To the delight of environmentalists and the dismay of anarchists, artists and dog-lovers, the Albany Bulb is one major step closer to joining the Eastshore State Park. 

The Bulb was created in 1963 as a landfill for construction and demolition debris ext ending out into San Francisco Bay north of Golden Gate Fields in Albany. The land fell under the water board’s jurisdiction because investigators discovered it was leaching out toxic concentrations of metals and ammonia. 

When dumping ended in December 19 83, the water board ordered that before the site could be developed as a marina and park along with commercial uses, a leak-proof protective cap would have to be installed. The city later decided to preserve the Bulb as a wildlife or recreational area, th en settled on including the site in the state shoreline park. 

And there things stood, until the water board determined earlier this month that the site isn’t leaking toxics into the bay and lifted its closure order. 

But dog lovers and East Bay sculptors loved the legal limbo the site was in all those years and cherish it as haven for their works and their pets. For years, homeless people turned the area into encampment of sorts (the subject of the documentary film Bum’s Paradise, by Tomas McCabe and And rei Rozen) until more aggressive policing began in 1999. 

While the homeless are largely gone and their former habitations abandoned, dog lovers and their off-lease pets seem to be everywhere, along with the artworks, including paintings ranging from abs tract squiggles to elaborate murals on plywood panels as well as sculptures, running the gamut from miniature metal bas reliefs to near-monumental creations of wood and Styrofoam. 

Many of the artworks are the creations of SNIFF, an artists’ collective wh ose members include Berkeley attorney Osha Neumann. Their works inspired the attorneys for Scott Peterson to suggest that the murder of Laci Peterson might have been the work of those strange artists from the Albany Bulb. 

But before the state will accept the land into the park, the art collection has to go, along with the dogs that owners and professional dog-walkers bring to site, said Brian Hickey, Bay Sector superintendent for the state parks system. 

“The general plan (for park development) calls for the art to be removed, but that hasn’t happened,” Hickey said. “The property was intended to operate in conformity with state regulations, particularly with regards to dogs. We’re in discussion with Albany, but we haven’t heard what their proposals are yet.” 

“The state is out to destroy our art,” said Jill Posener, a Berkeley artist and animal rights activist. “The state is deep in debt and their can’t run the schools, but they can find the time and money to do this. The Albany Bulb is the last outpost of civil liberties, a park maintained by the people who use and love it.” 

Not only will the art have to go, but also non-native plants like the roses and irises planted by Bulb habitués. 

While Posener blames “wacko environmentalists” for the restriction s that will kill the Bulb’s charms for sculptors and dog-lovers, attorney and former Albany Mayor Robert Cheasty, co-founder of Citizens for Eastshore Parks, says state regulations require formal authorization to install art in state parks, just as they bar off-leash canines. 

Albany Assistant City Administrator Judy Lieberman acknowledged that off-leash dogs are generally banned from state parks, but noted that the park’s general plan offers a program for the arts. 

“The city is waiting to hear what the state and the East Bay Regional Parks District has to say,” Lieberman said, adding that she has had no contact with Hickey as yet.  

Currently the parks district has jurisdiction over much of the site. The state also wants the site cleared of the large qu antities of metal reinforcing bars that came in with the rubble and pose the threat of lethal puncture wounds. 

Sasha Futran, a professional dog trainer and walker, was out on the Bulb last Friday exercising a pair of unleashed dogs. 

“This is my favorite place,” she said. “It works. We all come out here, and in all the time I’ve been coming here, I’ve never seen a dog fight.” 

While she admits that many of murals lining part of the shoreline on the north side of the Bulb are dreadful. “I still love them because they’re fun,” she said. “And there’s always something new out here. The other day, I discovered a tree that’s been turned into a mobile. It’s delightful. For almost two years there was a hut out here that was woven out of the fennel that grows wild all over the Bulb. It was wonderful. Why can’t they just leave it alone. It works, and we all love it.” 

To visit the Albany Bulb, take the Buchanan Street exit from the Eastshore freeway or turn left on Buchanan from San Pablo Avenue and head towards Golden Gate Fields. Park in one of the spaces along the road. Walk toward the bay until the road turns into a trail along the neck and follow the dog walkers out onto the Bulb. 



Some neighbors of the old Berkeley High School East Campus say they are afraid that a BUSD school board decision last week on whether to close a block of Derby Street might mean the campus will long remain an abandoned, empty lot instead of the promised multi-purpose athletic fields and community park space. 

Carlton Street resident Peter Waller made that observation in the hallway outside the Old City Hall Wednesday night shortly after BUSD board members accepted a staff recommendation to hold off on ap proving final plans for the South Berkeley property while a new proposal is developed that considers a closed Derby Street option. 

Those closed Derby Street plans are expected to be completed in August. Meanwhile, demolition of the old East Campus buildi ngs will not be delayed, school officials said. 

The BUSD board supports the closure of Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street in order to unite two adjoining district-owned lots, one of which formerly housed East Campus, the ot her occupied by the Berkeley Alternative High School. Board members and district officials have said that the united lot is the only district-owned space large enough to accommodate a regulation sized baseball field for Berkeley High School, which does no t have one. 

But Derby Street can only be closed by the Berkeley City Council—not the BUSD board—and the council has balked at approving the closure. In addition, many neighbors have expressed opposition both to a regulation-size baseball diamond in the a rea and to the street-closure. 

Last fall, the BUSD board appeared to reach a compromise when it authorized the demolition of the abandoned East Campus buildings—which neighbors support—while hiring WLC Architects of Emeryville to develop a temporary solution for use of the East Campus property alone while Derby Street remains open. Last week, after a series of community meetings, WLC presented the board with plans that included a multi-purpose athletic field, basketball courts, a community garden, and a toddlers’ play area. 

At the meeting, several neighbors urged the board to move forward with both the demolition and the development plans. 

Carl Reeh, president of the LeConte Neighborhood Association, wrote that association was asking the district “to f orgo any further study of the closure of Derby Street. Studying Derby closure would derail immediate improvement of the East Campus site.” 

But District Facilities Director Lew Jones told board members that the multi-purpose field alone would eat up the entire budget presently allocated for the East Campus temporary development project. 

Saying that there has been a lot of discussion within his department “about not putting the tot lot in that area,” Jones recommended “not doing any more design of r estroom facilities and the community area at this time because it doesn’t fit within the budget.” 

Jones also asked for approval to develop numbers for a closed Derby Street plan, saying it “makes some sense” to do so. Board members agreed unanimously, di recting Jones to do no further design work on East Campus development until he comes back to the board in August with budget figures for a closed Derby plan. 

Board President Nancy Riddle said that while the district “needs to come to a resolution on this issue,” she hinted that the district may have other possibilities in mind for the East Campus land presently earmarked for the tot lot. 

“I’m reluctant to build any permanent non-field structures until we decide on a location for the early childhood deve lopment center, which we might want to put on that site,” she said. 

Board director John Selawsky voted for the resolution calling for the closed Derby Street study. 

“Although I don’t support the closure of Derby Street,” he said, “I don’t want to want t o withhold any information from the board.” 

Selawsky promised that when the issue came back before the board, “I’m going to make a pitch that the basketball court should be a priority. The Alternative High School needs those courts. There are presently n o on-site PE facilities at the alternative school, and they don’t have access to the facilities at Berkeley High.” 

Outside the meeting, Carlton resident Waller said he didn’t see the sense in halting any further design work on the multi-purpose field whi le the demolition goes forward, saying that was an unnecessary delay. 

“There’s just going to be an empty, unused space there where the buildings now stand,” he said. “Maybe they don’t want people to get comfortable with a big, grassy field until they dec ide what to do.” 

Praised by citizen activists in Richmond, the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) got a less than friendly reception Thursday night in Berkeley. 

While activists in Richmond fought a hard battle to get the DTSC to take charge of cleanup e fforts at Campus Bay and UC Berkeley’s Bayside Research Campus, also known as the Field Station, their Berkeley counterparts are unhappy with the agency’s handling of cleanup efforts at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). 

The gathering at t he North Berkeley Senior Center was held to answer questions and take public testimony on the latest round of LBNL cleanup efforts, which center on four areas of soil contamination and 11 areas of groundwater pollution. 

Chaired by DTSC Public Participation Specialist Nathan Schumacher, the initial part of the meeting focused on specific cleanup plans and featured a panel that included representatives from the agency, the lab, the San Francisco Water Quality Control Board and Nabil Al-Hadithy, Berkeley’s hazardous materials supervisor. 

Al-Hadithy presented a letter from City Manager Phil Kamlarz, written after the City Council voted Tuesday to urge that cleanup efforts target the highest possible remediation standards. 

Site investigations by the DTSC be gan in 1991, followed by a 1993 permit that requires LBNL to investigate and clean up all historical releases of pollutants on the site. The full site investigation was completed in November 1993, and a formal risk assessment was issue two years later. Th ursday’s hearing focused on the proposed remedies approved by the DTSC. 

Most of the contaminants are industrial solvents and chlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. 

But many of those who came to offer questions and testimony were worried about radioactive conta mination, specifically the presence in groundwater of tritium, a manmade isotope of hydrogen first isolated by UCB’s Nobel-winning physicist Luis Alvarez. 

Unfortunately, cleanup of radioactive waste isn’t the province of DTSC but of the U.S. Department o f Energy, which has ultimate jurisdiction over the lab. 

“I believe your assessment of risk is inaccurate if all the radioactive exposure is left out,” declared Pamela Shivola of the Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste. 

Dr. Mohinder Sandhu, chief of DTSC’s Standardized Permits & Corrective Action Branch, acknowledged, “We don’t know what is happening with tritium” contamination. 

The element has a half-life of 10 years, meaning that after a decade only half the radiation remains in a given sample, and half of that remains after another decade, and so on. 

“The source of the tritium has been eliminated,” said Iraj Javandel, LBNL’s site restoration program manager. “The facility closed four or five years ago, and contamination is reduced to five percent of w hat it was. We have about 55 (monitoring) wells in the area, and only one has tritium at levels above the state drinking water standard, and that’s now on the boundary.” 

LA Wood, a member of Berkeley’s Community Environmental Advisory Commission, and fel low Commissioner Leuren Moret charged that radioactive monitoring wasn’t sufficient. 

Several speakers also charged that wells for monitoring for chemical and radioactive pollution should be extended throughout the site, and not just in relations to known releases. 

Cleanup plans call for a variety of remediation efforts based on the nature of contamination and the characteristics of individual sites. Methods include hauling contamination to toxic waste containment sites, purification of soil solvents in water by chemical oxidation, soil flushing, degradation by native or introduced bacteria, evaporation, pumping and treating of groundwater, monitored natural attenuation. 

City Councilmember Kriss Worthington asked why DTSC couldn’t create a Community Adv isory Group (CAG) for the LBNL cleanup. 

A similar panel composed of citizens and business and community leaders was formed after DTSC took control of Campus Bay from the water board in Richmond. 

Worthington suggested a similar panel at Tuesday’s council meeting, only to be voted down by the majority. Others echoed his call Thursday, a move strenuously opposed by DTSC and the university. 

Members of the public have until June 8 to offer comments to the DTSC. 

For more information on the cleanup, see the DTSC’s website at www.dtsc.ca.gov/hazardouswaste/lbnl/index.html.

Without granting a hearing, a superior court judge Friday denied the petition of three Berkeley residents, including a city councilmember, seeking to ultimately undo a settlement agreement reached last week between the city and UC Berkeley. 

Judge James Richman rejected a petition to intervene as a third party in the lawsuit made by Carl Friberg, Anne Wagley (an employee of the Berkeley Daily Planet) and Councilmember Kriss Worthington. Judge Richman refused the hearing because the city had already dismissed its lawsuit against the university, his research attorney Chad Finke told two of the petitioners and their attorney Friday. 

Although Friberg had first filed the petition with the court clerk on Wednesday, hours before the city dismissed the lawsuit, that did not give him legal standing under state law, Finke said.  

“It’s not enough to have to have it on file before the case is dismissed,” he said. “It has to be granted.” 

Stephan Volker, representing Friberg, said his client was considering appeali ng Richman’s ruling. Had Richman accepted the petition, the settlement agreement between the city and the university could have been placed on hold. 

The petitioners were seeking to join the lawsuit as a third party on grounds that the city failed to adequately represent their interests as Berkeley residents in settling the city’s lawsuit against the university. They argued that the campus growth projected under the university’s plan would further strain city services and leave taxpayers with the bill.  

The settlement agreed to last week calls for the city to drop its lawsuit against UC Berkeley’s 15-year development plan and for the university to pay more for city services and enter into a joint planning process for the downtown.  

“I don’t think the issues raised [about the UC plan] should be abandoned,” said Councilmember Worthington, who voted against the deal and argued that the city could have squeezed more concessions out of UC. “If the city doesn’t address them the community should be allowed to pursue them.” 

Volker argued Friday that the petitioners effectively were given no opportunity to intervene because the City Council, despite public pledges to the contrary, refused to disclose the terms of the deal until after they approved it Tuesday night. 

“As a result, the petitioners were led to believe that they would have an opportunity to intervene in this matter in the event the proposed settlement agreement failed to adequately protect their interests and those of other Berkeley citizens from the environmental impacts of the university’s [plan],” he wrote in his legal memo. 

The council was prohibited from releasing details of the agreement until the UC Regents approved the deal Wednesday under a confidentiality agreement signed by both partie s in April. 

Michelle Kenyon, the city’s outside attorney in the case, reiterated in an interview at the courthouse Friday that the confidentiality agreement was legal under state law. In her memo, she argued that the petitioners “had an obligation to pur sue their claim [earlier] and failed to do so.” 

Besides an appeal, Volker said the petitioners could also choose to file suit against the city over the provision in the settlement giving the university a say over the future downtown plan. 

“The agreement hijacks the city’s ability to plan for Berkeley’s future growth and holds it hostage to the university’s pocket veto,” he said.l|

A Los Angeles mega-mall developer is pushing forward with his plans for an up-scale shopping complex and a hotel at Golden Gate Fields. 

Developer Rick Caruso and his staff have been talking up ideas for the track’s shoreline property through meetings with environmental and community groups, City Councilmembers in Albany and Berkeley’s Mayor Tom Bates. 

Caruso Affiliated has partnered with Magna Entertainment, the Canadian company that owns the Albany track and some of the nation’s premiere horse-racing venues. 

Plans for the bayshore track parallel those now underway at Magna’s fabled Santa Anita racetrack in Arcadia. Caruso’s plans for the two tracks include high-end shops along with entertainment venues and possible housing units. Also, a hotel on the Berkeley portion of the East Bay site has been discussed. 

Matt Middlebrook, former deputy mayor to the recently defeated Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn (a beneficiary of Caruso’s campaign contributions), has joined Caruso’s team and has been meeting with local officials to generate support for the Golden Gate Fields project. 

“We’re meeting with residents and leaders in the business community,” Middlebrow said. “We’re interested in doing a potential development, and we’re meeting with the community about the size of the project, the shops and the amenities.” 

Whatever happens, Middlebrook said, Caruso would complete the Bay Trail through the site and offer significant amounts of open space. Middlebrook also said that one desire which has been consistent from community members is for a hotel on the property. 

While Albany Chamber of Commerce members have said they see the mall as a threat to local businesses, Middlebrook said views are mixed on the Albany City Council. 

“I think the people are, hopefully, open-minded and will allow us to show them a project based on their feedback,” he said. 

Caruso and Middlebrook met with Robert Cheasty, co-founder of Citizens for Eastshore Parks, Sierra Club activist Norman La Force, Save the Bat co-founder Sylvia McLau ghlin and others, but failed to win them over. 

The Sierra Club has offered a proposal that included closing of the ailing track, with a smaller shopping complex and a hotel adjacent to the I-80 frontage road while leaving the bay frontage for park and re creational activities. 

“Feedback has been very positive,” Middlebrook said. “People are interested in seeing something more than makes the site more attractive to the community. 

The financially troubled Magna Entertainment has been seeking ways to impro ve its ailing bottom line. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported Saturday that Magna has lost over $215 million (Canadian dollars) in the last three years. 

While horse racing accounted for 80 percent of gambling revenue in the 1960s, it’s now do wn to about 2 percent, the CBC reported. Race track attendance, the source of admissions revenue has plunged at most tracks as betting has shifted to off-track betting shops and the Internet. 

Magna, owned by auto parts giant Frank Stronach, has been shif ting to so-called “racinos,” which feature slot machine and other gambling games at race tracks. 

Earlier this month, Magna officials warned Maryland that they may move the Preakness, the second leg of horse racing’s legendary Triple Crown from their tra ck at Pimlico to their recently remodeled Gulfstream Park in Florida unless they’re allowed to install slot machines at Pimlico. 

Magna is also negotiating with a Native American tribe about opening a racino at their Meadows track in Portland, Ore., and h as won approval for similar casinos at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, The Meadows in Pennsylvania and Lone Star Park in Texas. 

Magna is also building a major new racetrack at Dixon in Yolo County, one specially designed for the closed-circuit televisio n used at off-track betting parlors and the wagering lounges at other tracks. 

To stage races at the new track would require a shutdown at either Golden Gate or Bay Meadows on the peninsula, a track once operated by Magna. 

Magna has allocated a $1 millio n to aid in development of their joint projects with Caruso at Golden Gate and Santa Anita, and Caruso recently spent $1 million on a successful ballot measure to let him build one of his malls in Glendale. 

Albany City Councilmember Robert Lieber, a trac k opponent, said Golden Gate Fields pays about $500,000 a year in taxes to the city. 

“Their revenue has been going up in recent years, but our (share) has been going down because the Internet handle isn’t subject to the city tax,” he said. ›

Recent actions at Peralta Community College Trustee meetings may be signaling a new era of increased financial scrutiny within the four-college district. 

Under former Peralta Chancellor Ron Temple, public attention to Peralta affairs seemed to surface o nly when the district was hit with periodic financial controversies. A 2003 East Bay Express article summed up the scandals, noting that “After virtually bankrupting community college districts in Detroit and Chicago, Dr. Ronald Temple took over Peralta a nd promptly threw the door open for his cronies.” 

But Temple is gone, replaced after his retirement in 2003 by former Oakland mayor and California Assemblymember Elihu Harris. The Peralta Board of Trustees is significantly altered from the Temple days. T rustee Vice President Linda Handy was elected in 2002 in part because of community sentiment against Temple’s fiscal policies. And last November, four of the seven-member board chose not to run for re-election, and were replaced by newcomers. 

While the n ow veteran Handy has often clashed with newly elected trustees Cy Gulassa and Nicky Gonzalez Yuen on some board policy matters, the combination of changes has brought the district a long way from the Temple era. 

The changed Peralta fiscal picture was nev er more evident than at last week’s trustee meeting, when Harris gave a public scolding to contractors of the new Vista College construction in Berkeley for tardily reported cost overruns, and trustees approved a policy that requires additional staff sign-offs on what they called “significant issues” coming before the board. 

On Tuesday, Peralta Director of General Services Sadiq Ikharo asked for board’s approval for an additional quarter of a million dollars for professional testing services for HP Inspections, Inc. in the Vista project and a $176,000 fee increase for additional work by Ratcliff Architects. 

The overrun requests came without the usual recommendation of approval by Chancellor Harris. A representative of Swinerton Management & Consulting, which is overseeing part of the Vista construction, said that the testing overtime was necessary because of steel shipments that came in two months early. 

Harris said he had not had time to investigate their validity, and said he only included them on th e agenda “because of their possible time-sensitive nature, and because the board has requested that they be immediately informed when such matters come to our attention.” 

The chancellor appeared to grow annoyed after Swinerton senior project manager Mich ael Raven said that some of the work by HP Inspections had been done as early as last December, and that the information had been passed on to the district office some weeks before. 

“I just found out about this last week,” Harris snapped back, “and now I find out that these things have been going on for months? Tell me who was supposed to contact me, and we’ll hang him in the morning.” 

As late as last winter, trustees were grumbling about some of the Vista overruns, but approved them anyway. But on Tues day night, on a motion by Trustee Bill Withrow, the board voted to hold over the items for two weeks “until the chancellor can get more information.” 

Last January, after hearing repeated requests for change orders asking for more money for the multimilli on dollar Vista construction project, trustees passed a new policy mandating increased board oversight for such change orders. 

On Tuesday, trustees also passed a new board policy mandating that any board agenda items involving what they called “significa nt issues” will now require the approval of the district’s general counsel and the chief financial Officer for “fiscal soundness and legal form, respectively.” 

The policy defines significant issue items as those involving expenditure of bond funds, excep tions to bidding requirements, non-routine and non-predetermined legal procedures, or contracts with rights or commitments extending for three or more years. The policy also says that the CFO and general counsel signoffs will be required for any other iss ues if requested by one or more trustees. 

The new policy replaces a procedure in which the general counsel or chief financial officer sometimes did not even view items until the agenda and board packets were released a few days before trustee meetings, a nd were often not asked for their opinions on items until the actual night of the meeting. 

In another measure of the Peralta Board of Trustees’ increasing financial oversight, trustees asked that Peralta Chief Information Officer Andy DiGirolamo return w ith more information in two weeks on district-wide information technology projects in the next two years. Trustee Nicky Gonzalez Yuen had complained that a spreadsheet provided by DiGirolamo for the briefing did not provide any background detail. The spre adsheet listed such items as “PeopleSoft Phase II, Fiscal Year 2005-06, $1,200,000” without giving any further information as to how the money was intended to be spent. 

›h

The Zoning Adjustment Board ruled Thursday that the cottage resting atop a weathering plywood shell that dominates the corner of Shattuck Avenue and Emerson Street, known as the “flying cottage,” now complies with city zoning laws.  

The vote of 6-1-1 (S prague, no; Judd abstain) means that property owner Christina Sun won’t need to go through the lengthy processes of seeking a use permit for a project that most of her neighbors oppose. 

The victory doesn’t, however, guarantee that the building will be co mpleted. 

Now that ZAB has ruled that Sun’s proposal adheres to zoning rules, the battle shifts to aesthetics. Sun still needs to win approval from city staff on the building’s appearance. 

If staff approves the design, opponents could appeal the ruling t o the city’s Design Review Commission. If the DRC backs the plan, neighbors could appeal the decision to ZAB, then to the City Council, and from there to Alameda County Superior Court. 

“We’re going to keep fighting this,” said Les Shipnuck, who lives nea r the building. “We don’t want it in our neighborhood. There’s not a chance that this could ever be built in North Berkeley.” 

Sun’s latest plan calls for building two floors of residential units above a retail shop and turning the back yard into a two ca r parking lot. The proposed structure would tower over nearby homes. However city zoning laws permit three story houses with commercial frontages along the southern section of Shattuck. 

Neighbors have fought the building since 2003 when they say that Sun, without informing them, raised up her one-story cottage above two stories of plywood. Upon discovering that Sun illegally planned to make the building a boarding house, neighbors succeeded in stopping development by persuading ZAB to declare it “a nuisa nce.” 

Sun’s architect, Andus Brandt, has since retooled the project to meet city codes, while neighbors have pointed out deficiencies every step of the way. 

Most recently neighborhood leader Robert Lauriston successfully showed that a recent building re design was illegal because it included tenant storage space on the first floor. Such storage space is considered a residential use, which is not allowed on the ground floor of buildings that have residential units above ground-floor commercial space. 

Lau riston’s finding left Brandt in a fix. He couldn’t simply fold the space into the proposed ground floor shop because the extra square footage would have triggered a city requirement for an additional parking space. Sun can’t fit another space in her backy ard and refuses to add one on the ground floor. 

At 1142 square feet, the ground floor commercial space is just eight square feet shy of requiring an extra parking space should Sun open a restaurant on the ground floor, and 108 square feet shy of the requ irement for a standard retail shop. 

In an alteration presented to ZAB Thursday, Brandt proposed reconfiguring the ground floor to include a 120-square-foot garbage recycling and garden storage room, a 92-square-foot storage room for the owner and an unus ually large utility room. 

Under city zoning rules, Senior Planner Debbie Sanderson said, those uses don’t count as commercial or residential space, so the new design conforms to zoning rules, but doesn’t trigger the extra parking space. 

Neighborhood rep resentatives said they smelled a rat. 

“It’s a very creative design. The utility room is the size of my office,” said Rena Rickles, the attorney representing the neighbors. Besides challenging the building in design review, Rickles said neighbors were als o considering filing suit over whether the building is permitted to have any parking in the back yard. 

According to city zoning law, parking spaces are not allowed in “rear yards.” However, Sanderson has maintained that the prohibition was actually a dra fting error in the code. Historically, she has maintained, the city has permitted parking in rear yards, and couldn’t all of a sudden change course in Sun’s case. 

Accepting staff’s interpretation, ZAB concluded that the latest design complied with city z oning requirements. 

“The real issue is it’s ugly, it’s big, but unfortunately that’s not what we’re voting for,” said temporary ZAB Commissioner George Beier, sitting in for Dean Metzger. “I don’t like it, but I can’t find anything wrong with it.” 

s

Click here to view the latest work by Justin DeFreitas

MODERN-DAY SLAVERY 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Instead of trying to dredge up ancient history on slavery, how about a story on current day slavery alive and well in African and Asian countries today. Where children and women are bought and sold daily. Arab countries do it in what I have been told is the underground white slavery market—usually light-skinned women who foolishly travel unescorted in Arab countries. They just disappear. I do wish I knew if this is truth or legend. Our step daughter has been missing for almost four years. 

If we want to stop enslavement why not expose countries doing the deed today. And boycott their products and services.  

Furthermore, enslavement can be by drugs, gambling, chatrooms, ebay or video game junkies and the like. Since it is not possible to legislate morality and good sense, lets concentrate on showing people a good example, positive role models—no more dark heroes where what is good may or may not be good. How about good guys who wear white hats and truly do good and know what is right from wrong and are not afraid to do something about it.  

Robin Berry 

Cody, Wyoming  

• 

EMERGENCY SYSTEM 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Unless citizens act quickly, a little-known emergency information system that can quickly contact thousands of Berkeley residents may be terminated in early June in spite of its effectiveness and low cost. 

The system is to be used during emergencies such as natural disasters, hazardous material incidents (biological, chemical or radiological releases), wildfires, criminal activity, and evacuations. All Berkeley landline phone numbers are presently in the system headquartered in Louisiana. Staffed 24 hours a day, the system can send out recorded warning messages to selected areas, calling up to 11,000 local telephones in 10 minutes. 

Continuance of this service is uncertain, despite local satisfaction with it. Renewal of the contract for this service was supported by the Berkeley City Council, but renewal has moved into the “budget process” where it might lose out in competition with better-known programs. 

The annual costs total about $17,600. Put differently, that’s just 17 cents (that’s right—17 cents) per Berkeley resident. This system is Berkeley’s only city-wide emergency warning system, since its 1610 AM radio station is just a travel advisory system, and a proposed city-wide siren warning system has been abandoned for a variety of good reasons. 

To keep this information lifeline, which can save lives anywhere in Berkeley, ask the mayor and your city councilmember to support it. You might even send your 17 cents to the city clerk’s office with an explanatory note of support. 

Dick White 

Member, Berkeley Disaster Council 

• 

ONE MAN’S PLAN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

My fondest wish is that the board of directors of PG&E would consist of the Berkeley mayor and City Council.  

Here’s what I would do:  

I’d get my bill and pay about one-quarter of what was due. Then, instead of cutting off my power, the PG&E run by the city fathers and mothers of Berkeley would sue me for the remainder of what I owed. I would then negotiate with them, threaten to buy more appliances and cut down their poles to use in the manufacture of hockey sticks. We’d enter into long negotiations and finally agree that for the next 15 years, I would pay 30 percent of what I owed instead of 25 percent. In turn I would promise not to buy more appliances and not to use their utility poles to make hockey sticks, neither of which I ever intended to do in the first place. I’d also promise that if I ever wanted to collect the copper from their wires to sell on the open market for a profit, I’d discuss it with them if I wanted to do that.  

Then they could write a press release saying how they’d brought peace in our time. 

Paul Glusman 

• 

STOLEN TREE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Just read Matthew Artz’s May 27 piece on the stolen traffic circle tree. He got carried away a tad, I think. 

Karl Reeh is not learning to “negotiate with terrorists.” He said that as with terrorists, the treenapper raises the stakes each time he concedes. Just because Bush lies like a rug doesn’t mean he’s a rug. 

The treenapper isn’t a terrorist; he’s a neighbor who stole a damn tree. Artz’s twist ratchets up the conflict way out of proportion. 

And somehow Mr. Artz got hold of an e-mail I sent to friends written tongue-in-cheek about life in Berkeley. If he had been one of the intended recipients, he would have known I was laughing, not fuming. “What a low-life. A tree-stealer… scuzzbag,” I said when I first heard the news and thought it was a vandal. If Mr. Artz had read (and cited) the whole message, the Planet’s readers would now understand that as soon as I found out it was a neighbor and not a vandal, I stopped thinking “scuzzbag” and started thinking “wacko.” 

And if the Artz had dug a little more, he would have learned that as more information came in, I realized it’s not even a wacko, but simply a person in the neighborhood who acted on a questionable impulse and is probably trying to find a way to repair his/her damage without losing too much face. 

It’s a great neighborhood, LeConte is. I wish the Planet hadn’t sent out the impression we’re fighting over this. We’re not. We’re just getting to know each other better and trying to learn how to work together at a whole new level of community involvement! 

Alan McCornick 

• 

WHAT HAPPENED 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Concerning lawsuit over UC’s Long-Range Development Plan, I would like to let the public know my view of what has happened on the legal front since the settlement agreement was approved.  

Carl Friberg, the head of a local group called BLUE, filed an ex parte motion to set aside the dismissal and then intervene in the case. He was joined in his motion by Anne Wagley and Kriss Worthington. The motion was denied by Judge Richman. Judge Richman cited a case, O’Dell v. Freightliner Corp. (1992) 10 Cal.App.4th 645, which clearly refuted the argument proffered by the attorney that Friberg and the others had hired.  

That attorney had come into the case like a hijack program, and he quickly defocussed the attention away from the criminality of the settlement agreement under the Brown Act. The resulting arguments were almost frivolous and had no chance of succeeding. But the hapless litigants had surrendered their self-reliance and were unable to see that. C’est la vie. 

There is still a strong case to be made based on the criminality of the settlement agreement. If any citizens feel as outraged as I do about the death of democracy in Berkeley and are interested in joining a lawsuit that stays focussed on that theme, they are invited to contact me at pjmutnick@sbcglobal.net. 

Peter J. Mutnick 

• 

AL AND SON’S 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Friends and neighbors on Milvia Street are losing an important part of our community. The closing of Al and Son’s parking lot and Baskerville’s hot dog stand due to a lost lease brings a sad closure to 40 years of a family business in downtown Berkeley. 

Generations of Berkeley High School kids lined up daily for hot dogs served by the Martinez family. Jeanie and son Allen in the stand taking orders at the window with a friendly word to neighbors as we scurry to start our business day. Dennis and his dad Al Martinez creatively directing traffic into the small parking lot with a cheery “Take care, have a nice day.”  

Through the years Al’s has been the sounding board of our neighborhood with lively discussion about the weather, sports, the economy and the state of the nation. Many of us don’t know each other but we know the Martinez family and they know our names.  

Thanks and appreciation to Al, Jeanie, Dennis and Allen. Your many friends in downtown Berkeley wish you well. We will miss you. 

Pat Hanscom 

• 

HISTORY LESSON 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The May 20 commentary by Christian Hartsock illustrates two things: his extreme political bias and his ignorance about the purpose and history of the unique nature of the U.S. Senate.  

First: What the Senate is most emphatically not about is a majority up-or-down vote. The Senate was designed by the framers of the constitution to do just the opposite! States with very tiny populations were granted the same number of representatives as the most populous states. One vote in the Senate may represent a few thousand voters or millions. Under the rules adopted 200 years ago, a senator representing the least populated state could bring the business of the Senate to a standstill. The reasons for this system were very clear and well thought out. 

First, the framers did not want the larger, more powerful states riding roughshod over the smaller states. Secondly, it was intended to slow down over hasty decisions and thereby force opposing factions to work out compromises. 

The Republican majority has been systematically attempting to destroy this system of safeguards. Rather than meeting with the Democrats to work out compromises, they have been acting in secret and abusing the system to get what they want. 

The argument that their candidates deserve an up-or-down vote is ludicrous! The did not allow 60 of Clinton’s well qualified, moderate candidates to ever reach the floor for a vote by abuse of the system. Their reasons were obvious: By delaying these appointments, they could hold the positions open until they could appoint someone to their liking. The overwhelming majority of these candidates have been approved by the Democrats. The candidates who have not been approved are those who, based up their past behavior, would seek to legislate their extreme views from the bench rather than fulfilling their correct function of enforcing the law. 

The actions of the Republicans threaten our Constitutional system of government. They would tear down the great system represented by the U.S. Senate and concentrate all of the power in a single branch of government, thereby destroying the system of checks and balances so carefully devised by our Founding Fathers and placing our democracy in serious jeopardy. 

Daniel W. Julian 

Readers Sound Off on New AC Transit Buses, Policies 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Just before the AC Transit directors are set to consider proposals for fare change, brochures explaining the proposals began to appear in the buses. 

The brochure displays a complex set of five proposals, the effect of which is to diffuse attention from the most realistic proposals. 

When you look at it, two of the five proposals are rather unrealistic in that it eliminates transfers and passes for adult commuters entirely, and another one, by its own admission, “does not fulfill the revenue objectives of the fare change” (it says so in a footnote to the proposal). 

So we are left with two realistic proposals: either to raise the fare to $1.75 with 50 cent transfers, or to $2 with free transfers. In any case, it seems that the board is set to increase fees, though this time riders had few time and little clarity to notice what was coming. 

Given numerous complaints over the safety and comfortability of the Van Hool buses that are being introduced and the lack of accountability to these steady complaints, perhaps management reform should be considered before another fare raise. 

Takeshi Akiba 

• 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I read with great interest Gerald Mannell’s letter about a “massive financial crisis” in the transit systems of the Netherlands and France, because too many people just don’t pay on the proof-of-payment system. Yet Robert R. Piper (who was Berkeley director of transportation a quarter-century ago?) knows better. He informs us Berkeley primitives that POP “has been used in civilized countries for decades.”  

Let me add my voice to Mannell’s.  

I just got back from New York City, where I walked and rode buses and subways with my cousins visiting from Italy. Their opinion of “proof of payment” in Italy? A disaster. People don’t pay. When a rare inspector catches one, he tries to collect a fine, but invariably the cheater says he has no money. So, the inspector writes and hands him a citation to pay, which the non-paying rider ignores. On rare occasions the government goes after a non-payer—adding yet more costs to a transit system in financial collapse. 

By the way, it was a delight to ride the New York buses (plenty of hand-holds, most seats on the side to make wide aisles) and absolute heaven to ride one of their new electric (not trolley) buses with NO steps up from either entry or exit, a couple of steps up to a few seats in the back of the bus where the floor is higher to accommodate the batteries. A smooth, quiet, non-smelly, comfortable ride, with no need to climb up unless you are willing an able to take those few raised seats at the back. I didn’t manage to get the name of the company that makes them, but I assume the AC Transit officials must know about them—I’d like to know why AC chose the Van Hool buses instead. Could it be because these “civilized” European countries don’t want them anymore? 

Dorothy Bryant 

• 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

While I appreciate the Daily Planet’s coverage of soon-to-be-voted on AC Transit fare proposals (“AC Transit Directors Ponder 5 Ways to Increase Bus Fares”), the article left out the impact that each proposal will have on very low-income, transit-dependent riders. How much AC Transit stands to make on each proposal is mentioned, but at what cost? 

At the request of AC Transit, the UC Transportation Center published an analysis of the five proposals and the impact each will have on the community. It is important to note that a large percentage of riders need to take more than one bus, making transfer costs an important element in determining impact. The center’s analysis showed that proposals 1 and 5 were financially detrimental to households making less than $10,000, possibly increasing transportation costs by 32-38 percent. Proposals two and three and had a lesser but still significant impact, roughly 14-25 percent, largely due to keeping discount passes and transfers. The analysis states that AC Transit can expect a revenue of $6-12 million dollars under proposals two and three. 

No matter which proposal is chosen, the community should insist that youth, senior, and disabled passes remain reduced and affordable for very low-income individuals and families, that transfers should be offered, and that the “pay per ride” fares only be raised enough to assist AC Transit with their deficit but not cause undue hardship on the very poor “transit dependent” (many more low-income AC Transit riders depend on it for daily transportation than do riders of other systems—61 percent as opposed to 22 percent for BART and 14 percent for CalTrans). 

AC Transit is a lifeline to jobs, housing, school, and services for the poor, and as such fare increases should be a last resort. The fact is, the annual revenue from fares currently totals $40 million. AC Transit’s entire budget is $250 million with an anticipated shortage of $8 million. To look only at fare increases to offset the deficit is extremely unfair. AC Transit can and should examine other avenues to save and/or make money. 

Janny Castillo 

Community Organizer 

Building Opportunities for  

Self-Sufficiency 

• 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regarding Edith Monk Hallberg’s May 13 letter on the quality of Van Hool buses on the AC Transit system: 

I don’t think it’s right to say that the reason Van Hool buses work better in Europe is down to the manners of the people on this continent. In Birmingham, the dominant bus group, Travel West Midlands, uses a combination of buses from LDV, Scania, Ford, Van Hool, and Wolff. Van Hool buses were brought in a few months ago at the behest of activists who called for better transport access for the wheelchair-bound and parents with children in strollers. Most buses here are double decker and these buses have extremely limited space for the large number of parents with strollers and for disabled passengers. Van Hool buses have provided ample space and mobility for these users and are added as a supplement to normal bus service rather than replacing buses already used on the line. I would suggest that the reason for the fast take-up of Van Hool buses at AC Transit is a marked activism by disability patrons to improve access to services. The unintended consequence of this arrangement is a forced adjustment for regular passengers. It is probably in the best interest of riders who will continue to use services unassisted to lobby for the re-implementation of smooth-ride buses and look into companies that can supply them to contract. 

Many countries in Europe have the advantage of home-grown bus and truck companies that supply state of the art transport. Germany has MAN, Slovakia has Skoda, and so forth. The United States is a country with many domestic transport suppliers and I am certain that if a concerted effort was made, a supplier of smooth-drive buses could be found. Perhaps even in California. 

John Parman 

Birmingham, England 

If you have flown the polar route, from London to San Francisco, you may have had the opportunity to look down on the arctic ice cap from 35,000 feet. In the summer the vast span of perennial sea ice—some 1.7 billion acres—begins just west of Greenland a nd extends for hundreds of miles, ending in a span of open water off the coast of North America and Eurasia. The next time you fly this route, take a long look at this endless expanse of whiteness. Before the end of the century the ice cap will be gone, a victim of global warming or, more precisely, the anthropogenic forcing of global climate change. 

Although the scientific evidence of global warming seems incontrovertible, the Bush administration determinedly ignores it and proceeds with business as usu al. The trillion-dollar question is why?  

Of course, if you are an American who lives in an area that traditionally suffers through savage winters, weeks on end of gray skies and freezing temperatures, then the prospects of global warming may not seem that dire to you. The problem is that global warming is a systemic change, and while there may be some positive short-term outcomes—the introduction of golf to Iceland—the long-term consequences are dire.  

In a recent series of articles in the New Yorker, Elizabeth Kolbert brings the problem of global climate change into sharp focus. Over the last million years the temperature of the world has been remarkably stable. However, since 1769, and the invention of the steam engine by James Watt, the planet has b een getting warmer—the 15 hottest years have occurred since 1980. Pollution is a side effect of the industrialization launched by Watt’s invention; transportation and business daily generate “greenhouse gases,” notably carbon dioxide and methane, whose in creasing levels drive the rise in temperature. Scientists predict that by 2050, carbon dioxide levels will double, pushing the average global temperature up by 4.9 to 7.7 degrees Fahrenheit. As a consequence, sea levels will rise as much as two feet, glac iers will melt, ocean currents will change, and weather systems will become more savage and unpredictable. 

Despite the fact that each year produces more evidence of unstable climactic conditions, the Bush administration pooh-poohs concerns about global c limate change. The president’s official position is that there is no scientific “consensus” that supports a presumption of global warming. As a result, his administration has refused to sign the Kyoto Accords and to participate, meaningfully, in global ac tion to halt these alarming trends. Bush believes that reducing the level of our carbon-emissions would be “bad for business.” 

But an overwhelming majority of earth scientists believe that we are steaming towards disaster. Recently, UC San Diego professo r Naomi Oreskes reviewed almost 1,000 scientific papers on the subject of global climate change—roughly 10 percent of the total. She found 75 percent of her sample provided evidence of anthropogenic forcing, i.e. a relationship between human-created green house gas emissions and temperature rise. Amazingly, she found no articles that argued to the contrary.  

Thus, the contrarian “experts” cited by the Bush administration come from outside the reputable scientific community—they are “junk scientists.” Amon g those whose opinions are cited by the administration are writer Michael Crichton—whose only scientific credentials are a stint in medical school—and policy analysts, such as Sallie Baliunas and Steven Milloy—employees of conservative think tanks such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute, funded by Exxon-Mobil and General Motors.  

The burning question remains, why does George W. Bush rely on such hacks for the basis of his policy on global warming? Most probably it is because they are telling him som ething that he is already inclined to believe. There are two possible reasons for this predisposition. One is that, as an article of his Christian faith, the president believes that God created planet earth for man’s dominion and, therefore, would not per mit environmental changes that threaten the existence of the species. If this is the case, Bush’s belief is at odds with that taught by mainstream Christianity, which admonishes believers to be good stewards of the earth. 

The other explanation is that Pr esident Bush sees no political upside to changing his position, as his two strongest constituencies support him. Economic conservatives favor business as usual; they don’t want to pay for the changes that would be necessary to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. Social conservatives, particularly apocalyptic Christians, simply don’t care. They believe that we are in the “end times;” they expect that the final judgment, the “rapture,” will happen in the next couple of decades and, therefore, concerns about global climate change are irrelevant. 

Whatever his reasoning, President Bush is doing Americans and the planet a great disservice with his ostrich-like posture on global warming. It’s as if he is betting that the full extent of this catastrophe won’t become apparent on his watch, thereby forgetting a lesson that most of us learned in school: It isn’t smart to mess with Mother Nature. 

Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer and activist. He can be reached at bobburnett@comcast.net. 

9r

I read in the paper that front row tickets for the upcoming Rolling Stones concerts are selling for over $5,000 a piece. That’s a lot of money to shell out to see four geezers prance arthritically around on stage. 

So I guess you won’t see me there unless, of course, I’m able to score a free ticket. Chances of that are slim, but I managed to procure one the last time Mick, Keith, Charlie and Ronnie were in town, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed. They won’t be arriving at SBC Park until November. I’ve got some time to scheme. 

Six years ago the Rolling Stones launched their No Security Tour at Oakland’s Coliseum. I was there, not in a front row seat, but someplace so far away from the main stage, it was easier to watch them strut their stuff on the big scr eens hanging from the ceiling than to look down upon their actual minuscule, wrinkled selves. I had come by a ticket in an unusual way. I had published an article about my husband’s accident in the San Francisco Chronicle a few weeks earlier. A reader fro m Alameda contacted me via e-mail. “I’d like to help you in some way,” wrote my anonymous, soon-to-be benefactor. “I run a small non-profit dedicated to giving family care providers a respite. I have restaurants, hotels, theaters and spas who donate servi ces, an evening on the town, or a weekend getaway for someone like you, someone who needs a break.” 

At the time I received this kind offer, I was overwhelmed with my husband’s care. I could not imagine spending an evening out, or going on an overnight adventure. I declined, but the benefactor was insistent. “Maybe I can get a restaurant to donate two meals so that you can take your husband,” she wrote. “Thank you,” I replied, “but going out for dinner is something we already do together. There’re plenty of people who need this service more than me.” 

“Stop with the martyr business,” admonished my patron. “Think of something for you.” 

I called her. “I’d like to see the Rolling Stones this weekend. Can you get me a ticket?” 

There was silence on the other end of the line. “Are you crazy? That concert has been sold out for months.” 

“Look,” I said. “I’m a middle-aged woman taking care of a C-4 quadriplegic. Mick Jagger understands my lack of satisfaction.”  

Twenty-four hours later the phone rang. “I got you a ticket,” she said, “but there’s a catch.” 

“What is it?”  

“You’ll have to go on something like a date to get it. A friend of mine has two nosebleed seats. He just broke up with his girlfriend. He’ll take you in her place.” 

“Confirmed!” I shouted. “Tell me where to meet him and I’ll be there.” 

“You have to go to his home two hours before show time. He doesn’t want to risk missing any of the concert by trying to find you in the Coliseum parking lot.”  

She gave me his number and I called him. He gav e me directions to his apartment and warned me not to be late. I explained to my husband where I was going. He was happy for me, and not the least bit interested in going himself. 

“Have a good time,” he said as I was leaving. “Don’t get arrested.” 

Thirt y minutes later I was sitting in my escort’s small, cramped living room. It was cramped because, among other things, it housed a full-size Harley Davidson motorcycle. “The safest place to keep a classic hog like this,” explained my host, “is as close to y our bedroom as possible.” His walls were lined floor-to-ceiling with records from the ‘60s. 

He offered me a drink while we waited for his friends. “No thanks,” I said, exactly the way I would’ve in 1967 when I was still in high school and about to attend an Iron Butterfly concert at the Electric Light Factory in Philadelphia. I was scared, but optimistic. 

His friends arrived and we piled into a windowless paneled van. It was eerily familiar, like 1972 when I was headed for a Procol Harum concert in the rear of Donnie Rowland’s Ford Econoline. I felt claustrophobic and slightly unhinged. I hoped the driver, whoever he was, knew the way to the coliseum. 

We arrived early. We took our seats. The Stones came on. I was not disappointed. 

We got lice. We got staph. We were temporarily brainwashed by an amateur cult leader. We paid our own way, took semesters off to travel and took in homeless veterans. We learned that, sadly, sometimes things do need to get worse before they get better.  

With the closing of Le Chateau Residence Club, a student co-op on the south side of the UC Berkeley campus, I can’t help but feel fewer and fewer institutions remain for idealist college students. It was at Le Chateau where my cohorts and I got early tra ining in tempering our idealism—an important step away from quashing it. We learned that consensus doesn’t really work. But neither does anything else if you don’t try.  

The current neighbors, who successfully sued the co-op for damages resulting from noise, garbage and disruptive behavior and forced its closure, don’t want to know that the shaping of community leaders and good neighbors has been happening right under their noses.  

In the early 1990s, when I lived in the three-house complex on Berkeley’s Hillegass Avenue, we weren’t shameless hippies and slackers—we were working it out. In a culture where middle-class, college-aged youth are expected to move far from home and achieve great things, self-sufficiency is top dollar. We were not ready to succumb to a decade of segregated apartment living, but neither could we get comfy in the ennui of towering dormitories.  

We chose, instead, a living arrangement based on the principles of cooperation established by a group of weavers in Rochdale, England, in 1844. Those same principles have been adopted by thousands of residential, food and industry co-ops across the world.  

We were drama geeks, bicycle activists, former Marine doctors, Vietnamese boat children and The Naked Guy. Today, we are midwives, t eachers, musicians, therapists and candidates in local elections. We work in affordable housing, pursue Ph.D.s in literature and film. We compost our garbage and drive biodiesel-fueled cars. We did work it out.  

I remember a morning when The Naked Guy qu ietly walked into the dining room and delicately put a small towel down on his chair before joining me for breakfast and a section of the newspaper.  

I remember how clean the house would be right before a big party—as everyone (well, almost everyone) chipped in to create the zone.  

I also remember the summer one resident adopted a runt pig named Bella that roamed the main house second floor. In a moment of poor judgment, the resident fed her magic mushrooms. Bella stumbled, snorting and scared, past my room, tripping out on the graffiti-covered walls that will be painted over this summer.  

Talking to current residents on a recent Saturday night, along with 25 or so alumni who joined together to watch the Last Chateau Sunset from the rooftop patio, I tr ied to find out what went wrong. “Was there really a meth lab in the basement?” I asked. Instead of confirming my worst fears—that the current generation was somehow louder, dirtier and less cooperative than us—these 20-somethings sounded a lot like me. T hey spoke passionately about the impact Le Chateau had on their worldview and their aspirations. They articulated clearly the Bay Area’s housing price crisis, conflicts between the co-op and its parent University Students Co-operative Association, and the ir own commitment to the house despite its problems.  

The noise and detritus that emanate from Le Chateau’s grounds hide the important work going on among and between and inside its residents. As one fellow alum on the rooftop said, “It was at Chateau th at I learned to get along with people I can’t stand.” If only the neighbors had learned that lesson when they were in college.  

Watching the light fade from the same roof where we had watched fires devastate the Oakland Hills in 1992, I was reminded of s ome important Chateau vocabulary. After a long, unsuccessful attempt to negotiate installation of a backyard hot tub, “Let’s hot tub it” became synonymous with postponing a difficult issue to a later meeting. I guess the house hot-tubbed one issue too man y with the neighbors.  

Still, I wonder what these homeowners expected when they bought property next to a student housing complex, four blocks from a public university and political hotbed People’s Park. Quiet neighbors? Next-door role models and reliabl e babysitters for their growing children? Surely they knew they were buying homes already discounted for location. Do they now get to change the neighborhood to increase their financial return?  

The answer seems to be yes—and Chateauvians suddenly know what gentrification feels like.  

The USCA has 17 co-ops still standing in Berkeley. The University of Michigan has an extensive co-op system, and in New Haven, Conn., a small, independent co-op on Elm Street is named proudly after the Rochdale principles. I hope these institutions and their peers can escape the fate of sky-rocketing property values and encroaching yuppie neighbors eager to live in hip college commercial districts with cafes and used bookstores.  

At Le Chateau we prided ourselves on feeling like we were on the cutting edge of something new. As the house’s doors are closed to undergraduates, scrubbed and re-opened for studious graduate students under a less majestic name, this time I hope we’re not.  

Patricia Johnson lived in Le Chateau Residence Club from 1993 to 1995.i›

Thanks to the Daily Planet, it has now become an open secret that Tom Bates is extending his heavy hand to thwart the efforts of the Berkeley Unified School District to begin construction of the transportation facility that was to be located on Sixth and Gilman streets. (A faded poster containing the formal legal announcement of the district’s plans for the project is still affixed to the anchor fence on the site.) 

Instead, under pressure from Bates, the district now wants to locate its motor pool vehicles including heavy equipment, and its central kitchen facility in a residential neighborhood on the West Campus next to a community swimming pool. 

In addition to the practical, social and ethical issues raised by these machinations, there are serious legal issues surrounding the disposition and use of land purchased with bond issue monies—land that legally belongs, not to the district, nor to the City of Berkeley, but to the citizens of the state of California. It appears  

that no one has raised these issues with the mayor or the district—at least not until now. 

West Berkeley has little open space and few recreational facilities. Many west campus neighbors, including the private schools, head start facilities and Berkeley Youth Alternatives, are concerned about the adverse impact on the seniors and children who use the pool and gymnasium if the district converts the West Campus site to the light industrial uses now proposed. (The West Campus out door pool is supposed to remain, but residents are concerned about the environmental impact on it of the proposed uses. To date the district has failed to conduct or agree to conduct an environmental impact study in connection with its proposed plan.) 

For undisclosed reasons, the district is determined to push through its plan in record time (less than six months), despite the recommendations of its legally appointed Construction Advisory Committee that the process should take at least 18 months. 

The Gilman-West Campus switcheroo also involves possible misapplication of funds intended by tax payers for school safety, not administrative upgrades, circumvention of environmental regulations and state laws governing the use of district property not required for district uses. These issues too, seem to have been glossed over—at least until now. However, West Campus neighbors are digging in for a fight, including legal battles, if necessary. 

Ruchama Burrell is a Berkeley resident.  

E

For the past 10 years California population has grown at an average rate of 1.3 percent a year, with the result that the state is now adding almost 500,000 people per year. However, from 2000 to 2003 (the years for which I found data) Alameda County grew by only 0.4 percent per year, and Berkeley actually shrank at a rate of 0.3 percent per year. There are many in Berkeley who have fought hard to achieve this. We have a zoning ordinance which limits new building heights to one-half that of some existing buildings. We have people who appeal to have buildings landmarked in order to block development plans. We have people who protest when plans trade-off an increase in units against a decrease in parking places. We have people who want an environmental impa ct report for any large, or medium-sized development. We have succeeded in halting growth in Berkeley, despite the growth in the state as a whole. 

Unfortunately, this success comes with a cost. In fact, it comes with several. The growth that didn’t occur in Berkeley and Alameda County appeared instead in Contra Costa and the Central Valley. Growth is not occurring by increasing density, but by sprawling outward, and covering over agricultural and wild land. Animals and plants are losing habitat, and, mor e directly, animals are being killed by increased vehicular traffic. Population growth is occurring in the parts of the state with the worst air quality, with the predictable consequences to public health. 

Studies have shown that vehicular use is inverse ly related to population density. Low density growth in the valley results in more vehicular use than infill that increases density in an already moderately dense city like Berkeley. We don’t even get the full benefit of at least having the traffic increa se occur somewhere else, as cars aren’t restricted to a given city. One of the subcontractors working on my recent bathroom remodel was driving in daily from Modesto, and I am sure others can tell similar stories. 

There are more direct costs too. Berkele y purports to value diversity, but it is becoming increasingly difficult for any but the rich to live here. Berkeley is a desirable place to live, but there is shortage of space, so land costs are high. In order to make prices more affordable the land cos ts could be spread out over more units. But this means covering a larger fraction of the lot or building higher, both of which are precluded by zoning ordinances meant to restrict growth. Another option is for the builder to reduce building costs, but thi s runs the risk of shoddy construction and long-term maintenance problems. One can only wonder whether the well publicized problems of our most infamous local developer might be in part due to our unrealistic building height restrictions. We seem to be managing the worst of all possible worlds; the construction is shoddy, but it is still too expensive to encourage diversity. 

If the city had the money it could maintain diversity by paying for subsidized housing, but the city gets its money in the form of property taxes. Currently our city is running severe budget short-falls. Major new construction could result in substantial increases in our property tax base, but that is currently not allowed—or at least it is not allowed by city rules. The university i s evidently not bound by our rules, and is contemplating a major hotel/convention center that presumably will violate the city building height and lot coverage rules, and won’t pay property taxes. The irony makes me gag. 

We are perhaps past the point whe n can talk about “smart growth.” At this point, it is crisis management. Do we deny that there is a problem, or do we start trying to create a sustainable future? If you believe that there really is a global warming problem, and that there really is a pot ential resource scarcity problem, then you should trying to do something about it. And locally one of things you can do is speak up for higher height limits, and more sensible restrictions on landmarking and demolition. 

Robert Clear is a Berkeley resident. 

I’ve been hearing a lot of foolishness and hypocrisy about parking in Berkeley. 

The most notorious example is the recent sneaky agreement between the city and UC. It “settles” the lawsuit about the Long-Range Development Plan by letting UC get away with building a vast amount of new parking to support UC’s expansion. Oh, UC claims they will cut back new parking plans by 45 percent, but it turns out this is “by 2015,” a decade away. 

UC will continue to expand, and the cars driven by the additional staff will clog the streets of Berkeley and befoul the Bay Area’s air. Our foolish city has effectively signed off on 2,060 new spaces at UC, even though doing this directly conflicts with city policy. The university itself has made absolutely no commitment to reduce automobile trips and traffic, and the pollution that goes with them. 

Stanford, when it grew, committed to no net increase in peak hour auto trips. There is no similar commitment coming from UC. 

There’s nothing being done to reduce driving to the Berkeley campus. Adding more parking spaces increases driving. I guess the student Class Pass will keep going, so UC students will still throng the buses, but it looks like UC is considering dropping the recently introduced “Bear Pass” for staff. Why doe s UC “Parking and Transit” want to spend $65,000 per parking space but less than $100 per transit rider? UC Berkeley’s efforts to reduce congestion look pretty poor when compared with what’s been done at Stanford, or University of Washington, or even UCLA. 

I heard some more parking foolishness last Thursday (May 26). I arrived for the Zoning Adjustments Board meeting while someone from the DBA was calling for ZAB to require an extra level of underground parking at the proposed Brower Center. He wailed ab out the “precedent” that would be set if the Brower project didn’t have enough parking. He said that Berkeley’s General Plan calls for more parking. Well, it doesn’t; the transportation element of the General Plan calls for shifting people away from drivi ng cars; it calls for people living and working downtown to make use of public transit. 

A few years ago, the city and UC jointly funded the Transportation Demand Management (TDM) study. The two main TDM recommendations called for better signage about lot space and to motivate all-day parkers to ride the bus and quit taking away short-term spaces from shoppers and visitors. As far as I know, city staff is currently only looking at the signage, paying no attention to making all-day parking into short-term. 

We need to stop the onrush of cars, slow our consumption of non-renewable oil energy and do something to hold back the approaching disaster of global warming. 

Both the city and UC should put a cap on parking, and give priority on spaces to people who m ust use their car during the day, or really can’t use public transit. Public money should be spent on public transit, not parking lots. 

It seems that the “parking lobby” (largely downtown business people) has been engaging in a little hypocrisy. At a rec ent Transportation Commission meeting, UC Professor Betty Deakin showed that parking-metered spaces are regularly filled by employees of downtown businesses. Those same businesses that claim more parking is needed, have employees feeding meters and owners parking in front of their own businesses. Some Berkeley businesses are shooting themselves in the foot. 

At that same TC meeting, somebody in the audience declaimed to the effect that perception is reality. His idea was that if people think they have a right to drive for all purposes, then they have a right to a parking space. He was asked why we should build more parking spaces when we don’t make use of all the spaces we have; he didn’t have an answer. 

We really should stop this foolish self-defeating promotion of parking. The Brower Center doesn’t need any more parking. Neither does UC. What we need is fewer cars and more use of public transit. There are really very few people who “must” drive and “can’t” use public transit. The reason why so many peo ple drive is that they know they can find a parking space. 

Let’s stop being hypocritical. Let’s stop bypassing the General Plan. We need to limit parking and to motivate people not to use cars to commute to work. Two good places to start are with the people who work at the UC Berkeley campus and with the people who will work at the center named for the great environmentalist David Brower. 

Steve Geller is a Berkeley resident. 

h

As a fan of the Berkeley Daily Planet, I was worried when I learned that Knight Ridder was starting a free daily newspaper in the East Bay. I had just finished reading Davis Merritt’s new book, Knightfall: Knight Ridder and How the Erosion of Newspaper Journalism Is Putting Democracy at Risk. The story he tells does not inspire faith that, when Knight Ridder moves in, good journalism will prevail. 

Himself a former Knight Ridder editor, Merritt draws on a store of personal experiences to make his point: that selling newspaper stock on Wall Street undermines newspapers’ ability to operate in the public interest.  

When newspapers become public companies, the business side sets profit goals, and editors have to meet them. They try: They plump up their “sof t” coverage of food, fashion, lifestyles, homes, and cars to appeal to baby-boomers and advertisers. They cut hard news, especially foreign news. They cut staff. 

As Merritt tells the story, the staff cuts were the hardest changes for top Knight Ridder editors to take when demands for higher revenues sharpened in the 1990s. Starting in the mid-1990s, seasoned Knight Ridder editors and publishers began jumping ship.  

Merritt understands the anguish of the editors who left—he was one of them. He had spent a year away from his job as editor of the Wichita Eagle in the mid-1990s to promote the idea of “public journalism,” and when he came back, he found his world “totally changed.”  

Knight Ridder executive Jim Batten, supporter of journalism in the public interest, was near death, leaving Knight Ridder chairman and CEO Tony Ridder free to realize his own vision for the company. What Merritt saw disturbed him: “Creeping corporatism was at its height, with every news decision having a marketing subtext.” 

As newsprint costs soared, the company still wanted Merritt to produce a 22.5 percent return in 1996. He could not see where the money would come from. 

“There was no fat left; we had cut through muscle and maybe chipped some bone in preparing the 1996 budge t….” 

He made the decision to cut circulation outside of metropolitan Wichita: 10,000 readers learned they would no longer receive the paper. 

Explaining the decision, he wrote in a column, “If you and I owned the Eagle, we might make a different decision. We might conclude that continuing to circulate in those distant areas, even at a loss, was important to us as a matter of conscience, and important to the affected people, to Wichita, to the state, and to the moral imperative of keeping people informed in a democracy. We could choose to accept less profit. 

“But you and I do not own the Eagle. It is part of Knight-Ridder, Inc., a publicly held company that is owned by shareholders all across the nation.” 

Merritt was swiftly eased out of the top job and into a senior editor’s slot. He retired early two years after that. 

Other top executives departed with more sound and fury. Jay Harris, chairman and publisher of the San Jose Mercury News, resigned in 2001 with a parting blast. Speaking to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Harris granted that good journalism had to be underwritten by good business but asked, “What is good enough in terms of profitability and sustained year-to-year profit improvement?… 

“When the interests of readers and shareho lders are at odds, which takes priority? When the interests of a community and shareholders are at odds, which takes priority? When the interests of the nation in an informed citizenry and the demands of shareholders for ever-increasing profits are at odds, which takes priority?” 

I remember e-mailing that speech to my journalism students, or, I should say, the students in my journalism classes. Only a few of them want to be journalists. In a worrisome sign of the times, they’re more interested in public relations and advertising. Some would like to go into magazines and television, but few want work for newspapers. Like others in their generation many don’t even read newspapers.  

Desperate to reach younger readers, newspaper companies across the country are taking a new tack, as Editor and Publisher reported recently: free dailies filled with snappy news (and, of course, ads)—dailies like Knight Ridder’s new East Bay venture. 

Announcing its launch of the East Bay Daily News, Knight Ridder promised, in its press release, to offer local news—always a good thing; there’s plenty to go around, and I expect Daily Planet readers could read both the Daily Planet and the new daily and still not get enough. 

But Knight Ridder also promised to “offer results—low-cost advertising programs that are affordable for even the smallest businesses.” 

That sounds like the Daily Planet’s advertisers to me. Even newspapers published in the public interest need to pay for themselves, eventually. I worry about the effects Kni ght Ridder’s competition could have on the Daily Planet’s modest income. 

I remember the independent bookstore that a young man who loved books started up not long after I moved to Bloomington, Ind. For the first time, the town had a bookstore bigger than a hole in the wall: It was almost like being back in Berkeley. 

Within a couple of years, Borders had moved in—right next door, offering its books at the cut-rate prices the bookstore chains can afford. Within months, the independent was dead in the wate r. In place of Morgenstern’s bBooks, selected with some understanding of what the community is like, we have a corporate outlet. 

That’s the logic of the marketplace. 

Does the logic of the marketplace have to rule newspapers? Merritt suggests not. He off ers alternatives—companies that refuse Wall Street’s demands for astronomical profits; newspapers published by nonprofit foundations; boards of directors that include representatives who would defend journalism. 

There are many other alternatives, some of them being explored by the growing independent media movement. What these alternatives have in common is a concept of journalism, not as consumer product, but as empowerment. In the eyes of the indie movement, corporate journalism is a contradiction in t erms. The best way to fix corporate journalism may be to nurture newsrooms of our own.  

That is what Becky and Mike O’Malley have done in Berkeley. I’ve known Becky since we worked together in the Bay Area Writers Union in its earliest days, and I understand the O’Malleys’ commitment to journalism. After reading Merritt’s Knightfall, I can’t say I have the same faith in Knight Ridder. 

Carol Polsgrove, a journalism professor at Indiana University, is the author of It Wasn’t Pretty, Folks, But Didn’t We Have Fun? Surviving the ‘60s with Esquire’s Harold Hayes (RDR Books). 

KNIGHTFALL: KNIGHT RIDDER AND HOW THE EROSION OF NEWSPAPER JOURNALISM IS PUTTING DEMOCRACY AT RISK 

By Davis Merritt 

AMACOM, 256 pages, $24.95?Ì

One hundred years ago poet George Sterling arrived in Carmel on the cusp of a storied era for the Monterey Peninsula.  

He wrote in his diary, now in the Bancroft Library, “June 30, 1905. Fine weather. Put up small tent.” The next day’s entry reads “Fine weather. Put up large tent.” Later, he’d write, “This is a fine place for cheap grub,” referring to the opportunity to freely collect abalone and mussels and hunt small game on the Monterey peninsula. 

Such simple beginnings marked the start of a migrati on of kindred bohemians, artists, and authors from Mary Austin to Robinson Jeffers, who would shape the little town and its environs into a storied artist colony. 

Those early days in a region now dominated by some of California’s most expensive and exclu sive coastal real estate, restaurants, and resorts, are evoked in an attractive new book, The Monterey Peninsula: A Postcard Journey, by Berkeleyan Burl Willes. 

A retired Berkeley travel agent, traveler, and author, Willes drew extensively on private and public historical and postcard collections to organize this attractive image-filled book. 

Willes particularly credits collector Pat Hathaway’s extensive Monterey postcard collection for the images in this book. The postcards, most in color, are reproduc ed near actual size, or enlarged, typically no more than two to a page, to create a lavish display. 

Chapters are generally geographical, from Monterey through Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach and Carmel, and south to Big Sur. The postcards profile each region in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A page or two of text at the beginning of each chapter introduce themes and give historical context and local anecdotes, but this is primarily a book of visual display. 

Here, for example, are pages on Monterey’s Hotel Del Monte, with its greenswards, tennis courts, outdoor maze and pools, and indoor plunge. Built in 1880, the sprawling complex attracted well-heeled vacationers, including many East Bay residents, who arrived by train or yacht and put Monterey on the map as an “internationally acclaimed tourist destination.”  

Other postcards evoke not only that early 20th century era of mid-coastal California bohemians and recreation, but periods and peoples that Californian’s majority American-era population replace d and displaced.  

One postcard displays “the Largest Collection of Indian Mortars and Pestles in the World,” the artifacts piled high against a flag-bedecked wall. And there are several images of a Chinese coastal fishing village whose residents were dri ven out by arson in 1905. 

There are pages displaying what Willes calls “the crumbling remains of [Monterey’s] rich cultural heritage,” encompassing Spanish, Mexican, and pre-Gold Rush American eras.  

Humble and stately adobes are shown, along with the C armel mission, then a picturesque unroofed ruin, where Americans would make a holiday of unearthing Father Serra’s grave. Other postcards trumpet “The First Brick Building” and the “First Frame Building” in California, the latter looking on the verge of c ollapse, and Monterey’s first prominent literary landmark, the house where Robert Louis Stevenson stayed. 

The early natural abundance of the Peninsula is also captured in postcards of sardine canneries, fishing fleets, and an immense pile of thousands of abalone shells on a postcard advertising “Porter Bro’s. Pioneer Preparers of Abalone Steaks.” All would eventually be decimated by overuse. 

Local events important and unusual were frequently recorded in special postcards, from a huge beached basking sha rk surrounded by spectators, to shoreline storm damage, a ship run aground, and local festivals and celebrations.  

There’s a splendid two-page spread showing the 1908 visit by Teddy Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet to Monterey Bay, juxtaposed one sheet over, with a two-page view of the same bay more typically and tranquilly dotted with tiny fishing boats.  

There are also numerous images of families in Victorian swimming gear and attire for hotels, hot springs, fishing, and country jaunts, all just having a good time as families still do today when visiting Monterey.  

Little country cabins, early golf courses, the one lane dirt coastal road to Big Sur, rustic mansions, unpopulated beaches, quiet small-town streets, the outdoor Forest Theatre, and an early Asilomar populated with canvas fronted sleeping cabins are all shown, along with images of country life such as “milk shrines,” little covered stands where neighbors left their money for milkmen who dropped off the daily delivery. 

The Monterey Peninsula stands as a nice companion to another history organized and edited by Willes, Picturing Berkeley: A Postcard History. That volume has just been reissued in a softcover format and is now in local bookstores (Gibbs-Smith, $24.95. Copies of the original, 200 2 hardcover edition are still available from the Berkeley Historical Society and Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.) 

Picturing Berkeley contains a splendid array of handsome and nostalgic views of early Berkeley, both town and university.  

Cha pters were authored and organized by several local historians and collectors, and the book provides not only good written and visual profiles of the evolution of the community, but a precise and compact explanation of the different sorts and uses of early picture postcards.  

Graphic designer Kathleen Tandy created the handsome look of both postcard books. 

The Monterey Peninsula is the third local history by Willes, a quiet supporter of numerous historical enterprises. He also authored the popular Tales of the Elmwood: A Community Memory. 

Useful for historical reference, pleasure reading, or gifts, all the Burl Willes volumes should be on a well-stocked Berkeley bookshelf, coffee table, or nightstand. 

THE MONTEREY PENINSULA:  

A POSTCARD JOURNEY 

By Burt Willes 

Gibbs-Smith, 208 pages, $29.95

Gothic columns of petrified motion, 

graceful as a chorus of dying flowers 

So go Owen Hill’s lines over Robert Eliason’s image of the northeast corner of Telegraph Avenue and Haste Street. With bright sunlight in the vacant lot where once the Berkeley Inn stood and on the fading Victorian behind, the foreground a silhouette of the spiked iron fence with a shadowy but youthful feminine figure hurrying past—overlays of what the avenue’s once been, is now, and always seems to be. The two Moe’s booksellers’ collaborative series of photos with words, The Telegraph 3 p.m. Project, is now on display inside and out businesses up and down the avenue and on various websites, including the City of Berkeley’s. 

“Main Street U.S.A. on the surface/Belies an Emma Gold man dream-world.” 

The project began with Eliason’s afternoon breaks from the bookstore, walking the avenue and taking pictures with a digital camera. “For about 25 years, I’d been taking pictures on Telegraph, mostly black and white, with every kind of c amera you’d imagine. A year ago, I got a digital and went crazy with it.” He took more than 45,000 photos over the past 10 months, boiled down to about 200 in the project, 81 with lines of verse superimposed. 

“I look for movement, colorful groups; holdin g the camera at chest-level—sneaky,” he says. “I just react, wherever my eye goes. I don’t even have to look for every picture.” 

Indeed, he shows an Eadweard Muybridge-like sequence of stills that give the impression of motion, pointing to the one that m ade the cut. “That’s why there’re so many, as many as 600 in a half-hour. If I can get a couple out of all those.”  

Eliason says, “I’ve really admired Owen’s writing for a long time, and threw lots of ideas at him for some kind of project to do togethe r. Finally, these pictures of the street just hit.” 

“These pictures were just too good,” Owen Hill said. “I had to do something. We’ve been looking out the same window at the avenue for about 20 years. I wasn’t confident I could write enough—and, once th e Telegraph Business Improvement District backed us to hang the pictures up and down the street, I was writing under deadline—writing poetry under deadline is interesting.” 

Walking north on the avenue, the 11”x17” prints come into view discretely, same a s the moving tableaux that inspired them do. Strolling by Tandoor Kitchen, two of them attract attention in the side windows on Parker Street. 

“Two kinds/of spirals/helix/& volute:/the spontaneous/feats of/the sidewalk/saltambiques” are the words imposed over a streetlife picture, and another, “Often when the community/comes together to/celebrate/itself things get/kind of/messy,” with a group of happy, messy faces. 

In the window at Moe’s Books, above the “Almost Moe” bust of the store’s founder sporting his cigar is a picture of the same window and sculpture with the following verse, “it is generous/and democratic/that there is a saint/for almost every situation/there is even a saint for/second-hand bookstores.”  

Concentrating more on democracy and p oetry than beatitude is another, appropriately opening with words Allen Ginsberg quoted from Whitman in a Beat poem written in Berkeley: “to lie/between/the bride/and the bridegroom/as the poet said/after eyeballing/the coeds.” 

Some storefronts bear imag es of the storefront itself, without any text. There are a few verseless pictures of life on the street (a group of kids playing a sax, flute and keyboards on the sidewalk). Others focus in both words and image on the younger denizens: “Youth/hits the wal l and bounces/away barely scathed/leaving behind a few loose bricks” over a photograph of sun-drenched figures casting lush shadows on a glaring brick wall. 

The two collaborators are now recognized on the street. 

“Famous on my own block,” says Hill, who lives around the corner from the avenue at the Chandler Apartment, which is also the title of his detective novel (of a private eye working in a bookstore). 

There are plans to exhibit all the pictures and a book proposal is in development. On July 11, a t the celebration of Moe’s birthday, there will be slides shown of the project, with Telegraph Avenue street poet Julia Vinograd reading.  

“We have precedents,” says Eliason, “That landmark ‘60s book of Richard Misrach photos, Telegraph 3 a.m., was an inspiration for the title of the project. As Owen said, we want to show the sunnier side. But that’s the time of my break, too, when I’m out shooting. 

“And about 10 years ago, there were photos of storefronts exhibited in those same windows, like some of ours are.” he continues. “We hope to help raise the consciousness of the street a little, spruce it up, in Owen’s words. Change the way you look at everything that’s going on out here a bit.” 

The complete Telegraph 3 p.m. Project can be seen at http://l ostinthestars.com/telegraph.Se

The wild turkeys continue to expand their presence in the Berkeley hills. Some of their new neighbors have mixed feelings about these large untidy and sometimes aggressive birds. And the turkeys may be impacting other species, either through predation (on salamanders and the like) or displacement. 

On the other hand, they are without question interesting creatures, with surprisingly complex behavior patterns. UC-Berkeley graduate student Alan Krakauer has shown just how complex in his recent article, “Kin selection and cooperative courtship in wild turkeys,” in the prestigious journal Nature. Krakauer did his field work at UC’s Hastings Reservation in Carmel Valley, but his observations may apply species-wide; he says similar behavior has been documented throughout California and on the east coast. 

Almost 40 years ago, a Utah State University doctoral candidate named C. Robert Watts went to the Welder Wildlife Refuge in south Texas to study the local population of turkeys. What he found, as reported in a 1971 piece for Scientific American, was a rigidly hierarchical society. Social rank, Watts claimed, was everything to a wild turkey. A bird’s status was set for life during its first year. He described groups of males, which he believed to be siblings, displaying to females together—a behavior called lekking, also found among prairie grouse, birds of paradise, sandpipers, and other groups of birds. Most of the time, only the dominant male in the dominant group got to mate. His coalition partners displayed for all they were worth, but never got any action. 

If evolutionary fitness is all about passing on as many copies of your genes as possible, the behavior of a subordinate male turkey doesn’t make a lot of sense at first glance. Remember that the turkeys are presumed to be brothers, though, with each individual sharing half his genes with his siblings. If only the top-ranking bird mates, he still acts as his brothers’ representative. By helping him attract females and face down rival males, they ensure the perpetuation of those shared genes.  

This is the essence of British geneticist W. D. Hamilton’s concept of “kin selection,” widely invoked to explain altruistic behavior in animals—like the self-sacrifice of the worker honeybee—and, by some, in humans. Another Briton, J. B. S. Haldane (or, by some accounts, R. A. Fisher), once did a back-of-the-envelope calculation in a pub and announced: “I will lay down my life for two brothers or eight cousins.” 

Watts’s turkeys looked like a classic case of kin selection in action. His study was cited by E. O. Wilson in his magisterial Sociobiology, and referenced in textbooks. There was one problem, though: Watts had never established that the display partners were brothers. Critics argued that since hen turkeys pooled their broods after hatching, young male turkeys grew up in the company of non-siblings and might join display groups with them. And later researchers at the Welder Refuge were unable to corroborate Watts’s observations, possibly because the turkey population had crashed. 

Alan Krakauer says he took on the turkey project at the urging of his advisor, Walt Koenig, whose own work at Hastings involves the social life of acorn woodpeckers. “With the complex social system and the mystery about why they’re cooperating, I got hooked,” Krakauer says. Having verified that the Hastings turkeys displayed in groups, he set out to measure the relatedness of the display partners and their contribution to the next generation of hatchlings. That required trapping the wary birds to take blood samples, using a contraption resembling a giant lobster pot baited with cracked corn. “They never really got used to my presence,” he recalls. “They became harder to trap over time.” 

Using genetic tools not available to Watts in the ‘60s, Krakauer found that the display partners were indeed bands of brothers. The bond is life-long; coalitions change only when a member dies, and subordinates never strike out on their own. Beyond confirming that only the dominant bird got to mate, his observations showed that dominant males in a coalition mated with more females than solitary males did, and paternity tests established that dominants fathered more offspring than solitaries. Score one for kin selection. 

Biologists have documented kin associations among other lekking birds, but none has a system quite like the wild turkey’s. “In black grouse, peafowl, and some manakins, related males display together but each has his own territory,” Krakauer explains. Manakins are small, brightly colored birds of the New World tropics whose courtship routines include an avian version of the moonwalk. Males of some manakin species pool their talents to singe and dance in tandem. “The long-tailed and lance-tailed manakins have a partnership like the turkeys, but the males aren’t related,” he says. “The subordinates don’t get matings, but they may inherit the dance perch or get the opportunity to practice their dances.” 

The nearest analog to the turkey brotherhoods may occur in mammals like the African lion and bottle-nosed dolphin. Sibling lions band together to take over prides of females. However, the dominant lion doesn’t monopolize mating opportunities. “Some populations of bottle-nosed dolphins have teams of related males that pester females until they’re ready to mate,” Krakauer says. “It’s not clear whether the males are sharing.” 

“We wouldn’t have known about the turkeys without being able to look at their DNA,” he concludes. “It’s a real boon to behavioral ecology.” Finally, the textbook case is bolstered by hard genetic data.  

Krakauer’s next project, after finishing his thesis, will involve another lek-displaying bird, the greater sage-grouse. He’ll be working with UC-Davis’s Gail Patricelli, inventor of the robogrouse—a radio-controlled dummy female sagehen that she sends out onto the lek to interact with the males. Patricelli has previously used this technique with satin bowerbirds in Australia. The robotic turkey is still some distance in the future.  

TUESDAY, MAY 31 

Morning Bird Walk in Tilden Park Meet at 10 a.m. at the Nature Center. 525-2233.  

Berkeley Marina Walk with the Solo Sierrans at 1:30 p.m. For information and reservations call Betsy, 620-9424. 

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. 

Green City Visions A conference on how to rebuild our human habitat to save the environment from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 1547 Lakeshore Drive, Oakland. Sponsored by Oakland’s Office of the Mayor and Ecocity Builders. http://ecocitybuilders.org/greencity 

Backpacking 101 Review the fundamentals of gear, water purification, bear-proofing food and first aid kit essentials at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Free. 527-4140. 

“Globalize Liberation” an evening of ideas and inspiration with Marina Sitrin, Elizabeth Martinez, and others at 7 p.m. AK Press Warehouse, 674A 23rd St. Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

Bayswater Book Club meets to discuss “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” by John Perkins at 6:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, El Cerrito Plaza. 433-2911. 

Family Storytime at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Sing-A-Long every Tues. from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic. All ages welcome. 524-9122. 

Brainstormer Weekly Pub Quiz every Tuesday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Pyramid Alehouse Brewery, 901 Gilman St. 528-9880. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your digital images, slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 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. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

“Shavuot: A Meeting Point between Cyclical and Linear Time” with Avital Plan at 7:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $5. 848-0237. 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1 

“The Witness” a film on rescueing abandoned animals, and the meat and fur industries, at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. www.HumanistHall.net 

Walking Tour of Oakland Chinatown Meet at 10 a.m. at the courtyard fountain in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza at 388 Ninth St. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation at 10 a.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Volunteers are needed to support the more than 40 blood drives held each month all over the East Bay. Advance sign-up needed 594-5165. 

American Red Cross Mobile Blood Drive, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Alta Bates Summit Auditorium, 2450 Ashby Ave. To make an appointment call 1-800-448-3543. www.BeADonor.com 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Action St. 841-2174.  

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. 524-3765. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. 548-9840. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station. Vigil at 6:30 p.m., Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, JUNE 2 

Early Morning Bird Walk Meet at 7 a.m. at Kennedy Grove off San Pablo Dam Rd. to look for woodland and chaparral birds. 525-2233. 

Condominium Conversion Public Hearing on proposed amendments to the Berkeley Ordinance at 7:30 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5431. 

Friends of Faith Fundraiser in honor of KTVU reporter Faith Fancher at Scott’s Seafood Restaurant, Jack London Square. For more information and reservations call 204-1667. 

FRIDAY, JUNE 3 

“The Iraq War: Domestic Costs” with William Rivers Pitt at 7 p.m. at Fellowship Hall, Cedar and Bonita. Cost is $5-$15, no one turned away. 524-4244. 

“Speaking Out Against the War Machine” a discussion with Cindy Sheehan of Military Families Speak Out, Donna Foley of Pax Christi, and Cathy Orozco of CCCO at 7:30 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. 482-1062. 

“An Evening with Iyanla Vanzant” at 6:30 p.m. at Black Repertory Theater., Adeline St. 652-2120. www.blackrepertorygroup.com 

Water Safety Day Learn how to keep your child safe in the water, at 11 a.m. at Habitot, 2065 Kittredge St. Cost is $5-$6. 647-1111. www.habitot.org 

Yoga with Baby Learn yoga stretches and techniques that you can do with your baby. Mats provided. At 6 p.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Registration required. 658-7353. 

Kirtan, improvisational devotional chanting at 7:30 p.m. at 850 Talbot, at Solano, Albany. Donation $10. 526-9642. 

“Three Beats for Nothing” a small group meeting weekly at 10 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center to sing for fun and practice, mostly 16th century harmony. No charge. 655-8863, 843-7610. dann@netwiz.net 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 8 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 548-6310, 845-1143. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169. www.bpf.org 

SATURDAY, JUNE 4 

Family Fun Day at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Civic Center Parrk, with performances, hands-on activities and informational booths. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.org 

Spring Faire at Washington Elementary School, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 2300 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Activities for kids, health and education booths, food, raffle and performances. Free. 486-1742. 

Sacramento Street Community Cleanup, from Oregon St. to Alcatraz. Meet at 9 a.m. at the El Nopal Restaurant parking lot, 3136 Sacramento, to help sweep, weed, pick-up litter and remove graffiti. Bring gloves if you have them. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley Neighborhood Services, 981-7000. 

National Trails Day Service Project Join REI for a day of trail maintenance in Tilden Park, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. For ages 14 and up. Registration required. 527-4140, ext. 259. 

Bird’s Eye View Hike to the top of Wildcat Peak from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Bring your lunch and something to drink. For information and meeting place call 525-2233. 

Sick Plant Clinic UC plant pathologist Dr. Robert Raabe, UC entomologist Dr. Nick Mills, and their team of experts will diagnose what ails your plants from 9 a.m. to noon at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755.  

Build a Pond for Wildlife Learn about the design and features, including native pond plants and maintenance, from 9:30 a.m. to noon at the VIsitor Center, Tilden Park. Optional tour to Big Nest Wildlife Pond in Sebastopol from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Cost is $30-$35. Bring your lunch. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

“Eating Wild Foods” Learn about the edible native plants and common weeds and how to gather and prepare them. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $10-$15, no one turned away. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Nature Survival For Kids from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. For ages 8-12. Learn what to eat, how to make shelter and first aid techniques. Registration required. 525-2233. 

East Bay Atheists meets at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St., Third Floor meeting room. Burt Bogardus will speak about the separation of religion and government, with particular attention to faith-based initiatives. 222-7580. 

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour of the “Square Block” in West Berkeley at 11 a.m. Cost is $8-$10. Call for meeting place. 848-0181. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc/ 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland around the restored 1870s business district. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of G.B. Ratto’s at 827 Washington St. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

“Anti-War Activities in the Bay Area” A forum on the laws, anti-recruitment efforts and the Central Committee of Conscientious Objectors from 1 to 3 p.m. at Temescal Library, 5205 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 601-6456, 525-6105. 

California Writers Club hosts fifth-graders reading their prize-winning work at 10 a.m. at Barnes & Noble, Jack London Square. 482-0265. www.berkeleywritersclub.org 

North Berkeley Block Party from 4 to 8 p.m. on Delaware, between Shattuck and Milvia. Potluck/bbq with music. Benefit for Vitamin Angels. Donation $5. 

Record Show with hard to find LPs, 45s soul, jazz, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 2318 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $2. 452-2452. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, JUNE 5 

A Taste of Albany: A Small Town Walkabout from 1 to 7 p.m. on Solano and San Pablo Aves. Tastings at 18 restaurants, music and arts and crafts show. Tickets are $20 in advance from participating restaurants. www.albanychamber.org 

Compost Critters An afternoon of exploration for ages five and up. Learn what animals do the dirty work of turning leftovers into rich soil, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Hands-On Bicycle Clinic from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Free. 527-4140. 

Afternoon in the Garden with Anne Lamott with a reading, silent auction and refreshments, fom 1 to 4 p.m. at 485 Ellita Ave. on Lake Merritt, Oakland. Tickets are $50. Benefit for Jesuit Volunteers. 415-522-1599. www.jesuitvolunteers.org 

Good Night Little Farm Help with the afternoon feeding, learn about our rare breeds and help tuck the animals in for the night, at 3:30 p.m. at Tilden Little Farm, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

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 

“Being Gay, Jewish and in an Interfaith Relationship” A discussion with Rabbi Allen Bennett at 11:30 a.m. at Temple Sinai, 2808 Summit St., Oakland. 547-2250. 

Tibetan Buddhism with at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, JUNE 6 

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, followed by a short nature walk. At 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Cost is $5-$7, registration required. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Charles Ostman, cofounder of Fourth Venture, a company formed to convert former Soviet military technologies into applications for water treatment and alternative energy at 7 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Non-member donation $5. 527-0450.  

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. Join at any time. Cost is $2.50 with refreshments. 524-9122. 

Claremont Elmwood Neighborhood Membership Meeting with discussion on the Elmwood shopping district, at 7 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 

Free Women of Spain Anarchism and the Struggle for the Emancipation of Women with Martha Ackelsberg at 7 p.m. at AK Press Warehouse, 674A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

Sufi Teachings and Zikr at 7 p.m. at the MTO Center, 2855 Telegraph Ave., Suite 101. 704-1888. 

Trivia Cafe at 7 p.m. at Ristorante Raphael, 2132 Center St. Cost is $10. 644-9500. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, JUNE 7 

“Introduction to California Birdlife” a conversation with field biologist Jules Evens and nature photographer Ian Tait, at 5:30 p.m. at University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way. 

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. 

Trekking in California with guidebook author Paul Richins at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Free. 527-4140. 

Quit Smoking Class meets Tues. evening from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at South Berkeley Senior Center for six evenings. Sponsored byt he City of Berkeley. To register call 981-5330. 

“Police Practices” A panel discussion with Doris Brown, former Richmond Police Commissioner, James Chanin, civil rights attorney, Sgt. Alan Normandy, South SF Police Dept. and Mark Schlosberg, ACLU Police Practices Dept. at 7 p.m. at the Richmond Main Library Community Room, 325 Civic Center Drive. Sponsored by the ACLU. 558-0377. 

Choke Saving Skills Day Learn these important skills at 11 a.m. at Habitot, 2065 Kittredge St. Cost is $5-$6. 647-1111. www.habitot.org 

Mid-Day Meander Meet at 2:30 p.m. at the Alvarado/ 

Wildcat Staging Area off Park Ave. for a history walk to the Belgum Estate. 525-2233. 

Tilden Mini-Rangers Join us for an active afternoon of nature study, conservation, and rambling through woods and waters. Dress to get dirty; bring a healthy snack to share. Girls and boys ages 8-12, unaccompanied by their parents. From 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area. Cost is $6-$8. Reservations required. 636-1684. 

Apartment Building Management For Women A class on Tues. and Thurs. evenings at 6 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Building Education Center Cost is $250 or sliding scale. To register call 525-7610.  

Young Leadership Division Jewish Federation meets at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Hillel. RSVP to 839-2900 ext. 216.  

Family Storytime at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Brainstormer Weekly Pub Quiz every Tuesday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Pyramid Alehouse Brewery, 901 Gilman St. 528-9880. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your digital images, slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

Sing-A-Long every Tues. from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic. All ages welcome. 524-9122. 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

ONGOING 

Summer Camps for Children offered by the City of Berkeley, including swimming, sports and twilight basketball, from June 20 to August 12, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For details call 981-5150, 981-5153. 

Find a Loving Animal Companion at the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society Adoption Center (open from 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday). 2700 Ninth St. 845-7735. www.berkeleyhumane.org  

Medical Care for Your Pet at the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society low-cost veterinary clinic. 2700 Ninth St. For appointments call 845-3633. www.berkeleyhumane.org 

CITY MEETINGS 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., June 1, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Tasha Tervelon, 981-5347. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/women 

Fire Safety Commission meets Wed., June 1, at 7:30 p.m. at 997 Cedar St. David Orth, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/firesafety 

Community Environmental Advisory Commission meets Thurs., June 2, at 7 p.m., at 2118 Milvia St. Nabil Al-Hadithy, 981-7461. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/environmentaladvisory 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., June 2, at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Oscar Sung, 981-5400. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/housing 

Public Works Commission meets Thurs., June 2, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jeff Egeberg, 981-6406. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/publicworks

TUESDAY, MAY 31 

FILM 

Alternative Visions: “The Lost Generation” with filmmaker Jack Walsh at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“The Golden Bowl” adapted by Isabelle Rogin read by Actors Ensemble of Berkeley at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Patricia Rain discusses “Vanilla: A Cultural History of the World’s Favorite Flavor and Fragrance” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Dylan Schaffer introduces his new mystery “I Right the Wrongs” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The People’s Jazz Quintet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Randy Craig Trio at 7:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Bill Frisell with Brian Blade & Sam Yahel at 8 and 10 p.m. through Thurs. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $16-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Gary Rowe, solo jazz piano, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1 

EXHIBITIONS 

Alvarado Artists Group Show with works by Marilyn MacGregor, Barbara Werner, Joan Lakin Mikkelsen, Carla Dole and MJ Orcutt opens at the Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. 848-1228.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Michael Eric Dyson asks “Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Donation $10. Sponsored by Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sonic Camouflage at 8 p.m. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 763-7711. www.cafevankleef.com  

Ned Boynton Trio at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Paul Arnoldi at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Whiskey Brothers at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473.  

Quimbobo, salsa, at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159. 

THURSDAY, JUNE 2 

CHILDREN 

Kid’s Musical Theater “Finding My Own Rock and Roll” with students from the Park Day School, at 7:30 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $5-$10. 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

THEATER 

Shotgun Players, “Arabian Night” opens at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. and runs Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m. until July 10. Tickets are $10-$30. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“The Real World” An exhibit of carbon copies and simulations, reproductions and scale models. Reception at 6 p.m. at Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. Exhibit runs to July 16. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

FILM 

“Goodbye, Dragon Inn” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Free screening. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Tribute to the Divas” with Dee Spencer at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, Community Room, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100. 

Jeanne Wagner featured poet at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720. 

Kevin Smokler reads from a collection of contemporary writers, “Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

New Century Chamber Orchestra “Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis” at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $18-$39. 415-357-1111. www.ncco.org 

“Tribute to the Divas” with Denise Perrier at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, Central Reading Room, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100. 

Ro Sham Bo and The Irrationals, a cappella at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$10. 849-2568.  

Rafael Manriquez Trio, guitar and vocals, at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

John Reischman & The Jaybirds at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jackpot, Nik Freitas at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Paul Mehling and Will Bernard at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Nathan Clevenger Group at 9 p.m. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $5. 763-7711.  

Akosua, African folk fusion, at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

FRIDAY, JUNE 3 

THEATER 

Berkeley Repertory Theater “The People’s Temple” at the Roda Theater and runs through June 5. Tickets are $20-$55. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Berkeley Rep, “Honour” opens at the Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. and runs through July 3. Tickets are $20-$39. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Contra Costa Civic Theater “Private Lives” Noel Coward’s comedy. Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. through June 12, at 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito. Tickets are $10. 524-9132. www.ccct.org 

Shotgun Players, “Arabian Night” Thurs.-Su. at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. until July 10. Tickets are $10-$30. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

Subterranean Shakespeare “The Taming of the Shrew,” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center in Live Oak Park, through June 24. For reservations call 276-3871. 

Un-Scripted Theater Company “The Short and the Long of It” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., through June 25 at Temescal Arts Center, 511 48th St., Oakland. Tickets are $7-$10. 415-869-5384. www.un-scripted.com 

EXHIBITIONS 

Gallery Talk with Sculptor Bruce Beasley discussing his 45-Year Retrospective at 7 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Cost is $4-$8. 238-2200.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Myrlie Evers-Williams presents “The Autobiography of Medgar Evers: A Hero’s Life and Legacy Revealed Through His Writings, Letters and Speeches” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Sponsored by Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley High Dance Projects Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Berkeley High. 

Berkeley Edge Fest 70th Birthday Celebration for Terry Riley at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $26-$32. 642-9988.  

Pacific Collegium “Couperin le Grand: Grand Motets” at 8 p.m. at St. Paul’s Church, 114 Montecito Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $12-$20. www.pacificcollegium.org 

Galax Quartet, consort music for strings and voice by John Dowland and Roy Wheldon at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $10-$15. 601-1370.  

Hide Date at 8 p.m. and Ed Reed and his Trio at 9 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Cowpokes for Peace at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Lalo Izquierdo and Rompe y Raja, Afro-Peruvian music and dance at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 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.  

Tom Paxton at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $24.50-$25.50. 548-1761.  

Houston Jones at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Jeff Kazor and the Swerve Beats at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Maria Marquez & Larry Vukovich Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Todd Boston, singer-songwriter, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Eileen Hazel and Helen Chaya at 8 p.m. at Changemakers, 6536 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

A.D.D., Riot Au Go Go, False Alliance at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Paquito D’Rivera and members of the Turtle Island String Quartet at 8 and 10 p.m. through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $15-$24. 238-9200.  

SATURDAY, JUNE 4 

THEATER 

Bembero Mudengu: Telling My Story Zimbabwean dance, music, ceremony and storytelling with Julia Tsitsi Chigamba and the Chigamba family at 7 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $12-$18. 925-798-1300. 

California Shakespeare Theater, “Othello” at 8 p.m. at Bruns Amphitheater, 100 Gateway Blvd., between Berkeley and Orinda, through July 3. Tickets are $10-$55. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“New Work” paintings by Yasuko Kaya, Chung Ae Kim, Mitsuyo Moore opens at 4th Street Studio, 1717D 4th St. and runs to June 17. 527-0600. www.fourthstreetstudio.com 

FILM 

International Disability Film Festival Sat. and Sun. from 1 to 5 p.m. Reception Sun. at 6 p.m. at La Peña. 849-2568.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Mike Marriner, Brian McAllister, and Nathan Gebhard describ their cross-country road-trip and interviews with notable leaders in “Finding the Open Road: A Guide to Self-Construction Rather Than Mass Production” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

“Blind at the Museum” sign-language gallery talk at 1:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Terry Riley and the Last Half Century of American Music” A discussion with Paul Dresher, Joan Jeanrenaud and others at 4 p.m. at Elkus Room, 125 Morrison Hall, UC Campus. PArt of The Berkeley Edge Fest. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Punnany Poets at 7:30 and 9 p.m. at Black Repertory Theater., Adeline St. 652-2120. www.blackrepertorygroup.com 

Bay Area Poets Coalition open reading from 3 to 5 p.m., on the front lawn at 1527 Virginia St. 527-9905. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Edge Fest “The Music of John Zorn” at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $26-$32. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Pacific Mozart Ensemble, “A Capella Jazz & Pop” at 7:30 p.m. at The Crowden Music Center, 1475 Rose St. Tickets are $15-$20. 415-705-0848. www.pacificmozart.org 

Kensington Symphony, “Tribute to French Music” at 8 p.m. at Northminster Presbyterian Church, 545 Ashbury Ave., El Cerrito. Donation $8-$10. 524-4335. 

Trinity Chamber Concerts: Bellavente Wind Quintet at 8 p.m. at 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. http:// 

trinitychsmberconcerts.com 

“Tribute to the Divas” with Faye Carol singing Billie Holiday, at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, Central Reading Room, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100. 

World Music Weekend on Telegraph Ave., between Bancroft and Parker, from noon to 8 p.m. 

Jason Martineau, Rhonda Benin & Soulful Strut at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Bokei, The Taarka Quartet and Islands of Fire Drum Ensemble from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Caribbean Cove, 2556 Telegraph Ave. 981-8476. 

Norton Buffalo at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Lua, a quartet of voices, percussion and strings at 6:30 p.m. at Cafe Valpariso, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 841-3800. 

Tracorum at 9 p.m. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $5. 763-7711.  

Los Mapaches at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $4-$8. 849-2568.  

The Unravellers, The Kissers at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082.  

Braziu with Sotaque Baiano at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $15. 548-1159.  

Matthew Sperry Memorial Festival with Triaxium West Large Ensemble at 8 p.m. at 21 Grand, 416 25th St. Oakland. Tickets are $6-$50.  

Samantha Raven and Friends at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Hali Hammer & Randi Berge, folk rock, at 7 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

Larry Stefl Jazz Trio at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473.  

Kenny Brooks Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373.  

Candice & Company at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Little Brown House, Hong Kong Sit, Dink at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. Benefit for Stand Up for Kids. 525-9926. 

Famous Last Words, acoustic americana, at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. www.epicarts.org 

SUNDAY, JUNE 5 

EXHIBITIONS 

“From Isolation to Connection” works by artists with psychiatric disabilities at the Berkeley Art Center. Curator’s walk-through at 2 p.m. 644-6893. 

“Sustainable Energy” photographs by Martijn Mollet at 2 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Berkeley Edge Fest Discussion with the composers at 6 p.m. at 125 Morrison Hall, UC Campus. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Poetry Flash with Gerald Fleming and Maria M. Benet at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Edge Fest The Music of John Zorn at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $26-$32. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Berkeley Edge Fest The Music of Jorge Liderman, Fernando Benadon and others at 7:30 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $26-$32. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

World Music Weekend on Telegraph Ave., between Bancroft and Parker, from noon to 8 p.m. 

Prometheus Symphony Orchestra at 3 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave., Oakland. Admission is free, donations accepted. 

“Tribute to the Divas” with Frankye Kelly singing Ella Fitzgerald at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, Central Reading Room, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100. 

Cantabile Choral Guild “Winds of Time” at 7:30 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Chiurch, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $6-$25. 650-424-1410. www.cantabile.org 

Community Women’s Orchestra performs music by women at 4 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church, 5201 Park Blvd. Piedmont. Donation $5-$10, children free. 6899-0202. 

Fourtet with Brendan Millstein at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Carlos Oliveira and Ricardo Peixoto, Brazilian jazz guitar, at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazz 

school.com 

The Twang Cafe, Americana, at 7:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Austin Lounge Lizards at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Matthew Sperry Memorial Festival at 8 p.m. at 21 Grand, 416 25th St. Oakland. Tickets are $6-$50. www.21grand.org 

MONDAY, JUNE 6 

CHILDREN 

Family Music Night World music with Amber Hines from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave., Oakland. To register call 658-7353. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Punim: Our Spoken Treasures” An exhibit of photographs at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St., through June 7. 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Actors Reading Writers “American Folktales” at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Bring a book for the book exchange. 

The Last Word poetry reading with Louis Cuneo and Diana Quartermaine at 7 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

Meredith Maran and friends introduce “50 Ways to Support Lesbian and Gay Equality: The Complete Guide to Supporting Family, Friends, Neighbors or Yourself” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Poetry Express with Avotcja at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Matthew Sperry Memorial Festival with Phase Chancellor, John Bischoff at 8 p.m. at 21 Grand, 416 25th St. Oakland. Tickets are $6-$50. www.21grand.org 

Molehill Orchestra at 9:30 p.m. at Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. 

Eldar, jazz pianist, at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

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A deal that Mayor Tom Bates and UC Chancellor Robert Birgeneau heralded Wednesday as ushering in a new era of town-gown tranquility continues to stir controversy in Berkeley where several councilmembers and neighborhood leaders insist the city got a bum deal. 

“This is a deal that will live in infamy,” said Councilmember Dona Spring. “The city gave up everything and the university gave up nothing.” 

On Tuesday, the council voted 6-3 to settle the city’s lawsuit against the university. Besides Spring, councilmembers Betty Olds and Kriss Worthington opposed the settlement. The UC Regents endorsed the deal Wednesday. 

Under the agreement, UC Berkeley will more than double its annual payments to the city from just over $500,000 to $1.2 million, with the amount increasing by 3 percent every year through 2021. 

The payments, which will go to sewer and fire services as well as transportation improvement and neighborhood beautification programs, are far lower than the $4.1 million originally sought by the city, which this year faces an $8.9 million deficit. Before the city filed a lawsuit in February, the university had offered annual payments of $1.1 million. 

According to a city’s consultant report last year, the university costs the city about $10.9 million a year. The university disputed that figure. 

The city’s hope for winning its lawsuit and forcing the university to pay sewer fees and parking taxes had plummeted in recent weeks, according to Spring. After telling the council that the city had a good chance to force the university to pay the fees, Spring said, city lawyers told councilmembers that Berkeley had little hope of prevailing in court. 

Bates agreed that the city’s legal options were limited. Had the city prevailed against the long-range plan, he said, the university “would have still gotten exactly what it wanted with just more stop signs.” 

He added that a potential sewer lawsuit “was an uphill fight” and that it was useless to try to collect city parking taxes because nearly every university activity could be construed as having an educational component, which precludes the city from taxing it. 

“We really had no weight,” he said. “The reality is the state Legislature has to come up with a way to help university communities. There’s no way we’re going to squeeze them unless they [the state] change their provisions.” 

Chancellor Birgeneau said the university didn’t have enough money to raise its offer. “We’re running a deficit too,” he said. “Doubling the amount of money really does hurt.”  

The university also pledged to explore a proposal by which the city could collect an additional $200,000 to $500,000 from taxes the university pays for purchases made out of state.  

Besides increasing UC payments to the city, the deal commits both parties to embark on an estimated $500,000 joint effort to devise new zoning rules for downtown Berkeley from the campus to Martin Luther King Jr. Way between Hearst Avenue to Dwight Way. The city will be allowed to use a portion of UC payments to dedicate one full-time planner to the project. 

“We get a chance now to be equal partners with the university and make a logical plan for the downtown,” said Mayor Bates. He called the deal, “the best agreement between any city and university in the state.” 

Bates touted university commitments to work to establish a public-private research center, most likely for West Berkeley, and to locate in Berkeley businesses that spin off from UC research, as well as give hiring preference to Berkeley residents and reduce the number of new parking campus parking spaces from 2,300 to just over 1,200. 

The settlement ends the city’s lawsuit against the UC Berkeley’s Long-Range Development Plan. City officials had argued that the plan essentially gave a blank check to the university to build up to 2.2 million square feet of new administrative and academic space, mostly in the downtown, with no city input. 

As a state entity, UC Berkeley is exempt from paying city taxes or following city zoning regulations. 

The agreement requires the university to list university- and state-owned properties downtown that might be developed over the next 15 years so that the city can better plan for UC expansion. 

But the city also made numerous concessions. Berkeley withdrew its right to sue the university for collection of sewer fees and the city’s parking tax. The city also agreed not to challenge the construction of a new UC Berkeley project on the southeast edge of campus that includes a renovated Memorial Stadium. 

The agreement also makes no mention of city proposals for lessening the effects of campus growth on surrounding neighborhoods. There is no commitment from the university to pay for improving enforcement of residential preferred parking rules, limiting the loss of public sidewalks during construction or establishing a free transit pass for university employees, concessions suggested by residents opposing the plan. 

“The employees of the university are getting screwed just like the residents of Berkeley are getting screwed because there is going to be a lot more traffic,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington. 

Additionally, the university did not commit itself to following the new downtown area plan, and if the new plan is not in place within four years UC can decrease its annual payments by $180,000. Although the university and the city will share the costs of devising the plan, should it be challenged in court, “the university will not be required to defend [it] in court.” 

“The [downtown plan] is a violation of public trust,” said Spring, who represents the downtown area. “We’ve ceded sovereignty to the university and given up our ability to set our own zoning code.” 

Although the plan will go before city commissions and the City Council for approval, the university must sign off on it. Also city-university disagreements will be settled by staff rather than the city’s Planning Commission, and all meetings before city bodies “must be coordinated with UC Berkeley.” 

Rob Wrenn, a member of Berkeley’s planning and transportation commissions, predicted the university would use the new pan to remove its least favorite aspects of the current downtown plan, approved in 1990. 

“What the city really needed was a commitment by the university to follow the current plan,” Wrenn said. 

Ed Denton, the university’s vice chancellor of facilities, declined to specify the university’s objections to the current downtown plan. “The plan is extremely old,” he said. “Right now we have to keep saying no. We want to develop a plan that allows us to say yes.” 

Bates agreed that the current downtown plan needs updating and that the new plan would give the city and university a chance to coordinate future development in the downtown.  

Raudel Wilson, president of the Downtown Berkeley Association, a merchants group, praised the proposal. 

“I think it’s a smart idea,” he said. “If UC is going to be building down here it makes sense for them to work with the city and have a say in the downtown’s future.” 

Before Berkeley and UC signed a deal making settlement negotiations secret, Mayor Tom Bates sought a confidentiality agreement with the UC Berkeley Chancellor. 

In a March 14 letter obtained by the Daily Planet, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau rejected Bates’ suggestion that the two sign an agreement to “engage in private confidential discussions.” 

Mayor Bates said that he and Birgeneau had had productive discussions before the city filed suit against the university and that he thought additional talks could break the stalemate. 

“I wanted to continue those discussions because I thought we were making progress,” he said. Bates added that he sought the confidentiality agreement to make sure that UC could not use anything said at the meeting during a trial.  

In rejecting the offer, Birgeneau wrote that the two sides should conduct negotiations, “only through the formal mandatory settlement conference, and not through personal side meetings.” 

The chancellor elaborated on his rationale for rejecting the secret talks at a Wednesday press conference. “These types of negotiations have to be done properly,” he said. “They can’t be done anecdotally between the mayor and myself.” 

Soon after Birgeneau rejected Bates’ request, the two sides agreed to a more expansive confidentiality agreement that prevented residents from viewing the deal until both sides approved it. 

The agreement, signed by attorneys for both sides, has drawn heat from councilmembers, who said they never formally voted to approve it. 

Although Bates wanted to have private talks with the chancellor, he said he understood that any confidentiality agreement the city entered into would not preclude publicizing the proposed settlement. 

Last week, the university rejected a request from the mayor and City Council to waive the agreement so residents could preview the deal. 

Birgeneau said Wednesday that the Regents wouldn’t permit the university to disclose the terms before it approved the settlement. 

Neighborhood activists, angry that they couldn’t view or comment on the deal before it was approved, are now challenging it in court. Today (Friday) a superior court judge will hear a petition to intervene filed by Berkeley resident Carl Friberg. 

“I feel we have the constitutional right for citizens to review any agreement made on our behalf by the city,” Friberg said. “That’s what the mayor promised and that’s what we’re asking for.” 

Friberg maintained that because the city didn’t give residents input into the decision making process, they should be added as a third party to the city’s lawsuit against the university. 

If the judge grants Friberg’s petition, the settlement agreement would be put on hold. 

Meanwhile Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who opposed the settlement agreement, said he was preparing a proposal to prevent the city from not disclosing similar settlement agreements, before the council approves them. 

“I think it is reprehensible that some attorney succeeded in keeping the public from having one second of comment before this was a done deal,” he said. 

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The Berkeley Unified School District took an enormous bite out of its union problems last Tuesday, reaching tentative agreements with its teachers, bus drivers, custodians, instructional assistants and office workers. 

Members of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, Stationary Engineers Local 39, and the Berkeley Council of Classified Employees have to vote on ratification of the contracts, and, if approved, the contracts must be certified by the Alameda County Office of Education to ensure that the district can actually meet the promised fiscal obligations. 

Contract negotiations are still ongoing with the unions representing BUSD’s administrators and managers and supervisors. 

The teacher contract dispute had gotten the bulk of public attention over the past few months, with several BFT-sponsored rallies held on the Old City Hall grounds during School Board meetings and with many teachers holding a “work-to-rule” action throughout the schools in which they refused to provide volunteer work past their contracted eight-hour days. Berkeley teachers have been working without a new contract for two years. 

The new contract, if ratified, will extend through the 2007-08 school year. BFT and district representatives reportedly held at least one 24-hour session over the weekend to reach the tentative agreement. 

BUSD representatives would not disclose details of the tentative agreement. But Thursday afternoon, shortly before teachers assembled at the Berkeley Community Theater to begin voting on the proposed contract, the teachers’ union released a summary of what they called the “key features” of the contract, which include: 

• A 1.04 percent across-the-board salary increase in 2005-06. 

• A limit on increases in health care co-payments in 2005-06. 

• A “fair share” revenue sharing formula for 2006-07 and 2007-08 during which teacher pay and benefits will rise if new revenue is received by the district. 

• A cap on health care benefits for 2006-07 through 2007-08. 

• Maximum class sizes at all grade levels, and BSEP Measure B staffing ratios written as part of contracts for all classes. 

In a telephone interview, Berkeley Federation of Teachers President Barry Fike credited the union’s direct-action tactics and “parents who pushed both sides to negotiate an agreement rather than taking this to a strike” for ultimately pushing through the tentative contract agreement. 

“The settlement reflects tight financial times at both the state and local levels,” Fike said, “and is consistent with the union’s position all along that we’d only ask for our fair share.” 

Saying that “we are relieved that we have a contract,” Fike said that he did not envision any further negotiations if BFT members turn it down. “I’m informing teachers that they should either vote to approve the tentative contract or be prepared for a strike.” 

He said that the union’s negotiating team was recommending member approval of the proposed contract, but that because of the short period between the signing of the tentative agreement and beginning of the teacher ratification vote, on Thursday, BFT’s Executive Committee was not able to formally meet to make a recommendation. 

In the contract disputes among the district’s bus drivers and custodians there was some lingering confusion and bitterness. 

Several custodians came out to Wednesday night’s BUSD board meeting apparently prepared to make presentations but left en masse shortly before the meeting began without explaining what they had come to say. One Local 39 member would only say that the custodians had left “because our leaders aren’t out here.” 

Mary Alice Pride, identifying herself as a district bus driver, spoke during the board’s public comment period, complaining that recent district announcements of possible bus stop eliminations and zoning changes “ultimately will eliminate bus drivers and eliminate bus service for some children. We think that budget cuts can be made in other areas.” 

Pride also complained that the district was hiring new bus drivers at the lowest pay scale while handing out layoff notice to higher-paid drivers who had been with the district for years. 

All of the district’s bus drivers had recently received layoff notices. 

“The buses will roll next year, and all eligible children will ride,” said BUSD Board President Nancy Riddle. “We may consolidate some bus stops, and we may stagger some of the bell times to make the routes more efficient. This is just a case of anxious employees misunderstanding the situation.” 

Riddle said that the layoff notices were necessary by law “whenever there is even a slight modification in the work schedules,” but added that “no driver will lose their job.” 

Superintendent Michelle Lawrence also assured the district’s bus drivers that their jobs were not in jeopardy. 

Representatives of Stationary Engineers Local 39 and the Berkeley Council of Classified Employees were not available for comment for this story. 

Despite the still-lingering contract controversies, Lawrence praised union and district negotiators for “making it through this incredibly difficult time” and stating that “maybe this means we’ll end the school year on a good note.” 

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After almost four years of trying to negotiate a new union contract, workers at the Claremont Resort and Spa voted Wednesday to go on strike if an agreement is not reached by June 1. According to the union, 94 percent of the workers voted in favor of walking out. 

In a public demonstration of the vote, more than 200 workers, community members, elected officials and other union representatives rallied at the hotel Thursday afternoon and then marched down Ashby Avenue to Claremont Avenue to the cheers and honks of passing motorists. 

“It depends on management, they have until June 1,” said Evelyn Sanchez, an organizer with the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, which helped organize the strike vote. “I’m sure they understand the repercussions of a strike economically; if they choose to do nothing, that’s on them.” 

The union did not say whether June 1 will be the official start of the strike if an agreement is not reached. 

—Jakob Schiller 

Ã

Overriding the pleas of preservationists, Berkeley Planning Commissioners passed changes to the city’s Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO) Wednesday night. 

The controversial measure now heads to the City Council for a hearing on July 12. 

The measure gives the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) the power to deny demolitions of designated historical resources, including those designated structures of merit. 

The measure simultaneously strips the LPC’s control over so-called “minor alterations” to the exteriors of structures of merit and vests the authority with city staff. 

Structures of merit are structures of historical significance that have been altered but still retain many of their original design features, while “landmarks” are more pristine. 

The lesser classification was entitled to the same protections as “landmarks” under the current ordinance, including the requirement that all changes must be approved by the LPC.  

The Planning Commission version also weakens protections for structures of merit under the California Environment Quality Act, reducing the need for a detailed Environmental Impact Report for demolitions or major alterations. 

As adopted, a city zoning officer can approve “minor alterations” without the right of appeal to the LPC unless the city official chooses to refer it to the commission. Just what constitutes a minor alteration isn’t spelled out.  

Planning Commissioner Gene Poschman proposed an amendment that would allow appeals of proposed alterations to the Landmarks Commission, but it failed on a tie (four-four) vote. 

“This is truly appalling,” said LPC member Patricia Dacey during the public comment session at the start of the meeting. “It is a transfer of power from the commissions and City Council to the bureaucrat. Changes to structures of merit will be made on the say-so of zoning officers with no right of appeal, and city staff have shown themselves to be no friends of landmarks.” 

Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association President Wendy Markle declared in a letter presented at the start of Wednesday’s meeting, “The broad stroke of these provisions is to turn the intent and practice of the LPO away from the citizen, the neighborhood, and the of a community-involved commission to the developer, the paid planning staff, and outside developer.” 

The measure also introduces a new procedure that allows property owners to apply for a “Request for Determination” (RFD) to ascertain whether or not a 50-year-old-plus building potentially qualifies as a landmark. 

Owners of single-family homes and duplexes who want a determination and aren’t planning major alterations or demolitions will only have to submit a photograph of the dwelling as visible from the street, the name of the architect (if available) and the construction date. 

Owners of larger and commercial buildings will have to submit a detailed historical analysis which contains information similar to that required now for a landmarking application. 

If owners are planning alteration or demolition, then RFDs are mandatory and must contain a full, detailed analysis. 

Planning Commissioner Gene Poschman offered a successful amendment that gave the LPC the right to continue non-project RFDs an additional two meetings beyond the two proposed by his commission to decide whether or not to initiate a landmark proposal on the property. After that, interested members have an additional 10 days to gather the 25 needed signatures to initiate a landmark application on their own. 

For RFDs with construction, the time limits are imposed by the Permit Streamlining Act, the original impetus for the LPC’s long-term project to revise the ordinance. The Planning Commission took six months to mull over what had taken years of effort by the LPC. 

Two other Poschman amendments failed on a 4-4 vote, the result of the non-appearance of Planning Commissioner Rob Wrenn, whose absence at commission meetings has been more frequent than his attendance. 

When it came time to vote on the whole package, commissioner Sara Shumer said she couldn’t consider voting for the measure because of the tie votes. 

“I am perfectly comfortable voting on something where the majority voted in favor of the provisions, but I’m not comfortable voting for things where amendments failed on a 4-4 vote. I would be comfortable voting for those things that got majority support, but this is not kosher,” she said. 

Deputy City Attorney Zach Cowan reminded Shumer that motions on an ordinance were all or nothing. 

Colleague David Stoloff, appointee of Mayor Tom Bates, said Shumer’s concerns could be addressed in a letter transmitted to the council along with the ordinance. 

“I’m planning to vote for it because this has been with us a long time,” said Helen Burke. 

“This will strengthen preservation in this town,” said Chair Harry Pollack. 

When it came time for the final vote only Poschman and Joe Fireman sided with Shumer and the ordinance was approved on a 5-3 vote. 

The measure now heads to the City Council in time for a decision before the council takes its annual summer break, as Mayor Bates has been urging. f

Promising to attract some of the best scientific minds in the country, the UC Board of Regents voted Thursday to compete for the management of the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons research and development laboratories in Los Alamos, New Mexico in partnership with Bechtel National, Inc. 

The only regent voting in opposition was Gary Novack, UC Alumni Association vice president.  

The university’s drive to continue managing the lab, which gave birth to the atomic bomb, was met by the sometimes raucous opposition of about four dozen students and community activists who showed up at an 8 a.m. subcommittee meeting on Wednesday at the Laurel Heights campus in San Francisco.  

After 23 of them were permitted to voice their concerns for 90 seconds each, the activists vented their frustration by chanting and heckling the regents, who left the meeting room and were replaced by a row of armed police. Given the choice to leave or be arrested, the group agreed to observe the regents’ deliberations quietly.  

At issue was DOE’s call for competitive bids to manage the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The university has had a no-bid contract to manage the facility since 1943, but DOE revised its contract procedures after recent security breeches. The final requirements for the competition were announced last week; proposals must be submitted by July 19. It is expected that a University of Texas-Lockheed team will also compete.  

Students from the Coalition to Demilitarize UC and peace advocates said weapons development was at odds with the educational mission of the university. UC Berkeley graduate student Josh Kearns said he suspected that in addition to research and development, “UC will be overseeing the manufacturing of nuclear weapons.” 

The coalition condemned the partnership with BNI, a division of the San Francisco-based Bechtel Group. Calling the corporation a “war profiteer” for its lucrative contract work in Iraq, Juan Reardon of UC Santa Cruz, questioned the “moral implications of work with Bechtel.”  

Activists from Tri-Valley Cares addressed the health and safety of employees and communities surrounding the labs, pointing to worker lawsuits claiming chemical exposure. They also asked the university to ensure workers’ rights to organize and “whistleblower” protections.  

Lab subcommittee members posed questions to Michael Anastasio, who will lead the UC-Bechtel team, and to representatives from BNI and subcontractors BWX Technologies and Washington Group International. Like the students, several regents thought the labs might be preparing to manufacture nuclear weapons. Regent Richard Blum of Blum Capital Partners wanted to be sure they wouldn’t be violating international treaties or “spurring a new nuclear arms race.”  

Anastasio assured Blum that Congress regulates nuclear weapons development, so that any change in the Los Alamos mission would have to come directly from the lawmakers.  

Students charged that Blum, husband of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, should not vote because he is vice chair of URS Corp., which does business with Los Alamos. UC’s general council on Thursday, however, ruled out a conflict of interest and allowed Blum to vote.  

Regents also voiced concern for lab employees, who will cease to be UC staff—the university and Bechtel will form a new corporation—and whose pensions are part of the UC system. Regents Chair Gerald Parsky of the Aurora Capital Group cautioned, “There are a number of issues that need to be worked out.”  

Several of the regents lauded the unique working conditions for scientists at Los Alamos. “The strength is in the environment of academic freedom. This doesn’t exist in the corporate environment,” Parsky said. 

The “open inquiry of science sets a tone for employees” which allows the university to attract “some of the best scientists,” Anastasio said.  

However Novack, the only regent to oppose the competition, argued that the university’s focus should be on academics and improving K-12 education. “The downsides outweigh the upsides,” he said.  

Non-voting Regent Richard Rominger, secretary of UC’s Alumni Association, voiced concern that the labs are an “additional distraction from the core mission of the university.”  

Regents emphasized they did not manage the labs for money, even though the fee paid to the new management team could be as high as $79 million, more than eight times the fees UC had been receiving. 

“It’s clear that UC does not benefit,” said George Blumenthal, chair of the faculty council. All UC fees are put back into the labs. “Service to the country is the university’s mission.”  

Regent Peter Preuss, of the Preuss Foundation, added, “Bidding for this contract is our duty. The nation needs us to do this job.”  

“We live in a very dangerous world. Nuclear weapons could be in the hands of people who we wish didn’t have them,” such as Iran and North Korea, said Regent Blum, who added that the work of the labs “will keep us safe, so we can sit here and protest.”  

Regent David Lee of San Jose further underscored the labs’ mission, by saying, “When we have stronger weapons, people listen to us.”  

When Robi Damelin’s 28-year-old son was killed while serving as an Israeli soldier in the Occupied Territories of Palestine, she didn’t know what to do. She was overcome with a mixture of anger, sadness and confusion. Her son was a peace activist and nev er wanted to serve. She couldn’t figure out who or what to blame. 

When Nadwa Sarandah’s sister was stabbed to death in the streets of East Jerusalem, she became mired in her grief. After living under an occupation that she said had already taken away her dignity and her freedom, she couldn’t bare to lose another part of her life. 

Both women said they felt helpless. Both also knew, however, that whatever they did, they did not want to feed the cycle of violence and misunderstanding that robbed them of their loved ones. 

Damelin and Sarandah eventually met in the Parent’s Circle—Families Forum, an organization started by an Israeli man who also lost his son, formed to give bereaved parents and families an outlet for their grief. 

Now, several years later, Damelin and Sarandah continue to work together. On Monday, they addressed a crowd at the Berkeley-Richmond Jewish Community Center to tell their story during an event sponsored by Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, a national Jewish organization dedicated to finding a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

“If we can have one hope, we need to trust each other,” said Damelin, to crowd of about 30 people. Sitting side by side and often interrupting each other like old friends, the two women had the cr owd in tears several times after recounting their losses. 

They said that soon after joining the Parent’s Circle, they discovered the organization was not only a place to grieve but gave families on both sides of the conflict a forum to share their storie s and a place to start working toward reconciliation. Sarandah and Damelin have traveled around their countries together, recruiting parents and families to participate. 

At the JCC talk, Damelin read the letter she had written to the family of the Palest inian who killed her son. She said she had come to realize that her son wasn’t killed for being himself, but instead because he was a symbol of the occupation. This helped her better understand his death, she said, and she wanted to share this with the gunner’s family. 

“I know [your son] did not kill David because he was David,” Damelin read from the letter. “Let us put an end to the killing and find a solution through mutual understanding.” 

Sarandah delivered Damelin’s letter to the Palestinian family who she said were deeply affected by the occupation, cut off from the rest of the world by the roadblocks that surrounded their village. She learned that the man who had killed David was only a kid when he saw his uncle killed by Israeli forces. Since the n, his family had lost several more family members in the violence. 

“He had no hope whatsoever,” Sarandah said. 

Both women said the experience confirmed their belief that the only way to find a solution is to overcome the divisiveness and unite person to person and family to family at a grassroots level. 

“You can sign any paper you want,” said Damelin in reference to agreements such as the Oslo Accords or the Road Map. “But unless you have a reconciliation process, you will not have peace.” 

For more information about Sarandah or Damelin, or to find out more about the Parent’s Circle, visit www.theparentscircle.org. 



With the blessing of city officials, the owner of an illegal West Berkeley live/work warehouse where 15 tenants refuse to leave has formulated a plan to speed up evictions and safeguard the value of the property. 

Lawrence White, owner of the Drayage building, is set to apply for permits to demolish the building’s 24 illegal residential units, according to his attorney William Berland. The permits could potentially allow White to evict tenants and ask a judge to enforce an eviction order months earlier than he could otherwise. 

City officials said approval of the interior demolition permit could be fast-tracked and would not need to go before the city’s Zoning Adjustments Board, sparking an angry rebuke from the tenants’ legal advisor, Jeffrey Carter. 

“The implications of this is that in Berkeley it is easy to throw people on the street for living a slightly bohemian lifestyle,” Carter said. 

He contends the city’s zoning board must approve the permits, which would add several months to the process. 

If granted, the demolition permit would allow White, under Berkeley’s rent laws, to proceed with evictions without subjecting his property to restrictions on its future use. Without the permit, White’s surest option to legally remove the tenants is to leave the rental business. 

Had White taken that route, city law requires that the tenants be allowed to remain for four months, and they have the right to return if the building was brought up to code as rental housing. In addition, the building could not be converted to a condominium for 10 years after the eviction. 

Condominium restrictions could lower the value of the property which White has said he would put on the market for $2.7 million. Two months ago a deal fell through to sell the site for $2.05 million to a developer who planned to build condos. 

White has been under pressure from the city to have the tenants vacate the building since a fire inspection in March uncovered over 250 code violations at the warehouse on Addison and Third streets. 

Calling the building “an extreme fire hazard,” Berkeley Fire Marshal David Orth has fined White $2,500 a day since Apr. 15 and made him pay an extra $1,000 a day for an on-site fire watch until all of the tenants are removed. 

Although Carter maintains that the Zoning Adjustments Board is required to rule on the demolition of dwelling units, Berkeley Land Use Planning Manager Mark Rhoades said that the Drayage residences don’t qualify for ZAB review since they were built illegally. 

“They were never recognized under the zoning ordinance as dwelling units,” Rhoades said. “The residences are commercial spaces that have been illegally used as dwelling units.” 

Carter countered that the city’s zoning ordinance only requires that a dwelling unit be occupied “by persons living in a household,” not that the unit be legally established. 

Rhoades said the city would need about three to four weeks to rule on the permit application once it is presented. He added that after obtaining the permit, the city could not require White to follow through with the demolition work. 

The tenants, many of whom are artisans and have lived at the warehouse for a decade, continue to hope that by staying put they can pressure White to accept a deal from the Northern California Land Trust. The trust has reportedly offered more than $2.05 million for the property and has pledged of to give tenants the right to return in a new building that meets city codes. 

“We’re disappointed the landlord has refused the land trust’s offer,” said Claudia Viera, a tenant. “It seems like they’re trying very hard to get around the law.” 

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In an effort to decrease the number of vacant storefronts around town, the Berkeley City Council Tuesday eased parking requirements for new businesses that open on commercial streets. 

The ordinance, passed by a vote of 7-1, with one abstention, ends restrictions that forced prospective merchants to provide off-street parking when they opened a business that provides a different use from that of the previous business. 

Also, the council narrowly rejected a proposal encouraging state lawmakers to allow cities to extend the vote to 16-year-olds and defeated another proposal to ask state regulators to form a citizen advisory group to oversee the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s cleanup of the Strawberry Creek Watershed at the lab’s Berkeley campus. 

The drive to ease parking restrictions on new businesses stems from a recommendation from Mayor Tom Bates’ Taskforce on Permitting and Development. Because many current businesses were grandfathered in before Berkeley established laws requiring businesses to supply off-street parking, potential new businesses were often saddled with the responsibility for providing customer parking in areas where no parking was readily available. 

The task force, which met last year, heard the saga of a South Berkeley pizza restaurant, Spud’s, that nearly didn’t open because of the city’s parking restrictions. By changing the building’s use from retail to a restaurant, the new owner was required to provide 12 new parking spaces even though on-street parking in the area was plentiful. 

The owner’s search to secure parking delayed the restaurant’s opening and ultimately forced him to sign a parking deal with a local church that required the restaurant not to serve alcohol. 

The new ordinance, which must still be passed a second time to become law, applies only to commercial streets. Also, in order to waive parking requirements for new businesses that require more parking under city law than their predecessors, the city must make special findings that the new business is located either near public transportation or a public parking lot. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington argued that giving the city discretion over reducing parking requirements could result in the law being applied unfairly. He also held that the proposal would merely force shoppers to park on nearby residential streets. 

Councilmember Laurie Capitelli, who chaired the mayor’s task force prior to being elected to the council, countered that the new law would not displace any more parking to neighborhoods than under the current conditions. 

Youth Voting 

Despite an impassioned plea from nine Berkeley High students, the council failed to round up five votes to pass a resolution supporting local choice for lowering the voting age to 16. The resolution failed 4-2, with three abstentions (Spring, Worthington, Anderson and Moore, yes). 

Should the state legislature ever allow cities to lower the voting age, Berkeley would spend an additional $38,800 to pay for extra ballots, voting rolls and poll workers, according to City Clerk Sara Cox. 

That is a small price to pay “for ensuring that young people have a voice,” said Councilmember Max Anderson. 

But many of his colleagues weren’t ready to go to bat for teen suffrage. 

“What keeps me from supporting this is my own memory of myself as a 16-year-old,” said Capitelli. 

Councilmember Gordon Wozniak opposed the notion of a proposal that effectively would give the vote to 16-year-olds in some California cities but not others. 

The defeat was a surprise to the students who said they thought that weeks of lobbying would carry the day. 

“I feel we were slightly misled,” said Berkeley High student Chris Howell. “A lot of the complaints they made tonight came out of the blue.” 

Lab Cleanup 

To the relief of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the council rejected a proposal to ask state regulators to install a citizen advisory board comprised partially of lab critics to oversee the cleanup at the Strawberry Creek Canyon site.  

Instead, the council voted 6-3 (Worthington, Spring, Anderson, no) to designate the Community Environmental Advisory Commission to act as the liaison with state regulators and to keep citizens informed about the cleanup. Also the council directed the city manager to urge Berkeley’s representatives in Congress to press for more federal money for the cleanup effort. 

Lab spokesperson Terry Powell said the lab was pleased with the vote. “Now we can focus on the cleanup,” she said, adding that the lab had 17 months to complete the job. 

Slavery Ties 

In other matters at Tuesday’s meeting, the council, without debate, voted 8-1 (Olds, no) to require city vendors to disclose whether they had any financial ties to slavery in the U.S. 

It also unanimously approved a resolution urging county lawmakers to reduce bird deaths at county wind energy plants, and another to revisit granting a contract extension for Pedal Express to deliver the city’s interoffice mail.

Berkeley gardener and traffic circle advocate Karl Reeh is learning the hard way: Never negotiate with terrorists.  

Especially with an unnamed person or group brazen enough to kidnap the 15-year-old Bald Cypress tree he raised from a seeding right out of a traffic circle at Ellsworth and Ward streets. 

“In a way it is like terrorism,” Reeh said. “When I give in, they just raise the stakes.” 

At the request of a resident who lives beside the new traffic circle, Reeh, on April 10, planted his six-foot cypress tree in the circle. Eleven days later the tree was gone, replaced by the following note from a group calling itself “The Society for the Humane Treatment of Trees and People.” 

“Your tree is safe, but will not be returned unless you agree never to plant any type of tree in the traffic circle. To show your good will, plant any other low-growing plant in its place and your tree will be returned.” 

The tree nabbers, believed to live somewhere on the 2300 block of Ward Street, just east of the traffic circle, gave the justification for taking the hostage. In a hand-scribbled note, they argued that as the tree grew, it would risk pedestrian safety by blocking views across the circle, crowd out other plants on the circle, and “block the open feeling of the circle and the big bowl of blue sky above it.”  

As a compromise, the tree nabbers suggested replanting the tree two blocks north on the traffic circle at Ellsworth and Carleton streets, where a young redwood, donated by the city, had died. 

Not wanting to pick a fight, Reeh, who lives in the neighborhood and is president of the local neighborhood association, didn’t file a police report and complied with their demands. 

“As a community activist,” he said, “I think it’s important not to snub the minority opinion.”  

He left Delphinium bulbs at the circle, which were planted, but instead of getting back his tree, Reeh, through an intermediary, received another note with new demands. The tree could no longer be available to the neighboring traffic circles, the tree nabbers said, because the Bald Cypress needs too much water to thrive in the middle of asphalt. 

They added, “Your tree is having a lovely time out of town, in the company of other trees,” but if Reeh wanted it back, he would have to “put out the general word to the neighborhood” that the tree would not be available to other traffic circles. 

“At this point I don’t know whether I’m going to get it back,” said Reeh, who maintains that the cypress does not require much water and is suitable for a traffic circle. “I try to withhold any anger because I don’t know who I’m dealing with.” 

Reeh said he has communicated with the tree nabbers through Holly and Bruce Schenck, residents of Ward Street, who are responsible for maintaining the traffic circle. 

“I’m happy to see the tree gone,” said Bruce Schenck, adding that he didn’t know the identity of the thieves. While his niece, who lives a few houses down on Ellsworth Street, liked the tree, he found the idea of have a cypress unappealing. 

“If you’re a pedestrian, you’re pretty much invisible to a driver when you’re walking on the other side of the circle,” he said. 

Schenck’s neighbor, who refused to give his name, said he preferred the circle without the tree and didn’t think anyone on his block wanted it. 

Meanwhile on Ellsworth Street, Alan McCornick, who first petitioned Berkeley to install the traffic circle, fumed at the news. 

“What a low-life. A tree-stealer. Now that’s a new kind of scuzzbag,” McCornick wrote in an e-mail. 

“My humble opinion is they just want control over that circle and don’t want anyone else involved,” said Reeh, who has not given up hope that the tree will end up at the neighboring traffic circle on Carleton Street. 

On Sunday Reeh paid a visit to the home of Jane Scherr, one of several people who care for the Carleton traffic circle, asking her to gather signatures from neighbors in favor of planting the tree at their circle. 

“Maybe if they see there is a lot of support for the tree here, they’ll be moved to return it,” Reeh said. “All I want is for it to be returned so it can be planted again.” 

Click here to view the latest work by Justin DeFreitas

Parking will no longer be free for local BART riders beginning in January. 

By a 7-2 vote, BART’s board of directors, looking to close a $53 million budget deficit, voted Thursday to charge parking fees at 10 East Bay stations, including Ashby and North Berkeley. 

The board also approved shortening peak time trains and establishing a 10-cent fare surcharge. When coupled with a previously approved 3.7 percent fare increase set to take effect in January, the minimum fare will increase from $1.25 to $1.40. 

Disabled and senior riders will also have to pay more. Starting in January, BART will reduce their ride discount from 75 percent to 62.5 percent of the full fare. 

Beginning in 2006, BART will charge $1 parking fees at the following East Bay stations: North Berkeley, Ashby, MacArthur, Lake Merritt, Rockridge, Orinda, Lafayette, Walnut Creek and Dublin-Pleasanton, and $5 at West Oakland. 

Outlying BART stations were spared from parking fees, BART Director Bob Franklin said, in part because BART only has equipment to charge for parking at 10 stations and also because directors representing outlying areas opposed parking fees at their stations. 

“It’s not fair [that some passengers will pay more], but we have a budget deficit and this is the most we can get in parking charges,” Franklin said. 

Franklin predicted that if ridership remains stable at stations where the parking fees are established, directors would feel pressure to charge for parking throughout the system. Should ridership drop sharply, he said the board would likely rescind the parking fees. 

Berkeley officials have been pushing for BART to charge for parking at city stations. Noting that BART reported that it costs about $1 a day to maintain parking spaces, Councilmember Kriss Worthington said free parking amounted to an unfair subsidy for drivers. 

Additionally, the city contends that public agencies such as BART are subject to the city’s 10 percent parking tax, but details have not been worked out with the agency. With 1,437 parking spaces in Berkeley, if the city were to receive the tax on BART’s $1 per space fee, Berkeley would net about $40,000 a year. 

The board also approved the elimination of 115 positions, 65 of which were vacant, and froze salaries for top managers. In all the cuts, trimmed BART’s budget deficit from $53 million to $23.5 million. 

BART spokesperson Linton Johnson said the transit system will seek to balance its budget from savings through negotiations with its unions. The contracts for all five BART unions expire at the end of June. BART’s budget projects that union employees won’t receive pay raises for the next four years. 

BART’s deficit stems mainly from falling revenues and increasing costs. While sales tax revenues and ridership (BART’s two sources of income) have dropped over the past five years, employee salaries and benefits have increased. 

BART, which is not required to operate on a balanced budget, has until the end of June to finalize its budget for fiscal year 2006, which begins July 1. 

Oakland developer Alan Dones told Peralta Community College trustees Tuesday night that he “came to be a partner, not an adversary,” and was withdrawing his controversial proposal for an agreement to develop Peralta-Laney College lands. 

Following Dones’ dramatic announcement, members of the Peralta Trustee Board audience—many of whom had come out to vocally oppose the proposed agreement—broke into spontaneous applause. 

Several meeting participants, including members of Oakland’s black business and political community, had come with the intention of supporting the Dones proposal. Dones is African-American, and support for his proposal on the trustee board had been divided along racial lines. 

The proposal had appeared on the agenda without Chancellor Elihu Harris’ recommendation of approval. 

Board Vice President Linda Handy, a supporter of the Dones project, asked the trustees to accept the project withdrawal with the understanding it would be reconsidered once the board completes its strategic plan at the end of the year. The resolution was passed unanimously. 

Trustees Nicky Gonzalez Yuen and Cy Gulassa, vocal opponents of the Dones proposal, had argued in earlier meetings that the development of the strategic plan should precede any district development plans. 

With four of its members retiring, the outgoing Peralta Board of Trustees authorized contract negotiations between Peralta Chancellor Elihu Harris and Dones at the board’s final meeting last November. The proposed contract would have given Dones and his Strategic Urban Development Alliance (SUDA) exclusive one-year rights to come up with a long-term lease and joint development plan for the Peralta administration buildings and the Laney College student-faculty parking lot. 

The plot sits on what may soon become prime development land once the City of Oakland makes bond-authorized improvements to the Lake Merritt Channel, which runs between the Peralta and Laney properties. 

Concerns about commercial development of Laney properties escalated last February after a Laney College meeting in which Dones indicated that he wanted to include land on East 10th Street that had already been set aside to construct Laney’s new Art Building. The Peralta Federation of Teachers also actively opposed the Dones proposal, bringing with them the clout of Alameda County’s powerful labor coalitions. 

In his statement to trustees during the public comment period before the board began considering agenda items, a contrite Dones said that he made his decision “because the process has pretty much degraded, and in light of the chancellor’s stated opposition to my plan.” 

Dones said he was also “offering my assistance as the district moves forward with the strategic plan, and after administrators and faculty and students get the chance to weigh in on this matter, I will be more than happy—should the board desire it—to resubmit my proposal at a later time.” 

Opponents of the Dones plan were quick to praise the developer for withdrawing his proposal before the vote and offering an olive branch of peace. 

Trustee Cy Gulassa said, “I have always felt Mr. Dones was a man of great integrity and responsibility, and in my talks with labor representatives, they all say that they hold you in high regard. I hope that we can work together in the future as partners.” 

Evelyn Lord, president of the Laney Faculty Senate that had passed several resolutions against the Dones plan, offered “thanks and appreciation to Mr. Dones for having the integrity to step forward tonight and make this announcement. I look forward to perhaps working with him in the future on campus projects.” 

Sharon Cornu, executive director of the Alameda Central Labor Council, said, “I suspect at some future point my organization will be back here to support some project Mr. Dones is working on.” 

And while Dones and development proposal opponents were talking peace, supporters of the Dones proposal got off a few parting shots in what had been a bitter and often racially divided lobbying campaign. 

Local business leader Geoffrey Pete, chairman of the Oakland Black Caucus, complained that African-Americans have been left out of Peralta’s ongoing multi-million dollar Vista College building project in Berkeley despite support for the Vista project by African-American business and political leaders. 

“Where is the outrage at that?” he said. “Or is outrage reserved against African-American developers only? Let’s make sure that the causal reason that cost SUDA this contract isn’t the same one that has left African-Americans out of the Vista project.” 

(Pete is the cousin of the author of this story.) 

Chancellor Harris announced for the first time that he opposed the Dones proposal and criticized what he called “misinformation” about the plan. 

“There was a lot of hoopla in the community that this was a proposal to sell Peralta and Laney land,” Harris said. “That was incorrect. The sale of the land was never in the proposal. It was a joint-use agreement.” 

›

Panoramic Hill will become Berkeley’s newest national landmark, a federal official said Thursday. 

Sandwiched between the two UC Berkeley campuses and Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve, the landmark-to-be is a narrow wedge of hillside marked by narrow one-lane roads that sit next to some of Berkeley’s most distinguished houses. 

Paul Lusignan, the National Register of Historic Places historian in charge of landmark designations in western states, said minor changes remain to be made in the application, but “there’s nothing that stands in the way of its eventual listing.” 

The district features unique creations by illustrious architects, including Julia Morgan, Bernard Maybeck, Ernest Coxhead, John Hudson Thomas and William Wurster. 

Two Panoramic Hill residents—Janice Thomas and Fredrica Drotos—prepared the 62-page application for submission to the State Historic Resources Commission, which endorsed the proposal in February and forwarded it on to Lusignan’s office. 

At the time, state historian Marilyn Lortie said that in her 20 years with the state Office of Historic Preservation, “this is one of the nicest residential districts I’ve ever seen. It has all the stars of California architecture.” 

Once the minor bugs are resolved, the Panoramic Hill Historic District will become the city’s 11th national landmark and the second district to be recognized. The Berkeley Historic Civic Center District was recognized two years ago. 

“This is fabulous news,” said Thomas when informed of Lusignan’s comments. “It’s a great relief. Let’s hope it protects us from whatever the university’s got planned.” 

Thomas and her friends on Panoramic Hill have been outspoken critics of UC Berkeley’s plans for installing nighttime television lighting at Memorial Stadium, which sits at the base of their hillside. 

Of the 61 hillside homes nominated for inclusion in the district, Lusignan rejected only one, the creation of Frank Lloyd Wright—arguably the best-known of American architects. 

The problem wasn’t so much the structure as its age. 

While Wright designed the home in the 1930s for a hillside site in Malibu, his client never built it, and the plans remained in the custody of the architect’s estate until purchased for construction at 13 Mosswood Road on a site approved by the Taliesin Foundation. 

The home was built in 1975, nearly four decades after it was designed—and that’s what counted for Lusignan. 

“It’s a Frank Lloyd Wright design, but from our perspective it’s a 1975 home,” he said. 

That date puts it outside National Register criteria, he said, and the design wasn’t sufficiently distinctive to breach the age restriction. “It’s not exceptional enough.” 

“We knew there was some risk with including it,” Thomas said. “The owners have done a fabulous job of keeping it intact.” 

Thomas said the current owners had been enthusiastic about the possibility of their home being included in the district, and she was worried that without that protection a future owner might now be able to enlarge or otherwise alter the structure.

CITY SERVICES TO UC 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I wish somebody—the Daily Planet maybe—could tell readers the following: 

How many dollars is the City of Berkeley spending to provide sewer and fire service to UC, over and above whatever fees UC pays to the city. In other words, what is the total subsidy? 

What is the law on providing these services? Is the city required by any law to provide sewer and fire services below cost? 

If so, it seems the city doesn’t have much negotiating clout. 

If not, it seems the city has powerful negotiating clout—in which case, why don’t city officials set a date by which UC pays its fair share, or has its service cut off? That’s what happens to regular taxpayers if they don’t pay their bills. 

This is not a rhetorical question. It’s a serious question. Really—why don’t they? 

If the city won’t tell us, maybe the Daily Planet can. 

Russ Mitchell 

• 

HOUSING AUTHORITY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

According to the city website, “The Berkeley Housing Authority is responsible for carrying out the Housing Assistance Voucher and Public Housing Programs for low income Berkeley families. The Housing Authority is composed of the elected City Council and two tenant members of the Housing Authority. Tenant members are appointed to the authority by the council for two-year terms. One tenant member must be 62 years of age or older.” 

Apparently one or two councilmembers are unaware of this duality structure of the BHA—Section 8 (including some project-based) and public housing. It appears that for some time and yet again, the BHA has been lacking crucial tenant representation. As administrator of both Berkeley’s Section 8 and public housing, this is especially crucial. The City Council and mayor should fill this vacancy expeditiously by appointing an appropriately representative and capable person, someone who, among other things, will insist on timely delivery of meeting agenda and who will not audibly value meetings for their brevity. 

Helen Rippier Wheeler 

Former BHA member 

• 

PROBLEM OR SOLUTION? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Most Americans distrust news media and for good reason. It’s not only because individuals are carelessness or deceitful but over and over again we’re shown professionally produced film clips with voice-over by non-inquisitive journalists who subtly promote American superiority and our noble intentions. The situation is, therefore, not limited to headlined booboos committed by CBS (Dan Rather) or Newsweek (Michael Isakoff), nor to the Pentagon’s self-serving deceits (Jessica Lynch, Pat Tillman) and scapegoating (detainee abuse).  

Sometimes the media’s bias is bold as when pundits and panderers praised the election in Iraq not for its product but for its process. Thus, we were expected to see the process as the birth of a “democratic” state and encouraged to hope that no matter who got elected our soldiers could think about coming home. 

Media prejudice also fosters confusion, as when our man in Afghanistan, president Karsai, gets referred to as a partner and also a major recipient of our largess; in other words the USA is both his equal and his patron.  

More often the media’s spin is subtle. Attempting to salvage something of value from Laura Bush’s superbly staged goodwill tour of the Middle East where ninety percent of the people hate our guts and many showed it, CBS concluded: “The U.S. may still have some image-building to do…”  

Indeed, if the mess we’re in was caused by a flawed image then the mainstream media is the solution. Alas, behind the image there is substance—violence, destruction, death and maiming—and for that the mainstream media is part of the problem. 

Marvin Chachere  

• 

SODA FOUNTAINS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Whenever you print an article regarding Ozzie’s drug store soda fountain it seems that you always seem to need to mention that it is the “last Bay Area example of a once ubiquitous institution.” 

This is not true. I believe you owe an apology to Mr. James Cohen, a pharmacist who owns the Medicine Chest Pharmacy on B Street in Hayward. It contains a ‘50s-style soda fountain. 

Marilyn Ann Pasqual  

Hayward 

• 

BIKE TO WORK DAY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Somebody please tell Jim Doherty (Letters, May 24-26) that Bike to Work Day was definitely not called on account of rain. I’m not sure if Mayor Bates made it to the noon ride from City Hall—actually, I heard he didn’t—but he was out riding his bike around 8 a.m. I was one of the volunteers at  

the Telegraph and Russell energizer station and he stopped by and talked with us for a bit. Besides the mayor we saw quite a few people at that corner for the two hours we were there. When we opened at 7 a.m. it was pretty sloppy and uninviting and I was worried that the event would be a bust, but by 9 a.m. it was clearing and bike riders were becoming more and more numerous—in fact, we had trouble getting away at 9, we were too busy to shut the  

station down! 

David Coolidge 

• 

MORE ON BIKE TO WORK DAY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In response to Jim Doherty’s letter: We’re sorry you missed the annual Bike to Work Day even—it was held on May 19 this year, not May 20 as you stated in your letter. You can find brief coverage of the event on the city’s website. As the site will tell you, the event went forward successfully despite early morning showers, and we had a great time supporting approximately 80 cyclists who visited the city’s energizer station. As you’ll see, Mayor Bates did participate in the event. The event was organized by the city’s Office of Transportation—special thanks to Tully’s, Uncommon Grounds, Omafiets and the Bicycle Friendly Berkeley Coalition for donations; and thanks to all our volunteers and visitors for a great event! 

You can also read much more about bicycling and Bike to Work Day in Berkeley and throughout the Bay Area at http://bicycling.511.org. 

Matt Nichols 

Principal Planner 

City of Berkeley Office of Transportation 

• 

DEATH OF DEMOCRACY? 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

All the hints are that the City Council has done the dirty and approved the settlement agreement over the UC lawsuit behind closed doors, without ever releasing the terms of the settlement, in clear violation of the Brown Act, even after it was clearly explained to them (by me) why it was a violation of the Brown Act.  

To briefly review that reason, under Government Code Section 54956.9, the only justification for a closed session meeting to confer with attorney over pending litigation is that “discussion in open session concerning those matters would prejudice the position of the local agency in the litigation.” Concerning the reporting of settlement offers and settlement negotiations by the city attorney to the City Council, those matters cannot, by their very nature, “prejudice the position of the local agency in the litigation.” The reason is that settlement offers and settlement negotiations are strictly inadmissible under Evidence Code Sections 1152 and 1154 to prove either the validity or invalidity of a claim. Therefore, the confidentiality agreement was unlawful under the Brown Act. (The city attorney had stated to the City Council and to the public that the reason for the confidentiality agreement was to prevent the settlement negotiations from being used against the city in litigation.)  

Because the confidentiality agreement was unlawful under the Brown Act, it was prejudicial to the public interest, and because it was prejudicial to the public interest, the City Council had every right and obligation to unilaterally rescind it under Civil Code Section 1689(b)(6). Instead, the City Council chose to flout the law and flout the principle of democracy embodied in the law.  

It is therefore clear that the City Council is no longer operating under the principles of democracy. It has become what Herbert Marcuse called a one-dimensional societal structure, able to shut out any challenge to its autocratic rule. It accepts blindly bad legal advice from the city attorney and supporting legal staff, and that bad advice directs it and empowers it to completely exclude any other legal information, no matter how valid. Democratic debate concerning the law is strictly precluded. The “little people,” i.e. the citizenry, can have their opinions, but any real knowledge of their rights under the law is presumed to be absent and hence completely disregarded when asserted. 

My friends, it is time to test the law and the principles of democracy.  

Peter J. Mutnick 

• 

YOUTH VOTING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

This past Tuesday night, Berkeley City Councilmember Gordon Wozniak expressed his support for youth empowerment by voting against the proposal that would have taken a step towards allowing youth to vote. Not wanting to treat 16 year-olds as “second class citizens,” he did not support giving them the right to vote in only city elections, but rather supported giving them no voting rights at all. 

It’s ironic how some councilmembers used their democratic right to vote to deny others that same democratic right. Why is it that when something is proposed to benefit youth, many people, namely adults, rally up against it? In the audience of the City Council meeting were three elderly people who applauded the council’s decision and asked them to repeat it for “those confused kids.” 

Members of the Berkeley High School Chapter of the National Youth Rights Association (NYRA-Berkeley) went to speak during public comment at the council meeting on Tuesday and, despite our call for the vote, the proposal fell one vote short of passing. On behalf of the members of NYRA-Berkeley and myself, I’d like to send our love to councilmembers Kriss Worthington, Darryl Moore, Dona Spring, and Max Anderson for supporting the proposal. We’d also like to thank Mayor Tom Bates, councilmembers Linda Maio, and Laurie Capitelli for keeping an open mind about the issue. 

I’d also like to note that Councilmember Betty Olds, in her patronizing equivocation, told the teenagers in the crowd that she thought we should have the right to vote, because we were exceptional, whereas she doesn’t believe all 16 year-olds are competent enough to vote. Neither are all adults, but what’s there to stop them from voting? 

Robert Reynolds 

NYRA-Berkeley Founder 

• 

EMERGENCY SERVICES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We oppose the evisceration of the Office of Emergency Services, which is the city entity that plans and responds to major disasters—from the next earthquake on the Hayward Fault to the next hills fire to chemical spills to bombings to flooding. While the OES manager, who was slated to be completely deleted, will be replaced with a uniformed Fire Department employee, the job still only demands 20 percent of that employee’s time—8 hours a week. This is criminally insufficient and threatens all of our lives. Keeping the inadequate status quo of 1.2 workers (1.2 FTE) to prepare residents, businesses, and government for the next disaster means more avoidable deaths, more avoidable dismemberments, and more avoidable property damage. 

Restoring the low-level analyst position cut in last year’s budget bloodletting, even for one year, means dozens, perhaps hundreds, of residents and business owners will be able to save themselves and their neighbors from disaster’s devastation. We ask the City Council to change the penny-wise and pound-foolish approach of the current OES budget proposal and restore meaningful disaster training. 

Howard Cook, Disaster Council 

Ed Gold, Chair Commission on Disability 

Eileen Hughes, former Vice-Chair and former member of the Disaster  

Council 

Stephanie May, Easy Does It Disability Assistance Board Member 

Karl Reeh, Chair Disaster Council 

Jesse Townley, Vice-Chair Disaster Council 

• 

OPPORTUNITY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Readers of the Daily Planet should be aware of an opportunity that will be available this summer to women who might otherwise be in danger of “falling through the cracks” (as those of you who Really Count like to put it,) as well as women in general. 

If you have never been taught the basic plumbing, electrical, locksmithing, and emergency preparedness skills necessary to acquiring a position as an apartment manager, if you are unsure as to the means by which you would schedule and work with contractors in such a position, if you are unsure as to the specifics of landlord/tenant law and in need of training in this area, and if you have ever wanted the free or reduced rent available to those in apartment manager positions, this six-session course, which begins on June 7, will provide you with everything you need to qualify for an apartment manager position—including confidence. 

The course fee is $25-$250, sliding scale, based on need. Those who complete the two Tuesday and two Thursday evening classes (6- 9:30 p.m.) as well as the two 9 a.m.- 3 p.m. Saturday sessions, will have earned two certificates—one showing the aforementioned skills taught in the first five sessions, and a second certifying that the student has completed a day-long seminar on the final day, presented by Sentinel Fair Housing. 

The course, titled “Apartment Building Management for Women,” is offered at the Building Education Center at 812 Page St. in West Berkeley, and is taught by Naomi Friedman, a licensed plumber and one of the world’s greatest teachers. Naomi provides hands-on instruction in all repair skills necessary to an apartment manager, as well as one-on-one criticism of each student’s work. Her philosophy is “There are no stupid questions.” 

Anyone serious about taking this opportunity should contact the Building Education Center at 525-7610 or www.bldgeductr.org. 

If any landlord has a tenant whose character suits her to be an apartment manager, but who may lack a few of the requisite skills, this would be a wonderful course to recommend to such a person. 

Chadidjah McFall

If you’ve been traveling south on Interstate 880 from downtown Oakland recently—on your way to the A’s game, for example, or maybe to cruise International Boulevard after you’ve perused the offerings in redbook (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ll explain some other time)—then you’ve probably noticed the new Bud Lite billboard next to the overpass just before the High Street exit. It shows two teenage-looking female models—one Latina, one African-American—dressed invitingly, staring out indifferently at the passing cars. I think their look is supposed to represent some sort of challenge—try us out if you’re up to it, man, but you’ve got to bring your A game. Anyway, far up on the right-hand corner of the billboard, away from the two young women and the oversized Bud Lite logo, is the message: “Serve Chilled.” Serve chilled? Is that supposed to mean that the best way to break down these young women’s icy looks is to get them beer-drunk? Or does the message mean that it is the women themselves who are supposed to be served—properly cooled-out, of course—to the would-be male consumers driving by in their cars? I think one of our clever friends at the ad agency made this deliberately ambiguous. 

In any event, after you pass the Bud Lite billboard on 880, you can get off the High Street exit and turn right on International towards the Fruitvale, if you like. There along the boulevard, if it is late enough and the police haven’t rousted them, you will find actual teenage Latina and African American girls—not models made up to look like ones—sitting at bus stops or lounging in storefront doorways, waiting on dark corners for men to drive by in cars to pick them up, to rent their services and bodies for a half an hour or so. 

The Bud Lite chilled dark girls billboard might appear in other parts of Oakland—or other parts of the Bay Area—but so far the gateway to the Fruitvale area prostitute stroll is the only place I’ve seen it. I’m sure this is only a coincidence and that the Bud Lite folks are only trying to make an honest buck, which they are allowed to do under our capitalist system, and do not intend to encourage the exploitation of Latina and African American teenage girls. But everything has a context, and a consequence, friends. For yourself, you’re free to draw your own conclusions. 

Meanwhile… 

With more than two and a half years left on the job he’s still supposed to be doing for us, Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown’s campaign for his hoped-for next job continues to build momentum. At http://jerrybrown.org, the Brown For Attorney General committee is inviting all interested parties to make campaign donations on their credit cards. For your convenience, they have included a suggested amount of $5,600 for starters. In an accompanying signed online letter, Mr. Brown himself explains that magic number, writing that “recent state law limits donations to $5,600 from any one individual or corporation. Please give as much as you can.” We don’t mean to be picky, but we’ve come a long ways from the days, haven’t we, when Mr. Brown would only accept $100 contributions per donor, and no more, so that no-one could accuse him of being a tool of the big-money guys. 

Principles, principles. Principles fade as gray hair invades. Isn’t that part of a Dylan Thomas poem, or something? 

Meanwhile, a visit to the mayor’s blog at http://jerrybrown.typepad.com gives you some insight as to the Oakland “accomplishments” Mr. Brown is promoting in his state campaign. 

On March 23 of this year, the mayor writes, “San Francisco Chronicle writer Dan Levy’s latest story about the condo boom in downtown Oakland [‘Downtown Brown: Oakland’s mayor has made dramatic progress in his ambitious plan to bring 10,000 new residents to the city’s core’] is great news for those interested in this town’s revitalization. Formerly abandoned lots are being transformed into housing as part of the 10K Initiative. 

“According to Levy, ‘Six years after Brown made his bold pronouncement, Oakland is close to fulfilling what has become known as the mayor’s 10K Initiative. With two years to go, ‘10K’ is 85 percent complete.’” 

But Oaklanders with long memories will be tempted to point out that the purpose of Brown’s original 10K proposal was not merely to bring 10,000 new residents downtown. Oakland, after all, has many residential neighborhoods, and any student of post Prop 13 California knows that cities now actually lose money on residential neighborhoods alone, if one wants to look at this as a capitalist enterprise. The original hype of 10K, at least as Mr. Brown proposed it, was that it would attract retail back into a depressed downtown area. In fact, under the heading “The 10K Initiative—Creating More Than Housing,” the city’s official 10K website says just that, telling us: “The 10K Housing Initiative is not just about housing—it is also about creating an environment that is conducive to residential development, through the transformation of the downtown into a more livable space that incorporates streetscapes, parks, commercial, retail, and other amenities.” 

If you leave the International Boulevard stroll where the teenage prostitutes hang and drive north until you come to the shores of Lake Merritt, and then west towards the estuary, you will come to the mayor’s old neighborhood, the place where Mr. Brown’s 10K initiative has been the most successful. Along Second, Third, and Fourth streets between Alice and the produce section, developers have put up row after row of lofts and condominiums (many of these were begun during the time of Mayor Elihu Harris, of course). Drive along these streets and you will see hundreds, perhaps thousands, of new residents, some of whom have now been there for more than six years. 

But drive along the streets of the loft district and what you will not find is a new Walgreens Drug Store. Or an Albertsons or Safeway. Or a row of new restaurants, or department stores, or any of the tax-base-rich retail outlets that we were promised would come with the new Oaklanders. Perhaps they will, perhaps not. But they ain’t got there yet. 

Where are these people now shopping? I’m not sure. Across the estuary in Alameda, I imagine. Or around the freeway to Emeryville. Shouldn’t the city be doing a study to find out, since this is such an integral part of present Oakland policy? 

The truth is, the assertion and assumption that retail would automatically follow the thousands of new residents downtown has always been the flaw in Mr. Brown’s 10K initiative, a sort of cause-and-effect thing that we were always supposed to take on faith at the beginning, and which gets mentioned less and less (or, more often, not at all) as the process has moved forward, and Oakland money has been committed to this scheme. 

We hear now that the retail will come in the uptown area—not the loft area—in the proposed (and heavily subsidized) Forest City Project. But the Forest City Project has yet to be built. And so, we shall have to wait and see if Mr. Brown is a visionary or merely a visitor whose accomplishments will begin to quickly fade as soon as he closes the door behind him. 

?

Rape Suspect 

Berkeley police released a sketch Thursday of the man they are seeking for the Sunday evening rape of a 17-year-old woman in north Aquatic Park. 

The suspect is described as a heavyset Hispanic male between the ages of 30 and 40, approximate ly 5’6” tall and weighing about 180 pounds. He has shoulder-length black hair and was wearing a black baseball cap and white T-shirt. 

Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies said police have distributed copies of the sketch in the park area. 

Any o ne with possible information that might help police with the apprehension of the suspect is encouraged to call the Sex Crimes Detail at 981-5735 or e-mail police@berkeley.ca.us. Those who provide information may remain anonymous, Okies said. 

ATM Card R obbery 

Two bandits—one male, one female—robbed a woman of her ATM card outside the Wells Fargo Bank at San Pablo and University avenues shortly before 7 a.m. Monday, then fled in a white sedan. 

No arrests have been made, said Officer Okies.  

Bullet Hole Discovery 

A couple returning to their domicile in the 1900 block of Eighth Street Monday night discovered that someone had capped off a round through their front window while they were out. 

Luckily, no one was inside at the time.,

The Berkeley City Council, strong-armed by Mayor Bates and the city attorney, has held a series of secret meetings and secret votes about a secret document, culminating on May 24 when the council secretly met and finally voted on a secret final document. Unbelievable! 

This is the so-called “settlement agreement” between the city and UCB wherein the city, apparently, has signed away our right to control vast university expansion and our right to bill the university for a substantial part of the $13-plus million annually in free services now being provided to UCB by the city. 

The dispute is NOT about the value of UCB, an institution widely respected, cherished, and appreciated. It IS about land, money, and power. 

Some perspective: There is nothing new o r unusual about town-gown friction in our country or history. This friction erupts periodically, is usually based on real issues, and has been written about extensively. There is nothing new about land wars—farmer-rancher disputes, water grabbing, railroa d encroachment, and so on throughout our history. Now, in our dense and crowded city, we are truly engaged in a town-gown land war. There is nothing new about monetary and taxation disputes—who pays and who gets the tax breaks. Now, in our financially har d-pressed city, we are truly engaged in a big bucks town-gown dispute over who is stuck with a $13 million tab every year. 

The city absolutely should not have signed any agreement that enables the university to expand its land uses and damage our neighbo rhoods without full CEQA disclosures, compliances, mitigations, and changes. Nor should the city have signed any agreement that accepts pennies on the dollar as compensation for city services. Despite some legal precedent for UC getting a free ride on pub lic services, circumstances have changed so drastically that the entire question needs to be revisited. When it comes to money, all public entities always claim to be hurting. In hard fact, unlike the city, UCB does have access to deep pockets and other r esources. UC regularly raises millions of dollars from millionaires and billionaires for trophy projects, it has profitable joint partnerships with corporations, money from patents and royalties, and vast special purpose endowments. I suggest that the uni versity seriously consider undertaking a City Trophy Project and raise a $100 million endowment to mitigate UC’s impacts on the city and its neighborhoods, pay a fair share amount for city services, and fund a variety of urban enhancements to benefit both town and gown. This would be, and could be promoted as, a tremendous public service/public good undertaking and donors could receive all the usual accolades and honors that accrue to charitable giving, good works, and helping the university and the larger community. 

For right now, it is likely that concerned citizens will be suing the city and/or university over the numerous crimes and misdemeanors that inhere in the settlement agreement process and product. It is also likely that there will be serious political repercussions for the politicians who supported the secret city sellout, particularly for Mayor Bates whose credibility and competence as our leader has been most seriously damaged. 

Barbara Gilbert is active in several Berkeley civic organizat ions and is a former Berkeley City Council candidate. 

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I am the chief of the cardiology division of Kaiser Richmond where I have worked for 24 years, and I am a resident of Richmond. I rollerblade on the Bay Trail between the Richmond Marina and Point Isabel. I tell my patients to exercise there as well. I rollerblade past the Campus Bay property, a beautiful marshland, sadly contaminated by toxic chemicals. I have been a part of the community movement to demand a safe cleanup of this site. 

The problem we are confronted with is that 237 acres of bay-front real estate has been polluted by Stauffer Chemical, Astra Zeneca Corporation and California Cap Company with a host of cancer causing chemicals. A fair and logical response would include:  

• Holding the polluters responsible.  

• Cleaning up the site in as safe a way as possible to protect the workers, the local community and the fragile wetland ecosystem. 

• Investigating what went wrong so that we can keep from making similar mistakes in the future. 

• Compensating any individuals who have suffered injury as a result of the pollution. 

• Determining and instituting a plan for the future use of the land which is safe and in the best interests of the greater community. 

None of this has happened. The logical sequence of events has in fact been reversed. No safe cleanup has been completed. Despite this, the city and the developer were well on their way to railroad through a high rise residential development when a local group of community residents and workers, calling themselves Bay Area Residents for Responsible Development (BARRD) essentially forced a halt to the project and a re-evaluation. Had this articulate and persistent citizen advocacy group not challenged the redevelopment already in process, Richmond would possibly have a cluster of future cancers and birth defects to deal with. Indeed, there is now suspicion that the poorly monitored cleanup may already have resulted in preventable cancers.  

We cannot change the past; we can only learn from our past mistakes. With what we know today all parties should be able to agree that the first order of business is a safe cleanup of the site. I am calling on all of the involved parties to work together toward that end.  

To the developers I wish to say: Do not blame the community for delaying your project. There can be no development without a safe cleanup. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of these toxic sites which need to be cleaned-up. Do the right thing. Become known as the developer who has the expertise and experience needed to join with the community to cleanup and safely develop these toxic sites. You will eventually be financially rewarded for doing the right thing. You will have earned the respect of the community and local government and you will be seen as the model for dealing with these sites in the future. 

To the Richmond Redevelopment Agency, I wish to say, your mandate is for healthy development to benefit the Richmond community. Ignoring the health of the public, in the pursuit of narrow financial gain is bad for the city in the long run. Do not let your zeal to bring in revenue, blind you to the greater good of the community. Your statements in the past have shown a total disregard for public health. Make the health of the community your highest priority. Your job is one of service to the community. 

To the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, I wish to say, your reputation in the community has suffered greatly from your past statements about the toxic site which were erroneous and highly insensitive to the community. Join with the community in putting public health before narrow business interests. Become a model for the California State Chamber of Commerce by showing how business can make a profit but at the same time be respectful of and give priority to public and environmental health concerns. Right now the California Chamber is opposing legislation by Assemblywoman Loni Hancock which would ensure better oversight of the cleanup process of toxic dumps. Explain to your state colleagues why this is unwise and implore them to put public and environmental health as a top priority in their deliberations. 

It is time for all of us to join together for the greater good. No one wants to suffer a cancer or birth defect that could have been prevented. We have all learned a great deal from the process to date. These environmental problems will be more common in the future and developing the skills needed to all work together to clean them up and then to put the land to good use will make the City of Richmond a national leader in earth restoration and redevelopment, something our children and grandchildren will thank us for. 

Dr. Jeff Ritterman is chief of the cardiology division at Kaiser Permanente in Richmond. 

›

Aidan Delgado, an Army reservist who witnessed multiple war crimes at Abu Ghraib, returns to the Bay Area May 29, 6 p.m. at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley. Joined by other nationally known war resisters—Camilo Mejia, Tim Goodrich, Jeff Paterson, Stephen Funk, along with family members of servicemen killed in Iraq—Delgado will present a slide show of atrocities he himself observed in Iraq. Delgado spent six months helping to run the now-infamous Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad. 

I first saw Delgado’s slide show at Joseph Schottland’s senior government class in Lafayette. The photos were incriminating—a soldier toying with a skull, charred remains of children, a dead prisoner who was unarmed when he was shot. To a roomful of stunned students, Delgado said he observed mutilation of the dead, mass roundup of noncombatants, trophy photos of dead Iraqis, positioning of prisoners in the line of fire—all violations of the Geneva Conventions, which Delgado seems to know by heart. Delgado’s own buddies—decent Christian men, as he describes them—shot unarmed detainees. 

When I talked with Aidan after class, he expressed deep love for his country, but insisted that racism is driving the occupation, infecting the entire military operation in Iraq. 

“From the very earliest time I was in Iraq,” he said, “I began to see ugly strains of racism among our troops—anti-Arab, anti-Muslim sentiments.” He gave me examples. “There was a master sergeant. He whipped this group of Iraqi children with a steel Humvee antenna. He just lashed them with it because they were crowding around, bothering him, and he was tired of talking. Another time, a Marine, a lance corporal—a big guy about six-foot-two—planted a boot on a kid’s chest, when the kid came up to him and asked him for a soda. It was a matter of routine for guys in my unit to drive by in a Humvee and shatter bottles over Iraqis’ heads as they went by. And these were guys I considered friends. I told them: ‘What the hell are you doing? What does that accomplish?’ One said back, ‘I hate being here. I hate looking at them. I hate being surrounded by all these Hajjis.’ Hajji is the new ethnic slur for Arabs and Muslims. It is used extensively in the military. The Arabic word refers to one who has gone on a pilgrimage to Mecca. But it is used in the military with the same kind of connotation as ‘gook,’ ‘Charlie,’ or the n-word. It’s real common. Throughout my entire stay I never once heard the term ‘Iraqi’ for Iraqis. There was really a thick aura of racism.” 

Delgado saw a lot of paperwork on the detainees. He told me that a lot of prisoners were imprisoned for no crime at all. “They were not insurgents. They were picked up in mass sweeps of men between the ages of 17 and 50. A lot of completely innocent civilians were in prison camp for no offense, and detainees were beaten within inches of their life.” 

For more information on the upcoming event in Berkeley, “Military Voices Against Endless War,” go to www.notinourname.net. For a full-length interview, see “What’s New” on www.inmotionmagazine.com.  

Paul Rockwell is a Bay Area journalist and a columnist for Common Dreams. 

Damp weather and wind flay away at the paint and tin of an old Quonset hut in San Francisco’s Presidio. And, near the foot of its door, there’s a stone with a message carved onto it. The stone commemorates the work of 60 students and teachers, mostly Americans of Japanese descent, who trained and taught here as linguists and translators during the outbreak of World War II. 

Their work was done in secret. But as these Japanese American soldiers studied and slept in the hut, less than half a mile away the Army ordered the internment of their families into concentration camps throughout the United States, their civil liberties stripped away by prejudice and wartime hysteria.  

Sons of Japanese Americans living under armed guard, their work as linguists was key to winning the war in the Pacific. Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s chief of intelligence credited them with saving as many as a million lives, and their translation of Japan’s military plans ensured U.S. control of the Pacific. 

Through use of language, these Japanese American soldiers also helped create the world’s largest foreign language institute, the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in Monterey. Yet their work in military intelligence remained classified until 1971. 

But as these men pass away, there is an urgency to tell their story. Shigeya Kihara, a graduate of UC Berkeley, was one of these men. At his memorial service, “Shig” Kihara was remembered as the “founding father” of schools that trained mainly Japanese Americans to become skilled as translators, interpreters, linguists and advisors during World War II and the occupation of Japan.  

Kihara was a Nisei, a person of Japanese ancestry born in the United States. When war broke out, he volunteered for military service.  

Ironically, Kihara destroyed Japanese-language material at home when the war began. After Pearl Harbor, the FBI began searches of Japanese American homes and seizures of cultural items. Kihara destroyed books in hopes of preventing his family from being singled out. 

Like Kihara, Masaji “Gene” Uratsu volunteered for army duty and was well versed in Japanese—a rare skill in those days. Japanese was once considered such a difficult language to master, it was said that the Imperial army did not bother to code messages. The need for linguists became critical. 

Soon after entering service, Gene Uratsu was asked to read a Japanese military manual. “The interviewer told me that what took place shouldn’t be discussed,” said Urastu about that first test. He was also told that, “we would be subject to court-martial if we talked about it. It was highly classified.”  

As the army secretly interviewed Uratsu, Kihara was tapped to develop a Japanese language school. He recalled that early meeting in a basement that had only “a wooden orange crate with a set of Japanese books and dictionaries.” This was the beginning of the Presidio’s language school where Kihara also served as an instructor. 

“In 1941 there were no teaching materials,” said Urastu of those early days, “there were four teachers assigned but who did not have previous teaching experience. They had to make up the teaching materials and mimeograph them to give to the students.”  

As the removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast began, the language school was moved to Minnesota where the school was known as the Military Intelligence Service Language School (MIS). Its former students would later refer to themselves as the “MISers.”  

The need for linguists remained high and students were pulled out of school and sent on missions before completing the full course.  

At the same time, Nisei were secretly recruited from internment camps to go to Minnesota. At Kihara’s memorial, Col. Harry Fukuhara stood straight and firm. In a voice shaking with emotion he recalled that for those Nisei who “left at 3 in the morning, with no good-bye party, no good-byes to their families,” it was a lonely time leaving camp. 

After the war, MIS was moved to Monterey where it expanded to include about 30 languages. It is now known as the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center.  

But the once secret MIS was “the genesis of the armed services’ only permanent resident foreign language training program of its kind,” says U.S. Command Historian James McNaughton. Now students from across the country attend the Defense Language Center for intensive study of foreign languages. 

At Shig Kihara’s memorial, McNaughton recalled working with Kihara and gaining an insight into the unique history of MIS. As the Nisei studied and taught each other Japanese day and night at MIS, they helped to create a way of learning language still in use today. “The method of intensive study of a single subject, using native speakers and authentic materials” for daily use was pioneered at MIS said McNaughton.  

After the war, Shigeya Kihara became the Defense Language Institute’s director of research and development. After retirement, Kihara continued to actively document the role of the Japanese American translators and interpreters. 

One of Kihara’s projects was working with the National Japanese American Historical Society (JAHS) to transform the Quonset hut into an exhibit hall reflecting its use as a school for Nisei linguists. Fundraising continues with JAHS playing a leading role in this difficult task. In the meantime, the Quonset hut still stands in the face of San Francisco Bay’s relentless elements. But, in the JAHS vision statement, “the importance of language in communication and the ongoing battle against intolerance in the face of global conflict” reflects what the battered hut stands for. 

For more information about MIS and about the exhibit hall project, contact the National Japanese American Historical Society at (415) 921-5007. 

FRIDAY, MAY 27 

THEATER 

Berkeley Repertory Theater “The People’s Temple” at the Roda Theater, through June 5. Tickets are $20-$55. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Berkeley Repertory Theater, “Honour” at the Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. through July 3. Tickets are $20-$39. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

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 

Subterranean Shakespeare “The Taming of the Shrew,” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center in Live Oak Park, through June 24. No show June 2. 276-3871. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Sojourns” New works by Michael Shemchuk and Emily Payne. Reception at 6 p.m. at Cecile Moochnek Gallery, 1809-D Fourth St. Exhibition runs through June 26. 549-1018. www.cecilmoochneck.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

David Ewing Duncan describes “The Geneticist Who Played With My DNA: And Other Masterminds from the Frontiers of Biotech” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Audra McDonald, soprano, at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$68. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Graham Richards, Peter Barshay at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Baby James, J. Meyers, Laila Tov at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5-$7. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Dick Hindman Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Obatelo at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Afro-Muzika at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. African dance lesson with Comfort Mensah at 9 p.m. Cost is $11-13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Beth Waters and Larkin Gail at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Eddie From Ohio at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Vince Wallace Quintet at 9 p.m. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $5. 763-7711 www.cafevankleef.com 

Garrin Benfield and Cas Lucas at 7:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Shanna Carlson Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Adrian West at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Two Foot Yard, Plays Monk at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

The Sick, The Hyper Kids, No Nothing Party 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. 

Izum, funk, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Gary Burton Generations Band at 8 and 10 p.m. through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $12-$22. 238-9200.  

SATURDAY, MAY 28 

THEATER 

“Smug Shift” an evening of hip, underground comedy at 8:30 and 11 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave. Oakland. Cost is $7. 444-6174.  

The Conscious Cabaret “Scared Skitless” with Errol and Rochelle Alicia Strider, at 8 p.m. at Unity of Berkeley, 2075 Eunice St. Cost is $15-$25. 528-8844. unityberkeley.org 

“Requiem for a Friend” an intermedia performance ritual, directed by Antero Alli, Sat. and Sun. at 9 p.m. at Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut St. Cost is $10. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Living History and the Theater” with Leigh Fondakowski, playwright and director of “The People’s Temple” at 5 p.m. at Berkeley Rep, 2015 Addison St. Free. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Bruce Lee’s Oakland Years: The Dragon and the Tiger” with authors Sid Campbell and Greglon Yimm Lee at 4 p.m. at Eastwind Books of Berkeley, 2066 Unversity Ave. 548-2350. 

Pam Tent reads from “Midnight at the Palace: My Life as a Famous Cockette” at 7:30 p.m. at The Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 540-0751. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Novello Quartet, a concert of Boccerini and Mozart at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $12-$18. 415-794-1100. www.novelloquartet.org 

Bay Area Youth Harp Ensemble with the Triskelea Harp Trio and The Pleiades Ensemble at 2 p.m. at St. Mary Magdalen Church, 2005 Berryman. Donation $5-$15. 548-3326. 

Pacific Boychoir Academy presents its farewell tour concert at 7 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 27th St. and Broadway. Tickets are $8. 452-4722. www.pacificboychoiracademy.org 

“Las Buenas Flamenquitas” with the Azahar Dance Foundation at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $10-$17. 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

Kurt Elling, piano and vocals, at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $18-$32. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Jason Marineau, Tina Marshall with the Ellen Hoffman Trio, at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Fred Randolph Jazz Trio at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

The Bobs at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jose Seves at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Wil Blades Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Johnny Otis Living Tribute Band at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10-$12. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Sleep in Fame, Unjust, Re-Ignition at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Julie Kelly Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Hal Stein Quartet at 9 p.m. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 763-7711. www.cafevankleef.com  

Barry Syska & Gentry Bronson at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Boom Bip, The Fog, Rapatron at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Chuck Steed, R&B funk, at 7 p.m. at Spuds, 3290 Adeline Ave. Cost is $7. 597-0795. 

Circu Mutante, Guire Doodate 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. 

Times 4, with saxophonist Lincoln Adler, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

SUNDAY, MAY 29 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash with Gabrielle Calvocoressi and C. Dale Young at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Distant Oaks “Offerings” at 7 p.m. at Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St. Suggested donation $10. 213-3122. 

Novello Quartet, a concert of Boccerini and Mozart at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center. Tickets are $8-$10. 415-794-1100. www.novelloquartet.org 

Shakti Dance Company with Mythili Prakash in solo at 6:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $15-$20. 925-798-1300.  

Via Rio with Dave Bell, Ron Blanchard, Mike Golds and others at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Victor Mendoza, vibraphone, at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $20. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Death Breeds Sorrow at 4 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Mind Eraser, Say Goodbye at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

MONDAY, MAY 30 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Americana Unplugged: Tom Huebner at 4 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Jimmy Bosch at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $8-$12. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, MAY 31 

FILM 

Alternative Visions: “The Lost Generation” with filmmaker Jack Walsh at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“The Golden Bowl” adapted by Isabelle Rogin read by Actors Ensemble of Berkeley at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Patricia Rain discusses “Vanilla: A Cultural History of the World’s Favorite Flavor and Fragrance” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Dylan Schaffer introduces his new mystery “I Right the Wrongs” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The People’s Jazz Quintet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Randy Craig Trio at 7:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Bill Frisell with Brian Blade & Sam Yahel at 8 and 10 p.m. through Thurs. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $16-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Gary Rowe, solo jazz piano, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1 

EXHIBITIONS 

Alvarado Artists Group Show with works by Marilyn MacGregor, Barbara Werner, Joan Lakin Mikkelsen, Carla Dole and MJ Orcutt opens at the Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. 848-1228.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Michael Eric Dyson asks “Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Donation $10. Sponsored by Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sonic Camouflage at 8 p.m. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 763-7711. www.cafevankleef.com  

Ned Boynton Trio at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Paul Arnoldi at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Whiskey Brothers at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473.  

Quimbobo, salsa, at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159. 

THURSDAY, JUNE 2 

CHILDREN 

Kid’s Musical Theater “Finding My Own Rock and Roll” with students from the Park Day School, at 7:30 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $5-$10. 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

THEATER 

Shotgun Players, “Arabian Night” opens at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. and runs Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m. until July 10. Tickets are $10-$30. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“The Real World” An exhibit of carbon copies and simulations, reproductions and scale models. Reception at 6 p.m. at Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. Exhibit runs to July 16. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

FILM 

“Goodbye, Dragon Inn” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Free screening. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Tribute to the Divas” with Dee Spencer at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, Community Room, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100. 

Jeanne Wagner featured poet at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720. 

Kevin Smokler reads from a collection of contemporary writers, “Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

New Century Chamber Orchestra “Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis” at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $18-$39. 415-357-1111. www.ncco.org 

“Tribute to the Divas” with Denise Perrier at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, Central Reading Room, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100. 

Ro Sham Bo and The Irrationals, a cappella at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$10. 849-2568.  

Rafael Manriquez Trio, guitar and vocals, at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

John Reischman & The Jaybirds at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jackpot, Nik Freitas at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Paul Mehling and Will Bernard at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Nathan Clevenger Group at 9 p.m. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $5. 763-7711.  

Akosua, African folk fusion, at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

FRIDAY, JUNE 3 

THEATER 

Berkeley Repertory Theater “The People’s Temple” at the Roda Theater and runs through June 5. Tickets are $20-$55. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Berkeley Rep, “Honour” opens at the Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. and runs through July 3. Tickets are $20-$39. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Contra Costa Civic Theater “Private Lives” Noel Coward’s comedy. Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. through June 12, at 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito. Tickets are $10. 524-9132. www.ccct.org 

Shotgun Players, “Arabian Night” Thurs.-Su. at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. until July 10. Tickets are $10-$30. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

Subterranean Shakespeare “The Taming of the Shrew,” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center in Live Oak Park, through June 24. For reservations call 276-3871. 

Un-Scripted Theater Company “The Short and the Long of It” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., through June 25 at Temescal Arts Center, 511 48th St., Oakland. Tickets are $7-$10. 415-869-5384. www.un-scripted.com 

EXHIBITIONS 

Gallery Talk with Sculptor Bruce Beasley discussing his 45-Year Retrospective at 7 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Cost is $4-$8. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Myrlie Evers-Williams presents “The Autobiography of Medgar Evers: A Hero’s Life and Legacy Revealed Through His Writings, Letters and Speeches” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Sponsored by Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley High Dance Projects Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Berkeley High. 

Berkeley Edge Fest 70th Birthday Celebration for Terry Riley at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $26-$32. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Pacific Collegium “Couperin le Grand: Grand Motets” at 8 p.m. at St. Paul’s Church, 114 Montecito Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $12-$20. www.pacificcollegium.org 

Galax Quartet, consort music for strings and voice by John Dowland and Roy Wheldon at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $10-$15. 601-1370.  

Hide Date at 8 p.m. and Ed Reed and his Trio at 9 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Cowpokes for Peace at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Houston Jones at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Lalo Izquierdo and Rompe y Raja, Afro-Peruvian music and dance at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 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.  

Tom Paxton at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $24.50-$25.50. 548-1761.  

Jeff Kazor and the Swerve Beats at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Maria Marquez & Larry Vukovich Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Todd Boston, singer-songwriter, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Eileen Hazel and Helen Chaya at 8 p.m. at Changemakers, 6536 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

A.D.D., Riot Au Go Go, False Alliance at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Paquito D’Rivera and members of the Turtle Island String Quartet at 8 and 10 p.m. through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $15-$24. 238-9200. l

New mid-intersection traffic circles have been sprouting up in central Berkeley like mushrooms after a rain. 

While there are several landscaped intersection islands around Berkeley, the LeConte neighborhood—southeast of downtown, roughly bordered by Dwi ght Way, Shattuck Avenue, and Telegraph Avenue, with a total of seven circles—has the most experience with the sort of circle the city is now constructing.  

The issues of whether the circles are good, bad, or neutral for traffic safety have been vigorou sly debated. What I’d like to tell you about are other aspects of the circles. 

In LeConte, neighbors plant, weed, and water the circles; the city provided soil, but didn’t plant them. There’s now a loose e-mail group of volunteer gardeners, and every LeC onte circle has one or more neighbors who scrub away graffiti on the signage, plant, weed, and water, usually from their own outdoor faucets and hoses.  

Hundreds of hours and many dollars have been invested by neighbors in the purchase of plants and circ le upkeep. The result has been a literal flowering of new civic amenities and beauty that provide clear community benefits beyond the traffic-calming effects. 

The LeConte circles seem to provide a safe context for public contact. When people from my bloc k are out in our circle gardening, or even just standing there looking at the newest spring blooms, many passersby—particularly pedestrians, but also drivers—stop or slow down, say hello, admire the flowers and chat.  

When was the last time a total stra nger paused and thanked you on the streets of Berkeley? It has happened at least once every time I’ve been out working in the circle on my corner. 

In essence, at least some of the circles are becoming a solvent for those little, casual, social interactio ns and positive experiences that help make a true neighborhood out of a collection of people living very different, often preoccupied, lives.  

The circles also serve an environmental function in Berkeley, where some 25 percent of the land area is covered with the asphalt or concrete of public streets.  

Both in LeConte and in central Berkeley, the circles are very modest in size. The one nearest my home provides perhaps 300 square feet of growing space. Assembled together, the seven LeConte circles woul d probably cover no more than one third of a typical Berkeley flatlands lot.  

But these oases punch holes in the hardscape of urban life. They help to green densely populated neighborhoods like mine that have no city park space and little prospect of obt aining any.  

By coincidence, six out of seven LeConte circles ended up this spring with prominent stands of California poppies. But beneath and around those seasonal wildflowers, the botanical terrain varies considerably .  

At Russell and Fulton streets, a group of neighbors carefully planned a handsome model of ecological design, an all-natives landscape—annuals, flowering shrubs, perennials, grasses—complete with a literally homegrown California live oak.  

A long block away at Russell and Ellsworth streets, the circle is gardened to harmonize with the adjacent butterfly garden at LeConte School. A considerable variety of native butterfly host plants attractive to growing caterpillars are planted amidst the many flowers.  

Most of the LeConte circles also have a single tree in them. Many people like that, but it’s important for other neighborhoods getting circles to realize the city doesn’t require trees in the intersections; don’t be shy about declining one.  

The circle on my block doesn’t have a t ree. Most of the private yards are either very small or shady, and conversations among neighbors produced a feeling that we wanted a circle where sun-loving plants and flowers could flourish.  

Throughout LeConte, it has been heartening this spring to wat ch the return of natural processes to what were, at this time last year, barren swaths of asphalt. The flowering circles glow with color from blocks away. Beneficial insects have arrived. 

I very much look forward to seeing what central Berkeley residents will do to plant “their” circles. While plantings should stay relatively low, possibilities abound. How about a circle filled with geraniums, the flowers that were once the public glory of Berkeley? Or a low-water, all-succulents, circle?  

There are al l sorts of options. One of our LeConte circles was laid out to subtly show the compass directions, which differ somewhat from the street grid. 

The LeConte circle story is hardly begun, and it hasn’t all been a bed of poppies. Tensions over choice of pla nts and upkeep will arise. At one circle on Ellsworth Street there’s even been a recent “tree-napping” (see Page XXXX).  

Some of the circles may lose their luster as dry summers come on, soil compacts, and weeds and woody growth accumulate. Vandals or pl ant thieves have not yet put in a serious appearance (except to spray-paint traffic signage), but they may. Upkeep and watering—all done voluntarily by nearby neighbors—may wax and wane.  

There are clearly people still unhappy with the circles. But I sus pect that complaints and concerns in LeConte and elsewhere will sort themselves out as people, especially the people who pass them every day, become used to having the circles around.  

Each new neighborhood, I hope, will come to see them as we do—not merely a traffic-calming measure, but as a new and rare civic amenity which we can all help sustain, literally at the grassroots level. And I hope they will continue to blossom across Berkeley. 

FRIDAY, MAY 27 

Reduced City Services Today Call ahead to ensure programs or services you desire will be available. 981-CITY. www.cityofberkeley.info 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Francisca Goldsmith of the Berkeley Public Library on “Intellectual Freedom” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020. 

Activism Series: Vital Issues of Our Time with Juliette Beck and Karmyn Johnson at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship Hall, 1924 Cedar St. Donation $5. 495-5132. 

Radio Camp Build an FM trasmitter and learn the fundamentals of micropower broadcasting in this 4-day workshop in Oakland. Class runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., May 27-30. Cost is $150-$200 sliding scale. For information and to register call 625-0314. www.freeradio.org 

“The Trouble with Music” with Mat Callahan at 7 p.m. AK Press Warehouse, 674A 23rd St. Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

“Three Beats for Nothing” a small group meeting weekly at 10 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center to sing for fun and practice, mostly 16th century harmony. No charge. 655-8863, 843-7610. dann@netwiz.net 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 8 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 548-6310, 845-1143. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions are welcome to join us. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169. www.bpf.org 

“The Making of a Humanistic Rabbi” with Rabbi Jay Heyman at 7:30 p.m. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. Please bring finger dessert to share for Oneg, and non-perishable food for the needy. Sponsored by Kol Hadash. 428-1492. 

SATURDAY, MAY 28 

Chocolate & Chalk Art Festival from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. along Salono Ave. 527-5358. www.solanoave.org  

Introduction to Residential Solar Learn how photovolactic systems work, what system would be right for your home and cost information. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $10-$15. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Town Hall Meeting on Energy with Pratap Chatterjee, Jihan Gearon, Barbara Hale, Randy Hayes and others, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at King Middle School Auditorium, 1781 Rose St. Cost is $10. Sponsored by KPFA. www.kpfa.org 

Vegetarian Cooking Class: Six Quick Meals From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St. Cost is $35. To register call 531-2665. www.compassionatecooks.com/reg.htm 

Women’s Poetry Reading at 11 a.m. at Tilden Nature Area. Bring nature poetry of your own, or of others. 525-2233. 

Butterfly Garden Learn to identify the local species of butterflies and the plants that support them at 1 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area. 525-2233. 

Kid’s Garden Club for ages 7-12 to explore the world of gardening, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. Cost is $5-$7, registration required. 525-2233. 

Walking Tour of Historic Oakland Churches and Temples Meet at 10 a.m. at the front of the First Presbyterian Church at 2619 Broadway. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/ 

walkingtours 

Bay Street Beat Arts & Music Festival Sat and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Bay St., Emeryville. Arts, crafts, food, music and children’s activity area. 655-4002. 

Power Tool Drag Racing from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Drive. Cost is $4.50-$8.50. 642-5132. 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Junior Rangers of Tilden meets Sat. mornings at Tilden Nature Center. For more information call 525-2233. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, MAY 29 

Raising Chickens Learn about breeds, housing and eggs, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Cost is $10-$15. Call the Ecology Center for location 548-2220, ext. 233. 

On Membranous Wings Look for, collect, observe and release wasps, bees, ants and others and learn about the ecological roles they play, from 10 a.m. to noon at Tilden Nature Center. 525-2233. 

Laurel Canyon Plant Hike Meet at 2 p.m at Tilden Nature Center for a plant survey. 525-2233. 

Military Voices Against Endless War & Occupation at 6 p.m. at King Middle School, 1781 Rose St. Cost is $9-$15. 800-956-6917, ext. 710. www.notinourname.net/mv/ 

“Peace One Day” a documentary by British filmmaker Jeremy Gilley on meetings with the Dalai Lama, Shimon Peres, Amre Moussa and others at 7 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Donation $5. 627-0450. www.peaceoneday.org  

Kapla Skyscraper in Progress Watch as this tower is constructed of small building blocks, then demolished at 3:30 p.m. at the Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Drive. Cost is $4.50-$8.50. 642-5132. 

“Freaky Friday” the film at 11 a.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Cost is $5 at the door. www.juliamorgan.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 

Tibetan Buddhism with Lama Amdo and Abbe Blum on “The Six Realms of Existence” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, MAY 30 

Reduced City Services Today Call ahead to ensure programs or services you desire will be available. 981-CITY. www.cityofberkeley.info 

Memorial Day Open House at Tilden Nature Center. Join us for a day of critters, crafts and creative fun from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. 525-2233. 

Family Pond Study Meet backswimmers, waterboatmen and learn how they breathe, swim and feed underwater. at 3 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“The Weather Underground: History, Politics and Lessons” with Ron Jacobs, Dan Berger and former members, at 7 p.m. AK Press Warehouse, 674A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

Trivia Cafe at 6:30 p.m. at Ristorante Raphael 2132 Center St. 644-9500. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, MAY 31 

Morning Bird Walk in Tilden Park Meet at 10 a.m. at the Nature VCenter. 525-2233.  

Berkeley Marina Walk with the Solo Sierrans at 1:30 p.m. For information and reservations call Betsy, 620-9424. 

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. 

Green City Visions A conference on how to rebuild our human habitat to save the environment from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 1547 Lakeshore Drive, Oakland. Sponsored by Oakland’s Office of the Mayor and Ecocity Builders. http://ecocitybuilders.org/greencity 

Backpacking 101 Review the fundamentals of gear, water purification, bear-proofing food and first aid kit essentials at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Free. 527-4140. 

“Globalize Liberation” an evening of ideas and inspiration with Marina Sitrin, Elizabeth Martinez, and others at 7 p.m. AK Press Warehouse, 674A 23rd St. Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

Bayswater Book Club meets to discuss “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” by John Perkins at 6:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, El Cerrito Plaza. 433-2911. 

Family Storytime at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Sing-A-Long every Tues. from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic. All ages welcome. 524-9122. 

Brainstormer Weekly Pub Quiz every Tuesday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Pyramid Alehouse Brewery, 901 Gilman St. 528-9880. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your digital images, slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 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. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

“Shavuot: A Meeting Point between Cyclical and Linear Time” with Avital Plan at 7:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $5. 848-0237. 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1 

“The Witness” a film on rescueing abandoned animals, and the meat and fur industries, at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. www.HumanistHall.net 

Walking Tour of Oakland Chinatown Meet at 10 a.m. at the courtyard fountain in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza at 388 Ninth St. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation at 10 a.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Volunteers are needed to support the more than 40 blood drives held each month all over the East Bay. Advance sign-up needed 594-5165. 

American Red Cross Mobile Blood Drive, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Alta Bates Summit Auditorium, 2450 Ashby Ave. To make an appointment call 1-800-448-3543. www.BeADonor.com 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Action St. 841-2174.  

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. 524-3765. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. 548-9840. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station. Vigil at 6:30 p.m., Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, JUNE 2 

Early Morning Bird Walk Meet at 7 a.m. at Kennedy Grove off San Pablo Dam Rd. to look for woodland and chaparral birds. 525-2233. 

Condominium Conversion Public Hearing on proposed amendments to the Berkeley Ordinance at 7:30 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5431. 

Friends of Faith Fundraiser in honor of KTVU reporter Faith Fancher at Scott’s Seafood Restaurant, Jack London Square. For more information and reservations call 204-1667. 

FRIDAY, JUNE 3 

“The Iraq War: Domestic Costs” with William Rivers Pitt at 7 p.m. at Fellowship Hall, Cedar and Bonita. Cost is $5-$15, no one turned away. 524-4244. 

“Speaking Out Against the War Machine” a discussion with Cindy Sheehan of Military Families Speak Out, Donna Foley of Pax Christi, and Cathy Orozco of CCCO at 7:30 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. 482-1062. 

“An Evening with Iyanla Vanzant” at 6:30 p.m. at Black Repertory Theater., Adeline St. 652-2120. www.blackrepertorygroup.com 

Water Safety Day Learn how to keep your child safe in the water, at 11 a.m. at Habitot, 2065 Kittredge St. Cost is $5-$6. 647-1111. www.habitot.org 

Yoga with Baby Learn yoga stretches and techniques that you can do with your baby. Mats provided. At 6 p.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Registration required. 658-7353. 

Kirtan, improvisational devotional chanting at 7:30 p.m. at 850 Talbot, at Solano, Albany. Donation $10. 526-9642. 

“Three Beats for Nothing” a small group meeting weekly at 10 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center to sing for fun and practice, mostly 16th century harmony. No charge. 655-8863, 843-7610. dann@netwiz.net 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 8 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 548-6310, 845-1143. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169. www.bpf.org 

SATURDAY, JUNE 4 

Family Fun Day at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Civic Center Parrk, with performances, hands-on activities and informational booths. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.org 

Spring Faire at Washington Elementary School, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 2300 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Activities for kids, health and education booths, food, raffle and performances. Free. 486-1742. 

Sacramento Street Community Cleanup, from Oregon St. to Alcatraz. Meet at 9 a.m. at the El Nopal Restaurant parking lot, 3136 Sacramento, to help sweep, weed, pick-up litter and remove graffiti. Bring gloves if you have them. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley Neighborhood Services, 981-7000. 

National Trails Day Service Project Join REI for a day of trail maintenance in Tilden Park, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. For ages 14 and up. Registration required. 527-4140, ext. 259. 

Bird’s Eye View Hike to the top of Wildcat Peak from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Bring your lunch and something to drink. For information and meeting place call 525-2233. 

Sick Plant Clinic UC plant pathologist Dr. Robert Raabe, UC entomologist Dr. Nick Mills, and their team of experts will diagnose what ails your plants from 9 a.m. to noon at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755.  

Build a Pond for Wildlife Learn about the design and features, including native pond plants and maintenance, from 9:30 a.m. to noon at the VIsitor Center, Tilden Park. Optional tour to Big Nest Wildlife Pond in Sebastopol from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Cost is $30-$35. Bring your lunch. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

“Eating Wild Foods” Learn about the edible native plants and common weeds and how to gather and prepare them. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $10-$15, no one turned away. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Nature Survival For Kids from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. For ages 8-12. Learn what to eat, how to make shelter and first aid techniques. Registration required. 525-2233. 

“Vanilla Tastings” at noon at the Pasta Shop at 1786 Fourth St. 528-1786. 

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour of the “Square Block” in West Berkeley at 11 a.m. Cost is $8-$10. Call for meeting place. 848-0181. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc/ 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland around the restored 1870s business district. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of G.B. Ratto’s at 827 Washington St. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

“Anti-War Activities in the Bay Area” A forum on the laws, anti-recruitment efforts and the Central Committee of Conscientious Objectors from 1 to 3 p.m. at Temescal Library, 5205 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 601-6456, 525-6105. 

California Writers Club hosts fifth-graders reading their prize-winning work at 10 a.m. at Barnes & Noble, Jack London Square. 482-0265. www.berkeleywritersclub.org 

North Berkeley Block Party from 4 to 8 p.m. on Delaware, between Shattuck and Milvia. Potluck/bbq with music. Benefit for Vitamin Angels. Donation $5. 

Record Show with hard to find LPs, 45s soul, jazz, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 2318 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $2. 452-2452. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., June 1, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Tasha Tervelon, 981-5347. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/women 

Fire Safety Commission meets Wed., June 1, at 7:30 p.m. at 997 Cedar St. David Orth, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/firesafety 

Community Environmental Advisory Commission meets Thurs., June 2, at 7 p.m., at 2118 Milvia St. Nabil Al-Hadithy, 981-7461. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/environmentaladvisory 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., June 2, at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Oscar Sung, 981-5400. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/housing 

Public Works Commission meets Thurs., June 2, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jeff Egeberg, 981-6406. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/publicworks 

Well, we don’t take many trips, and it’s a good thing for the public interest that we don’t. Every time we leave the country, it seems that something happens. We were in France when Watergate broke. We were in England during Tianamen Square. We were in Italy at the time of 9/11. And those are just about all the vacations we’ve taken in the last 30 years, so we sometimes feel that we’re influencing the course of world history every time we go somewhere.  

The debacle this time—assuming it’s the only one—was on a lower level. Thanks to the Planet, we read on the Internet that the Berkeley City Council has taken the widely predicted dive in its sham contest with the giant U. It looks like the mayor is still playing tight end for the Bears, just as he did in the famous Rose Bowl game of, was it 1955? (Or maybe it was ‘56 and he wasn’t a tight end…but he’s definitely playing on their team, not ours, this time.) 

Granted, the vote last Tuesday wasn’t 9-3, as the new cheap sheet reported it, but it must have felt like that to the stalwart Berkeley Three who stood up for the citizens in the final vote. Berkeley used to have the Moderates and the Progressives, but now we have the Timid and the Tough factions on the City Council.  

The e-mail reviews of their performance, addressed both to opinion@berkeleydailyplanet.com and to me personally, have been quite one-sided so far. The Timids are losing badly in the informal poll. The Toughs (Worthington, Spring, Olds) are being proposed for the new edition of Profiles in Courage.  

There’s a special subset of letters from lawyers whose jaws are dropping at what appears to have happened. (Only a few of these were submitted for publication.) They are aghast at the role played by City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque, who seems to have entered a confidentiality agreement on behalf of the city without the council’s explicit authorization. To lawyers this looks like a breach of her duty to her immediate client—the City Council—and to the people of Berkeley. The lawyers think it’s wrong for the city attorney to have created this situation, depriving the council and public of the opportunity to participate in the agreement as CEQA intended that they should. In the real world outside Berkeley politics a lawyer wouldn’t presume to make such a decision on behalf of a client. 

Now, there’s some evidence that the desire for secret negotiations originated with the mayor, who seems to like going mano-a-mano in these show matches. But even if it did, Berkeley is chartered as a “weak mayor” city. He’s supposed to be not much more than an at-large councilmember, and it was an abrogation of the city attorney’s duty to the council and the citizens to indulge him in such foolish desires by providing and securing the confidentiality agreement. 

My research on this trip is being done in the historic city of Oxford, in England. Battles between town and gown here used to feature weapons more serious than words. My Introduction to Oxford, by Chris Andrews and David Huelin, says that disputes started as early as 1192, when locals complained that scholars had “turned a borough into the semblance of a lodging house.” That seems to be a good description of what Tom Bates has in mind for Berkeley. He and his campaign contributors have already built an enormous number of luxury student tenement lodgings. UC’s new downtown plan, which the council has signed up for without input from the Planning Commission or the citizens of Berkeley, promises to bring many more, along with a new hotel. 

Oxford today looks like the poster city for all of the ideas that are being touted for Berkeley. Main streets have been pedestrianized (Newspeak is local dialect for planners, of course.) This is accomplished by what signs call “rising bollards.” No, that’s not a new faintly dirty Monty Python song—they’re posts which appear and disappear at intersections to restrict vehicles at certain times of day. Other streets feature “humps,” also not a dirty term. Busses travel on the restricted streets in enormous flocks, which is why public transit really does work, as it doesn’t in Berkeley where they’re few and far between. Bicycles are everywhere, but seem to be regarded by many as being in the same category as pigeons. Our hosts, avid bicyclists, are collecting photos of signs on walls, doors and fences warning that bicycles must not be left there or they will be moved, confiscated or summarily demolished. 

All I’ve learned so far about governance in Oxford was gleaned from reading one leaflet posted on the bulletin board at the city’s information centre. In addition to a city council roughly the size of Berkeley’s, Oxford has area committees, perhaps 10 people on each one in every council district. They seem to be able to make all sorts of zoning and other decisions, and even control spending budgets. Area committee members are identified by party on the leaflet: Laborites, Liberal Democrats, Greens, even Conservatives. All in all, it seems that more than a hundred citizens take an active role in running Oxford. This is just what the leaflet says—the reality in Oxford may turn out to be quite different when I look at it more closely next week. But if true, it’s quite a contrast with Berkeley, where the mayor is increasingly unable even to speak courteously to councilmembers at meetings, and is trying to do away with commissions which are only advisory anyway. 

Note to burglars reading this: My house sitters have a big, fierce dog, so don’t even think about it. 

—Becky O’Malley 

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Here is an instant critique of the UC-city settlement. While one should be humbled by Theodore Roosevelt’s dictum that it is not the critic who counts, but the man in the arena, in a democracy critics (especially those who volunteered to participate but were excluded from the arena) have an obligation to speak up. While the passage of time may bring greater perspective, at the moment one asks if the city is worse off with this settlement than if they had never filed the CEQA lawsuit in the first place. T he city has limited its future environmental and fiscal options notwithstanding changes in the law—such as the Cal State Monterey Bay case pending before the California Supreme Court that could give the city a CEQA opportunity to exact full mitigation for UC’s impacts—and obtained little prerogative or improvement in return. 

In rough order: 

1. The settlement lacks the legitimacy and validation that would have come with public participation in its formulation. 

2. Although the city’s lawsuit led with the compelling claim that the university’s system-wide Master Plan has been adopted without environmental review, the settlement imposes no duty on UC to conduct such review. UC can continue to insist on a statewide mandate that the Berkeley campus continue to expand, without having justified or mitigated that growth. 

3. While the settlement reduces the planned parking somewhat, new parking measured against existing conditions (and not past “paper parking” approvals) is still overwhelming. The university st ill escapes a commitment to “no new net trip generation,” the policy adopted by Stanford and University of Washington to enable university growth with no increased traffic impacts. In essence UC assigns all responsibility for transportation improvement to the city (e.g., the questionable Telegraph Avenue bus corridor) rather than shouldering responsibility for its own impacts. Is it not significant that in the recitals only the City of Berkeley, and not UC, supports alternative transportation measures? 

4. The asserted joint downtown plan, presented as a new benefit, appears to drive down a one-way street: UC can block any environmental impact report or mitigation measures proposed by the city, but even after that and once a plan is adopted by the city, U C is not bound by it (only “guided,” to use a well-worn land-use weasel word). If the plan were truly joint, UC would act as CEQA responsible agency, the UC Regents would be obligated to adopt the plan, and UC then be expressly bound by it. Instead, UC re peatedly reaffirms its asserted “autonomy” from local regulation on sites off the main campus. (A true joint planning effort would relinquish that autonomy on UC projects within the city’s downtown, and would also provide for parallel city participation i n UC planning for its on-campus projects.) 

5. The city signs off on the new Southeast Academic Commons, with no definition of that project or limitations on its design. (The one limitation is that it be consistent with the long-range development plan, bu t one of the city’s compelling legal claims is that the LRDP failed to include that project even though it was announced a week after LRDP approval.) While as a member of the law school faculty I hope the Academic Commons can be both quickly and satisfact orily completed, the agreement’s failure to define that project’s constraints right now only invites future controversy. 

6. The city leaves unresolved concerns that have motivated the high degree of community concern. Residents surrounding the campus will likely find many of their issues simply unaddressed: new UC projects on the Northside, and Memorial Stadium. Particularly since the stadium project will commendably retain its historic footprint and design, one wonders why the city did not extract from UC a commitment to no permanent lighting, and restrictions on non-football stadium use, so that the stadium controversy could be put to bed and renovation proceed with no further impediment. 

Despite these critiques, one has to express empathy for city of ficials, facing at once budget shortfalls (reducing motivation to litigate worthy claims, and increasing the attractiveness of “half a loaf” UC reimbursements), and also the university’s constitutional immunity from any local land use regulation. As a law yer I can’t recommend a cure for the former, but as to the latter the question must be raised: do we need more proof for a state constitutional amendment to remove UC’s exemption from the local governance the rest of us, including private universities, must honor? 

Antonio Rossman is a land-use attorney and Boalt Hall professor. Becky O’Malley is on vacation.  

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