Forget the F-word. For most of those standing-room-only crowd in the North Oakland Senior Center Monday, the real verbal bombshell was the R-word. 

R. . .as in Redevelopment. 

The term was invoked by two Oakland officials and a consultant as the formula to bring an economic boon to the 800 acres of North Oakland immediately south of Berkeley. 

As planned, the target area would be incorporated into the existing 600-acre Broadway/MacArthur/San Pablo Redevelopment Project—a district that includes two geographically isolated parcels that now would be spanned by the addition of the area in question. 

Singing the proposal’s praises were two officials from the Redevelopment Division of the Oakland Community & Economic Development Agency (CEDA)—Kathy Kleinbaum, project manager for the existing district and Patrick Lane, redevelopment manager for West Oakland—and Jim Burns, a consultant hired by the agency. 

But by the time the meeting ended, Zach Wald, a representative of Oakland Vice Mayor Jane Brunner whose City Council district encompasses the project area, had told the largely hostile audience that if they didn’t want it, Brunner would act accordingly. 

One of the central issues troubling many at Monday night’s meeting was the lack of any specific notions about just what redevelopment would entail. Parks, streetscape improvements and gussied-up businesses were mentioned, along with the mandatory low-income housing, but it was too vague for several speakers. 

Instead, they were presented with a proposal to create a redevelopment district, with the “whats” to follow later. 

The proposed district itself is moving along on a fast track. With the Oakland City Council’s blessings, CEDA issued requests for proposals on the project on March 27, due by April 27, followed by interviews with interested consulting firms beginning five days later. 

Visions of Big Bucks 

Burns, the city’s consultant, estimated that without the project, the area would generate $233 million in property taxes over 30 years, compared to an estimated $429 million with the improvements created by the redevelopment project. Of that total, $272 million would go to fund redevelopment projects. 

Redevelopment projects chosen for the district will be bankrolled by “tax increment funding,” which is established by freezing basic tax allocations at the amounts when the 30-year project commences, with the additional tax revenues raised as assessments rise directed to redevelopment projects within the area. 

The one exception is that a quarter of the increased dollars earmarked for subsidized low-income housing must go to projects in other areas of the city. Because schools will lose out on their share of increased taxes, the state government is obligated to make up the difference, a sum project officials estimate will reach $120 million over the term of the project. 

Skeptics and Blight 

Preliminary explanations of the plan were unveiled Monday to an audience which demonstrated a good deal of skepticism and seemed eager to examine the dentistry of the gift horse on offer. 

Given redevelopment’s highly checkered history, filled with racism, graft, political corruption and unintended consequences, skeptics peppered the redevelopment professionals with questions from the outset, and periodically derailed the inevitable Power Point presentation. 

To be eligible for redevelopment status, the Oakland City Council—sitting as the redevelopment agency—must find the project area to be afflicted with physical and economic blight, a notion that roused considerable suspicion Monday night. 

Because blight is broadly defined—physical blight can consist of lead paint buried beneath layers of latex—home and business owners said they were worried how the term might be used adversely against their own property. 

“Who is it that’s pushing this project?” demanded one audience member. “And where have blighted areas been identified?” 

Lane, West Oakland’s redevelopment manager, said the existing Project Area Committee (PAC)—the citizen panel which helps shape plans during a project’s first three years—had been asking for improvements outside their area. Though the panel had passed the three-year mark, the City Council had extended its term for the purposes of the new project, he said. 

“I came with a lot of optimism, but now I have real concerns,” said Kira Stoll, who owns property on Market Street within the proposed expanded project area. “If redevelopment brings improvements in lighting and similar improvements, I could support it. But I am concerned that if it’s pushed through, redevelopment could be used to target any property.” 

“One of the blight criteria for business is lack of parking,” said another man. “But a lot of the businesses I consider to be blighted are those with the most parking.” He went on to compare redevelopment with Godzilla, the city-destroying, nuclear-generated monster lizard that devastated Tokyo in countless Japanese sci-fi flicks. 

Current and Proposed Boundaries 

As the Broadway/MacArthur/San Pablo Redevelopment Project now stands, the southeastern parcel of the current district is roughly bounded by 28th and 41st streets between Broadway on the east and the I-580 Connector on the west. 

The northwestern parcel runs from 53rd Street to the Berkeley border at 67th Street between the eastern side of Vallejo Street and the properties immediately to the properties flanking the east side of San Pablo Avenue. 

The proposed addition would border the southern parcel at 40th Street and extend northeast from the eastern side of Telegraph Avenue to the Berkeley border at Woolsey Street, mostly along the Berkeley border to connect with 67th Street. 

Lane said some parts of the larger project area wouldn’t be included in the final boundaries because they don’t qualify as blighted. 

“We just outlined the larger area for the blight study,” he said. “It’s a preliminary study area, and the final project area will come later.” 

Changing Demographics 

Many at Monday’s forum questioned the application of the “blight” label for a district that seems to be caught in the throes of “gentrification,” with home prices soaring as the once-dominant African-American population dwindles. 

Between 1990 and 2000, census tract data show the black population dropping from 68 percent to 53 percent, with the white share rising only one percent to 27 percent. The biggest gains were made by Hispanics, who rose from 2 percent to 11 percent, those of mixed racial heritage (from less than 0.5 percent to 7 percent), Asian/Pacific Islanders (from 4 percent to 9 percent) and Other (from 1 percent to 4 percent). Native Americans remained constant at 1 percent. 

As evidence of the lack of economic blight, critics of the project handed out a sheet showing sales prices for homes in the district over the last year, with prices ranging from $399,999 to $735,000. 

“The idea that the area is blighted is incomprehensible,” said Valerie Winemiller. “What’s holding back development in Oakland is the schools and crime.” 

“Redevelopment is a scam,” said Fruitvale resident Jane Powell. “It’s an invisible government that has no oversight.” 

She said Oakland would be better off invoking the Mills Act, state legislation that gives tax breaks for restoring historic homes. She also faulted the city for hiring a consultant with money she said could be better used for planting street trees and installing benches. 

Redevelopment “appears to us to be a juggernaut,” said project-area resident Jackie Wilson. “The agenda has been set, the timetable has been set, but the plan remains a pig in a poke. The timetable you have set is too frighteningly fast.” 

Project Timetable 

According to the current project timetable unveiled Monday, the city would adopt the project survey in June and approve a preliminary plan a month later at the same time preliminary steps would be taken for creating an expanded PAC, adding nine seats to the 20 for the existing smaller project. 

Elections for the PAC would be held in August, with the full panel seated in October.  

A preliminary report on area blight would be issued next January, with a draft project environmental impact report to follow a month later. 

The redevelopment plan would go the Oakland Planning Commission in March, followed by the PAC’s recommendation to adopt the plan a month later. The final report on the plan along with the environmental impact report would go to the City Council in June, with a public hearing on adoption in July. 

While the new district would span the gap between the existing halves of the present district and more than double the acreage from 600 to 1,400, the expanded PAC charged with oversight of the resultant district would be dominated by members from the older committee, a point that bothered many of the speakers. 

Members are drawn from project-area homeowners, renters, business owners and community organizations. 

Supporters 

The meeting wasn’t all gloom and doom. When one Market Street resident demanded, “Are we really going to have a say, or are we going to be overruled by political cronies?” Walter Miles rose to answer. 

A member of the PAC for the existing district and president of the Citizens Committee for MacArthur Transit Village (a mixed-use housing and commercial project now being built by the district), Miles smiled and declared, “I am not anyone’s crony except my wife’s. I am my own person.” 

Longtime North Oakland resident Bob Williams told his fellow audience members that while they might not enjoy the full benefits of what the district could help create, their children would. “It seem to me that it would be better if they changed the name (redevelopment) to ‘conservation project.’” 

Noting that the redevelopment agency consist of the elected City Council, he declared, “You can force them to get something for yourselves.” 

Eminent Domain 

What struck many in the audience as particularly ominous was the threat of eminent domain as a weapon deployed against designated blighted properties. The power to force the sale of “blighted” private property, albeit at market rates, worried both home and business owners, but officials said their initial intent is only to apply the process to blighted business property, not residences. 

“Eminent domain was misused 30 and 40 years ago,” Burns acknowledged. 

“Our intent is that eminent domain will be used along the commercial corridors,” said Kleinbaum. “We have no interest in taking people’s homes in this area.” 

“Our office wouldn’t consider this project if it included residential eminent domain,” said Brunner aide Zach Wald"

In a stunning victory for community activists, the California Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Thursday agreed to hand jurisdiction over two adjoining contaminated Richmond sites to the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). 

Effective Thursday, jurisdiction of hazardous waste cleanup at both UC Berkeley’s Richmond Field Station—now renamed the Bayside Research Campus—and the adjacent privately held Campus Bay site rests with the DTSC. 

Bay Area Residents for Responsible Development (BARRD), the Richmond Progressive Alliance and the West County Toxics Coalition have been pushing for DTSC control of the sites. 

They won over both the Richmond City Council in March and the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors earlier this week, with both agencies asking the EPA to give full jurisdiction over both sites to the DTSC. 

“It’s a good move in the right direction,” said Sherry Padgett, a BARRD activist who has been the most prominent of the activists calling for the handover. 

“We’re cautiously optimistic. We don’t believe it’s the answer to all our problems, but it does give us the ability to hold one agency accountable for what happens next.” 

Both sites were under the jurisdiction of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board until last Nov. 6, when a legislative hearing called by East Bay Assemblymember Loni Hancock resulted in a water board handover of the dry land portion of Campus Bay to the DTSC. 

But that wasn’t enough for Padgett and her fellow activists, who demanded that all of both sites fall under DTSC because the water board has no toxicologists on its staff and has no provisions for public input before and during the cleanup process. 

“The challenges presented by these sites, as well as their close proximity to one another and nearby residences, warrant a single regulatory agency,” said EPA Secretary Alan C. Lloyd. 

“I also believe that oversight by a single agency will provide the public with a single point of contact to foster better communication and understanding of environmental conditions and site activities and ensure that the various site activities are fully coordinated,” he said. 

Cherokee-Simeon Ventures, a special-purpose corporation formed to develop on remediated hazardous waste sites, is planning developments on both sites. 

A plan for a 1,330-unit housing complex at Campus Bay, the site of a century of chemical manufacturing, remains in limbo. The firm has also been selected by UC Berkeley to develop plans for turning the former field station into a corporate/academic research facility with two million square feet of new buildings. 

Employees in the building at 1947 Center St. which houses the City of Berkeley’s Office of Transportation were temporarily evacuated Thursday afternoon after a man walked into the building around 3 p.m. claiming to have a bomb in his backpack. 

According Robert White, a private security guard, the man went to the career center in the basement where he told the receptionist about the bomb. The receptionist called White who called Berkeley police. 

White said he suspected something was awry because the man was acting uptight and nervous. 

“I could tell something was wrong,” said White. “He was doing a lot of talking but he wasn’t talking with anyone but himself.” 

Berkeley police quickly arrived and detained the man, who was sitting at a career center computer. He was led outside and held while police cleared the building and sent in the bomb squad, according to Lt. Arnold Lui of the Berkeley Police Department. According to Officer John Jones of the city’s bomb squad, the man’s large travel backpack was searched but contained only clothes and other personal items. 

After the suspect was led out and detained, Lui said, Berkeley police called officers of the city’s Division of Mental Health who determined that he was unstable. According to Lui, an ambulance arrived and took the man to the John George Psychiatric Pavilion in San Leandro. Police said they were unable to release the man’s name because he was not arrested.

In a surprise turn, Berkeley’s Planning Commission Wednesday appeared to agree that the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) should have the power to stop demolitions of city landmarks. 

After the Landmarks Preservation Commission spent four ye ars revising the city’s Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO), planning commissioners have been weighing in with their own proposals—leading to sometimes heated confrontations between members of the two bodies. 

Planning commissioners formed their own su bcommittee to look at the landmarks panel’s proposal and held a pair of public hearings before considering specific proposals presented Wednesday night. Authors Helen Burke and Susan Wengraf, two members of the subcommittee, presented seven specific recom mendations. 

The first would mandate that proposed landmarks could be elevated to designated landmarks only if they meet “strict adherence” to the standards of integrity set by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior for inclusion on the National Register of H istoric Places.  

But further discussion among planning commissioners and city staff revealed that the federal standards are different from those of the state Office of Historic Preservation, and that both criteria involve a significant amount of subjecti vity. 

Burke and Wengraf proposed abolition of the structure of merit designation now included in the city ordinance for buildings that have been substantially altered but still retain elements that signify the structure’s architectural or historic signif icance. 

In the end commissioners couldn’t come up with a specific definition of integrity they’d like to see in the ordinance, and Planning Director Dan Marks said that his understanding of strict adherence “means it has to be applied on a case-by-case basis. But in every instance the LPC would have to address the issue of integrity.” 

Planning Commissioner Gene Poschman asked, “If the State of California doesn’t have to adhere to the secretary of the interior’s standards, why does the City of Berkeley?” 

“We refer to the state regulations, which are much simpler,” said Deputy City Attorney Zach Cowan, who added, “I do agree that I don’t know what ‘strict adherence’ means.” 

“The intent was just to have (the LPC) decide what integrity means,” said Wengra f. “It is to some extent subjective, and there’s no way to define it perfectly.” 

“‘Integrity’ means what Landmarks said it means,” said Planning Commissioner David Tabb. “It’s an arbitrary condition, just a political definition that depends on who’s ther e. I’m not happy, but I’ll go along.” 

More ambiguity surrounded another subcommittee proposal that would allow property owners to come in and present a request for determination that would mandate that city officials rule on whether or not their property qualified for landmark status. 

Critics charged that developers could flood the city with multiple requests, tying up staff and allowing projects through that would result in demolition of potentially significant landmarks.  

Allan Tobey of Livable Berke ley sided with landmarks commissioners who have held that the process is unworkable, and said that the proper way to reach a determination was through a landmarks application or something similar. 

Marks said city staff hadn’t been successful at identifying a process somewhere in between a simple request and a full application. 

“One of the options was that applicants should be required to consult certain sources like BAHA [the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association], but there’s some question about how to prove that they did,” Marks said, adding that he didn’t think the staff would be likely to come up with a suitable alternative. 

The apparent decision to allow the LPC power over demolitions—a power now held by the Zoning Adjustments Board and soug ht by the LPC—surprised many LPC members and supporters in the audience. 

“The motion by Susan and Helen is to accept the LPC’s recommendation,” said Planning Commission Chair Harry Pollack. 

The Planning Commission will meet again in two weeks to see what Marks and Cowan have developed. The final decision rests in the hands of the City Council, which will consider the proposals of both commissions.

A battle is brewing over a plan to scale back Berkeley’s 44 citizen commissions. 

In an effort to free up time for city staff to complete other projects, Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmember Linda Maio have proposed reducing the number of meetings for 28 commissions. 

“There have been so many cutbacks to staff. We have way more work for them to do than we have resources to do it,” Maio said. 

The proposal, up for debate at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, has already drawn fire from councilmembers on the left and from affected commissioners. 

“What’s needed is a surgeon’s scalpel, not a butcher’s knife,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington. He argued that fewer commission meetings would exclude citizens from bringing forth policy initiatives and center more power in the hands of the city manager and politicians. 

“One thing that contributes to the problem is the sometimes adversarial nature [of dealings] between the staff and the commissions,” said Paul Kamen, chair of the Waterfront Commission. “A lot of the work the staff considers support is really an effort to influence the commissions. A much more efficient way to save time is to reduce support that commissions don’t need and in some cases don’t want.” 

For decades city managers have proposed reducing commissions and commission meetings, to which they must devote employees, with no success. On Tuesday, City Manager Phil Kamlarz will again place on the agenda a competing proposal to slash more commission meetings than called for under the Bates-Maio plan. 

City commissioners, appointed by councilmembers, are charged with debating policies relevant to their commissions and reviewing proposals at the council’s request. 

The Bates-Maio plan would scale back 12 commission schedules from 11 to eight meetings a year and reduce another 11 commissions to six meetings. It also calls for the Disaster Council and the Fire Safety Commission to be merged. Commissions that are required by city statute or have a quasi-judicial role, like the Planning Commission and the Landmarks Preservation Commission, would continue to keep their current schedules. Commissions could petition the council to hold additional meetings. 

Under the city manager’s proposal commissions would be cut further with many commissions having meetings reduced from every month to every other month or every three months. 

Budget cuts that have reduced the city staff by 10 percent over past few years have been the driving force behind the latest move to scale back commission meetings, Maio said. 

“[Commissions] have been a third rail of Berkeley politics, but the budget situation has made us look at it again,” Maio said. “This is not business as usual.” 

In arguing for commission cutbacks this year, city leaders have focused more on estimated savings in staff time than on money. High ranking city staff, who fill most of the commission secretary posts, do not get paid overtime and do not qualify for compensation time for running commission meetings. 

According to Kamlarz’s report, his proposal would save 5,310 staff hours a year—equal to roughly two city employees. Those estimates come from a survey of commission secretaries rather than a detailed analysis, Assistant City Manager Arrietta Chakos said.  

According to the report, the Zoning Adjustment Board, which meets twice a month, requires 20 hours of staff time a month, while the Parks and Recreation Commission, which meets once a month, requires 89 hours of staff time a month and the Waterfront Commission, which also meets once a month, requires 71 hours of staff time. 

“There is no way we require that much staff time for basic support functions,” Waterfront Commission Chair Kamen said. He said that the council should cap the number of hours staff is allowed to devote to commissions. 

Steve Freedkin, the chair of the Peace and Justice Commission, predicted that if the council cut down on its meetings, work that the commission handles would then be foisted on the council. He said his commission’s proposal to increase efficiency by taking its own meeting minutes found little support in City Hall. 

“We can’t really rely on the volunteers,” Bates said. “We’re afraid things will slip through the cracks.” 

There is no debate that Berkeley is a state leader when it comes to citizen commissions. Oakland, which has nearly four times more people, has 22 commissions, and Santa Cruz, which has about half the population, has 16. The closest parallel might be Madison, Wis., home to the University of Wisconsin. That city of a little over 100,000 residents also has 44 citizen commissions, including a Grocery Store Committee and a Community Gardening Committee, which meets once a month. 

Berkeley experienced a growth of commissions from 1978 through 1984, according to former Councilmember Don Jelinek, when progressive Mayor Gus Newport faced a moderate majority on the City Council. Progressives couldn’t do much without a council majority, so commissions became a way to advance their agenda, Jelinek recalled.  

“People were dying to get on these commissions,” he said.  

When the progressives regained the council majority in 1984, the interest in commissions waned, Jelinek said. 

“We went from meetings that were almost like civil wars over who would get what post, to not being able to fill the commissions at all,” he said.  

The Bates-Maio plan calls for the following commissions to hold eight meetings a year: Civic Arts, Community Environmental Advisory, Community Health, Disaster and Fire Safety, Energy, Fair Campaign Practices, Homeless, Human Welfare, Parks and Recreation, Peace and Justice, Transportation and Waterfront. 

The following commissions would be reduced to six meetings a year under the Bates-Maio plan: Aging, Disability, Early Childhood Development, Humane, Labor, Mental Health, Public Works, Commission on the Status of Women, Solid Waste, West Berkeley Project Area, and Youth. 

After four years of trying, Mike Hogan is giving up on his effort to save Ozzie’s, the popular soda fountain at 2900 College Ave. in the Elmwood district. 

“I have done everything I could, and I have made a lot of good friends and I’ll miss everybody terribly,” he said Thursday morning. 

On June 1, the fountain will close. 

Economic pressures have forced the fountain’s closure before. It had been vacant for months when Hogan took over in 2001, intrigued by the notion of running a vanishing institution—the drug store fountain. 

It was also economic pressure that forced Victoria Carter, owner of the Elmwood Pharmacy which houses the fountain, to give up the prescription drug business and turn the pharmacy into a gift shop with over-the-counter medicines. 

Hogan said he had hoped that Carter would expand her hours to allow him to open before 9:30 a.m. so he could serve the breakfast crowd. He also hoped Carter would allow him to remain open on Friday evenings and weekends to catch the evening and weekend dinner crowds drawn by other Elmwood eateries. 

The last straw, he said, came when Carter presented him with a lease earlier this month that raised his rent by $100 a month and his utilities by about $200. Carter said she hopes she can find someone else to run the soda fountain, but she’s considering other options as well. 

She blamed Hogan for his failure to generate profits. 

“He’s just not much of a businessman,” she said. 

Carter said she wouldn’t consider changing the hours of the shop to accommodate the fountain. 

“That’s what they’ve been for 84 years,” she said. 

Hogan insists that the hours were the real killer. 

Business was bad during the winter he said, “but it’s really been picking up lately, and I’m confident we would continue if we had better hours.” 

Elmwood Health & Mercantile, as Carter’s business is now known, is open between 9:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays and 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. Those hours, Hogan points out, miss both the early breakfast and dinner crowds. The business is closed on Sundays. 

“I hear people daily complaining that there’s no place in the Elmwood to get a good, cheap breakfast, and that’s what I was hoping to offer,” Hogan said. “On Friday and Saturday nights, I see people lined up for the restaurants, and we could get a part of that, especially when the Elmwood Theater reopens.” 

Although he is calling it quits, he says he leaves with no hard feelings against Carter. “Whatever happens, I wish the best for the business,” he said. 

Ozzie’s, named after Charles Osborne, who ran the fountain for four decades after taking over in 1950, has long been a favored gathering spot of Berkeley’s writers and activists. 

As Hogan walked down the street, talking to a reporter, passers-by offered friendly greetings and short conversations. 

“I’ll really miss it,” Hogan said. 

After he closes for the last time at the end of the month, he said he’ll move to Sacramento and do nothing but rest for the month of June before deciding what to do next.›

After several months of once-every-two-week mediation sessions, talks between the Berkeley Unified School District and the Berkeley Federation of Teachers took a dramatic turn this week, with a Monday session convening at 9 a.m. and running until 3 a.m., and then reconvening Wednesday afternoon. Two more sessions are scheduled next week, for Monday and Wednesday. 

Berkeley teachers have been working for two years past the end of the last contract, and talks are being handled through a state-appointed mediator. Compensation and class sizes are reportedly the two major issues dividing the two sides. 

BFT President Barry Fike said that “we are cautiously optimistic” about the talks. “We do feel like solid progress was made.” 

Fike declined further comment on details of the bargaining talks, saying only that he himself remained until 4 a.m. with unnamed district representatives on Tuesday morning to continue talking. 

At Wednesday night’s BUSD Board meeting, Board Vice President Terry Doran was equally vague about details of the talks, saying only that “we’ve had marathon negotiation sessions. No one has walked away. No one has said we’re not going to talk any more. So I’m optimistic that we’re getting closer.” 

BUSD Superintendent Michele Lawrence made no comment about the sessions. 

Before Wednesday’s board meeting, some 200 Berkeley teachers and their supporters rallied on the Old City Hall steps in support of their contract demands. The rally continued through the beginning of the board meeting, with the sounds of the singing of “Solidarity Forever, the union makes us strong” coming through the open second floor windows as board directors listened to a presentation from the principal of Longfellow School. 

Budget Transfers 

Directors approved $291,000 in transfers of budget expenditures from the district’s general fund to other funds for the 2004-05 and 2005-06 fiscal years. Lawrence said the transfers were needed “to free up general fund money in case we need it to meet some of the contract issues.” 

The superintendent said that her office would bring “another set of cuts that we have not yet completed” to board members for consideration at the next meeting. 

But at Lawrence’s request, directors took off the table consideration of Lawrence’s request to transfer another $295,000 in 2004-05 through 2005-06 general funds to the Measure BB account. That came after Safety and Maintenance Oversight Committee (Measure BB) Chair Phil Flounders spoke at the meeting, protesting the transfers. 

Lawrence told the directors, “I thought the Measure BB transfers had been recommended by the Measure BB Committee, but after [Flounders} spoke, I realized there may have been a miscommunication between myself, staff and the BB Committee. I want to spread these cost transfers equitably across all of the funds, but I understand the concern that if Measure BB takes too big a hit, it won’t be able to realize its maintenance goals.” 

The Measure BB Committee was scheduled to meet on Thursday night. Lawrence said that she would wait to meet with committee representatives about the possible transfer of the money, and then bring a report back to the board. 

Sale Of Surplus Property 

With Director Shirley Issel dissenting, the board approved a request by Superintendent Lawrence to add any possible proceeds of a possible sale of the abandoned Hillside school property to a bill currently introduced in the state legislature by Assemblymember Joe Coto (D-San Jose). 

Current state law requires that monies from the sale of school property go into the school district’s maintenance fund. Coto’s bill, which is aimed at two Santa Clara County schools districts, would allow those two districts a three year window to put proceeds from school sales into their unrestricted general funds. Adding Berkeley Unified School District to the bill would give BUSD the same three year opportunity. 

Last January, the BUSD board approved the formation of a surplus committee to dispose of the Hillside school property. 

“There is no presumption that we are going to sell the property,” said Lawrence. “Selling won’t necessarily be a recommendation of mine. But adding our name to this bill gives us the flexibility to dispose of the money if the surplus committee decides to sell.” 

Issel disagreed, calling the procedure “dangerous. I don’t want that flexibility. It’s like the devil dangling sex. Because we’ve been so poor as a district for so many years, I think there would be too much temptation for us to turn around and spend any money from the proceeds.” 

Fellow board members disagreed, passing the resolution 4-1. Assemblymember Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) has already agreed to sponsor the amendment to the Coto bill.›

The East Bay media market became a little bit more crowded Tuesday with the roll-out of the East Bay Daily News. 

Operated by Knight Ridder, the nation’s second largest newspaper chain, the free daily will be published Monday through Friday and seek to attract mom and pop advertisers not served by the chain’s other papers. 

“This is a healthy area economically with a lot of small independent businesses. We think there is room for another good paper,” said Dave Price, co-publisher of the Daily News Group, which Knight Ridder purchased in February. 

Price is no stranger to starting small daily papers. Along with his partner Jim Pavelich, he in 1995 founded the Palo Alto Daily News and later four sister papers in Redwood City, San Mateo, Burlingame and Los Gatos. All of the papers turn a profit, he said. 

Micro-dailies, as they are called in the newspaper world, focus on businesses that don’t have the money or presence to advertise in big daily papers. The concept has grown in popularity in recent years. Fr ee dailies have opened in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C. and many smaller towns and turned enough of a profit to make the big chains take notice. 

“Knight Ridder is definitely playing around here trying to stop competition on the low end,” said Ron Wo lf, co-founder of the wire service Ascribe. “There’s no doubt that the Palo Alto Daily News took a lot of money out of Knight Ridder’s pockets.” 

Peter Sussman, a Berkeley resident and former president of the Northern California chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists, said the paper gave Knight Ridder “a huge amount of potential monopolistic marketing muscle.” 

In addition to its flagship paper, the San Jose Mercury News, Knight Ridder, owns the Contra Costa Times, West County Times, and the Hills Newspapers, which includes the Berkeley Voice, Alameda Journal, El Cerrito Journal, the Montclarion and the Piedmonter. 

Price said the new paper was starting out with an office in Richmond and a circulation of about 5,000, but would soon move to Be rkeley and distribute 10,000 papers every weekday. He added that Knight Ridder had no immediate plans to roll out other micro-dailies in the area. 

Besides Berkeley, the paper aims to serve Rockridge, Emeryville, Piedmont, Kensington and Albany, mixing lo cal news with national and international stories supplied by the paper’s parent company. 

Price said the paper’s editorial page would reflect Berkeley’s political leanings and that its news pages would seek to appeal to a wide audience.  

East Bay Express Editor Stephen Buel welcomed the new competition. 

“I try to think that more voices are always good,” he said. “I am happy to have another source of news out there.” 

Price said he was not concerned that the most recent attempt to publish a free paper e very weekday in Berkeley, the original Berkeley Daily Planet, folded after three years in the red. “I don’t think they really understood our model in any respect,” Price said. 

Wolf questioned if the group’s first new offering under the Knight Ridder bann er had abandoned its successful formula of targeting a specific market. 

“I don’t know if a reader in Piedmont has any great need for an Albany business,” he said. “This [paper] has a corporate ‘spread the umbrella too widely’ feel when the concept that worked for them was to keep the umbrella small.” 

Although he noted the new paper could be a potential money maker for Knight Ridder, Sussman wasn’t impressed by its debut. 

“It’s an attempt to impose a formula without any advance understanding or attempt to communicate with the local community.” he said. “My overall impression is one not of respect for the community, but rather contempt for it.”›

Thousand Oaks Elementary School in Berkeley has been selected as one of 248 California schools to receive a 2004-05 Title I Academic Achievement Award. 

According to the California Department of Education, the awards program “recognizes schools that are demonstrating success in ensuring that all students are making significant progress toward proficiency on California’s academic content standards.” 

In order to qualify for the award, California schools must either meet or exceed their yearly Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals and well as double their Academic Performance Index (API) growth target for two consecutive years. 

Thousand Oaks jumped 38 points in its AYP score from 2003 to 2004 (732 to 770) contrasted to the 9 point rise in California schools overall in the same period. The school currently has an API rank of 7 statewide, out of a possible 10. 

Thousand Oaks and its 247 fellow honorees will receive their formal awards at California’s Title I Conference in Anaheim on May 25-27. 

At least when it comes to electrical things, do-it-your-selfers may find their craft considerably more expensive. 

Starting Aug. 1, when the 2004 California Electrical Codes automatically take effect, residents will have to apply for a city building permits to replace or add wall, porch and ceiling lamps, light switches, electric receptacles, and other common do-it-yourself chores. 

So changing that noisy electrical switch with a quieter mercury switch will cost a lot more. Besides the costs of the new switch, there’ll be the $81 basic permit fee plus an additional surcharge of $2.15 for each receptacle, outlet or switch and—if you want to add more—$21.50 for altering or changing wiring. 

Under the current city code, such small changes can be made without permits and inspections; starting Aug. 1, not so. 

The exemptions are currently allowed under Chapter 19.30.080 of the city electrical code. City Building Officer Joan McQuarrie said there’s a question about whether or not the exemptions could be incorporated into the new code. 

“We’re looking into that,” said Deputy City Attorney Zach Cowan. “Generally cities are allowed to adopt more restrictive findings based on local conditions, but not less restrictive. But it never hurts to ask.” 

McQuarrie said that from her perspective, she wasn’t aware of any problems from the previously exempted home repairs, “but that doesn’t mean there couldn’t be in the future. I think it’s reasonable to exclude them, but we are bound by state law.” 

Activities which will no longer be permitted without a permit after Aug. 1 include: 

• Installing hard-wired sound, intercom and communication systems. 

• Connecting portable motors and appliances to permanent suitable receptacles that were previously installed. 

• Installing wiring for temporary theater, television and film sets. 

• Repair or replacement of fixed motors, transformers and appliances of the same type and in the same location. 

The Housing Advisory Commission (HAC) considered the revisions during their meeting May 5 and recommended that the city adopt the new code while retaining the current exemptions. 

Should it turn out that the exemptions can’t be retained, HAC recommended that the city inform residents of the new requirements. The final decision is up to the Berkeley City Council, which is slated to vote on the new code during their June 24 meeting.

John A. (“Jay”) Vincent, a well-known yachtsman, engineer, environmentalist, family man and Richmond civic leader passed away Wednesday, May 4. He was 93. 

As a leader, Vincent was recognized for mixing his engineer’s inclination for good research with balance and wry humor into public debates over the enhancement and protection of the environment. A modest man, in later years he would confess that at whatever he pursued, either racing a boat or in politics, “I liked to win.” 

The six-acre shoreline “Barbara and Jay Vincent Park” in the Richmond Marina—now within Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park—was created in 1997 by the city to honor his and wife Barbara’s lifelong work and contribution to establishing public access and parks along the shoreline of San Francisco and San Pablo Bays.  

From the age of 12, Vincent was in love with the waterfront. Born in Tupelo, Oklahoma in 1912, his family, uprooted by the recession after World War I, moved first to Fresno in 1921, and then followed the Santa Fe Railroad to Richmond in 1923. The family initially made their home at Ferry Point where his father was the station engineer for the railroad ferry to and from San Francisco. 

The new life on the bay’s edge, where he could freely go crabbing, spear bass, and build and sail makeshift boats, provided many of the directions for the rest of his career. One of the initial members and several times Commodore of the Richmond Yacht Club, Vincent built by hand one of the first Bear Boats on the bay—Pola number 8. In 1939, he guided her and the crew to victory in the 1939 Treasure Island World’s Fair Regatta. The race officially qualified the Bear Boat as a class that would grow during the 1950s to be the largest class on the bay. Vincent, using the small “El Toro” sailboats, also initiated the Yacht Club’s Youth Sailing Program, whose teaching model became emulated at clubs around the world.  

Educated in Richmond schools, Vincent attended the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1934 with a B.S. degree in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. He went to work for Standard Oil’s Research & Development in Richmond where his group developed RPM DELO Special Motor Oil, a cleansing lubricant that enabled U.S. Navy submarines to triple their cruising range during World War II. After the war he transferred to the Product Engineering Department at the company’s corporate headquarters where, for the rest of his professional career, he worked as a trouble-shooter, traveling the coast, then the country and world as an expert at problem solving client needs for lubrication oils.  

On retiring he joined his wife Barbara, a Richmond native and once chair of the city Planning Commission, in the struggle to regain public access to Wild Cat Canyon and the bay shoreline. Unlike Vincent’s childhood at Ferry Point, when practically anyone could fish, boat and swim almost anywhere, by the 1960s public access to Richmond’s 33-mile long shoreline had been reduced to a 60-foot-wide public boat ramp. The rest was owned or zoned by and for industrial use and inaccessible for recreational use by the public.  

Barbara was already a founding member and board director of Save the Bay Association. For the next 30 years, Jay and Barbara, joined by an ever-growing cast, including organizations and individuals, worked to compel Richmond, Contra Costa and Alameda Counties to create parks and trails along the entire East Bay shoreline. Some of these would grow to include East Bay Shoreline Park, Pt. Isabel, Rosie-the-Riveter, Barbara and Jay Vincent, Lucretia W. Edwards, Miller Knox and Ferry Point, Point Molate, East Brother Light House, and Point Pinole parks. 

One of Vincent’s great joys was to work to see the restoration of the fire ravaged Ferry Point, where he once lived, into both a beautiful vista point and public access fishing pier.  

Vincent’s use of his formidable engineering and research skills, combined with patience and humor for working with the political process became legendary. He delighted in working with organizations and city departments where he could further community goals. In celebrating the opening of the Vincent Park, the city manager laughed and stated that Vincent most often came to meetings having accomplished more useful research on a particular issue than any member of his staff. 

Much as with his boat racing career, Vincent enjoyed a good challenge and winning. Once, for example, he used his research of tides and timber materials to successfully preserve the Bay Trail’s flat wooden railroad bridges—across the marshes at Point Isabel north of Golden Gate Fields—against a Regional Park proposal to replace them with elaborate concrete structures. The fierce arguments between “birders, walkers and bikers” over the trail’s design and use fed his sense of humor about human nature.  

Over the years, Vincent served on City of Richmond’s Citizen’s Shoreline Advisory Committee, the board of directors of the YMCA of the East Bay, East Brother Light Station, Save the Richmond Plunge Trust, and Richmond Farmers Market Association. He was a charter member of Richmond Yacht Club, Save the Bay Association, and Trails for Richmond Action Committee. He was a member of Richmond Museum of History and Point Richmond History Association. 

The Regional Oral History Office at Bancroft Library has two recorded Vincent interviews, one about his memories of growing up on the waterfront, and the other about living in Richmond during World War II. San Francisco’s Maritime Museum recorded his history of the start of the Bear Boat Class on the Bay. 

John Vincent is survived by Barbara, his wife of 67 years, brother J.D. Vincent, his children, J. Michael Vincent of Suisun, Stephen A. Vincent of San Francisco, and David F. Vincent of Richmond. His son Christopher preceded him in death. Grandfather of Tracy Ylarregui , Cathleen Ellis, Lucas and Pearl McGee-Vincent, and Alec Gent-Vincent, and great-grandchildren, Ryan, Matthew, Katelin, Brian and Megan.  

A Memorial Service will be held at 2 p.m., Wed., May 18, the Richmond Yacht Club, 351 Brickyard Cove Road, Richmond. In lieu of flowers, donations in Jay Vincent’s honor may be sent to one or more of the following:  

• Save The Bay Association, 350 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Suite 900, Oakland 94612 

• Richmond Plunge Trust, PO Box 70443 Richmond, CA. 94807 

• Richmond Yacht Club Youth Foundation, P.O. Box 70295, Richmond, CA 94807 

• Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 



Bay Area lyric tenor John Patton, Jr. passed away on April 18 in his Richmond home. The oldest of eight children, he was born on Feb. 18, 1930 in Garland City, Ark., on a sharecrop farm to sharecropping parents. At the age of 6, he knew he wanted to be a singer and pursued his dream and love of music when he moved to Richmond with his parents in 1944.  

Patton attended El Cerrito High School in El Cerrito and excelled at football, track, debate, choir activities, and academics. He was an honor society member.  

Patton had the distinctions of studying voice with the great tenor Roland Hayes, the renowned choral conductor, composer, and arranger Hall Johnson, and the famed New Orleans singer, arranger, and composer Edward Boatner. 

He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1965 and performed spirituals, art songs, and classical works professionally for almost 60 years. A high point in his singing career was his giving a concert on the Vatican Radio in St. Peter’s Square in Rome for the Pope in 1970. Patton was a former member of the Hall Johnson Choir, the world famous Wings Over Jordan choir, the Jester Hairston Chorus, and the Albert McNeil Singers. 

Locally, he was once a member of William “Bill” Bell’s Oakland Bay Area Community Chorus. He was the first to publish an album of art songs arranged by African-American composers and arrangers. 

He was a voice coach, scholar, lecturer, and an authority on the negro spirituals heritage, which he revered. For a while, he was a construction worker on the 580 Freeway and a warehouseman. 

He was once the popular host of a radio show in Los Angles. He performed the role of Shug Avery’s father, “The Preacher,” in The Color Purple. 

Quick-witted, Patton genuinely enjoyed joking around, laughing, and talking about his vast storehouse of life experiences. 

John Patton, Jr. is survived by his son, three daughters, three granddaughters, two grandsons, two brothers, two sisters, a host of nieces and nephews, an ex-wife, and scores of friends in his community and across the nation.›

City Manager Phil Kamlarz announced this week that Berkeley services won’t shut down one day a month this year as he had threatened they might have to, and one city swimming pool will be spared closure this winter. 

Kamlarz backed down on these two controversial budget-cutting proposals as he unveiled his proposed 2006 budget that seeks to close an $8.9 million structural deficit to the City Council Tuesday. 

If the council approves his plan, residents can expect reduced fire services, a scaled-down police force, fewer youth programs and school crossing guards and cutbacks to the animal shelter, art programs and disabled ride services. 

Berkeley’s senior centers remained untouched in the budget plan due mainly to a city proposal to start a case management program that would receive $300,000 in Medi-Cal reimbursements. 

Although the council does not have to approve a budget until late June, they have already begun tinkering with Kamlarz’s numbers. 

On Tuesday, councilmembers declared their support for funding,—with as much as $100,000—the Creeks Task Force efforts to revise the city’s creeks ordinance. Those funds are not accounted for in the budget for fiscal year 2006, which begins July 1. 

In other matters Tuesday, the council approved spending $52,000 to start a bond fund to pay for clean energy products, voted to help a homeless woman recover her impounded truck and dogs, and to allow long-term Berkeley tenants to convert their units to condominiums without paying a fee. 

Berkeley plunged into the red three years ago as stagnant revenues failed to keep pace with rising employee benefit costs. Under the city manager’s revised budget forecast, Berkeley faces structural deficits of $8.9 million for fiscal year 2006, which would decrease to $1.6 million in 2007, $1.3 million in 2008 and $0 in 2009 under his recommended cuts. In 2007, the state is scheduled to restore $1.8 million in city revenue, as required under Proposition 1A approved by voters last November. 

The key to balancing the budget in 2009, Kamlarz said, is controlling employee costs. He has proposed offering no raises to city employees for the first two years of future contracts. The budget also projects that the real estate boom, which has supplied the city with nearly $5 million in unanticipated tax revenue this past year, will continue and that the economy will improve. 

Kamlarz has reached a tentative agreement with officials from several city unions to forgo their contractual right to carry over vacation time beyond 320 hours and have the city buy back excess vacation days. The agreement is an alternative to shutting down non-essential city services one day a month, which would have saved $3 million next year. The vacation deal is anticipated to save $3 million over the course of three years. 

Also, under pressure from pool users, Kamlarz has backed off his proposal in March to close all three city pools this winter. The city will use $52,000 in unanticipated revenue and another $40,000 from administrative cost savings to keep open one pool, most likely the pool at King Middle School, Kamlarz said.  

With employee costs comprising 77 percent of city spending, Kamlarz has proposed cutting 57.24 full-time positions in fiscal year 2006, most of which are already vacant. No city employees would lose their jobs under the plan. 

To save $1.1 million on employee overtime costs, the Fire Department is proposing to rotate engine and truck company closures throughout the year and at times reduce the minimum staffing requirement from 34 firefighters to 28. 

With most of the budget news already released in March, and a public hearing scheduled for next week’s meeting, the council offered few comments on the budget proposal. During public comment, several elderly and disabled people protested planned cuts to the city’s paratransit program, and two members of Service Employees International Union Local 535, which represents city employees, expressed concerns about cuts to city positions. 

The major question before the council is whether they will dip into more than $7 million in available funds next year to save social programs. Kamlarz has proposed spending the bulk of it on capital projects like street repair, storm drain improvements, a new police dispatch system and improved customer service technology. 

Homeless Woman 

Elizabeth Gill, a long-time Berkeley homeless woman, left Tuesday’s meeting feeling more confident that she will soon recover her pick-up truck and two dogs. On Feb. 13, she parked her truck at the Berkeley Bowl to go shopping and returned to find it lifted on to a tow truck while her two dogs were set to be carted off to the animal shelter. 

Because many of the parking fines she had accumulated dated back more than one year, Gill did not qualify for community service to work off the tickets and had no way to pay the fines to regain her truck. And without her truck, she said, she had no place for her dogs, which she chose to leave at the shelter. 

By a 7-0-2 vote (Olds and Wozniak abstain) the council directed City Manager Kamlarz to waive the one-year deadline for low-income people to work off their fines, to notify the Department of Motor Vehicles that the fines would be removed and to try to help the woman find housing.  

Additionally, the city has waived fees for boarding the dogs at the animal shelter, which had climbed to $4,000. Now Gill must pay the $1,000 towing fee to get the truck out of Hustead’s lot in West Berkeley. She said friends in local organization’s Copwatch and Women in Black have already raised about three-quarters of the money. 

Gill said she looks forward to being reunited with her two German Shepherd mixed dogs. “They’re like my kids,” she said. 

Changing city policy to help one woman left several councilmembers concerned, although most backed the proposal in the end. 

“It’s not a good way to do policy, folks, but sometimes you have to act,” Mayor Tom Bates said after the vote. 

Tenancies in Common 

Tuesday’s meeting also proved beneficial to four residents of an Oxford Street apartment building who may soon be exempt from city fees for converting the building they recently bought into condominiums. 

The tenants, all of who had occupied their units for more than 10 years, purchased the building last year from the landlord as a tenancy in common (TIC).  

TICs are usually considered a risky investment because shareholders do not hold title to specific units as they do for condominiums, and owners can have more trouble obtaining financing. To convert the units to condominiums, the tenants, under current Berkeley law, would have had to have paid the city about $50,000 per unit, which they said they couldn’t afford. 

To help remedy their predicament, the council voted 5-4 (Maio, Worthington, Spring, Anderson, no) to authorize the city attorney to change the rule so that tenants who have lived in their units since 1995 would be exempt from the fee. 

After the vote, Councilmember Betty Olds, who has co-sponsored the resolution, hugged the residents outside council chambers, telling them, “I’m thrilled to death. I don’t usually win.” 

While the council made it easier for long-term tenants to convert their units to condos Tuesday, they made it more expensive for other would-be condo owners. By a 5-4 vote (Bates, Wozniak, Capitelli, Olds, no) the council raised the fee for condo conversion from 10 percent of the unit’s sale price to 12.5 percent. The fee will go to the city’s housing trust fund, which leverages affordable housing projects. Opponents of the fee hike feared that it would serve as a disincentive for owners to convert to condominiums and instead they would buy properties as TICs. 

Solar Bond 

By a 7-2 vote (Wozniak and Olds, no) the council authorized Kamlarz to pay $52,000, either to for-profit venture capital firm Power Factors Inc. or to a non-profit firm to work on establishing a bond fund to help local businesses pay for clean energy projects. 

Berkeley is still waiting for Oakland to also authorize money for the project. Speaking in opposition, Wozniak thought the bond was a good idea, but questioned why the city was giving money to a venture capital firm when it wouldn’t have ownership of the equipment. 

“I’m not convinced we got the best deal,” he said. 

The man who wasn’t there continues to be the subject of the most interest at the Peralta Community College District Trustees meetings. 

For the second meeting, faculty representatives appeared to speak on the proposed Laney College/Peralta Administration Building land development proposal contract with Oakland developer Alan Dones and his Strategic Urban Development Alliance (SUDA). Rumors that the contract would appear on the agenda proved false. 

Negotiations for the Dones contract were authorized by the outgoing Peralta board last November, but Chancellor Elihu Harris has yet to act on them, citing the controversy surrounding the proposed project. 

Trustee Cy Gulassa said following the meeting that he has received “official word” that the Dones contract will be on the agenda for the May 31 trustee meeting. Chancellor Harris told union and Peralta faculty representatives earlier this year that when he does present the Dones contract to trustees, he will do so without his recommendation. 

Two weeks ago, representatives of the District Academic Senate and the Laney College Faculty Senate presented resolutions opposing the Dones contract. At Tuesday night’s meeting Laney Computer Instructor Carole Rogers, who said she was speaking at the request of the Laney Faculty Senate, read a prepared statement to trustees charging that some trustees may have a conflict of interest on the Dones contract. 

Such conflicts “may cloud their ability to make fair and impartial decisions related to the development of our land in general, and Mr. Dones’ contract in particular,” the statement read. “As such, we are here tonight to request that board members who may have conflicts of interest excuse yourselves from voting on any contractual agreements related, in any way, to Mr. Alan Dones or SUDA. Additionally, we request that, in order to clarify the degree to which any ties to Mr. Dones (and SUDA) are, in fact, legal conflicts of interest, we request that you seek formal written advice from the California Fair Political Practices Commission regarding your legal right to vote on issues related to Mr. Dones or SUDA.” 

Asked following the meeting if she had any particular trustees in mind, Rogers said “we’re not ready to name names yet, but we will do so as this moves forward.” 

One of the Peralta trustees financially linked to Dones is Area 7 representative Alona Clifton. Clifton is the president of the non-profit North County Center for Self Sufficiency Corporation (NCCSSC), which is scheduled to have its headquarters located in Dones’ $70 million downtown Oakland Thomas L. Berkeley Square project when it opens later this year. SUDA’s Thomas L. Berkeley Square website lists Clifton and NCCSSC as one of its “key contacts and participants.” 

Clifton sat through the reading of the Rogers letter Tuesday night without comment, as did all of the other trustees. 

“No one has asked me to recuse myself from the Dones vote.” Clifton said this week during a phone interview. “I don’t know if the letter was aimed at me, because they did not say who they were referring to.” 

Asked if she would recuse herself if asked, Clifton said, “I will do whatever is proper.” She said Peralta General Counsel Thuy Nguyen told her “that in her opinion, there is no apparent conflict and she is not recommending that I recuse myself.” 

Clifton she was not opposed to contacting the Fair Political Practices Commission for an opinion on the matter, but she was satisfied with Nguyen’s recommendation. 

Clifton was one of the members of last year’s Peralta Trustee Board who voted to authorize negotiations with Dones for the development project. Sources close to the trustee board say that the present board appears to be leaning 4-3 to support the Dones contract, and that a Clifton recusal would kill the contract on a 3-3 tie. 

In an item that did make it on Tuesday’s agenda, trustees approved construction of a second set of bleachers and new toilet facilities for the Laney College football and track stadium on a 5-2 vote (Gulassa, Gonzalez Yuen voting no) after beating back attempts by Trustees Cy Gulassa and Nicky Gonzalez Yuen to table the matter for further study. Construction cost is estimated at $1.5 million. 

Trustee Linda Handy said that the completion of the stadium “is important to develop a sense of community. We built the original facility, but we forgot to build a full seating capacity. This would be completing a commitment to the community, which is footing the bills for our colleges.” 

Acting Laney President Odell Johnson agreed that the proposed stadium renovations were not a Laney proposal. 

“This is for the community,” he said. “If it were built, groups within the community will begin to come in and use the facility on a more regular basis.” 

At one point in the debate, Trustee Marcie Hodge expressed concern that the Laney stadium renovation should not be a priority. 

“I’m more concerned about problems with restrooms in the main buildings where our students actually go to class,” she said. “Should we focus on restrooms at the stadium, or on fixing toilets where we might get sued?” 

Shortly afterwards, while other trustees continued to debate, Trustee Board President William Riley engaged in an animated private discussion with Hodge as the two sat together at the trustee table. At one point, when she was called on to vote on a motion to close the debate, Hodge said, to other trustees, “Wait a minute. Bill is telling me something now that publicly we all need to hear.” 

Hodge later voted to approve the stadium construction. 

“I learned that the old board had already put aside $900,000 towards this project, and we were only being asked to add the extra half-million,” she said. “That made the project more acceptable to me.” 

The information concerning the $900,000 set-aside by the previous board was not mentioned publicly in the meeting, nor was it included in the board packet. In his memo to Chancellor Harris and the Peralta trustees concerning the project, Director of General Services Sadiq Ikharo merely wrote that the item originally came to the old board on Nov. 23, 2004 at a cost estimate of $1,532,000. 

“At that meeting,” Ikharo wrote, “the board voted to take up this item again with the newly elected board members.” 

›

Click here to view the latest work by Planet cartoonist Justin DeFreitasö

CONTEMPT FOR THE PUBLIC 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As quoted in your May 6 editorial, law professor Rossman says: “The confidentiality should only be broken when there is consensus for release among the council, and with the other negotiating party.” In other words, his experience teaches that the party the city is suing or being sued by should have a veto over what the council tells its residents about a lawsuit. That’s far beyond what the Brown Act or the attorney-client privilege are about. It actually turns on its head what the Brown Act’s preamble says: 

“The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.” 

The Rossman twist goes beyond this. Not only does it give the right to decide what the public may know to “public servants” but also to anyone who happens to be cutting lawsuit settlements with them. And if the public isn’t bright enough to be insulted by this contempt for its role in the process, then maybe it deserves no more than it gets, and no sooner. 

Terry Francke 

General Counsel, Californians Aware 

Carmichael 

• 

AC TRANSIT BUSES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’ve been scratching my head in wonder while thinking about why the Van Hools are so unpopular here, but appreciated in Europe. I thought about the ways that I use public transit every day to imagine what a person in say, Britain might be doing, a person of my age and needs. 

For one thing, any person will use what is available to fit one’s needs. Hence, I would use the 72R to get to a stop along San Pablo in a hurry, any bus to get to BART for an A’s game or an evening in San Francisco, and for work I use the first bus that comes. I avoid using Van Hools when I have a load, just as I avoid travel between 3 and 4 p.m., when the school kids get out of school.  

The Van Hools may be popular in Europe for several reasons; Europeans are quieter, more reserved. The Van Hool seating does not encourage conversation. I can’t figure out how to read on a Van Hool, though. The rattling of the bus turns the print into a blur. That would be a problem for reading a mystery. Quite.  

The European is used to taking little hops and walks to little shops at a leisurely pace. Transit is cheap and traffic jams fewer. Consumerism isn’t what it is here, so no lugging heavy loads from Walgreens or the mall. 

Last but not least, those Europeans tend to be more fit and athletic than we are. They’re used to getting out and about in the worst of weather. Yes, hopping up and down and back and forth on those buses is no problem. After all, from cradle to grave they are guaranteed quality health care! 

Edith Monk Hallberg  

• 

BETH EL FIRE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As many of your readers may know, a small fire was started at the site of Congregation Beth El’s new home on Oxford Street in North Berkeley last Wednesday night. Fortunately, a number of our neighbors spotted the fire and reported it immediately to the police and firefighters. Berkeley’s firefighters responded instantly and extinguished the fire. The police quickly closed off the area, and began an investigation. They could not have worked more efficiently or effectively. 

In addition, quite a few neighbors of the new synagogue also called Beth El members they knew to express their concern and sympathy. Those calls moved many of us deeply, especially after years of difficult negotiations to build on our property. 

We may never know how the fire began, but we certainly do know how much we appreciate the skilled work of Berkeley’s firefighters and police—and the caring response of some of our new neighbors. Our heartfelt thanks go out to them all. 

President Martin Dodd 

Rabbi Ferenc Raj 

Congregation Beth El 

• 

DRAYAGE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

On May 2, the City of Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board unanimously passed a resolution respectfully urging the “Honorable Mayor, Members of the City Council and City officials to expeditiously broker, mediate, negotiate or otherwise resolve the emergency housing situation at the Drayage Building using all resources, means and goodwill at their disposal towards the goal of preventing the dislocation” of the Drayage Building’s tenants. 

Since the early 1980s, West Berkeley’s Drayage Building has served as a vibrant community of highly skilled artists, artisans and craftpersons who provide an array of unique products, materials and artistic works. The Drayage Building’s tenants include letter press printers, graphic artists, a furniture maker, sculptors and modern dance artists among other skilled artisans.  

The 30 or so Drayage Building tenants occupy 12 live/work spaces and have been considerate, conscientious tenants for as long as they have lived in the building. 

Since fire safety concerns were first raised by the City of Berkeley, the Drayage Building residents have installed over 80 fire extinguishers and at least 90 smoke detectors inside the building. Regulation fire wall construction has been documented and enhanced. The Drayage Building’s fire safety issues have been addressed or mitigated, and extensive safety inspections conducted. 

Over 600 pages of correspondence/documents between the City of Berkeley and the Drayage Building’s owner and tenants—starting in the early 1980s—has been produced explicitly demonstrating the city’s knowledge and monitoring of the Drayage Building’s tenant units and facilities. 

Councilmembers Maio, Capitelli and Wozniak are to be commended for recently taking the time to visit the Drayage site and for meeting with the building’s residents. Councilmember Moore has been generous enough to meet with Drayage representatives in his office, and Councilmember Worthington spoke eloquently in support of the above resolution. 

Maintaining and preserving affordable housing for Berkeley’s artistic/craftperson community must be one of the city’s highest priorities. Support for Berkeley’s unique artistic community has always been a strong element of the city’s local heritage and traditions.  

The nine members of the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board sincerely seek a reasonable and balanced resolution of the Drayage Building situation, and respectfully urge the City Council and city officials to resolve the situation with the best interests and consideration of all parties in mind.  

Chris Kavanagh  

Commissioner, Rent Stabilization Board 

• 

HERE/THERE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Anne Wagley’s May 6 letter in the Daily Planet, regarding the proposed public art installation at the Berkeley–Oakland border offers an opportunity to announce that East Bay artists Katherine Keefer and Steven Gillman will be completing the installation of their whimsical and inspiring “HERE THERE” piece in the coming weeks. A public reception for the work will be held on site, with representatives from Oakland and Berkeley, on Tuesday, June 7 at 3 p.m. Elected officials, arts supporters and neighborhood organizations from both cities will be invited to attend, to celebrate the joining of our communities in a lighthearted and mutually complimentary literal statement.  

By its very nature, public art is inclined to spark inquiry, interest, controversy and sometimes puzzlement. These responses are good, and are pleasant distractions from pressures of everyday life and work. While some may view public art as wasteful and unnecessary, especially in tight economic times, and may see divisiveness and territorial claims on objects in the landscape, this is exactly the opposite of the views of most observers of public art. Christo and Jean-Marie’s temporal installations, Claes Oldenburg’s super-scale sculptures, or Rigo 98’s word art pieces “Sky/Ground” commissioned by SFMOMA, and even Charles Tilden’s figurative works, all have supporters and those who intensely dislike them and find them wasteful. It is not possible to please everyone, especially when it comes to public art. But the value of such art is in the raising of questions in each of us as to the meaning and the purpose of art in our own lives.  

Controversy in art is good, and perhaps the Keefer/Gillman “HERE THERE” installation will encourage those who are concerned about divisions among communities to think of real solutions to bridge certain gaps, and to find that “Here” is really “There,” too.  

David J. Snippen 

Chair, Berkeley Civic Arts Public Art Committee 

• 

PATRONIZE THY NEIGHBOR 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was amazed to learn about the plans to put an art installation piece at the Berkeley/Oakland border titled “Here/There.” Huge steel letters that literally spell out the words “Here” and “There”; “Here” on the Berkeley side, and “There” in Oakland.  

I understand that art is oftentimes meant to spawn controversy, but I feel that this is a blatant jab at the already existing tensions between the neighboring cities of Oakland and Berkeley. And this is especially surprising after we’ve tried to move past the infamous Gertrude Stein quote that drove this very same idea home years ago, as she described her hometown of Oakland as having “no there, there”. 

And this “art” coming from a town such as Berkeley that is so steeped in the tradition of the “love thy neighbor” mentality?! How are we supposed to love our brothers right next door, when you’re installing a permanent reminder that Berkeley is “Here,” in the now, and where it’s at, and Oakland is well, just, “There”? 

Rob Woodworth 

• 

PRAISE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I opened the May 6 edition of the Daily Planet and saw the following stories on pages 2 and 3: “[Mark] Danner and [John] Yoo Debate Wars on Terror and Iraq,” “Landlord Group Fumes Over Rent Board Fee Increase” and “Doctor’s Presence at Protest Questioned.” I decided it was time I finally sent the Planet a fan letter. How many newspapers cover their communities with such marvelous breadth? Not to speak of the space you’ve given to the spirited (but some would say arcane) debate over the merits of some Belgian buses. 

A few months ago, at a discussion on the worsening state of the media in the country, Ben Bagdikian (author of the now-classic Media Monopoly) singled the Planet out as “splendid.” Not for nothing did he say that. 

Hale Zukas 

• 

BERKELEY NO MORE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Friday’s report that the City Council had surrendered to UC, by giving in to their offer of a paltry $1.2 million charitable donation to the city’s coffers, a cause for weeping and anger.  

The council gave away city air space for an unnecessary “bridge” over Hearst Avenue. They voted to increase property owners’ sewer bills largely because UC will not pay its share. And now they are caving once again to that institution’s high-handed refusal to pay a fair share for the city services it appropriates. 

For once, in demanding more, and by using convincingly intelligent legal arguments and means, the city might have prevailed. Who knows? If the reasoning were properly presented, a judge might possibly have agreed with the city’s requests. It was worth the try. 

Pity the constituents who continue to see our city swallowed by ever-increasing UC expansion and appropriation of our tax base.  

Pity the city’s property owners who bear more and more of the UC burden. 

Pity, and weep, if you can. “Berkeley” will soon be no more. 

Sharon Entwistle 

• 

CORPORATE BARBARISM 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

First of all, thanks for your coverage of the toxic cleanup issue. Your paper and Richard Brenneman’s reporting have made this the diary of this process. 

As a direct reply to your May 6 editorial: 

We at the Richmond Progressive Alliance are under no illusions about how the state Department of Toxic Substances Control may conduct the oversight of the cleanup of the former Zeneca toxic site or any other for that matter. I can recall no instance where either the state Environmental Protection Agency or the federal EPA was pro-active in regards to looking out for the health and safety of the public. They had to be sued and pushed by community activism, usually, after the community had paid a heavy price in suffering due to horrendous health effects. 

In fact, it could be argued that what the federal EPA has done with its publishing of supposed “safe levels” of exposure to radiologic, cancer causing or mutagenic toxic substances, is made what in a clearer frame of reference is unacceptable, acceptable. In light of what we have learned over the last few decades about the health consequences of protracted exposures to sub-lethal doses of toxins, the EPA is one more level of bureaucracy running interference on behalf of corporate polluters being held to account for their actions. There is no “safe” level of exposure to dioxin, only levels that erode one’s health slowly enough that apologists for corporate barbarism can wrap their disclaimers in the blanket of legitimate sounding scientific skepticism. 

No, the DTSC is no panacea. The EPA and environmental standards were and are an important victory on the path to social accountability for the actions of private interests. But history shows any reform, no matter how noble, can be turned against the citizenry if that citizenry fails to remain organized and vigilant. We want access to the more stringent standards and the protocols for community input, which do exist with the Water Board. It will be up to us as community activists to hold the DTSC to its mission. 

Tony Sustak 

?

• 

As a parent new to the Berkeley Unified School District, I am surprised at the tone of the opposition I’ve heard from people regarding the Berkeley Federation of Teachers’ proposed cost-of-living adjustment. The phrase “the district has no money” is often repeated, almost like a mantra. 

No doubt the district is in tight financial times. However, BUSD’s own literature states that they will be receiving $1.8 million dollars in increased funds. BFT puts this figure closer to $3 million, before Measure B. Also, in their projected cost for next year (included in the same flyer), BUSD includes a $700,000 payment to the teachers’ pension fund. This will not happen this year, as the governor was forced to back down from that proposal. Also, the BFT president has stated publicly that if this pension contribution goes into effect next year, BFT would seek no increases that year. 

All this is to say that by the district’s own admission there will be increased revenue this year, and the projected costs are not what they claim. Different numbers have been flying around, and parents don’t know who to believe—there needs to be an independent, public audit done to review the district’s books. If there is net revenue after costs are met, then let’s give a fair cut of it to the hard-working individuals who are entrusted with our children’s education. 

Sahoko Tamagawa 

• 

What really boggles the mind is that the Berkeley Unified School district is willing to risk a teachers’ strike by not accepting the Berkeley Federation of Teachers’ proposal for class size caps. The caps would be good for everyone—certainly the students, who could be assured of reasonable access to their teachers; obviously the teachers, who could do a better job by not being spread so thin; and, yes, the school district as a whole, which would be able to attract and retain good teachers, would be able to keep test scores up, and would be able to better educate Berkeley’s student population. 

The teachers propose that the maximum number of students in each class be set at four or five students above a required average class size of 20, 26, and 28 students per class in grades K-3, 4-5, and 6-12, respectively. This contrasts strikingly with the district’s “average staffing ratio” proposal which commits o nly to limit the district-wide average class size to the above-stated levels (20, 26 and 28). The teacher who ends up with a class of 40, while her colleague in the next room has a class of 20, would kick herself for having acquiesced to such an agreement. I am not sure who the hapless students in her class would kick. But Berkeley parents like myself would have to kick ourselves for having voted for a school board that can’t recognize a good idea when it’s in front of them. 

Dove Scherr 

Parent of Malcolm X Elementary School first-grader  

• 

A May 10 letter referred to the need for an audit of the Berkeley Unified School District’s finances, in order to help the community understand a complicated and ever evolving budget. Daily Planet readers should know that the independent audit of the 2003-2004 school year actuals was completed and delivered to the Board of Education at the board meeting on March 2, 2004. Additionally, an independent three member community audit committee sat with the auditor to review findings, and continue to advise the board and superintendent. 

For the 2003-2004 audit report, please refer your readers to our website at www.berkeley.k12.ca.us/index_news.html. Readers can view a hard copy of the 35-page report at any branch of the Be rkeley Public Library or in my office at the Old City Hall. I will also be happy to make a few video copies of the auditor’s presentation to the board available to check out from my office, along with a loaner copy of the report to follow along.  

Mark Cop lan 

BUSD Public Information Officer 

• 

I want to urge all Berkeley families to learn more about the contract dispute between the Berkeley teachers union and the school district.  

I am the parent of a child in kindergarten at Oxford Elementary School. My daughter’s experience at Oxford has far exceeded my expectations for one reason: her teacher. This teacher creates an environment that is calm and stimulating; she gives children of different abilities the personal attention they need; she fosters communication and conflict resolution; she has inspired my daughter to love school. I can’t ask for anything more.  

Strong and experienced teachers are the most important aspect of any public school. In Berkeley, we have some outstanding teachers, but to keep them, we need to stay competitive with other Bay Area school districts. Right now, our teachers’ salaries and benefits are in the mid-range and dropping compared with other schools in Alameda and nearby counties. 

This year, the state is giving Berkeley a 4 percent increase in funding. But the district is, in effect, proposing a pay cut for our teachers by offering a small raise and a big increase in health care premiums.  

The teachers aren’t asking for much—just to be a priority in the budget. Isn’t tha t the least we can do?  

I hope Berkeley parents will support the teachers by learning more about the issues and calling the school board. 

Andrea Lampros 

• 

Teachers deserve a raise. Individuals who enter the teaching profession take on the daunting task of educating children in a state where policy makers have set the bar high for academic standards but allocated funding levels comparatively low, 44th in the nation. This is particularly acute in the Bay Area where housing costs have appreciated in the d ouble digits and teaching salaries have stagnated in most cash-strapped school districts. 

The union has stated that it only wants its fair share of any increased revenues. The president of the teachers’ union has stated publicly that if the planned incre ase in revenues does not materialize, the union will not demand a raise. Union leadership has also offered to shoulder some of the increase in the cost of benefits. 

The question then becomes what is the amount of increased revenues? Is the projected amount stable? And does an increase in revenues imply a net increase, after any increased expenses are removed? The actual amount of increased revenue has been heatedly debated, which I find difficult to understand. I believe the place for such discussion is at the negotiating table, not in the inboxes of the community. 

The union accuses BUSD of shifting the budget numbers over time. The district holds the cards here, and should make a determined effort to make the budget numbers and projections more transpa rent and stable. If they did so, and both sides could agree on the net expected increase in revenues, an agreement should be in reach. At this point, rhetoric is plentiful, but trust is in short supply. 

The current contract expired in June 2003, and although all parties hope to arrive at a fair settlement, if the current state of impasse fails to produce a negotiated settlement, the union is considering a strike. We hope the union will not find this action necessary. A strike would cause great damage to all parties—the children would not get an education, the district would lose average daily attendance funds as a result of parents pulling their children out, and teachers would be laid off. Such a work action could backfire with additional and devastatin g consequences if Measure B and BSEP votes next year are adversely affected by a recent work stoppage. 

Let us put aside the rhetoric and posturing and focus on negotiating in earnest as mature, responsible, and open-minded representatives of teachers and administration. In that way, I believe this contract can be settled in a fair and efficient manner. 

Jonathan Squire 

Parent of a Berkeley public school student 

• 

As a teacher in Berkeley for 13 years I can assure you that I do not want to strike. I can also assure you that the district is not telling you the whole truth, and at times not anything resembling the truth. Their most recent comparison of salaries was so loaded with wrong information that I personally wonder whether it was intentional or simp ly that they don’t know any better. In either case, I don’t find that I can trust much of what they have to say. At the forum on negotiations hosted by the PTA Council, one of the speakers, Mary Alice Callahan, stated that a budget is not only a financial document, but also a political/philosophical one. The question to ask is whether you agree with the “hidden” priorities of the administration/board, or whether you think that the priorities need to be different, and funded accordingly.  

Ms. Callahan, as a past union president, also spoke about the very real practice of building up the reserve over a couple of years, and how this has been done in numerous districts with no ill effects.  

Before you take a position on the struggle between the teachers in Berkeley and the administration/board, please be careful to fully educate yourself about the “truth.” 

Sam Frankel 

Teacher, Berkeley Arts Magnet 

•  

In the current labor dispute between teachers and the school district, I find it hard to believe that the school district is “broke.” With the 4 percent increase in funding from the state, plus the very generous $22 million we Berkeley taxpayers provide every year through the three parcel taxes, BSEP, Measure B and Measure BB, it would seem that the district is adequately funded. I understand that the issue may well be that the district prefers to spend its funds in other ways besides increasing teachers’ salaries. However, it is disingenuous for the school district to claim it lacks funds.  

The best way for the school district to resolve this issue, is to allow an independent auditor to examine not just its books, but to evaluate how effectively and efficiently the school district is spending the money it has. A performance auditor could let the community k now how much money the district really has, and what choices could be made to provide the pay increase to teachers.  

For instance, after the B Building fire at the high school, the school board chose to spend $4 million of the insurance settlement to buy the old Urban Ore site as a location to park school buses. Now, five years later, the BUSD owned old Urban Ore site grows weeds, while BUSD is still paying hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in rent to park our school buses elsewhere. Maybe those hu ndreds of thousands of dollars a year could be better used to increase teacher salaries. 

Here’s another example. The superintendent of the Acalanes High School District (Moraga, Orinda, Lafayette) promised that administration costs for their district wil l not exceed 3 percent of its total school district budget. That’s a great goal. How does Berkeley compare? 

To have quality education, we need great teachers. We need to attract and keep great teachers by paying competitive salaries and benefits. Our kids are worth it! 

Karen Meryash 

Willard Middle School parent 

•  

As a Berkeley teacher who is currently working to rule I would like to respond to the recent letters and op-eds in the Daily Planet which have complained about our work action. 

I would like those parents who have complained to imagine that for years and years you did volunteer work in your childrens’ classrooms, working long evenings and weekends to make sure things went well. (Perhaps you have done exactly that; many Berkeley parents have.) I would then ask you to imagine that due to the increasing disrespect with which you were treated while doing this work, you decided not to continue volunteering your time until you were treated more respectfully. Imagine that when people realized the di fference your volunteer work had made, instead of acknowledging or thanking you for the countless hours and years of hard work you had done, instead of supporting you to solve the problem that had caused you to stop volunteering, they responded with recriminations and guilt-trips, and simply told you to get back to work. 

I am sorry that by performing volunteer labor for so long so quietly, we teachers gave you the impression that you were entitled to our evenings, weekends and lunch minutes. We’re sorry if we left you with the impression that you were entitled to our services 24/7 no matter how badly we were treated or how little we were paid. 

Rather than being outraged that Berkeley teachers are protesting for fair wages, benefits and class size limits, I hope that Berkeley parents will start to question a system that can’t function without hundreds of hours of teachers’ unpaid labor.  

Berkeley teachers are willing to go back to performing those hundreds of hours—as soon as we have a contract which co mpensates us fairly for the time we are paid for. BUSD will be receiving $3 million in increased revenues from the state next year (not counting increased revenue from BSEP.) For a fraction of that sum, they could give us the minimal cost-of-living increa se we are asking for, while maintaining health benefits and limiting class sizes. 

Terry Fletcher 

•  

With education budgets being cut and Republicans in state and federal governments determined to inflict more damage, this is a critical time for our scho ols and BUSD. The teacher’s contract dispute threatens to make the situation worse and, therefore, I feel compelled to defend the interests of my children attending a Berkeley school.  

BUSD teachers, I believe, are dedicated and (when not “working-to-rul e”) hard-working, putting in extra effort and hours. Compared to many other professions, they are underpaid. However, it is undeniable that BUSD finances are very tight and not going to get any better next year. Fact is, the school district is not a priva te company but a community institution paid for by California taxpayers and the people of Berkeley. BUSD does not make a profit and is not allowed to make a deficit. If teachers get more money or just cost more due to higher health care premiums and other benefits, there will have to be fewer of them than there otherwise would be. There could be cuts in sports, music and arts or closer to the academic core, all aimed at having fewer people on the payroll, i.e. layoffs. Programs could be cut or class sizes increased in order to balance the budget. This is not in the interest of my children.  

If teachers were leaving because of low pay, action would need to be taken. However, this is clearly not the case. Other districts are financially hurting just as muc h as BUSD. For BUSD being in the middle of the pack in terms of teachers pay, as the union claims, is not great but certainly acceptable in tight times.  

In their effort to better their pay I urge the teachers to keep in mind that BUSD can easily be push ed down a slippery slope. If a strike or other negative development caused parents to pull their children out, it could easily start a chain reaction leading to significantly fewer students and loss of community support with devastating financial conseque nces. At the end BUSD may be where Oakland is now. Such an outcome would not only be most unfortunate for families like mine, who are counting on BUSD, but would also be bad for the teachers.  

Last but not least, I have been very disappointed by the teac her’s work-to-rule labor action. First, it sends the message to our children that homework is not important, a terrible thing as every parent knows who has tried hard to explain to their children why they have to do homework in the first place. Second, th e students were given misleading explanations for the work-to-rule action, i.e., being told the district doesn’t pay the teachers for all the hours they work. As far as I know this dispute is about an increase in pay and health care premiums and not number of work hours. There would have been nothing wrong with telling the students the truth. A low point has been the removal of the children’s work from the bulletin boards in the hallways. This does nothing to put pressure on the school district but takes something away from the students. 

In the long run we can hope and work for a change in the political landscape and for getting education in California the support it deserves and desperately needs. However, for now wishes and political statements don’t help. BUSD has no choice but to live within its means. Tough as it is, it comes down to more money for the teachers vs. more teachers for the children.  

I sincerely hope that teachers and district will soon agree on a contract. 

Bernhard Ludewigt  

A few days ago I was talking to a friend about shoes: I’d recently read that Nike owns Converse, which shocked my friend, an oblivious Converse-wearer. She had thought that by buying Converses she was withdrawing her support of the big shoemakers who are notorious for utilizing sweatshop labor. Our conversation turned to how these days it seems everything for sale comes from somewhere problematic, so much in fact that sometimes it feels like you have to either buy nothing or just ignore ethics altogether. 

But that’s not true. Though market-led “free” trade encourages companies like Nike to contract production to sweatshops in Asia to minimize costs and maximize profits, there are practical alternatives. As concerns about the effects of such practices spread, conscientious consumers are increasingly turning to Fair Trade. 

Fair Trade is a departure from the standard “free” trade of the past that is driven by profit alone. In contrast, Fair Trade focuses on establishing a sustainable, balanced relationship between buyer and seller and guarantees a living wage to participating farmers and artisans. 

Take coffee, the most common Fair Trade good. Wholesale buyers of non-Fair Trade coffee want the cheapest beans they can find, regardless of how the coffee beans are grown. Because global competition has driven prices down in recent years, sometimes farmers have to sell their coffee for less money than they spend to produce it, driving them deeper into poverty. Fair Trade growers, on the other hand, are guaranteed a minimum price for their coffee as long as they meet certain production standards and can receive three-to-five times as much money for their labor. According to Transfair USA, an internationally recognized Fair Trade certifier, in the past five years small farmers have made an additional $34 million by selling Fair Trade coffee. 

By compensating producers for operating responsibly, Fair Trade helps preserve small-scale, sustainable farming methods. Seller cooperatives and associations put individual producers in contact with organizations that market and sell the goods to North American and European audiences. Fair Trade items--such as handicrafts, furniture, clothes, jewelry, coffee, tea, and chocolate--can be found on the Internet or in specialty shops, like Global Exchange’s Online Store or Fair Trade stores in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Portland. 

Fair Trade is more than just talk. By buying Fair Trade goods, consumers are actively supporting both an alternative, just system of exchange as well as the well-being of individuals involved in the growing and making of Fair Trade goods. And the results are real.  

Tex Dworkin, the manager of the Global Exchange Fair Trade Online Store, recently returned from a month-long buying trip to Vietnam and Thailand where she met with local artisans and organizations that work with to get their goods from sometimes remote villages to the global market. “The lives of these people are greatly improved by the profits of the sale of these [Fair Trade] items,” she said. “That’s what it comes down to--their lives were a lot different before we started buying from them. That’s the truth.” 

Getting a product into a Fair Trade store or website can drastically affect a town or village. According to Dworkin, entire communities in Guatemala are supported by the work of weavers’ cooperatives. In Peru, all of one village’s income comes from the sale of their handmade Incan chess sets in Global Exchange’s stores. “If someone buys 500 of something, that could be an entire village that’s changed forever,” she said. 

The best part is that Fair Trade is growing rapidly. According to the 2003 Report on Fair Trade Trends, total sales went up by 44 percent from 2001 to 2002. Increasingly consumers in the Global North concerned about where their food and crafts come from are willing to pay a little more for Fair Trade goods so they will know where their money is going. In doing so, they are putting money right in the hands of small-scale producers rather than large unethical corporations. 

This Saturday, May 14, is World Fair Trade Day. In 60 countries and hundreds of cities there will be events, rallies, seminars, fashion shows, and sales to help promote Fair Trade as a socially, economically, and environmentally responsible alternative to conventional “free” trade. It will be a chance for people to learn about the power we, as consumers, have to positively affect the lives of people who make the things we buy.  

And mixed in with the food, shawls, paper, and jewelry that will be on display and for sale this weekend are even No Sweat Sneakers--the only 100-percent union-made sneakers in the world, guaranteed sweatshop-free, proving there really are alternatives to Nike. 

Hunter Jackson is a San Francisco-based freelance journalist and volunteer with Global Exchange. 

ô

When the BART Board of Directors met April 28 to discuss next year’s proposed budget, BART station agents, train operators, transit advocates, and advocates for the blind, disabled, seniors and students turned out in force to protest proposed reductions that we feel put rider safety at risk.  

BART is leaving riders vulnerable by proposing layoffs of 28 station agents by July 1st. These cuts affect 90 percent of BART’s part-time station agents who received furlough notice last week stating that these positions were at risk to be terminated. 

Many people don’t know how critical station agents are, in protecting the safety of all BART riders. For example, seniors, blind, and disabled riders frequently request station agent assistance and support through entry gates, and help riders with unique needs to find their way through large stations with multiple entrances and exits. Having a station agent on-site to provide this assistance ensures BART remains accessible to those who need it the most—and reassures them that BART stations are a safe place to be. 

Station agents are the eyes and ears of BART—walking station platforms to keep riders safe, and reporting on and addressing hazardous conditions. They help to direct large groups of children who are on field trips, and rescue children who become separated from their parents. Station agents do everything from evacuate BART station areas in emergencies to helping riders who have ticket problems and lost items.  

Already BART leaves many service booths vacant. Many stations are left empty for numerous hours each day, leaving the public no one to turn to in an emergency. Now BART is proposing to eliminate more station agents on heavy commuter lines. High-volume stations like 12th Street, 19th Street, Pleasant Hill, Dublin/Pleasanton, and Lake Merritt would all be affected. In addition BART has laid-off numerous workers system wide, including janitors, and closed its restroom facilities to the public. 

It is irresponsible to target budget cuts to the services that impact the public the most. With a projected $53 million deficit, why does BART continue to pay millions for costly outside consultants, high executive salaries, and overhead?  

The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 is joining other community coalition partners such as advocates from the California School for the Blind and the Gray Panthers to speak out on these issues, because the last resort for budget cuts should be in any areas affecting the public’s services and safety.  

We call on BART Board President Joel Keller and the board of directors to put “Public Safety First” in any budget decisions or considerations. 

Harold Brown 

President, ATU 1555 

Margot Smith 

Seniors Advocate, Gray Panthers  

Yvonne Westbrook 

Disable Advocate, On the Go

In the afterglow of April 15, it may be timely to consider adopting the Willy Sutton approach to tax-collection. As the wily bank-robber once observed: If you want to prosper in your chosen career, you have to go “where the money is.” 

In 2004, with California foundering in red ink, Gov. Schwarzenegger squared his already rectilinear jaw and proclaimed: “Everyone has got to come out and help!” The Governor then proposed a $15-billion bank loan to buy some fiscal breathing room.  

This “Debt before Dishonor” approach didn’t appeal to State Assembly Majority Leader Wilma Chan (D-Oakland). She had a better idea.  

Picking up Arnold’s cry, “Everyone has to help,” Chan and her Democratic colleagues fashioned “a fair and modest way to raise revenues”—a bill to tax the wealthiest two percent of the state’s residents. Under California’s progressive tax rate, someone with a taxable income of $80,000 pays a 6.8 percent tax rate. Under the Chan Plan, Californians with more than $130,000 in taxable income would pay a 10 percent tax while folks with more than $520,000 taxable bucks would pay 11 percent. 

Chan projected that this modest tax-the-very-rich scheme would generate “approximately $3 billion a year and would be in effect for five years,” offsetting the state’s $15-billion budget shortfall without incurring the whopping costs of bank-loan interest. 

Critics snorted that no Republican governor would consent to such a plan, but Chan had a ready response: “The state has adopted this very solution before. During the fiscal crisis of the early 1990s, Governor Pete Wilson signed legislation to enact this same proposal.” And Republican Gov. Ronald Reagan signed not one but two top-bracket tax increases. 

Unfortunately, the Chan Plan never got traction, as an epidemic of cold-feet swept through the Senate. But all is not lost. If we’re not ready to tax the rich, maybe it’s time to get tough on corporations. 

In 2001, the California Budget Project discovered that 52 percent of the 519,000 corporations doing business in California (including 46 big-name, billion-dollar firms) paid only the token $800 franchise tax. Some paid no taxes at all while others received million-dollar refunds from the state.  

Would you like know the names of these corporate tax-dodgers? Sorry, you’re out of luck. By law, state officials are prohibited from revealing which corporations are tax-avoiders. But the resourceful sleuths at the California Budget Project managed to compile a short-list of these tax scofflaws. Among the more familiar names: Walt Disney, Fluor, Health Net, Hewlett-Packard, and Cypress Semiconductor. And then there’s Computer Sciences, which made $1.29 million in profits in 2001, paid no taxes, and received a $31 million rebate check from Sacramento. 

California isn’t alone. A 2003 study by Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) found that between 2001 and 2003, 232 of America’s largest corporations routinely under-reported their earnings to avoid paying state taxes. In 71 percent of the cases CTJ studied, these mega-corps managed to avoid state taxes entirely “despite telling their shareholders they made $86 billion in pre-tax U.S. profits.” The top California state-tax avoiders fingered by CTJ included Toys ‘R’ Us, AT&T, Boeing, Eli Lilly, Merrill Lynch and ITT Industries. 

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimated that, had these companies paid the average 6.8 percent corporate state tax, America’s towns and cities would have had an additional $67 billion to lavish on fire-fighters, police, teachers and hospitals over the three-year period. Instead, in state after state, corporate taxes have steadily declined over the past 30 years. 

Everybody who reads the business section knows that U.S. banks and oil companies are having banner years. But where are the stories on how much of their record profits these corporations contribute to the upkeep of the Golden State? In tough financial times, there is no excuse for protecting the identities of corporate tax-scofflaws. There should be public disclosure on which corporations are paying their fair share and which ones are shirking their public duty. It’s time for a full, public accounting. 

Gar Smith is editor emeritus of Earth Island Journal and associate editor of Common Ground magazine.?

I’ve been the recipient of responses to a “Letter to BUSD Teachers” written by me in collaboration with other concerned Berkeley parents. The letter has been widely circulated among parents and teachers, and has been sometimes forwarded with an attachment on teacher compensation not authorized or endorsed by the parents originally involved. In all cases it has provoked discussion. Following an event organized by the Berkeley Federation of Teachers (BFT) and billed as an Informational Meeting, which many parents found to be intimidating, and where they were thanked for coming out to show support when many came with questions and comments and were not prepared to offer support for the BFT positions, we felt it was necessary to offer an opportunity for parents to express dissenting views. 

While parents who do unequivocally support the union and would support a strike feel very free to express that view, teachers are entitled to know that there are also very many parents who do not support the union this time, and would not support a strike, but these parents do not feel as free to express their opinions. Many parents have said that they support the letter’s opinion, but would be uncomfortable signing it because of expected recrimination or “political backlash.” Although the vast majority of communications I’ve received in response to the “Letter to BUSD Teachers” have supported the position expressed in the letter, and many others have been thoughtful in their uncertainty or respectful in stating their difference of opinion, there have also been uncivil, extremely hostile and even threatening messages. In a community that so highly values free speech and the right of dissent, this should be troubling to us all. 

In Becky O’Malley’s editorial of April 8, she wrote of parents who had written to the Berkeley Daily Planet to express their disagreement with the work to rule campaign in the schools, who were “afraid to let their names be used for fear of reprisals against their kids.” The Berkeley Federation of Teachers should publicly state that intimidation or any kind of reprisal against any child for a parent’s political views would constitute unethical and unprofessional behavior. They should assure parents that they neither need nor wish to advance their cause by such intimidation and would not tolerate any such action against a vulnerable child. 

I am certain that not one of the teachers at my children’s school, Rosa Parks, would for even a moment consider withdrawing support from any child for any reason, certainly not in retaliation for a political difference with a parent. They are not only talented and dedicated professionals, they are people of good will and high moral standards. They actively teach and model compassion, respect and tolerance. I would hope and expect that this is true of all Berkeley teachers. 

Not supporting the union’s position doesn’t make a parent “anti-teacher,” “antiunion,” or “anti-working people” any more than opposition to the war on Iraq is “anti-American,” or constitutes “giving aid and comfort to the enemy.” To label those who’ve endorsed this letter that way is unfair and totaling misleading. The real message that teachers need to hear is that even many parents who are passionately dedicated to public education and hold teachers in the highest regard just cannot agree with the union this time. A large number of these parents devote many hours to active support of their schools and teachers. Some of us, myself included, have never crossed a picket line. We just want to emphasize that the teachers need to take a broad view of their interests, and that such a view should include the fiscal solvency of the school district and the context of an economic downturn in which this is taking place. We have deep concerns about how this dispute and/or a strike could affect the passage of BSEP and Measure B in 2006, which will require a concerted and united effort by parents, teachers, and community supporters and is by no means assured. Teacher layoffs and dramatically increased class sizes would be disastrous for us all. 

This is not any kind of organized opposition to BFT or support for the district. No one is planning any rallies to express this point of view. We just think the teachers have a right to hear from all parents, and since Barry Fike has many times repeated that he has only heard from supporters (not true) we felt we had to go straight to them. It doesn’t serve the interests of the teachers for them to have a nimpression of parent opinion skewed by suppression of all but one point of view. Free speech is more than an individual’s right to expression, it is our community’s safeguard against tyranny of any kind from any quarter. It’s an essential part of ongoing collective research into democratic solutions to complex problems, which will always involve diverse understandings of personal and community interests. 

Julie Holcomb is a printer and Rosa Parks parent. 

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Berkeley has always been a town which valued education at all levels. We show our support in myriad ways. With the possibility of a teacher strike in this community within the next six months, now is the time to support those whose everyday job is to teach our children. Whether we have school-age children currently or not, we recognize that the entire community has a stake in fostering literacy, numeracy, creativity, and citizenship among other good things in our young. Teachers who are valued by the community are teachers who project positive values in every word and gesture. Teachers pour their love into their teaching. They give the community their working lives and expect respect for their labors and reasonable compensation in return. 

In this fiscally tight era for all things benefiting the commonwealth, we are beginning to realize that starving government in general of taxes means starving the schools in particular. When you don’t take enough money in, the children, innocent and disenfranchised, do not get enough out. In the past three or four decades depriving the California public schools of enough state revenue to deliver excellent educational services has become institutionalized. Berkeley citizens turned to a parcel tax (BSEP) to supplement the meager statewide support for public education. This tax has been largely successful due to the vigilance and the active oversight of the BSEP committee but has created the unintended consequence of a sporadic power struggle over who can rightfully control the funds and over the question of supplementation of existing programs, rather than filling in for shortfalls due to inadequate state funding.  

Even so, the conservative world view has infected even the Berkeley public schools, despite BSEP, and the wolf is at the door. The wolf is not the parents, nor the teachers, nor the administration, nor is it Gov. Schwarzenegger per se. It is the erosion of trust among all these stakeholders augmented by the intrusion of the image-making industry. The crises caused by the conditions of scarcity imposed from above can be handled if agreement on actual revenue and actual expense can be arrived at. The hard part is separating the opportunistic spin from reality. If you think that a casual reading of the Berkeley Unified School District’s defense of their position allowing a 0 or 1.2 percent cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) for their teachers versus the union’s request for a 2 or 3 percent increase can equip you with the facts necessary to know who is right and who is wrong in the contract dispute, think again. 

The school district administration is a hierarchical bureaucracy headed by the superintendent. Most of the money decisions for the district are made on the basis of information provided to the school board by the bureaucracy even though the board works very hard to get a clear picture and votes accordingly. The entire present board has great budget acumen particularly residing in Ms. Riddle. However, even Ms. Riddle cannot invest the time to trace back all the data that is presented to her. Therefore, in the absence of real-time budgeting, and in the nearly complete reliance on central administration staff for input, decisions are necessarily influenced by the needs of image makers. It is the nature of the structure. The School Board, although constituted as an impartial independent group, act as the board of directors of the school district like the board of directors of a corporation. They, like those in any elected office, function as a combination of image makers, proponents of particular points of view, and impartial public servants working for the good of the whole. Although they themselves see themselves as entirely separate from the bureaucracy, the administration has such a lock on information that lay people on the board hardly have a chance from the beginning. There is often a conflict between fiscal responsibility, ambition, and charisma as you encounter in any CEO and board of directors. Leadership styles vary from Puritan frugality to flamboyant heedlessness to shrewd-eyed horse-trading. Any bureaucracy’s foremost priority is to protect itself, and the board’s first and foremost responsibility is to keep the district from state receivership and to promote the welfare of the district. Whatever image and priority regarding this welfare gains ascendancy in the boardmembers’ minds ultimately determines the outcome of this particular round of contract negotiation. If a fair cost of living adjustment for teachers wins out over whatever new project the district is undertaking, then teacher compensation and retention rates high in the priority list. A perfect example of the conflict between image and reality was the tenure of Jack McLaughlin, voted Superintendent of the Year when he was in Berkeley. The man was a PR genius. People loved him. After he left, the district found itself in a precarious financial position. Who knew? 

When Gov. Schwarzenegger passes the buck to the School Board and the School Board, acting on input from central administration staff, passes the buck to the teachers, then the union either takes it, negotiates a better settlement, or strikes. That is the union’s job. One intermediate step, work to rule, gives time for the mediation process to work or not. It gives time for all parties to plan for a strike and to contemplate the results of a strike. However, meanwhile, not knowing the true state of affairs with the budget continues for the public. Image makers elevate this not knowing to unknowability and outsiders have no other sources to rely on than what they read in the paper or get from their e-trees. No one in any group of stakeholders actually finds work-to-rule comfortable. Teachers historically want to teach their kids and to be left alone. They do not want to engage in PR campaigns; they do not want to add another layer of union meetings on top of the substantial number of meetings they must attend already. Their family values call for dinner at a normal hour and the money to buy the groceries to put on the table. 

Teaching, in the past, has been a profession by which a person could do meaningful work while maintaining access to middle class status. Teachers do not generally make off with compensation packages that are “fat” or unreasonable. The structuring of the salary schedule, an array of salaries arranged according to experience (steps) and education level (columns), with regular step and column raises gives predictability to the teachers’ finances so that they can plan their modest private budgets carefully, although they do not automatically get a raise every year as many people believe. Step raises come at intervals with experience within the district and column raises come as college courses beyond the baccalaureate and then the credential are completed. Besides, fully 25 percent of all BUSD certificated union members are hourly. These hourlies are not on the salary schedule. They get no column increases; mostly, if forced to remain hourly, they have absolute wage caps after one or two step raises with the exception of COLAs which have in the past been at a lower percent rate than their salary schedule colleagues. On the whole their compensation packages are probably less than 70 percent of the average salary schedule teacher’s compensation even for very senior teachers. Hourly teachers work at the Berkeley Adult School, Berkeley Independent Study, and as subs at almost all the Berkeley schools. 

The unpredictability of loss of wages due to a strike is the last thing hourly or salary schedule teachers want. Why strike? Partly to preserve the financial viability of teaching as a profession. The financial viability of teaching has already been eroded. If the teachers are the group required to absorb capricious governmental shortfalls, they will be shorted, again and again as long as legislators can still get re-elected by starving the end of the governmental food chain, the schools. When Gov. Schwarzenegger calls teachers and nurses special interests, he is partially correct. Teachers and nurses care about children and their welfare. They take special interest in children. Teachers and nurses seek to do meaningful work. Teachers and nurses do not share the traits of image makers either in the government nor in the corporations. They are not particularly aggressive. They are usually not Conan the Barbarian or body-builders in the traditional sense. They are mind-builders and body-builders in the non-traditional sense. They also care about their paychecks. This is neither shocking nor new. Teachers are supposed to care about their paychecks. If the schools are victimized everyone ultimately loses. If the top-down model of governance now firmly in place at BUSD victimizes the teachers, everyone loses. We are running neither corporations nor factories here but we are increasingly adopting the bureaucratic model of both. There is an alarming number of administrative vacancies at the moment. Those vacancies may be filled much like the present vacant federal judgeships will be filled although there is a renewed attempt to involve all stakeholders. There is increasing distance building between teachers and principals with central administration. Many of these conflicts boil down to “Who do you believe and what model do you endorse?” 

Another reason to strike is to cut through the thicket of obfuscation which constitutes district, state and national budgets currently. In the absence of a regular independent auditor function within the school district, we can only watch the fact-finding process unfold when the mediator between the union and the district declares impasse. Maybe some independently audited numbers will shed light on the situation then. Perhaps you yourself will get some answers. The question that continues to plague me is “Will we like the school system that remains?”  

Pam Drew is a 12-year math teacher at Berkeley Independent Study. She holds a bachelor’s degree in math (Phi Beta Kappa), a teaching credential from UC Berkeley, and a masters from UC Berkeley in education (math, science and technology). She received her last step raise eight years ago and has never received a column raise. 

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I’m not going to get into a popularity debate with recent letter writers to the Daily Planet. I’m sure that the parents who take time to talk to me support the teacher actions while parents who are frustrated with work-to-rule will talk to each other. At first, I was taken aback by their claims of fiscal realities, but I shouldn’t have been surprised since the district has a full time public relations officer who has repeatedly used public funds to misinform parents about the budget. There’s a historic reason why teachers, clerical, and plant workers have no confidence in the district’s fiscal data: 

1) Despite repeated requests not to do so, the district always uses old (2003) data in negotiations or press releases. 

2) Misrepresentation of facts. We all know that 3 percent of the budget must be kept as a reserve and it is currently at 1.5 percent. The district claims in their propaganda that it must be at 3 percent next year citing the threat of county take over. The district continues to pull out this figure even though the 3 percent is supposed to be phased in over several years. A board member recently stated 2.5 percent as the target. So which is it? 2.5 percent? 1.9 percent? 2.9 percent? 

3) Budgetary shell games. At first they claimed their expenses had to take into account Arnold’s new retirement proposal, which would cost the district $700,000. Now that the proposal has been withdrawn, where did this money go? 

4) The district has been repeatedly excoriated by the Union and outside agencies for poor or non-existent internal controls. These included: 

a. Large numbers of out of district students with unverified addresses. 

b. Lack of a cohesive attendance plan and data that causes us to lose huge amounts of ADA funds from the state. 

c. Giving benefits to ineligible extended relatives or paying non existent employees. 

d. Repeated failures in producing any financial data based on reality. Case in point: several years ago the district did a blanket lay off of several hundred teachers in the district. In my department, half of us got laid off despite the fact that enrollment figures indicated that all of us would be needed. We were, of course, all rehired because we were needed, but only after going through multiple hearings with teams of lawyers. I’d like to know how much time and money was wasted on this process when most fourth-graders could answer the question, “If I have 90 students and there are 30 students in a class, how many teachers do I need?” 

5) Almost anyone who has worked for the district will give you a story of the district’s financial ignorance. Errors in pay checks are commonplace and uncountable, one of my colleagues was vastly overpaid and he repeatedly went to payroll to have it corrected. Finally, payroll responded, “here you figure it out and tell us what we should be paying you.” That’s fiscal control. This year I was part of a mathematics curriculum program funded by the NSF. After coming to an agreement with a generous 10 percent overhead/profit, the district tried to overcharge the program by $16,000. Once again, the district was making up numbers out of thin air and they had to be reminded of the actual figures involved. 

I understand that parents were surprised by the suddenness of work-to-rule, and I also realize that work-to-rule is affecting everybody: students, parents, teachers, clerical staff, the administration, and the last thing we want is to strike, which would be devastating for all involved. These actions, however, aren’t meant to leverage public support against the district’s paycut—they are directed at the district and are a consequence of the districts’ unwillingness to bargain in good faith and with truthful fiscal figures. Teachers take on a variety of unpaid and donated duties, ranging from administrative, supervisory, and organizational duties, which the district has increasingly relied on in the past several years. Interestingly, the first offer in three years, a 1.2 percent cost-of-living increase, only came on the table after the teachers instituted work-to-rule. 

Members of the public might believe that the district wouldn’t cut health benefits if they had the money, but I’d like to remind everyone that this is the same district that let teacher salaries slide to the bottom by the late ‘90s. It was only by standing up and protesting that we got back to the median salary level, which has since slipped to the bottom third. I would also remind the public that this is the same district that fired hundreds of teachers, only to rehire them, because they really didn’t care if they wasted money on legal fees or destroyed teacher morale. 

The major demands of the teachers are simple. Class size maximums and the request not to cut teacher pay if money actually materializes. The public doesn’t have to take sides, but I’d expect them to at least ask the district to bargain in good faith and with accurate numbers. 

Gen Kogure is a teacher Berkeley High School. 

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For the last two years, there has been mounting anger in Oakland over the rule of Oakland School Administrator Randy Ward, who was appointed by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell after the California legislature seized the Oakland Unified School District from Oakland residents and taxpayers. 

(Note: the Oakland schools were not seized from the school board and Superintendent Dennis Chaconas—the school board only set policy as the elected representatives of the real owners: Oakland residents—and the superintendent only ran the schools as the hired employee of the school board. That’s a small lesson in basic civic government that seems to always get forgotten in discussions of Oakland’s recent school problems.)  

In any event, back to Mr. Ward, the closing down of some neighborhood schools entirely and the escalating policy of turning over others to charter organizations by the state-appointed administrator has been particularly galling, leading many Oaklanders to the understandable belief that there will be only a shell of a district left when—and if—Oakland Unified is finally turned back over to the actual people who are providing the children and footing the bills. In recent weeks—particularly after a group of demonstrators were arrested during a sit-in at Ward’s office while demanding that Mr. O’Connell come to Oakland to meet with Oaklanders about the school situation—that anger has spread out to include the State Superintendent himself. 

Last month, that anger came to a head when Mr. O’Connell came to Oakland to present his long-delayed multi-year recovery plan to the local public at Oakland Tech High. The crowd booed Mr. Ward when he was introduced. They booed Mr. O’Connell through much of the first part of his presentation. They booed Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente who for some unaccountable reason (since neither he nor City Council have anything to do with the running of the schools) was up on the auditorium stage to make a short presentation himself. At one point, the crowd even booed the moderator. 

Given that anger, and given Oakland’s history of social action, one has to wonder why there has been no serious effort so far mounted to topple Mr. Ward and return control of the schools back to Oakland. 

(And please, please don’t tell me that can’t be done simply because state law requires California to run Oakland’s schools. Some of us who are still around lived in an era when elderly African American women had to get off the Trailways buses along the side of the road and urinate in the woods because the laws in some states forbade them to use the public restrooms that were reserved for white folk. We lived long enough to see those laws fall. Laws are written by people. Laws can be rewritten, or erased altogether, by those same people, or by others succeeding them. It happens pretty much every day.) 

The problem is not that the state takeover of the Oakland schools is “the law.” The problem is a huge but largely-undiscussed fissure dividing the likely three-way coalition that, if it came together, would have the potential to overturn state rule. 

That three-way coalition would logically be made up of Oakland teachers, parents of Oakland schoolchildren, and a broad, what we might call “Home Rule activist” collection of progressives, school board and PTA members, and neighborhood folks who have been active in supporting Oakland’s schools. 

And, in fact, that coalition has come together on some issues surrounding Mr. Ward’s administration, particularly in opposing the closure or charter conversion of some neighborhood schools. In these instances, the interests of the three parts of the coalition are identical—teachers, parents, and “Home Rule activists” all want most, if not all, of Oakland’s neighborhood schools to remain open and not converted to charters. 

But that unity doesn’t hold when it comes to the steps that are needed to restore Home Rule to Oakland schools under the existing school takeover law. 

As pointed out in last week’s UnderCurrents column, the takeover law (SB39) calls for return to local control when “the Superintendent of Public Instruction concurs with the assessment of the administrator and FCMAT that future compliance by the Oakland Unified School District with the [FCMAT] improvement plan … and the [State Superintendent’s] multiyear financial recovery plan … is probable.” 

The budget of the multiyear financial recovery plan—which was released last month by Mr. O’Connell when he came to Oakland Tech—is based in large part on the district reaching a contract agreement pretty much along the lines of the terms offered this year to the Oakland Federation of Teachers by Mr. Ward. And so, following last month’s Oakland Tech appearance by Mr. O’Connell, Oakland Advisory School Board President Gary Yee huddled on the sidewalk outside Tech with OFT President Ben Visnick, urging him to get his union members to sign that contract. 

“If the teacher contract is signed, the state superintendent will have to certify that compliance with the recovery plan is probable, and we can apply to move forward with restoration of local control,” Mr. Yee argued. “The teacher contract is the last barrier. Just do it for one year.” 

The implication was clear, though never stated by Mr. Yee, that once it regained its power, the OUSD School Board would revisit the teacher contract—not to unbalance the district’s budget, which would immediately trigger a state re-seizure—but to work with the teachers union to find creative ways both to keep the budget balanced and to restore some of the concessions the teachers gave up. 

But Mr. Visnick disagreed. His responsibility is to his own union members, and, understandably, he’s reluctant to set what he would call “bad” precedents in this year’s contract on the hope that they might be reversed by the school board at some later point. Of particular concern, he pointed out, was the contract proposal provision formally capping the district’s contribution to teacher health care benefits. With rising health care costs, Mr. Visnick argued, that would quickly eat up any future pay raises granted by either the state or the OUSD Board. He also thought that the district should operate without the usual state-mandated 3 percent reserve in order to fund a teacher pay raise. Mr. Visnick and the OFT Executive Committee lobbied union members against Mr. Ward’s proposed contract and late last month, those union members voted 5-1 to reject it. 

No contract, no state superintendent certification, no quick return to local control. No coalition. 

This is not a criticism of either position, either that proposed to the teachers by Mr. Yee (sign the contract and take your chances with a local school board next year) or that proposed to the teachers by Mr. Visnick (don’t set a precedent that might not be able to be overturned). In this instance, both men were consistent, arguing on principle, and representing the interests of their particular constituents. Hard to argue against that. 

But it is equally hard to see a movement to return local control to Oakland schools without the support of the Oakland Federation of Teachers. Perhaps in recognizing their legitimate differences, the teachers, Oakland parents, and the collection of “Home Rule activists” can figure out a way to overcome those differences and unite against those who they all agree are the common enemy—the non-Oaklanders who have taken over Oakland’s schools. 

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Major Crime Spree 

Berkeley police arrested two men late Tuesday morning after a vicious crime spree that left one man in critical condition. 

Police were summoned to the 1300 block of Virginia Street at 11:22 a.m. Tuesday responding to a report of a street robbery in progress. 

Before officers arrived, the two suspects forced their way into a house on the same block, where they shot and critically wounded the homeowner during the course of an attempted robbery. 

The pair then headed to Chestnut Street, where they attempted to hijack a car, pistol-whipping the driver before fleeing to the 1500 block of Belvedere Street, where one pulled a pistol as they carjacked a station wagon driven by a 58-year-old woman. 

The woman escaped on foot without injury, Okies said. 

Arriving officers spotted the woman’s station wagon with the two men inside and gave pursuit. The suspects turned onto Hearst Avenue. When they attempted to execute a fast turn eastbound onto Grant Street, they slammed into a parked car, where officers arrested them and recovered a pistol from the stolen car. 

The two suspects, Sherman Fuller Bailey, 53, of Richmond, and Ollie Jean Pope, 49, of San Pablo, were charged with robbery, attempted carjacking, carjacking and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. 

The gunshot victim was rushed to Highland Hospital, where he was reported in critical condition, said Officer Okies.  

Robbery, Sex Assault 

Police in Berkeley and Oakland are seeking a young man who picked up a handicapped woman in Oakland, then robbed her and forced her to perform oral sex on him before dropping her off near James Kinney Park at Seventh and Virginia streets at 1 a.m. last Saturday. 

Officer Okies said the suspect was a thin brown-haired Caucasian man in his 20s who was wearing an orange shirt and driving a white van. 

Stabbed and Kidnapped 

Responding to calls that a club-wielding man was dragging a woman down the 1200 block of Evelyn Avenue, Berkeley police arrived on the scene shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday. 

They found a 41-year-old man armed with both a golf club and a baseball bat, said Officer Okies. 

The suspect’s 25-year-old companion said the man had stabbed her earlier in the day, and the suspect was booked on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping and domestic violence. 

As the officers secured their prisoner, the woman fled, said Officer Okies. 

MP3 Robbery 

A large, heavily built teenager robbed a 25-year-old man of his MP3 music player as he was walking in the 1800 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Way just before 5 p.m. Tuesday. 

Another Robbery 

Berkeley police are seeking the very tall bandit who robbed a 69-year-old man of his jewelry and cash shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday in the 2900 block of Mabel Street. 

The victim described the suspect as an six-foot six-inch African-American man in his 30s who weighs about 300 pounds. He was last seen fleeing in a light-colored 1980s model Chevrolet sedan, said Officer Okies. ›

Bedroom Blaze 

Berkeley firefighters were called to a home at 1314 Bayview Place Friday evening, arriving on the scene at 8:20 to find one of the two-story home’s bedrooms ablaze. 

Deputy Fire Chief David Orth said the fire was controlled within 10 minutes. Structural damage was estimated at $50,000. 

The owner had left the dwelling minutes before the flames erupted. Orth said the blame for the outbreak has been placed on a faulty power strip.›

Joy Carlin, a Berkeley woman of the theater, has found a solution to the age-old complaint that there’s a shortage of roles for mature actresses. She’s playing a 16-year-old, the title role of Kimberly Akimbo, a play by David Lindsay-Abaire, at the San Francisco Playhouse near Union Square through May 21. 

Kimberly obviously isn’t the typical teenage role. This is no feat of nontraditional casting. She’s afflicted with progeria, an extremely rare condition that accelerates aging. That is, Kimberly looks much older than her age. Progeria sufferers typically die at age 13; by the time they’re 6 or 7, they are physiologically older than their parents.  

Yet Kimberly’s milieu is more eccentric than she is. On Bill English’s excellent set—oblique, revolving flats to the wings of an oblique skyline (it’s Bogota ... New Jersey)—the characters around the central one spill out. There is frantic father Buddy (Clive Worsley) and hypocondriac mother Pattie (Susi Damilano, who is also producing director of The Playhouse), chatting away on tape for the benefit of her unborn baby; Aunt Debra (Deb Fink, a Berkeley native and Central Works stalwart), very New Jersey and constantly scamming and Jeff (Jeremy Kahn), Kimberly’s schoolmate, the odd one out, seemingly a regular kid, but with a fetish for anagrams (he’s the one who comes up with “Kimberly Akimbo”). 

Kimberly presides over the whole scene like a stoic mother or grandmother figure. Aunt Debra could easily pass for her daughter. And she and her contemporary Jeff should have tastes more than a generation apart—if looks could tell. (One of the backstage jokes of the production is that Jeremy Kahn’s playing it young, too—he’s really 18.) 

The ensemble at large seldom mentions Kimberly’s condition, but it percolates through each complicated situation and the going gets complicated, though never hard to follow. In many ways what Lindsay-Abaire has fashioned is a play that runs the gamut of genres, from what would seem to be a character sketch or tear-jerker about a young person facing a premature end, through eccentric family milieu-drama (with added perk of the kid being the mature one), into a kind of con or heist suspense piece. At one point, Jeff and Kimberly dress up as grandmother and grandson to see a bank manager in furthering one of Aunt Debra’s endless run of scams. It’s a coup, and the audience realizes just how profoundly their view of things has been altered, even if just temporarily, and on stage. And it is finally a first love (doomed love?) tale, but a completely unconventional one. 

It’s a good cast, with the women particularly outstanding. Susi Damilano and Deb Fink are charming and very funny in their wacked-out personae. Joy Carlin must not only belie her seniority in regards to her cast-mates, but also the direct expression of her experience as seasoned actress and director, which would cut the suspension of disbelief by itself. 

Kent Nicholson is the “new works director” at TheatreWorks on the Peninsula, and has directed for the Magic in San Francisco, recently for Shotgun (where he directed Dog Act) and for many other Bay Area theaters. He’s an accomplished and sensitive director. With a tour-de-force for both lead role and the whole, genre-jumping play at hand, he’s chosen to take it right down the middle, integrally, following the action and the milieu out as it comes, with the overriding situation always apparent, even if not in full view every moment. This is a humanistic approach, rather than taking the tour-de-force by the horns. 

Part of the point of the play seems to be the constant tension between the normal and the abnormal, and who’s to say which is what, and what it does to the most thoughtful person to try to define normalcy and their relation to it (especially in the midst of this kind of New Jersey “domesticity”!) 

Kent’s got the horse ahead of the cart. In an ideal production, I’d like to see a little more theatricality, something missing from our theaters these days. Not necessarily Eccentrism, to pull a Russian style of modern theatricality out of the hat, though the word fits. Kent knows this idiom, and has used it to good effect. 

Kimberly Akimbo, in any case, is densely packed, and gives the audience a full evening—just as it’s given Joy Carlin the role of a lifetime—the role of a short life with the wisdom of age. 

Kimberly Akimbo will be performed at 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and at 3 and 8 p.m. Sundays through May 21 at the San Francisco Playhouse, 536 Sutter St. $30. (415) 677-9596, or reservation@sfplayhouse.org.›

This weekend’s ninth annual Jazz on Fourth Street Festival marks a musical homecoming for multi-instrumentalist Peter Apfelbaum. 

The Berkeley native last played here in February 2002 at Freight and Salvage with the same kind of small group he will be bringing to Fourth Street this Sunday. He is best-known locally, though, for his creation of the Hieroglyphic Ensemble, a 17-piece group he founded in 1977 when he was 17 years old. At one time or another, this group was the incubator for such now-renowned players as pianist Benny Green and saxophonists Craig Handy and Joshua Redman, among others. Since 1995, most of his baton-wielding has been with smaller Hieroglyphic Sextets and Septets and, since 1998, Brooklyn has been his home base. 

Beginning as a precocious teenager, Apfelbaum’s career reads something like a moebius strip. “All its further destinies are prefigured in its origin,” as Franz Rosenzweig put it. 

Peter was leading a big band, writing music and performing on reeds, keyboards and percussion at an age when most musicians are still mastering the rudiments of their axes. At the same time he was still learning. He names Sun Ra, the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Pharaoh Sanders as early and important influences. He studied with John Tchicai when the great Danish saxophonist and free jazz pioneer was teaching at Davis in the early ‘90s. By 1987, the critics were paying a lot of attention to the Hieroglyphic Ensemble. In 1988, the ensemble began performing with trumpeter and former Ornette Coleman collaborator Don Cherry, and was featured on his Multikulti album.  

At that time, the shape of jazz to come was like an unborn chick still trying to egg tooth its way through the hard calcium carbonate shell of ‘60s free jazz. All the innovation of Ornette, Cecil Taylor, Coltrane and Dolphy cried out for synthesis, but few knew what that synthesis would be like. For Apfelbaum, growing up in the ‘60s and ‘70s, listening and playing everything from jazz to rock to indigenous folk music to contemporary classical, the answer was to be a premonition of the music of the next quarter century. 

Jazz would take its place as the flagship of post-colonial culture, not borrowing from other musics in order to stay contemporary, but demonstrating that it already had refined the techniques necessary to make all these sounds and improvisational methods work together. 

As the Kabbalists say, Apfelbaum was already prepared and arrayed for the unification. The Hieroglyphic Ensemble was playing a polyrhythmic, improvised jazz, cognizant of the musical traditions of India, Africa, the West Indies, Latin America and Asia before the terms world music or world beat existed. Apfelbaum’s genius was not in appropriating, but, like any true jazz composer, synthesizing the possibilities that were around him and creating structures for improvisation. 

The term “hieroglyphic” arose because that is how the musicians in the band first described his notation. Yet the word remains fitting for this music since it contains multivalent references to Egypt and Africa; lost and refound wisdom; gnosis; and non-linear, instantaneous modes of communication such as symbols and emblems. 

His newest album’s title, It Is Written, continues to play with our concepts of knowing and learning. He told me that for him it had the suggestion of something always meant to be: kismet, fate, destiny, or b’shert, as the Yiddish has it. It’s the writing on the wall but in this case the tagger is the collective unconscious. Like jazz and African music, his compositions are grounded in what was his first instrument, the drums, unlike Western music which begins with the elements of chords, keys, scales and harmony. The songs have no fixed meanings. Instead they are oral/aural symbols which, hopefully, trigger associations in the minds of listeners. At the same time, this is a music of propulsive rhythms, high energy and fiery beauty. 

For a wonderful, al fresco introduction to this cutting edge music, catch the Ninth Annual Jazz on Fourth Street Festival, a benefit for the Berkeley High School Performing Arts Program and the Berkeley High Jazz Ensemble. This free event takes place on Sunday, May 15, from noon to 5 p.m. on Fourth Street in Berkeley, between Hearst and Virginia. 

The Peter Apfelbaum Septet, consisting of Peter Apfelbaum, tenor sax, keyboards and percussion; John Schott, guitar; Rachel Durling, violin; Jeff Cressman, trombone; John Shifflett, bass; Deszon X. Claiborne, drums; and Josh Jones, percussion will perform from 1:15 to 2 p.m. Also featured on the program are blues guitarist-vocalist-songwriter Chris Cain from 2:15 to 3 p.m.; and Son Montuno-style Cuban band Palenque from 3:10 to 4 p.m. Two Berkeley High School combos and the award-winning Berkeley High Jazz Ensemble will open and close the festivities. For more information call 526-6294. 

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Last week, Berkeley Unified School District produced one of those math brain teasers during this spring’s overhaul of its principal corps. Question: if Berkeley Unified has three elementary school principal slots to fill—at Rosa Parks, Oxford, and John Muir—and fills one of them, how many elementary school principal slots does the district have to fill? Answer: three. 

The math works because the principal position at Rosa Parks was filled by the voluntary transfer of six-year LeConte principal Patricia Saddler late last month, opening up the LeConte principal position. 

“The Rosa Parks community is very excited about it,” said BUSD Public Information Officer Mark Coplan. “The LeConte community is understandably upset.” 

The Saddler transfer left district officials scrambling to put together a LeConte parent interview team to assist in the evaluation of principal candidates, with parents complaining that they were given only two business days notice between the time they were notified of Saddler’s departure to the time a meeting had to be held to choose parent representatives for the interview team. Between 30 and 40 parents attended the LeConte meeting last Monday. 

LeConte parents will be represented on the interview team by one member apiece of four school-based organizations: the School Site Council, the Berkeley School Excellence Program (BSEP) committee, the PTA, and the English Learner Advisory Committee. 

LeConte School Site Council Co-Chair Jenny Lipow, who is not on the interview team at her own request, said that “the process could have been done with a little more sensitivity so there wasn’t so much angst. They should have let us know sooner that this was being considered.” 

Lipow called the late notice “the same old same old in this district; it’s an example of [Superintendent] Michele Lawrence’s high-handedness.” 

Lipow said she was “sure this will all work out okay, so long as the superintendent is held accountable. So far in her time as superintendent, she hasn’t been.” 

Saddler said she decided to take the Rosa Parks job both because “I’m interested in taking on a new challenge” and “after six years, it’s time for a change.” 

Even as she finishes out the school year at LeConte her work at Rosa Parks has already begun. On Monday night she was scheduled to be introduced to Rosa Parks parents, and she has scheduled a series of meetings over the next few weeks with outgoing Parks principal Shirley Herrera. She will also meet with a leadership team from Rosa Parks on the first of June to review school data and to learn their priorities. 

Saddler says she is leaving LeConte with mixed feelings. 

“I think we accomplished a lot in the past six years,” she said. 

Saddler cited the implementation of LeConte’s dual language program (“over some significant opposition”) as well as enhancing the school’s farm and garden program as two of her major accomplishments at LeConte. 

Meanwhile, on Monday, three separate teams made up of parents, teachers, and support staff from Oxford, John Muir, and now LeConte will interview nine principal finalists at the BUSD administration offices at Old City Hall. Coplan said that the final decision will be made by Lawrence, and said the principal selected for the individual schools will not necessarily be the candidates interviewed by the individual school teams. 

“She wants to make sure that the principal chosen is the right fit for each school situation,” Coplan said. 

He added that the decision was made to approve Saddler’s voluntary transfer to Rosa Parks “because the district believes LeConte is in a position to do good education work with a good principal, but Rosa Parks needs a great principal to bring its educational standards up. Pat Saddler is a great principal, and we believe that the pool of applicants is good enough that we can get a good replacement for her at LeConte.” 

In addition to the three elementary school principal posts, the district must fill principal positions opening up at Willard Middle and Berkeley Alternative High School.

The City Council has approved the framework of a settlement that would resolve its legal dispute with UC Berkeley, councilmembers said Friday. 

Although the exact deal has not been revealed or submitted to a formal vote, Councilmember Dona Spring intimated that the council had agreed in principle to a plan whereby the university would pay somewhat more each year for city services like sewer fees in return for the city’s dropping a lawsuit it filed against the university’s 15-year development plan. 

Spring, who opposes the deal, hinted that the university had not budged from its offer last January to pay the city approximately $1.2 million annually for city services. According to UC Berkeley’s Director of Community Relations Irene Hegarty, the university paid the city $542,000 this year for a variety of services. 

Berkeley’s town-gown dispute has intensified recently. In February the city filed suit over UC Berkeley’s Long Range Development Plan, arguing that it lacked sufficient detail and gave the university a green light for a building boom that would further drain city services. 

Then in March, Berkeley demanded that the university pay the city’s tax on parking spaces, and two weeks ago, the council voted to send the university a $2.2 million sewer bill if a deal was not reached. 

According to Spring, the proposed deal would end all of these disputes and it would also include new land use standards for areas close to campus, including her own council district, which she found particularly objectionable and blamed on Mayor Tom Bates.  

“I feel the mayor is negotiating out of what his pro-development agenda is around the campus,” she said. 

Spring said she was prohibited from detailing the specifics of the framework because it was presented during a closed session meeting of the City Council two weeks ago, but chastised her colleagues for approving it out of the public’s view. 

“It’s way out of line to make planning policies as part of a backroom deal,” she said. 

Mayor Bates declined to comment on negotiations. 

Tom Lollini, the university’s assistant vice chancellor for physical and environmental planning, who has been a party to negotiations, also refused comment. He did say that he had not been aware of the council’s vote in closed session. 

According to Hegarty, negotiations have been handled by attorneys and staff members for each side, with no councilmembers present. 

UC officials have previously said that Berkeley had sought between $3 and $5 million a year from the university in return for city services. Last year, the city released a report, rejected by university officials, that concluded UC Berkeley cost the city roughly $10.9 million a year in unpaid services and lost tax revenue. With city deficits mounting, Berkeley officials had sought to help close budget shortfalls by winning concessions from the university. 

“In this deal, we’re making concessions, both in terms of financial and planning standards, that we should not be making,” Spring said. Joining her in dissent during the closed session meeting, she said, was Councilmember Kriss Worthington. 

Worthington refused to comment on the negotiations. 

On the other side of the aisle, Councilmember Betty Olds said the deal was better than proceeding with a lawsuit. 

“I applaud them for trying to work out their differences,” she said, adding, “The university had the upper hand, we all knew that.” 

As a state institution, UC has maintained that it is exempt from local taxes and assessments.  

Still, Antonio Rossmann, a land use attorney who teaches at Boalt Hall, had said he thought the city had a good chance to prevail in its lawsuit against UC Berkeley’s long range plan. A legal victory would not necessarily have forced the university to scrap its plan to build 2.2 million square feet of new administration space through 2020, but it could have required the university to better remedy city concerns regarding increased traffic congestion and strains on city services. The lawsuit also could have forced UC Berkeley to delay new construction projects. 

Neighborhood leaders, who have pushed for the city to take a hard line against UC Berkeley, slammed the reported deal. 

“If they get nothing more than what UC offered them in January, it’s an embarrassment,” said Jim Sharp of Berkeleyans for a Livable University Environment (BLUE). “This was their big chance to extract concessions. I don’t know how [the council] can face their citizens.” 

Sharp was also upset that the terms approved by the council remain secret. Under the Brown Act, the council is not required to announce the vote taken in closed session unless it is the approval of a final agreement.  

Assuming that the vote in closed session would be communicated to UC, Terry Francke of Californians Aware, a open government advocacy group, questioned why the council wouldn’t release the information to residents. 

“The only reason for secrecy in this situation is to keep the information from getting to the other side,” he said. “If the university already knows about the vote, there is no principled reason to keep it confidential.” 

Peter Scheer, of the First Amendment Coalition, said that the council might have decided to keep the vote secret because they were seeking extra concessions from the university. 

“They could have told their lawyers, we’ve signed, now see if you can do a little better,” he said. “It’s hard [for an attorney] to negotiate when the adversary knows that his client has accepted the deal the way it is.” 

Assistant City Manager Arrietta Chakos said the council had not decided if a vote on a final deal would be made in public with residents allowed to give their opinions. Often for litigation settlements the council announces a vote taken in closed session, but doesn’t debate the issue in public or take public comment. However, Chakos said, in this case the council might adopt a different course. 

“There are any number of routes they could take,” she said. “There has been no decision that I’ve heard about how they wish to proceed.” 

With Alta Bates Summit Medical Center on the brink of losing its accreditation, hospital officials are bracing for a crucial Thursday meeting in Chicago.  

Hospital spokesperson Carolyn Kemp said CEO Warren Kirk, Vice President of Medical Affairs Dr. John Gentile and Director of Quality Merilee Newton and two staff physicians will attend the meeting. 

At issue is accreditation by the Joint Committee on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), a crucial issue for hospitals and HMOs. JCAHO’s imprimatur is a prerequisite for coverage by many health insurers, said Mark Forstneger of JCAHO. 

Its approval means automatic approval for Medicare and Medicaid coverage, and without it, healthcare organizations must undergo a separate federal review before payments can be authorized, Forstneger said. 

The accreditation woes for Alta Bates were first revealed Nov. 6 when JACHO issued a preliminary denial of accreditation. Among the issues cited were the need to: 

• Obtain informed consent from behavioral health care patients. 

• Assure that patients with comparable needs receive the same standard of treatment, care and services. 

• Ensure safe storage of medications. 

• Ensure that medication orders are clearly written, accurately transcribed and reviewed for appropriateness. 

• Assure that medicines returned to the pharmacy are properly managed. 

• Assure that the hospital responds appropriately to actual or potential medication errors and adverse drug effects. 

• Develop individual treatment plans appropriate to each patient. 

• Create written time frames for conducting individual patient assessments. 

• Assess pain levels for each patient. 

• Restrain patients only on the basis of individual orders or an approved protocol initiated by an individual order. 

• Ensure that restraint and seclusion orders are time-limited. 

• Act to prevent or reduce hospital-caused patient infection rates. 

• Prepare plans for surgical and non-surgical procedures where sedation or anesthetics are used. 

• Maintain complete and accurate medical records for every patient evaluated or treated. 

“We have already had four recommendations removed through e-mails and telephone conversations,” said Kemp, “and we are convinced that when we present the documentation in person Thursday that the rest will be removed.” 

Kemp said she couldn’t say which four had been cleared. 

“We are fully accredited and expect to remain fully accredited,” she said. “For the third year in a row we have had the best outcomes for heart patients in the state, and our rehabilitation program for strokes and other brain injuries has been held up as a model.” 

JCAHO’s Forstneger said preliminary denials such as that issued to last November “are rarely rendered” and not issued lightly. 

He said there are four basic accreditation status the organization can issue, with the first being full accreditation, the second being provisional accreditation (“typically issued when there is a failure to rapidly correct deficiencies”), conditional accreditation (“typically when there are multiple deficiencies”)‚ and outright denial. 

The two intermediate statuses are typically resolved in two to four months, Forstneger said. 

The panel that meets Thursday will feature one JCAHO member, two experts with knowledge of the issues, and—if possible—the official who conducted the initial survey. 

The accreditation troubles occur at a time when Alta Bates Summit is a year into a labor dispute with members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Union members, who represent most hospital employees other than registered nurses, have been working without a contract for a year. 

Some 200 union members gathered outside Summit Alta Bates Hospital in Oakland Saturday to protest the impasse in labor negotiations. 

Berkeley City Councilmember Kriss Worthington helped organize a Thursday night meeting attended by four state assemblymembers or their staffs that featured presentations by hospital officials. The other sponsors were Berkeley Grey Panthers and Vote Health. 

“We are very proud of the Thursday night meeting,” said Kemp. “Our leadership and physicians stood up and talked about the high quality of our medical care.” 

Worthington said the gathering was quite impressive. “It was a healthy discussion,” he said. 

The councilmember praised East Bay Assemblywoman Loni Hancock for managing the sometimes heated gathering. 

›

Berkeley businesses could be in store for a green revolution if a novel clean energy bond comes to fruition. 

On Tuesday, the City Council will consider a proposal to spend $52,500 for part of the start-up costs towards generating a bond fund valued at around $50 million for clean energy and solar projects for Berkeley and Oakland businesses. 

“It looks like a giant win-win for everybody,” said Mayor Tom Bates, who hopes that the bond could foster green energy use, while bolstering Berkeley businesses that supply the technology.  

However, clean energy bonds do not have a track record of success, and even the plan’s architect acknowledges that there is no guarantee it can line up interested companies, financiers and vendors for the offering, and even if it does, a sudden jump in interest rates or drop in utility prices could undermine the plan. 

Berkeley energy officer Neal De Snoo estimates that if the program is successful Berkeley businesses could add 10 megawatts of clean energy generation, equivalent to the amount of energy needed to power 3,000 homes. 

If the council approves the item, Berkeley won’t allocate the money until Oakland approves $97,500 towards the plan. Oakland Finance Director Bill Nolan said his city was behind Berkeley and that he was still learning about the project. 

Under a financing plan devised by Berkeley-based environmental consulting firm Power Factors Inc., neither city would be on the hook for the bond. 

Power Factors is planning to use the allocations from Berkeley and Oakland to help coalesce businesses interested in clean energy projects and financial institutions willing to back the bond. If the project fails, Berkeley would only stand to lose its initial $52,000, said John Schultheis, of Power Factors. Schultheis estimated the project will cost $450,000 to develop, with Power Factors responsible for raising the remainder of the costs not supplied by Berkeley and Oakland. 

Most Berkeley businesses have not converted to environmentally efficient technologies, De Snoo said, because they are hesitant to pay for the overhead costs. If the bond proposal proved successful bondholders would pay for the energy efficient projects up front, while the companies would pay them back over the term of the bond, he said.  

Also because the fund would bundle between 50 and 100 clean energy projects, De Snoo anticipates that companies would receive discounted prices from vendors and contractors. 

Projects planned for the bond include a combined heat and power system which uses natural gas more efficiently to provide both heat and electricity, efficient lighting and solar power. If the scheme proves successful, De Snoo said, it could be expanded to include homeowners. 

Power Factors’ Schultheis said he has spoken to about 10 interested businesses. If the project goes as planned, he anticipates floating the bond in about 15 months.  

Power Factors, a clean energy consulting firm led by a team of entrepreneurs with a financial stake in solar energy company Solaria, stands to make money in consulting fees to other cities if the bond proves successful. 

Three other jurisdictions—San Francisco, Oahu, and New Mexico—have been involved with clean energy bonds to so far unspectacular results. San Francisco’s $100 million energy bond approved by voters in 2001 has not been funded because of problems with the city’s Hetch Hetchy water district, which was to back the bonds through water revenues. The water district didn’t have a business plan for investors to feel comfortable financing the bonds, said J.P. Ross, deputy director of Vote Solar, a San Francisco-based clean energy group that backed the ballot.  

In Oahu, Hawaii’s biggest Island, Ross said the newly elected mayor of Honolulu opposed the bond and has held it up. “It’s pivotal to have a leader in place to make things happen,” he said. “Our champion in Hawaii went out with the old mayor.” 

The New Mexico bond, passed by the state legislature in March, is too recent to have had tangible results. 

According to Brian Siu, an energy policy analysis with the clean energy advocate Apollo Alliance, the bonds are currently in a test phase. “The success and failures in the next few years will determine their relevance,” he said. 

Schultheis said it was unfair to compare the bond fund envisioned by Power Factors to those approved elsewhere. For one thing, he said, while those bonds were backed with public money and were intended for energy improvements at public buildings, Power Factors intends to back its bonds with private money for improvements to private businesses. 

“If we did everything we could to city buildings in Berkeley and Oakland, that’s just a drop in the bucket given the opportunities to reduce energy usage in those cities,” he said. 

Without public backing, Power Factors has to employ a variety of financing mechanisms, and Schultheis acknowledges he doesn’t know what entity will back the offering. To lure investors, Power Factors is counting on using bond insurance as well as letters of credit from banks to guarantee the offering in case businesses go bankrupt or equipment fails.  

As extra insurance to bondholders, businesses that sign up for the projects will be charged an exit fee if they break the terms of the agreement, Schultheis said. Also for solar projects the bond will bundle available federal and state tax credits to lure private investors looking to write off tax liabilities. 

Insured bonds are a growing part of the bond market, according to Steve Zimmermann, managing director for Standard & Poor’s Western Region. He said the rating agencies grade the bonds based on the rating of either the insurer or the bank providing letters of credit. Most bond insurers are rated AAA, he added, and charge fees to back lower rated offerings. 

Because of the elaborate financing plan, the bond will be more expensive for borrowers than if it had been backed by the city. To make the project feasible, Schultheis said Power Factors has to round up at least $50 million worth of projects before going to investors. 

De Snoo said Power Factors first broached the idea to city officials last year at a meeting of the Sustainable Business Working Group, convened by Mayor Bates. 

“So far it’s checked out,” Bates said, explaining why the city is considering spending $52,000 to launch the plan. “We’re encouraged by what we’ve seen, but we still plan to proceed with a lot of caution.” 

Schultheis said the bond would only fund proven technologies and not include Solaria products, which he said were too experimental for bondholders to be comfortable with them. 

For businesses, the chief risk, besides equipment failure, is if PG&E lowers prices. The bond will be structured so that the annual payment participating businesses make to bondholders is roughly equal to or less than the savings they would realize under current energy prices. If energy prices drop, which historically has not been the case, so does the financial incentives for businesses. 

Another potential risk is if interest rates rise dramatically over the next year while the bond is being prepared. Higher interest rates means higher costs for interested companies, he said. “Anything that increases the cost of finance is not good.”

Required to close an $8.9 million shortfall, city leaders today (Tuesday) are scheduled to present a proposed budget to the City Council at a 5:30 p.m. work session. 

The fiscal year 2006 budget proposal was not available at press time and is not scheduled for council approval until late June.  

When the council convenes its regular 7 p.m. session it will consider proposals to make it less expensive for long-term tenants to buy their homes, for teaching-related home business owners to get a city permit, and to help homeless people recover their impounded vehicles. Also, the council is scheduled to vote on a Precautionary Principle ordinance, a model for making proactive environmentally-sensitive decisions in city purchasing, contracting and other activities. 

Budget 

With roughly 75 percent of the city’s $300 million budget tied up in employee salaries, the council has little flexibility to tinker with the budget. The big debate appears to be shaping up over how to spend an estimated $4.5 million in unanticipated revenues available for the coming year.  

City Manager Phil Kamlarz has proposed allocating most of the funds towards capital projects like street improvements, but the council is also facing pressure to use some of the money to restore city services. 

Community nonprofits, facing an average cut of 9 percent, are demanding that the council restore their funding. Also demanding relief are city swimmers, who are facing the closure of all three city pools this winter, as well as arts advocates who are calling for the city to restore art grants and reject the city manager’s proposal to cut the hours of Civic Arts Coordinator Mary Ann Merker. 

Senior citizens and disabled residents have called a protest outside Old City Hall before the meeting to oppose a proposed $18,000 cut from the city’s paratransit budget. Also, animal shelter advocates are calling on the city to withdraw a proposal to eliminate a shelter employee, which they say would force the shelter to reduce hours. 

Rising labor and benefits costs and declining revenues plunged the city into the red three years ago, and appear likely to dent next year’s budget as well. City officials project a $1.6 million deficit in fiscal year 2007, but anticipate a balanced budget by 2009.  

City unions have also pushed for Berkeley to use a portion of the unanticipated revenues to abandon a plan to shut city offices a day each month for a year starting in July. The closures would save the city $3 million. As an alternative, City Manager Phil Kamlarz has proposed that unions affected by the planned closures instead agree to forgo their contractual right to carry over vacation time beyond 320 hours and have the city buy back excess vacation days. The proposal, if accepted by the unions, is anticipated to save $3 million over the course of three years. 

Condominium Conversions 

Councilmembers Betty Olds and Laurie Capitelli have proposed exempting long-term tenants who have formed tenancies in common from paying condominium conversion fees. Only tenants who have lived for at least 10 years in buildings with fewer than five units would be eligible to have the fees waived under the proposal. 

Olds said her proposal was in response to four long-term tenants at 1501 Oxford Street who bought their building as a tenancy in common last year, under the impression they said they received from city officials that Berkeley would waive the condo conversion fee. 

“I think they have a right to convert to condominiums without a penalty,” Olds said. 

Tenancies in common, a way for two or more people to own property together, is often thought to be a less desirable form of ownership than condos. TICs are considered a risky investment because shareholders do not hold title to specific units as they do for condominiums and owners can have more trouble obtaining financing. 

The council is scheduled to vote on the second reading of a proposal to eliminate the regulation of tenancies in common and limit fees for the conversion of rental units into condominiums to 10 percent of the sale price of the unit. The fees were initially designed to prevent condominium conversion to protect the quantity of Berkeley’s rental housing supply. 

The drive to ease restrictions on condo conversions stems from a state appeals court ruling last year that struck down a San Francisco law regulating tenancies in common. Berkeley officials say the ruling, which the state Supreme Court declined to hear, requires the city to end its strict regulations on tenancies in common. 

Teaching-Related Home Businesses 

Councilmember Capitelli is calling on the council to lower the costs for teaching-related home businesses to register with the city. In March, the council approved the first reading of a bill that would have required home-based tutors to obtain a $1,364.70 administrative use permit, rather than a $2,600 use permit, as was then the practice. 

Concluding that most tutors would chose not to register with the city rather than pay the less expensive administrative permit, Capitelli is calling on the council to refer the matter back to the Planning Commission and consider allowing home-based tutors to receive a cheaper and less complicated over-the-counter zoning certificate. 

Aid for Homeless Woman 

Two months ago city officials impounded the truck belonging to Elizabeth Gill, a local homeless woman, who had failed to pay parking tickets dating back several years. The city also impounded her two German shepherd-mix dogs at the animal shelter, with her approval, because without her truck, she couldn’t care for them. 

Now councilmembers Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington want the council to spend $6,000 in city money to pay Gill’s outstanding fees and pass a law allowing homeless people to perform community service as payment for fines, regardless of the amount of time that has passed from when the tickets were issued. 

Currently the city allows low-income residents to perform community service only for tickets received within the previous year. 

“What good does it do to have the car impounded when the owner can’t afford to get it out?” Spring said. 

But Councilmember Betty Olds said she wouldn’t vote to pay for Gill’s costs. “You can’t make legislation for one person,” she said.

Calling Berkeley’s fire marshal “a bully,” the owner of a West Berkeley warehouse said he was considering taking legal action to halt city-mandated fines and expenses that have cost him over $100,000 in the past month. 

“The City of Berkeley has behaved in an unconstitutional manner,” said Lawrence White, owner of the Drayage, a live/work warehouse that that city officials demanded White have evacuated by April 15.  

Sixteen of the building’s roughly 30 tenants have refused to vacate, leaving White and city officials in a standoff. 

“The city has the power to declare the building uninhabitable and evict the tenants, but instead they find it easier to fine me $2,500 a day and make me pay $1,000 a day for fire suppression,” White said.  

White has so far declined to send tenants eviction notices, as requested by city officials. 

On Wednesday, White further angered city officials when, claiming he couldn’t afford the charges, he dismissed the two fire suppression officers stationed at the Drayage 24-hours-a-day. 

Under pressure from the city attorney’s office, White rehired the fire suppression team Friday, according David Orth, the city’s fire marshal. Orth said the city increased police patrol around the building while the suppression team was dismissed, but that it wouldn’t seek to charge Orth for the extra work. 

The crisis at the Drayage began in March, when a fire inspection revealed more than 250 separate violations at the former warehouse. The inspection came shortly after a deal fell through for White to sell the building to Developer Ali Kashani for $2.05 million. 

The Northern California Land Trust, which has been working with tenants to buy the building, has since presented a written offer, that tenants say is higher than Kashani’s. White, who has upped his asking price to $2.7 million, however said he won’t entertain offers until the conflict with city is settled. 

“I am not going to accept any offers under the gun,” he said. “This will not be a distress sale.” 

With the threat of union action looming, the University of California and the American Federation of State, County And Municipal Employees (AFSCME) have agreed to a system-wide contract for UC’s 7,300 service workers across the state. The new three-year contract runs through January 2008. 

AFSCME workers voted in March to authorize a full strike in the event that contract negotiations had broken down, and held a held a one-day strike last month. 

Both sides said they were pleased with the agreement. In a prepared statement, UC Director of Labor Relations Howard Pripas called it a “fair agreement. The contract rewards all our service workers for their continued hard work, and it is financially realistic.” 

Deborah Grabelle, AFSCME organizer for UC Berkeley, said the contract was “overwhelmingly ratified by our members.” 

Grabelle said that the next step for the union would be to work for what she called “a real living wage. Chancellor [Robert] Birgenau says he supports that.” 

While they agreed on a contract, however, the two sides disagreed on the most important parts of that contract, or whether the union’s job action had any affect upon the settlement. 

University officials said the highlights were a 10 percent across-the-board pay increase over the three-year life of the contract, expanded employee development and training, concessions on parking rates for AFSCME members, and no changes in salary-based health insurance premiums. 

Grabelle said current UC service employees will get the first chance at promotions “if they are qualified. In the past, workers have seen outside people come in and fill positions, getting paid more than qualified people who have been on the job for years.” 

Grabelle also said that the two sides agreed that “if more money is released to the university by the state, the university has to pass it on to the employees or else make up the difference itself. If the university fails to do so, the union has the right to strike.” 

As for the last strike, in its formal release on the agreement, UC officials said the one-day April 14 strike had “minimal impact on operations and services at most UC campuses. Less than one third of UC service workers participated along with limited numbers of individuals from other unions.” 

Grabelle said that conclusion was not accurate. 

“Hundreds of classes had to be moved outdoors, and thousands of students participated with us,” she said. “Many services had to be canceled.” ›

One month after an alleged alcohol-related hazing incident brought police attention to UC Berkeley fraternities, the university announced this week a “ban on alcohol consumption at all events hosted by campus fraternities and sororities.” 

The ban goes into effect immediately among the campus’ 70 fraternities and sororities and 2,500 Greeks, and will remain in effect until the university establishes new policies, guidelines, and enforcement procedures for alcohol-related problems in its Greek organizations. 

Early in April, members of UC’s Pi Kappa Phi fraternity were accused of repeatedly shooting a 19-year-old pledge with a BB gun on a Berkeley street after forcing him to drink beer and smoke marijuana. The alleged incident was reportedly part of a hazing ritual. Hazing is banned at the university. 

Andrew Adams, a UC Berkeley senior and a member of a campus fraternity, said he disagreed with the ban, and added it would be impossible for the university to enforce. 

“I don’t think different rules should apply just because you are at a frat,” he said. “You are never going to stop Greek drinking, you are never going to stop campus drinking.” 

Lauren Goschke, also a senior at UC Berkeley, also took issue with the ban, saying it deflected the wider issue of underage drinking at the school. 

“If you look at the campus, all the 18-21 years olds are drinking,” she said, “it’s just the Greek kids that get all the attention.” 

In announcing the ban, UC Berkeley Dean of Students Karen Kenney said that alcohol abuse in the Greek system had been building. 

“Throughout the school year, and especially in the last few weeks, we have seen an alarming increase in problems with alcohol abuse, hazing, fights and badly managed parties at all types of Greek organizations,” he said. “We need to address those issues to ensure student safety.” 

Kenney said she was forming a working group of students and administrators over the summer to work on the new Greek alcohol guidelines. 

UC Berkeley banned alcohol among its chapter house fraternities and sororities in the spring of 2002, but lifted that moratorium six months later. 

UC Berkeley announced Monday their architectural choices to design two major projects for the southeastern part of the campus: the retrofit of Memorial Stadium and the new academic commons building for the law and business schools. 

For the stadium retrofit, the school picked HNTB Architects, a national firm whose most notable recent local project has been the design of the BART extension to San Francisco International Airport. 

The university’s pick for the academic commons building that will house components of the Boalt Hall law school and the Haas School of Business is Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners of Santa Monica (MRY). 

MRY’s most notable local projects include the Haas School (1995) and the new Congregation Beth El complex. 

HNTB has considerable experience with upgrading sports facilities, including the Las Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Ohio State University stadium and Spartan Stadium at Michigan State University. 

Assisting HNTB on the stadium project is Studios Architecture of San Francisco. Architectural Resources Group of San Francisco will assist on the academic commons building.

With the Berkeley Unified School District locked in a contract dispute with teachers, in part over requests for increased money, BUSD board directors continue this week with the task of trying to balance an already shaky budget. 

At this week’s board meeting, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Old City Hall at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, the BUSD board will consider $670,000 in reductions to the district’s general fund for the 2004-05 and 2005-06 fiscal years. 

According to Deputy Superintendent Glenston Thompson, the moves are necessary in order to restore the district’s legally mandated 3 percent reserve fund, as well as to bring the district out of its probationary “qualified” budget status. A “qualified” budget certification means that the district believes it may not be able to meet its financial obligations during either the remainder of this fiscal year or the following two fiscal years, and triggers stiffer fiscal oversight by the Alameda County Office of Education. 

In his memo to Superintendent Michele Lawrence recommending the budget action, Thompson cited a March 22 letter from the Alameda County Office of Education to School Board President Nancy Riddle. 

“With the ongoing uncertainty of economic conditions, it is critical for the [Berkeley Unified School] District to take proactive action to develop a multi-year recovery plan to maintain the fiscal health of the district,” Riddle wrote. 

Much of the budget-balancing to be considered Wednesday will be a bookkeeping operation. Approximately $586,000 of the general fund reductions are not actual cuts in programs, but are expected to be transferred to other district accounts, including Titles I and II, BSEP, and Measure BB; $664,000 is projected as actual two-years cuts. 

Earlier this year, the BUSD board approved $579,000 in actual cuts, voting to eliminate close to 14 classified positions. With those cuts and the reductions to be considered on Wednesday, the total two-year general fund budget reductions will add up to more than $1.25 million. 

In his memo to Lawrence, Deputy Superintendent Thompson said that additional budget reductions for the 2005-06 fiscal year were expected to be presented to the board for approval, noting that these would be “in the areas of BHS Athletics, Transportation Department facilities and operating expense, and Special Education Service Provider fee reductions.” 

Unofficially, BUSD representatives have been holding some hope that the district’s budget problems can be eased through relief by the state Legislature in the area of the 3 percent reserve requirement. 

For the past two years, to keep many of the state’s schools from going bankrupt, the Legislature temporarily lowered the required reserve fund for districts from 3 percent to 1.5 percent. The reserve fund is the percentage of the yearly general expenditures that each school district must keep in hand—uncommitted in the budget—in the event of any unexpected fiscal developments. Lowering the required reserve gives districts a smaller fallback position in the case of emergencies, but also gives them more flexibility in balancing their present budgets. The 1.5 percent reprieve is scheduled to expire with the 2005-06 fiscal year, with the state’s school districts required to return to a full 3 percent reserve. 

State Assemblymember Wilma Chan (D-Oakland) has introduced a bill that would extend the reprieve, setting the reserve at 1.5 percent in 05-06 and 2.25 percent in 06-07, not to return to the full 3 percent until 07-08. Although Chan’s bill easily passed the House Education Committee last week and has good prospects of becoming law, Berkeley school officials cannot consider it in their official budget calculations. Alameda County Superintendent of Education Sheila Jordan has said that her office must assume for the present in their oversight capacity that the full 3 percent needs to be in place for next year’s school budgets. 

At Wednesday’s meeting, the board will also consider a resolution in support of a state Senate measure that would lower the requirement for the passage of school bond measures—the same school bond measures (BSEP and BB) that are allowing the district to meet its current general fund balancing crisis. Since the passage of Proposition 13 in the 1970s, school district bond measures require a two-thirds majority vote to pass. State Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) has introduced a Senate Constitutional Amendment (SCA 8) to lower the local parcel tax passage requirement to a 55 percent majority. 

Daniel David, Berkeley resident and son of well-known chef and wine expert Narsai David, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison Friday for his role in a phone scam. 

David, 39, and Scott D. Nisbett, 42, another Berkeley resident, were convicted last year for their roles in a phone scam that federal prosecutors said netted them nearly a half-million dollars. 

The pair was arrested in March 2002 following a two-year investigation by Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service. 

Both men were charged in a 17-count indictment with mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy, with an additional tax fraud count filed against David. 

The two leased 24 pay phone lines, of which 23 were routed to an office space in South San Francisco where an automatic phone dialer was rigged to make endless calls to toll-free 800 numbers. 

The scam netted 24 cents per call that phone companies give to pay phone owners for calls made from their leased lines to toll-free numbers. The phone companies are automatically reimbursed by the businesses that operate the toll-free numbers. 

David and Nisbett leased the lines under the fictitious names of Bill Jansen and Dave Jacobs, and the payments were made to a mail drop in Arizona. 

According to the indictment, the pair signed over their telephone company checks to an attorney’s client trust fund. The lawyer, in turn, then made out checks to David and Nisbett. 

The auto-dialers made more than two million calls before the pair was arrested. 

Nisbett was sentenced in April to a 15-month prison term. 

The ever-controversial density bonus, proposed revisions to the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Ordinance and South Berkeley’s “Flying Cottage” top the agendas of the city’s land use panels this week. 

Meanwhile, a Berkeley Unified School District-sponso red meeting will consider the draft plan for the old Berkeley High West Campus complex. 

Landmarks Preservation Commissioners discussed proposed Planning Commission revisions to the landmarks ordinance Monday night, and the planning panel could take final action as early as their Wednesday night meeting. 

That session begins at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

Several Planning Commissioners have indicated their willingness to severely curtail the activities of the Landmarks Pr eservation Commission (LPC)—which has roused considerable opposition from the majority of landmarks commissioners. 

A formal report from Planning Commissioners Helen Burke (an appointee of Councilmember Linda Maio) and Susan Wengraf (a Betty Olds appointe e), both members of a subcommittee assigned to evaluate the proposed ordinance and recommend changes, was issued Friday. 

The report calls for the ordinance to require strict adherence to federal structural integrity standards as set forth by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior—a point rejected by the LPC in their draft ordinance—and for the LPC to be required to tell property owners on request if their buildings are historic resources. 

LPC commissioners and supporters dominated the dais during a hearing of the proposed revisions during the Planning Commission’s last meeting. Almost all told the planners that granting all owner requests for determination would place a massive burden on the LPC. Landmark applications are detailed documents investigating the history of buildings which are now researched and written by commissioners and citizen volunteers. Speakers pointed out that required on-demand determinations would be totally impractical at a time when the city is trying to cut staff time and resour ces for city commissions. 

Three hours before the planners’ meeting, a special subcommittee of the Zoning Adjustments Board will convene a 4 p.m. session in the city Planning and Development Department, 2120 Milvia St. 

Long-standing disputes over the int erpretation of the bonus—mandated by state law to reward developers who include low-cost housing in their projects—have dominated recent ZAB meetings, resulting in the creation of a four-member panel at the last ZAB session two weeks ago. 

Major questions involve the city staff’s interpretation of the ordinance, most notably in the case of the proposed Seagate Building on Center Street. In that case, the city Housing Department declared that the developer was entitled to build a 14-story building—twice th e height permitted in the Downtown Plan. 

ZAB itself meets Thursday night at 7 p.m. in City Council chambers at Old City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King Junior Way. 

The hottest item before ZAB will be a continuation of their hearing on the so-called “Flyi ng Cottage” at 3045 Shattuck Ave. 

Developer Christina Sun raised a single-story cottage by two additional floors before the city stopped further construction because the interior design was that of a group home or rooming house, and not the apartment building she said she was creating. 

Now that the interior floor plan has been resolved to the satisfaction of city staff, serious questions remain about the exterior design and parking. 

Neither ZAB nor the Design Review Committee indicated any willingness to approve the current plans, and outspoken neighborhood opponents can be expected to turn out, as well as their lawyer, Rena Rickles. 

The school district’s West Campus meeting should be testy as well, considering that a shouting match erupted during the last session. 

Besides their concerns about a potentially major set of new buildings rising in their neighborhood, critics have also faulted the school district for choosing a controversial figure as their consultant for the project. 

Besides his role as the head of his Design, Community & Environment consulting firm, David Early is also the head of Livable Berkeley, a group that advocates strongly for the sort of “infill” development that has proved a hot potato in the community. 

Thursday night’s meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria at the West Campus site just off the north side of Addison Way between Bonar and Browning streets. 

Early and his project coordinator Tom Ford will present the plan draft during the first part of the meeting, followed by a 90-minute public discussion period. 

For more information, see the district’s project web site at www.busd.us/westcampus.html.›t

Click here to view the latest work by Planet cartoonist Justin DeFreitasö

Friday’s Daily Planet will feature an expanded Letters to the Editor and Commentary section which will include the volumes of submissions we’ve received regarding BUSD teachers’ work to rule action. 

SCHOOL FUNDING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Arnold isn’t fulfilling his promise regarding education funding and it is negatively affecting the youth of California. A shortage of funds results in class sizes of over 40 kids, forcing some kids to sit on the floor due to a lack of desks in the classroom. I know this from firsthand experience (I go to Berkeley High). This shortage of education funding is proof that students are not being represented the way they should be. If students had the right to vote, elected officials would have to take their issues seriously. Currently, politicians don’t have an impetus to serve a constituency that can neither vote for or against them. This lack of representation among youth is extremely unfair and must be addressed. 

It has been the tradition of this country to expand the vote, not limit it. At first, only 21-year-old, white males who owned property could vote. Now, the electoral process includes minorities, women, and 18 year-olds. Lowering the voting age to 16 is the next civil rights movement in America and there is a youth-led, non-profit organization dedicated to empowering youth. The National Youth Rights Association (NYRA) (www.youthrights.org) is working to lower the voting age nationwide. The Berkeley Chapter of NYRA has been working with City Councilmembers and the Berkeley Youth Commission to launch an initiative to lower the voting age. NYRA-Berkeley membership is open to anyone. Just visit our website at www.berkeley.youthrights.org. 

Robert Reynolds 

President, NYRA-Berkeley 

• 

PRAISE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Reading J. Douglas Allen-Taylor’s excellent May 6 piece on the Oakland schools, I was moved to write a simple note of praise for the current incarnation of the Daily Planet. I think it is the best paper Berkeley has had in my lifetime, and the first one I’ve ever read with the consistent expectation that I will be the better informed for having done it.  

Christopher Scheer 

• 

WILLARD MURAL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It would be a shame to paint over such the beautiful Willard mural. I’ve walked by it so many times over the years and admired it. It has a story to tell. I think I really like the hills in it, and the musicians are cool. The people saving other people from a catastrophe part is dynamic. What a loss it would be. It is a part of Berkeley to me. Also I noticed how the homeless people were blamed for this stupid decision too. That is really sick. I camped out there myself several time, and I never saw a needle there and the whole school had trash around it as a matter of fact, so the excuse is bogus. I also have a friend who is director of a historical video archive who lives right around the corner, and I have worked with her for five years, so I know what I’m talking about as far as trash and “homeless.” I was one of those homeless. 

One time a guard or cop woke me up. The guy was real pleasant about it; he told me he hated to wake me up, but they had this sign—one of the biggest “no trespassing” signs in town. As far as trash, why don’t they just pick it up? The other side of the school was and is constantly trashed and not maintained, half-assed mowing jobs, not trimmed. So the insinuation of trash and homeless, anyway, is bogus. To destroy good art and blame the homeless—how sick. Poor Berkeley. Just spend a few bucks and restore it! And one more thing, while I’m at it: There are needles everywhere; anti-homeless people could be dropping them there to ruin a good crash spot. I know. I have been in this area over 25 years; I know how some homeowners in this area hate homeless. There is no legal campground, there is no affordable housing. If people camp here over night and pick up their trash, what’s the big deal? Whoever is making this threat and has power in the School Board I think should be removed. They are part of what is wrong with Berkeley, and they are working to destroy Berkeley, when they destroy its beautiful art. 

John Delmos  

• 

INSTANT RUNOFF VOTING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A few points to buttress Laurence Schechtman’s excellent May 3 commentary: 

1. In August 2002, Diebold demonstrated the ability of the AccuVote-TS to handle IRV ballots as part of their bid for the Santa Clara County DRE (touch-screen) contract. (They lost the bid to Sequoia Voting Systems, but that’s another story. Santa Clara County passed a charter amendment in November 1998 that allows for the use of IRV, once the equipment can handle it. The registrar is now working on an implementation plan.) 

2. Diebold’s optical scan equipment (used to process Alameda County’s absentee ballots) has been used by Cambridge, Massachusetts to process their choice voting ballots since 2001. (Choice voting is a multi-seat ranked voting system very similar to IRV.) 

3. In Cambridge, Diebold’s scanned ballots are tallied using California-based Voting Solution’s ChoicePlus Pro software; that same software can tally IRV elections. 

So all the pieces exist; all Diebold has to do is get them certified for use in California, and that should not cost anywhere near two million dollars. 

Steve Chessin 

• 

JOHN BOLTON 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As the confirmation by the Senate of John Bolton as our ambassador to the United Nations continues to be in doubt, perhaps it is time to consider who might be a superior nominee for that post. 

Colin Powell, our previous secretary of state and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appears to have impressive credentials for the U.N. ambassadorship. He capably represented our nation to the entire world for four years. He is intelligent, a true diplomat, and a political moderate. 

Is there some way to build support for Colin Powell’s nomination as our next ambassador to the U.N., should the present confirmation process not succeed? 

Brad Belden 

• 

PIG IN A POKE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regarding the many letters protesting Becky O’Malley’s editorial criticizing various liberal elected officials: I haven’t followed City Council proceedings for some time (mea culpa) so I don’t feel I could take a position one way or another on Bates’ conduct of meetings. It occurred to me only that no elected official worth his salt objects to direct criticism on an opinion page—instead of the underhanded, undermining, lying criticism offered by so many papers as “news.” So, whatever we may think of this editorial piece, it’s healthy in being right out front in its criticism. And the Daily Planet does a great service by printing all the opposing letters. 

I’m more concerned that no one wrote to comment on O’Malley’s other, broader, criticism, about the support liberals in national office give to dubious local projects—the gambling casino issue, for example, supported by Dellums and Miller. 

I was elated when my vote was one of those that originally sent Dellums to Congress. I was less happy as years went by and Dellums’ name and photo (like those of the saints forced on me by ignorant nuns in my childhood) appeared endorsing whatever dysfunctional candidate or dubious proposal that was currently being pushed by the “slate” in control of the City Council (yes, I’d voted for them too, I became sorry to say). I felt that it was irresponsible for him to rubber-stamp plans he obviously knew nothing about, and that ran counter the thoughtful actions we could expect of him when he was here. I could only conclude that Dellums had made a cynical decision to go along with local politicos in exchange for their pushing his campaigns here. Eventually the local slate made such a mess in the 1980s that voters tried to break their power by instituting district elections (a mixed blessing). 

So, however you may feel about her comments about our present mayor, I think Becky O’Malley should be praised for raising the issue of good liberal elected officials, who, sent off to Washington, take uninformed, politically expedient positions on local issues they know nothing about. 

Dorothy Bryant 

• 

PEP RALLY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Frankly, I’m very surprised at Matthew Artz’s characterization of the April 27 Board of Library Trustees Meeting as a “pep rally” (“Library Director Griffin Receives Jeers at Board Meeting,” April 29-May 2). As a new attendee to these sorts of occasions, what I saw was an amazing display of bravery and concern by library workers who mostly stood up in front of their bosses to say, “no, this isn’t working,” and to advocate for quality service to Berkeley citizens. Isn’t this the idea of accountability to the public that the Daily Planet wants to promote rather than patronizingly minimize?  

As to the boardmembers, like Mr. Moore, who couldn’t take the outpouring of passion and sincerity, maybe it’s time that they took their jobs a little more seriously and started spending some time looking for materials in the library or trying to use the computers which are continually on the fritz. 

A. Leira 

• 

FLYING COTTAGE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regarding your recent article on the “Flying Cottage” (May 3-5), I would like to add my comments here, as this paper has made no attempts to speak with me or my client for almost two years. 

First, you continue to imply that this is my design. Again, to make it short, it is not. Second, you might have reported on character assassinations rather than the book I read during the long wait. Third, Ms. Sun has never mentioned a “restaurant,” which is a different use than a “cafe/gift-shop,” sometimes mentioned by my client in the past. It will most likely be retail space. Her only interest now is in finishing the building, with the extensive revisions that we have been working on with Planning Department staff, guided by DRC recommendations. Fourth, none of my plans—nor any I have seen by others—have proposed a garage in the ground-floor area. So much of the talk around this project is conjecture and innuendo. Please try to get your facts checked out. Just because Ms. Rickles is a lawyer does not mean she has it correct.  

Finally, regarding the house at the rear, we are talking about only two parking spaces (the plans I was originally given, and that had been approved, had three). Most houses have a driveway next to them, so in many normal situations two houses side by side could have as many as are here proposed. As for the windows at the rear wall (which is more than 30 feet away), all are either to storage spaces, stairwells, or obscure glass in bathrooms, except one, a master bedroom window which I expect most residents would want to have well covered with drapes or shades. 

Andus H. Brandt  

• 

WAR AND TRUTH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

This Saturday marks the 90th anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania, one the pivotal events of the 20th Century. For those too young to know, during the early part of World War I, the British Government was covertly shipping out cargoes of munitions from then neutral America. Among the vessels that carried these shipments was the giant Cunard liner Lusitania. On her return voyage, she was torpedoed off the coast of Ireland by the German submarine U-20. The resulting sinking was a horror that is still beyond words to describe. In many ways it was an even greater catastrophe than the Titanic, for it took the mammoth ship a mere eighteen minutes to go under. Among the 1273 souls who perished were 120 Americans, which ignited a firestorm of horror and indignation the length and breadth of the U.S. What had been a divided America was now set on the path to war against Germany. 

However, after nearly a century, there are questions about this tragedy that still remain unanswered. The German government, in the form of diplomatic notes and media advertisements, had given ample warning to the American public. The British had secretly broken the German Naval code, and It was known to all sides that the ship was carrying contraband. Finally, Winston Churchill, then running the British Admiralty, was briefed about the possible sinking of the Lusitania only days before. What is most interesting is that this briefing, along with other documents pertaining to the Lusitania, are still classified on the grounds of National Security by the British Government.  

I am only speculating here, but could there be something in these moldering papers that would turn history on its head? Perhaps these past events may still have a direct influence on the events of the present. Could historic figures, once looked on as defenders of freedom, have their mythic reputations shredded? But even more disturbing, why is it that even today, more and more historic records of are being kept from the public for reasons of “national security”?  

As has been said, and is still true today, truth is the first casualty of war. 

John F. Davies 

1st Lt., U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.) 

Orinda  

• 

KUDOS AND SCORN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Kudos to Lawrence Jarach for his superlative op-ed on the Spanish Civil War. In Berkeley, where the veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade are regularly lionized sans any critical sense of historical accuracy, Jarach’s commentary is particularly welcome.  

As Jarach notes, the Lincoln Brigade was a tool of Joseph Stalin and original leaders of the Spanish Republic. Stalin and his Spanish Republic political comrades proved more interested in destroying the truly revolutionary forces of Spanish Anarchists than defeating Franco. The result was a Franco victory and a country chafing under fascism for nearly a half century. As Jarach wrote: “The intentions of the Lincolns and their allies and supporters may have been sincere in terms of deliciously vague phrases like ‘social justice,’ but their first and overriding loyalty was to the Party and its bosses in Moscow.” 

Jarach goes on to note that it was only when Krushschev and the Communist Party owned up to the murderous reign of Stalin that scores of Americans left the Party, finally forced to acknowledge what most of the world already knew. This brings us to Angela Davis, lauded in a new play about her written by her niece (“Revolution, Racism and Family in ‘Angela’s Mixtape,’” May 6-9).  

Three decades after the Krushchev speech, in the 1980s, Angela Davis joined the murderous minions of the still Soviet-controlled American Communist Party. Indeed, long after The Party Was Over, she continued to opine that the horrific Soviet gulags were simply figments of the “bourgeois press’s imagination” and she still supports numerous other elements of repression extolled by her old ideological masters.  

In sum, even though she is an African American with a Ph.D., Angela Davis is far more worthy of scorn than praise.  

Dan Spitzer 

Kensington 

• 

LONG-OVERDUE DEBATES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Becky O’Malley’s April 29 “Pig in a Poke” editorial touches off long-overdue debates.  

But it’s not really debatable to state that the job of the press is to “comfort the afflicted” and “afflict the comfortable.” I feel extraordinarily lucky to live in a town where the local paper does just that. While it’s no problem in Berkeley to take on the war in Iraq, or corporate domination of politics and big media, the “Pig in a Poke” editorial opens up on a touchy local question: What is the influence of corporate real estate money on local land use politics, and on some of our long-time favorite politicians?  

I thought this took moral courage, guts that is, and the kind investigative reporting that “follows the money” wherever it leads. But, we still may ask, did “The Pig in a Poke” go too far, not only afflicting the comfortable, but afflicting heroes who’ve shown their own moral courage in often lonely good fights? Besides being icons, these are people I consider friends. I’ve rung doorbells, made phone calls, been to both defeats and celebrations in Berkeley since before Ron Dellums’ first congressional victory, up through cheering at Tom Bates’ mayoral win.  

Part of me would just as soon hush up the public debate and carry it on in private. It’s painful to expose qualms about politicians with whom I feel long identified, and am in 95 percent agreement on state, national, and world politics. But, while fighting the good fight globally, have we lost our critical edge when dealing with, for example, the impact of real estate speculation on the local scene? Have we become self-satisfied, cynical, and touchy about critiques from the grass roots efforts that challenge the land use status quo? Have we forgotten that a generation ago it was our own grass roots campaigns, that critiqued “business as usual” policies, that radically changed the previous East Bay political scene?  

For me the legacy of Berkeley is not to bury the tough issues, but to pursue them to the roots. That means a debate that escapes being drowned in technicalities, and argues in frank terms about the mother’s milk of politics: how the power and money, especially with land “development,” can influence city politicians and officials.  

At the risk of sounding like the Lone Ranger: “Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear,” we can recapture some of our moral courage from the civil rights, free speech, and anti-war days. We can show the next generation of activists and ourselves—that it is possible to move beyond simply closing ranks and protecting old heroes. We can pass on a heritage with some of those ideals relevant to the meaning we associate with Berkeley.  

Neal Blumenfeld 

• 

AUDITOR NEEDED 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Various letters have been circulating through the school community and on these newspaper pages. One is from the district administration for Berkeley’s schools, another is the response from the Berkeley Federation of Teachers. These letters each argue about the different monetary figures available (or not) for the district’s budget and teachers’ salaries. Which is to be believed? 

As someone whose job involves managing complex budgets, I must admit, the school district’s budget reports are very difficult and challenging to follow, not the least because there is so much variability from one report to the next. It’s amazing that even after the district spent $700,000 for consulting fees with the Fiscal Crisis Management Team (FCMAT), there is still so much confusion over how much money the district actually has, and where it has been spent. If the resources available aren’t clear, how is the public (through our elected board) to understand the trade-offs and choices before them? 

Several years ago, a proposal was floated that BUSD needs an independent auditor. This auditor would not just make sure the checks were written from the right account, but actually review the efficiency and effectiveness of the district’s performance as well. At that time, the district claimed such an auditor was not needed because of the state mandated contract with FCMAT. Perhaps now it is time to get serious about getting an independent performance auditor. We need to know that the school district’s budget numbers are accurate and reliable so we can make better informed decisions on spending in our public schools.  

Iris Starr 

• 

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Your reporting of the Zeneca toxic exposures and impacts affecting employees and community is a model for other newspapers to follow. It is obvious that your newspaper and reporter Mr. Brenneman, cannot be intimidated or bought to water down or minimize the message of the life-threatening situation caused by irresponsible polluting companies on innocent employees and communities, as was our experience with the San Jose Mercury News. Somewhere around the late 1990s the Mercury News did a four-hour interview with Midway Village residents which included being given factual DTSC documents proving our claims of the direct connection between the toxins and exposures and our illnesses. The story was promised to come out within a few days, which turned into two months. We were told by one reporter who quit that she was called into the editor’s office with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. present and was told that they—the editor, PG&E and DTSC—strongly recommended that the story be edited so as not to taint the public against PG&E. 

You are truly rendering a much-needed service to all communities by reporting it as it is. Also I would strongly recommend that we all use hawk eyes on DTSC. This crucial period of public comment is a fake. Their final decisions will not include the public’s recommendations. This is when DTSC puts on their best show of including public comments, with the appearance of accepting recommendations and data from community. However I guarantee, DTSC has already made their final decisions on the actions they will take which will include DTSC will received millions for cleanup, the community and those suffering get nothing and the final decision will benefit the polluting companies responsible for damaging the health of the employees and the community. DTSC has been already meeting with the polluting companies, making decisions that will ignore the community’s health and life-threatening issues. 

This is their pattern and business as usual, and unless we put a noose around their necks they will make the same ineffective decisions which will continue to cause further harm and death to the affected community. 

LaDonna Williams 

People for Children’s Health and Environmental Justice 

• 

WEST BERKELEY BOWL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The West Berkeley Traffic and Safety Coalition is pleased to note that City of Berkeley planning officials and Berkeley Bowl owner Glenn Yasuda finally have done the right thing. They’ve agreed to our request for an environmental impact report on the proposed West Berkeley Bowl, with a primary focus on traffic and parking.  

At 91,000 square feet (half again as large as the existing Bowl), the new Bowl would be bigger than the Pac ‘n’ Save on San Pablo in Emeryville but with much less parking. Unlike most big grocery stores, which are sited directly on major arterials, the new Bowl, at 920 Heinz (just west of Orchard Supply’s parking lot), will be accessed via narrow, neighborhood-scale streets.  

The original traffic study for the Bowl projected that the new store will generate 50,000 new vehicle trips a week. Yet the study concluded that the project would have virtually no significant negative impact on traffic and parking. It also asserted that there’s less traffic at San Pablo and Ashby now than there was 

in 1993. And it gave short shrift to the children’s safety issues posed by the store’s proximity to Ecole Bilingue.  

To check out these and other matters, we hired an independent traffic engineer. The Berkeley Planning Department has acknowledged that our consultant’s findings were key in their decision to do an EIR after all.  

The consequent delay could have been avoided if city planners had facilitated good-faith negotiations among all the stakeholders at the very start. We encourage the city to sponsor just such a collaborative effort through the EIR process.  

Jeff Hogan (Ashby Lumber) 

Bernard Marszalek (Inkworks) 

John Phillips (John Phillips Harpsichords) 

Mary Lou Van Deventer  

(Urban Ore) 

for the West Berkeley Traffic and Safety Coalition  

• 

HERE/THERE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The San Francisco Arts Commission turned down the monstrous globe—a degrading memorial to David Brower—because it is so big and ugly. Then the Berkeley Waterfront Commission rejected it because it is so big and ugly. But the experts on our Arts Commission accepted it because they seem to think that you don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. But still nobody seems to want to stable this horse in any part of our city. 

Now the art experts on the Arts Commission want to saddle us with a huge sign of eight-foot-high metal letters saying HERE/THERE on the border of Berkeley and Oakland. How patronizing can you get? We in Berkeley are HERE, but those folks to the South are THERE. Some clever wit on the commission may think it refers to a remark Gertrude Stein is supposed to have made. Most people across the line, however, might think it rather offensive. And who will pay for these letters? 

Peter Selz 

• 

RFID 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

To date more than 886 Berkeley Public Library users have signed a petition to demand that installation of radio frequency identification (RFID) chips in our books and other materials at the Berkeley Public Library be stopped immediately. Community members are circulating the petitions and are receiving positive responses from the people they approach. 

Since no mention of them was made in the Daily Planet articles, which covered the two board meetings, I thought it necessary to let you know how many citizens are against RFID. 

We will continue to circulate the petition and keep you apprised of how many voters are unhappy with RFID. 

Rosemary Vimont 

• 

CIVIC CENTER FOUNTAIN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regarding the Civic Center Fountain that has been dry for over 20 years: It would be foolish to spend $600,000 on it. Our city has to watch the budget carefully for now. 

Just put in some soil, compost and plant flowers and shrubs like lavender. No sense leaving it empty and full of trash. Maybe Berkeley High students would adopt it as a beautification project? 

Colleen McGrath 

• 

CRITIQUING THE CRITIC 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

“Rubens at BAM: A Dismal Glimpse at Art Criticism,” by John Kenyon. Obviously he is not familiar with artist’s two-dimensional works and the struggle representing in oils the human figure. Not only did he represent the human figure but he also did it, in many instances, from memory—without the human figure before him. He pulled his amazing compositions together with light—another aspect of his genius. 

I find these small works extremely interesting because they are by the master’s hand alone. The frames are secondary to me and the religious subject matter not part of the way I judge art. I prefer critiques to be given by artists who understand the process. 

Nancy Anderson 

• 

PRIORITIES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I really enjoyed the letters concerning the West Berkeley Bowl and “flower circles” in recent editions. They couldn’t be closer to the truth. 

I have lived in Berkeley for 42 years and I still fail to understand the City of Berkeley’s priorities. When they created the barriers in my neighborhood (Parker and Shattuck), the traffic tripled on Parker which made crossing at Parker and Shattuck extremely dangerous. Yet, the city had no money to install a traffic light. Even though it was almost impossible to navigate on Fulton and Ellsworth because the barriers made it too difficult, the city felt mandated to install a number of “flower circles” or roundabouts, which serve absolutely no purpose but to make it even more difficult for local residents to drive around their neighborhood. By the way, these traffic circles cost a lot of money to build and maintain and most of them are already full of weeds and totally unappealing. Yet the city had no money to maintain school grounds and playgrounds! 

Regarding the West Berkeley Bowl, the city and neighborhood objections are making it so difficult that I wouldn’t blame the owner for taking his business to a different town, where he will be more than welcome. Right now the traffic are the present Bowl in my neighborhood and the pollution it creates are so bad, that it made total sense for a popular and much needed second store in a different neighborhood where they badly need a first class produce store. As the letter writer mentioned, once again, the City of Berkeley is shooting itself in the foot! 

Andree Leenaer Smith 

• 

LIBRARY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am a regular patron of the Berkeley Public Library. The library is very useful to me in my work as a substitute teacher and homework tutor. I check out books on a regular basis to update my skills and increase my knowledge as well as for purely enjoyment purposes. I became aware that the library shelving staff has been drastically reduced, with the result that the books may not be as readily or quickly available. 

The problem is many-faceted. In addition to the inconvenience to the patrons of books being not readily available, or the possibility of books being recorded as “returned,” the shelving staff is impacted as well. By increasing the workload, the shelving staff must work twice as fast. This could lead to repetitive stress injuries to wrists and hands, as well as the increased possibility of mistakes being made resulting in the loss of books. Also, books can be stolen from the book drop if they accumulate too long without being removed. 

Why not create a job description called “Work Experience”? Why not open up part-time jobs to students at a different pay-rate and number of hours? The job could be done, and the experienced book-shelvers could continue at their present positions at their previous quantity of work. 

I believe it is in the best interest of the library, its staff, and the patrons to resolve this difficulty in a way that is economical and yet in the best interests of all concerned. 

Judith L. Jones 

To experience Berkeley at its civic and civil best, you can’t beat the spring house tour of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. Just staging the event involves nearly 200 volunteers. That’s not counting the homeowners who open their residences to the public for an afternoon. Equally impressive is the way the tour brings out a general graciousness that’s often lacking in daily Berkeley life. 

There’s the deference shown to fellow tourists, as people wait in the inevitable lines or meet in a crowded staircase or a narrow doorway. And, evident in the intense perusals of the tour guidebook, there’s the respectful interest in the history that’s made Berkeley a distinctive place, an interest awakened by a first-hand encounter with ordinary citizens’ defense and celebration of their local legacy.  

This year the destination was Panoramic Hill, a neighborhood that, in the 38 years since I first came to town, had somehow eluded me. The BAHA newsletter promised “a retreat of quiet beauty, merely steps away from the workaday world,” Berkeley’s best-preserved “concentration of houses showing the influence of the Hillside Club philosophy and the Arts and Crafts movement.” Brown shingles by Ernest Coxhead, as well as homes by Walter Ratcliff, Julia Morgan, Bernard Maybeck, William Wurster and, less predictably, Frank Lloyd Wright.  

It sounded idyllic, and it was. The sun shone and a breeze wafted as my Oakland friend Ilene and I, along with hundreds of others, traipsed through Panoramic Hill’s extraordinary homes and along its sylvan byways.  

For a few hours, it was easy to forget that in “the workaday world,” the city laws that protects Berkeley’s historic environment are under siege. On May 11, the Planning Commission will consider and perhaps act on two sets of proposed changes to the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance and the Zoning Ordinance—one formulated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the other by a Planning Commission subcommittee led by PC chair Harry Pollack.  

The proposed changes are too numerous and, in many cases, too technical to be listed, much less analyzed and compared in this space. (For a succinct, well-considered appraisal, see attorney Susan Brandt-Hawley’s letter, posted on the BAHA website at www.berkeleyheritage.com.) But the critical difference can be stated in brief. The LPC wants to retain the Landmark Preservation Commission’s authority to regulate the demolition of historic buildings; the PC subcommittee wants to transfer that authority to the Zoning Adjustments Board, leaving the LPC merely advisory to the ZAB.  

Before going further, I should say that though I’m a card-carrying member of BAHA, I’m not a preservation fundamentalist. In fact, I first encountered BAHA and the LPC as an adversary. As a member of the Thousand Oaks Neighborhood Association board, I helped lead the campaign for a new Thousand Oaks School in the early ‘90s. Not only had BUSD neglect left the facility in a state of serious disrepair, according to faculty and staff, the building didn’t work well as a school. Having gotten wind of the possibility that the structure would be demolished, the LPC landmarked it. The building was old, so it had to be saved. Period. But LPC decisions are appealable to higher authority, and, following a bitter struggle, the School Board approved the demolition. 

For a long time after that episode, I kept my distance from BAHA, thereby missing many wonderful house tours, I’m sure. Nevertheless, I considered and still consider myself a preservationist, albeit one with a more encompassing perspective. Maybeck, after all, drew on tradition to create buildings that were radical in his day. Accordingly, the preservationist’s task is to honor, not idolize, the past. Easier said than done, when so much of what’s built today is mediocre, if not downright repulsive, as well as utterly disrespectful of history and locale. But if you want a vital culture, that’s the assignment. 

For that assignment to be carried out in Berkeley, it’s essential that the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission have regulatory authority over the demolition of historic structures. It’s ludicrous to think that handing over that authority to the Zoning Adjustments Board will result in more judicious decisionmaking. For one thing, ZAB members lack the expertise in that the LPO now properly requires of Landmarks commissioners. For another, when it comes to arbitrary behavior, ZAB makes the LPC look like a piker. As a rule, ZAB follows the lead of city staff, who routinely manipulate the city’s laws and policies to suit their history-is-bunk, bigger-is-better agenda. Indeed, it’s staff and their cohorts—builders, real estate brokers, deregulation-minded commissioners and Livable Berkeley—who are leading the push to enfeeble the LPC and the LPO. 

That said, the LPO does need revision. One important change, making the timeline governing the demolition of historic buildings consistent with the Permit Streamlining Act, can be easily accomplished. Technical matters such as clarifiying the “structure of merit” designation, the meaning of historic “integrity,” and the LPO’s relation to the California Environmental Quality Act should be resolved with the assistance of professional specialists. In 2001, the State Office of Historic Preservation awarded Berkeley a $25,000 grant (two LPC members wrote the application) to hire a law firm experienced in revising landmark ordinances. At the end of nearly a year in which city Planning Department staff had done nothing with the money and failed to file the required progress reports to the state, the OHP took the unprecedented step of withdrawing the grant. It seems only fair that the city now hire a consultant with city funds. 

Whatever the city does, the rest of us need to stop viewing the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance as the exclusive interest of Berkeley’s preservation activists. The LPO is like the canary in the coal mine: if it’s in danger, so is the general welfare—in this case, our town’s unique character, as embodied in its historic buildings, be they Maybecks and Morgans in the hills or bungalows and Victorians in the flats. Berkeleyans, the canary’s in danger.?

In Michelle Carter’s Writing in the Public Context class at San Francisco State, it isn’t enough that I have spent an hour a week for 13 weeks walking with my housemate, Willie, down to Doug’s B.B.Q. and back, snapping photographs along the way, transferring them onto my computer and sending them off to my fellow classmates. I have to come up with a final project that includes a 15-minute presentation in front of the class. This assignment has worried me since the start of the semester.  

My original project premise was to explore racism in America. Of course this topic proved far too broad, and so I reworked it to be an exploration of racism in Oakland. Also too big a subject, I tweaked it into a story about race relationships on my walk with Willie. But even that proved overwhelming as it included businesses and churches, homelessness and substance abuse, poverty, gentrification, barbeque and headcheese. I needed to narrow things down more.  

Fortunately, my friend Joell came to my rescue. For years she has been working on an oral history project for the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust. Joell interviews and videotapes 80-plus year old residents of the Central Valley who tell her about what life used to be like along the San Joaquin River before the advent of dams, housing projects, and strip malls. Her friendly demeanor and non-judgmental attitude make her a perfect documentarian.  

I changed my premise again, this time to exploring racism inside my home. Joell volunteered to make a film of me interviewing the people who live in my house and help with my husband’s care. Ralph and I have been cohabitating with African Americans, Asians and Hispanics on and off since his accident in 1994. Our current roommates, Willie and Andrea, grew up in Los Angeles, but they have roots that go back to Tennessee, Mississippi, and the American South before the Civil War.  

For the most part we have gotten along, although there have been many ups and downs. Sharing a bathroom with Andrea and all things related to her hair hasn’t been easy, and sharing a refrigerator with Willie has proven problematic. Food items I plan on eating disappear before I have a chance to eat them. We have had to make many adjustments and compromises. 

When I told Andrea and Willie that Joell was coming to film them, they were noncommittal. I worried that Joell would show up and my housemates would shut their bedroom doors and turn up the volume on their television sets. But, in fact, when the camera started rolling, they came alive. Willie, who had claimed he didn’t like to talk about himself, talked non-stop and continued to chat after the film ran out. Andrea, who said she needed to pull herself together before being photographed, took off her everyday raggedy housecoat and slipped into a skintight camouflage-print dress. “Hood-wear,” she explained, though it appeared she might at any minute be shipping off to Iraq to entertain the troops.  

In front of the camera Willie and Andrea morphed into KTVU Channel 3’s Dennis Richmond and Leslie Griffith. They explained to Joell and me the politics of the neighborhood, do’s and don’ts that included watching out for undercover cops and folks who were up to no good.  

After an hour Joell announced that she was almost out of tape. “Anything else you want to say before I turn off the camera?” she asked. 

“Willie needs to speak up for himself and develop a better sense of self-esteem,” stated Andrea. 

“Drea needs to stop bein’ so bossy and clean up after herself in the bathroom,” said Willie. 

“Suzy needs to do somethin’ about her hair before she goes out in public,” said Andrea. 

“That’s for damn sure,” agreed Willie. “Otherwise everything is cool around here. Ain’t no racial tension, just a few problems with gettin’ time in the bathroom and findin’ somethin’ to eat in the fridge.”

Graffiti Warrant Served 

Berkeley Police served search warrants at two Hayward homes in connection with the massive vandalism of shop windows along Telegraph and College avenues early last month. 

Officers searched the homes of two individuals connected with the web site Haywardgraffiti.com, which chronicled the creations of two taggers who signed their works with the same signatures used during Berkeley incidents, where windows were deeply etched with acid. 

Preliminary estimates placed the damage at well in excess of $100,000. 

Berkeley Police spokesperson Joe Okies said a fellow officer shot a pit bull that charged him during a search at a residence in the 2300 block of Jorgenson Lane. The animal later died at a veterinary hospital, he said. 

Though no arrests have yet been made, Officer Okies said “investigators are happy with the results of the search warrants as they pertain to this investigation.” 

He said the dog was released through the front door of a home they were about to search. 

“The pit bull came out barking and snarling and very agitated. It had come within two feet of the officer when he fired twice to protect himself,” Okies said. 

Felony Drunk Driving 

An 18-year-old UC Berkeley water polo player was arrested on charges of felony drunk driving after a Jeep he was driving jumped a curb and struck another student waiting for a bus Friday night. 

Officer Okies said the 20-year--old victim was rushed to Highland Hospital, where she was reported in critical condition. 

The accident occurred about 10:55 p.m. in the 2400 block of Channing Way. 

In addition to the felony drunk driving charge, the suspect was also booked for possession of an open alcohol container in a vehicle and possession of a fake ID. 

“Several passengers who were in the Jeep fled the scene,” said Officer Okies, “and we are still looking into that.” 

Shot at Home 

Police arrested two suspects, one adult, the other juvenile, after multiple 911 calls reporting shots fired in the 3100 block of Fairview Street. 

Officer Okies said a search discovered bullet holes in a residence, though no occupants were injured during the attack.

INCREASING REVENUE 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Once again I dutifully paid a traffic violation fine prior to the due date written on the citation. About a month later I received the court courtesy notice requesting payment. I called the court to determine if payment had been received. I was told the due date or appearance date on the citation should be disregarded. My citation had not been processed into the court data system. It was unclear if my payment would be processed later or returned. But now, I was being asked to clear the citation and supply proof of correction again. 

My memory was jarred, I recalled this same scenario years before. So I asked why does this seem to happen regularly. Seems I hit a nerve. 

The traffic division clerk explained that this disconnect has been an issue for more than 20 years. Numerous efforts to resolve this have gone nowhere, despite the obvious solution. Meanwhile the court receives about 250 calls per day from confused, duty bound citizens. Many take off work, fly in from out of town and in general waste a lot of their valuable time trying to comply with the arbitrary date written in by BPD. There is a general sense that the city is attempting to increase revenues through traffic fines, perhaps now is a good time to clean up this customer service issue. I for one feel jerked around. 

Laura Menard 

IN PROTEST 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Enough already with the City of Berkeley’s ridiculous enforcement of traffic and parking citations—just to ring up money for the city budget. Lately I’ve read stories about people being ticketed for beeping their horn while passing a protest (Oh, come on! Really! Does that deserve a ticket?), to parking tickets for facing the “wrong direction” on a street—something some people are forced to do because of the crazy “traffic control” barriers, no-turn and one-way streets in Berkeley. I even read about a guy who got a ticket (in the mail) for driving in the carpool lane on the Bay Bridge on a day he wasn’t even in San Francisco. 

I’m writing this letter to let Daily Planet readers know that we should start protesting—and in my case suing—the city over inappropriate traffic citations. Why does this irritate me? This has been sticking in my craw since I was given a ticket on University Avenue one night about a year ago. I was filling my car up with gas at a station on University, and another car pulled in facing my headlights. I turned off my headlights as a courtesy to the other driver—but left my parking lights on. When I pulled out, I didn’t realize my headlights were still off. My dashboard was lit up because I did have my parking lights on, but not my headlights. After driving a few blocks up University—a very well lit street—I saw a police car start to follow me. Suddenly, I realized that my headlights were still off because I hit a dark part of the street—too late. I was pulled over and given a ticket for—get this—$185! Even the cashier at the city office couldn’t believe the amount of that ticket. When I told the cop that I just pulled out of a gas station, and didn’t realize that my headlights were off (I even showed him the receipt) he said “Tell it to the traffic court judge...” Nice guy, thanks. 

So, if that wasn’t bad enough, this latest ticket is the last straw. I was mailed a ticket (mailed, mind you, this was not placed on my car windshield) for parking in front of a fire hydrant near King Middle School. The only problem is that the date and time on the ticket (Oct. 6, 2004 at 8:09 a.m.) were for a day my son had a field trip; and I was still at home eating breakfast at the time they claim I was parked in front of the hydrant.  

To make this even more amazing, I have a witness who saw me pull up in front of King (on Rose Street, not Edith Street, where they claim I was parked) and let my son off at 8:30 a.m. for his field trip. Now, I have tried to protest this ticket, and as far as the city is concerned I am guilty until proven innocent. Hey! Wait a damn minute... is Berkeley part of the U.S.A.? Or have we been moved to some banana republic while I was sleeping at night? 

So, to make a long story short, despite mailing them a letter from my friend corroborating my story (a doctor by the way, and a very responsible person); and also including a letter from the teacher at King telling us to arrive at 8:30 a.m., on Oct. 6, and meet the field trip school bus in front of King (on Rose Street)—as far as the City of Berkeley is concerned sorry, no dice, pay up. Huh??? I’m sorry but why? Why? Should anyone have to pay a ticket that is obviously erroneous? The answer I got from Susie Monary-Wilson of the City of Berkeley, is because it’s the meter maid’s word against mine—and so the ticket stands. I guess having an eyewitness doesn’t amount to jack in this town. Even more insulting is that doesn’t say much for what my “word” with worth around Berkeley. Of course the fact that my son and my family can also testify we were not there that morning doesn’t count for much either. I guess none of us can be trusted to tell the truth. 

There you go... innocent until proven guilty? Sorry, not in Berkeley, guilty until proven innocent, and then still pronounced guilty by a city clerk. Is it official city policy to just let those tickets fly, and start counting the money? Must be. I’m afraid you are “guilty” despite what you can say, do, or show to prove otherwise—so you’ll just have to pay up folks.  

I am now planning on suing the City of Berkeley in small claims court over this latest nonsense. I recommend anyone out there who’s been ripped off in a similar fashion do the same. Oh yeah, and honk if you support this protest! 

Phil Pickering 

BARKING IN BERKELEY 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

I live in an overwhelmed state of mind. My life is dictated by the challenges of getting across San Pablo Avenue, finding a parking space, having change for a parking meter, and having the parking meter work—not to mention the endurance test of getting through whatever task I have before me without losing my grip, as my harried and hurried existence is inundated with the paperwork for documenting my innocence, often the result of the errors made by inept people. 

On April 8 I was involved in one of my many obligations that require perseverance, and hopefully, patience. It was pouring rain and I had the good fortune of finding a parking space only a couple of blocks from Berkeley High School, where I was trying to retrieve transcripts that never got from the traditional high school to Independent Study where my son goes to school this year. Since it has become nearly impossible to reach anyone on the telephone, I spend a percentage of my life driving, finding parking, parking, waiting on line, finding the person I need to talk to, or at least the person who is allegedly able to refer me to the person who can refer me to the person I need to talk to. 

My parking space was too good to be true, because the parking meter ate my quarter while I stood in the pouring rain and blowing wind. I put a note on the parking meter and ran the two blocks to Berkeley High, but not before I tried to dig my quarter out of the jammed meter and had the satisfaction of kicking the pole that supported the meter. 

I was shuffled from a waiting line (where I was able to hear the announcements being made live over the loudspeaker regarding the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered meeting schedule—the prelude of the announcement was from Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti) to the office of the registrar. My experience in the registrar’s office was painless—I was actually given the paperwork I needed quickly. The registrar at Berkeley High totally has her act together. 

When I returned to my car the note had blown away and my car had a ticket on its windshield in a little plastic bag. But just ahead on the block was the “meter gestapo.” I drove up to her vehicle and explained that the meter was broken. The driver barked, “1947 Center” at me and drove away. 

On April 15 I went to the dreaded 1947 Center St. and waited in line, having found a parking space several blocks away with a working meter! When it was my turn, the woman at the counter barked at me and gestured to the forms that enable the citizens of Berkeley an opportunity to contest a parking ticket. When I came back to the line with my completed form, having waited through the second cue, I had the unfortunate luck of ending up at the same barking woman’s computer terminal. She separated the layers of no-carbon-required copies and handed me a pink one. Then I was told to call in three weeks if I had not heard from the City of Berkeley. I started to write down the instructions for my next task and made the mistake of asking what the date three weeks from now would be. The woman refused to discuss the three week date with me and made it very clear in a very unpleasant way that she was not there to help me. I noticed a little tiny calendar next to her computer monitor and I asked her if she would mind turning the page so that I could see the dates in May. She told me that, “it was my responsibility to find a calendar”. 

My property taxes pay that bitch’s salary. And if she is a civil servant, then she is a servant to the people of this city. I would never have a job if spoke to people the way that woman spoke to me. I would never speak to anyone like that. I didn’t even speak to her like that after she spoke to me like that. I just left the building wondering, once again, what happened to the human race. 

Pat Hilliard 

ª

When opponents of library use of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology testified at Berkeley’s Peace and Justice Commission meeting in March, 2005, one of the commissioners repeatedly asked whether the industry was using this library in particular, or libraries in general, to promote RFID. A letter sent by a major book industry group to members of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors last summer shows that the answer is a resounding yes. 

Worse yet, the book industry group wants to use libraries as guinea pigs to test RFID. 

Immature Technology 

While acknowledging that RFID “is still an immature technology, lacking in essential capability and standards,” the letter’s author, James Lichtenberg, board member of the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) and chair of its New Technology Committee, nevertheless urged funding of RFID at San Francisco Public Library (SFPL) so that libraries can “make a contribution to maintaining our free and open society as we embrace new and untested technologies.” 

Civil Liberties at Risk 

Chillingly, the letter’s fundamental argument for why libraries and library patrons should become RFID guinea pigs is that industry will not act responsibly: “for libraries to abandon the field now would leave the development of RFID essentially in the hands of commercial and defense interests where ‘national security’ and the profit motive often overshadow concerns for civil liberty.” 

Indeed, Lichtenberg warns that the future of RFID technology may well lead to “ubiquitous ignoble use of RFID for surveillance and invasion of citizens’ rights.” 

In short, the letter says libraries should buy RFID because industry and government cannot be trusted to protect our privacy and civil liberties. 

Buy Now, Change Later 

Lichtenberg is right that industry and government want to use RFID for surveillance. But that’s precisely why it is sheer chutzpah for the commercial interests he represents to promote RFID by holding out the false hope that libraries, by buying RFID systems today, “ultimately will make the technology itself stronger and safer as it matures and its implementation broadens.” 

The truth is, libraries would lose any leverage they might have by buying RFID now and seeking changes afterwards. Once libraries have bought into RFID, why should industry change its ways? 

Rather than changing the RFID product, it is far more likely that the book industry wants to use the good will of libraries to put a friendly face on RFID, in order to make RFID technology more palatable to the public. After all, the BISG letter provides no specifics about how libraries that make the expensive plunge into RFID and convert their collections to its use would “be leaders in the exploration of RFID use”—or about how libraries’ privacy concerns would affect the wealthy RFID or book industry and its products.  

The New York-based BISG counts among its members “the entire publishing value chain,” including “authors, publishers, printers, distributors, technologists, consultants, retailers and of course libraries.” 

BISG officers include management officials of publishers Barnes and Noble, Random House, and John Wiley & Sons, according to the group’s website. 

Business Hopes 

Lichtenberg’s letter is clear about the hoped-for benefits to the business interests he serves. It says, “RFID holds out a promise to create greater efficiency and significantly take cost out of any supply chain, ours included....” 

Unfortunately, BISG has already significantly influenced policy at the American Library Association, which issued its “Resolution on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology and Privacy Principles” in January 2005 with repeated, explicit references to BISG—and an endorsement of BISG’s inadequate “Privacy Principles” statement. 

Carrot and Stick 

Lichtenberg’s letter reveals corporate interests are using a carrot-and-stick approach to sell “untested” RFID technology to government and library decisionmakers. 

The stick is the thinly veiled, very real threat that RFID will usher in an age of ubiquitous surveillance in the near, if not immediate, future. The carrot is the vain hope that libraries can save society from that dystopian future. 

Libraries and library users should not let themselves become test subjects for this “immature” technology—especially when they must pay heavily for the privilege and cannot easily escape once they sign up. Who listens to guinea pigs, anyway? 

Peter Warfield is executive director and co-founder of the Library Users Association. Lee Tien is a senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and a long-time Berkeley resident. 

›

When I read about the upcoming deal on the LRDP, I had an overpowering 

urge to listen to “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane... 

One pill makes you larger... 

“UC Berkeley and the City of Berkeley have reached a tentative 20-year agreement that would resolve a major town-gown legal battle, city officials said yesterday.” 

And one pill makes you small... 

“Under the agreement, UC Berkeley would not pay the city more than it originally offered in January, and the city would drop its February lawsuit against the university...” 

And the ones that Mother gives you 

Don’t do anything at all... 

“The agreement...promises to end a conflict between the city and university that has peaked in the last few months.” 

Go ask Alice 

When she’s ten feet tall... 

“In February, the city sued the university, demanding that the university complete a more detailed environmental impact report of its plan, the 2020 Long Range Development Plan....Then in March, it billed the university for $1.8 million in back parking taxes. And last month, the council voted to charge the university an estimated $2.2 million annually for sewer service.” 

And if you go chasing rabbits 

And you know you’re going to fall... 

“The deal falls significantly short of the city’s previous monetary demands from the university. UC officials said in January that the city had asked in negotiations for $3 million to $5 million per year.” 

Tell ‘em a hookah-smoking caterpillar 

Has given you the call... 

“Instead, the city is planning to drop both its lawsuit and the bills it has approved in favor of receiving about a fourth of that amount.” 

Call Alice 

When she was just small. 

“ ‘I think most of the community who followed this will be scratching their heads and wondering,’ Spring said.” 

When the men on the chessboard 

Get up and tell you where to go... 

“Fred Collignon, a former councilmember and current UC Berkeley city and regional planning professor, said the university has a stronger hand in negotiations because it has been legally exempt from paying city taxes. ‘The city doesn’t have any particular leverage against the university, except that which can be generated through the state Assembly,’ Collignon said.” 

And you’ve just had some kind of mushroom 

And your mind is moving low... 

“The City Council tentatively approved the proposal in a closed-session meeting April 25...” 

Go ask Alice 

I think she’ll know. 

“Spring said the council has not stood up to the mayor, and will likely put up a united front when the deal is announced.” 

When logic and proportion 

Have fallen sloppy dead... 

“Collignon said the agreement would be good news for Berkeley as a whole because neither side could get what they want in court.” 

And the White Knight is talking backwards... 

“Spring...said Bates did not stand up for the city in negotiations, adding that the university did not make any major concessions on its development.” 

And the Red Queen’s off her head... 

“Councilmember Laurie Capitelli said in February that the university is “holding all of the cards.” 

Remember what the dormouse said... 

“I’m likely to be the only one who will say anything negative,” [Spring] said. “All the others will be glowing about it.” 

Feed your head, 

feed your head, 

feed your head... 

Too bad the City Council didn’t take the pill that made them larger... 

Sharon Hudson lives in the south campus area. Lyrics from “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane. News from the Daily Californian, May 6, 2005.) 

The 23rd annual Celebration of Old Roses will be held Sunday, May 15 from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the El Cerrito Community Center on Moeser at Ashbury. Sponsored by the Heritage Roses Group, the event is free. 

The center of the hall will be filled with cuttings of roses donated by members and guests, and sold for 25 cents a cutting at the end. Tables ranged around the hall will hold books, rose memorabilia (plates and hats painted or stenciled with roses), and foodstuffs such as rose jelly and honey gathered locally. Vendors such as Vintage Gardens (Sebastopol) will have potted roses; the celebration also features plants complementary to roses such the species geraniums (shown by Robin Parer) that root gracefully around roses. 

Miriam Wilkins, who has raised roses up the hill for the last half century, will conduct as usual the concluding raffle. 

Preceding the Celebration on Friday and Saturday is a conference “California’s Rose Heritage” (registration details: www.heritagerosefoundation.org). Attendance is expected to reach 200, with speakers from across the country. The focus of the conference will be the roses of California, beginning with the natives (Rosa Californica), proceeding through those of the mission era, and particularly those brought to the state during the Gold Rush and which now form a “rose lode” in the Sierra foothills. 

The mid-19th century represented a time of intense cross-breeding of roses. Around 1800 British and French explorers such as Robert Fortune and Joseph Banks, brought back from semi-tropical Asia, the “China” roses that re-bloomed. Until then, all roses in Europe flowered only in the spring, with only a slight repeat in the fall for a few rare types (Quatre Saisons). These tenderer roses from Asia introduced a radically different habit, foliage and palette (other-than-pink) into the European cultivars. 

The history and typology of roses is at least as complicated as that of wine. Consider the vast changes in the landscape of California wrought by Agoston Haraszthy, the Hungarian who imported batches of grapevines cuttings from all over Europe in the 1860s, and whom we have to thank for Zinfandel. Roses were imported, by ship, from the East and from Europe to such emporia as Shinn’s Nursery in Niles (Fremont); settlers carried cuttings across the continent: such treasures as species rose Harrison’s Yellow. These roses were planted in the Sierra foothills; as those towns declined, the roses were abandoned. 

Naturalized, they survive in odd corners of gardens and fields. One of the most curious is Fortune’s Yellow Double, also known as the San Rafael Rose or Gold of Ophir: a thorny tangle that can cover a shed or ascend a redwood, putting forthcoming a massive display of “golden amber flowers, burnished with rose red and copper.” Over the last 40 years these roses have been re-discovered and propagated, especially as developments threaten their habitat. 

Indeed, a movement of rose “rescuers” has sprung up to take cuttings or move plants if the bulldozers are approaching; in Texas, more boldly, they call themselves rose “rustlers.” Recently a party from the Heritage Rose Group went through Mare Island Naval Shipyard, and found many roses no longer in commerce. Even more unusual roses have been found in the Sierra foothills and the coastal range, in cemeteries, abandoned gardens and along the roads. A rose in point is Grandmother’s Hat which I have grown for the last 10 years. Miriam Wilkins recollects finding it as “Anna Wellman” fifty years ago on Richmond Ave. in El Cerrito in a garden where the houses were being demolished; Barbara Worl found the same rose in Palo Alto, and for some year it bore her name. It has been called Mrs. Sharman-Crawford, and then Cornet after being seen in a German garden by these two California ladies. Now it is the prolific and beloved Grandmother’s Hat, a heavily scented, pink hybrid perpetual of the 19th century, with a parentage yet to be discovered. Recently, I planted this shrub rose in the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association garden on Durant Street where it will form part of an antique garden. 

Roses are far more than the “hybrid teas” of the mid-20th century: the meager and rather fussy “antler” plants, with fancy pointed buds of many petals and curious colors, roses that required much winter trimming and summer spraying. Roses are immensely diverse as to habit and cultivation: a major resource for a flowering and foliage landscape. This Sunday in El Cerrito, meet the intense amateurs and nursery-folk who cultivate this plant. 

A planning document for the UC Berkeley campus has won an unusual accolade. The university’s Landscape Heritage Plan is receiving a Webby Award this year. Sometimes referred to as the “Oscars of the Internet,” the Webbys honor high quality and innovative website design. 

In each competition category, two Webby awards are given, one by a panel of judges and the other by a “People’s Voice” online vote open to the public for two weeks. The Landscape Heritage Plan received the “People’s Voice” Webby in the newly instituted “School/Education” competition category. 

The plan was developed by both UC Berkeley staff and a team of researchers and consultants organized by the San Francisco office of Sasaki Associates, a major private sector planning firm. The plan was put online for easy public access and the website, for which Cody Andresen of San Francisco was the lead designer, won the Webby. 

The Landscape Heritage Plan (LHP), finished in 2004, is one in a series of UC Berkeley planning documents, including the New Century Plan (NCP), which was the program statement for the recently adopted UC Berkeley Long Range Development Plan (LRDP). 

A third addition to this alphabet soup of acronyms was the Landscape Master Plan (LMP). The master plan spelled out a sequence of desirable landscape improvements for the campus. 

The Heritage Plan, supported with a grant from the Getty Foundation, went further, studying in detail the evolution of, and recommending historically appropriate improvements for, the historic landscape in the campus “Classical Core.” 

The character of these outdoor spaces, generally grouped around the University’s older stone buildings, evolved from the work of distinguished designers including Frederick Law Olmsted, John Gregg, John Galen Howard, and Thomas Church. 

The Landscape Heritage Plan can be seen at www.cp.berkeley.edu/lhp. A full list of Webby winners is at www.webbyawards.com. 

Creed, the knight, is snapping photos of his therapist, Dr. Tulip, in a scene in A Knight’s Escape, by Eastenders Repertory now at the Ashby Stage. 

“Why did you do that?”—“It helps me to know who is truthful.”—“How is that working for you?”—“Good. It works.”—“But how?”—“No one can lie to the camera.” 

A Knight’s Escape, by the company’s founding Artistic Director Charles Polly, is alternating at the theater with Scott Munson’s WWJD? [What Would Jesus Do?], a burlesque morality play about the chairman of the Fed having a religious experience when thrown in with the poor. 

Introducing A Knight’s Escape , Susan Evans, Eastenders’ artistic director who directed WWJD?, remarked that it was a very different kind of play than Munson’s comedy. And A Knight’s Escape, though maybe more of a social morality play than WWJD? (subtitled “Some Good Old Medieval Morality Play Motor Oil”), is in form and development a departure—both for the company and its author. 

“Structurally, my other plays have been very linear, and mostly autobiographical,” says Charles Polly. “The Twyla Trilogy was about an Appalachian man, living in California with HIV, who goes back home. There’s a lot of the vernacular in it; it’s poetic, in that way.” 

A Knight’s Escape, about Creed, an agoraphobic photographer (!) who dreams he’s a knight—and is attacked by his friends in his dreams—is clearly a departure from autobiography, though there is still a character at the center, who, as Melville said of Hamlet, like a revolving beacon illuminates everything around. What’s around is a neighborhood with an interwoven web of others who are often not what they at first seem to be. 

Much of the humor of the play is deadpan. Creed, the phobic shutterbug, is alternately “shooting” with his camera and fleeing the connections with the outside world, which crop up in his dreams (where he finds himself really shooting—even at his friends—only to be congratulated by a pirouetting damsel-in-distress, oddly replaced by a fellow-in-distress). 

But some vignettes are really comic. Jenson Block (Susan Kendall), “a television journalist” with a very knowing smile, tells her “video diary” about the pivotal experience of her childhood, her reaction to Walter Cronkite breaking down in tears over the assassination of JFK: “It was as much about Cronkite as it was about Kennedy ... It was my first sexual experience—and also when I knew I wanted to be on television!” 

Much of the action is anything but linear, following different relationships between different characters in the neighborhood, and Creed’s psychic recycling of it all. The players are recycled too: Peter Matthews (Creed), Craig Dickerson (Joe Joe), Michaela Greeley (Dr. Tulip) and Sarah Korda (Marlene) all play major parts in WWJD? Of the others, Reg Clay (Dr. Tulip’s “tranquillized” son, rowdy Jonathan) and Susan Kendall are past Eastenders (Kendall a founding member), and David Stein (Creed’s friend Lesman, a journalist) an actor seen in local productions by Shotgun Players, Actors Ensemble and Subterranean Shakespeare. 

“Repertory Ensemble” is an accurate description of the Eastender process. 

The different scenes and vignettes gradually coalesce around Creed’s mounting hysteria, like magnetized iron filings. 

But they also mirror the collective panic that touches off Creed’s, and reaffirms it, and how media attention, gossip or even just idle concern over a person or situation can spiral out of control. The situations and characters pull in different ways. In exasperation Creed exclaims, “That’s what everybody says, ‘Trust me!’”  

Polly experiments with different modes from those of his previous plays. They, too, have a tendency to pull apart at some points. Sometimes there’s a little too much dream symbolism; in others, it verges on melodrama. The ending’s that of a morality play, though more like G. K. Chesterton than the medieval moralities WWJD? parodies. It loops back into the dream and its meanings. Even with its social message, the play’s relation to both reality and the fantastic element of dreams is often uncertain. At its best, it’s Manneristic, with multiple perspectives, as in dramatists from Shakespeare to Pinter. 

When you’re juggling, it’s hard to keep all the balls airbourne. But Charles Polly seems to be heading in new directions with A Knight’s Escape. It’s part of the evolution of a playwright and an ensemble repertory company. 

This is the last weekend coming up for both plays. The Eastenders discount the second show 25 percent for those audience members returning for more. 

Eastenders Repertory presents A Knight’s Escape (alternating with WWJD?) Thursday-Sunday through May 15 at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. $15-$18. 568-4118.à

The story of one of Berkeley’s most important early families, and the history of a National Landmark building in Yosemite built to honor one of the Sierra Club’s patriarchs, will be featured this Thursday evening, May 12, in the fourth lecture in the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association’s monthly series, “Hidden Lodges of Berkeley and Beyond.” 

Bonnie Johanna Gisel, naturalist, historian, author, and curator of the LeConte Memorial Lodge is making a special trip to Berkeley to give the slide-illustrated talk. She will speak at 7:30 p.m. in the rustic Senior Hall on the UC campus, adjacent to the Faculty Club.  

Constructed just over a century ago by the Sierra Club to honor one of their most distinguished early leaders, UC Professor Joseph LeConte, LeConte Lodge on the floor of Yosemite Valley is a small but dramatic peak-roofed stone and timber building designed by Berkeleyan John White, brother-in-law of Bernard Maybeck. 

The lodge is operated by the Sierra Club as a public education center under Gisel’s curatorship. 

LeConte and John Muir came to know each other in part through mutual friendship with Jeanne Carr, wife the first professor of agriculture at the University of California and an avid naturalist and Sierra lover herself.  

Gisel has published a book on the correspondence between Muir and Carr, and has also recently researched the LeConte family origins in Georgia, taking their story back before their California days.  

The LeConte brothers, John and Joseph, came to Berkeley to join the faculty of the University of California soon after it was founded. Distinguished scientists in their native Georgia, they could not find academic employment in the Reconstruction South after the Civil War.  

California offered a fresh start. John LeConte, trained as a physician but primarily remembered as a physicist, became UC’s first faculty member and third president, while Joseph LeConte lent additional eminence to the faculty in geology and related disciplines. 

Several sites in Berkeley—including a street, a public school, an academic hall at the University—are named in honor of one or both of the LeConte brothers. 

In 1870 Joseph LeConte met John Muir in Yosemite. The two quickly became friends and LeConte was later to lend his scientific prestige in support of Muir’s theory that Yosemite had been formed in part by glacial action. Many geologists of LeConte’s time regarded the dramatic cliffs and canyons of that part of the Sierra as the product of sudden cataclysm, not slow moving natural forces. 

Seats are still available for the lecture, and are expected to be available at the door. Tickets are $10 per person ($6 for full-time students). To reserve your seat in advance, call BAHA at (841-2242) or visit the BAHA website at www.berkeleyheritage.com. Click on the photo of the log-cabin-like Senior Hall. 

The full “Hidden Lodges” lecture series was described in the Daily Planet’s Feb.4 edition. 

TUESDAY, MAY 10 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Asra Nomani describes “Standing Alone in Mecca: An American Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Suggested donation $10. Sponsored by Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Arthur Asa Berger introduces “The Kabbalah Killings: A Murder Mystery Introduction to Jewish Mysticism” at 7:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. 

Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin introduce “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

PEN West’s Annual Translation Event with Robert Alter, Robert Goldman and H. Mack Horton at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Symphony Orchestra “Manzanar: An American Story” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Pre-concert talk at 7 p.m. Tickets are $22-$49. 841-2800. www.berkeleysymphony.org 

Pacific Brass Quintet at 8 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Tickets are $20. 525-5211.  

Tom Rigney & Flambeau at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

The Strawbs at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $20.50- $21.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Mike Lipskin at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Adam Evolve, Jon Roniger, americana, at 9:30 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174.  

Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Will Bernard Trio at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $6-$10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 11 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Medea Benjamin talks about “Stop the Next War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Berkeley Poetry Slam Team Competition at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082 www.starryplough.com 

Café Poetry with Kira Allen at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donation $2. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Music for the Spirit with Ron McKean on the Rosales Organ at 12:15 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway. 444-3555. www.firstchurchoakland.org 

Berkeley Opera “Macbeth” by Verdi, with the UC Alumni Chorus at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Theater. Tickets are $15-$40. 841-1903. www.berkeleyopera.org 

Ned Boynton Trio at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Anthony Paul & Mz Dee at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Swing dance lesson with Nick & Shanna at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

ThaMuseMeant and Baby Gramps, ballads and progressive folk, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

SomethingFour at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Berkeley High Jazz at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, MAY 12 

EXHIBTIONS 

“Homecoming” a mini-retrospective of the work of Kay Sekimachi and Bob Stockdale. Informal talk at 5 p.m. Reception at 6 p.m. at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527. www.accigallery.com 

“Be Animated at NIAD” an exhibition of cartoons, anime, and cartoon characters by artists with disabilities and local professional animators at NIAD Gallery, 551 23rd St., Richmond. Reception from 6 to 8 p.m. 620-0290. www.niadart.org 

Matrix 214: Slater Bradley “The Year of the Doppelganger” Curator’s Talk with Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson at 12:15 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Drawn by the Brush: Oil Sketches of Peter Paul Rubens” guided tour at 5:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Susan Wheeler reads from her new novel “Record Palace” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

“The Fleischmann Yeast Family” with author P. Christiaan Klieger at 1:30 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

“Light and Shadow: Civic Space, Sacred Space” with Craig W. Hartman on the award winning design for the Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, at 7:30 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Cost is $4-$8. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Steven Johnson describes “Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Mark Nowak reads from his new book of poetry “Shut Up Shut Down” and discusses his relationship between writing an labor organizing at 7 p.m. at AK Press Warehouse, 674A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Jazz Night” with the MLK Jr. Middle School Jazz Band, The Heptet Jazz Ensemble and the Potential Jazz Ensemble, and featuring the premiere of Nathan Kersy-Wilson’s “Mr. Hochata” at 7 p.m. at Marting Luther King Jr. Middle School Auditorium, 1781 Rose St. at Grant. Fundraiser for the Band. 981-7532. 644-6280. 

Oakland Opera Theater, “White Darkness” at 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. Sun. at 2 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway at Second St., through May 22. Tickets are $18-$32. www.oaklandopera.org 

Classical Trumpet Concert with James Tinsley at 12:15 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge at Shattuck. 981-6235.  

G.Q. Wang, tenor, and Jacqueline Anderson, soprano, accompanied on the piano by Debbie Golata, at 7:30 p.m. at Northbrae Community Church Sanctuary, 941 The Alameda. Donation $15. 526-3805.  

Free Peoples with David Gans at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Austin Willacy at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Fred Frith, Toychestra at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082.  

www.starryploughpub.com 

Peter Barshay and Murray Low at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Piano Music by Tim Ross and Jack Kruscup, Thurs. and Fri. at 5 p.m. at the Kerr Dining Room, Faculty Club, UC Campus. Early Bird specials at $13.99. For reservations 540-5678. www.berkeleyfacultyclub.com 

Roy Hargrove Quintet at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $15-$26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Pete Madsen, acoustic guitar, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Lithium at 9 p.m. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $5. 763-7711. www.cafevankleef.com  

FRIDAY, MAY 13 

THEATER 

Aurora Theatre, “Blue/Orange” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m., 2081 Addison St. through May 15. Tickets are $28-$45. 843-4822. www.aurora.theatre.org 

Berkeley High School, “A Chorus Line” Fri. and Sat at 8 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Berkeley High Campus. Tickets are $12 for adults, $6 for students at the door. 

Berkeley Repertory Theater “The People’s Temple” at the Roda Theater through May 29. Tickets are $20-$55. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Black Repertory Group “Bubbling Brown Sugar” the musical Fri. at 8 p.m., Sat. at 2:30 and 8 p.m. to May 14 at 3201 Adeline St. Tickets are $7-$15. 652-2120.   

Contra Costa Civic Theatre “Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito, through May 21. Tickets are $12-$20. 524-9132. www.ccct.org 

Eastenders Repertory “A Knight's Escape” and “WWJD,” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m., through May 15 at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Tickets are $15-$18 available from 568-4118. 

Impact Briefs 7: “The How-To Show” Thu.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave., through May 28. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. www.impacttheatre.com 

Masquers Playhouse “Memorial Day” about the conflicts of a Vietnam veteran, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2:30 p.m. at 105 Park Place, Pt. Richmond. Tickets are $10. 232-4031. www.masquers.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“The Sketchbook Show” An exhibition of sketchbooks that gives a unique look into the thoughts, writings, inspirations and works in progress of various Bay Area artists. Reception at 7 p.m. at Boontling Gallery, 4224 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Exhibition runs to June 12. www.4leagueindustries.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Isabel Allende tells the tale of “Zorro” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Also for young readers. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

By the Light of the Moon open mic for women at 7:30 p.m. at Changemakers, 6536 Telegraph Ave. 655-2405. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Opera “Macbeth” by Verdi, with the UC Alumni Chorus at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Theater. Tickets are $15-$40. 841-1903. www.berkeleyopera.org 

Oakland Opera Theater, “White Darkness” at 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. Sun. at 2 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway at Second St., through May 22. Tickets are $18-$32. www.oaklandopera.org 

Women’s Antique Vocal Ensemble, “Sanctuary” a concert of devotional music from the 13th-century at 8 p.m. at Lake Merritt United Methodist Church, 1330 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5-$10. 233-4243. www.wavewomen.org  

“Undergrowth” by Pappas and Dancers at 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., interactive family matinee Sun. at 2 p.m. at Temescal Arts Center, 511 48th St. at Telegraph, Oakland. Tickets are $10. 599-2325. 

Billy Tipton Memorial Sazophone Quartet at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Vince Wallace Quintet at 9 p.m. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $5. 763-7711. www.cafevankleef.com  

Square Dance with The Rays at Ashkenaz. Family dance at 7 p.m., square dance at 9 p.m. Cost is $13-$15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jill Knight with Jeri Jones at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Los Cenzontles at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Orixa, 40 Watt Hype at 9:30 at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6-$8. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Mamapalooza SF, Kami Nixon, Amee Chapman at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Vicki Burns Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

DJ & Brook, jazz trio, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Midnite, reggae from the Virgin Islands, at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $25. 548-1159. www.shattuckdownlow.com 

Joe Bob Berkeley at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

The Hellbellies, The Eddie Haskells, Botox Aftermath at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Roy Hargrove Quintet at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $15-$26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, MAY 14 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Colibri at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Tilden Inspirations” paintings by Sheila Sondik at the Tilden Environmental Education Center, Tilden Park. Reception for the artist and demonstration at 2:30 p.m. 525-2233. 

“The Art of the Launch” an exhibition of graphic art, photographs and memorabilia relating to the 747 ships built at the Kaiser shipyards in Richmond during WWII, at the Richmond Museum, 400 Nevin Ave. 235-7387. www.richmondmuseumofhistory.org 

“Drawn by the Brush: Oil Sketches of Peter Paul Rubens” sign-language-interpreted tour at 11 a.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“FinnArt” Art by Finns/Art Inspired by Finland A visual arts exhibition Sat. and Sun. from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Finnish Kaleva Hall, 1970 Chestnut, at University. Children’s activities and slide talks at 2 and 3:30 p.m. 848-1525.  

Dutch Boy Studios 2005 Spring Exhibition featuring the work of twenty resident artists, working in a diverse variety of media. Reception at 7 p.m. at 4701 San Leandro St., Oakland. 534-4751. 

Innersport Spring Art Show with work by Scott Courtenay-Smith, Sally Kiehn and Nita Moreno. Reception at 7 p.m. at 1250 Addison St., #102. www.innersport.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Robert Hass, California Poet Laureate, reads from from “The Addison Street Anthology,” and performances by Mexican folk dancers, Sol Mejica, from 7 to 9 p.m. at The 1870 Antonio Peralta House, 2465 34th Ave., Oakland. 532-9142. 

Maria Amparo Escandon reads from her new novel “González & Daughter Trucking Co.” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Almudena Ortiz will talk about her show of photographs of farmworkers at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library Community Room, 2090 Kittredge at Shattuck. 981-6235.  

Artist Talk with Jon Brumit on his collaboration with strangers in “Door to Door” at 3 p.m. at Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave., Richmond. 620-6772. www.therichmondartcenter.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Calvin Keys & Trio at 7 p.m. for the Grand Opening of Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Sacred & Profane, “Northern Lights” traditional and contemporary Swedish music for choir, at 8 p.m. at St. Ambrose Church, 1145 Gilman St. Tickets are $12-$18. 524-3611. www.sacredprofane.org 

Trinity Chamber Concerts “Quinteto Latino” at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. http://trinitychamberconcerts.com 

Four Seasons Concerts “W. Hazaiah Williams Memorial Concert” at 7:30 p.m. at Calvin Simmons Theater, 10 Tenth St. at Oak. Free. 601-7919. www.fourseasonsconcerts.com 

Rhythm & Muse with with jazz pianist Rudi Mwongozi at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center. Free. 527-9753. 

Voci Women’s Vocal Ensemble “Listen to the Elements: Music of Earth, Water, Air, and Fire,” at 3 p.m. at Lake Merritt United Methodist Church, 1330 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $15-$20. Children under 12 free. 531-8714. www.coolcommunity.org/voci  

Baroque Etcetera “German Greats” at 8 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church, 5201 Park Blvd., Oakland. Suggested Donation $10. 540-8222. www.baroquetc.org  

Allegro Ballroom Dancers at 8 p.m. at 5855 Christie Ave., Emeryville. Fundraiser to fight breast cancer. Tickets are $20-$100. For reservations call 655-2888. 

Zydeco Flames at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson with Dana De Simone at 8 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Pachucada with Dr. Loco Rockin’ Jalapeño Band at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10, $7 with costume. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Larry Newman & Meli at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Girl Talk at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Steve Seskin with Nina Gerber at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jah Warrior Shelter with Luna Angel and Moese at 9 p.m. at Club Oasis, 135 12th St., Oakland. 763-0404. 

Pyeng Threadgill, Jazz singer-songwriter at 8 p.m. at Studio Rasa, 933 Parker St. Cost is $10-$30. 843-2787. 

Kurt Ribak Jazz Quartet at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

The Back Court, Serendipity, The Ghostt at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Art Khu Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com  

Marcus Selby Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

The Junes, The Shut-Ins at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Omar Ait Vimon & Daniel Torres, Berber Flamenco roots at 7 p.m. at Spuds, 3290 Adeline Ave. Cost is $7. 597-0795. 

Punk Prom Night with Two Gallants, Jason Webley, This Is My Fist at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926.

Students, faculty, and parents at Berkeley’s Malcolm X Elementary School welcomed a new dendro-American citizen to our town in a brief ceremony Friday morning, April 29, National Arbor Day. A 35-foot northern red oak had been planted in the schoolyard to replace a senior elm, removed because it was dying. 

The new oak, already planted and guy-wired in place, was just beginning to unfurl its leaves. This had been a matter of some suspense, as the tree had been trucked here from its native field in British Columbia; the rigors of transport, especially wind, can dehydrate a plant in full leaf to the point of injury or death. But the tree cooperated, and the nurseryfolk pulled it all off skillfully—no small feat, moving a plant that weighs as much as a elephant, with a delicate rootball and a weird center of gravity. 

Malcolm X student Lowell Berry commanded everyone’s attention by opening the ceremony with a saxophone solo of the “Ode to Joy.” Principal Cheryl Chinn and Tony Rossman, a parent of two Malcolm X students, welcomed the crowd and told a little of the history of Arbor Day. Robert Trachtenberg, who had organized the purchase of the tree, spoke of its individual and species life history and its journey to Berkeley. He elicited the promise of the students not to climb the tree while it’s young and fragile, and told them a little about its life and trees in general. 

Second-grade students Rose Trachtenberg, Celia Bolgatz, Louisa Mascuch, Josephine Thornton, Alice Rossmann, and Molly Rossmann read Joyce Kilmer’s anthemic tree poem (“I think that I shall never see/ A poem as lovely as a tree…”) in chorus. After the recitation and remarks and thanks, a practical connection: students and others lined up with paper cups to pour a little water flavored with fertilizer onto the tree. Mr. Berry closed the ceremony with another sax solo, of the Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine.” 

Student Hileena Engedasow told me about how much she’d loved the late elm, and how sad she was that it was gone. Several classmated chivvied her about that—“Well what if a big branch fell off on your head?”—and she agreed that the new oak was a nice tree too, and welcomed it earnestly. 

The immigrant from Canada is a descendant of more easterly ancestors: the species, Quercus ruber, has a home range from southeast Canada to the midwestern United States. Assuming that the Canadian wholesale nursery got the identification right—and that’s harder than you might think, as oaks hybridize freely and have lots of individual differences besides—the seed of that tree itself was an immigrant to its British Columbia field. 

Northern red oak is a title the species came to after a sort of taxonomic winnowing process, according to Donald Culross Peattie, doyen of tree writers. “Lumbermen used to recognize only two sorts of Oaks—‘White’ and ‘Red’—from the color of their respective woods.” Over the years, as the preferred “white” species of oak were overharvested and their lumber became scarce, lumbermen had to become both more discriminating and more adaptable, and came to appreciate the several biological taxa of oaks and name them more accurately. 

Northern red oak grows fast, and like most fast-growing trees, has relatively light, porous wood. But it’s still oak, and with the right processing has been used for railroad ties and building material. Its branch angles are broad enough to dispose it to sturdiness as it grows. 

Its favored use is in landscaping, since its form is stately and graceful and its foliage handsome. It has a ruddy glow in autumn, and smooth bark. It’s been widely used in Europe since the late seventeenth century, one of the early strictly ornamental plants from North America to be imported there. 

The species isn’t known to be invasive, shallow-rooted, or prone to self-pruning, and has a long and widespread track record. It will be some years before this fellow starts supplying acorns for the local jay and squirrel interest groups, but its shade and dynamic beauty are already making it an asset to the neighborhood. Perhaps it should have a name. What do you think, Malcolm X students?›

TUESDAY, MAY 10 

Morning Bird Walk Meet at 7 am. opposite the Pony Ride, Tilden Park, for a walk up the Gorge Trail. 525-2233. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. In case of questionable weather, call around 8 a.m. 215-7672. 

Bird Walk along the Martin Luther King Shoreline to see the Clapper Rails and the elusive Burrowing Owl at 3:30 p.m. 525-2233. 

Mother’s Day Celebration with George Rider and Scrumbly from Stagebridge at 1:15 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center. 

“The Continuing Battle to Restore the San Joaquin River” with Hamilton Candee, senior attorney at National Resources Defense Council at 5:30 p.m. in 105 North Gate Hall, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Water Resources Center Archives. 642-2666. 

Small Business Class “Writing an Effective Business Plan” from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, Community Room, 2090 Kittredge St. Sponsored by the Small Business Network. Free but registration required. 981-6148. 

Discover the Benefits of Hiking Poles A lecture and demonstration with Jayah Faye Paley at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Israel Memorial Day at 7:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

“Praises for the World” film of the concerts in Oakland in March and Nov. 2003 at 7 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. 883-0600. www.belladonna.ws 

Vision Screening for Toddlers at 10 a.m. at Habitot, 2065 Kittredge St. Cost is $5-$6. 647-1111. www.habitot.org 

“Just the Flax and Booster Foods” a free nutrition lecture by Ed Bauman, Director of Bauman College, at 5:30 p.m. at Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy, 1744 Solano Ave. 527-8929. 

Introductory Buddhist Meditation Class at 7 p.m. at Dzalandhara Buddhist Center, in Berkeley. Suggested donation $7-$10. For directions call 559-8183.www.kadampas.org 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your digital images, slides and prints. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 11 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters meets the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7:15 a.m. at Au Cocolait, 200 University Ave. at Milvia. For information call Robert Flammia 524-3765. 

Walking Tour of Jack London Waterfront Meet at 10 a.m. at the corner of Broadway and Embarcadero. Tour lasts 90 minutes. For reservations call 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/wallkingtours 

Balinese Music & Dance Workshops Wed. evenings through June 8 at 7:30 p.m. in El Cerrito. Cost is $60 for all five classes, $15 per class. Registration required. 6485 Conlon Ave., El Cerrito. 237-6849. www.gsj.org 

“Mysterious Neighbors: The Chinese, The Japanese and The Jews in the SF Bay Area from the Gold Rush to the Present” with Fred Rosenbaum. Brown bag lunch at 11:30 a.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $5. 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

May Day in Caracas 2005, a multi-media report back at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$15. 849-2568.  

Poetry Writing Workshop with Alison Seevak at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720. 

Study Skills and Organization Workshop for Teens at 7 p.m. at Classroom Matters, 2607 7th Street, Suite E. Free. 540-8646. www.classroommatters.com 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Action St. 841-2174.  

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. 548-9840. 

THURSDAY, MAY 12 

Hidden Lodges of Berkeley An illustrated lecture on the Le Conte Memorial Lodge in Yosemite, with Bonnie Johanna Gisel, Le Conte Lodge Curator, at 7:30 p.m. at Senior Hall, UC Campus. Cost is $10. 841-2241. www.berkeleyheritage.com 

Water Transit in Berkeley A joint workshop with the Berkeley Transportation and Waterfront Commissions and the SF Bay Water Transit Authority at 7:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7010. 

West Campus Site Planning Meeting to review the Draft Master Plan at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria, 1222 University Ave. For information call 644-6066. www.berkeley.k12.ca.us 

Berkeley Community Gardening Collaborative Presentation by Malaika Edwards, from the People’s Grocery, in Oakland, at 6:30 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

“Playing Around in the Amazon Jungle” with Renata Meirelles and David Reeks on children’s culture in the Brazilian Amazon at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $-$10 sliding scale. Children welcome. 849-2568.  

Grizzly Peak Flyfishers meets at 7 p.m at the Kensington Community Center, 59 Arlington Ave., with Rachel Andras, a Redding-based guide and fly fishing instructor, on fishing the upper Sacramento River and other Northern California waters. 547-8629. 

Hiring and Working with Green Professionals Make the right decision when choosing an architect or builder. From 7 to 9 p.m. at Builders Booksource, 1817 Fourth St. Free, but registration required. 845-5106, ext. 230. www.build-green.org 

FRIDAY, MAY 13 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Robert A. Uhrhammer on “Tsunami/ 

Hayward” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. 526-2925.  

Farewell to El Cerrito High School “Before the Wrecking Ball Hits the Wall” A weekend celebration including a last school dance and archiving project. All school alumni are welcome. Bring your memories and school momentos. 233-7731. 

Health, Wellness and Spirituality through Ancient Teachings with Dr. Ra Un Nefer Amen at 7 p.m. at 5272 Foothill Blvd., Oakland. Also on Sat. at 12:30 p.m. Cost is $5.50. 533-5306. 

“She is Everywhere” an anthology of feminist writings with editor Lucia Chiavola at 11 a.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. 883-0600.  

Modern Mystic Poetry at 7 p.m. at Vara Healing Arts, 850 Talbot, Albany. 526-9642. 

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride meets at the Berkeley BART the second Friday of every month at 5:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. 845-1041. 

SATURDAY, MAY 14 

Healthy Kids Day and Bike Day at the Saturday Berkeley Farmer’s Market, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Center St. at MLK Jr. Way. 548-3333.  

Mind Your Health A Mental Health open house sponsored by the Berkeley/Albany Mental Health Commission from 2 to 6 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Activities for children. 649-4965, ext. 308. 

Health in Your World, Family Festival from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shattuck Ave. For children ages 5-12 and their parents. 549-1564.  

Kids Day for Health and Safety from noon to 3 p.m. at the Atrium Plaza Bldg., 828 San Pablo Ave., Albany. 

Blessing of the Animals at 2 p.m. on the Front Lawn of the First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway. Please have pets on leash or in a carrier. 444-3555.  

Buddha’s Birthday Celebration with traditional hand-made Lotus Lanterns, chanting, pot luck lunch. Please arrive by 9:30 a.m. Sixth Ancestor Zen Center, 2584 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 486-1762.  

Mini-Farmers in Tilden A farm exploration program, from 10 to 11 a.m. for ages 4-6, accompanied by an adult. We will explore the Little Farm, care for animals, do crafts and farm chores. Wear boots and dress to get dirty! Fee is $3-$5. Registration required. 525-2233. 

Kids Garden Club For children 7-12 years old to explore the world of gardening. We plant, harvest, build, make crafts, cook and get dirty! From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $5-$7, registration required. 525-2233. 

Tilden Park Hike of Two Peaks and Lake Meet at 10 a.m. at the Island parking lot near the Brazilian Bldg. on Wildcat Canyon Rd. Hike lasts about 6 hours and includes steep trails, wear sturdy shoes, bring lunch, water, and $1.50 for steam train ride. Sponsored by The Solo Sierrans. 925-691-6303.  

Walking Tour of Old Oakland around Preservation Park to see Victorian architecture. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of Preservation Park at 13th St. and MLK, Jr. Way. Tour lasts 90 minutes. For reservations call 238-3234.  

Botanic Garden Field Journal Learn how to design and create a journal and work outdoors. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Visitor Center, Tilden Park. For details and costs call 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Celebrate Elephants at the Oakland Zoo from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Donations to Amboseli Elephant Research Camp. 632-9525. www.oaklandzoo.org 

Biodiesel Fuel Making A two-day workshop to learn how to make a small-scale biodiesel processor. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sat. and Sun. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $40-$100, not including materials. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Green Home Systems Explore your home’s systems and how they work, how to operate them, how to test them, and what basic improvements can be made. From 9 a.m. to noon at Truitt and White, 1817 2nd St. Free, but registration required. 845-5106, ext. 230.  

Friends of the Albany Library Book Sale Sat. from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sun. from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Most items are $1 or less and include children’s books, recent fiction, paperbacks. To volunteer call 526-3720, ext. 5. rdavis@aclibrary.org 

Sidewalk Gift Shop Sale from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center. 

Uhuru’s “Antique Road Show” Sat. and Sun. from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 3742 Grand Ave., Oakland. Bring in the heirloom from your attic for a professional appraisal for $10. Benefits the African People’s Education and Defense Fund. 763-3342.  

Child Car Seat Check with the Berkeley Police Dept. from 10 a.m. to noon at the UC Garage on Addison at Oxford. 647-1111. www.habitot.org 

Self Defense for Sons & Parents from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center, 2640 College Ave. Cost is $75 for a parent and child. 845-8542, ext. 302. 

Fingerprinting for Children from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Habitot, 2065 Kittredge St. Sponsored by Sen. Don Perata’s office. Cost is $5-$6. 647-1111. www.habitot.org 

“Come Spot Come” dog training from 11 a.m. to noon at RabbitEars, 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Cost is $35. Reservations required. 525-6155. 

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring warm waterproof clothes. www.cal-sailing.org 

Know Your Rights Training from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Berkeley CopWatch, 2022 Blake St. Free. 548-0425. 

The Great War Society monthly meeting at 10:30 a.m. at 640 Arlington Ave. The topics will be “The Great White Fleet” by Michael Hanlon and “The Role of Propaganda” by Robert Denison. 525-3742. 

Sistaz N Motion Membership Drive and Mixer at noon at the Richmond Public Library, 325 Civic Center Plaza, Richmond. 925-439-1612. 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class in Responding to Terrorism from 9 a.m. to noon at 2100 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. To sign up call 981-5605. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes.html 

SUNDAY, MAY 15 

Jazz on 4th St. Festival from noon to 5:30 p.m., between Hearst and Virginia. Free musical performances and street merchants. 

Celebration of Old Roses from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the El Cerrito Community Center on Moeser Lane at Ashbury, El Cerrito. Come see the oldest of the roses, Old European Roses, and repeat bloomers. Plants, books, rose oil, rose jam and much more. Free, wheelchair accessible.  

Basket Weaving Learn the history of local materials and how they were used to weave baskets, from 11 a.m. to noon at Tilden Nature Center. For ages 7 to 11. Materials fee $3. 525-2233. 

Blossoming Mosaics Learn how to make pictures of your favorite flowers using recycled ceramics. From 1 to 3:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. For ages 12 and up. Materials fee $16. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Bay-Friendly Garden Tour A free, one-day, self-guided tour of over 30 private and public gardens throughout Alameda County from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 614-1699. www.bayfriendly.org 

Native Plant Sale at the Watershed Nursery from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 155 Tamalpais Rd. Bring boxes and tarps to carry your purchases home. Cash or check only. 548-4714. www.TheWatershedNursery.com  

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour Around the World in 80 Minutes: a docent-led tour of the UC Botanical Gardens at 10 a.m. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0181.  

Oakland Historic Houses: The 1870 Antonio Peralta House open from noon to 5 p.m. at 2465 34th St., Oakland. Donations accepted. 532-9142. 

Family Bike Ride A 2.9 mile, flat ride around the Marina. Meet at parking lot across from Shorebird Nature Center at 10 a.m. with your bike, helmet, lunch and water. www.bfbc.org  

Hands-on Bike Maintenance Learn how to perform basic repairs from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $85-$100. 527-4140. 

Bike Tour of Oakland Learn about the history of Oakland and its visionaries and scoundrels. Meet at 10 a.m. at the 10th St. entrance to the Oakland Museum for a leisurely two-hour ride of about five miles. Reservations are required. Participants must be over twelve years old and provide their own bikes, helmets and repair kits. 238-3514. 

Physical Theater for the Whole Family from 1 to 3 p.m. at The Nevo Education Center, 2071 Addison St. Free, but bring a book for the library at John Muir Elementary. Sponsored by Target and Berkeley Rep. 647-2972.  

Berkeley Cybersalon meets to discuss “Technology Export -- Boon or Bane?” from 6 to 8 p.m. Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Donation $10. Wheelchair accessible. 527-0450. 

Fundraiser for the Alameda County Food Bank at 4 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $6. Bring non-perishable food to donate. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Quantum Phenomena and Ancient Wisdom Traditions” with Cornelia Jarica at 1 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $15. HumaistHall@yahoo.com 

“Putting an End to Obesity” with Ed Bauman, Director of Bauman College at 10 a.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. at Cedar. 549-9200. 

“Love in Various Times and Cultures” with Ann Swindler and Paul Feinstein at 10:30 a.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

“Hiding and Seeking - Faith and Tolerance after the Holocaust” a film followed by facilitated discussion at 2 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Donation $5. 848-0237.  

Uhuru Sidewalk Sale and Raffle “ from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 3742 Grand Ave., Oakland. Benefits African People’s Education and Defense Fund. 763-3342. 

Crisis Support Services Day from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Golden Gate Fields, 1100 Eastshore Freeway, off Highway 80 at Gilman St. Exit. 420-2472.  

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring warm waterproof clothes. www.cal-sailing.org 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

“The Faith of a Transylvania Minister” with Csaba Todor at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Mark Henderson on “The Birth of Shakyamuni Buddha” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues., May 10, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www. 

ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., May 11, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Tasha Tervelon, 981-5347. www.ci.ber 

keley.ca.us/commissions/women 

Commission on Disability meets Wed., May 11, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Don Brown, 981-6346. TDD: 981-6345. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/disability 

Planning Commission meets Wed., May 11, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Janet Homrighausen, 981-7484. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/planning 

Police Review Commission meets Wed., May 11 at the South Berkeley Senior Center, 981-4950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/policereview 

Library Board of Trustees meets Wed. May 11, at 7 p.m. at South Berkeley Senior Center, Jackie Y. Griffin, 981-6195. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/library 

Waterfront Commission meets Wed., May 11, at 7 p.m., at 201 University Ave. Cliff Marchetti, 981-6740. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/waterfront 

Commission on Early Childhood Education meets Thurs., May 12, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Angellique De Cloud, 981-5428. www.ci.ber 

keley. ca.us/commissions/earlychildhoodeducation  

Community Health Commission meets Thurs., May 12, at 6:45 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. William Rogers, 981-5344. www.ci.ber- 

keley.ca.us/commissions/health 

Community Health Commission meets Thurs., May 12, at 6:45 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. William Rogers, 981-5344. www.ci.ber- 

keley.ca.us/commissions/health 

West Berkeley Project Area Commission meets Thurs., May 12, at 7 p.m., at the West Berkeley Senior Center. Iris Starr, 981-7520. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/westberkeley  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., May 12, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.ber 

keley.ca.us/commissions/zoning   

One more time, at the risk of becoming a tedious scold, the Berkeley Daily Planet wants to go on record on behalf of the public interest in demanding that those who run the government of the City of Berkeley (manager, staff, attorneys, mayor, councilmembers….?) make full public disclosure regarding any deals they’re making with the University of California before they take the final vote on such deals. Oh, and we don’t mean in the Friday release of a Tuesday agenda. We mean long enough in advance of the vote that the public, including the press, has time to investigate the details of the deal and comment on their ramifications. It’s a cliché that the devil is in the details, but the average voter/reader might not appreciate how deeply the bad details can be buried in the public process. 

An example: Do you think your sewer fees are too high, and are you annoyed that they’re going up? Have you experienced one of the many recent failures in Berkeley’s collapsing sewer system, perhaps sewage overflowing in your very own basement? Do you realize just how much each and every property owner and renter in Berkeley is subsidizing the use of sewer services by UC’s huge and ever-growing population of students and employees?  

Well, if you’re not right on top of all this … stuff…, then perhaps you missed out on what seemed to be minor adjustments to the sewer fee proposal which the council adopted at its April 26 meeting. You’re not alone if you did: the Daily Planet missed them too, but eagle-eyed council watchers figured it out and tipped us off afterwards. 

Pay attention, now. This is arcane, and it’s tricky. The agenda released before the council meeting reported proposed language which was carried over from an earlier meeting and which was based on a report from the Public Works Commission derived from recommendations made by consultants who tracked the way other cities charge University of California campuses for services. Here’s the original: 

“Public agencies as defined in Government Code Section. 54999.1.(c) shall pay a sewer service charge based on each hundred cubic feet of water use per each residential or non-residential water account as defined in subsections A and B above at the rates established by City Council resolution in accordance with Gov Code Sec. 54999.3.” 

Seems plausible, even straightforward, right? They use the water, they pay the fees accordingly. 

But here’s the con—watch carefully. At the very last minute, a supplemental report was produced by city staff which changed the charging mechanism. If you look at the published summary of the meeting results, you’ll find it way down at the end. They added this language to the above: 

“…provided that the City Council may also by resolution permit alternative methods for payment of sewer service charges or other compensation in lieu thereof.” 

Did the council discuss this change? Are you kidding? Councilmember Wozniak (one of the council’s UC retirees) asked that it be moved to the consent calendar, and it passed without comment. Only Councilmember Worthington, who generally knows what deals are going down but feels powerless to stop them, voted no. It was his no vote, however, that tipped off the vigilant council watchers.  

With the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, we can now deduce that the umbrella UC deal was already in the works, and that this language change was the set-up for one of the major concessions, that slippery “compensation in lieu thereof.” In other words, a complacent council may, and probably will, vote once again to take some pitiful crumbs from the UC table in return for UC’s tremendous usage of the city’s services, subsidized by local taxpayers.  

Now then, let’s connect the dots. The rumors the Planet printed in the last issue, which we believe to be true, say that faceless negotiators on behalf of the city have already agreed to drop their threat to bill the city for several million dollars for all city services, including sewers.  

What did they get in return? A trifling increase in UC’s “compensation in lieu thereof”: a few hundred thousand dollars to be added to its disgraceful half-million or so in current free-will offerings. That’s supposed to cover everything, not just sewers. And local taxpayers will continue to subsidize the rest, at a price estimated by consultants at close to $11 million overall.  

The negotiations with UC, including the lawsuit challenging UC’s environmental impact report on its future development plans, were announced by the mayor’s public relations apparatus with great fanfare, and swallowed whole hog by the corporate media. Now that it’s clear that those faceless negotiators, whoever they are, are getting ready to take a dive. They have managed to turn Teddy Roosevelt’s famous slogan on its head. Instead of “speak softly and carry a big stick,” it’s now “roar fiercely and carry a rubber banana.” It will be interesting to see if the corporate press notices what’s going down. (Bless their hearts, the kids at the Daily Cal do seem to be on the case.) 

—

Thanks to tips from the Daily Planet’s theater writers, we spent two evenings last weekend enjoying dramatic presentations, both of which did exactly what they were supposed to do: illuminated real life in ways we might not have expected. Parents like us who raised children born in the often tumultuous ‘60s and ‘70s sometimes wonder if the kids in that cohort were helped or harmed by their exposure to the crosscurrents of political and cultural change which were sweeping the country at the time. Judging by what we saw in these performances, the kids turned out pretty well. 

Proof, which won the Pulitzer Prize for David Auburn in 2001, is a play about the kind of person sometimes known as a Girl Geek. Girl Geeks came into their own in the ‘70s with the re surgence of feminism. It became kind of okay in some circles for girls to admit that they were smart (though of course that didn’t prevent a counselor at Berkeley High from telling one of our daughters that girls don’t usually like math.) The girl geek in Proof had the added burden of an eccentric parent, a familiar situation for the many Berkeley kids who were born at the beginning of the ‘70s into multi-parent communes, in vans or in yurts, or even under water. Some of these kids grew up before their pa rents did, but the interesting thing is that it doesn’t seem to have done them much harm if any. People now in their thirties and forties who had, shall we say, colorful childhoods have turned out just fine, with more than the average percentage of produc tive and creative adults in their number.  

Eisa Davis, now 34, who performed her autobiographical work-in-progress at La Peña on Saturday and Sunday, is the quintessential real-life child of her era. From her production we learned that she was raised mos tly by her mother Fania (portrayed as what might be called a communist/hippie) but also by, in varying amounts, her old-school southern African-American grandmother and her formidable multi-faceted aunt and namesake Angela Davis: Marxist, feminist, profes sor, intellectual. She spent many weekends chanting at demonstrations, but also became a fine classical musician. She adored hip-hop, but was a shoo-in for admission to Harvard. Like many Berkeley kids, she reminded me of a Peanuts cartoon I once saw: lugubrious Charlie Brown saying dolefully “there’s no burden as heavy as a great potential.”  

She and three actors (one was her cousin, playing herself) in what is currently a staged reading managed to bring all the characters from her complex childhood to life in words and music. Judging by the audience reaction, she’s got us down pat. My daughter went to the Saturday production, heard someone laughing uproariously throughout the show, and thought it must certainly be me. When the lights went up she realiz ed that it was Angela Davis sitting behind her, reacting to the many funny bits in the same way I would have if I’d been there. My particular favorite, when I saw the Sunday show, was Eisa’s description of how she’d practice saying cuss words on her way to Willard Junior High so she could relate to her peers. It was hard for her, because as a deep-down Nice Girl from A Good Family, she’d been sternly warned against using that kind of language by her grandmother. That kind of dual identity is what we call Very Berkeley. 

Women from her background, like the girl geek in Proof, have faced enormous challenges. My generation expects them to: (1) continue their parents’ tradition of countering the dominant culture (2) save the world from racism, militarism and environmental degradation (3) achieve intellectual and professional distinction in areas such as science and the arts formerly closed to their mothers and grandmothers and (4) we’d really like a couple of grandchildren before we’re too old. It’s a tall order, but many of us Berkeley mothers, in this week after Mother’s Day, would like to take this opportunity to tell Eisa and all the rest of our daughters that we think you’ve been doing a great job so far, and we’re proud of you.  

In 1900 the principal American novelists were Mark Twain, Henry James, Edith Wharton, and young Frank Norris. A glowing portrait of him in the early days of his success was written by Hamlin Garland, who called him, “a stunning fellow—an author who does not personally disappoint his admirers. He is handsome, tall and straight, with keen brown eyes and beautifully modeled features... a poet in appearance, but a close observer and a realist in fiction.”  

Norris’s star rose meteorically (three novels published in little more than a year—two potboilers, one classic) and offers an exceptional study of a genius overcoming obstacles to find himself. 

Frank Norris was born in Chicago in 1870. When his family moved to California, they lived in Oakland before settling in San Francisco. His father, a self-made millionaire, and his mother, a former actress, were accomplished people. Kenneth Rexroth has described Norris as “a California aristocrat if there ever was one.”  

In his teenage years, Norris wanted to become an artist, and his drawing and painting showed such promise that his parents decided he should study art in Europe. They sent him to London, to a school under the influence of Frederick Leighton, and then to Paris where he spent three years (1886 to 1889) as a pupil of Adolphe William Bouguereau, at the Atelier Julien. Bouguereau’s academy was as highly respected as the Ecole des Beaux-Arts where Bernard Maybeck and Julia Morgan studied. A few of his pictures still adorn the walls of old homes in Berkeley.  

The student world Norris experienced in Paris has been preserved in Trilby, a novel by George Du Maurier (filmed by John Barrymore as Svengali). Du Maurier portrays the Parisian art schools as a rowdy Victorian bohemia. Norris was delighted when he saw the stage version of Trilby by how it captured the flavor of “his” Paris. He told friends of seeing a Svengali-like character hypnotize a model, causing her to fall off the stand where she was posing. 

Hijinks aside, the academy students were absorbing serious professional attitudes. Bouguereau emphasized close observation, attention to detail, accuracy of line, and the need for hard work. He taught, as William Dillingham wrote, that a painter “who does not keep at his easel [is] in danger of losing not only his ability, but also his soul.” Bouguereau taught Norris a severe standard of self-discipline, one he lived by. 

Every student’s ambition was to paint a picture that would be admitted to an important salon, where success would make his name. As the subject for his salon picture, the masterwork which would end his apprenticeship, Norris chose “The Battle of Crecy.” It was to be a large genre piece, a panoramic picture of a battle fought in 1346. He did a huge amount of research in preparation, immersing himself in Froissart’s Chronicles, spending days in museums studying medieval armor and weapons, and making endless sketches. But when it came time to actually begin the picture, he discovered that what he had in mind exceeded his ability. It must have been terribly hard to accept that he could not do it. 

In the overheated atmosphere of the Parisian academies, such failure could be life-ruining. It drove some students to suicide. But Norris survived it. He resolved to abandon painting, gave the canvas on which he had intended to paint “The Battle of Crecy” to some of his friends, and made up his mind to find another career. 

In 1890 he entered the University of California at Berkeley as a freshman with the intention of becoming a professional writer of fiction. He approached the university as though it were another Atelier Julien, a studio for teaching the art of writing.  

This was precisely not how the English Department saw itself. The head of the department, Charles Mills Gayley (for whom Gayley Road is named), said its purpose was to educate students and to expand knowledge by professional research. “Academic scholarship,” he wrote, “does not look with favor upon the attempt to stimulate or foster creative production.”  

Norris studied at Berkeley for four years, but there was never a meeting of minds between the man and the institution. According to his brother Charles, “Frank often asserted, and with considerable feeling, that in the English courses he took at the University of California—and he majored in English and French—he received no word of recognition, neither guidance nor helpful criticism. The years he spent there in attempting to equip himself for a literary career, he considered practically wasted.” The university might have damaged him as deeply as “impersonal forces” did some of the characters in the fiction he wrote later. 

Applying lessons from Paris, Norris decided, “The best way to study literature is to try to produce literature.” This he did, and working as hard as he had for Bougereau, he contributed stories and essays to student publications. Turning to the freelance market, he sold 12 stories to The Argonaut, The Overland Monthly and The Wave. On top of that, he began work on a novel, McTeague.  

The university environment did widen Norris’s knowledge. In Berkeley he discovered the writing of Richard Harding Davis, Kipling, and Emile Zola. Classes with Joseph Le Conte (another professor for whom Berkeley has named a street) introduced him to Darwinism. Zola’s “scientific” realism and Le Conte’s notions on evolution had a major impact on him. 

Norris left Berkeley in 1894, and after a detour to Harvard and a short trip to Africa, spent three years working as a journalist at The Wave, a small weekly magazine in San Francisco. This was his real apprenticeship. The editor gave him the freedom to test his powers and he responded by writing 120 articles and stories, as well as the 13-part serial, which became his first published novel, Moran of the Lady Letty. 

Moran (1898) 

Moran is a melodrama and employs all the clichés of the form, including huge reversals of fortune and cliff-hanging chapter endings. Its characters are cardboard, and its ramshackle plot seems to have been improvised from week to week. (The opening sentence suggests as much: “This is to be a story of a battle, at least one murder, and several sudden deaths”). It seems to have been written in the front part of Norris’s brain, far away from his deepest feelings and concerns.  

Ross Wilbur is shanghaied on the waterfront. A few days out from San Francisco, he helps rescue Moran Sternersen from a derelict vessel, the Lady Letty. She is described in Wagnerian terms as a “sea rover and the daughter of an hundred Vikings.” They fall in love. During their adventures, Wilbur rediscovers his Anglo-Saxon warrior ancestry. The principal villains are “wicked malevolent Cantonese.” The story ends with Moran’s death; on another derelict ship, she drifts through the Golden Gate and out of sight, presumably en route to a Viking funeral.  

Like The Perils of Pauline, Moran is sometimes inadvertently comic. Readers should be advised it employs language with racial overtones they may find offensive.  

In 1922, however, Hollywood resuscitated Moran as a vehicle for Rudolph Valentino, and the Wagnerian rhetoric was cast overboard. Ross Wilbur underwent a change of name and race, becoming “Ramon Laredo.” And Dorothy Dalton, the actress who played Moran, could never be mistaken for a Valkyrie. The film has wonderful stunts and lots of footage shot on the old San Francisco waterfront. 

Blix (1899) 

Blix is something completely different—an urban pastoral, a version of Norris’s own courtship of Jeannette Black. This material was close to his heart, and so the writing is truer and more readable than Moran. Condy Rivers, a journalist, courts Travis Bessimer (“Blix”). They roam San Francisco together, exploring the city, and falling in love. Condy dotes on Blix, enraptured by her cleverness and her physical being. She was a girl who “radiated health...and there was that cleanliness about her, that freshness, that suggested a recent plunge in the surf and a ‘constitutional’ along the beach...She was as trig and trim and crisp as a crack yacht: not a pin was loose, not a seam that did not fall in its precise right line...” 

Norris gave his painter’s eye free range. San Francisco has never been described with such appreciation. We are given lyrical panoramas and fine miniatures, such as this picture of the waterfront: “Ships innumerable nuzzled at the endless line of docks, mast overspiring mast, and bowsprit overlapping bowsprit, till the eye was bewildered, as if by the confusion of branches in a leafless forest.” 

But this is not a perfect novel. It has a major cringe factor—too many of the conversations between Condy and Blix vacillate between insipidity and foolishness. They are embarrassing. Nevertheless, Blix established San Francisco as a great city for romance. 

Reader, he married her. 

McTeague (1899) 

McTeague is, as it were, Norris’s written salon piece—the book that marked the end of his literary apprenticeship. It was promptly recognized by his peers and William Dean Howells called it “a solid contribution to American literature.” But it is a singular kind of classic, almost unrelievedly grim and harsh.  

The arc of the story is simple: we follow the life of McTeague, an American Everyman, living on Polk Street in San Francisco, from his days of prosperity to his bitter end, as a criminal lost in Death Valley, soon to die of thirst. As we follow McTeague’s downfall, we see his wife, Trina, deranged by avarice, and his one-time friend, Marcus Schouler, consumed by hatred of him. We see how McTeague comes to murder each of them.  

These events unfold in clear, economical prose which has a firm narrative movement. The writing is not in the least sentimental; emotional passages suit their occasions. Everything is in perfect proportion. Dialogue is lifelike and convincing; dialect speech sounds right in the reader’s ear. Descriptions bring places alive in the mind’s eye. The artistry is superb, but under Zola’s influence, it is also merciless.  

McTeague shocked many of its readers. The first novel set in California which was not an optimistic romance, it looked at violence in our slums without blinking: “Trina lay unconscious, just as she had fallen under the last of McTeague’s blows, her body twitching with an occasional hiccup that stirred the pool of blood in which she lay face downward. Toward morning she died with a rapid series of hiccups that sounded like a piece of clockwork running down.” This style of honesty led Erich von Stroheim to make the film version, Greed, in 1923. 

It is astonishing that Norris should have published three novels of such different quality in little more than a year. To achieve this, he had to overcome his failure in Paris, the philistinism at Cal, and killing deadlines at The Wave. He “kept to his easel” and saved his soul. He had reason, as Hamlin Garland remarked when they met, to feel “confident of the future.”  

He went on to write two more masterpieces before his premature death in 1902. In The Octopus, he gave us an archetypal story of the West in which railroad interests attempt to subjugate wheat farmers economically (think Microsoft and small software companies). In The Pit he presented an unprecedented view of stockmarket speculation and introduced us to the trophy wife. 

Norris died at the age of 32, following an appendix operation, before writing The Wolf, the last novel in his planned “trilogy of wheat.”

FRIDAY, MAY 13 

THEATER 

Aurora Theatre, “Blue/Orange” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m., 2081 Addison St. through May 15. Tickets are $28-$45. 843-4822. www.aurora.theatre.org 

Berkeley High School, “A Chorus Line” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Berkeley High Campus. Tickets are $12 for adults, $6 for students at the door. 

Berkeley Repertory Theater “The People’s Temple” at the Roda Theater through June 5. Tickets are $20-$55. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Black Repertory Group “Bubbling Brown Sugar” the musical Fri. at 8 p.m., Sat. at 2:30 and 8 p.m. to May 14 at 3201 Adeline St. Tickets are $7-$15. 652-2120.   

Contra Costa Civic Theatre “Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito, through May 21. Tickets are $12-$20. 524-9132. www.ccct.org 

Eastenders Repertory “A Knight's Escape” and “WWJD,” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m., through May 15 at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Tickets are $15-$18 available from 568-4118. 

Impact Briefs 7: “The How-To Show” Thu.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave., through May 28. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. www.impacttheatre.com 

Masquers Playhouse “Memorial Day” about the conflicts of a Vietnam veteran, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2:30 p.m. at 105 Park Place, Pt. Richmond. Tickets are $10. 232-4031. www.masquers.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“The Sketchbook Show” An exhibition of sketchbooks that gives a unique look into the thoughts, writings, inspirations and works in progress of various Bay Area artists. Reception at 7 p.m. at Boontling Gallery, 4224 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Exhibition runs to June 12. www.4leagueindustries.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Isabel Allende tells the tale of “Zorro” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Also for young readers. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

By the Light of the Moon open mic for women at 7:30 p.m. at Changemakers, 6536 Telegraph Ave. 655-2405. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Opera “Macbeth” by Verdi, with the UC Alumni Chorus at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Theater. Tickets are $15-$40. 841-1903. www.berkeleyopera.org 

Oakland Opera Theater, “White Darkness” at 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. Sun. at 2 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway at Second St., through May 22. Tickets are $18-$32. www.oaklandopera.org 

Women’s Antique Vocal Ensemble, “Sanctuary” a concert of devotional music from the 13th-century at 8 p.m. at Lake Merritt United Methodist Church, 1330 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5-$10. 233-4243. www.wavewomen.org  

“Undergrowth” by Pappas and Dancers at 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., interactive family matinee Sun. at 2 p.m. at Temescal Arts Center, 511 48th St. at Telegraph, Oakland. Tickets are $10. 599-2325. 

Billy Tipton Memorial Sazophone Quartet at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Vince Wallace Quintet at 9 p.m. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $5. 763-7711. www.cafevankleef.com  

Square Dance with The Rays at Ashkenaz. Family dance at 7 p.m., square dance at 9 p.m. Cost is $13-$15. 525-5054.  

Jill Knight with Jeri Jones at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Los Cenzontles at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Orixa, 40 Watt Hype at 9:30 at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6-$8. 848-0886.  

Mamapalooza SF, Kami Nixon, Amee Chapman at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082.  

Vicki Burns Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

DJ & Brook, jazz trio, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Midnite, reggae from the Virgin Islands, at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $25. 548-1159.  

Joe Bob Berkeley at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

The Hellbellies, The Eddie Haskells, Botox Aftermath at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

The Feverfew at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Roy Hargrove Quintet at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $15-$26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, MAY 14 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Colibri at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Tilden Inspirations” paintings by Sheila Sondik at the Tilden Environmental Education Center, Tilden Park. Reception for the artist and demonstration at 2:30 p.m. 525-2233. 

“The Art of the Launch” an exhibition of graphic art, photographs and memorabilia relating to the 747 ships built at the Kaiser shipyards during WWII, at the Richmond Museum, 400 Nevin Ave. 235-7387. www.rich 

mondmuseumofhistory.org 

“Delicate Strength: Glass” featuring art glass by Lee Meltier, Chris Roscoe and Kim Webster. Reception at 7 p.m. at 4th Street Studio, 1717D Fourth St. 527-0600.  

“FinnArt” Art by Finns/Art Inspired by Finland A visual arts exhibition Sat. and Sun. from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Finnish Kaleva Hall, 1970 Chestnut, at University. Children’s activities and slide talks at 2 and 3:30 p.m. 848-1525.  

Dutch Boy Studios 2005 Spring Exhibition featuring the work of twenty resident artists. Reception at 7 p.m. at 4701 San Leandro St., Oakland. 534-4751. 

Innersport Spring Art Show with work by Scott Courtenay-Smith, Sally Kiehn and Nita Moreno. Reception at 7 p.m. at 1250 Addison St., #102. www.innersport.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Robert Hass, former U.S. Poet Laureate, reads from from “The Addison Street Anthology,” and performances by Mexican folk dancers, Sol Mejica, from 7 to 9 p.m. at The 1870 Antonio Peralta House, 2465 34th Ave., Oakland. 532-9142. 

Maria Amparo Escandon reads from her new novel “González & Daughter Trucking Co.” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Almudena Ortiz talks about her photographs of farmworkers at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge. 981-6235.  

Artist Talk with Jon Brumit on his collaboration with strangers in “Door to Door” at 3 p.m. at Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave., Richmond. 620-6772. www.therichmondartcenter.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Calvin Keys & Trio at 7 p.m. for the Grand Opening of Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Sacred & Profane, “Northern Lights” traditional and contemporary Swedish music for choir, at 8 p.m. at St. Ambrose Church, 1145 Gilman St. Tickets are $12-$18. 524-3611.  

Trinity Chamber Concerts “Quinteto Latino” at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864.  

Four Seasons Concerts “W. Hazaiah Williams Memorial Concert” at 7:30 p.m. at Calvin Simmons Theater, 10 Tenth St. at Oak. Free. 601-7919.  

Rhythm & Muse with jazz pianist Rudi Mwongozi at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center. 527-9753. 

Voci Women’s Vocal Ensemble “Listen to the Elements: Music of Earth, Water, Air, and Fire,” at 3 p.m. at Lake Merritt United Methodist Church, 1330 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $15-$20. Children under 12 free. 531-8714. www.coolcommunity.org/voci  

Baroque Etcetera “German Greats” at 8 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church, 5201 Park Blvd., Oakland. Suggested Donation $10. 540-8222. www.baroquetc.org  

Young People’s Symphony Orchestra at 8 p.m. at Valley Center for the Performing Arts, Holy Names University, 3500 Mountain Blvd. 849-9776. 

Allegro Ballroom Dancers at 8 p.m. at 5855 Christie Ave., Emeryville. Fundraiser to fight breast cancer. Tickets are $20-$100. For reservations 655-2888. 

Zydeco Flames at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson with Dana De Simone at 8 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Pachucada with Dr. Loco Rockin’ Jalapeño Band at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10, $7 with costume. 849- 

Larry Newman & Meli at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Girl Talk at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Val Esway & El Mirage at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Steve Seskin with Nina Gerber at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Jah Warrior Shelter with Luna Angel and Moese at 9 p.m. at Club Oasis, 135 12th St., Oakland. 763-0404. 

Pyeng Threadgill, jazz singer-songwriter at 8 p.m. at Studio Rasa, 933 Parker St. Cost is $10-$30. 843-2787. 

Kurt Ribak Jazz Quartet at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

The Back Court, Serendipity, The Ghost at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886.  

Art Khu Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com  

Marcus Selby Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

The Junes, The Shut-Ins at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Omar Ait Vimon & Daniel Torres, Berber Flamenco roots at 7 p.m. at Spuds, 3290 Adeline Ave. Cost is $7. 597-0795. 

Punk Prom Night with Two Gallants, Jason Webley, This Is My Fist at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, MAY 15 

CHILDREN 

Thatcher Hurd describes “Sleepy Cadillac: A Bedtime Drive” at 2 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Drawn by the Brush: Oil Sketches of Peter Paul Rubens” guided tour at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. 642-0808.  

Albany Artists Works on display at Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. Reception from 4 to 6 p.m. 524-1577. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Gallery Talk with Sculptor Bruce Beasley discussing his 45-Year Retrospective at 2 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Cost is $4-$8. 238-2200.  

Sarah Handler discusses the symbolic meanings of the “Chinese Canopy Bed: A Miniature House for Day Life and Conceiving Sons” at 3 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. 642-0808.  

Poetry Flash with Sharon Fain and Ellery Akers at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Burl Willes and “Picturing Berkeley: A Postcard History” at 11:30 a.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Robert Bly reads from his second collection of poems “My Sentence Was A Thousand Years of Joy” at 2 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Jazz on 4th St. Festival from noon to 5:30 p.m., between Hearst and Virginia. Peter Apflebaum Septet at 1:15 p.m., Chris Cain at 2:15 p.m., and Palenque at 3:10 p.m. 

Berkeley Opera “Macbeth” by Verdi, with the UC Alumni Chorus at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Theater. Tickets are $15-$40. 841-1903. www.berkeleyopera.org 

Chamber Music Sundaes with musicians of the SF Symphony and friends at 3:15 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $7-$19 at the door. 415-584-5946.  

Baroque Etcetera “German Greats” at 4 p.m. at The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, 1823 Hearst St. Suggested donation $10. 540-8222. www.baroquetc.org 

Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin at 3 p.m. in Wheeler Auditorium UC Campus. Tickets are $42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Chancel Choir and Gospel Band “I Can Tell the World” at 7:30 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, 2407 Dana St. Pre-concert talk at 7 pm. Free, donation accepted. 848-6242. www.fpcberkeley.org 

Ace of Spades Acoustic Series with the Lonelyhearts, Readyville, Nick Jaina and Paul Manousos at 1 p.m. at Mama Buzz Cafe, 2318 Telegraph Ave. Oakland. Free, all ages.  

Americana Unplugged: The Saddle Cats at 4 p.m. at Jupiter. 655-5715. 

California Friends of French Lousiana Music at 2 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Jam and dance at 5 p.m. Cost is $8-$10. 525-5054.  

Rockin’ the Food Bank, fundraiser for Alameda County Food Bank at 4 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $6. Bring non-perishable foods to donate to the Food Bank. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble of San Francisco at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Don Edwards, cowboy troubador, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Impaled, 100 Suns, Suffocate at 4 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8. 848-0886.  

Monster Squad, Complete Control, The Abuse at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

MONDAY, MAY 16 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jill Scott reads from her collection of poems “The Moments, The Minutes, The Hours” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $10. Sponsored by Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Robert Elias reads from his new baseball mystery “The Deadly Tools of Ignorance” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Poetry Express with Rashna at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Winners of the Etude Club Young Artists Competition in concert at 1 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Free, reservations suggested. 559-3959. 

Contra Costa Big Band at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, MAY 17 

CHILDREN 

Lariat Larry Stories and Rope Tricks at 6:30 p.m. at Kensington Branch Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

EXHIBITIONS 

Annual Quilt Show at the North Berkeley Public Library, 1170 The Alameda, at Hopkins, through May 21. 981-6250. 

“Sojourns” New works by Michael Shemchuk and Emily Payne opens at Cecile Moochnek Gallery, 1809-D Fourth St., and runs through June 26. 549-1018. www.cecilmoochneck.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

James Morgan describes “Chasing Matisse: A Year in France Living My Dream” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Kenny Washington at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Albany High School Jazz Band at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10, benefit for the Albany Music Fund. 525-5054.  

Bohi Busick at 9:30 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174.  

Mark Goldenberg, solo guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Sam Rivers Trio at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 18 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Alexandra Pelosi describes “Sneaking into the Flying Circus: How the Media Turn Our Presidential Elections Into Freak Shows” at 12:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Peter Kramer introduces his new book “Against Depression” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Trina Robbins introduces “Wild Irish Roses” at 7 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. 883-0600. 

Rosemary Radford Ruether discusses “Goddesses and the Divine Feminine” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082  

Café Poetry hosted by Paradise Freejalove at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donation $2. 849-2568.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Calvin Keys Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. 

Ned Boynton Trio at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Valerie Troutt, nu-jazz and soulfusion, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5. 849-2568.  

Balkan Folk Dance at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Lessons at 7 p.m. Cost is $7. 525-5054.  

La Verdada, salsa, at 8 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Sonic Camouflage at 8 p.m. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, 763-7711.  

Falso Baiano, Brazillian jazz at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Old Bind Dogs at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50- $20.50. 548-1761.  

Whiskey Brothers at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473.  

High Like Five, Sap, Heros Last Mission at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6-$7. 848-0886.  

Clairdee at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $15. 238-9200. www.yoshis.comª

FRIDAY, MAY 13 

Urgent Asian Bone Marrow Drive The Asian population is under-represented in the National Bone Marrow registry, and you can help save a life by joining the registry. From 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the MLK Building, 4th Floor, UC Campus. 524-3676. 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Robert A. Uhrhammer on “Tsunami/ 

Hayward” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. 526-2925.  

Farewell to El Cerrito High School “Before the Wrecking Ball Hits the Wall” A weekend celebration including a last school dance and archiving project. All school alumni are welcome. Bring your memories and school momentos. 233-7731. 

Health, Wellness and Spirituality through Ancient Teachings with Dr. Ra Un Nefer Amen at 7 p.m. at 5272 Foothill Blvd., Oakland. Also on Sat. at 12:30 p.m. Cost is $5.50. 533-5306. 

“She is Everywhere” an anthology of feminist writings with editor Lucia Chiavola at 11 a.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. 883-0600.  

Modern Mystic Poetry at 7 p.m. at Vara Healing Arts, 850 Talbot, Albany. 526-9642. 

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride meets at the Berkeley BART the second Friday of every month at 5:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 8 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. 845-1041. 

SATURDAY, MAY 14 

Healthy Kids Day and Bike Day at the Saturday Berkeley Farmer’s Market, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Center St. at MLK Jr. Way. 548-3333.  

Mind Your Health A Mental Health open house sponsored by the Berkeley/Albany Mental Health Commission from 2 to 6 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Activities for children. 649-4965, ext. 308. 

Health in Your World, Family Festival from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shattuck Ave. For children ages 5-12 and their parents. 549-1564.  

Kids Day for Health and Safety from noon to 3 p.m. at the Atrium Plaza Bldg., 828 San Pablo Ave., Albany. 

Blessing of the Animals at 2 p.m. on the Front Lawn of the First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway. Please have pets on leash or in a carrier. 444-3555.  

Buddha’s Birthday Celebration with traditional hand-made Lotus Lanterns, chanting, pot luck lunch. Please arrive by 9:30 a.m. Sixth Ancestor Zen Center, 2584 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 486-1762.  

Mini-Farmers in Tilden A farm exploration program, from 10 to 11 a.m. for ages 4-6, accompanied by an adult. We will explore the Little Farm, care for animals, do crafts and farm chores. Wear boots and dress to get dirty! Fee is $3-$5. Registration required. 525-2233. 

Kids Garden Club For children 7-12 years old to explore the world of gardening. We plant, harvest, build, make crafts, cook and get dirty! From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $5-$7, registration required. 525-2233. 

Tilden Park Hike of Two Peaks and Lake Meet at 10 a.m. at the Island parking lot near the Brazilian Bldg. on Wildcat Canyon Rd. Hike lasts about 6 hours and includes steep trails, wear sturdy shoes, bring lunch, water, and $1.50 for steam train ride. Sponsored by The Solo Sierrans. 925-691-6303.  

Walking Tour of Old Oakland around Preservation Park to see Victorian architecture. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of Preservation Park at 13th St. and MLK, Jr. Way. Tour lasts 90 minutes. For reservations call 238-3234.  

Botanic Garden Field Journal Learn how to design and create a journal and work outdoors. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Visitor Center, Tilden Park. For details and costs call 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Celebrate Elephants at the Oakland Zoo from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Donations to Amboseli Elephant Research Camp. 632-9525. www.oaklandzoo.org 

Biodiesel Fuel Making A two-day workshop to learn how to make a small-scale biodiesel processor. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sat. and Sun. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $40-$100, not including materials. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Green Home Systems Explore your home’s systems and how they work, how to operate them, how to test them, and what basic improvements can be made. From 9 a.m. to noon at Truitt and White, 1817 2nd St. Free, but registration required. 845-5106, ext. 230.  

Friends of the Albany Library Book Sale Sat. from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sun. from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Most items are $1 or less and include children’s books, recent fiction, paperbacks. To volunteer call 526-3720, ext. 5. rdavis@aclibrary.org 

Sidewalk Gift Shop Sale from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center. 

Uhuru’s “Antique Road Show” Sat. and Sun. from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 3742 Grand Ave., Oakland. Bring in the heirloom from your attic for a professional appraisal for $10. Benefits the African People’s Education and Defense Fund. 763-3342.  

Child Car Seat Check with the Berkeley Police Dept. from 10 a.m. to noon at the UC Garage on Addison at Oxford. 647-1111. www.habitot.org 

Self Defense for Sons & Parents from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center, 2640 College Ave. Cost is $75 for a parent and child. 845-8542, ext. 302. 

Fingerprinting for Children from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Habitot, 2065 Kittredge St. Sponsored by Sen. Don Perata’s office. Cost is $5-$6. 647-1111. www.habitot.org 

“Come Spot Come” dog training from 11 a.m. to noon at RabbitEars, 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Cost is $35. Reservations required. 525-6155. 

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring warm waterproof clothes. www.cal-sailing.org 

Know Your Rights Training from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Berkeley CopWatch, 2022 Blake St. Free. 548-0425. 

The Great War Society monthly meeting at 10:30 a.m. at 640 Arlington Ave. The topics will be “The Great White Fleet” by Michael Hanlon and “The Role of Propaganda” by Robert Denison. 525-3742. 

Sistaz N Motion Membership Drive and Mixer at noon at the Richmond Public Library, 325 Civic Center Plaza, Richmond. 925-439-1612. 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class in Responding to Terrorism from 9 a.m. to noon at 2100 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. To sign up call 981-5605. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes.html 

SUNDAY, MAY 15 

Jazz on 4th St. Festival from noon to 5:30 p.m., between Hearst and Virginia. Free musical performances and street merchants. 

Celebration of Old Roses from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the El Cerrito Community Center on Moeser Lane at Ashbury, El Cerrito. Come see the oldest of the roses, Old European Roses, and repeat bloomers. Plants, books, rose oil, rose jam and much more. Free, wheelchair accessible.  

Basket Weaving Learn the history of local materials and how they were used to weave baskets, from 11 a.m. to noon at Tilden Nature Center. For ages 7 to 11. Materials fee $3. 525-2233. 

Blossoming Mosaics Learn how to make pictures of your favorite flowers using recycled ceramics. From 1 to 3:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. For ages 12 and up. Materials fee $16. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Labyrinth Peace Walk at 3 p.m. at the Willard Community Peace Labyrinth on blacktop next to the gardens at Willard Middle School, Telegraph and Stuart Ave. Free and wheelchair accessible. 526-7377. 

Bay-Friendly Garden Tour A free, one-day, self-guided tour of over 30 private and public gardens throughout Alameda County from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 614-1699. www.bayfriendly.org 

Native Plant Sale at the Watershed Nursery from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 155 Tamalpais Rd. 548-4714. www.TheWatershedNursery.com  

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour Around the World in 80 Minutes: a docent-led tour of the UC Botanical Gardens at 10 a.m. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0181.  

Oakland Historic Houses: The 1870 Antonio Peralta House open from noon to 5 p.m. at 2465 34th St., Oakland. Donations accepted. 532-9142. 

Family Bike Ride A 2.9 mile, flat ride around the Marina. Meet at parking lot across from Shorebird Nature Center at 10 a.m. with your bike, helmet, lunch and water. www.bfbc.org  

Hands-on Bike Maintenance Learn how to perform basic repairs from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $85-$100. 527-4140. 

Bike Tour of Oakland Learn about the history of Oakland and its visionaries and scoundrels. Meet at 10 a.m. at the 10th St. entrance to the Oakland Museum for a leisurely two-hour ride of about five miles. Reservations are required. Participants must be over twelve years old and provide their own bikes, helmets and repair kits. 238-3514. 

Count the Cost - End the War Candlelight Vigil and reading of the names of the dead, Iraqi and California citizens, at 7:30 p.m. at Civic Center Park. www.countingthecost.org 

Physical Theater for the Whole Family from 1 to 3 p.m. at The Nevo Education Center, 2071 Addison St. Free, but bring a book for the library at John Muir Elementary. Sponsored by Target and Berkeley Rep. 647-2972.  

Berkeley Cybersalon meets to discuss “Technology Export: Boon or Bane?” from 6 to 8 p.m. Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Donation $10. Wheelchair accessible. 527-0450. 

Chaparral House Open House with a Calypso-themed party from 2:30 to 5 p.m. at 1309 Allston Way. 848-8774. 

Fundraiser for the Alameda County Food Bank at 4 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $6. Bring non-perishable food to donate. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Quantum Phenomena and Ancient Wisdom Traditions” with Cornelia Jarica at 1 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $15. HumaistHall@yahoo.com 

“Putting an End to Obesity” with Ed Bauman, Director of Bauman College at 10 a.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. at Cedar. 549-9200. 

“Love in Various Times and Cultures” with Ann Swindler and Paul Feinstein at 10:30 a.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

“Hiding and Seeking - Faith and Tolerance after the Holocaust” a film followed by facilitated discussion at 2 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Donation $5. 848-0237.  

Uhuru Sidewalk Sale and Raffle “ from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 3742 Grand Ave., Oakland. Benefits African People’s Education and Defense Fund. 763-3342. 

Crisis Support Services Day from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Golden Gate Fields, 1100 Eastshore Freeway, off Highway 80 at Gilman St. Exit. 420-2472.  

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring warm waterproof clothes. www.cal-sailing.org 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712.  

“The Faith of a Transylvania Minister” with Csaba Todor at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Mark Henderson on “The Birth of Shakyamuni Buddha” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, MAY 16 

Tea and Hike at Four Taste some of the finest teas from the Pacific Rim and South Asia and learn their natural and cultural history, at 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Cost is $5-$7, registration required. 525-2233.  

Berkeley Partners for Parks Membership Meeting at 7:30 p.m. at the Corporation Yard, 1326 Allston Way. 649-9874. 

“How to Keep Your Immune System Strong” with LauraLynn Jansen at 7 p.m. at the Women’s Cancer Resource Center, 5741 Telegraph Ave. at 58th St. Free, but registration required. 420-7900, ext. 111. www.wcrc.org 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60 years and over meets Mondays at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Cost is $2.50 with refreshments. 524-9122. 

Berkeley CopWatch at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, MAY 17 

Morning Bird Walk in Wildcat Canyon Meet at 7 a.m. at the end of Rifle Range Rd. for a stroll to see the birds of wood and creekside. 525-2233. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. In case of questionable weather, call around 8 a.m. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Bird Walk along the Martin Luther King Shoreline to see the Clapper Rails and the elusive Burrowing Owl at 3:30 p.m. 525-2233. 

Mini-Rangers at Tilden Park Join us for an afternoon of nature study, conservation and rambling through the woods and water. Dress to get dirty, and bring a healthy snack to share. For children age 8-12, unaccompanied by their partents. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Berkeley Garden Club “Container Gardening Through the Year” with Patricia St. John, landscape designer, at 1 p.m. at Epworth Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. 524-4374. 

Strawberry Tasting at the Berkeley Farmer’s Market, from 2 to 7 p.m., Derby St. at MLK Jr. Way. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.org 

“A Bicycle Journey Around the World” Dave Stamboulis introduces his new new book on his seven year journey at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Small Business Class “The Financial Plan” from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, Community Room, 2090 Kittredge St. Free but registration required. 981-6148. 

“Healing Therapies for Pain and Energy” with Lori-Ann Gertonson, DC , from noon to 2 p.m. in the Maffly Auditorium, Alta Bates Herrick Campus. 644-3273. 

“The Happiness Makeover: How to Teach Yourself to Be Happy and Enjoy Every Day” with Mary Jane Ryan at 7 p.m. at the El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave. 526-7512.  

Berkeley Salon Discussion Group meets to discuss “Bring Back the Good Old Days” from 7 to 9 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 601-6690.     

Introductory Buddhist Meditation Class at 7 p.m. at Dzalandhara Buddhist Center, in Berkeley. Donation $7-$10. For directions call 559-8183. 

Local Ledgends: Charlene Spretnak of the Women’s Spirituality Movement at 7 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. 883-0600. 

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation at 6 p.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Advance sign-up needed. 594-5165. 

Brainstormer Weekly Pub Quiz at 7:30 p.m. at Pyramid Alehouse, 901 Gilman St. 528-9880. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991.  

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 18 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland uptown to the Lake to discover Art Deco landmarks. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of the Paramount Theater at 2025 Broadway. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

Founder of Critical Mass, Chris Carlsson, on the success of this monthly convergence of cyclists at 7:30 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. 527-0450.  

“Can Cultural and Environmental Destruction be Reversed?” A Perspective from Little Tibet with Helena Norberg-Hodge at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220. 

“The Cradle Will Rock!” a video of the WPA Theater in the 1930s at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Gray Panthers, 1403 Addison St. Light supper will be served. 548-9696. 

Balinese Music and Dance Workshop at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $60 for all five classes, $15 per class. Registration required. Gamelan Sekar Jaya, 6485 Conlon Ave., El Cerrito. 237-6849.  

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Action St. 841-2174.  

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meet at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. 548-9840. 

North East Berkeley Association meets at 7:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda, for a Q&A with Mayor Tom Bates and City Council Members Betty Olds and Laurie Capitelli and Officer John Nuddlefield of the Berkeley Police Department. NEBA will hold elections at this meeting. Dues are $35 family, $25 for individuals. Only members are eligible to vote. The meeting is free and open to the public.  

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. www.geocities. 

com/vigil4peace/vigil 

CITY MEETINGS 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meets Mon., May 16 at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Pam Wyche, 644-6128 ext. 113. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/rent 

Creeks Task Force meets Mon. May 16 at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Erin Dando, 981-7410. www.ci.ber 

keley.ca.us/planning/landuse/Creeks/default.html 

Council Agenda Committee meets Mon., May 16 at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St. 981-6900. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

citycouncil/agenda-committee 

City Council meets Tues., May 17, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wed., May 18, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Katherine O’Connor, 981-6601. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/humane 

Commission on Aging meets Wed., May 18, at 1:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. William Rogers, 981-5344. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/aging 

Commission on Labor meets Wed., May 18, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Delfina M. Geiken, 981-7550. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/labor 

Commission on Labor meets Wed., May 18, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Delfina M. Geiken, 981-7550. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/labor 

Fair Campaign Practices Commission meets Thurs., May 19, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Prasanna Rasaih, 981-6950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/faircampaign 

Transportation Commission meets Thurs., May 19, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Peter Hillier, 981-7000. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/transportation