Features

TEN COMMANDMENTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I have no quarrel with the Ten Commandments being displayed in public areas, as long as Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism etc., are also represented along side them. 

Carol Beth 

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DANGEROUS INTERSECTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

At the intersection where Adeline and Shattuck split, the pedestrian sign says “GO” at the same time that oncoming traffic has a green light. Eventually someone is going to killed or maimed. I’ve written and called about it to various city officials and never got a response. Perhaps the Planet would go to the intersection and experience this risky matter for itself. And then a life saving editorial might be in order.  

Robert Blau 

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DECRIMINALIZE DRUGS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Don Link’s comments (“Column Misrepresented North Oakland Shooting,” Daily Planet, March 11) on North Oakland crime, emphasizes that “being able to work with police to eliminate street level crime without fear of retaliation” is the “most basic fact” in solving this ongoing violence. 

We go on ignoring that the actual basic fact is the elimination of a profit motif in these drug crimes. If these drugs are not federally decriminalized, it is a fantasy to go on seeking other solutions to the nightmare—spending billions on more policing and more incarceration—rather than on treatment, jobs, and education! 

Gerta Farber 

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AC TRANSIT BUSES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

So AC Transit’s Van Hool busses have “low-floor entry” and other “passenger-oriented features.”  

Big whoo. Once past that entry, you are faced with a honking big step up to the seats. At least with the old high-entry buses, you could do your climbing while the bus was stationary. And when you want to signal for a stop, you may have to negotiate that step again in order to find one of the poorly located buttons. The old pull-cord system may have been low-tech, but it worked from every seat in the bus.  

Letters like AC Transit Director of Marketing and Communications Jaimie Levin’s (Daily Planet, March 8-10) make me want to require by statute that AC Transit wonks actually ride a bus on a daily basis. Go visit the trenches and hear the constant complaints from both riders and drivers. Had this been the case to begin with, there would have been no need to survey 500 passengers on these elements—you would have recognized the flaws on your own.  

By the way, I have ridden in Van Hool busses in London (a city that understands mass transit), and yes, they do have a low-floor entry similar to AC busses; however, with the exception of the legendary and traditional double-deckers, they do not require an additional step to reach seats near the doors. No pull-cords, however. Even London fell for those dumb buttons.  

Nina J. Hodgson  

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TAX BASE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Matthew Artz’s article about Volvo rolling on (“City Looks to Boost Tax Base as Auto Dealer Announces Departure,” Daily Planet, March 11-14) tells us that City Manager Phil Kamlarz states clearly and bluntly what has been too long ignored: Increasing revenue from business taxes is pivotal to preserve city services. And this flash of rationality is endorsed by Mayor Bates’ wish to create commercial zones along major traffic corridors. The most obvious candidate may be the foot of Gilman, where everything west of Seventh Street is a wasteland of shanties and scrapyards. This freeway access could be a bustling hub of car dealerships and big-box retail. 

Artz then states another obvious truth: “Increasing commercial development in West Berkeley is sure to meet opposition from artists and industrialists who fear that encroaching retail shops will drive up rent and force them out of Berkeley.” Well—maybe they don’t belong in Berkeley. The corollary of that statement is that all business owners and homeowners in Berkeley, through exorbitant taxation, are subsidizing the low rents of those artists and industrialists. Maybe art studios and little industrial job shops belong in Hercules? Mendocino? Somewhere affordable? 

Jerry Landis 

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PESTICIDES IN OAKLAND 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The parks are Oakland’s crown jewel. This time of year they are lush with vegetation which includes banks covered with ivy and ferns cascading down to the roaring creeks fresh with the seasonal runoff. The smell of springtime takes your breath away, the promise of yet another spring filled with wildflowers, song birds, butterflies and all the wildlife that inhabits this majestic garden. 

City dwellers will flock to the park on weekends for family outings, weddings, company picnics and other recreational socializing. Along Joaquin Miller Park the kids will play in the newly formed playground and soon the familiar goats will be back gorging on weeds. 

Please help keep the parks free of pesticides. Don’t let politicians mess the delicate ecology that took decades to develop in spite of all the foot traffic. Don’t let them tell you that because EBMUD, et al, does it that it is safe and harmless for us to use herbicides. Don’t let them turn this into another city fiasco. 

Tori Thompson 

Oakland 

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TURTLES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thanks to Joe Eaton for his informative article on the plight of turtles, both locally and internationally (“Climate Change Creates Survival Crisis for Turtles,” Daily Planet, March 8-10). As Mr. Eaton noted, the western pond turtle is California’s only native freshwater turtle species, and continues to lose ground for a number reasons.  

A major problem are the many live animal food markets in Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and elsewhere, where live turtles and frogs by the thousands are sold for human consumption, and kept in horrendous conditions. None are native to California, and when bought and released into local waters (a frequent but illegal occurrence), they displace and prey upon our native wildlife. (I have a photo of an American bullfrog eating a baby western pond turtle.) Ten years ago an Oakland importer testified before the State Fish and Game Commission that she imports four tons of these frogs every week, all commercially raised in Taiwain. That’s about a million frogs annually And a Fish and Game warden told me that probably 15,000 turtles are passing through the Bay Area markets every week, though no one is really keeping count. And for what? Soup and superstition: Many of those who eat the turtles believe they’re gaining the animals’ wisdom and longevity. Others believe turtle meat to be an aphrodisiac. 

The non-natives also introduce foreign diseases and parasites when released into the California environment. In 1995 the San Francisco SPCA had 15-19 necropsies performed on the market frogs and turtles, and routinely found E. coli, salmonella, pasturella (all potentially fatal in humans), plus giardia, blood parasites, even one case of malaria. State health codes require that any diseased or parasitized animals sold for human consumption must either be destroyed or returned to point of origin, yet the sales continue unabated. Safeway would not be allowed to sell these sick and diseased animals, yet the markets get a free ride. How come? 

Worse, all of the market turtles are taken from the wild in other states, depleting local populations. Adding insult to injury, many of the market animals are routinely butchered while fully conscious. Anyone doubting this should tour the markets, then demand that changes be made to protect the animals, the environment and the public health. 

Eric Mills 

Coordinator, Action for Animals 

Oakland 

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MARIN AVENUE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Recent articles and letters have expressed concerns that the Berkeley City Council was somehow in error when it agreed to the upcoming reconfiguration of traffic on Marin Avenue. The council, it is claimed, did not take into consideration the traffic jams, the increased difficulty for pedestrians trying to get across the avenue, the added pollution, or the wasted extra 30 seconds to get to San Pablo Avenue, etc., etc. 

What seems to get lost in this concern is the fact that it was the Albany City Council that made this decision, not Berkeley. 

The Albany reconfiguration of one lane rather than two in each direction from San Pablo Avenue eastwards is 17 blocks long, ending at Tulare Avenue. This was not another Berkeley idea to remake the world. The problem that the Berkeley City Council had to decide was what to do about the five blocks that go through Berkeley to The Alameda. If Berkeley voted to leave things as they are, west-bound traffic would have to suddenly go from two lanes to one lane. People who have experienced this nightmare on the freeways did not think it to be the best option on Marin. The council reluctantly voted to continue the Albany pattern though our short stretch to maintain a unified pattern for motorists. 

So those who are critical of the whole idea should better aim their arrows toward the powers-that-be in Albany. Methinks our Berkeley councilmembers should be spared these particular arrows (and slings) of local outrage. 

Victor Herbert  

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CLASS SIZE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Recent letters and comments from Superintendent Michele Lawrence and School Board directors would have us believe that they want nothing more than to compensate Berkeley’s teachers competitively and maintain low class sizes for students. They just need more money from Sacramento, and they will immediately devote those revenues to the community’s consistently expressed priorities of competitive compensation for teachers and low class sizes. But what in their recent behavior should lead us to have confidence in that “promise”? 

This past year the School Board asked Berkeley voters to tax themselves additionally with Measure B in order to (among other things) lower class size. Now that the community has selflessly answered that request, the School Board refuses to guarantee class size maximums and is, instead, trying to sell us class size “averages.” Basic mathematics tells one that those are two very different things. For example, a class size “average” of 26 for fourth grade could give us four different classrooms with enrollments of 24, 24, 24, and a last class of 32. I don’t think that is what Berkeley voters want for their money. That is why the BFT is insisting that the board make good on their promise to teachers, students, and the community with guaranteed class size maximums. 

Five years ago, when the BFT negotiated its last contract, the district had quite a bit of increased revenue available from the state. At that time, however, the School Board still did not choose to make competitive teacher compensation a priority for those funds without strong and forceful “encouragement” from the community. The BFT had to resort to the same “work to rule” action we are currently in the midst of, and the wonderful Berkeley community had to come out in droves to demand fair treatment for their teachers. Only after those “demands” was the board willing to devote increased revenues to teacher salaries. 

When Michele Lawrence first came to our district she often repeated, “We can have anything we want, but not everything we want.” No one who has managed even a small household budget can disagree with that common sense approach. Priorities must be set. Our School Board has set a priority of attracting and maintaining a highly qualified superintendent by paying a $185,000 yearly salary. This is about $50,000 more than superintendents in other districts with a comparable number of students. In addition to this, the district supports a housing subsidy for the superintendent. I, myself, have no problem with the idea of offering a highly competitive salary in order to attract and maintain the “best and brightest” personnel to work for our students. My question is why funding this philosophy is a priority at the administrative level, but not for the teachers and other personnel working most closely with and most directly delivering education and care to Berkeley’s children. The current Board proposal is to give teachers no raise, but ask them to shoulder increased medical insurance payments - essentially a pay cut.  

Indeed, we cannot have “everything we want,” but Berkeley teachers, students, parents, and community wonder which priorities (beyond the superintendent’s salary) could be more important than making good on Measure B’s promise of small class size and not insulting and demoralizing teachers by cutting their total compensation.  

Marguerite Talley-Hughes 

Berkeley teacher and resident