The most sought-after confidential document in recent Berkeley history is now public, but debate continues over an agreement which added a layer of secrecy to recent settlement talks between the City of Berkeley and the University of California. -more-

One week after the contentious and narrowly rejected petition to change the name of Jefferson Elementary School split both the Berkeley School Board and the Berkeley community in general, the board voted unanimously Wednesday night to rescind the district’s school renaming policy until a new policy can be worked out. -more-

Berkeley’s strong lead in the competition for the first new ferry terminal in the East Bay weakened this week with an announcement from Toyota Motors. -more-

The Alameda County Medical Center—the only option for Berkeley’s 10,000 uninsured—continues to run up deficits despite a $70 million county bail-out last year, according to a recently-released report from the Alameda County Grand Jury. The report lays the blame on the center’s board of trustees. -more-

What’s in a name? -more-

Members of the Downtown Berkeley Association (DBA) don’t like what they see happening with parking in the city center—there’s less of it all the time in an era of expanding development hoping for a commercial revival. -more-

Bus drivers and custodians, classified employees, and supervisory personnel represented by the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 21 all received 3.2 percent pay-and-benefits package increases from the Berkeley Unified School District next year, while teachers and administrators received total compensation raises of 2.1 percent. -more-

For newspaper fans who would rather browse through a paper than a website, the world just got a whole lot smaller. -more-

After a stormy beginning, members of the citizen’s group appointed to advise the state on toxic waste issues at Richmond’s Campus Bay said Thursday night that they want a bigger role. -more-

AC Transit reached a deal with its largest union Friday on a two-year contract that gives its 1,800 bus drivers and mechanics a 3 percent raise. -more-

Shortly after her election as student director on the Berkeley Unified School Board last year, Berkeley High’s Lily Dorman-Colby outlined an ambitious plan to mobilize students against unpopular board decisions. “I want to be a politician,” she told the Berkeley Daily Planet’s Matthew Artz. “I want to change the world.” In addition, the senior wrestler announced that she was going to put a stop to the board’s habit of extending meetings late into the night. -more-

The controversial radio devices coming to Berkeley this August won’t be arriving in San Francisco anytime soon. -more-

http://www.jfdefreitas.com/index.php?path=/00_Latest%20Works -more-

FIRE STATIONS -more-

Citizen participation in Berkeley public life is under attack. Some of the assaults are blatant—most egregiously, the secret settlement with UC that the City Council approved on a 6-3 vote on May 25. The deal cuts citizens out of planning for downtown Berkeley, while effectively giving the Regents a veto over the future of our city center. -more-

When my mother was 14 years old, she and her three sisters combined the contents of their piggy banks and bought my grandmother an overstuffed, flower-print covered chaise longue. They envisioned their mother lying like a starlet on this piece of furniture, dressed in a sleek satin smoking gown, a slim black cigarette holder in one hand, and a full martini glass in the other. In reality, Grandma spent most of her time in front of a hot stove, cooking my grandfather medium rare steaks, an apron around her waist, a cigarette butt between her lips. She didn’t have time to recline leisurely on the chaise longue, and so it sat abandoned in her bedroom, covered not in cast-off silk and satin negligees, but my grandfather’s dirty underwear. -more-

I have a 7-year-old who just finished her second year at Jefferson Elementary. And I’m a parent who has been wholly uninvolved in matters concerning the school’s proposed name change (from Jefferson to Sequoia) and in its ensuing controversy; uninvolved that is, until now. -more-

Underlying the dispute over the name change of Jefferson school are issues that divide and tear at the heart of the Berkeley community. While I think the School Board should have honored the vote in a demonstration of democracy, at the same time, the idea of a name change is merely symbolic and risks continued avoidance of the real issues. My suggestion is: Let’s get real. Literally. Let’s look at the real history, the real issues. How about Berkeley being the first school district in the country to design a slavery curriculum, not just as part of African American studies but as part of world history and current events? -more-

The tragedy playing out at the Drayage building today was set up when the city quietly dumped the Arts and Crafts Ordinance protections covering the building until the rezoning of West Berkeley in 1998. -more-

The front page of Berkeley Daily Planet of June 28 shows the picture of a few Iranians who are protesting the recent presidential election in Iran. They are holding a flag that belonged to Shah’s regime. You might know that Shah of Iran was brought to power by a CIA coup d’etat in the 1950s. He was a U.S. lackey for more than 25 years who oppressed his own people. Also in the picture, a protester is holding a poster of a man who is the leader of a group officially declared as a terrorist group by the U.S.; although it is presently supported by the White House and the CIA. Thus, I have no doubt that the Iranian men in the photo are just a mouthpiece for the CIA and neocons. -more-

It is no secret that the University of California at Berkeley plans to play a major role in nanotechnology research. But what the university has kept under covers is that its research in nanotechnology is much more advanced than most people think. For the past few months, the university has conducted an “off the books” nanotechnology experiment on the Berkeley City Council, and the results are in: Attempts to shrink the brains and cajones of the City Council were overwhelmingly effective! -more-

As you may know, Iran has a new president. Mr. Ahmadi-nejhad (also known as “Darwin’s missing link”) an ultra right and fairly unknown candidate was supposedly elected to the office in a run-off election just a few days ago. -more-

The Busker’s Opera, which stopped oh so briefly here at Zellerbach before going on tour, was not only vivid and exhilarating. It was one of those specific moments that open like a cone far beyond this time and place, that reveal its center and invoke the world. From the indelible first images of the Busker, spilling out his empty tin cans on to the stage, drumming on them, the empty box, and even his own drumsticks, his long silky hair, swinging and rippling, designer and director Robert Lepage’s version of John Gay’s The Busker’s Opera celebrates and castigates the culture—ours; and uses the culture’s own idiom to do so. The first few pieces drive the rock/rap/hip-hop style to passionate intensity. Ultimately savvy about theater, show business, manners, politics, and the human psyche, the work is marvelous and it is mad. -more-

A film festival today, Tuesday, July 5 in San Francisco marks the beginning of LaborFest, a month-long celebration of working people and a commemoration of the 1934 general strike, when the businesses of San Francisco shut down in support of the striking dockworkers. -more-

TUESDAY, JULY 5 -more-

We have a few legendary Europeans around town, some of them lined up on Blake Street just east of San Pablo Avenue, and currently all dressed up. They’re European beech trees, Fagus sylvatica, and quite a few of them are the copper variety, Fagus purpurea or Fagus sylvatica atropunicea depending on how old your information source is. Their leaves are deep burgundy, like a purple-leaf plum’s; you can tell them from plums by their smooth silvery bark, their larger size, and their fruit—beechnuts! (In no way does that fruit resemble chewing gum or baby food, and if that doesn’t make sense to you, ask someone older.) -more-

TUESDAY, JULY 5 -more-