the past several years the take-back campaign has concentrated its fire on Dell, the world’s largest computer maker. The Round Rock, Texas-based company initially denied responsibility for dealing with its products. Later it set up a program that required customers to pay for recycling their old equipment, and it contracted to have the work done by prison inmates. 

But after a vigorous struggle by the take-back campaign—whose tactics included delivering a truckload of discarded Dell computers to the annual meeting of the company’s shareholders and publishing a report documenting unsafe working conditions among the prisoners disassembling its machines—Dell began to change its tune. It abruptly severed its prison contract and instead promised to rely on environmentally-certified recyclers. It now offers free recycling of old equipment with purchase of certain new computers and all Dell-branded printers, and it has been pilot-testing a free drop-off program in cooperation with Goodwill Industries, according to Schneider. 

Dell’s recent turn-around has brought it together with its closest competitor in the PC business, Palo Alto-based Hewlett-Packard, as a leader in the computer-recycling movement. HP, which runs its own disassembly and resource-recovery facilities in Roseville as well as in Nashville, Tenn., launched a pioneering consumer-oriented computer recycling program almost four years ago. Though the program (www.hp.com/environment/recycle/index.html) currently requires that users pay for the cost of recycling, HP has also been experimenting with a free program in cooperation with OfficeDepot, according to Schnieder. 

Following its success with Dell, the take-back campaign conducted a two-month poll on its website to choose a new focus for its work. Among the six companies listed, Apple was the clear winner, followed by IBM and Sony, according to Smith. 

The most serious toxic threat associated with computers comes from CRT (cathode-ray tube) monitors, each of which contains several pounds of lead. But the circuit boards in computers, music players such as Apple’s iPod, and other electronic devices also contain lead solder and other dangerous materials, and cables within computers are often coated with brominated flame retardants, which have been shown to cause neurological and reproductive problems in laboratory animals and are found in steadily increasing concentrations in human breast milk. If high-tech gear containing such materials is dumped in landfills, studies have shown, they are likely to leach eventually into the groundwater. 

Apple failed to return repeated phone calls seeking comment about the Computer TakeBack Campaign and its recycling policies.  



The recount of Berkeley’s Measure R has left the medical marijuana initiative 166 votes short of victory, and supporters still dissatisfied with the count hoping that legal action would overturn the outcome. 

Measure R spokesperson Debbie Goldsberry said that the recount uncovered hundreds of Berkeley voters whose votes were not counted because of improperly filled-out provisional ballot forms, and a thousand UC Berkeley students whose votes were not counted because their names could not be found in the Alameda County Registrar of Voters registration database. 

The measure sought to end limits on the number of plants allowed to medical marijuana users and would have allowed Berkeley’s three medical marijuana institutions to move anywhere within the city’s commercial zone. 

“I’m convinced that if we had properly counted all of the actual votes in Berkeley, Measure R would have won,” Goldsberry said. “But the decision of the registrar’s office is final.” 

Alameda County Assistant Registrar of Voters Elaine Ginnold said that while there were small discrepancies in the Measure R count “they had no material impact on the results of the election.” 

Ginnold said that one of those discrepancies was 20 fewer ballots than the number of voters who signed in on election day at the Side B precinct station at the Northbrae Community Church on The Alameda in Berkeley. Despite a search by registrar’s office workers during the recounts, those ballots were never recovered. In addition, the voter count and actual ballots were off “by one or two votes” in a number of other Berkeley precincts. “But there will always be that type of discrepancy in any election,” Ginnold said. 

The vote count discrepancies Ginnold referred to were a different issue from the uncounted votes referenced by Goldsberry. 

Goldsberry said that in the case of the thousand UC Berkeley student voters not found in the database, “the students’ names may have been there, but the workers just may not have been able to find them because of the way in which they were listed and the way the workers were searching.” Goldsberry said the uncounted votes involved students who lived in UC dormitories. 

She said that the largest number of improperly filled-out provisional ballot envelopes came from two Berkeley precincts. “We suspect that workers in those precincts were not giving proper instruction as to how to fill out the envelopes,” Goldsberry said. “That’s something which is just going to have to be looked out for and corrected in future elections.” 

The battleground for Measure R now shifts from the counting room to the courts, where Berkeley-based Americans For Safe Access have filed a state lawsuit contesting the election. That lawsuit involves ballots cast by computer in the Nov. 2 election. 

Goldsberry said that many of the uncounted paper ballot votes were discovered after the filing of the lawsuit early last week, and so will not be at issue in the legal proceedings. “We’re just going to have to suck that up.”

The City Council in closed session Monday authorized the city attorney to file a lawsuit against UC Berkeley unless the university satisfies concerns about the environmental impact of its latest Long Range Development Plan (LRDP). 

The vote puts the two entities on a collision course as city staff presents its assessment of the 1,300-page environmental impact report (EIR) at Tuesday’s council meeting. 

Also, the council will consider an appeal of the permits granted to the nine-story Seagate building that would stand taller than all but two downtown buildings. 

Last year, the city issued a scathing critique of UC Berkeley’s draft plan. City officials said the university has failed to address their concerns over new parking spaces, inadequate compensation for city services and lack of detailed information about new projects. 

Among those eager to challenge the university is Councilmember Dona Spring, who wants the city to start shopping for outside litigation attorneys to mount a lawsuit. “I don’t think we have anyone yet who can go to court with this,” she said. 

The university’s plan, which will guide development on UC Berkeley’s main campus and nearby neighborhoods through 2020, projects up to 2,600 new dormitory beds, 2,300 new parking spaces and 2.2 million square feet of new administrative space—three times more than called for in the university’s 1990 LRDP. 

In response to city and neighborhood concerns, the university withdrew plans to build 100 faculty-housing units in the Berkeley hills and has proposed deferring the construction of 500 parking spaces if AC Transit builds a proposed rapid bus service through Berkeley. 

The plan is scheduled to go before the UC Board of Regents Buildings and Maintenance Committee on Jan. 18 and then to the full Regents for approval on Jan. 20. After approval from the Regents, the city would have 30 days to file a lawsuit challenging the EIR. 

City officials said they are concerned that the plan would grant the university a blank check to proceed with specific developments without having to study the impacts on the city and consider alternatives. 

Unlike UC Berkeley’s 1990 LRDP, which identified specific projects it planned to build, the new plan only outlines one project, the Tien Center for East Asian Studies, slated to go on the main campus. 

“The university should be very concerned about the city’s threat of legal action,” said Antonio Rossmann, a land use attorney and Boalt Hall lecturer, who in 1978 successfully sued UCLA on behalf of private homeowners who argued the campus’ LRDP environmental report was faulty. 

“If I were representing the university right now there is no way I could advise them to go forward with this when they see how other agencies view it,” he said. 

Rossmann said, that in his estimation, UC Berkeley had failed to adequately address several concerns raised by public agencies, including comments from AC Transit questioning why the university’s proposal to lessen transit burdens caused by more parking spaces didn’t include BART.  

“The university can’t say it addressed the transit issue until it involves the most significant transit agency in the East Bay,” he said.  

Seagate appeal 

Also on Tuesday’s agenda is the appeal of the Seagate building’s permit, which was approved 7-2 by the Zoning Adjustment Board last October. The building would rise 115 feet above Center Street between Shattuck Avenue and Milvia Street and contain 149 residential units, rehearsal space for the Berkeley Repertory Theater, retail space and 160 underground parking spaces. 

The appellants, Friends of Downtown Berkeley, questioned city staff’s awarding of extra floors in exchange for providing low-income units and arts and cultural space and cited what it believed were numerous violations of city housing law including: 

• Restriction of low-income units to certain floors.  

• Allocation of fewer two-bedroom than one-bedroom units for low-income tenants. 

• Provision of smaller one- and two-bedroom units for low-income tenants than for market-rate tenants. 

Berkeley Planning Director Dan Marks wrote in response to the challenge that the ZAB found that the concessions would ensure maximum revenue for the project thus partially offsetting the cost of providing low-income units. He added that the ZAB also determined that the plan for the low-income units was consistent with city zoning laws, “because it does not create an identifiable low-income area within the project…” 

In a separate appeal before the council Tuesday, several neighbors are asking the council to also reconsider the ZAB’s approval of a four-story condominium project at Martin Luther King Jr. and Dwight ways. 

The neighbors argue that the project, slated to rise at the Dwight & King Drop-Off Recycling Center, lacks viable commercial space, is set too close to the sidewalk and lacks adequate parking. 

Mayor’s address 

Prior to the meeting, Mayor Tom Bates will give a televised start-of-the-year address at 5 p.m. council chambers. 

The speech will touch on five goals for the coming year, the mayor said: 

• Reforming city government. 

• Improving the city’s downtown. 

• Establishing the city as an environmental leader. 

• Supporting youth programs. 

• Winning concessions from UC Berkeley. 

With the city facing a $7.5 million deficit, Mayor Bates said he wants to better involve the public in this year’s budget deliberations. He has proposed setting aside one council meeting a month to solely focus on the budget and will hold neighborhood budget meetings throughout the city. 

“We want to make this the most open process imaginable,” Bates said. 

Last November voters rejected four city tax measures in what was largely seen as a rebuke of city hall. 

Bates said he also wants the city to pass a sunshine ordinance this year. Such laws specify a city’s obligation to conduct official business in the open and give the public ample notice of issues to be considered. 

For the downtown, Bates said he wanted to begin public meetings this spring to develop a community vision for the future of Berkeley’s urban core. 

Bates also said he planned expand the city’s summer reading program for youth and increase the number of green businesses operating within city limits. 

With the city threatening to sue UC Berkeley over its Long Range Development Plan, Bates said he would try to accentuate some of the positives of UC-city relations. However, he added that the city would continue to demand that the university pay more for the city services it receives. 

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Planning commissioners and members of the Zoning Adjustments Board will face full agendas this week for their first meetings of the new year. 

Among the items facing the Berkeley Planning Commissioners when they convene Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center are: 

• A discussion of potential revisions to the Creek Preservation Ordinance. 

• Proposed revisions to the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance prepared by city landmarks commissioners. 

• The status of the environmental impact report (EIR) being prepared for the Southside Plan and the possibility for forming a subcommittee to work with city staff and the hired EIR consultants. 

• A public hearing on proposed revisions to non-residential parking requirements recommended by Mayor Tom Bates’s Task Force on Permitting and Development. 

• Another hearing on zoning ordinance amendments relating to home-based occupations. 

Two condominium maps are also on the table Wednesday. The first calls for a proposed 29-unit condo project with three condo commercial storefronts at 1809 Shattuck Ave. The second project, which would be built at 2131 Durant St., would feature 74 dwelling units and three commercial units. 

What could have been the most controversial item on the planners’ agenda, architect Kava Massih’s plans for a new Berkeley Bowl store at 9th Street and Heinz Avenue, was pulled from the agenda at the request of owner Glen Yasuda, who won’t be able to attend. That hearing has been tentatively rescheduled for Jan. 16. 

Thursday night’s ZAB meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers at the Old City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, should be less eventful. 

Board members will be considering two proposals that have already been before the Landmarks Preservation Commission. 

First is the old Howard Automotive Building at 2140 Durant Ave., built by the owner of the famed race horse Seabiscuit and most recently owned by baseball legend Reggie Jackson. 

The Institute of Buddhist Studies and the Buddhist Churches of America plan to turn the landmarked Art Deco structure into a combination seminary office and study center, and their plans have been undergoing revisions at the request of Landmarks Preservation commissioners—who have said that the latest revisions are very close to winning their imprimatur. 

City Planner Greg Powell has recommended the board adopt a mitigated negative declaration and hold a hearing on the issue of whether to grant a use permit to allow construction of a two-story addition to the southernmost part of the structure. 

The other landmark on ZAB’s agenda is a cottage by architect William Wurster at 1650 La Verada Road. Neighbors who opposed the proposed expansion of the redwood cottage waged a successful battle to win landmark status for the home but lost their battle against the expansion, which landmarks commissioners authorized last month. City Planner Aaron Sage has urged approval of the expansion. 

Developer/realtor James Gordon and architect Jim Novosel will also present their plans for a project at 1952-1956 University Ave. 

Gordon wants to convert seven vacant dwelling units to office use, along with an eighth unit which would be demolished and replaced, while adding more than 3,500 square feet of restaurant and wine service space. 

Richard Schwarzmann will submit revised plans to add five new dwelling units in three buildings at 1414 Harmon St. after ZAB sent him back to the drawing board in December after complaints from project neighbors.

As controversy continues to surround the events unfolding at Campus Bay, a site where hazardous chemicals were produced for a century, Richmond officials are pondering a change in city statutes. 

One proposed change would also require a review before demolition of older buildings that could prove eligible for landmark status. 

The proposal was prompted by the events surrounding the 1999-2002 demolitions of three dozen buildings that housed the production facilities and offices of Stauffer Metals and later AstraZeneca. The firms produced a wide range of toxins, ranging from sulfuric acid to pesticides. 

The demolitions were carried out with simple over-the-counter permits issued on Oct. 21, 1999. 

City building official Fred Clement is looking into a revision to the municipal code that would prohibit issuing permits for similar buildings without a review under the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). 

Richmond Councilmember Tom Butt said that under state law, permits sail through unless the city has reserved the power of discretionary permit review. 

“That’s a major, gorilla-sized Catch-22,” Butt said. “As it now stands, demolition permits are ministerial procedures with no discretionary review, no public input and no CEQA review.” 

Butt said the proposals were prompted by a series of demolitions in the city, including both toxic-laden and historic buildings. 

Neighbors and critics of the events at Campus Bay, where a Marin County developer is planning a major housing project, have criticized the building demolitions and subsequent hazardous waste cleanup operations as poorly managed. 

Large clouds of dust were generated during the demolitions and cleanup, which took place under the jurisdiction of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board. Jurisdiction of the site has since been divided between the water board and the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). 

Under terms of the proposed revisions of the city code, three categories would be created that would require CEQA review:  

• Demolitions or additions to structures used to make or store toxic substances where work may release the compounds and their toxic residues. 

• Demolitions of structures built at least 50 years ago that might be eligible for the California Register of historic sites. 

• Demolitions of structures or improvements necessary for a specific project that in itself requires discretionary review. 

Sherry Padgett, a leading activist in Bay Area Residents for Responsible Development, hailed the proposed revisions. She asked that city staff also consult Cal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the California Environmental Protective Agency and DTSC when considering potential toxic sites. 

Butt said he expects the proposed changes to be placed on a City Council agenda within a few weeks.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to consider a challenge to Berkeley’s Living Wage Ordinance, handing a victory to the city and the employees of Skates On The Bay Restaurant. 

“We’re hoping that other cities will follow Berkeley’s lead,” said Andy Kahn who represented the Hotel Workers Employees Union, Local 2850. 

Although many cities have living wage laws, Kahn said Berkeley’s was unusually broad because it regulates companies not receiving direct city subsidies. 

The restaurant’s parent company, RUI One Corporation, filed suit against the city in 2000 when the City Council amended the law to apply to large businesses in the Berkeley Marina where Skates is located. 

The living wage law requires that city vendors, contractors, lessees and Marina businesses that employ more than six people or generate more than $350,000 in gross revenues pay workers a minimum of $10.75 an hour and $12.55 an hour when health benefits aren’t included. No other Marina business contested the law, said City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque. 

RUI, which previously lost in trial court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, had argued that the law unconstitutionally modified its 50-year lease with the city. The Marina is state public trust land managed by the city, which has invested millions of dollars in the site. 

RUI Senior Director of Marketing Will Powers said he believed RUI planned to remain in Berkeley despite the ruling. A prepared statement from company General Manager Mark Chernis read, “While we are disappointed in the Supreme Court decision... we are grateful for the continued support of the Berkeley community.” 

Skates had refused to pay the living wage while the case was litigated, and instead chose to place the unpaid wages in an escrow account that must now be paid to the employees. Company and union officials contacted did not know how many employees were affected or the value of the account. 

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Several Berkeley residents plan to protest Sunday’s display of the remains of a Jerusalem commuter bus blown up by a suicide bomber last January. 

Protesters say the display, which will be held on Center Street beside Martin Luther King Jr. Park from noon to 3 p.m., is out of context and creates an inaccurate representation of the complex Middle East conflict.  

Among the organizations planning to protest is the Middle East Children’s Alliance, which said it will also display pictures of the Palestinian children killed during recent violence. 

“I want them to understand that there is suffering on both sides,” said Barbara Lubin, the organization’s executive director. According to Lubin, some 650 Palestinian and 120 Israeli children have died since September 2000. Several thousand adults have been killed. 

The organization also wants to educate viewers about what they see as the root cause for violence on both sides: Israel’s occupation. “All of us abhor violence, but there is really only one way to stop it, and that is for Israel to get out,” she said.  

The Israel Action Committee (IAC) of the East Bay is sponsoring the event. The Jerusalem Connection (formerly called Christians for Israel), a Washington D.C.-based organization, brought the bus to Washington D.C. from Europe where it was originally displayed outside The Hague to protest the International Court of Justice’s vote to condemn the separation wall Israel is building in an attempt to keep out terrorists. 

IAC’s chair, Susanne “Sanne” DeWitt, has led the project, personally paying more than half of the $11,000 it cost to ship the bus across the country to Berkeley. The city is also requiring her to pay for a private security company to assist Berkeley police and to purchase $1 million worth of liability insurance. 

Late last year, before the city granted her a permit, DeWitt posted a scathing letter on the Internet that said the city’s insurance and security demands, among other things, had “placed obstacles in my way at every turn.” 

“They were reluctant [to issue the permit],” she said. 

Lisa Caronna, the deputy city manager, said the permit request was originally submitted while the person needed to approve it was away on medical leave. Otherwise, she said the city treated the application like any other for a special event.  

“We had to go through a whole variety of issues that we normally do,” she said. 

DeWitt said the event is broadly supposed to address global terrorism. She said it is also a reaction to Representative Barbara Lee’s refusal to support a resolution passed by Congress in July condemning the International Court of Justice’s ruling on the wall. 

“I feel that people in her district should know about her vote,” DeWitt said. 

Jim Hutchens, the president of the Jerusalem Connection, said that along with the bus there will be a display of enlarged photos of the victims. This has raised concern for at least one family member of the 11 Israelis that died on the bus.  

Carrie Devorah, a photojournalist based in Washington D.C., was supposed to speak at the Berkeley rally but decided to travel to Israel for the one-year anniversary, Jan. 29, of the death of her brother, Yechezkel “Chezi” Goldberg, on the bus. 

Devorah said she was unaware that the tour has been using enlarged photos of the victims and said her family was never contacted for permission. While Devorah said she wants people to know about the impact of suicide bombings, she is concerned her brother’s image and name could be misused. 

“It is my hope the bus will be retired after the first anniversary and be removed from the controversy it is being taken into,” she said.  

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Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Michele Lawrence told an overflow, standing-room only crowd at the Berkeley Alternative High School Monday night that seniors from the school would be included in Berkeley High School’s graduation ceremonies at the Greek Theater this spring. 

But she added that the alternative school should form a student-administration committee to address concerns about participation in Berkeley High’s winter ball and prom. 

The meeting was called by BAHS parents over concerns that BAHS students are being officially excluded from activities at Berkeley High School. BAHS principal Alex Palau said he would move forward immediately to form a committee and meet with Berkeley High principal Jim Slemp and other school officials. 

Lawrence told meeting participants that Slemp had approached her late last year about excluding BAHS students from BHS dances because of what she called “safety issues.” 

Alternative school students first reported last fall that they had been barred from participating in Berkeley High’s Homecoming activities. Rumors then spread that the ban would be extended to all extracurricular activities, including graduation. 

“Our students are very upset,” said Berkeley Alternative counselor Mercedes Sanders. “The seniors in particular are hurt and discouraged.” 

In fact, parents and students at the meeting gave Lawrence an earful, charging that the mostly African-American and Latino students at the alternative school were being relegated to second class status. 

Berkeley Alternative was originally formed as Berkeley High School’s continuation East Campus, made up of students involuntarily transferred from the main school because of truancy or other discipline problems. Five years ago, the school was transformed from a continuation to an alternative school, and while it still continues to enroll students who are doing poorly at Berkeley High and need a smaller environment, according to Sanders, its students now are voluntary transfers. 

The school has 150 students, 30 of them seniors. 

—J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 

Public presentation of the latest state-mandated six-month report by the Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team on the Berkeley public schools will highlight this week’s meeting of the BUSD Board of Directors, scheduled for Wednesday night, 7:30 p.m., at the district headquarters at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

The 170-page FCMAT report says that BUSD “continues to make good progress in five operational areas” of education management. The report was sent to BUSD Superintendent Michele Lawrence and posted on FCMAT’s website last week, but Wednesday will be the first chance that board members and the Berkeley public will get to publicly discuss it. 

The board will also review healthy snack suggestions made by the district’s Nutrition Services Department. The department wrote the suggestions to coincide with the district’s newly-adopted healthy Food Policy. If adopted, the guidelines will be available to schools, booster groups, and PTA units. 

An update on construction projects around the district is also on the agenda, including projects scheduled to begin this year at both the East Campus and West Campus sites. 

—J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 

FROM ARROGANCE  

TO INSULT 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Topping the news in the first week of the 109th Congress were dozens of items about the president’s choice to be the new attorney general. Democrats, liberals and progressives had their say: Alberto G. lacks experience and stature, he holds a twisted view of due process, and his sense of what’s right contradicts the American sense of justice. 

Democrats typically attack the president for rewarding special interests and favoring the wealthy. Liberals zero in on his arrogant way of interpreting the Constitution—due process, legislative oversight, state/church separation, and such. Progressives aim their attack at the immoral or unethical consequences of executive power; a president who is unable to admit his mistakes will never know the great harm flowing from his policies. 

It disturbs me that Democrats, liberals and progressives fail to attack the president’s second-round draft choices from the perspective of ordinary, politically literate citizens like me.  

Naming Gonzalez for attorney general and Spellings for education secretary, a legal quisling and a schools nobody, does not reach the implosion achieved when he named “good man” Kerik for Homeland Security. Nevertheless, the choice of Gonzales and Spellings typifies 43’s executive arrogance, and although they will most likely be confirmed, we the people can’t help but feel offended and deeply insulted. 

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo 

• 

WAR IN IRAQ 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Bob Burnett’s special to the Planet, “Iraq: American Reality,” (Jan. 7-10) emphasizes some important facts: The occupation “isn’t going to script,” the media have framed the consideration of the occupation in very narrow terms, and there has been no national discussion of exit strategies. But contrary to Burnett’s take on this, there is no reason to suppose that this has happened because the Bush administration “controlled the discussion,” or strangled and “bullied” the media. From the New York Times and National Public Radio to Fox News the media have willingly gone out of their way to limit and distort the whole story of the invasion and occupation and, as for the lack of national discussion, if the Democrats had truly had views different from Bush’s and had come out strongly for them, the media would have been unable to withhold it all from the public. 

Richard Wiebe 

• 

ACTIVIST JUDGES 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

I applaud the commentary by Paul Glusman regarding the activist judges that President Bush is appointing (“Activist Judges Approve Sex Stereotypes,” Daily Planet, Jan. 4-6). Through these activist judges, the right wing fringe seeks to rewrite our laws and our constitution. Glusman’s suggestion that we make our opposition to these judges known to the White House is well timed. I would add that we also should write to Senators Feinstein and Boxer (senator@feinstein.senate.gov and senator@boxer.senate.gov) to let them know we support them in stopping the confirmation of these right wing judicial activists, through filibuster and all other legal means.  

Robert C. Cheasty  

• 

CORRECTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In my article, “The Stealth Plan to Bicycle-ize Marin Avenue” (Daily Planet, Dec. 10-13, 2004), I stated that “[t]o my knowledge, there was no announcement [of the Transportation Commission’s Oct. 21 public hearing on the proposed changes to Marin] in any newspaper.” City of Berkeley Transportation Planner Heath Maddox just reminded me that he’d told me that his office had noticed the hearing in the Berkeley Voice.  

Zelda Bronstein  

• 

BUS RAPID TRANSIT 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Sharon Hudson writes: “the more rapidly buses transit ouf of my field of view, hearing, and smell, the better I like it,” and then she explains that she is against Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on Telegraph because of “the possible diversion of traffic into the unbarricaded Willard Neighborhood.” (“Final LRDP Shows UC’s True Colors—And the City Sees Red, Not Blue and Gold,” Daily Planet, Jan. 7-10). 

In a previous letter, Hudson wrote about how offended she was by the term NIMBY. But this latest opinion piece, she is against buses in general and against BRT purely because of the immediate impact on her delicate sensibilities and on her neighborhood.  

She does not mention that better bus service is needed to help cope with global warming and fossil fuel depletion, because these issues are not in her back yard.  

We should deal with the immediate local impacts of bus service. We can add barriers or traffic calming to protect the Willard neighborhood from the unlikely eventuality that BRT will cause spill-over traffic there. We can urge AC Transit to follow the lead of Seattle and buy General Motors’ new hybrid buses, which create little noise and air pollution and which are cheaper than conventional buses in the long run because of their fuel savings.  

But we should also think about the global impacts of our actions. Berkeley should set an example of environmentally sound planning. We certainly should not listen to people who go beyond opposing BRT and run a hate campaign against buses in general.  

Charles Siegel  

• 

ALBERTO GONZALEZ 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regarding the Alberto Gonzalez confirmation for attorney general, not only does torture give permission to the enemy to reciprocate in kind, not only do we give licence for the most base brutal instincts to be expressed, but, does anyone who foolishly believes that such “encouragement” can beget reliable information, deserve to be our attorney general? 

Gerta Farber 

• 

TREE PLANTING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

One rainy day in October, a magical event took place in my neighborhood. Neighbors, assisted by cheerful staff members of our city’s Parks and Recreation Department, planted over 70 trees along our streets. I have lived here in South Berkeley for over 40 years, and the previous street trees had gotten old, died and been removed. Just having the concrete removed and the dirt revealed, made a significant change in how our streets feel. Now everyday, as I walk my dog, I marvel at all these new trees, and look forward to the promise of fresh oxygen, flowers and fall colors. 

What was more remarkable, was that this took place in the rain. Dozens of neighbors appeared, apartment dwellers, young couples, people I met for the first time. Everyone was so happy at the prospect of planting all these trees, they enjoyed the rain, which was good for the trees. People who said they had only planned on volunteering for two hours, ended up staying for eight. So, it wasn’t just trees that were planted, but a much stronger sense of community. 

Bravo to Yolanda Huang, our community organizer, bravo to all the intrepid tree planters and the Halcyon Neighborhood Association, and thank you so much to Jerry Koch and Betsy Reeves of the Forestry Division. 

I strongly encourage every neighborhood to organize a street tree planting. Call Betsy Reeves at 644-6566. 

Ahna Stern 

• 

MAKE WAR, NOT LOVE 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

“Make war, not love” seems to be a slogan of the Bush administration. As it turns out both Cheney and Rumsfeld have been lying and war mongering since the days of Nixon. BBC did a very revealing documentary detailing this, more information on all this can be found at: www.rense.com/general61/ddoc.htm. Also the Bush administration spent an unbelievable $900 million of tax payers money on teaching teenagers sexual abstinence, in another words to just say no to making love before marriage. Anyhow it is just incredible that the Bush administration is spending such huge amounts of taxpayers hard earned money on not making love but making war as the Iraq war is costing us more than $150 million dollars a day along with many lives. This all sounds real crazy to me but I have a feeling four more years of Bush and it is going to get even crazier. For an in depth analysis of the roots of this craziness go to: www.awakeninthedream.com/gerogews.html. Well anyhow, God bless America, we are sure going to need it for the next four years! 

Thomas Husted 

Alameda?

Click here to view the latest work by Justin DeFreitas 

Several years ago, my friend Amy insisted on taking Ralph and me to dinner. Although it was somewhat embarrassing to allow a 26-year old to treat us to an expensive meal, we acquiesced to her demands.  

Amy was participating in a summer internship at an international law firm in San Francisco. She ordered the wine and the appetizers and made suggestions as to what we should have for a main course. We listened to her advice. Amy had been in town for less than three months, but she had already visited most of the trendy restaurants in the city. She knew what she was talking about. 

I have known Amy since she was a baby. I was her fourth grade teacher back in 1982 when she was an eager, innocent 9-year old. She was smart and sensitive, the kind of kid who stuck up for other people’s rights when she thought they had been treated unfairly. She was straightforward and honest to a fault. You always knew where Amy stood on an issue, whether it was about a passage in Little House on the Prairie or a segment of Mork and Mindy. 

After university she went to Manhattan to work at Legal Aid. She became an authority on housing issues for the poor. Attorneys called her from throughout the city to get information and advice. When Amy decided to go to law school, everyone wanted her. Not surprisingly, she chose an Ivy League university with an excellent reputation. 

Now she was sitting across from Ralph and me, telling us about her summer. She picked at her tuna tartare. “I go out for lunch everyday. The staff lawyers are required to entertain the interns. We choose the restaurant. The company picks up the tab.”  

“Wow,” I said. 

“I’ve been to Aqua, Bix, Boulevard, The Slanted Door, and LuLus. Next week I’ll try 42 Degrees, Postrio, and Masas. In the evenings I can go to any cultural event. I keep the receipt, turn it into accounting and the firm reimburses me. Last weekend they took all the interns to Napa Valley. The week before we visited Monterey. We went to cooking school and learned how to prepare snails. Here, taste this tuna. It’ s not half bad.”  

I tried the tuna, the soft goat cheese polenta and the fresh summer greens with balsamic vinegar. Everything tasted good. I thought about going to law school. 

“What do you do all day at work?” I asked. 

Amy smiled. “Well, you won’t believe this, but I don’ t roll in until 9:30 a.m. I read the paper. Then I go out for a latte. I ask my secretary to check my messages. I do a little research and then write a memo on some obscure legal concept. I look over papers then I go to lunch. After lunch I make reservations for dinner for the next evening. I talk to some of the associates. I find out where everyone is going after work. By then it’ s 5:30 and time to hit the health club.”  

“You belong to a health club?”  

“Of course. But I’ve been eating so much I’ ve gained weight, even though I work out almost everyday.” To emphasize her point, she unbuttoned the top of her Capri pants. 

“May we have the dessert menu?” she asked our waiter as he approached the table. Turning to us she said, “You guys decide what you want for dessert. I’m going to step outside and have a cigarette. That will keep me from eating more.”  

Ralph and I watched her as she left. “Wow,” I repeated. “I remember when a peanut butter sandwich on white bread was Amy’s favorite meal.”  

“Things change,” answered Ralph. 

“I wonder why the law firm doesn’t get their interns involved in charity causes like a homeless or battered woman’s shelter, or an organization fighting for disability rights?”  

“Suzy,” said Ralph from his wheelchair. “Get real. She’s being groomed to become a lawyer.”  

But I’m pleased to say that Amy had an ulterior motive all along. She gave the big international law firm exactly 363 days, enough to pay off her debt to them and put away a little money so that she could do what she’s always wanted to do. Now she’s a public defender representing first-time drug offenders at the Bronx Drug Court, with the goal of keeping them out of jail. She took a $100,000 salary cut to work long, frustrating hours for a clientele that is stuck on the bottom of the court system.  

Next time Amy comes to visit, we’re taking her out for dinner.

Bomb Threat Closes Shattuck 

A middle-aged man walked into the offices of Thomas Cooke Currency inside the Mechanic’s Bank at 2301 Shattuck Ave. Friday afternoon, placed a package on the counter and presented a note announcing that he’d set off a bomb if they didn’t make him richer. 

“He then took the money and fled,” said Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies. 

Though the bag guy had booked, he left his package behind, forcing police to cordon off a section of one of Berkeley’s major thoroughfares while the bomb squad rendered the device safe, said Officer Okies. 

Details of the crime were sparse, Okies said, because the investigating detectives were unavailable for comment Monday. 

The suspect was described only as a white male in his early fifties. 

Gas Station Robbed 

A lone gunman wearing a ski mask walked into the Econo Gas station at 900 University Ave. just after 11 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 3, and demanded cash. 

His request fulfilled, he departed via shank’s mare. 

Dog Slasher Jailed 

Six hours later, a resident of the 1400 block of Scenic Avenue watched as a man brandishing a knife stabbed at a dog. 

When officers arrived, a quick search turned up the 51-year-old suspect, who was escorted to a new temporary domicile in the municipal lockup. 

Brolly Beating 

After spotting a car clouter attempting to burglarize his car parked in the 2800 block of Webster Street just before 6 p.m. Wednesday, the owner confronted the would-be thief, who proceeded to pummel him with his umbrella. 

By the time officers arrived, the brolly-wielding clouter had fled. The victim declined medical assistance. 

Hammer-Head 

An argument between two fellows in the 1400 block of Blake Street took a nasty turn late Wednesday night when one of the debaters produced a sledgehammer and began exercising his talents on his fellow debater’s car. 

The hammer wielder then came to the fellow’s house and, hammer raised, issued a few threats before departing. 

No arrest has been made, said Officer Okies. 

Frat House Fire 

A fire in a bedroom at the Acacia Fraternity House at 2340 Piedmont Ave. just before 7 a.m. Thursday triggered smoke alarms and set off sprinklers, which extinguished the blaze. 

Officers are investigating to see if arson may have been involved. 

Bat Batterer Busted 

Police arrested an 18-year-old Berkeley woman just after midnight Friday after she took a bat to another woman in the 1100 block of Sutter Street. 

The victim required medical treatment for her injuries, said Officer Okies. 

Child Abuse Arrest 

Police arrested a 45-year-old Berkeley man just after 3 a.m. Friday on charges of physically abusing a 2-year-old, said Officer Okies. 

No further details were available. 

MiniMart Robbed 

A gunman walked into the Campus Mini Mart at 2200 Durant Ave. Sunday afternoon and demanded cash. 

He was last seen running eastbound on Durant.

On Jan. 16, an event dubbed a “Rally against Global Terrorism” will be held in Martin Luther King Park, downtown Berkeley. The main purpose of the rally is to oppose Barbara Lee’s position in support of international law.  

The rally will feature a bus that was bombed in Jerusalem in January 2004, in which 11 people were killed. This bus is a powerful and tragic reminder of the violence that engulfs the region. The people who died in that bombing should be remembered and mourned, as much as all the other victims in the conflict.  

However, there is a political agenda behind this rally that supports the Bush/Sharon policies of militarism and occupation. This bus is being taken around the country by Christians for Israel, a right-wing outfit that opposes a negotiated solution that gives any land to Palestinian people. They even oppose Sharon’s very modest proposal to remove illegal Israeli settlements in Gaza.   

The rally is organized locally by the Israel Action Committee, which supports U.S. taxpayers’ funding of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.  This seemingly endless military occupation demolishes Palestinian family homes with Caterpillar bulldozers, kills civilians and fires on crowds with Apache helicopters, and erects hundreds of military blockades that make movement nearly impossible for Palestinian people.  

The rally also advocates for the separation wall that has taken Palestinian land, divided communities, and made some areas of the West Bank simply unlivable. The wall will not provide security for anyone; its purpose is primarily to annex land. This is why in July 2004 the International Court of Justice ruled against the wall, citing it as a violation of international law. Groups that still supported the wall pressured the U.S. Congress to pass a resolution condemning the court’s ruling. This resolution passed Congress, with some votes of dissent, including one by Barbara Lee. This rally was originally conceived as a protest of Lee’s principled stance in support of international law. 

A “Vigil for Global Justice” will be held at the park at the same time. The vigil is a response to the rally organizers’ support for militarism and will offer a radically different vision. We stand with Barbara Lee in defense of the role of international law in resolving conflict. We believe, along with Dr. Martin Luther King, whose life and work we will celebrate that weekend, that for peace to come we must “let justice flow like a river.” King spoke forcefully against the war the U.S. was waging in Vietnam in the name of combating “global Communism,” he would say the same about wars waged in the name of fighting “global terrorism.” The time has come to seek a way out of the madness, to end U.S. funding (with our tax money) of military occupation—in Palestine, in Iraq and elsewhere. To offer an alternative vision, to insist that justice is the way to peace and reconciliation; this is how we will honor King’s legacy, mourn the dead, and work to create a better world.  

Jim Harris is a resident of Berkeley and is a witness to the military occupation in the West Bank as a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement. 

›

Berkeley has done a good job so far in fighting uncontrolled urban sprawl and the auto-dominated lifestyle it requires. Berkeleyans have bravely banned big-box chain retail stores and the unthinkable regional shipping center, and we’ve reveled in our local, non-national-chain boutiques, restaurants and gourmet supermarkets. But now we are facing the stark consequences of our chosen lifestyle in an unexpected place—uncontrolled sprawl in the local veggie bins.  

Ever since Grace Slick sang it in the ‘60s, the unofficial Berkeley motto has certainly been “feed your head.” The Marijuana Munchies of the ‘60s and ‘70s spawned the Gourmet Ghetto of the ‘80s, and by the ‘90s eating well—VERY well—had become part of our civil religion. Other parts of California might have had tree huggers; Berkeley produced a city full of potato huggers, and fungus fondlers, and pear pamperers. Pro-choice was extended to include “fabulous produce selection,” where anything fewer than a dozen varieties of those preferably-organic potatoes, fungi or pears would simply no longer do. In this century, while the country was obsessing over Osama Bin Laden, we were also rejoicing with “Hosanna-bins laden!”  

Such abundant choice, however, has consequences—all the extra room required by multiple bins per produce species. Even at now- precious price levels, fruit and veggie bins yield a lot lower sales per square foot than do packaged foods on multi-level shelving, meaning traditional supermarkets can’t afford the Berkeleyan level of variety. So once the Berkeley Bowl developer did the math on a new site, the inevitable consequence was the proposed up-cloning of the current store from mere-supermarket scale to what would surely be the veritable Sam’s Club of greengrocers. And that wasn’t just greed—it was no more than their customers have been demanding of them.  

Not that such a larger market would necessarily be bad for the neighborhood where it’s built. The similar expansion of Monterey Market on Hopkins in the ‘80s did increase local traffic and parking hassles; but the extra shoppers have also supported the nearby row of diverse and interesting specialty shops that couldn’t survive otherwise. What west Berkeley businesses might do better from a greater concentration of shoppers in the Bowl’s new neighborhood? And what interesting new ones might be encouraged?  

The unexpected question to ask about the new Berkeley Bowl is: Are we willing to pay the price if the project is reduced to a smaller neighborhood scale? Not just the price in fewer provided parking spaces, which would actually increase parking pressure on the neighborhood. I’m talking about the price in—gasp—fewer choices in the veggie bins. It’s a classic tradeoff: To gain a half-sized 27,000-foot store, would we be willing to live with half as many choices? Only six bins of varietal organic potatoes instead of 12? Something fewer than every form of edible fungus known to humankind? A mere dozen alternatives for those perfect heirloom tomatoes in season?  

Or should we allow the larger footprint—if not “big box” then certainly “big bins.” Surely we wouldn’t put up with such edible excess in the center of town—but perhaps it would be OK if we pushed it out to an edge close to the freeway, like we did with that strange incursion of suburbia we allowed on Fourth Street. Perhaps we could even live with the inner contradiction required: Always driving to a more-distant store across town, which almost all of us would do, to demonstrate our support for organic produce that’s better for the environment.  

Let’s just be clear that this choice is about lifestyle, not necessity, and about the conflict between actual lifestyle and professed values. In my neighborhood, as an alternative example, the Berkeley Natural Grocery on Gilman Street provides a great selection of 100 percent organic produce and other foods in a modest space, and serves hundreds of local walk-in and bike-in customers without creating parking problems. Perhaps our total needs would be better served by cloning that model in other neighborhoods—starting with walker-friendly locations in the car-dominated hills, of course—rather than erecting a Cabbage Cathedral as our greatest cultural achievement in the new century.  

Alan Tobey, a retired technologist, has been eating very well in Berkeley since 1970. ›

Film critic David Thomson will host a wide-ranging series of films at UC Berkeley’s Pacific Film Archive this month by way of illustrating the themes and opinions expressed in his latest book, The Whole Equation: A History of Hollywood.  

Thomson, a regular contributor to the New York Times, Film Comment and Salon, puts forth a vast perspective on Hollywood and its history, one that attempts to encompass every aspect of the conception, construction and consumption of movies. It can be difficult to get a solid grasp on Thomson’s theory, but then that’s really the point; the history, structure and inner workings of the movie industry are so complex, with so many motives, desires, personalities and egos, that critics have rarely, if ever, attempted a compre hensive view of the entire machine.  

The book takes its title from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s unfinished novel The Last Tycoon, from a passage in which the daughter of a character based loosely on MGM boss Louis B. Mayer gives her view of the milieu in which she has grown up: “(Hollywood) can be understood…but only dimly and in flashes. Not half a dozen men have ever been able to keep the whole equation of pictures in their heads.” 

Thomson has brashly set out not only to understand that equation, but to exp lain it to the rest of us, and the book and PFA series do an admirable—if necessarily incomplete—job of it, offering a sequence of images, anecdotes and analyses that provide flashes of the big picture, if not a concise, linear narrative of the influences of, and on, the movies.  

William Faulkner, attempting to explain his discursive writing style, once said that he was “trying to put the history of mankind in one sentence…to put it all on the head of a pin.” Thomson’s prose often has this quality, as tho ugh he was rushing head-long through a dizzying maze of history and drama, breathlessly tossing off facts and thoughts and opinions and details, hoping that the links between the words and images might now and then coalesce into a discernible pattern, gra nting the reader those tantalizing yet fleeting glimpses of the “whole equation.” 

To condense such an ambitious book into a series of 19 films is no easy task. But what the program manages to do is put these titles, both familiar and unfamiliar, in a fre sh context, providing the audience with a framework for examining these movies in a new light.  

Thomson’s selection will take viewers on a rambling tour of a century of movies, from silent to contemporary drama, from musicals to horror. 

The idea for th e series began with a conversation between Thomson and Edith Kramer, senior film curator and director of Pacific Film Archive, when Thomson mentioned his latest project: a single book that would cover the entire history of the American film industry.  

“W hen David told me he was working on a one-volume history of Hollywood, I said ‘You’ve got to be kidding!’” Kramer says. She then invited him to present a series of films, coinciding with the release of the book, that would illustrate his ideas. 

“He’s not writing about his favorite movies,” Kramer says. “It’s a look at the evolution of how and why films are made, and what is expected of them.” 

The series begins Thursday at 7 p.m. with a lecture and book-signing by Thomson, followed, appropriately enough, by a screening of The Last Tycoon (Elia Kazan, 1976), a movie that Thomson considers flawed, but one that nonetheless illustrates one of his major themes—that Hollywood can be viewed as an ongoing war “between factory product and the chance of a movie th at could move the world.” 

It is this hunger for big-stakes gambling, this crazy notion that great profits are to be made from great art, that lurks behind many of these films. As Thomson states in his book, there are any number of more reliable methods t o make money, but this most un-businesslike business of Hollywood seems bent on the pursuit of a miraculously perfect marriage of art and commerce.  

And the funny thing is, sometimes it works.  

Later films in the series expand on this theme, most notab ly the great “lost masterpiece” of the silent era, Erich von Stroheim’s Greed (1924), a sprawling opus that pitted the director against his employer, MGM, in a battle of the auteur versus the factory system.  

Stroheim, the first of the renegade directors, wanted to adapt the gritty realism of Frank Norris’ novel McTeague to the screen, and did so, taking his crew on location to the settings described in the book: San Francisco’s Polk Street and the Cliff House, the goldmines of Placer County, to the shor eline in Oakland and the mudflats of what is now Emeryville. His obsession with detail and his passion for realism left him with a movie nearly 10 hours long. 

Irving Thalberg, MGM’s head of production and the inspiration for The Last Tycoon’s central cha racter, took the film away from Stroheim, cutting it down to just two hours. Stroheim disowned the final product, claiming that his masterpiece had been destroyed, and generations of movie buffs were left with only tantalizing clues as to the film’s original form. 

This story arc—with the charisma and reputation of a miracle-pursuing artist convincing businessmen to gamble on a high-stakes dream—recurs in the PFA series with Heaven’s Gate (Michael Cimino, 1981). The director’s promise of a crowd-pleasing masterpiece enticed United Artists to endure an interminable production schedule and a skyrocketing budget for a box office failure that ultimately bankrupted the studio.  

These two examples merely scratch the surface; the breadth of the series, and the book from which it stems, is an attempt, in Thomson’s words, to capture the history of the medium “in a way that could accommodate the artistic careers, the lives of the pirates, the ebb and flow of business, the sociological impact—in short the wonder in the dark, the calculation in the offices, and the staggering impact on America of moving pictures…To be whole, the equation needs all of those things. And more.” 

It’s a vast topic, an equation that does not allow itself to be viewed directly or clearly or for very long. But for the next few weeks, David Thomson and Pacific Film Archive will provide their audiences with a chance to glimpse it in the form of 19 fascinating and not-so-dim flashes.  

TUESDAY, JAN. 11 

FILM 

Local Short Film Festival at 9:15 p.m. at the Parkway Theater, 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland. Cost is $5 at the door. www.picturepubpizza.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ethan Rarick describes “California Rising: The Life and Times of Pat Brown” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Creole Belles with Andrew Carriere at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Duke Robillard Band at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s, Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200. 

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

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

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 12 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Café Poetry hosted by Kira Allen at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donation $2. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Andrew Heinze describes “Jews and the American Soul: Human Nature in the Twentieth Century” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Mikel Dunham reads from “Buddha’s Warriors: The Story of the CIA-Backed Tibetan Freedom Fighters” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

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

Steve Arnston, classical piano at 1:15 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190. 

Kurt Ribak Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Blues and Gooves with DJ Mike Pyle at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. West Coast Swing dance lesson with Nick & Shanna at 8 p.m. Cost is $6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The James King Band, mountain soul from Virginia, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Judgement Day, A Burning Water, Street to Nowhere, string metal, at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Poncho Sanchez Band at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $20-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, JAN. 13 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Texture: The Many Layers of Textile Arts” with works by Natasha Fouko, Joy Lily, Susan Putnam, and Deb Shattil. Reception for the artists at 6 p.m. at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. Exhibition runs to Jan. 31. 843-2527. www.accigallery.com 

Addison Street Windows Gallery Anti-Bullying Art and Essays by Berkeley Middle School students opens and runs through Feb. 25. 981-7546. 

FILM 

David Thomson History of Hollywood: “The Last Tycoon” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Christian Parenti describes “The Freedom: Shadows and Hallucinations in Occupied Iraq” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with featured readers Edwin Drummond and John Rowe, and guest Sholeh Wolpé, Persian poet, at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. 526-5985.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

John Schott’s Dream Kitchen, old-time jazz, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Zoo Station at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Gini Wilson, solo piano, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Selector at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Special Ed, Coolie High, hip hop, at 9:30 at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $15. 848-0886.  

FRIDAY, JAN. 14 

THEATER 

“The Bright River” written and performed by Tim Barsky and the Everyday Ensemble at Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave. through Jan. 16. Tickets are $12-$35 available from A Traveling Jewish Theater, 415-285-8080. www.atjt.com 

FILM 

David Thomson History of Hollywood: “Shanghai Express” at 7 p.m. and “Only Angels Have Wings” at 9:05 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Page to Stage, a conversation with playwright Tony Kushner and director Tony Taccone at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Repertory Theater, 2015 Addison St. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

James D’Allesandro reads from “1906: A Novel” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Dance Production 2005” Berkeley High’s dance performance, choreographed by students, at 8 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Allston Way, on the BHS Campus. Also on Sat. Tickets are $5-$10.  

The Pacific Collegium “From Advent to Epiphany” at 8 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $12-$18. 415-392-4400. www.pacificcollegium.org 

Songwriters in the Round Monica Pasqual, Sonya Hunter and Emily Bezar at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198. 

Wake the Dead at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The Kathy Kallick Band, bluegrass and originals, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761.  

Captured! by Robots at 9:30 at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8. 848-0886.  

The Phenomenauts, Freak Accident, Left Alone at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Cathi Walkup Quintet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

DJ & Brook, jazz trio, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Plays Monk at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Groovie Ghoulies, Jason Webley, Teenage Harlots at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Poncho Sanchez Band at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $20-$24. 238-9200.  

SATURDAY, JAN. 15 

CHILDREN  

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

EXHIBITIONS 

“Emerging Masters” an exhibition showcasing eight Masters of Fine Art students from San Jose State University. Reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at 1717D 4th St. 525-4101. www.fourthstreetstudio.com 

“Becomming Free” works by Lowell Brook. Reception from 2 to 5 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. 883-0600. 

FILM 

David Thomson History of Hollywood: “Pierrot le Fou” at 6:30 p.m. and “The Shining” at 8:40 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Autumn Stephens, editor, and eight other local authors will read from their new book “Roar Softly and Carry A Great Lipstick” a 7 p.m. at A Great Good Place for Books, 6120 La Salle Ave., Montclair. 339-8210. 

Juried Annual at Pro Arts Artist Talks at 1 p.m. at Pro Arts Gallery, 550 Second Street, Oakland. 763-4361. www.proartsgallery.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Jon Raskin, solo saxophone, at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St., between Bancroft and Durant. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. http://trinitychamberconcerts.com 

“Music for the King of Prussia” performed by The Novello Quartet at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. at Garber. Tickets are $10-$25. 528-1725. www.sfems.org 

Tom Rigney & Flambeau at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054.  

Fingertight, Unjust, hard rock, at 9:30 at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10. 848-0886.  

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

Loose Wig Quartet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Bob Franke, singer-songwriter, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Kugelplex at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Vanessa Lowe & Bug Eyed Sprite at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 

Montuno Groove Dance at 9:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568.  

The Art of the Trio with the Dred Scott Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com  

The Mercury Dimes, The Earl White Band at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Gini Wilson “Chamberjazz” at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Gravy Train, Clorox Girls, Two Gallants, Red Tape Apocalips at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, JAN. 16 

EXHIBITIONS 

Salon at the Giorgi Designers Bill Bowers and Mark Phillips show their wearable art at 2 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. at Ashby. 848-1228. 

FILM 

Screenagers: Seventh Annual High School Film and Video Festival at 12:30 and 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

David Thomson History of Hollywood: “My Man Godfrey” at 5:30 p.m. and “Sullivan’s Travels” at 7:25 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Addison Street Poetry Reading in celebration of the new anthology with Robert Hass and other Berkeley poets at 4 p.m. at Berkeley Rep., 2025 Addison St. RSVP to 549-3564, ext. 316.  

Poetry Flash with Laurie Glover and Yosefa Raz at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“In the Name of Love” A musical tribute honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at 7:30 p.m. at Calvin Simmons Theaater, 10 Tenth St. Tickets are $6-$22. 866-468-3399. www.ticketweb.com 

Richard Goode, piano, at 3 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $26-$56. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Organ Music with Ron McKean playing Buxtehude, Scheidt, Sweelinck and Bach at 4 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 658-3298. 

Sean Hayes and Black Bird Stitches at 1 p.m. at Mama Buzz Cafe, 2318 Telegraph.  

Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration with Vukani Mawethu at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Rebeca Mauleón Quartet at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $20. 845-5373. www.jazz- 

school.com 

Eric Thompson & Henry Kaiser, roots music guitars, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Banjo for Brunch with Liam Carey at 10 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

MONDAY, JAN. 17 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

PlayGround, readings by emerging playwrights, at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Rep, 2025 Addison St. Tickets are $15. 415-704-3177. www.PlayGround-sf.org 

Richard Walker describes “The Conquest of Bread: 150 Years of Agribusiness in California” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Poetry Express, Other People’s Poems theme night from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Trovatore, traditional Italian songs at 6 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Songwriters Symposium at 8:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Faye Carol sings a MLK Birthday Celebration at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$15. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, JAN. 18 

CHILDREN 

“Peter and the Wolf” presented by The Fratello Marionettes at 6:30 p.m. at Kensington Branch Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

FILM 

Japanese Experimental Fim & Video at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Temple Grandin, celebrated animal advocate, introduces “Animals in Translation” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Kermit Lynch on “Inspiring Thirst: Vintage Selections from the Kermit Lynch Wine Brochure” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Marilyn Sewell and Sandy Boucher discuss “Breaking Free” a collection of personal essays by women in the second half of their lives, at 6:30 p.m. at Berkeley Central Library, Shattuck and Kittredge Streets. 981-6151. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Courtableu at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Peter Barshay and Murray Low at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Rady Craig Trio, jazz, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Chris Botti, contemporary jazz trumpeter, at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Also on Wed. Cost is $10-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

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

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 19 

FILM 

Film 50: History of Cinema at 3 p.m. and “The Most Dangerous Game” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Nicole Galland reads from “The Fool’s Tale” an historical novel set in 12th century Wales, at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Sandra Gilbert reads from her new collection of poems, “Belongings” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082. 

Café Poetry hosted by Richard Moore, aka Paradise Freejahlove, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donation $2. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

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

Whiskey Brothers at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Peau de Chagrin at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Trouser, The Art Ghetto, Burke at 8:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $4. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

THURSDAY, JAN. 20 

THEATER 

"Bridge & Tunnel" workshop performances by Sarah Jones at 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., 7 p.m. Sun. through Feb. 20 at Berkeley Repertory Theater’s Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. Tickets are $30-$40. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

FILM 

David Thomson History of Hollywood: “Greed” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Phyllis Whetstone Taper reads from her novel of a 1927 California summer, “On Kelsey Creek” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Malcolm Gladwell describes “Blink: Thin-Slicing, Snap Judgements, and the Power of Thinking Without Thinking” at 7:30 p.m. at at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Word Beat Reading Series with featured readers Jan Steckel and Hew Wolff at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Suzy & Maggie Roche at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Emma Zuntz at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

David K. Matthews, solo piano, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Selector at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Bobby Hutcherson All-Stars, with Nicholas Payton, James Spaulding, George Cables, Dwyne Burno and Lewis Nash at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $16-$26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

You can see one from almost any spot with almost any view, but there aren’t many palms in the usual street tree spots in Berkeley. The few that you do see in the curb strips were probably guerilla trees, planted privately without a by-your-leave. They can safely be grandfathered in, most of the time. One notable exception is where they’re under powerlines. You can’t prune a palm around powerlines because, except for taking off leaves, you can’t prune a palm at all.  

They’re single-minded as any plant can be: Most palms grow one trunk and have one growing point—at or near the top. If you cut that off, they don’t have a hormone rush the way other trees do, forcing dormant buds below the top to sprout new branches. They just die. (There are a few palm species that can grow multiple trunks, but even these don’t branch; they all grow from the same base.) They’re not built like other trees in other ways, besides this: They don’t have bark like other trees’, and they don’t have distinct zones of heartwood and sapwood. Instead, their xylem and phloem tubes are scattered throughout the fibrous tissue of their trunks. They’re trees only by courtesy. Anatomically and taxonomically, they’re monocots, like lilies.  

The fibrous trunk makes them flexible and resistant to wind, as a rule, which is why you see those tropical palms in idyllic beach scenes, each with a graceful curve at its base. It’s a good idea for species that live on beaches to be able to survive serious wind. They’re tough in various other ways, including hardiness; some specimens are grown in inland Canada. 

They’re also easy to transplant because they can do well with a very small rootball, sending out new roots straight from the trunk. Landscapers like that, because it means they can plant a big tree in a relatively small space, and not have to wait years for it to reach “design height.” If you happen to have a palm that needs to go, don’t just whack it down; call around to local palm nurseries and ask if anyone’s interested in buying and removing it.  

One drawback to palms, as regards design, is that as soon as they get to mature size, they become something better viewed from afar. From across the yard or down the street, they look exotic; from up close, they look like telephone poles. Don’t go planting ivy at the base to compensate, because in no time you’ll have a fine freeway for vermin, leading under shelter of the vines to a secure hideaway in the thatch above. Ugh.  

Most of the palms in Berkeley are one of three species: California fan palm, Washingtonia filifera; Mexican fan palm, Washingtonia robusta (those have fan-shaped leaves); or Canary Island date palm, Phoenix canariensis (feather-shaped leaves, a trunk strongly marked with leaf scars, and little unpalatable orange fruit in big conspicuous clusters in season). There are a few queen palms and windmill palms around, too, aside from rarer species in tropical collections. Hooded orioles like to nest in the thatch of fan palms, and other birds use fibers from the leaves for nesting material. I’ve watched a towhee determinedly zipping long cords from leaf edges, flying off, returning and repeating for hours. 

There’s a coquito palm, or Chilean wine palm, on the UC campus, too. It bears edible coconuts, the only one that does so in our climate. They’re small, the size of a big olive, and don’t produce coconut milk, but they taste like the real thing. I suspect the squirrels get the nuts on campus before we can. The tree has a smooth gray trunk and fan leaves. If you find it, do look at the ground below for missed nuts. You’ll need a hammer to break them. 

In rainy gray midwinter, even native palms evoke inviting warmer climes. That’s not why some of San Francisco’s feral/wild parrots nest in them, though; they can easily make holes in the relatively soft trunks. Check it out at the Act 1 & 2 theaters on Feb. 11, in Judy Irving’s engaging film The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.  

TUESDAY, JAN. 11 

Bird Walk in Pt. Isabel Meet at 7:30 a.m. at the end of Rydin Rd. (before Costco) to look for shorebirds and sparrows. 525-2233. 

School Age Storytime for ages 5 and up at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext.17.  

Learn How to Use Your GPS with Jeff Caulfield of National Geographic at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

“Getting Along with Your Adult Children” a participatory workshop at 7:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $35-$40. 848-0327, ext. 110. www.brjcc.org 

Oakland Celebrates the Dream 11 a.m. at Frank Ogawa Plaza, 14th St. and Broadway. 444-2489 www.oaklandnet.com/celebrations 

Introduction to Taiko Drumming, Tues. at 7 p.m. at Tatsumaki Taiko, 725 Gilman St. Cost is $12. www.tatsumakitaiko.com 

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Streets every Tuesday from 3 to 7 p.m. 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. 

Brainstormer Weekly Pub Quiz every Tuesday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Pyramid Alehouse Brewery, 901 Gilman St. 528-9880.  

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 

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. 

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 

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 12 

Explore Winter: Women’s Snowshoe Workshop at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Down Home Martin Luther King Potluck at 6 p.m. at the Interstake Center, 4780 Lincoln Blvd., Oakland. Bring your favorite dish to serve four. 654-2592. 

Grizzly Peak Flyfishers meets at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Community Center, 59 Arlington Ave. in Kensington. Leo Siren of Fish First will talk about Christmas Island fishing opportunities. 547-8629. 

“Easy Rider” Peter Fonda film of the Vietnam era at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Free, donations accepted. 393-5685. 

Tap Into It Jazz and Rhythm Tap classes at Montclair Recreation Center, 6300 Moraga Ave., Oakland. Experienced at 6:30 p.m., beginners at 7:30 p.m. 482-7812. 

Stitch ‘n Bitch Bring your knitting, crocheting and other handcrafts from 6 to 9 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198. 

“Conflict in Jewish Identity: Looking at Our Own Lives” brown-bag lunch with Dr. Jerry Diller at 11:30 a.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $5. 848-0327, ext. 110.  

Home Buyer Assistance Information Session at 6 p.m. at 1504 Franklin St., Oakland. Sponsored by the Home Buyer Assistance Center. Reservations required. 832-6925, ext. 105. www.hbac.org 

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

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station. Vigil at 6:30 p.m., Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, JAN. 13 

“Conversations About Watersheds” An interactive conference from Thurs. through Sun. at Lake Merritt College. Cost is $15-$25. Sponsored by the East Bay Watershed Center. For details call 434-3800. www.mountaincurrent.net/ebwc/ 

BHS PTSA Meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the High School Library. Principal Jim Slemp will address the “State of the School” and answer questions. colemanbarbara@comcast.net 

Rethinking School Lunch A two day seminar exploring the process of reinventing school meal programs as part of the learning day. Held at the Center for Ecoliteracy, 2528 San Pablo Ave. 415-392-4400. info@ecoliteracy.org 

“So How’d You Become an Activist?” with Holly Near, singer-songwriter activist and Adrienne Torf at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St., at Bonita. Suggested donation $5. 528-5403. 

Latino Film Festival “Un Hijo Genial/A Brilliant Son” directed by Jose Luis Massa, Argentina 2004 at 7 p.m. at the Richmond Public Library, 325 Civic Center Plaza. 620-6555. 

WriterCoach Connection Volunteer Training Help students improve their writing and critical thinking skills. Training session from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. To register call 524-2319. Other Trainings on Jan. 20, Feb. 9, 16, Mar. 8, 15. www.writercoachconnection.org 

East Bay Mac User Group meets the 2nd Thursday of every month, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Expression Center for New Media, 6601 Shellmound St. http://ebmug.org, www.expression.edu 

FRIDAY, JAN. 14 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Robert Ashmore on “The Unspoken and Unsayable in Chinese Poetry and Philosophy.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020.  

The Owl Told Me Join us for an evening of owl exploration. Listen and learn to call for the Great Horned Owl as they woo their mates. At 6 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. Fee is $5-$7, reservations required. 525-2233. 

“Visual History of the Albany Shoreline” Photographs and maps of cattle ranching, dynamite factories, horseracing, military operations, dumps, art, and wildlife on display at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin. 

“Torture: the CIA and the White House” with Jennifer Harbury, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Stop Torture Campaign and Bob Kearney, Associate Director, ACLU of Northern California, at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, One Lawson Road, Kensington. Donation $5. 525-0302.  

Inspiration Point Hike with Solo Sierrans Meet at 4 p.m. in the parking lot off Wild Cat Canyon Rd. Optional dinner in Orinda after the hike. Please call Phyllis at 525-2299 to confirm time. Rain cancels. 

Radio Camp Build an FM trasmitter and learn the fundamentals of micropower broadcasting in this 4-day workshop in Oakland. Class runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Cost is $150-$200 sliding scale. For information and to register call 625-0314. www.freeradio.org 

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

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride meets at the Berkeley BART the second Friday of every month at 5:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 548-6310. 

SATURDAY, JAN. 15 

“Winter Blooms!” Free garden tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden. Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. 845-4116. www.nativeplants.org 

Help Bring Back the Wild Join the Bayshore Stewards as we restore a rare tidal marsh on the UC Richmond Field Station, near the Bay Trail in Richmond, from 9 a.m. to noon. We will install native plants along the marsh edge and help create habitat for endangered species. We provide tools, gloves, rain gear and refreshments, and instruction on planting. Heavy rain will cancel the event. For more information call Elizabeth 231-9566. 

Green Design for Everyday People We will discuss the process of green design and how we all can have beautiful living and working spaces that are not toxic to ourselves or our environment. Topics will include cleaners, paints, sealers, furnishings, flooring, energy efficient systems and products. Bring a rough plan of your space if possible. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $10-$15. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

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

Junior Ranger Aide Training in the afternoon at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. For more information call 525-2233. 

California Writers Club, Berkeley Branch meets from 10 a.m. to noon at Barnes and Noble, Jack London Square, Oakland. The speaker will be literary agent Ted Weinstein talking about the business of writing. www.berkeleywritersclub.org 

Winter Color in the Garden at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

Historical and Botanical Tour of Chapel of the Chimes, a Julia Morgan landmark, every third Sunday at 10 a.m. at 4499 Piedmont Ave. at Pleasant Valley. Reservations required. 228-3207. www.chapelofthechimes.com  

Pre-School Storytime for ages 3-5 at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext.17. Ends Feb 19 

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, JAN. 16 

Winter Flowers on the Ridge Explore a fragile ecosystem on this 3 mile hike. Meet at 10 a.m. at the staging area at the end of Coach Drive, El Sobrante. For ages 10 and up. 525-2233. 

Our Neighbors, The Mountain Lions Is it a puma, panther, cougar or mountain lion? Learn how to make hiking safe and fun if you are lucky enough to see a big cat. At 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Labyrinth Peace Walk at 3 p.m. at Willard Community Peace Labyrinth, on blacktop next to the gardens at Willard Middle School, Telegraph Ave. Enter by the dirt road on Derby. Free. Wheelchair accessible. Sponsored by the East Bay Labyrinth Project. 526-7377.  

Adult CPR Certification and Standard First Aid Class from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Training Room, Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society, 2700 Ninth St., entrance on Carleton St. Cost is $70 per person, $10 will benefit the homeless animals at BEBHS, $60 will go to ER PLUS for the instruction. 845-7735, ext. 19. 

Interfaith Celebration of Martin Luther King with Congregation Beth El and McGee Avenue Baptist Church from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at McGee Avenue Baptist Church, 1640 Stuart St., at McGee. Please bring food to share along with a card explaining what your dish is, where it is from and its cultural or historical significance. 848-3988, ext. 15. 

“Faith-Based Activity During the Vietnam War” at 2 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. in conjunction with the exhibit “California and the Vietnam Era.” 238-2200. www.museum.ca.org 

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 

Finding Yourself in Rhythm A TaKeTiNa Rhythm Workshop from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Ashkenaz back dance studio, 1317 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $25-$45 sliding scale, no one will be turned away. 650-493-8046. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Sylvia Gretchen on “The Tibetan World Peace Ceremony at Bodh Gaya, India” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

Personal Theology Seminar with Ron Nakasone on “The Indigenous Religions of Okinawa” at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302. 

“Humanistic Judaism 101” with Marcia Grossman at 10 a.m. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. Donation $5. info@kolhadash.org 

MONDAY, JAN. 17 

New Era, New Politics Walking Tour of African American history in Oakland. Meet at 10 a.m. at the African American Museum, 659 14th St., Oakland. Free. Tour lasts two hours. 238-3234. 

Living the Dream Intergenerational Activities at 10 a.m. and at 11:30 a.m. at the deFremery Recreation Center, 1651 Adeline St. Free, but reservations requested. 238-7739. 

Embracing the Dream of Peace A health, jobs and peace fair at the Calvin Simmons Ballroom, Oakland Marriott City Center from noon to 6 p.m. 548-4040, ext. 357. www.embracingthedream.org 

Multicultural Peace Celebration and Rally from 10 a.m. to noon at the ILWU Warehouse Local #6 Hall, 99 Hegenberger Rd. at Pardee. Celebration includes speakers, youth poets, singers and dancers. 638-0365. www.mlkfreedomcenter.org 

“Unbossed and Unbought” a film on the life of Shirley Chisholm at 1 p.m. at the African American Museum, 659 14th St. 637-0200. www.oaklandlibrary.org 

Martin Luther King Day for Children Make a dream collage with African textiles from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Habitot, 2065 Kittredge St. Cost is $5-$6. 647-1111. www.habitot.org 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60 years and over meets Mondays at 9:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Join at any time. Cost is $2.50 with refreshments. 524-9122. 

Fitness for 55+ A total body workout including aerobics, stretching and strengthening at 2 p.m. 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. 

ONGOING 

WriterCoach Connection seeks volunteers. Help students improve their writing and critical thinking skills; become a WriterCoach Connection mentor to Berkeley students. For information call 524-2319. www.writercoachconnection.org 

Youth Speaks Winter Workshops in writing and spoken word begin Jan. 24 in Berkeley and Oakland. For more information call 415-255-9035. www.youthspeaks.org 

Bay Interpretive Training Ongoing classes on the Bay, the seashore and environment held at the Shorebird Park Nature Center, 160 University Ave. at the Berkeley Marina. 981-6720. www.cityofberkeley.info/marina 

Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour Seeks Host Gardens The Bringing Back the Natives Garden tour, which will be held in the spring of 2005, will showcase Alameda and Contra Costa County gardens that contain at least 30% native plants, don’t use synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, and provide habitat for wildlife. To be added to the mailing list, or to receive a host application, Kathy@Kathy 

KramerConsulting.net or 236-9558.  

Albany Berkeley Girls Softball League is looking for girls in grades 1-8 to play girls softball. Season runs March 5-June 4. Scholarships available. To register call 869-4277. www.abgsl.org  

“Half Pint Library” Book Drive Donate children’s books to benefit Children’s Hospital and Research Center Oakland. Donations accepted at 1849 Solano Ave. through March 31. 

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues., Jan. 11, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www. 

ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Commission on Disability meets Wed., Jan. 12, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Don Brown, 981-6346. TDD: 981-6345. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/disability 

Planning Commission meets Wed., Jan. 12, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Janet Homrighausen, 981-7484. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/planning 

Police Review Commission meets Wed. Jan. 12 at 6 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-4950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/prc 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., Jan. 13, at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Oscar Sung, 981-5400. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/housing 

Library Board of Trustees meets Thurs. Jan. 13, at 7 p.m. at 1901 Russell St., Jackie Y. Griffin, 981-6195. www.ci.ber- 

keley.ca.us/commissions/library 

West Berkeley Project Area Commission meets Thurs., Jan. 13, at 7 p.m., at the West Berkeley Senior Center. Iris Starr, 981-7520. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/westberkeley  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., Jan. 13, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.ber- 

keley.ca.us/commissions/zoning 

City Council meets Tues., Jan. 18, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www. 

ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Berkeley Housing Authority meets Tues., Jan. 18, at 6:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. ww.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/housingauthority   

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wed., Jan. 19, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Katherine O’Connor, 981-6601. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/humane 

Commission on Labor meets Wed., Jan. 19, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Delfina M. Geiken, 981-7550. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/labor 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meets Thurs. Jan. 20, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Pam Wyche, 644-6128 ext. 113. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/rent 

Fair Campaign Practices Commission meets Thurs., Jan. 20, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Prasanna Rasaih, 981-6950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/faircampaign 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., Jan. 20, at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Oscar Sung, 981-5400. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/housing 

Transportation Commission meets Thurs., Jan. 20, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Peter Hillier, 981-7000. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/transportationV

Democracy in action can be pretty disappointing. It hardly seems like four years ago that a few hardy souls from greater Berkeley rounded up our raggedy old winter clothes and jumped on a Southwest flight to Washington to protest George W. Bush’s usurpation of the presidency when he’d clearly lost the 2000 election. While we were there, we thought we were making a brave showing with our clever banners, even though the weather was abominable. Much to our chagrin, when we got home we discovered that no one who’d been watching the televised inauguration had seen us, or even heard about the protest. When we saw Fahrenheit 9-11 this year, many in the theater were surprised to see the 2000 inaugural protest footage which Michael Moore included, since it never made it to home TV. 

We didn’t know then how much worse things were going to get in this country during Bush’s reign. We didn’t imagine anything like the USA Patriot Act, the invasion of Iraq or Abu Ghraib. And we aren’t going to protest this inauguration, because we know it won’t do much good. Many believe this election was stolen, but few think that protests will change the result. 

Even here in Berkeley, a city that voted 90 percent against Bush, democracy continues to have its disappointments. This week’s e-mail has been full of angry protests from citizens who worked for years to produce Berkeley’s latest General Plan and the Downtown Plan that preceded it. They believe, and rightly so, that the huge Seagate luxury condominium complex which has been approved for Addison Street directly violates the policies which were painfully hammered out when those plans were adopted. They say that the purportedly factual representations made by city staff to support the developer are fraught with deliberate deception. Even worse, they’re pretty sure, after last Tuesday’s council meeting, that the elected councilmembers, both old and new (with the exception of Dona Spring), will be turning a blind eye to the irregularities in the process by which the building was approved. It’s the Gaia Building all over again: bonus floors allocated for faux art space and sub-par affordable units—a winning formula. Without, of course, the environmental review supposedly mandated by the California Environmental Quality Act. And the mayor and councilmembers, some of whom voted to approve Gaia, frankly don’t give a damn. They’re expected to reject Friends of Downtown Berkeley’s appeal to the Zoning Adjustment Board’s decision next Tuesday. Citizens who have participated in the planning process in good faith are deeply discouraged to see yet again that the City of Berkeley Department of Planning and Development can ignore both the law and democratically decided public policy and get away with it.  

We’d like to believe that in a democracy the power of the press to reveal the truth will make us free. But we know better. The irregularities in the national election, the last one and this one, have been revealed, even in the last-to-get-the-word mainstream press. The shenanigans which built Gaia have been well documented, at least in the Planet, both under the present owners and in the previous incarnation. But the same things happen again and again.  

The courts, although much weakened by the Supreme Court’s shameful performance in the last presidential election, still hold out a bit of hope. In Ohio right now the Green Party and others are trying a legal challenge to election law violations. Here in Berkeley, it’s becoming clear that the last remaining way to challenge the Planning Department’s continued flouting of law and policy will be a well-planned legal challenge, supported by enough funding to reach the appeals court, since trial courts rarely understand the California Environmental Quality Act. Such an effort, backed by the ACLU, defeated the most disgraceful parts of Berkeley’s anti-panhandling law which violated the First Amendment. That law was backed by some so-called progressives, including the current mayor, as well as by conservatives, but it was overturned in court nonetheless.  

Real progress, on any front, comes slowly if at all. The best part of our unsuccessful protest at the first Bush inauguration was hooking up with seven busloads of Detroit NAACP members who had ridden all night to get to Washington. We happened on their vociferous contingent by accident, after being disappointed earlier by the disorganized white liberals like us trying to get together at Dupont Circle. We were delighted to see the organization logos on their hats and sweatshirts, since we’d worked with the Detroit NAACP in the civil rights and anti-war movements in the ‘60s. I mentioned that to two fellow demonstrators, Joyce and Grace, 60-ish grandmothers like me, and we discovered that we'd all three marched down Woodward Avenue in Detroit with Dr. Martin Luther King in 1963. They grabbed my arms, one on each side, and we formed a rousing if off-key trio singing old protest songs for the rest of the march. All of us, I think, were cheered on that nasty drizzly day by remembering the very real accomplishments of our generation. When we started out, housing and schools in Michigan were largely segregated, and at least now that's illegal, there and in most of the rest of the country.  

At the time of Dr. King’s birthday, we are reminded that it’s taken pretty much our whole adult lifetime, now approaching 50 years, and the lifetimes of many who preceded us, to achieve the modest goal of ending state-sponsored segregation in the United States. Not to achieve true integration, or full equality of opportunity, certainly not real affirmative action or reparations for past injustice—all of those challenges still lie ahead.  

And now we have another unjust war on our hands, and another dubious election. In the context of all these big problems, little things like trying to ensure democratic process even on the local level might seem trivial. But if democracy is to survive and thrive, it needs to be nurtured and protected, all the time and everywhere. Citizens have a right to expect that democratically enacted laws will be followed, even by the City of Berkeley.  

—Becky O’Malley 

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Our often amazing Gov. Schwarzenegger has outdone himself this time. He’s going to improve education and save money at the same time by tying teachers’ pay to how well their students do. It’s a safe bet that if California’s per-student expenditures on education continue to be among the lowest in the country, our students will continue to fail—thus saving the state money. It’s a brilliant idea—amazing that no one has thought of it before. But the problem is that teacher pay represents a pretty small part of California’s billion-dollar budget shortfall, so keeping teachers on short rations won’t do all that much to save money. We have a modest suggestion: How about taking the concept and applying it to other branches of government? What if all state and local employees were paid by how well they did their job, instead of by how much they’ve been able to squeeze out of government with well-placed campaign contributions to the right people?  

Take prison guards, for example. According to commentator Van Jones, “despite pay hikes in 1998, 1999 and 2000, [former Gov. Davis] approved raising the average prison guard salary…to a whopping $73,428 by 2006. That will cost taxpayers an extra $120 million this year. By 2006, the annual price tag will be about $700 million.”  

Let’s compare that with the salaries of Berkeley public school teachers. The lowest salary offered last year, entry-level, was $33,848. The average was $57,059, and the top of the range was $70,358 (i.e. less than the average prison guard.)  

Last week the Gobernator announced that he was reorganizing the California prison system. His new plan changes the name of the organization to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and it will operate adult prisons as well as the juvenile facilities now run by the California Youth Authority. Here’s a great idea: How about paying prison guards based on how well they rehabilitate prisoners? Merit pay based on lowering the recidivism rate: It’s fair, and it’s cost effective. Since prison guards are paid so much more than teachers, the percentage saving per employee if guards were paid for performance would add up to much more.  

Or, on the local level, how about applying the merit pay system to police officers? If the crime rate goes down on your beat, you get a raise, but if it goes up, your pay goes down. 

Here’s the starting level pay for police, as posted on the City of Berkeley’s website: “Police Officers (Entry Level)$69,156 - $86,064 annual salary… the city provides $1000 annual uniform allowance.” Compare that to entry-level teachers’ salaries, and you can see that the savings will be much greater if the merit system is applied to police officers instead of teachers.  

(And how about that uniform allowance? Teachers have to dress respectably, yet they pay for their own clothes. They even have to pay for their teaching supplies much of the time these days. If police officers had to pay for their own clothes and supplies, think how much could be saved.) 

Performance-based pay scales would work in other government jobs too. Planners could be compensated only for projects where their recommendations are not challenged by either applicants or citizens. Arborists could be paid according to how many trees they plant which thrive, and docked if trees die under their care. Those new systems which track auto speed could be used to set pay for highway patrol officers: If fewer drivers speed on your watch, your pay goes up.  

Even legislators could be put on the merit system. Do-nothing assemblymembers from safe districts who snooze through legislative hearings and seldom sponsor a bill could have their pay reduced, perhaps to the level of the average schoolteacher’s salary.  

The opportunities are endless. In fact, the only real problem with Schwarzenegger’s plan is that he’s applying it to the wrong end of the pay scale. Setting up a system to extract a few bucks from poorly paid teachers is a waste of time and money—let’s start with the well-paid government employees first, and score some real savings.  

—Becky O’Malley