A panel discussing Berkeley’s application of the always controversial density bonus had a surprise visitor Wednesday—developer Patrick Kennedy, perhaps the city’s foremost beneficiary of the law. -more-
An Oakland City Councilmember says that a San Francisco Chronicle column about a confrontation between her and an Oakland police officer is factually untrue in key points, and that she never looked in the officer’s personnel file or evaded a traffic citation. -more-
Berkeley and Pacific Steel Casting have agreed to study the source of the burning rubber smell wafting from the company’s West Berkeley plant. -more-
In another example of a local business making it big, Elephant Pharmacy has announced its intention to open three new stores in the next year and has hired a new CEO to facilitate the company’s growth. -more-
Lookout! Records, the venerable Berkeley-based punk recording label, gave layoff notices to two-thirds of its staff last week. -more-
More than 100 people filled the South Berkeley Senior Center Monday to debate the Berkeley Public Library’s practice of placing radio frequency identification devices (RFIDs) in books. -more-
Over the objections of some neighbors, Berkeley opened the door Tuesday for its largest Jewish congregation to move into its newly built multi-million dollar synagogue. -more-
North Berkeley residents say a truck driver has been taking aim at the Arlington Traffic Circle. -more-
An Oakland Unified School District Board member says that she was misquoted in a July 29 story on the Oakland School for the Arts (“OSA Will Now Include Middle School”). -more-
Steven Vincent, a U.S. freelancer kidnapped and executed in Basra on Aug. 2, was one of a kind. For Americans trying to make sense of the war in Iraq, that’s precisely the problem. -more-
http://www.jfdefreitas.com/index.php?path=/00_Latest%20Work0 -more-
Some years ago, shortly after I got my first Internet account, I signed up to an online discussion group on African-American affairs. It was the opening up of a whole new world. Every morning, first thing, I’d log on and read through the 25 or so e-mails that had already been posted from back east and the midwest. If one or two of them seemed particularly provocative and ripe for reply, I’d think it over while eating breakfast. By the time I got back to the computer a half hour later or so, the west coast had joined in, and another 25 or so messages had been posted to the discussion list, many of them in response to the one or two that had caught my own attention. -more-
People who bear firearms have a legal, moral, and financial responsibility for the terminal resting place of every projectile that is fired. Our rights come with real responsibilities. As a firearms instructor, I am well aware of the flagrant and common ignorance regarding firearm ownership. Often people who keep firearms for self defense do not bother undergoing the training and practice sessions required for proficiency. Firearms education is on a dangerous decline in large part due to the disinformation published by the media and Hollywood. The problem is compounded by the elimination of firearms education in the schools. With today’s “no tolerance” policies you cannot so much as wear a T-shirt depicting a firearm, let alone teach firearm safety in our schools. It may be difficult for many to believe but marksmanship was a sport for which you could earn a letter in high school. It would be irresponsible to abandon our means of self defense because of accidents. Automobile accidents cause far more death and injury than firearm accidents, yet no one is rallying for “car control.” -more-
Summer in Berkeley is wonderful. No need for reservations at restaurants, parking galore, and best of all we have our neighborhood pools for the whole family. When I see the Willard Pool full of kids and families I want to look around for the oak tree with the rope swing. Even though there are no rope swings around these swimming holes, Willard, King and West Campus pools are the destination (usually within walking distance) for kids and families looking to share the magic of aquatic recreation. In the shallow pool a wide-eyed tiny tot grips her mom’s neck while being lowered for the first time into the water. In the deep pool two teenaged boys are trying to catch the eye of a sunbathing girl by doing outrageous cannon balls into the water. In the long pool several adults are doing laps while a lifeguard makes suggestions about swim technique. -more-
Editors, Daily Planet: -more-
I am surprised that the Berkeley Daily Planet, whose editor recently called for “communication” as the solution to the world’s ills, would publish two pieces in a recent issue (Aug. 2) that pull out all the old anti-Semitic shibboleths in order to beat up both selected individuals and Jews in general. -more-
As I envision my young, African-American, Jewish sons walking past the anti-Beth El signs on Oxford Street to enter their new synagogue, I cannot help but think about the Civil Rights Movement and all the children and young adults who had to be taught to hold their heads high and bravely go where they were so clearly unwanted. Our Beth El children will have to do the same. -more-
On May 15, I attended Maria King’s funeral at St. Joseph the Worker Church. Maria’s funeral was beautiful, though wrenchingly sad. Saddest of all, I thought, was that the church was only half-full. Since the San Francisco Chronicle had run a front-page story that day “A Death in Berkeley”—I expected the service to be packed. It wasn’t. Some of Maria’s homeless friends were there, and locals who knew her. The priests at St. Joseph’s, especially pastor George Crespin were there, having grown to think of Maria as a friend. Her shocked family was there en masse having flown in long distance from scattered locations. -more-
It’s summer in Berkeley again, and that means that the Shotgun Players are back with their 9th annual production in John Hinkle Park. It’s a double gift—almost any excuse to spend the afternoon in that lovely outdoor theater would do—but Shotgun’s plays have been consistent delights in themselves. -more-
Pauline Kael (1919-2001) was the nation’s preeminent critic of motion pictures for almost 40 years. The London Times Literary Supplement described her writings as “a body of criticism which can be compared with George Bernard Shaw’s criticism of music and theater.” -more-
The 2005 Trails Challenge sponsored by the East Bay Regional Park District has reached the halfway point. It’s time to crunch some numbers. Assuming you’re with me, we’ve taken three hikes for a total of 9.1 miles. A total of five hikes need to be completed to qualify for the 2005 pin and four months remain for this task. To qualify for marathon mileage, we need 26 miles. Already signed up for the program are 1,700 enthusiasts; are you one of them? If not you can still call (636-1684) and get with the program. -more-
Berkeley Iceland faces possible closure this month after city officials gave the rink until Aug. 22 to remove more than 4,000 pounds of potentially toxic ammonia used to cool the ice surface. -more-
Now entering its seventh year, the struggle over the fate of the historic Blood House centers these days on a complex game of what might be called “musical properties.” -more-
The union representing the Peralta College District’s support workers has charged that Peralta administrators are setting up a permanent category of “second class workers” throughout the four-college district. -more-
Casino San Pablo began its latest incarnation Monday as a gambling Mecca where bettors can try their luck against fast-playing machines. -more-
Should Casino San Pablo eventually win approval to expand to a full-scale casino with 2,200 regulation slot machines, the result would cost Contra Costa County medical services a minimum of $3.6 million annually, according to a study released Monday. -more-
The UC Berkeley point man for campus development and planning projects in Berkeley will be leaving the university within a month. -more-
When Berkeley arborist Joe Lamb first traveled to the South East Asian island of Borneo in 1990, his worst fears of what environmental disaster could look like were realized. -more-
At a time when the daily headlines are all about North Korea and Iran trying to get nuclear weapons, it is a good thing to return to Hiroshima. -more-
About a dozen Berkeley police officers raided a Vallejo home Saturday in search of Christopher Hollis, the man police say shot the 19-year-old Berkeley woman who was also his friend. -more-
Two city panels have meetings this week to address the complexities of the city’s application of the state density bonus laws. -more-
The story “Alleged Berkeley Gang Members Arrested in Richmond Slayings,” (July 29-Aug. 1) listed a Berkeley address for Joseph James Carroll, Jr., one of the men sought in connection with the murder, according to information provided by Richmond Police Department. Residents of that address, however, said that Carroll does not live there. -more-
http://www.jfdefreitas.com/index.php?path=/00_Latest%20Workì -more-
This week the City Council, the Planning Commission and the Zoning Adjustments Board all go on their long summer breaks, and not a moment too soon. Legislatively and judicially speaking, the past year has been an annus horribilis. To know that these bodies will be on vacation for the next month and a half is something of a relief. -more-
It’s hard to believe that summer is more than half way over but the signs are everywhere: winter clothes on display in department stores, back to school ads in the newspaper. I’m just getting acclimated to the warm, sunny weather here in the East Bay when it’s once again time to return for classes at chilly, fog-shrouded San Francisco State. -more-
Sometimes when I have ranted too long about Israel/Palestine, my husband tries to shut me down by saying, “Do you know how most Americans feel about this subject? They don’t know and they don’t care!” There is a reason for this, of course, which is part of my frustration. What I have come to think of as Mordor—the eye that never sleeps—is always looking everywhere, making sure that no one ever does learn, or know, or think about this urgent issue. Three recent examples from three different locales. -more-
As a member of the Peace and Justice Commission, I would like to make a few comments about Matthew Artz’s article of July 22: -more-
Now that they’re bare of fruit, it’s safe to talk about the handful of loquat trees, Eriobotrya japonica, on the streets of Berkeley. I’ll admit I’m a bit paranoid on this matter. I used to live with a pair of them, planted by the landlord in the curb strip where we rented on Derby Street for years. One of them had bad bark scarring when we moved there and subsequently died when a strong wind snapped it in two. -more-
He’s a soft-spoken man with a relaxed manner, an open smile and a gentle handshake—the perfect temperament for a developer tackling a landmarked Berkeley building. -more-
The air around these pages has been crackling of late with thunderbolts hurled from the Olympian heights of Berkeley’s arts community. No sooner does artist A praise, for example, the primitive power of the examples of art at the Albany Bulb than artist B ripostes with suggestions that they are untidy and barely accessible. The “Here-There” metal cutouts installed on the Berkeley-Oakland border, to the tune of $50,000, are either witty examples of post-modernism or ludicrous mis-spending of public funds. The only public sculpture, (as far as anyone can remember) which was ratified by a ballot initiative is still, many years later, the target of derision in some circles. In light of all this excitement, it’s hard not to suppress a smile at one writer’s comment that “visual arts coverage in the Planet is infrequent and often inaccurate, a tradition one hopes will be corrected before Berkeley’s vibrant visual arts community dies of neglect or goes elsewhere.” -more-
