Features

Letters to the Editor

Friday January 28, 2005

GRAFFITI 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In reference to Sherry Smith’s Jan. 25 “Arts District Graffiti” letter: My hunch is that most of the poets who attended the events on Addison Street would be embarrassed to have such an overt violation of the First Amendment performed to protect their delicate sensibilities. 

Bonnie Hughes 

Member, Civic Arts  

Commission 

 

• 

THE GOVERNOR 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Our charming celebrity-governor is leaving nothing to our imagination as he continues to demonstrate his mental-challenges. Name-calling, of course, seems to be his favorite way to avoid mature intelligent discourse, and his continued focus on the “healthiness” of his distorted musculature further demonstrates his displaced values. I shudder to think our youth may be influenced by the vulgarity of these behaviors. 

Gerta Farber 

 

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OAKLAND CURFEW 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Stop Jerry Brown before he can hurt again! 

Jerry’s newest idea of curfews adds to the weight of my conviction that it is long time this man retires!! Curfews are the beginning of martial law. “First they came for the parolees and I didn’t speak up, next they came for the teenagers and I didn’t speak up, next they came for the poor...” Curfews are a terrible idea. Jerry Brown has consistently acted to hurt the poor and under advantaged in Oakland since he was elected to office on a platform promising the opposite. He has hurt school children, advertised for Auto Row without supporting real local businesses, shut down art and music venues and in general caters to rich “other” people while hurting the people who live in Oakland. Look at his face. There is no light in it. I suggest Jerry quickly resign from politics and find a nice retreat to try to save his own soul.  

Tierra Dulce 

 

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PERFORMANCE PAY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The governor and others are pushing the view that the same way of rewarding performance in business and industry should be applied to teaching. It stands to reason, they say, that good teachers should be paid more than average teachers.  

In the course of 30-plus years in the classroom I found out early that teaching is an art, the art of connecting with minds, the art of doing whatever you can to get students to want to learn. I found out that every mind is different as I’m sure doctors discover that every body is different. In this regard teaching is cousin to all art and like doctoring, mutatis mutandis, calls for the application of means to ends. Seen in this light a teacher’s performance is no more measured by students’ test scores than a doctor’s performance is measured in a battery of physiological tests. 

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo 

 

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LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I just would suggest that those “Not in My Name” folks either get with the program and unite behind our government the way we always do or leave the country. If you choose to do so you can get free tickets at www.sendthempacking.com. We will be glad to oblige. 

Steve Pardee 

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MARIN AVENUE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a frequent motorist on Marin Avenue and an avid cyclist, I read with great interest the many opinions regarding how best to mark the lanes on this important thoroughfare. I really don’t know what would be best for traffic and pedestrian safety, but cyclists should be clear about one thing—don’t ride on Marin, even if they paint bike lanes!  

Riding a bike on a thoroughfare makes sense only if there are no realistic alternatives. A quick look at a map reveals several alternate, quiet streets running parallel to Marin. I have ridden on them dozens of times, each time with very little auto traffic. 

Cyclists, steer clear of Marin and give yourselves a more peaceful ride, and your loved ones piece of mind. 

Andrew J. Dhuey 

 

• 

A COMMITMENT  

TO SAFETY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

On Jan. 25, the Berkeley City Council courageously voted 8 to 1 to join Albany in the experiment to reconfigure Marin Avenue. This vote reflects their commitment to the safety of school kids, bicyclists, and all those no longer able to dash for their lives as they try to cross Marin.  

This is a vote for safety over convenience. Although the engineering studies showed that the additional time to drive west from Colusa to San Pablo Avenue would range from nothing to about a minute, some opponents from the hills lobbied to prevent the change, fearful they would be slowed on Marin, and others feared traffic might be diverted onto their side streets.  

After years of study, it became clear that re-engineering the street was the best solution for safety and livability. The Berkeley City Council carefully examined these engineering studies showing how this change would slow Marin traffic without any significant negative impacts (no diverting traffic; no significant delays).  

It took courage to vote for safety in the face of these fears. The children of our Berkeley/Albany community can be proud of the Berkeley City Council for choosing wisely. 

Robert C. Cheasty 

Marin Avenue Neighbors for Safety 

Former Mayor of Albany 

 

 

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ALIENATING VOTERS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

On Jan. 25 the Berkeley City Council approved the Marin Avenue reconfiguration. Councilmember Olds made the lone stand for righteousness when she opposed this Albany Boondoggle. At the end of the meeting Mayor Bates giggled that the council had just alienated 10,000 people. I am one of the alienated and I will not forget this. The council was not aware of the potential opposition to this measure until the Jan. 18 hearing, but this was something it should have considered. The entrenched Bicycle Curia in the city comprised of the Transportation Commission, city staff and the consultants must be blamed for this. Their treachery in their dealings with the City of Albany lead the council as well as others into thinking this was a “slam dunk.” It was not and the semi secrecy in which the process was conducted was partly to blame. It was difficult to follow the doings of the city council and much less the Transportation Commission and who paid any attention to the backwater, Albany.  

I would say that this is the last bicycle project in the city, just to teach the Bicycle Curia a lesson. But, as they are so entrenched and since their policy is enshrined in the General Plan, I have little hope of this. Speaking of teaching a lesson, if this project turns out badly and I suspect it will, if any councilomembers who support it run for a higher office, like mayor or state assembly, I will oppose them as they have failed the litmus test. I will try to do what I can to get the 10,000 alienated to vote as a block against any such candidates. I can imagine the campaign signs on Marin, “__________GAVE YOU THIS TRAFFIC JAM” or “ANYBODY BUT _________” (or maybe I should form a PAC. How does teachthemalesson.org sound?). Remember, council tax plans failed, in much part, due to the lack of support in this area.  

Mayor Bates says that he wants to remain a good neighbor to Albany. I want to remind him that Albany has been a bad neighbor to us and the council did not stand up for us. It became partners with their fellow plutocrats in Albany in this Machiavellian subterfuge. Once this boondoggle is established there is little chance it can be reversed since there is no money identified to accomplish this. This had better work.  

Frederick O. Hebert  

 

• 

KACH PARTY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I believe that your characterization of the Kach party in Israel as “anti-Arab” or “virulently anti-Arab” is erroneous. I was intimately involved in Kach from the beginning. The Kach party points out that it is impossible for an Arab Moslem to be a good citizen of a Jewish state, since he (erroneously) sees the state as having robbed him of his land. Allowing people to be citizens of a state when they actively wish for and support the destruction of said state is suicide. No country would allow such people to stay in their borders, yet Israel does. Kach is against this suicidal policy. 

Kach also points out that the concept of an open secular democracy a la Jefferson, as opposed to a democracy of Jews only is unworkable. To have an open secular democracy such as the current State of Israel purports to be, one must accept that any group of citizens may become the majority, including Arab Moslems. However, the current state has repeatedly stated that they will not accept an Arab Moslem majority. This is akin to apartheid, and is nothing less than hypocrisy.  

Kach rejects the hypocrisy and says that citizenship in a Jewish state should be limited to Jews (duh!). It is important to keep in mind that whereas Judaism is a religion, the Jews are not a religious group. If a Jew even practices a different religion, he is still Jewish. Jews are a people with a land, a language, a legal code, and a religion. Thus they are a nationality, and it is logical that they may limit citizenship in their state to those of their nationality. 

Avraham Sonenthal 

 

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STOP PAYING TAXES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Since Mr. Bush was re-elected, many have been lamenting. Surely, people should express their frustration about the U.S. regime and Mr. Bush. Also, we witnessed that there were protesters who marched in D.C. on the inauguration day. I believe that holding signs and demonstrations against Bush’s regime will not change anything. Those who really believe that Mr. Bush and his cabinet should not be running the country, should stop filing taxes. Yes, it is possible to make this regime bankrupt by not sending taxes. Perhaps, this is the only means to dislodge an illegitimate regime. Your forefathers did so: Henry David Thoreau refused to pay taxes to oppose the U.S. war against Mexico. 

Ajit Indrajit 

 

• 

WEST BERKELEY BOWL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The proposed West Berkeley Bowl is the sort of freeway-oriented development that environmentalist oppose because it generates more long-distance automobile trips, more energy consumption, and more air pollution—the same reason we oppose Wal-Marts and big-box retailers.  

The proposed 55,000-square-foot market is often compared with the existing 42,000-square-foot Berkeley Bowl, but the existing Bowl itself is a large store. It makes more sense to compare the proposed market with traditional-size supermarkets, such as Whole Foods, Andronicos, and north Shattuck Safeway, which typically have 27,000 or 28,000 square feet—only half the size of the proposed West Berkeley Bowl.  

The original proposal for a 27,000-square-foot West Berkeley Bowl would have been a traditional-size, neighborhood-serving supermarket. The expanded proposal would draw cars from the entire I-80 corridor, and it should be rejected.  

I write as a smart growth advocate who has supported virtually every major development proposed in downtown Berkeley and on transit corridors during the last 15 years (with the sole exception of a proposed drive-through Rite-Aid in downtown, which I worked against).  

It is time for Berkeley to move beyond the usual debates between people who blindly support all development and people who blindly oppose all development. We should learn the lesson that the smart growth movement is teaching to communities all across the nation: We should support pedestrian- and transit-oriented development, like most of the new development in downtown and on University Avenue, and we should oppose environmentally destructive freeway-oriented development, like the proposed West Berkeley Bowl.  

Charles Siegel  

 

• 

FIREPLACES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was delighted to read in the Jan 18-20 Daily Planet that the Community Environmental Advisory Commission (CEAC) may make the use of some fireplaces illegal. Matthew Artz covered the pollution aspect of the problem thoroughly, and I thank you him for that. However, there is another important aspect to fireplace use that eludes most people and is important in deciding whether to burn wood, and that is efficient home heating. 

Most people think that burning wood will warm this house, but in fact the opposite is true. How can this be? How can a fireplace cool the house? Most homes are warmed by sun coming in the windows and the refrigerator pumping heat out of the food and into the kitchen. When you light a fire, the room air goes up the chimney with the smoke, and colder exterior air enters through cracks around the doors and windows. Thus, in the end, burning in a fireplace cools the house. 

Instead of burning a log, why not put candles in the fireplace and use a hot water bottle or an electric blanket to create a warm spot in a cozy chair? Your house will be warmer, your PG&E bill will be lower, and the air will be cleaner. There is no reason to retrofit the fireplace or to spend any money doing anything fancy. A few candles are cheap and easy and give that sense of a warm hearth without all the problems associated with burning wood. 

I applaud the CEAC and hope they follow though in their effort to make the air healthier for all to breathe. 

Sal Levinson 

 

• 

PRO-BOWL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am a resident of Berkeley, living a block away (Eighth and Grayson) from the proposed site of the West Berkeley Bowl development. I have attended at least three neighborhood meetings beginning in December 2003, discussing with Kava Massih (the architect), the owners and neighbors, their plans and concerns. I’ve found the dialogue to be honest, responsive and reasonable with the principle goal of addressing all of our needs. I resent the fact that a couple of individuals have misrepresented that process, denied its existence and diminished both parties involvement in the planning process. The meetings I attended showed overwhelming support for the project at every phase, including the expanded (current) size. The neighborhood clearly voiced concerns over traffic flow and parking but approached it with an open mind, requesting that the city and developers mitigate these issues satisfactorily.  

Now I read in the Daily Planet how the project has been created behind closed doors and morphed into a regional superstore. I hear inflammatory terms like “big box store” thrown around, and threats of an urban nightmare about to befall us. Are they talking about the same project I’ve been considering over the past year? I won’t argue about how this fits or doesn’t fit into the much talked about West Berkeley Master Plan. I’ll speak as a neighbor to the project and a resident of Berkeley. I am quite willing to give up a good portion of our deserted neighborhood quietude in exchange for the ability to walk to a quality market and green grocer to shop. No longer would I have to drive across town to a grocery shop or frequent a San Pablo liquor store for a quart of milk. The residents of West and South Berkeley have been in dire need of a supermarket for years, and now we have the opportunity to have a Berkeley-owned, world-renown greengrocer/market prepared to develop not only a store, but a holistic pharmacy and cafe. The Berkeley Bowl would bring much needed fresh food and produce to a community in great need. After shelter, is there anything more fundamental to the quality of life than fresh food? In this day and age of processed food, corporate ownership, genetically engineered produce—shouldn’t we herald the Berkeley Bowl for offering a healthy antidote to these forces? As a resident of Berkeley, I have to look beyond my own selfish concerns—whether they support (which is the case) or oppose this development, and look to what is good for the community and city at large. And, if I objectively consider the greater good, than the Berkeley Bowl project must succeed. And, I encourage the developers, the city, the residents and neighborhood businesses to work together to solve the valid issues we face.  

How can we as a community deny the right for families access to healthy food? Are we dooming future generations to a diet of fast food and liquor store groceries because we could not solve the traffic flow? Because of parking? Because it might, just might, in the imagination of some, open the door for a chain mega-store? Need I list the other tangible benefits?—tax revenue for the economically strapped city budget, over 150 jobs created and the decongestion of the other Berkeley Bowl location. I would argue that the stakes are too high not to work together to make this project succeed.  

Cameron Woo 

 

• 

WHO’S NEXT? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

If you think the Bush administration is going to just stop with Iraq you are kidding yourself. As Bush has made it very clear that we are going to spread “democracy” around the world and that we are not going to leave Iraq until the mission is complete, a mission that most likely includes more then just Iraq. Recently if has been leaked out of the Pentagon that plans and preparations are being made to invade Iran sometime in the near future, already special forces have secretly gone into Iran during this past year. And we are already hearing similar accusations toward Iran that the Bush administration gave for invading Iraq. So the stage is being set, but Iran is no Iraq and if we think we are having problems in Iraq well multiply that by ten folds with Iran as they are no pushover to say the least. So let’s not kid ourselves, as most people though Hitler was done after he invaded Austria, if Bush does invade Iran this could possibly lead to world war three. Also Bush believes by “winning” the last election that he has a mandate and that the American people are supporting what he has done so far in Iraq regardless that no WMDs were ever found. At this point the only thing that maybe able to stop this madness is when enough people in this country take to the streets like we did during the Vietnam war and demand for it to stop or else! Otherwise it may not and then there will be no one else to blame but ourselves as we cannot claim we did not know. 

Thomas Husted 

Alameda 

 

• 

SAN LUIS OBISPO 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

What happens in San Luis Obispo, a small town of 25,000 taken over by 18,000 CalPoly students every fall, winter, and spring? The town shows indifference to all the investments and positive groups that thrive at CalPoly trying to make the community a better place, a place to survive and flourish. However, this year, they have shown resentment and disdain and have acted out by canceling the famous Mardi Gras scheduled for the week of Feb. 8, after a riot broke out last year in which police hoarded up festival goers like cows forcing them into apartments and then shooting tear gas and bean bags at angry participants. They have threatened the festival-goers this year before they even hit the streets with 400 extra police and security. Calvary units will be in place, and rumors go around about how partiers plan to bring weapons to protect themselves in case things get out of hand. Flyers and ads have been posted stating that “visitors are not welcome” in San Luis Obispo this Mardi Gras, however, being a small town with many private businesses placed on 7 o’clock evening curfews to shut down and no fast food drive-through, the town relies on tourist to support the economy.  

Rather than thriving off a possible great reputation as SLO being the Mardi Gras of the West, the community and authorities plan on being as stubborn as ever by threatening our basic rights. We have been warned to not walk on the streets and our civil liberties are being violated. Now it is time to warn the authorities of San Luis Obispo that the people want their festivities. 

Shaun Haugen 

San Luis Obispo 

 

• 

CROSSING TO SAFETY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a recent arrival from the crowded and yet pedestrian-friendly cities of the East Coast, I’d like to share something I was taught on my second day of Kindergarten. 

How to Cross the Street 

1) Approach the curb at the crosswalk 

2) Stop. Plant both feet. 

3) Look left. Remain standing still. 

4) Look right. Remain standing still. 

5) Look left again. Proceed if safe. 

6) Face oncoming traffic at all times, seek eye contact with other road users. 

7) Move quickly, do not hesitate or get distracted. 

This lesson would have been useful to the woman who walked straight into me this morning as I paused before crossing Shattuck. She was about to step into four lanes of busy traffic with her eyes fixed on a book and her ears blocked by headphones. I don’t think she appreciated that I prevented her from doing something quite reckless (and, as I was raised, quite inconsiderate). 

An urban area is a complex system of thousands of people, all with places to go and things to do. Reframing the debate in terms of responsibilities, rather than rights, might put the problems in their proper perspective. 

Matthew Reagan 

Oakland 

 

• 

BROWER CENTER COVERAGE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Your coverage of the proposed David Brower Center’s praise by Berkeley’s Design Review Committee omitted criticism delivered at the same hearing that your reporter may have attended. One reason for this omission may have been the odd impression your reporter had—or he has a brilliant sense of humor—in your Jan. 25-27 edition: “No parking is planned for the Brower Center, in keeping with the organization’s pro-bike and mass transit agenda.” 

Wow, I love that! If only it were true. It’s more like, “Enviros, start your engines!” The amount of parking on the site could almost double, from 132 spaces at present. On the architect’s website as of Jan. 26, the claim was that only underground parking would be available, but the plan is for above ground pollutionmobiles to be accommodated as well. The architect’s website also had David Brower down as the “founder” of the Sierra Club, which the Club was amused by when I visited yesterday at its headquarters for an all-day session of the Campaign Against the Plastic Plague. Perhaps one of the lead nonprofits in the “David Brower Memorial Parking Garage” scheme, the Center for Ecoliteracy, could educate the architect as to who the hell John Muir was. 

Planet readers can see a full report on the Brower Center and the criticisms, with some nice pictures of Dave himself, at the culturechange.org website (top of homepage). The report was sent out this week to over ten thousand subscribers of the Culture Change Letter, and the feedback has been emotional, such as from the architecture review editor of The Nation magazine, Jane Holtz Kay: “This is @#$%^&*() unbelievable. I will have to put it in my global warming book, or something. It sounds like your basic ‘Let all ye who enter here be damned.’” Mark Robinowitz, of Oilempire.us, wrote in: “The irony is overwhelming...” 

Wait, perhaps your reporter has a crystal ball about the “no parking,” and the city and the establishment environmental groups will soon see the light. More and more of us are crying out: Change this plan regarding designing a future for more global warming, oil wars and car injuries/fatalities, and instead honor David Brower as we all know he should be honored! 

Jan Lundberg 

Publisher, Culture Change 

 

• 

GIVE IT A REST 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I would be much more inclined to give some thought to the meetings between the mayor and Seagate developers if Zelda Bronstein’s name wasn’t associated with the story. Has anyone else noticed that Ms. Bronstein’s name appears regularly in news reports concerning opposition to development projects or requests for commercial expansion. This morning her name is in the Daily Cal story on the Berkeley Bowl, she is against the project. She was also against the expansion of Jeremy’s the clothing store on College Avenue. The Seagate project has gone through all the required levels of our city government checks and balances. Perhaps Ms. Bronstein could try and see that not all development is bad for our city....give it a rest! 

Alex Warren 

 

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LIBRARY FUNDING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Your article on the Berkeley Public Library’s cutbacks mentioned a shocking fact: The city’s General Fund contributes $0 to the library. 

The library tax was originally posed as a supplement to ensure longer hours and more books. The General Fund should pay for a baseline of service. 

What next? Will the Police Department be entirely funded by a special tax? 

William J. Flynnô