The Week

Matthew Artz: Berkeley teachers and supporters rally outside of Old City Hall..
Matthew Artz: Berkeley teachers and supporters rally outside of Old City Hall..
 

News

Teachers Vote to Extend Work Action By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Friday May 06, 2005

With no end in sight to either the impasse in contract negotiations or the ongoing work-to-rule action, Berkeley teachers held an hour long demonstration in front of the Berkeley Unified School Administration Building Tuesday afternoon. -more-


Restoration or Destruction for Willard Middle School Mural By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Friday May 06, 2005

Eight years ago, in an act that Willard Middle School Vice Principal Thomas Orput calls a “total fiasco,” the Berkeley Unified School District painted over the Telegraph Avenue mural on the school gymnasium’s outside wall without contacting the artists. -more-


Building LLCs Present Tax Collection Problems By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday May 06, 2005

When is the sale of a building not a sale, at least for property tax reasons? -more-


Sequoia To Vie for School Name By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Friday May 06, 2005

Sequoia has beaten out second-place Ohlone and six other alternatives for the chance to replace the name of Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, according to the results of a school-wide vote. -more-


Danner and Yoo Debate Wars on Terror and Iraq By JUDITH SCHERR

Friday May 06, 2005

Prisoners in Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay, and Iraq have been hooded, isolated, humiliated, injured, made to feel hopeless and close to death. Mark Danner, UC Berkeley journalism professor, says such treatment is systemic, a flagrant violation of rules of war and morality and the fault of “policy makers in the department of justice, policy makers including Professor (John) Yoo, policy makers in the Department of Defense (and) policy makers in the White House.” -more-


Landlord Group Fumes Over Rent Board Fee Increase By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday May 06, 2005

After Berkeley’s Rent Stabilization Board decided to raise landlord fees by 13 percent, the city’s leading landlord association is threatening to once again file suit. -more-


Doctor’s Presence at Protest Questioned By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Staf
Friday May 06, 2005

As long-running battles continue over two highly contaminated South Richmond sites—one owned by UC Berkeley—two new questions have surfaced: -more-


Berkeley Program Focuses on Black Infant Health By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday May 06, 2005

Back in February, Ashawn Walker was smoking cigarettes, guzzling down soda, eating junk food and unbeknownst to her, two months pregnant. Now, with the help of a Berkeley program for African American moms-to-be, she’s drinking water, eating fruit, and keeping her distance from nicotine. -more-


ZAB Revisits “Flying Cottage” By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday May 06, 2005

Reports of an imminent soft landing for South Berkeley’s “Flying Cottage” have been greatly exaggerated, says Dave Blake. -more-


Possible Hate Crime at Congregation Beth El Site By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday May 06, 2005

Berkeley Police are investigating a Wednesday night fire at the Congregation Beth El building site as a possible hate crime, said police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies. -more-


State Calls for Public Input On LBNL Cleanup Proposal By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday May 06, 2005

With a draft plan in hand for the cleanup of contaminated soil and groundwater at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) is calling for public input on the proposal. -more-



Letters to the Editor

Friday May 06, 2005

-more-


Column: The View From Here: We Need to Learn New Ways of Judging People By P. M. PRICE

Friday May 06, 2005

In recent weeks both the San Francisco Chronicle and this newspaper have featured essays and letters lambasting the “arrogance” of UC Chancellor Robert Birgeneau’s efforts to affirm the value of diversity, castigating black leaders and parenting skills a nd accusing blacks of using the “victim card” instead of acting more like Asians. And just how do Asians behave? -more-


Column: Undercurrents:Mr. O’Connell Comes to Oakland With No Exit Plan In Hand J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Friday May 06, 2005

Sorry to continue to be a bother about this, but I continue to be puzzled over the details of how Oakland’s schools got taken over by the state, and what needs to be done to get the schools back in Oakland’s hands. -more-



The Things They Carried Home: Young Soldiers By JOSUE ROJAS

Pacific News Service
Friday May 06, 2005

Tim O’Brien was 21 years old when he was sent to fight in Vietnam. More than two decades later, he wrote the literary masterpiece The Things They Carried. The book describes a handful of soldiers in Vietnam, and the things they carried—a girlfriend’s panties, a Cherokee hunting hatchet, comic books, illustrated bibles, dope, cigarettes, condoms, photographs, chewing gum and so forth. For years, O’Brien carried inside him the things his fellow soldiers carried, before setting them down on the page. -more-


Commentary: Outcry at Library Meeting Justified by Substantial Issues By ZOIA HORN

Friday May 06, 2005

I was sorry to read the public meeting of the Library Board of Trustees last Wednesday characterized as resembling a “high school pep rally.” I have attended public meetings when important issues that meant a great deal to the attendees, and this one was another good example of democracy in action. (In San Francisco Public Library during the fees for computer service fracas, in Oakland, when a Military Academy was foisted on the city despite the standing room only meetings and negative votes by Boards of Education of Oakland and Alameda County). The Berkeley Public Library Board of Trustees President, Laura Anderson quietly, but firmly determined that everyone who wanted to speak, would do so. Surely there were outcries, clapping and some booing, but all were heard. It was the substance, the sharing of information and concerns, the search for solutions that mattered more than the formal manners that often suppress what needs to be aired. -more-


Commentary: Zoning Study Masks Destruction of Plan By JOHN CURL

Friday May 06, 2005

The City Council voted 5-4 to burn the West Berkeley Plan. It wasn’t worded like that, of course. On April 19, they approved funding to begin an “incremental” evaluation of the Plan by studying changing the zoning of Ashby and Gilman west of San Pablo from industrial to commercial, to bring in more sales tax revenue from regional retail. -more-


Commentary: White Washing the Spanish Civil War By LAWRENCE JARACH

Friday May 06, 2005

I would like to comment on the announcement of the publication of The Frontlines of Social Change: Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (Daily Planet, April 26-28). Not having read the book, I cannot say anything about its contents, but the subject of the Spanish Revolution and Civil War deserves something more than the glowing pro-Stalinist whitewash usually presented in such volumes—and in Brenneman’s puff piece. -more-


Revolution, Racism and Family in “Angela’s Mixtape” By FRED DODSWORTH

Friday May 06, 2005

Angela Davis came back home to Berkeley for her birthday. No, not that Angela Davis, but her niece, Angela Eisa Davis, known as Eisa to her family, fans and friends. The former Berkeley High School graduate, class of 1988, left Berkeley for a degree at Harvard followed by an master’s of fine arts from the Actors Studio Drama School, in Manhattan. -more-


Berkeley Symphony Presents Premiere of “Manzanar” By KEN BULLOCK Special to the Planet

Friday May 06, 2005

The Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Musical Director Kent Nagano, will present the world premiere of Manzanar—An American Story, a semi-staged oratorio for orchestra, chorus and narrators, on Tuesday May 10 at Zellerbach Hall. -more-


Arts Calendar

Friday May 06, 2005

FRIDAY, MAY 6 -more-


Berkeley This Week

Friday May 06, 2005

FRIDAY, MAY 6 -more-


Berkeley Cancels Pedal Express Contract Despite Protests By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday May 03, 2005

A Berkeley-based bike messenger cooperative appears to be the latest organization to suffer from Berkeley’s budgetary woes. -more-


Neighbors, ZAB Blast University Ave. Project By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday May 03, 2005

They came. They saw. They scoffed. -more-


Plaintiffs Finally Victorious in Third Pepper Spray Lawsuit By LYDIA GANS

Special to the Planet
Tuesday May 03, 2005

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-


‘Flying Cottage’ Approval Near By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday May 03, 2005

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-


Academics, Community Teach on Torture, Look for Answers By JUDITH SCHERR

Special to the Planet
Tuesday May 03, 2005

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-


Rap Legends Push Personal Responsibility at Laney Conference By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday May 03, 2005

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-


ZAB Resolves Marin Ave. Views, University Ave. Condo Units By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday May 03, 2005

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-


Berkeley Commemorates Holocaust 60th Anniversary By MATTHEW ARTZ

Staff
Tuesday May 03, 2005

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-


Police Review Commission Rules Against Protest Honker By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday May 03, 2005

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-


Synagogue and Neighbors Spar Again Over Parking By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday May 03, 2005

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-


Correction

Tuesday May 03, 2005

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-


Letters to the Editor

Tuesday May 03, 2005

DOWNTOWN PARKING -more-



Column: The Public Eye: Peak Oil Looms, While U.S. Remains Gluttonous By BOB BURNETT

Tuesday May 03, 2005

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-


Column: Kaiser’s Voice Mail Jail Leaves Patient on Hold By SUSAN PARKER

Tuesday May 03, 2005

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-


Fire Department Log By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday May 03, 2005

Electrical Blaze Damages Church -more-


Police Blotter By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday May 03, 2005

Pistol Whipper Bust -more-


Commentary: Disemboweling Berkeley’s Disaster Response By JESSE TOWNLEY

Tuesday May 03, 2005

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-


Commentary: Looking Toward the Future in Downtown Berkeley By RAUDEL WILSON

Tuesday May 03, 2005

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-


Commentary: Holocaust Remembrance By KRISS WORTHINGTON

Tuesday May 03, 2005

“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-


Commentary:Instant Runoff Voting Held Up by Diebold By LAURENCE SCHECHTMAN

Tuesday May 03, 2005

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-


Commentary: Bogotá Mayor Rules with Theatric Enforcement By AARON TUKEY

Tuesday May 03, 2005

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-


News Analysis: Iraq Labor Leader: ‘We Will Defend Our Oil’ By DAVID BACON

Pacific News Service
Tuesday May 03, 2005

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-


UC’s International House Has Fostered Friendships for 75 Years By STEVEN FINACOM

Special to the Planet
Tuesday May 03, 2005

“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-


Motor Oil and Mortality: What Would Jesus Do? By KEN BULLOCK

Special to the Planet
Tuesday May 03, 2005

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-


‘Words and Music’At UC Berkeley By KEN BULLOCK

Tuesday May 03, 2005

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-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday May 03, 2005

TUESDAY, MAY 3 -more-


Cliff Swallows Use Social Strategies for Survival By JOE EATON

Special to the Planet
Tuesday May 03, 2005

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-


Opinion

Editorials

EDITORIAL: LRDP Lawsuit: Is There a Deal? By BECKY O'MALLEY

Friday May 06, 2005

Wild rumors that the City of Berkeley is about to sell its citizens down the river have been sweeping the city ever since the University of California opened the discussion of what its future plans for growth might be. We’ve had anguished voicemail messages from citizens who’ve picked up crumbs of information ever since last fall. Neither the much trumpeted City of Berkeley lawsuit challenging U.C.’s environmental impact report on its latest Long Range Development Plan nor the city’s threats that it would finally begin to collect sewer and parking fees from the university assuaged these anxieties. -more-


Next Stop for BART: Parking Fees? By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday May 03, 2005

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-


Columns

Berkeley This Week

Tuesday May 03, 2005

TUESDAY, MAY 3 -more-