Hungry for revenue, Berkeley is seeking to charge the University of California for millions in unpaid city services as it also plans to challenge the university’s Long Range Development Plan for being too massive and too vague. -more-
With a Berkeley Federation of Teachers (BFT) “work to rule” labor action scheduled to officially begin this week, meaning teachers refusing to work off the clock, the first effect Berkeley Unified School District parents and students are likely to see is a drop in homework. -more-
With a Berkeley Federation of Teachers (BFT) “work to rule” labor action scheduled to officially begin this week, meaning teachers refusing to work off the clock, the first effect Berkeley Unified School District parents and students are likely to see is a drop in homework. -more-
Berkeley’s insatiable appetite for new buildings is about to claim one of its most charming victims, a Gilman Street garden of earthly delights. -more-
Oakland Councilmember Jane Brunner has called for a city manager’s report to study transferring control of the much criticized Oakland Animal Shelter from police to civilian hands. -more-
Michael Cohen, 9, runs along the Berkeley pier on Monday afternoon. Cohen had come to play in the rain with his dad, brother and friends.. -more-
Another major player will drop a piece on the Laney land development chessboard this week when representatives of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District make a presentation to the Peralta Community College Trustees on plans to develop BART’s Lake Merritt Station. -more-
Two months after BUSD Board Director Joaquin Rivera said “it’s been a long time since we’ve heard anything positive” about the district’s budget, district board members have learned that they are going to wait a little bit longer—the district has revised the “positive” certification of last year’s budget back down to “qualified.” -more-
Glen Yasuda is asking city planning commissioners to put his plans for a new Berkeley Bowl on hold for a month while he prepares a new application. -more-
There’s a 350,000-pound spaceship headed straight for Berkeley, and the only questions left are where and when the big blue ball is going to land. -more-
City officials have called a Thursday night session to address what could become a major problem in Berkeley—“soft story” apartment buildings. -more-
I’m not an expert on movies that feature quadriplegics as protagonists, but recently there seems to be a glut on the market. I’m referring specifically to Million Dollar Baby and The Sea Inside, one a Hollywood blockbuster nominated for seven Academy Awards and the other a lesser known foreign film from the Spanish director Alejandro Amenabar. -more-
On Jan. 28, HBO aired a somber BBC film, “Dirty War,” about a hypothetical terrorist attack on central London. Using a small amount of Cesium wrapped in a few pounds of TNT, a group similar to Al Qaeda manages to render several miles of Central London uninhabitable, killing hundreds immediately and subjecting thousands more to the cancerous effects of a radiation dispersal device. -more-
PRO-ACTIVE, PRO-CHOICE -more-
During the November, 2004 election, both Gayle McLaughlin and Lynda Deschambault provided a crucial political breakthrough of sorts for the Green Party of California: Both women surprised local observers by becoming the first Green Party candidates ever to win municipal offices in Contra Costa County. -more-
Out of the darkness, Capt. Rachel Radcliff (Jan Zvaifler) steps, in fatigues with a Big Red One patch on her shoulder, briefcase in tow, wearily reeling off the dizzy details, in operations jargon and military time, of a journey to yet another Middle Eas tern backwater under fire. -more-
Nicole Galland is living the life of most writers’ dreams. Her first novel, The Fool’s Tale, was published last month and she has since signed a deal with her publisher for two more. -more-
We’ve all had the experience of rereading a book after many years and discovering a different book from the one we remember. The knock-out stunner has become a simplistic dud, or the ho-hum classic has been transformed into a profound statement touching our deepest hopes or fears. What’s actually changed, of course, are the times, and the reader’s experience. -more-
Like many things called “California,” California pepper trees aren’t. Schinus molle comes from the inter-Andean valleys of Peru. The tree, a broadleafed evergreen, is distributed all over the world now, used as a landscape and street tree in arid and semiarid areas. Those broad leaves aren’t so broad in appearance; they just aren’t quite conifer needles, but finely divided compound leaves like soft miniature palm fronds. The “peppers” are clusters of pink to red berries that persist long enough to be a decorative asset, and are small enough not to be too much of a mess when they do fall. -more-
The Berkeley Federation of Teachers union has announced what amounts to a work slow-down in response to Berkeley Unified School District’s latest contract proposal. -more-
All four colleges of the Peralta Community College District are in danger of losing their accreditation if deficiencies are not corrected within two years, according to a warning by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). -more-
Berkeley has $3.5 million more than it had anticipated, but $7.5 million less than it needs to get its recurring expenses in line with its recurring revenues, city officials reported at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. -more-
Oakland diocese officials, under tough questioning from a crowd numbering over 250 at Berkeley’s St. Joseph The Worker Church, this week clarified earlier statements that allegations of sexual misconduct against Pastor George Crespin were “credible.” -more-
A group of six African-American women who are Emeryville city employees have accused city management of discriminating against them based on their race. -more-
Plans for a new Berkeley Bowl at Ninth Street and Heinz Avenue hit a stumbling block at the last Planning Commission meeting and have forced the developer to submit a revised project application. -more-
BARRD, the RPA—and a capacity crowd in council chambers—want DTSC, UCB doesn’t, CSV wasn’t saying and the Richmond City Council’s working it out. -more-
The Oaks Theater hadn’t even officially changed hands Thursday when the projectionists’ union announced a labor action at the 1875 Solano Ave. movie house. -more-
Berkeley Unified School District Directors approved this week a revamping of Berkeley High’s Academic Choice program, as well as the high school’s fourth small school. -more-
Zoning Adjustments Board members gave their final approval to building plans that will transform a landmarked automotive showroom into a Buddhist studies center. -more-
Buddhist references to Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown tend to get stale from overuse. Still, you just can’t help saying that it’s karma when the man who sat on his hands and did nothing while the Oakland public schools were being seized by the state is now in danger of having his upcoming state attorney general candidacy put in some difficulty by a threatened federal court takeover of the Oakland Police Department. -more-
Dale Smith’s column in the Feb. 11 Daily Planet grossly misrepresents Ecole Bilingue’s position on the proposed Berkeley Bowl expansion by implying that EB is trying to “derail” the project. -more-
We need to create a new Voter’s Internet Party. With every passing day it is becoming painfully more obvious to all but the most fanatically partisan of us that the vast majority of the senators and representatives from both of the two major political parties are irrevocably corrupted by the unseemly influence of major corporations and the wealthy ruling elites. Therefore, we, the vast majority, who want clean honest open government, need to form a new political party that will serve our interests, and not those of the ruling wealthy corporate elites. Therefore, may I suggest that we create a new Voter’s Internet Party to honor the ideal of a traditional count-all-the-votes democracy. -more-
I can’t suffer in silence anymore! I know there are worse problems in this world—the stupid war, tsunami disaster, starvation, AIDS, etc. etc., but right now I MUST say something about the stupid, even dangerous new buses AC Transit has unleashed on our streets. -more-
When I think of my great-grandfather, Walter Gordon, two memories come to mind. One of them was when I was in the fourth grade attending Malcolm X Elementary School in Berkeley. Our class had planned a Grandparents Night and invited all of our grandparents to attend a potluck dinner and celebration. Before the event I had proudly told my teacher that my great-grandfather was the first black police officer in Berkeley. -more-
The 11th Other Minds Festival will present programs of new and unusual music, Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 24-26, at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center—including a centennial tribute to 20th-century political composer Marc Blitzstein (best-known for his pro-labor 1937 musical, staged by Orson Welles, The Cradle Will Rock), and a 60th birthday salute to composer, long-time music director of KPFA-fm and co-founder of Other Minds—Charles Amirkhanian. -more-
Upon the death of Arthur Miller the American media began a steady repetition of the theme that has always been utilized to define and eviscerate the significance of Miller’s work: As the San Francisco Chronicle typically intoned in prose designed both to eulogize and pacify the power of Miller’s work, he “exposed the flaws in the fabric of the American dream.” A great many writers have condemned the American dream and it is not completely false to hold that Miller also exposed its pathology. But it is, nevertheless, extremely misleading. -more-
Unless you’re a graduating fifth grader, it’s hard to find a compelling reason to leave Oxford Elementary School. -more-
A reader’s letter in this issue chastises the Daily Planet’s business side for a tongue-in-cheek headline on the latest house ad: “In Greater Berkeley, almost everyone who counts reads the Planet.” The same question was raised in the newsroom by a staffer who thought that the line might seem elitist to some, as it in fact did to this reader. -more-
We’ve gotten a lot of mail in the past few weeks about the Berkeley Public Library’s plans for introduction of radio frequency identification devices (RFID) in a time frame close to proposed staff reductions. Library managers contend that there’s not a causal link; Library Director Jackie Griffin sent the Planet a copy of a letter to someone who raised the issue in which she said “the reduction in hours is a financial reality given our budget deficit as is the reduction in staff. Reducing the staff is not caused by RFID nor was the decision made to purchase RFID taken with reducing staff as a goal.” On the other hand, the initial technology buy for RFID is at least half a million dollars, probably more, and the money has to come from somewhere. Proponents suggest that implementing this kind of mechanized system, which enables readers to check out their own books, will save money by reducing workers’ compensation costs, but they haven’t supplied data which backs up this hypothesis. It’s not surprising that there are still some skeptics out there. -more-
