Berkeley Cancels Pedal Express Contract Despite Protests By MATTHEW ARTZ
A Berkeley-based bike messenger cooperative appears to be the latest organization to suffer from Berkeley’s budgetary woes. -more-
A Berkeley-based bike messenger cooperative appears to be the latest organization to suffer from Berkeley’s budgetary woes. -more-
They came. They saw. They scoffed. -more-
After two hung juries punctuated by appeals all the way up to the Supreme Court, the third “pepper spray trial” finally brought resolution, with a victory of sorts, for the plaintiffs. -more-
South Berkeley’s “Flying Cottage,” the controversial three-story pop-up at 3045 Shattuck Ave., seems to be headed for a soft landing—with only a question of parking yet to be decided. -more-
Electro-shock, unmuzzled dogs, extreme temperatures, sexual humiliation, sodomy—U.S. torture didn’t begin or end with the abuse portrayed in shocking photographs coming out of Abu Ghraib one year ago, nor has U.S. torture been restricted to prisons on foreign soil, according to speakers at Thursday’s Teach-in on Torture, sponsored by UC Berkeley’s Ethnic Studies, Asian Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies departments. -more-
For those whose exposure to hip hop and rap is the occasional video seen while flipping channels, or a gold-toothed face on a magazine at the supermarket checkout counter, the scene at Laney College this weekend would have been unrecognizable. Two rap legends showed up at the third annual Malcolm X Consciousness Conference with no entourages in sight, and an emphasis on think-think rather than bling-bling. -more-
Barring further appeals, the long-running battle that has pitted neighbors against would-be neighbors in a contest over views from the Berkeley hills has come to an end. -more-
Commemorating the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi Germany death camps, Berkeley will hold its third annual ceremony Friday to honor Holocaust Remembrance Day. -more-
A Berkeley police lieutenant who ordered officers to ticket motorists who honked in support of a late night union rally last summer did not abuse his discretion, a three-member panel of the Police Review Commission ruled Thursday. -more-
Just months before its new synagogue is set to debut, another rift has opened between Berkeley’s largest Jewish congregation and its soon-to-be neighbors. -more-
A participant in last Tuesday’s rally of City of Berkeley union employees has informed the Daily Planet that some employees attended during their regular break time, and that her division staggered attendance in order to keep their desks covered. -more-
If you are a Monty Python fan, you will remember the famous restaurant scene from The Meaning of Life. In it a fawning waiter begs his grossly over-weight client, who has just finished a meal of obscene proportions, to have “just one thin mint.” The diner’s gut is already strained to the breaking point, and when he finally ingests the mint, his body explodes. -more-
Ralph needed a shower chair. The old one we’d purchased five years ago was broken. A wheel had fallen off and a metal support rod snapped. I had to get a new one ASAP. -more-
Electrical Blaze Damages Church -more-
In all of the arguing of which cuts to make and which projects to fund, it’s easy to lose sight of the long-range effects of cuts in service and in the commissions which oversee them. -more-
Last week the Daily Planet published an article by Zelda Bronstein regarding parking in Downtown Berkeley. Unlike Ms. Bronstein I am a resident of the downtown and I have worked downtown for the past nine years. -more-
“Nazis are bad; nuns are good.” That was my friend’s synopsis of The Sound of Music. The sentence could just as easily summarize much of the popular -more-
Is the Diebold Corporation, famous for hackable, paperless voting machines, trying to strangle election reform in Berkeley? Or are they merely greedy, lazy and incompetent? -more-
To a packed audience that over flowed into the corridors of an embarrassingly small venue, Antanas Mockus, the innovative two-term mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, spoke April 15 at the conference on “Violence and the Americas,” hosted by the Center for Latin American Studies. His talk on “Law Enforcement and Citizenship Building” focused largely on enlisting collective social disapproval and participatory stake holding—instead of legal penalties—to help shape civic behavior. While obviously proud of the reduction in violence experienced in the unruly capital city during his tenure, the ever humble and self-mocking former mayor gave only a hint of how his creative strategies have empowered Bogotá’s 7 million inhabitants—and how these ideas might be applied to beleaguered urban areas here in the US. -more-
LONDON—As U.S. and British forces entered Baghdad on April 9, 2003, and the Saddam Hussein regime crumbled, those who had been driven underground by Hussein’s rule began to breathe again. From Syria, Britain, Scandinavia and elsewhere, exiled trade union radicals began to make the long journey home. -more-
“The plain fact is that we are members one of another and that we are not living in accordance with the nature of things—That is, we are not living in accordance with the facts, if we think only our own thoughts, and sit nowhere ever except upon the lonesome throne of our own outlook,” University of California President Benjamin Ide Wheeler, told Berkeley students in 1907. -more-
The Eastenders Repertory Company is back on the boards in the East Bay at the Ashby Stage, after producing last year’s One Hundred Years of Political Theater at the Eureka Theater across the Bridge, with the premiere of WWJD? Some Good Old Medieval Morality Play Motor Oil, by San Jose playwright Scott Munson, running alternately with Eastenders Founding Artistic Director Charles Polly’s new play, A Knight’s Escape. -more-
Participants in a UC Berkeley “Words and Music” seminar led by composer William Bolcom, visiting Ernest Bloch lecturer in music, and poet (and UC professor) Robert Hass will present performances of their completed projects of what Bolcom has referred to as “the way words and music marry” in a Wed. May 4 afternoon reading and workshop, 2-5 p.m. at the recital hall in Morrison 125, and in a recital setting, incorporating more material (including electronic media), 8 p.m. Sat. May 14 at Berkeley Center for New Music and Audio Technology (CNMAT), 1750 Arch St. The performances are open to the public; admission is free. -more-
Walking across the UC campus in mid-April, I noticed a couple of cliff swallows orbiting Hertz Hall and spotted a jug-shaped mud nest under the building’s eaves. I seem to recall a long-running battle between the swallows and the university’s maintenance crews which involved blasting the nests away with hoses. But the persistent birds keep coming back. -more-
Facing a $30 million deficit, BART is considering charging passengers up to $5 a day for parking, and the stations most likely to see parking fees are in Berkeley and Oakland. -more-
Next Stop for BART: Parking Fees? By MATTHEW ARTZ 05-03-2005
Editorial: Electing a Pig in a Poke By BECKY O'MALLEY 04-29-2005
Berkeley Cancels Pedal Express Contract Despite Protests By MATTHEW ARTZ 05-03-2005
Neighbors, ZAB Blast University Ave. Project By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 05-03-2005
Plaintiffs Finally Victorious in Third Pepper Spray Lawsuit By LYDIA GANS Special to the Planet 05-03-2005
‘Flying Cottage’ Approval Near By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 05-03-2005
Academics, Community Teach on Torture, Look for Answers By JUDITH SCHERR Special to the Planet 05-03-2005
Rap Legends Push Personal Responsibility at Laney Conference By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 05-03-2005
ZAB Resolves Marin Ave. Views, University Ave. Condo Units By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 05-03-2005
Berkeley Commemorates Holocaust 60th Anniversary By MATTHEW ARTZ Staff 05-03-2005
Police Review Commission Rules Against Protest Honker By MATTHEW ARTZ 05-03-2005
Synagogue and Neighbors Spar Again Over Parking By MATTHEW ARTZ 05-03-2005
Correction 05-03-2005
Letters to the Editor 05-03-2005
Editorial Cartoon By JUSTIN DEFREITAS 05-03-2005
Column: The Public Eye: Peak Oil Looms, While U.S. Remains Gluttonous By BOB BURNETT 05-03-2005
Column: Kaiser’s Voice Mail Jail Leaves Patient on Hold By SUSAN PARKER 05-03-2005
Fire Department Log By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 05-03-2005
Police Blotter By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 05-03-2005
Commentary: Disemboweling Berkeley’s Disaster Response By JESSE TOWNLEY 05-03-2005
Commentary: Looking Toward the Future in Downtown Berkeley By RAUDEL WILSON 05-03-2005
Commentary: Holocaust Remembrance By KRISS WORTHINGTON 05-03-2005
Commentary:Instant Runoff Voting Held Up by Diebold By LAURENCE SCHECHTMAN 05-03-2005
Commentary: Bogotá Mayor Rules with Theatric Enforcement By AARON TUKEY 05-03-2005
News Analysis: Iraq Labor Leader: ‘We Will Defend Our Oil’ By DAVID BACON Pacific News Service 05-03-2005
UC’s International House Has Fostered Friendships for 75 Years By STEVEN FINACOM Special to the Planet 05-03-2005
Motor Oil and Mortality: What Would Jesus Do? By KEN BULLOCK Special to the Planet 05-03-2005
‘Words and Music’At UC Berkeley By KEN BULLOCK 05-03-2005
Arts Calendar 05-03-2005
Cliff Swallows Use Social Strategies for Survival By JOE EATON Special to the Planet 05-03-2005
County School Board Moves to Shield Students From Recruters By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 04-29-2005
Council OKs UC Bridge Plan, Demands Higher Sewer Fees By MATTHEW ARTZ 04-29-2005
Battle Over City Landmarks Ordinance Dominates Planning Commission Meeting By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 04-29-2005
Neighbors File Suit Against Owner of Alleged Drug Den By MATTHEW ARTZ 04-29-2005
BAHA Spring Tour Features Stellar Homes and Scenery By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 04-29-2005
City Workers Rally Against Mandatory Time Off By MATTHEW ARTZ 04-29-2005
Library Director Griffin Receives Jeers at Board Meeting By MATTHEW ARTZ 04-29-2005
Campus Bay-Inspired Bills Clear Assembly Committee By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 04-29-2005
Peralta Trustees Approve Laney Art Annex Contract By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 04-29-2005
Author Calls for Islamic Reforms During UC Talk By MICHAEL KATZ Special to the Planet 04-29-2005
Editorial Cartoon By JUSTIN DEFREITAS 04-29-2005
Letters to the Editor 04-29-2005
Column: Oakland is Not to Blame for the State of its Schools By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR Undercurrents 04-29-2005
Police Blotter By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 04-29-2005
Commentary: Host Cities Battle University Expansion By KIM STANLEY ROBINSON 04-29-2005
Commentary: City Denied Due Process in Drayage Case By JEFFREY CARTER 04-29-2005
Commentary: Berkeley Thai Temple Responds to Critics 04-29-2005
Exhibit Highlights the Work of Women in California By STEVEN FINACOM Special to the Planet 04-29-2005
Berkeley Rep Production Revisits the People’s Temple Tragedy By KEN BULLOCK Special to the Planet 04-29-2005
Arts Calendar 04-29-2005
A Writer’s Odyssey Through Literary Dublin By MARTA YAMAMOTO Special to the Planet 04-29-2005
Berkeley This Week 04-29-2005
Berkeley This Week 05-03-2005