Jakob Schiller: Michael Wills uses a transfer to board a bus in downtown Berkeley Monday afternoon. Wills, who does not own a car and uses the bus to get to and from work, said he opposed fare hikes..
Jakob Schiller: Michael Wills uses a transfer to board a bus in downtown Berkeley Monday afternoon. Wills, who does not own a car and uses the bus to get to and from work, said he opposed fare hikes..

Page One

AC Transit Directors Ponder 5 Ways to Increase Bus Fares By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday May 17, 2005

With continued budget shortfalls looming, the AC Transit Board of Directors has scheduled public hearings this week on proposed fare increases or fare restructuring, as well as a proposed new $24 parcel tax on the 2005 or 2006 ballot. -more-



City Council Considers UC Deal Behind Closed Doors By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday May 17, 2005

The Berkeley City Council will meet in closed session today (Tuesday) to discuss its lawsuit against UC Berkeley. There will be a 20-minute public comment session at 9 p.m. before the council goes behind closed doors. Councilmember Dona Spring said that the council could take a vote at the meeting on a city deal to drop its lawsuit against the university. -more-



NeighborsPropose OwnDesign forWest Campus By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday May 17, 2005

Neighbors of West Campus, the school district’s property on University Avenue, got their first glimpse of the conceptual plan for the site Thursday night and most didn’t like it. -more-



Fate of Controversial Sculpture May Be Decided in Council Chambers By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday May 17, 2005

A $50,000 public art project to delineate the border between South Berkeley and North Oakland has created a rift among Berkeley officials and appears headed for a City Council vote. -more-



Agency Finds a Better Way for Foster Children By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday May 17, 2005

Shamean Trucks spent most of her youth as a foster kid, feeling like an unloved outsider in her own home. But thanks to a placement made three years ago by Berkeley’s only foster care and adoption agency, she is entering adulthood as a member of a tight-knit family. -more-



Features

‘Flying Cottage’ Hits Turbulence Over Parking Lot By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday May 17, 2005

What was thought to have been a soft landing for South Shattuck Avenue’s long-disputed “flying cottage” may end up being a head-first crash into the hard asphalt of a backyard parking lot. -more-


ZAB Subcommittee Tackles Density Bonus By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday May 17, 2005

Members of a Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) panel took their first crack at a tough and complicated nut Thursday afternoon: the density bonus. -more-


Film Depicts Struggle at Alternative School By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday May 17, 2005

Earlier this year, students at Berkeley Alternative and Berkeley High schools joined together to challenge a decision by Berkeley High administrators to exclude BAHS students from several after-school Berkeley High activities. -more-


Paul Farmer to Graduates: Healthcare is a Human Right By JUDITH SCHERR Special to the Planet

Tuesday May 17, 2005

In the rich world, public health workers battle fat; where people are poor, they fight starvation. -more-


Tuk Tuk Thai & Asian Market Opens on University Ave. By LYDIA GANS Special to the Planet

Tuesday May 17, 2005

The shelves are lined with cans of jackfruit, mango, coconut, lychee, palm, pineapple, aloe vera, bananas; with sealed packages of dried radishes, turnips, fish, squid and anchovies; with jars of pickled gooseberries, cucumbers, salted prunes, garlic. There are dried spices, chilis of all degrees of hotness, nine different flavors of curry paste and dozens of varieties of bottled sauces. Except for some cans of Dole pineapple chunks and a bottle of Heinz ketchup everything else comes from Thailand. -more-



Letters to the Editor

Tuesday May 17, 2005

PRESERVATION -more-


Column:The Public Eye: It’s Time to Demand a Common-Sense Energy Policy By Bob Burnett

Tuesday May 17, 2005

In response to rapidly rising gasoline prices, President Bush called for Congress to pass his energy plan even while admitting that such an action wouldn’t reduce costs. “I wish I could simply wave a magic wand and lower gas prices tomorrow … [my bill won’t] change the price at the pump today.” -more-


Column: Early Morning Earthquake Brings Thoughts of an Old Friend By Susan Parker

Tuesday May 17, 2005

Did you feel the earthquake two weeks ago at 4 a.m.? At our house there was pandemonium. Andrea ran into my room and threatened to jump into bed with me. Willie woke up and asked what was going on. Downstairs, Ralph and Whiskers slept through it, but upstairs was ablaze with light and activity. It was like a hysterical pajama party. -more-


Police Blotter By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday May 17, 2005

Police Nab Fleeing Passengers -more-


Commentary: Citizens Have Right to Know How City is Run

Tuesday May 17, 2005

EDITOR’S NOTE: -more-


Commentary: Fay Stender, Good Samaritan By BRIAN GLUSS

Tuesday May 17, 2005

Fay Abrahams Stender, a world-renowned liberal lawyer and pacifist, died May 19, 1980, as a direct result of six gunshot wounds suffered in 1979, in her home in Berkeley. A city resident for most of her good life, she was born of a long line of Berkeley-born family. -more-


Commentary: Slaving for the Progressives By THOMAS GANGALE

Tuesday May 17, 2005

Remember the old progressive values: better working conditions, shorter work weeks, higher wages? These issues hark back to the capital “P” Progressive Era, when workers struggled to win decent wages and working conditions from the Robber Barons. The movement made great gains in the early and middle 20th century, and fell victim to its own success as its core values became less important, nearly forgotten altogether. These issues ought to be front and center on the progressive stage once again. American middle class incomes have been stagnant for 30 years, and income inequality is the highest it’s been since the Gilded Age of laissez faire capitalism. -more-


Election Section

Commentary: Mexicans Want Not Just Choice, But Change By DAVID BACON Pacific News Service

Tuesday May 17, 2005

MEXICO CITY—On May Day 1.2 million people filled the streets of Mexico City, the largest protest demonstration in Mexican history. This great, peaceful outpouring cried out for formal democracy at the ballot box, true choice in the country’s coming national elections and a basic change in its direction. -more-


TheatreFIRST Stages Three Acts of War By KEN BULLOCK Special to the Planet

Tuesday May 17, 2005

With Making Noise Quietly, TheatreFIRST has something of an oxymoron: a low-key tour de force. Maybe a double oxymoron, considering the title. So many shows try in good faith to make statements about war, or about the social or simply human situation that leads up to it, taking on the subject either directly, or with a great deal of irony. In Making Noise Quietly, British playwright Robert Holman shows what comes out of it, with no big displays of violence, brutality or overwrought emotionalism, and only the driest, most transparent irony. -more-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday May 17, 2005

TUESDAY, MAY 17 -more-


Fighting the Bay Area Invasion of Signal Crayfish By JOE EATON Special to the Planet

Tuesday May 17, 2005

A couple of weeks ago, over Tuscan roast pork and some good wine, I asked a fellow dinner guest who works on the UC campus if there were still three-spined sticklebacks in Strawberry Creek. He wasn’t sure about the sticklebacks, but he said the crayfish were still around. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday May 17, 2005

TUESDAY, MAY 17 -more-


Editorial

Editorial: Social Notes From All Over By BECKY O'MALLEY

Tuesday May 17, 2005

Well, I think we can safely say that the fast-track canonization of John Paul II is a sure thing now. Not only has the new Pope waived the waiting period, but the requisite miracle has occurred. Anna DeLeon, the pride of Immaculate Heart High School, who has arm-wrestled for months or even years with developer Patrick Kennedy, has brought him to his knees. Anna’s Jazz Island bar opened on Saturday night in Kennedy’s Gaia Building. It is the heir to a long line of struggles and failures by wanna-be impresarios who didn’t have the muscle to collect on Kennedy’s promise to devote the first floor of the building to some cultural use in return for an extra story or two of student apartments upstairs. What Anna brought to the party that earlier would-be tenants lacked: (1) a law degree from Boalt, a good match for Kennedy’s Ivy League law degree; (2) extremely good political connections from years of swimming in leftish waters; (3) quick wits; (4) incredible tenacity and general chutzpah. -more-


Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: Social Notes From All Over By BECKY O'MALLEY 05-17-2005

EDITORIAL Fighting Cal with a Rubber Banana By BECKY O'MALLEY 05-13-2005

News

AC Transit Directors Ponder 5 Ways to Increase Bus Fares By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 05-17-2005

City Council Considers UC Deal Behind Closed Doors By MATTHEW ARTZ 05-17-2005

NeighborsPropose OwnDesign forWest Campus By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 05-17-2005

Fate of Controversial Sculpture May Be Decided in Council Chambers By MATTHEW ARTZ 05-17-2005

Agency Finds a Better Way for Foster Children By MATTHEW ARTZ 05-17-2005

‘Flying Cottage’ Hits Turbulence Over Parking Lot By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 05-17-2005

ZAB Subcommittee Tackles Density Bonus By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 05-17-2005

Film Depicts Struggle at Alternative School By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 05-17-2005

Paul Farmer to Graduates: Healthcare is a Human Right By JUDITH SCHERR Special to the Planet 05-17-2005

Tuk Tuk Thai & Asian Market Opens on University Ave. By LYDIA GANS Special to the Planet 05-17-2005

Editorial Cartoon: By JUSTIN DEFREITAS 05-17-2005

Letters to the Editor 05-17-2005

Column:The Public Eye: It’s Time to Demand a Common-Sense Energy Policy By Bob Burnett 05-17-2005

Column: Early Morning Earthquake Brings Thoughts of an Old Friend By Susan Parker 05-17-2005

Police Blotter By MATTHEW ARTZ 05-17-2005

Commentary: Citizens Have Right to Know How City is Run 05-17-2005

Commentary: Fay Stender, Good Samaritan By BRIAN GLUSS 05-17-2005

Commentary: Slaving for the Progressives By THOMAS GANGALE 05-17-2005

Commentary: Mexicans Want Not Just Choice, But Change By DAVID BACON Pacific News Service 05-17-2005

TheatreFIRST Stages Three Acts of War By KEN BULLOCK Special to the Planet 05-17-2005

Arts Calendar 05-17-2005

Fighting the Bay Area Invasion of Signal Crayfish By JOE EATON Special to the Planet 05-17-2005

Berkeley This Week 05-17-2005

Redevelopment Proposed for North Oakland By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 05-13-2005

Activists Win New Oversight At Campus Bay, UC Field Station By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 05-13-2005

Bomb Scare Evacuates Downtown Building By JAKOB SCHILLER 05-13-2005

Compromise Reached on Landmarks Ordinance By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 05-13-2005

Council Looks to Curtail City Commissions By MATTHEW ARTZ 05-13-2005

Popular Elmwood Soda Fountain To Close at End of Month By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 05-13-2005

BUSD-Teachers’ Union Talks Suddenly Pick up Steam By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 05-13-2005

East Bay Media Market Grows with ‘Daily News’ By MATTHEW ARTZ 05-13-2005

Thousand Oaks School Receives Achievement Award By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 05-13-2005

Do-It-Yourself Electrical Repairs May Get a Lot More Expensive By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 05-13-2005

Remembering John A. Vincent By STEPHEN VINCENT Special to the Planet 05-13-2005

John Patton, Lyric Tenor 1930-2005 By FRIENDS OF NEGRO SPIRITUALS 05-13-2005

Kamlarz’s Budget Cuts Fewer Services, Opens One Pool By MATTHEW ARTZ 05-13-2005

Peralta Board Still Awaits Dones Contract Issue By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 05-13-2005

EDITORIAL CARTOON By JUSTIN DEFREITAS 05-13-2005

Letters to the Editor Staff 05-13-2005

Letters to the Editor: SCHOOL DISTRICT 05-13-2005

COMMENTARY: Celebrate World Fair Trade Day on Saturday By HUNTER JACKSON 05-13-2005

BART Must Put Public Safety First By HAROLD BROWN 05-13-2005

It’s Time to Re-Think Taxation By GAR SMITH 05-13-2005

COMMENTARY Teachers Need to Hear Views of All Parents By JULIE HOLCOMB 05-13-2005

COMMENTARY Deal Fairly With Those Who Teach Your Children By PAM DREW 05-13-2005

COMMENTARY BUSD Employees Have No Confidence in District’s Fiscal DataBy GEN KOGURE 05-13-2005

Column: Undercurrents By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 05-13-2005

Police Blotter By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 05-13-2005

Fire Department Log By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 05-13-2005

‘Kimberly Akimbo’ Showcases Joy Carlin By KEN BULLOCK Special to the Planet 05-13-2005

Apfelbaum Comes Home for ‘Jazz on Fourth Street’By IRA STEINGROOT Special to the Planet 05-13-2005

Columns

The Meteoric Career of Berkeley’s First Great Novelist By PHIL McARDLE Special to the Planet 05-13-2005

Arts Calendar 05-13-2005

Berkeley This Week 05-13-2005