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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
Berkeley Planning Commissioners Wednesday voted to give developer Avi Nevo their tentative approval of his plans to convert two apartment projects into condominiums. -more-
Berkeley schools will apparently see the effects of the passage of Measure B sooner than expected. -more-
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. -more-
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.” -more-
(Names have been changed to prevent me from embarrassing and being therewith scorned by my otherwise adoring children.) -more-
Firefighters rushed to the vacant home at 2828 Fulton St. Monday evening for the second time in as many weeks. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
Thai Garlic Restaurant -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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). -more-
Planning commissioners and members of the Zoning Adjustments Board will face full agendas this week for their first meetings of the new year. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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. -more-
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? -more-
