Meleia Willis-Starbuck always stood up for herself and loved ones, her friends said. -more-

The City Council is poised Tuesday to restore fire service after an uproar earlier this month over the closure of the Berkeley hills fire station. -more-

The only way for listener-sponsored KPFA radio to move forward is to show General Manager Roy Campanella the door, according to the 70 members of the station’s paid and unpaid staff who have signed a letter of no confidence in Campanella. -more-

Even though she is not a professional tour guide or travel agent, West Oakland resident Rehema Gueye was not surprised when a Laney College student approached her earlier this year about arranging a student educational trip to West Africa. -more-

With University of California Regents preparing to vote on proposed increases in professional degree fees at this week’s meeting, four UC professional degree students have filed a class action lawsuit in San Francisco against the regents to prevent those increases. -more-

The proposed new Berkeley Bowl planned for 9th Street and Heinz Avenue in West Berkeley is nearing the initial phase of the environmental review process. -more-

The recent 2005-06 California State budget passed by a legislative conference committee and signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger eliminated the governor’s shift of teacher retirement costs to local school districts, but what effect it will have on Berkeley Unified School District’s finances is yet to be determined. -more-

Members of the Zoning Adjustments Board’s subcommittee on the city’s controversial application of the density bonus are beginning to see the light, they told fellow ZAB members Thursday. -more-

After calling a temporary halt to plans to demolish the landmarked building she owns, Kathleen Garr said she’s about to give up—forced to surrender by the heavy costs she’d incur should she break her contract with developers. -more-

Four people were killed in two fiery weekend collisions on I-80. -more-

If all goes well in a Thursday night hearing at the Design Review Commission (DRC), construction of an 80-unit low-income senior housing project at 1535 University Ave. can start soon. -more-

MENTAL HEALTH SURVEY -more-

A VALUABLE ASSET -more-

It’s not often that I discover a rich new metaphor in a bureaucratic memo. So it was a pleasant surprise to come across the image of the planner as alchemist in the California Senate Local Government Committee’s analysis of Assemblymember Loni Hancock’s Assembly Bill 691. -more-

I’m sitting in the middle seat of an Alaska Airline flight from Seattle to Oakland. An hour ago I arrived at SeaTac on a much smaller prop plane that had taken off from Spokane. Before that I was in the backseat of a Ford Explorer “taxi” owned by the Moose Express. I’ve been in Sandpoint, Idaho, for a week visiting friends. Now I’m heading home. -more-

Range fire -more-

Our lively and well-read local Berkeley newspaper, the Berkeley Daily Planet, and its eminences grises, the O’Malleys, are apparently under sustained assault by some city politicians and officials who do not like their attitude and who neither understand nor respect the role of a free press. Newsracks and newspaper copies have mysteriously disappeared, city public noticing has been pulled, certain insider local businesses have pulled advertising (or decline to advertise in the first place), and there is extensive and inappropriate badmouthing of the paper and its management. -more-

Unfortunately, the only thing that can be said for the school district in how it goes about wasting our tax monies in doing construction is that it does not learn from past mistakes. -more-

A proud history of evoking an entire disability movement for equal rights is coming to shame at the Center for Independent Living. Its executive director, Jan Garrett, seems bent on abandoning doctrines of fair treatment for employees and absolute fairness, efficiency and dedication to providing excellent service above all—in favor of wielding personnel policies, overlooking inefficiencies and making the bottom line the primary consideration in decision making. -more-

While some of the specific intelligence regarding Iraq has proven false, and some of it controversial, it may be helpful to look at just the intelligence that nobody seems to disagree with. The controversies make the front page more often but the non-controversial material is heavy stuff. -more-

I live on Spruce Street between Cedar and Vine. As a result of construction for the Beth El Temple, many, many construction vehicles, trucks and heavy equipment trailers are going up and down our residential street at very early hours of the morning—before 8 a.m. I am further concerned that there will be more through traffic on Spruce as a result of the exit planned onto Spruce from Beth El. -more-

At one end of the room by the patio in the Berkeley City Club that serves as theater for Central Works Ensemble, a rough-hewn cross studded with spikes adorns the wall above a gothic chair, a wooden ecclesiastic throne. A lamp hangs by a chain, guttering. To Gregorian chanting, a wry, acerbic figure in plain habit and shaved head looks upward, fixedly, as if staring at the light from a mullioned glass window we see reflected on the walls. -more-

TUESDAY, JULY 19 -more-

As far as I know, there’s only one Erythrina crista-galli living as a street tree in Berkeley, though I’m sure there are others in people’s gardens. There used to be another in front of a house just over the Oakland line on MLK—just south of the infamous “Here/There” sculptures—but it got taken out for construction. A pity; most of the year that one looked like an accident in a stick factory, but when it bloomed, wow. -more-

TUESDAY, JULY 19 -more-

The City of Richmond and the National Park Service are looking for people who lived in Richmond’s 11 World War II-era housing projects in the 1940s and 1950s. -more-

A packed house loaded with questions about UC Berkeley’s new role in the downtown planning process greeted City Planner Dan Marks and Tom Lollini, his university counterpart, at the Planning Commission Wednesday. -more-

State regulators Tuesday backed a recommendation by Berkeley preservationists in the raging battle over a city ordinance designed to preserve historic buildings. -more-

Berkeley High sophomore Rio Bauce, 15, has assigned himself a daunting task: winning the right for 17-year-olds in the city to vote in school board elections. -more-

Plans to demolish a West Berkeley landmark and replace it with a manufacturing plant came to an abrupt halt Wednesday morning after the building’s owner intervened. -more-

With newcomer Councilmember Pat Kerninghan urging fellow members to “just pass this and move on to more constructive things; I’m tired of the negative press Oakland is getting on this,” Oakland City Council passed a slightly modified version on first reading of Mayor Jerry Brown’s sideshow ordinance Tuesday in a rare morning meeting. -more-

Because of an editing error, an article in the July 12 issue incorrectly stated that the Albany councilmember who charged St. Mary’s College High School representatives with reneging on an agreement was not the same councilmember who charged that city staff encouraged the school to break their deal with the city. In both cases, the councilmember was Robert Lieber, the only councilmember quoted in the article. -more-

Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) added two new properties to the city’s list of official historic resources, one over the owners’ wishes and the other with the owner’s blessings. -more-

Downtown Berkeley has snagged a new business—albeit one that was already operating in the city. -more-

The City Council unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday urging residents to boycott Berkeley Honda, which they accused of union busting. -more-

Berkeley Minicar -more-

How many Japanese city councilmembers can fit in a Berkeley City Hall elevator? -more-

Last Thursday morning in London, my wife Lisa and I left our three children to hail a taxi near the apartment we had rented. Eli, who is 20, had offered to take our twins Annie and Lucy to Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum as a treat for their twelfth birthday. All three were excited about seeing the statues of everyone from the Queen to Johnny Depp. -more-

Construction overcharges continued to be the theme at the Peralta Community College District Trustee meeting Tuesday night, with trustees sparring with Chancellor Elihu Harris and staff over the Vista College construction project. -more-

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

TRAFFIC CIRCLES -more-

Last summer, just before dusk, my 15-year-old daughter, Liana, and her friend Kate were standing in front of Berkeley High School (BHS), waiting for Kate’s dad to pick them up. A car pulled up to the curb near them and parked. -more-

I went out on the corner after dark on July 4 to watch the folks in my neighborhood set the sky aflame with fireworks, one of the most brazen displays of non-cooperation with authority since Mr. Ghandi led his followers down to the seashore to mine salt. -more-

Youthful Arsonists -more-

An op-ed by Jonathan Wornick appearing in the July 12 Daily Planet opposing Berkeley’s recently passed resolution supporting a U.S. Department of -more-

Over two decades ago Bobby Sands, a member of the IRA, was arrested and put in jail by the British government. He later went on a hunger strike demanding to be freed. Margaret Thatcher, holding the British prime minister office at the time, refused to ca ve in to his demand until Sands finally died in prison as a result. -more-

Lies, damn lies, statistics, and then studies. Twice in last week’s Daily Planet letters section a deceptive 2002 parking study was cited as proving there is no need for more parking in the downtown area. Why, parking is plentiful, they claim, and an adjacent claim is always on its heels, that parking spaces “cost” $25,000 each, garage parking spaces $50,000 or more. -more-

West Campus Neighbors who oppose the Berkeley Unified School District’s plans to move light industrial uses and heavy vehicle storage into their neighborhood are beginning to feel a bit like kids at a carnival watching a grifter executing a shell game. Just as they think they have a line on what the district is up to, the district switches direction. A few examples: -more-

I know that many citizens in Berkeley must be confused about the revisions to the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance. What in the heck are we doing? -more-

The gutsy Berkeley Opera is taking on Wagner again, this time with its own reduced version of Die Meistersinger. Olivia Stapp had the opportunity to interview Artistic Director Jonathan Khuner after one of the recent rehearsals. -more-

Woman’s Will, the Oakland-based all-female Shakespeare company, celebrates their eighth season of free performances of Shakespeare In The Park with performances of Richard III this Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. in John Hinkel Park. -more-

Harold Lloyd, one of the greatest comedians of silent film, is poised for a comeback. In anticipation of the November release of more than two dozen of his films on DVD, Pacific Film Archive and San Francisco’s Castro Theater are screening some of the comedian’s best features. -more-

FRIDAY, JULY 15 -more-

An old reprobate, a heavy-drinking veteran of many barroom brawls, once told me why he favored knives over guns when he needed to get out of a tight spot. Anyone who knows how to use knives, he said, knows that you can always put your thumb half-way up the blade, so you can just stick the guy, not kill him by accident. -more-

Judy Miller is one disgusting poster child for freedom of the press. We can all agree on that, can’t we? She was the pipeline for the administration’s totally bogus claims that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But on the other hand, nobody thinks that it’s right to jail a reporter who merely received—didn’t even print—a leak from a presumably highly placed source which amounted to the disclosure of the identity of a CIA employee. Can we agree on that? -more-

FRIDAY, JULY 15 -more-