The student co-operative long derided as Cal’s version of Animal House has been given a new name and a facelift that has it looking on par with the homes of neighbors who last year filed a nuisance suit against the property. 

“It’s really an extraordinary change,” said George Lewinsky, a neighbor. “It looks like the kind of place I would have liked to have lived in when I was in school.” 

Lewinsky was one of 15 neighbors awarded a total of $63,250 in small claims court last spring after showing that loud and rowdy behavior at the student co-op Le Chateau had damaged their quality of life. 

In May, neighbors accepted about half the amount awarded by the trial judge, and the University Students Cooperative Association, which operated Le Chateau, dropped its appeal and agreed to remake the co-op. 

The UCSA kicked out current residents, limited entrance to graduate students and transfers, scaled back the number of bedrooms and changed the name from Le Chateau to Hillegass-Parker House. 

The three-house complex at the corner of Hillegass and Parker streets that at one point was home to 85 undergraduates now houses 57 graduate and transfer students. To make the place appealing to a more mature clientele, USCA spent about $225,000 this summer on upgrades. 

“It’s amazing what just a little paint and some finish will do,” said Kathryn McCarthy, USCA’s community relations and development director. 

What once looked like a shelter now better resembles a bed and breakfast. The blue graffiti of dancing figures on the walls have been washed away. The walls have been repainted and covered with framed paintings of flowers. The main room that before appeared to be refuge for unwanted couches now contains brand new leather sofas and cloth recliners. 

“Most of the old furniture had just decayed,” said Lauren MacKinnon, 27, a theology student who has taken over as house manager. 

The smoking room is now a dining room, replete with wood tables, and the stench of wafting nicotine has given way to the smell of fresh paint. The floors, which MacKinnon said were rotting, have been refinished and new lights and windows installed. 

The new layout is courtesy of Mark Pellegrino, a San Francisco-based interior designer, who is a frequent contributor to the show “Curb Appeal” on The Home and Garden Network and a friend of Margie Greene, an USCA accountant. 

“His theme was European Inn, in the Orient,” said MacKinnon, pointing out the bamboo furniture and plush couches. 

More important for neighbors, the USCA has removed the kidney shaped pool and landscaped the backyard with drought-resistant plants. 

“When people decided at 2 a.m. to have a pool party, it was hard for us to sleep,” Lewinsky said. 

The new residents insist they have no interest in being a disturbance. “I’m a game night kind of girl,” MacKinnon said. 

All Chateau residents had to sign a contract stipulating that residents wouldn’t have outdoor parties at night and that they would alert neighbors before an indoor party. 

“I see this as a place that people can bring faculty members and classmates,” MacKinnon said. “I’d like for us to be able to mix activities that are both academic and social.” 

The former Chateau is the first USCA building to cater to graduate students who attend classes at various Bay Area institutions, not just UC. 

McCarthy said that Le Chateau had declined in popularity in recent years and that the UCSA was having difficulty filling beds. The new Hillegas-Parker House is completely booked and has a waiting list, she said. 

Standard rooms rent for $525 a month and large rooms go for $644 a month. 

Several of the roughly 60 residents of last year’s Chateau graduated from the university last year, McCarthy said. Remaining students either moved into different co-ops or left the system. The lone hold-over is Kenny Jensen, a graduate student in physics who decided to stay even though he said he preferred the old Chateau. 

“It was full of life,” Jensen said. “No matter the time there were always people to hang out with. You really felt free.” 

Jensen said he also preferred the old look, which he said, “felt like it was created by the students. Right now it just doesn’t have that co-op feel.”  

Galen Hancock, a graduate student in economics and law, said he decided to move to Hillegass-Parker House from a different co-op in search of a more serene environment. 

“The last co-op I lived in had a lot of undergrads,” he said. “It’s not the right culture once you’re 24.” 

Hancock didn’t anticipate his fellow residents would burden neighbors, but said he feared that neighbors might pounce on any noise or indiscretion at the home. 

After years of tension, Lewinsky said he was optimistic for the new co-op, but was still reserving judgment. 

“I think they’ve taken a big step to changing the culture of place,” he said. “But not everybody has moved in yet, so we’ll have to wait and see.”›

The Berkeley school board kept the option of closing a portion of Derby Street alive for its East Campus properties Wednesday night. 

The board directed district Facilities Director Lew Jones to continue his investigation of how the street could be closed between Milvia Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way and a regulation-size high school baseball field put on the site. 

The sole board dissenter to the plan to move forward was Board Director John Selawsky, a vocal opponent of the closed-Derby plan. Selawsky noted what he called the “huge gap” between the estimated $4.3 million cost of a closed-Derby plan and the approximately $920,000 available in the district budget for the project. He accused fellow board members of “engaging in wishful thinking, and wishful thinking doesn’t pay the contractor. There’s some denial going on here.” 

Terry Doran, board vice president, who said he has “probably been the most aggressive in bringing this project before the board,” defended the board’s actions in continuing the investigation of closing Derby. 

“I have always been up front that I saw the open Derby plan as a temporary, interim solution, and that we were also looking at the long-term solution of closing Derby Street and putting a regulation-size baseball diamond on that site,” he said. 

At the meeting, residents of the East Campus area—many of who oppose the closed-Derby plan—praised the district for demolishing the East Campus buildings on the site. Several residents drew laughter from board members and the audience alike as they describe how “delightful” it was to watch the buildings come down. 

Neighbor Michael Ray described the former condition of the East Campus properties as a “decrepit space.” 

But Wednesday night’s meeting also showed the continuing contentious nature of the issue, with Andrew King, a neighbor of the properties, describing it as a struggle “between the community and these rather obscure, radical forces from outside the community.” 

Board Director Joaquin Rivera said that he “took issue with that comment.” 

He said that ball field proponents were not radical, “but they are certainly passionate about their position, just as the neighbors are passionate about theirs. And they are not from outside the community. They are Berkeley residents. Calling them that is no service to the truth.” 

Board President Nancy Riddle added that both sides “should not marginalize each other by derogatory remarks.” 

BUSD holds properties on two city blocks bounded by Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street to the west and east, Carleton and Ward streets on the north and south, and divided by Derby Street down the middle. The Berkeley Alternative High School sits on the southern parcel of the two properties. The old East Campus facilities used to sit on the northern parcel, but over the summer the district had those facilities razed, leaving small piles of steel and concrete that will soon be removed. On Tuesday afternoons, Derby Street is closed between the two properties to accommodate the Berkeley Farmers Market. 

At the board’s direction, WLC Architects of Emeryville has produced two proposals for the properties, an open-Derby Street option that would center around a multi-purpose athletic field for the northern parcel, and a closed-Derby Street option that would include a regulation-sized baseball field. 

Both plans include the building of basketball courts, a relocation of the Farmers Market from the street to a dedicated space on the property, and the building of other facilities for community use, and both plans include keeping the Berkeley Alternative High School on its present site on the southern portion of the properties. Preliminary figures submitted by WLC Architects have put the cost of what is called a “bare bones” open Derby Plan—with the multi-purpose field only, and no other amenities—at close to $950,000, while the estimate for the total closed Derby Plan—with the baseball field and all the amenities—was set at $4.3 million. 

But those figures appeared to be in some flux. District officials were unsure of what street closure costs might eventually be absorbed by the city. Facilities Director Jones said that approximately $1.3 million of that $4.3 million figure came from costs of closing Derby Street for one block. 

The board directed Jones to work out some discrepancies in the two plans and to present a budget for a “bare bones” closed-Derby Street plan without the extra amenities so the two plans can be compared on an equal basis. Jones was also to present an estimate of how much it would cost to build a multi-purpose field on the northern parcel of the properties and then later to have Derby Street closed to built a regulation baseball field on the entire site. 

The board also told Jones that preparation of the southern portion of the property for multi-purpose field use by Berkeley High athletic teams—including seeding of grass and construction of a drainage system—would not go forward until those budget figures are brought back to the board, preliminarily scheduled for Sept. 21. Riddle called such a delay “fiscally prudent.” 

Jones said that he and WLC representatives have met in recent weeks with city officials to discuss the closed-Derby plan. He said that the proposed plan presented by WLC Wednesday night included two additions requested by Berkeley Fire Department representatives: the inclusion of a fire lane on the property, and the installation of a traffic light at Carleton Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way that could be controlled by the department to clear the way for fire trucks answering a call. The Fire Department uses Derby Street as a throughway to MLK to respond to fires. 

›

Foes of plans to create a new Oakland redevelopment district just south of the Berkeley border are holding a public meeting Sunday to confront a central feature of the proposal—eminent domain. 

The meeting begins at 1 p.m. in the Omni, a club at 4799 Shattuck Ave. 

Under the initial proposal, made by the Redevelopment Division of the Oakland Community & Economic Development Agency, 800 acres would be added to join the separated parcels of the existing 600-acre Broadway/MacArthur/San Pablo Redevelopment Project. 

A May 9 city-sponsored community forum featured a large turnout of residents opposed to the project. The outcry at that meeting led to a temporary suspension of the proposal. 

North Oakland activists Bob Brockl and Alfred Crofts, who played a major role in mobilizing the opposition before the May meeting, organized Sunday’s gathering. Brockl questions the need for a major redevelopment project in an area which has grown increasingly trendy and expensive over the years. 

One of the core issues on Sunday’s agenda will be the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 23 ruling in the case of Kelo v. City of New London. 

In that decision, the court ruled that local governments can force property owners to sell to private developers if the planned project will benefit the public—even if the existing property isn’t blighted and there is no certainty that the new project will succeed. 

Among those scheduled to appear Sunday is John Revelli, owner of the Revelli Tire Company at 571 Thomas L. Berkley Way in Oakland. The property of the 56-year-old family business was seized the day after the ruling. 

Also taken the same day was another nearby small business, Tony Fung’s Autohouse Car Repair at 565 Thomas L. Berkley Way. 

The properties were taken for development of the Uptown District project, the planned creation of private development firm Forest City. The development is part of the Uptown District project promoted by Mayor Jerry Brown. 

Brockl and Crofts described Sunday’s session as a “Forum on Redevelopment Uses and Abuses, including Eminent Domain and Starving the General Fund and the Proposed Addition of 800 Acres to the Existing North Oakland Redevelopment Area.” 

Another speaker will be Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby, a leading member of Municipal Officials for Redevelopment Reform, which maintains the www.redevelopment.com website. 

Oakland writer and preservationist Jane Powell will also speak, as will MGO Democratic Club Pamela Drake. 

The organizers have also invited Rachel Richman, chief of staff to Assemblymember Wilma Chan. 

Brockl said that the struggle against development has created unusual alliances between groups on the left and right. Norby, who hails from a conservative district in Orange County, finds himself aligned with left-leaning activists like Brokl and Crofts and sharing the agenda with a liberal Democratic Party group. 

Brockl said eminent domain is a major worry because under the existing guidelines, the presence of lead paint—a commonplace in older structures—is considered sufficient grounds for a finding of blight that would allow the invocation of eminent domain. 

Redevelopment officials have insisted that eminent domain would only be used against commercial properties, but many of those who attended the May meeting were skeptical, worried that it might be used to seize residences as well. 

Redevelopment meeting 

Meanwhile, the Project Area Committee for the existing Broadway/MacArthur/San Pablo Redevelopment Project has scheduled a meeting for Thursday night, which will hear a report by city staff on the proposed expansion of the district. 

That meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room of Beebe Memorial Church, 3900 Telegraph Ave. 

Another topic on the agenda is the Telegraph Avenue Pedestrian Streetscape Project, which focuses on a two-mile stretch of Telegraph from 20th Street to Claremont Avenue.

Berkeley broke ground Tuesday on its newest bicycle-pedestrian trail—a four-block path the city hopes will one day connect to the Ohlone Greenway and improve access to the I-80 Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge. 

The trail will follow the old Santa Fe railroad line from Delaware Street, between Bonar and Acton streets, across University Avenue to Addison Street at Strawberry Creek Park. The project includes a new pedestrian-activated traffic light crossing University. 

The right-of-way north of University Avenue has been a 30-foot-wide expanse of grass with a narrow paved walkway since Berkeley took control of the land from the railroad in 1979. Berkeley is spending $115,000 and using a $1 million grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to build the path. It is scheduled to be ready for use by the end of November. 

Development Project Coordinator David Fogarty said the city hopes to raise additional funds to one day to extend the path two blocks north to Lincoln Street. There it would connect to Cedar Rose Park and the Ohlone Greenway, which provides cyclists a direct path all the way to Richmond. 

Bicycle advocates have said they are disappointed by the project, mainly because the city, bowing to neighborhood fears that the trail would invite crime, has agreed to fence it off at night. 

“This is supposed to be a transportation facility, spent with transportation dollars,” said Sarah Syed, Berkeley transportation commissioner. “What other roads do we cut off during certain hours?” 

The gate, to be installed on the north side of University, will cost $50,000. Fogarty said the city hadn’t decided what hours to close the path, but was considering shutting the gate between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. 

He added that, “If one day the neighborhood is convinced the trail is not a crime problem, the gate could be eliminated.” 

But neighbors said they were intent on keeping the gate that they lobbied hard to obtain. “If they don’t close it off, people from the streets will come here and camp out,” said Asline Jones. 

Before the city installed a chain-link fence at University Avenue in the 1980s to block the right-of-way, it was hard to police, said Liz Filmer, who lives along the trail. “It got pretty loud and rowdy at night,” she said. “The fence will give the neighborhood a feeling that it is safe and somewhat closed off from University.” 

Fogarty said the impetus for the trail came when Berkeley Montessori School purchased the property on the southern part of University Avenue. The previous owner, Catellus Development Corporation, a successor company to the railroad, had refused to let Berkeley extend a trail through its property onto Addison Street, Fogarty said. 

“Montessori said if you develop the trail, we’ll give you an easement. That’s what brought this project to the top of the list,” Fogarty said. 

While only a lack of money is keeping Berkeley from extending the trail north towards the Ohlone Greenway, a southern expansion is out of the question. Berkeley has sold off much of the right-of-way south of University Avenue to private homeowners and has dedicated other portions for public parks and housing developments. 

›

Wednesday night the Elmwood Theater had its underground pre-opening. 

I had noticed the marquee proclaiming “Wednesday Nite Opening,” this week while traveling on the 51 bus, but calls to their number and surfing the internet had produced no confirmation. 

There had been other rumblings before this that had not panned out.  

Even Daily Planet staff, aware of everything that goes on in our town, did not know for sure: “Call the hardware store across the street,” they told me, after I failed to reach the Elmwood on the phone.  

So when we drove past, “mirabile dictu,” it was indeed opening that evening, over a year after it was suddenly closed for repairs.  

--Paul Matzner

Agreement May End Greek Alcohol Ban 

UC Berkeley and campus fraternity and sorority leaders are moving towards ending a ban on alcohol use by Greek organizations imposed by the university last May. 

This week, university officials said they reached an agreement with fraternities and sororities that would hold the campus’s Greek communities “more accountable for self-regulation,” including patrolling their own events and reporting any alcohol consumption violations. A university press release said that “if the self-regulation is effective [through the end of Welcome Week on Sept. 1], campus officials will partially lift the ban.” 

UC officials said that a partial ban lift would mean that chapters would be allowed to serve alcohol at social events held away from the campus, as well as at registered on-site alumni activities. A further easing of alcohol restrictions would follow if no problems occur. 

Included in the Greek-UC agreement are stiffer sanctions against fraternities and sororities caught violating the agreement or UC’s overall alcohol policy, which allows beer and wine for students of legal drinking age at events, but no kegs or other bulk containers and no hard liquor. 

Last spring’s ban on alcohol consumption at Greek organization events on campus, the second such moratorium in three years, came a month after an alleged alcohol-related fraternity hazing incident. 

In April, members of UC’s Pi Kappa Phi fraternity were accused of repeatedly shooting a 19-year-old pledge with a BB gun on a Berkeley street after forcing him to drink large quantities of beer and smoke marijuana. The incident led to the reorganization of the Pi Kappa Phi UC Berkeley chapter. 

In announcing the ban last May, UC Dean of Students Karen Kenney said that the university had “seen an alarming increase in problems with alcohol abuse, hazing, fights and badly managed parties by all types of Greek organizations.” 

At the time, UC officials said they were imposing the ban until the university could establish new policies, guidelines, and enforcement procedures for alcohol consumption by Greek organizations. 

Underhill Parking Lot Construction Begins 

UC Berkeley officials have announced that construction of the new four-level, 1,000-space Underhill parking lot will begin the end of this month. 

Construction on the site, bounded by Haste Street, Channing Way, and College Avenue, will begin with demolition of the existing parking lot and excavation for the new structure, and is expected to continue through the spring of 2007. 

University students and officials who have used the Underhill lot are being routed to other UC parking areas during the months of the construction. 

The new parking lot drew criticism earlier this year when it was presented to the Berkeley Planning Commission. Commissioner Rob Wrenn complained that the university was “shoving it down our throats. ... They’re not just replacing the old structure; they’re expanding it.” 

When completed, the new Underhill site will include a street-level recreation field and a landscaped plaza with seating.  

UC Operated Charter School Opens in North Oakland 

A controversial charter school once called “illegal” by an Oakland School Board member and “a wonderful opportunity” for UC Berkeley by a UC Berkeley official opened this week in North Oakland. 

The school, on San Pablo Avenue near the Berkeley border, is a joint operation by the university and Oakland-based non-profit Aspire Public Schools, which currently operates 11 other charter schools in urban areas of California, including two others in Oakland. Funding comes in part from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. 

CAL Prep, as the new school is named, opened its doors to 90 middle school students last Wednesday in the building formerly occupied by Oakland Unified School District’s Golden Gate Elementary. That is some 30 to 90 students fewer than school officials projected when they announced plans for the charter last March. The school day will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., including after-school programs, with students expected to carry double periods of math and English.  

The charter takeover was made possible after Oakland’s state-appointed school administrator, Randolph Ward, announced the closure of Golden Gate Elementary and then opened it up to reorganization under President George Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act. 

Last March, school board member Dan Siegel said, “Dr. Ward is using reasons that run from the fanciful to the ludicrous to justify the circumvention of state law and the closing of Oakland schools.” 

In announcing the opening of the new CAL Prep school, UC Berkeley Associate Professor Frank Worrell said the school will be based on “an excellent educational model that prepares students for success in college.” 

Dedication ceremonies for CAL Prep are planned for next November.›

The Alameda County Board of Supervisors Tuesday will consider accepting bids for new voting machines to replace the controversial Diebold touch-screen voting systems. 

Elaine Ginnold, the Acting County Registrar of Voters, has recommended that the board solicit bids from other electronic voting systems, after Diebold, the county’s supplier of voting machines, failed to win state certification for its newest line of machines, said Rodney Brooks, chief of staff to Supervisor Keith Carson. 

Alameda was one of the first counties in California to buy Diebold’s touch screen system, which has experienced repeated malfunctions in county elections. 

Last June, the Board of Supervisors voted to buy Diebold’s latest model that included a verified paper printout of votes. But shortly after the vote, Secretary Of State Bruce McPherson reported that 19 out of 96 machines failed. 

“At this point the county doesn’t know if they’re going to make certification, so we have to see if there’s some other company that can do something for us,” Brooks said. 

Under state law, the county must use machines in the June 2006 primary election certified by the California Secretary of State to produce a paper trail of votes. 

Diebold still has time to win state certification for its machines before the June election. Alameda County had agreed to pay Diebold an extra $4 million for the new systems with a paper trail. 

The county could be eligible for up to $9 million in federal funding for new machines from the Help America Vote Act, said Steven Hill, an Irvine Senior Fellow with the New America Foundation. 

“Even if new machines cost $12 million, if that’s all Alameda County has to pay to get rid of the headache of Diebold machines, I think it would be worth it,” Hill said. 

The prospect of a different company supplying the county is welcome news for advocates of Instant Runoff Voting, which Berkeley voters approved overwhelmingly last year. 

Two potential bidders to supply voting machines for Alameda County are Elections Systems & Software (ESS), which currently supplies machines for San Francisco elections and Sequoia Voting Systems. Both companies specialize in paper-based ballots that can be read by a high-speed scanner like those used on standardized tests. Also, both systems can handle instant runoff voting elections, according to Hill. 

Supporters of IRV, which ranks candidates when there are more than two people running for an office, are pushing for it to be available in Berkeley by November 2006.  

Diebold, however, has said that its system to allow for instant Runoff voting in county elections would not be ready until 2008 and would require the county to pay an extra $1 million, according to Sherry Kelly, Berkeley’s former city clerk, who is now heading up the city’s effort to implement IRV. 

“Diebold has put up a lot of hurdles,” she said.  

Berkeley Councilmember Kriss Worthington is planning to introduce a resolution calling on the county to bring in a new voting system vendor that could make IRV voting a reality next year. Worthington reasoned that since ESS and Sequioa are competing to supply San Francisco’s system and San Francisco has IRV, Berkeley could also have IRV as soon as next year. 

“Why should it take four years to honor the will of 72 percent of the voters,” he said. 

But Kelly said that no matter what system the county uses next year, IRV voting in 2006 appeared unlikely. 

“There are a lot of questions that have to be answered in the next three to four months,” she said. 

Because the county handles local elections, Berkeley needs the blessing of county officials before it can implement IRV. The other option—holding its own election—would be prohibitively expensive, according to Kelly. 

Kelly said that Berkeley was near agreement with officials in Oakland and San Leandro—the two other towns in the county with authority to go to IRV elections—on protocols to guide how the IRV elections will be run. 

Once the protocols are complete, Kelly said legal questions remain as to whether the county has the authority to certify IRV elections.  

“IRV elections will happen,” Kelly said. “It’s just a matter of how and when it will happen.”w

Last week, we began a discussion on a troubling aspect of Oakland’s veneration of the writer Jack London, the Oakland native who is probably the most honored person in the city (Mr. Knowland has himself a park, Mr. Ogawa a plaza, Mr. Harris a building, but Mr. London has a whole square). The troubling aspect to which I refer is that some of Mr. London’s writings reflect bigotry against Asian-Americans and African-Americans (haven’t run across any anti-Mexican passages, but I’m still in the preliminary stages of my research). 

In case someone thought last week’s passages were aberrations or taken out of context, here is another example from Mr. London’s 1911 novel Adventure, set on a Solomon Island slave plantation. This one is from chapter seven, where Sheldon, the plantation owner and the novel’s protagonist, explains to an outsider his view on his captives, “You see, you don’t understand the situation. In the first place, the blacks have to be ruled sternly. Kindness is all very well, but you can’t rule them by kindness only. … These boys are Melanesians. They’re blacks. They’re niggers—look at their kinky hair. And they’re a whole lot lower than the African niggers. … They possess no gratitude, no sympathy, no kindliness. If you are kind to them, they think you are a fool. If you are gentle with them they think you are afraid. And when they think you are afraid, watch out, for they will get you. Just to show you, let me state the one invariable process in a black man’s brain when, on his native heath, he encounters a stranger. His first thought is one of fear. Will the stranger kill him? His next thought, seeing that he is not killed, is: Can he kill the stranger?” 

Although I could, of course, be mistaken, the passage-taken in the context of the entire book-does not appear to demonstrate that Mr. London was condemning those sentiments, but rather seeing them as a practical virtue. 

(One thing to note in passing: take out the overt racist phrases, and the underlying attitude shown by Mr. London’s character towards these “Melanesian boys” is awfully similar to present-day attitudes in the media, in the mayor’s office, and in the Council Chambers at Oakland City Hall about the young African-American participants in East Oakland’s sideshows. We have not traveled so far as we might think. That, however, is a subject for another column…) 

In any event how does Oakland, with its large population of color and its often-repeated promotion of itself as “the most diverse city in the country” and a “hate-free zone,” reconcile the placement of a statue at its waterfront gateway to a man who espoused anti-black, anti-Asian racism? 

Last week, we suggested that Oakland undertake a public dialogue on the subject to begin to clear the air about our prejudiced past and present. This week, I will add some suggestions as to how Oakland might conduct that dialogue in a way that might bring some added benefit to the city. 

The first suggestion would be to establish a Jack London Room at the main branch of the Oakland Public Library, not dedicated merely to Mr. London, but to East Bay writers in general. The library already has an Oakland History Room that includes some of Jack London’s writings, but that tends to get hidden in a venue that is dedicated to all of Oakland’s history. I would suggest setting up a second room that both contracts and expands on that idea-opening up to a collection for the entire East Bay, while limiting the focus to writers only. 

In that way, we could both a collection of Jack London’s writings, but the writings of other well-known authors with East Bay ties as well (people like Frank Norris, Amy Tan, Ishmael Reed, Terry McMillan, Michael Chabon, Jessica Mitford, and Joaquin Miller come immediately to mind). 

In addition, I would include in an Oakland Library Jack London Room written work by various writers which highlights and concentrates on the effects of racism and ways to combat it, perhaps in the spirit of the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. London’s racism, then, could be seen in context, and not just left out there unacknowledged. 

Another suggestion, since we are talking about museums, would be a revival of the old Jack London Museum itself. There once was such a museum, operated by a private group out of the old Jack London Village. The private group went under and the museum closed sometime before the City of Oakland razed the Village, and despite promises that the museum would be relocated and reopened, that appears to have never happened. So to this day, except for that sad, lonely statue staring out on the estuary next to Scott’s and the surrounding square that has little, if anything, to do with Jack London, Oakland has no destination magnet for its most famous citizen. 

An Oakland Jack London Museum probably can’t hope to compete with the museum in the Jack London State Park up in Glen Ellen, located in the last house that he and his wife occupied. But I think that can be made into a positive rather than a problem. 

First, in much the same way as I would suggest expanding a proposed Jack London Room at the Oakland Public Library to include anti-racist studies, I would suggest expanding a proposed new Jack London Museum to include not only Jack London artifacts from his days in Oakland and the East Bay, but replications of the East Bay communities as they were around the turn of the last century, when Mr. London lived here, concentrating in part on those communities that Mr. London’s writings looked down upon. There were thriving African-American and Chinese-American communities in the East Bay at the turn of the 20th century. Placing replications of those communities next to, say, one of Mr. London’s oyster pirate sloops or the saloon where he hung out would help us understand more of Mr. London, and the times in which he lived. (The Oakland Museum showed how that type of juxtaposition might be done in its recent Vietnam War exhibit, giving equal weight and perspective to both sides of the conflict.) 

A third suggestion would be an Oakland-based Jack London Writers Conference, complete with a writing contest that solicited entries both from those who are working right now towards a professional career, as well as area high school students. Race and racism, once more, could be a suggested theme that would help in both the understanding of Mr. London’s work, as well as ameliorating the harm some of his work helped to perpetuate. The East Bay is awash in both professional writers who could serve as facilitators and colleges that might be induced to sign on as co-sponsors (the Peralta Community College District, Cal State East Bay, and UC Berkeley, for example). Holding such a conference would both encourage Oakland’s own sense of itself as a literary center—which it certainly could be, if it wanted to—as well as change the city’s negative image among folks not familiar with the city. 

Such Oakland problems as the long-known but little-discussed racist side of Jack London are not insurmountable. What it takes for Oakland’s revival is less money thrown at developers, and more imagination. Since Oakland has not so much of the former, and more than enough of the latter, this shouldn’t end up being nearly as much trouble as we seem to be making it. 

›

The story “Bayer Corp. Janitors Hold on To Their Jobs,” in the Aug. 19 edition of the Daily Planet incorrectly reported that ILWU Business Agent Donald Mahon said Bayer had not asked janitors to take a pay cut. In fact, Mahon said that Bayer had asked janitors to accept lower pay.›

MOUNTAIN BIKING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Poor Mike Vandeman! Life is a risky business, isn’t it! Having sporting fun is so dangerous! A mountain biker crashes and is hurt in Briones. Ban the sport! Control anything and everything potentially dangerous! Protect people against themselves! Everybody walking even in the street should wear a crash helmet, as they should in cars, too! 

Of all use activities which are allowed and/or encouraged in public-access natural areas, surely mountain biking has just about the lightest foot-print (as long as parking associated with it is controlled and confined to existing parking areas). It isn’t that he doesn’t raise some relevant questions. Certainly, we have to struggle to balance the public benefit of mountain biking (contact with the natural environment, physical fitness, sport, not sitting at home in front of the telly) against potential minor detrimental aspects? But ban the sport and discourage children....please! What about the dangers of football, boxing, hang-gliding, etc, etc? 

Why do people who think like Mike make such facile black and white, good and evil, assumptions about life and what other people like to do for pleasure and recreation? If Mike rode a mountain bike, of course, he would see the whole situation completely differently! 

Andrew Ritchie  

El Cerrito 

• 

SHEEHAN FOR PREZ 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

On Friday, James Sayre wrote a great letter (“President Sheehan) criticizing the president and supporting Cindy Sheehan as president. I had never really thought about the possiblity of Cindy Sheehan becoming president, but if Bush was appointed to be president in 2000, Sayre thinks Sheehan should be as well. He said that Cindy Sheehan is smart, thoughtful, and sensible. Just what we need in a president. Now I feel awestruck. I had this crazy idea that Mr. Sayre was a Republican. How wrong I must have been. 

Rio Bauce 

• 

JAZZ FESTIVAL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I want to congratulate and thank Susan Muscarella for her successful Downtown Berkeley Jazz Festival. Six months ago Susan told me about her idea to have an event that didn’t focus on one downtown business but rather encompassed as much of the downtown as possible. She wanted to create a festival that celebrated Latin jazz and celebrated our unique downtown businesses. I supported her vision but I knew it was going to be a lot of hard work. If you personally know Susan then you would know that hard work never has stopped her before. Susan along with her staff and an advisory committee were able to put together a four day festival that featured over 40 artists in 15 different venues in the downtown. Over these past 6 months as Susan shared her vision she was able to secure over 20 sponsors for the festival. I am proud to be part of two of those sponsors (Downtown Berkeley Association and the Mechanics Bank). Once again, thank you Susan for this wonderful contribution to our downtown. I can’t wait until next year’s festival! 

Raudel Wilson  

• 

SUICIDE BOMBERS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It appears to me that all of the Muslim suicide bombers have been young believers. Some of the parents who have been interviewed, have spoken of pride in their kid’s “martyrdom” and rewards in paradise. Doesn’t mama want paradise too? Why aren’t there middle aged and elderly voluntary martyrs? It doesn’t take much to drive a truck and blow yourself into the sublime. 

Ronald Gans 

Albany 

• 

PUBLIC LIBRARY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a long-time Berkeley Public Library user, it is apparent to me that our library is in serious decline. Hours are shorter, lines are longer, skilled librarians are retiring or being removed from public view, staff is demoralized, mistakes are regularly made checking books in, it is harder than ever to find things on the shelves, and many old favorites have been “weeded.” The library will be open again on Sundays only because of staff efforts. 

Many Berkeley taxpayers are deeply unhappy with this decline. What began some months ago as public questioning of library decisions has turned into accusations of incompetence against Library Director Jackie Griffin. 

At the latest Library Board meeting—a public forum on privacy and safety issues surrounding the new RFID electronic checkout system—the public expressed deep frustrations not only against a so-called public forum three years after the library began pursuing this technology, but also against the director who made the deal, the Library Board that hired her four years ago, and even the City Council that passively approves the board’s selection of its own members. It is doubtful that a new library tax to address the library hours and staff crisis would pass at this time. 

It is time for the Library Board to take responsibility for the library administration’s unwillingness or inability to address the challenges that face our public library. 

Pat McPhee 

• 

INSTANT RUNOFF VOTING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

What happened to IRV in Berkeley? The Berkeley City Council has done nothing to implement what 72 percent of voters passed in March of 2004. Berkeley City Council is relying on Alameda County and its voting equipment to implement a Berkeley law. Since when is it Alameda county’s responsibility for implementing a Berkeley law? It’s Berkeley City Council’s responsibility. 

If the county’s election equipment isn’t ready for IRV, then the Berkeley City Council should be exploring other options. Other options include using another vendor like ES&S, which has already given a quote to the city of $1.55 per registered voter to run the election. Another option is doing a hand count, like Cambridge, Massachusetts did for decades. Either of those options fulfill the criteria of the charter amendment, and the Berkeley City Council needs to start getting serious about implementing instant runoff voting. No more excuses, it’s the will of the voters. 

Dave Heller 

• 

BETH EL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am sure people are getting weary of the give and take about Beth El, but I wanted to clarify past events that are well documented in the minutes of various City Commissions.  

A recent letter stated that Beth El “voluntarily initiated an optional environmental impact report (EIR)”. My definition of voluntary is somewhat different. In May and June 1999, neighbors had spoken to Landmarks Commission, Parks and Recreation Commission, and Community Environmental Advisory Commission about the “preliminary plans” (though plans were not modified until the mediation in 2001). At that time, Beth El leaders felt a negative declaration was all that was necessary. Because of the impacts to the neighborhood and Codornices Creek, neighbors felt an EIR was warranted.  

In June 1999, the Parks and Recreation Commission unanimously approved a motion asking Beth El to carefully consider concerns of the impacts of the development on the environmentally sensitive area, consider daylighting the creek and mitigating impact of parking. In June 1999, the Community Environmental Advisory Commission recommended an EIR for this project given the impact on the environment. In September 1998, 186 neighbors signed a petition requesting a need for an EIR.  

This grassroots work would have been unnecessary if Beth El leaders initially agreed to an EIR. It was after these commission decisions and public outcry, Beth El decided to do the EIR before they would be formally asked by the city to perform one. 

A similar issue occurred with the original plans to put a parking lot and road over Codornices Creek where no such parking lot and road had previously existed. Only after neighborhood involvement including the gathering of over 2,400 signatures on a petition asking for full restoration of Codornices Creek and the involvement of numerous environmental groups and community gardeners, was this idea finally dropped.  

Some could interpret the changes as being voluntary on Beth El’s part, but from my perspective, changes did not come voluntarily or easily. It took the work of neighbors, several commissions, and environmental groups to persuade Beth El to take these “voluntary” actions.  

Diane Tokugawa 

Middle school heist 

Burglars broke into the offices of Willard Middle School and stole radios, computer gear, monitors and other office equipment, said Officer Joe Okies, Berkeley police spokesperson. 

While he couldn’t put an exact dollar amount on the cost of the gear taken, Okies said the sum was significant. 

Beanie bandit 

A gunman packing a pistol and sporting a beanie walked into the Valero gas station at 1894 University Ave. just before noon Monday and demanded the contents of the till. 

The bandit then scooped up his ill-gotten gains and departed forthwith. 

Till tappers 

What the Valero bandit accomplished with a gun, a pair of fellows accomplished with their fingers shortly before 6:30 p.m. Monday, when they tapped the till of the Import Tile Co. at 611 Hearst Ave. 

They were making their getaway before anyone figured out what they’d done. 

Unlike the Valero heister, this pair won’t face robbery charges because they didn’t resort to the threat of force. The max they can be charged with is grand theft. 

Potty arsonist redux 

The felon who ignited a portable toilet at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School on Aug. 16 appears to have staged a replay of the odiferous arson sometime after 9 p.m. Tuesday. 

Police and Fire department personnel arrived at the 1701 Rose St. school to find yet another portable potty on fire. 

No humans were injured, and investigators are seeking to identify a suspect. 

Teenagers rob teen 

A 16-year-old fellow was walking along the Ohlone Greenway along the 1400 block of Virginia Street about 9:50 p.m. Tuesday when two teenagers approached, produced a pistol and demanded his cash. 

The teen complied and the bandits fled on their BMX-style bicycles. 

Sex worker sting 

Acting on complaints of residents of the San Pablo Avenue corridor, Berkeley police staged a prostitution sting Wednesday afternoon and evening. 

Posing as would-be johns, officers nabbed eight women on soliciting charges. The suspects ranged in age from 17 to 52, said Officer Okies.›

Long-time Berkeley resident Marc Sapir, not a man hesitant to declare his views, chose last week to advance instead in the Daily Planet the words of KPFA manager Roy Campanella, Jr, and two of Campanella’s supporters on KPFA’s Local Station Board. In doing this, Sapir dismissed, or certainly tried to, the sexual harassment claims of eight KPFA women workers—all against the manager, all now filed with the state—by ignorantly belittling them and then by insinuating the claims all have a common and ulterior motivation. This is unbelievably insulting to the women and to those who care about them. In my judgment, each of the women and each of their claims must be taken very seriously.  

Interested readers should type “KPFA-workers” into their Google slot. The www.indybay.org destination also has information on the statement of no confidence (in the new manager), the names of the 80 KPFA workers who have signed to date, and on the Hard Knock opposition (to the new manager).  

But what is all of this new strife about? Like many of us, Sapir dislikes certain aspects of what he acknowledges is “the premier alternative radio station in the region.” Can his dislike alone account for such uncritical championing of the new manager? For his absurd assertion that “many of the permanent staff have little respect for the activist community”? For his peculiar characterizing of much of the real core of the KPFA staff as a “dissident group?”  

Only six years ago some 12,000 to 15,000 individuals marched through the streets of Berkeley in vigorous support of KPFA Radio, an astonishing turnout even for the first listener-sponsored radio station in the United States. Essentially the same workers then being endorsed are running the radio station now. There have been some internal changes, of course, some shows added, a few old friends gone, a few younger folks moving into place, but the core staff—both paid and volunteer—is the same reliable and conscientious entity. 

What is different since six years ago? For one thing, the political climate throughout the country has grown emphatically grimmer, rendering alternative media far more endangered. That must be understood. KPFA is imperiled and increasingly vulnerable. Partisan disinformation is injurious to it. Demonizing of the staff or portions of it is only divisive. The situation is already far too polarized, and the Local Station Board has certainly not proven helpful in strengthening this invaluable community asset. What we have in common is simply too important to be jeopardized by ideological manipulations and distortions of our differences.  

Bob Baldock has been KPFA’s public events producer since 1988.  

›

Since May 21, 2005, the KPFA Local Station Board (LSB) has been actively examining the situation at KPFA regarding the conduct of its general manager (general manager), Mr. Roy Campanella II. The LSB was asked to investigate these matters at the invitation of Mr. Dan Coughlin, the former executive director (executive director) of the Pacifica Foundation (parent corporation of KPFA) and Mr. Campanella’s direct supervisor.  

At the end of 2004 and early in 2005, some KPFA employees leveled charges of misconduct against Mr. Campanella. Management promptly hired an outside organization to investigate these allegations and then took steps in March to deal with these issues. Subsequently, early in May 2005, a charge relating to an alleged confrontation between Mr. Campanella and another KPFA employee was filed with the union representing paid staff. 

Representatives of the LSB attempted to get involved in the situation as early as March 2005 but were rebuffed by Mr. Coughlin. Mr. Coughlin stated that the rebuff stemmed from the advice of Pacifica’s counsel who argued that the matter was strictly a personnel issue under the exclusive purview of the executive director due to its confidential nature.  

The LSB continued to be increasingly concerned about this issue. On April 11, when its Personnel Committee requested a meeting with Mr. Coughlin, over half the members of the LSB attended the meeting. At this meeting representatives of the LSB asserted that the Pacifica bylaws gave the LSB the right and the duty to participate in a review of this critical issue but Mr. Coughlin still refused to involve the LSB.  

One month later, on May 5, after an alleged confrontation between Mr. Campanella and another KPFA employee, Mr. Coughlin invited the LSB to participate in the review process shortly before he left Pacifica. 

Since May, the LSB has taken the following steps: 

1. Hired Mr. Dan Siegel, a well known local attorney, to conduct an investigation. 

2. Met with Mr. Siegel to review and discuss his findings. 

3. Met with Mr. Campanella to hear his perspective and quiz him about the above-referenced allegations and review with him the findings and conclusions of the Siegel report. 

4. Examined certain personnel files relevant to the case. 

5. Held eight meetings in executive session (confidential meetings) to discuss this matter. 

After many lengthy discussions of all relevant issues the LSB decided the following: 

• On Aug. 14, it rejected a motion to terminate Mr. Campanella by a vote of 5 for, 15 against, 2 abstentions, 1 no vote and 2 absences.  

• On Aug. 14, it rejected a motion to put Mr. Campanella on probation until February of next year. 

• On Aug. 20, it approved a motion recommending constructive steps to be taken to improve the situation at KPFA.  

This information will shortly be communicated to Mr. Ambrose Lane, Pacifica’s interim executive director. He will then exercise one of two options as spelled out in Pacifica’s bylaws:  

• Accept the recommendations of the KPFA LSB and work with the LSB and Mr. Campanella to implement its recommendations, or 

• Reject the recommendations of the LSB in which case the matter will go to the Pacifica National Board, which is empowered to make the final decision according to the Pacifica bylaws.  

N.B. On August 14, 2005, the LSB voted in executive session in Berkeley, not to terminate Mr. Campanella. On August 20, 2005, also in executive session, the LSB approved disclosure of the above decision and the below roll call vote: 

SIGNATURES 

Berg, Mary 

Blanchet, Max  

Enteen, Riva 

Friedman, Ted 

Hauptman, Chandra 

Khosrowjah, Sepideh 

Nagy, Attila 

Ratcliff, Willie 

Phelps, Richard 

Saba, Fadi 

Tattersall, Marnie 

Wanzala, Joseph 

Williams, LaVarn 

›

The greatest political issue of 2005 is flying under the publicCs radar: how shall we decide who gets to be on the November 2008 ballot? Ah! To nominate or not to nominate, that is the question! 

In 2004, Iowa and New Hampshire nominated John Kerry, then it was all over but the shouting. The voters in later states didn’t really matter. By the time Howard Dean threw in the towel in mid-February, only a fifth of the American electorate had spoken. 

In 2008, California will have no voice. The state legislature has moved the primary to June. That’ll be about four months after the shouting, unless there is a complete redesign of the nomination process. 

The Democratic National Committee has a commission studying possible reforms. How are they doing? An eye-witness to the DNC commission’s July 16 reported, “At one point a commission member noted they didn’t have a clear idea of what question they were supposed to be answering.” After seven months of work, the commission is still looking for a mission statement. 

Taking a look at the commission’s website, most of the links on it result in a “Page Not Found” error. There is no way for the ordinary citizen to know what the commission has done, is doing, or will do. Also, this commission was supposed to hold meetings around the country and get lots of input, but all of its meetings have been meeting in Washington. The new DNC chairman Howard Dean has promised a more open and activist Democratic Party, but this commission is the blackest of the black holes, the smokiest of the smoke-filled rooms. The analysis and decision-making that go into determining how the 2008 primary schedule will be laid out ought to be conducted in the full light of day, which as much participation as possible by the party rank and file. This is an issue that all Democrats own, yet it  

might just as well be locked away at Guantanamo Bay. 

This year’s Democratic commission may not have the depth of knowledge on this issue that Republicans acquired through dogged experience, so they might well repeat the error that a Republican commission made in 1996 and recommend half-hearted measures, rather than go for a systemic solution as another Republican commission did in 2000 (which George Bush helped to shoot down). If so, then another blitzkrieg campaign looms in 2008, and a small portion of the American electorate will be buried in the rubble of sound-bite rhetoric, while the majority--including all Californians--will be left politically orphaned. 

2008 is the grand opportunity. For the first time since 1928, no incumbent president is running for re-election, and no sitting vice-president is running for the top job. The planets are all lined up, and the Democrats are acting like they’re not ready to launch. 

A systemic solution is possible, but it must be fair to populous states even as it preserves “retail politicking” in the intimate venues of low-population states in the early part of the campaign season. It would be far better for the two parties to take this leap of faith, if not simultaneously, at least with some confidence that one will follow the other. We, the people, deserve this. The report of the bipartisan Miller commission stated: 

“No political process in the United States is more important than our method of nominating presidential candidates, yet none has given rise to so much dissatisfaction. From both ends of the political spectrum come demands for change. A growing resolve on the part of concerned Americans to find a solution to this problem unites Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives.... This new movement knows no partisan cast, nor does it seek to benefit any one candidate or faction. It is motivated solely by the belief that the public interest is ill-served by the current nominating system. Its conviction is as simple as it is significant: there must be reform.” 

That was in 1982. My watch says, “Half past 2005.” How about yours? 

Thomas Gangale is the executive director at OPS-Alaska, a think tank based in Petaluma, and an international relations scholar at San Francisco State University. He is the author of the American Plan to reform the presidential nomination process. 

While AirBears, UC Berkeley’s wireless Internet connection for students, faculty and staff, offers Wi-Fi on and around the campus, the city of Berkeley and nearby environs offer dozens of restaurants and coffee shops featuring wireless connections for everybody. 

So if you are itching to get work done outside of your house or apartment, grab your computer and use this guide to find places around town where you can connect to the Internet. 

Though most of these places have a specific address, there’s another group of sites planned that will be harder to pin down—the 40 or so buses that the AC Transit plans to equip with Wi-Fi for commuters who travel between the East Bay and San Francisco during peak commute periods. 

Wi-Fi—techno-speak for wireless fidelity—has gone from a rarity to commonplace in the course of a few years. Elsewhere, whole cities have begun offering free or low-cost service to residents and visitors. 

San Francisco has taken the first steps toward providing city-wide low-cost Wi-Fi, and Tempe, Ariz., already provides free access to all city and Arizona State websites and large areas of free service. Seattle offers unrestricted free Wi-Fi to residents in many areas, and universal free service is already available in places like Peachtree, Georgia. 

Free Wi-Fi around Berkeley 

You can enjoy net surfing while you sample decadent pastries, peruse games and zines, nosh on pizza or fine cuisine or simply sip a large latte at many places around town. Some of the favorites of staff at the Daily Planet are: 

• Crixa Cakes, at 2748 Adeline St., home of excellent pastries and other decadent delights. Another bakery offering free Wi-Fi is Sweet Adeline Bakeshop at 3350 Adeline St. 

• Le Bateau Ivre, at 2969 Telegraph Ave., is an easy walk from the UC campus and the source of reasonably priced French food as well as free Wi-Fi and DSL hookups. 

• The Nomad Cafe, at 6500 Shattuck Ave., just across the Oakland city limits, is your basic coffee shop, featuring good food and tech-literate clientele who love both the coffee and Wi-Fi. 

• For devotees of Chinese cuisine, there’s the Yangtze River Restaurant at 1688 Shattuck Ave. 

• Yali’s Cafe, at 1920 Oxford St., just across from campus has free Wi-Fi, and customers say you can also find AirBears service there. 

• The Caproeira Arts Cafe offers free Wi-Fi and unusual cuisine at 2026 Addison St. 

• Fertile Grounds, at 1796 Shattuck Ave., seems to be a favorite of graduate students. 

• There’s also free Wi-Fi at the Steamworks, Berkeley’s gay bath house at 2107 Fourth St. 

• For gamers, there’s Eudemonia at 2154 University Ave., another close-to-campus locale. 

• For chocoholics, there’s Cafe Cacao, located in Berkeley’s famous Scharffen Berger Chocolate Factory at 914 Heinz Ave. 

• And, finally, for pizzaholics, there’s Spud’s Pizza at 3290 Adeline St. 

Finding hot spots 

For a more comprehensive listing of free Wi-Fi locations, around the Bay Area and beyond, see the following websites: 

• The Wi-Fi-FreeSpot Directory is just that, a listing of free Wi-Fi hotspots. Go to www.wififreespot.com and click on California to find free locales throughout the state, including 13 in Berkeley, one in nearby Albany and several just south of the Berkeley city limits in Oakland. 

• Another compendium of free hotspots can be found on the Beast Blog (Beast in Pig Latin is “EastBay”) at www.beastblog.com. Enter “Wi-Fi” in the search engine. The Beast Blog also contains a wide range of listings in its right-hand column, where you’ll find restaurants categorized by ethnicity and location, entertainment venues, and a host of other information about neighborhoods and communities. 

• For additional free sites in the area, try bayareafreefi.com, and for both pay and free locales, see www.jiwire.com.›

The Bay Area is home to an enormous number and variety of classical musicians. The Arts Calendar in every issue of the Daily Planet lists unusual small concerts by local artists, some with international reputations, which are easily accessible and affordable for music lovers in the Greater Berkeley area. One which is typical of the rich selection available will take place this Sunday afternoon at Oakland’s Chapel of the Chimes, part of the “Sunday Afternoon Musicale and Tea Series” presented this fall by the Oakland Lyric Opera organization. OLO’s goal is “to preserve the art form of opera by working with young, local, classically-trained performers who are on a career track and to make high-quality, affordable opera available to everyone.” 

Classically trained African-American vocalists Angela Dean-Baham (soprano) and Martin Bell (baritone) with accompanist Kristin Pankonin will explore a unique group of songs reflecting various facets of the theme of expressions of love in African-American culture. The concert title is “Love Songs and Lullabies.” It will include such diverse offerings as settings of Langston Hughes poems, “hush songs” (lullabies) and traditional spirituals, both solos and duets. I heard a preview of some of their choices at an open rehearsal. They were unusual, beautiful and meticulously sung by two talented young artists who already have impressive resumes. 

What’s more, the venue itself is fascinating. It’s a historic building, an official Oakland landmark, designed by Julia Morgan, California’s most famous woman architect, who also designed William Randolph Hearst’s San Simeon estate. Adjacent to Oakland’s Mountain View Cemetery, the Chapel of the Chimes has traditionally been used for funerals and occasional weddings, but recently it has also been the site of intimate concerts like this one. On Sunday, there will be an artists’ reception and tea immediately following the performance, when docents will offer tours of the building’s “amazing labyrinth of fountains, pools and gardens.”  

“Love Songs and Lullabies,” Sunday, Aug. 28, 2 p.m., Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. ?

Berkeley is many things, but a San Francisco suburb it is not. Berkeley has its own symphony, its own theater district and an assortment of restaurants that rival any town in North America. 

In fact, Berkeley can satisfy just about any type of person except maybe one: the hard core partier. 

Every weekend night, throngs of people who want to get down until the early dawn amass at BART platforms to catch one of the last trains for San Francisco. Whatever they see in that town is beyond us. 

So here is a sampling of some of the better nighttime options the San Francisco-bound partiers are leaving behind. 

Telegraph Avenue 

The two most popular establishments on Telegraph Avenue are Kips Restaurant at 2439 Durant Ave. and Blakes at 2367 Telegraph Ave. 

Kip’s is known for passable food and over two dozen of the cheapest brews in Berkeley. The place is usually packed for sporting events and most nights after 11 p.m. As of last year Kip’s is now open until 2 a.m. 

Although it is popular with undergrads, Blakes draws fans of all ages to its ground floor restaurant/pub and its basement music venue, Telegraph’s only place for live bands. Blakes hosts rock, hip hop and DJ acts throughout the week. Covers range from $5 to $10. The basement has a separate bar as well as couches and some pinball machines. 

Also on Telegraph is Raleigh’s, a more upscale pub. The burgers, nachos and fries are considered to be a cut above its nearby competition, and Raleigh’s serves its own microbrews to those old enough to drink them. The bar also has two pool tables and shuffle board. On nice days and nights, patrons can enjoy the backyard beer garden. 

The East Bay’s preeminent gay and lesbian bar is the White Horse Inn at 6551 Telegraph Ave. in Oakland. 

Shattuck Avenue 

Downtown Berkeley is home to the city’s one establishment that can truly call itself a club. The Shattuck Down Low at 2284 Shattuck Ave. is a dancer’s paradise. No matter if the there’s live rock, hip hop or if a DJ is spinning beats, the massive 20-by-40-foot dance floor is likely to be packed and the elevated stage hopping. 

Those who don’t have the stamina to dance nonstop until 2 a.m. can head off with a beer or whiskey to one of the club’s comfortable booths or try their luck at the club’s pool table. 

Across the street from the Down Low is Beckett’s, one of two Irish pubs in town. Beckett’s isn’t just a bar, restaurant and music venue, it’s a Berkeley landmark. The 1925 French Provincial building was designed by famed architect W.F. Yelland and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Every arcane fact is useful at Beckett’s considering the bar hosts a weekly pub quiz every Tuesday. 

Heading towards University Avenue is Jupiter. The microbrew palace at 2181 Shattuck Ave. is a hit with graduate students looking to enjoy one of the pub’s nine house brews and numerous varieties of wood fried pizza. Jupiter features a huge heated outdoor beer garden and plays host to live jazz. 

On the other side of University is Triple Rock Brewery. Owned by John Martin, founder of Jupiter and the Bear’s Lair on the Cal campus, Triple Rock, at 1920 Shattuck Ave., has 10 home-brewed beers on tap. Besides beer, Triple Rock offers its share of sandwiches, nachos and soups. The bar has become so crowded that it recently removed its shuffle board table to make way for more seating. 

Downtown Berkeley has boosted its live jazz offerings in recent years. Anna’s Jazz Island at 2120 Allston Way has live music every night starting at 8 p.m. Happy hour is from 5 to 7 p.m. Covers range from $5 on weeknights to $7 on weekends. 

Live jazz can also be heard at the Jazz Cafe on 2087 Addison St. and at Downtown, a restaurant on 2102 Shattuck Ave.  

San Pablo Avenue 

There are always plenty of games going on at Berkeley’s oldest pub. The Albatross at 1822 San Pablo Ave. destroys the competition when it comes to giving patrons something to compete over. Guests can choose between Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit, Boggle, Balderdash, Chess, Checkers and Connect Four. For those who want a more physical activity, The Albatross has six dart boards and a pool table. Sunday nights is Berkeley’s most challenging trivia night. Be warned, experts of ‘60s garage rock have a decided advantage. 

For lovers of punk and classic country music, the Acme Bar at 2115 San Pablo is a popular choice. The juke box there is perhaps Berkeley’s finest. 

Another good dive bar is the Missouri Lounge at 2600 San Pablo Ave. The recently remodeled pub has a pool table, darts, a 50-inch plasma television and the world’s smallest VIP room. 

Not far from San Pablo is the 924 Gilman Street Project, a seminal local punk club. The alcohol free establishment has played host to Green Day and other local punk icons. Although it has a strong teenage following, punk lovers of all ages call it home. 

South Berkeley 

The south end of Shattuck Avenue has a hub of nightlife centered around the Starry Plough and La Peña. The Starry Plough at 3101 Shattuck Ave., hosts live rock acts Thursday through Friday, Irish music on Sundays, Irish dancing lessons on Mondays and a poetry slam every Wednesday. La Peña, at 3105 Shattuck, is a non-profit cultural center with a focus on Latin American issues and music. 

Other options 

For those who want to do more than sit at a bar, Berkeley offers a wide range of live entertainment. Cal Performances brings some of the best entertainers from across the globe to Zellerbach Hall on the UC Berkeley campus.  

The Berkeley Repertory Theater, winner of the 1997 Tony Award for outstanding regional theater, showcases seven productions every season at 2025 Addison St.  

In South Berkeley, the Shotgun Players have transformed a former church at 1901 Ashby Ave. into the Ashby Stage. 

Berkeley is also home to the Bay Area’s premiere folk venue. The Freight and Salvage at 1111 Addison St. plays home to folk, acoustic and bluegrass acts. For world beats and some of the least pretentious dancing imaginable, head for Ashkenaz at 1317 San Pablo Ave. And for classical music lovers, the Berkeley Symphony kicks its season off this November at Zellerbach. 

If you’ve driven around California, you’ll no doubt have seen the ubiquitous signs that grace the entrance to various cities, directing you to the historic district (often downtown) or what’s left of it. Berkeley has no such sign—probably because it’s preserved more of its historic heritage than most cities, and because our landmarks aren’t confined to one area but can be found all over town. 

At the heart of Berkeley is the UC campus, whose classic Beaux Arts core was designed by John Galen Howard between 1902 and 1924. The campus plan was created as a result of the Phoebe Apperson Hearst International Architectural Competition of 1898–99. 

Although Howard did not win the competition, he was appointed Supervising Architect and determined the look of the campus, designing two dozen structures, including its most famous sites: Sather Tower (the campanile), Sather Gate, Doe Library, Hearst Greek Theatre, California Memorial Stadium, Wheeler Hall, California Hall, and Hearst Memorial Mining Building. 

Many of the buildings are clad in granite (or stucco when the budget was tight) and surmounted by red tile roofs; a few are Brown Shingles in the Arts & Crafts style. As an ensemble, they constitute California Historic Landmark No. 946 and are also individuall y listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Berkeley’s earliest founding community was Ocean View, on the shore of San Francisco Bay. The former town, now West Berkeley, is home to a large collection of 19th-century architecture. Strolling along the 800 block of Delaware Street with its boardwalks, water towers, picket fences, and beautifully restored Victorians, the visitor can taste the rural character that once defined this neighborhood. 

At 834 Delaware St., you’ll see the charming ye llow building that served as Captain Bowen’s Inn since 1854. Queen Anne houses and 19th-century workmen’s cottages are scattered on surrounding streets, just steps away from the elegant shops and restaurants of Fourth Street. Delaware Street Historic Dist rict; National Register of Historic Places. 

Just south of UC campus, at 2315 Durant Ave., stands the Berkeley City Club, designed in 1929 by Julia Morgan. Like Morgan’s Hearst Castle, the six-story clubhouse combines Moorish and Gothic elements that earn ed it the moniker “The Little Castle.” 

Originally the Berkeley Women’s City Club, it was entirely financed by subscriptions from 4,000 women. The fabulous interiors include an indoor swimming pool, a ballroom, various reception halls, dining rooms, courtyards, and a terrace. 

The building is now run as a hotel, and the restaurant is open to the public. California Historic Landmark No. 908; National Register of Historic Places. 

About a mile north of the UC campus, the Berkeley Municipal Rose Garden is a favorite venue for June weddings, tennis games, picnics, hiking, or daydreaming. A Depression-era Civil Works Progress Project, the garden was opened in September 1937. 

Arranged in an amphitheater, wide stone terraces planted with fragrant rose bushes face west toward the Golden Gate. A semicircular redwood pergola draped with climbing roses crowns the terraces. 

Boasting 3,000 rose bushes and 250 varieties of roses, the garden, City of Berkeley Landmark #189, is considered by many to be the finest rose garden in Northern California.. A block to the south on Euclid Avenue, the famous Rose Walk (City of Berkeley Landmark #9), laid out by Bernard Maybeck, and lined with cottages by Henry Gutterson, is worth a look as well. 

››

At first blush one would think of Berkeley as a Mecca for vegetarian eateries. But, alas, free speech and soy protein do not always go hand-in-hand. 

This reporter has seen the Cal Democrats pig out on chicken wings and the local communists barbecue pig flesh. 

Still, this being Berkeley, even the greasiest spoon will offer a garden burger, probably with some fresh avocado on the side. But there are several restaurants who devote all of their energies to pleasing vegetarians and vegans, so let’s give them our undivided attention. 

Cha Ya 

If long lines are the surest sign of exquisite cuisine, the crown jewel of Berkeley’s meatless fare is the vegan Japanese restaurant at 1686 Shattuck Ave. Started in 2002, by Atsushi Katsumata, the retired head sushi chef at San Francisco’s Hotel Nikko, Cha Ya is the only vegan sushi house in the country. 

In the past three years Katsumata says he has come up with 1,500 vegan recipes. Specials at Cha Ya change weekly.  

The restaurant’s signature dish is the Cha Ya roll—sushi filled with avocado, yam and carrots and then covered in batter and lightly fried. Besides a full complement of sushi and noodle dishes, Cha Ya has seven original, elegantly prepared salads, which cost around $5 and are often the perfect meal on a hot summer’s day. 

Any vegetarian planning to travel to Japan should make a pit stop at Cha Ya, where Katsumata keeps a listing of every vegetarian restaurant in his native land. 

Katsumato said he opened Cha Ya at the behest of his wife, who is a strict vegetarian. He, however, has loftier goals. As one of about a half-dozen chefs in Northern California with a license to prepare Blowfish, he wants to open the Bay Area’s first restaurant to serve the poisonous fish. 

“That is my dream,” he said. 

Manzanita 

Before last January a fancy meatless meal required a trip across the bay. But now vegans have an East Bay restaurant that’s suitable for just about any occasion.  

Manzanita, at 1050 40th St. in Emeryville, is a worthy to successor to the popular Macrobiotic Cafe that operated out of the storefront for over a decade. Like its predecessor, Manzanita offers food that is 100 percent vegan and organic. 

To the delight of the cafe’s strong following, new owner and baker Masha French retained the cafe’s cadre of Tibetan chefs. They specialize in macrobiotic cooking, which seeks to improve health by offering foods that aren’t high in acids or alkalines. 

Unlike the Macrobiotic Cafe, Manzanita is solely a restaurant. But, while there are no more produce sales or volunteers, the restaurant does try to reach out to the community by holding macrobiotic cooking classes. 

The menu at Manzanita changes daily and consists of seasonal produce. A full lunch costs $10 and dinner, which on Tuesday consisted of cashew cheese tacos, miso bean soup, short grain rice with shitake mushrooms, mixed green salad and steamed kale with tahini sauce, costs $11. For those who can’t handle so much healthy food, the restaurant offers a scaled down meal for $7 and individual items for $2.50. 

Vegi Food 

One of the pioneers of Berkeley vegetarian food is perhaps the city’s most anonymous restaurant. Dimly lit and spartan, the Chinese restaurant at 2085 Vine Street often looks like it’s closed. 

Once inside, time appears to stand still at Vegi Food. One of the few items hanging on the restaurant’s baby blue walls is a glowing restaurant review from April 15, 1979. 

The couple that owns the restaurant wasn’t available for an interview, but the patrons had plenty of kind things to say about their favorite whole-in-the-wall. 

“We come for that mama’s kitchen feel,” said Andrew Harth, who recommended the soy bean sheets with walnuts. “Obviously there isn’t much in the way of decor, but there’s a happy feeling here.” 

Ital Calabash 

Don’t be surprised if Berkeley soon sees an influx of vegan Rastafarians. They now have the perfect hot spot at the corner of Emerson and Adeline streets. 

The lego-like building that for years held the mercurial Taste of Africa is now home to Ital Calabash, where the reggae music never stops and animal products never find there way into the food. 

“Not all rastas are vegan, but we think they should be,” said the dreadlocked man behind the counter, who added that giving his name would be a form of self promotion, which the restaurant frowns upon. 

Although Ital Calabash arrived in Berkeley a few months ago, the man behind the counter said he had been working in Berkeley with health food icons like Dick Gregory since the early 1980s. 

Ital Calabash offers a variety of soy based burgers and raw veggie wraps for between $5 and $6. For a couple of dollars more, patrons can eat their signature No Meat Treat, a Jamaican style soy protein in tomato-based curry sauce over a grain with salad on the side. The restaurant also serves a variety of smoothies and shakes. 

Amaryst, who stopped by Ital on Sunday, recommends the rice and peas dish. And she should know good vegan food since her boyfriend is a chef at Manzanita. If you don’t trust her, here’s what Oakland-based actor/activist Danny Glover wrote in the restaurant’s guest book, “Ital is love, love of life, love of self.” 

Supreme Vegan 

Robert Williams might be the hardest working man in the vegan food world. Earlier this year he opened West Oakland’s first Vegan Soulfood restaurant at 906 Stanford Ave., and he still hasn’t managed to hire himself any paid help. 

The only downside to being a one-man show is that Williams doesn’t have time to prepare all the items that are on his menu. 

Although you never know what exactly will be available at Supreme Vegan, it’s pretty much guaranteed to taste good. 

“It’s wonderful to have an all vegan restaurant here,” said Travis Moore, who recommends the barbecue seitan sandwich and the banana tofu creme pie. “It’s the best vegan pie I’ve ever had.” 

It might also the healthiest pie in the East Bay. Williams is a health zealot. He refuses to use regular salt or soy sauce in his cooking. Instead he uses Himalayan salt, which he says can also be used as a health supplement. Almost nothing in the restaurant has any oil in it. Even the unchicken nuggets are steamed, rather than fried. 

William’s was raised as a vegan by his family who like him were members of the African Hebrew Israelites Nation. The small sect insists that they are the original Jews and that believe the bible calls on believers to eschew eating flesh. After his family was deported from Israel in 1986, Williams learned the ropes of vegan cooking as a chef for 15 years at Soul Vegetarian in Atlanta. 

Supreme Vegan offers seven sandwiches for between $4.50 and $5.50. Specialty drinks cost around $3 and a slice of pie goes for $2.50. The restaurant also has the only soft serve vegan ice cream machine in town. 

Udupi Palace 

If chicken tika or aloo gobi is what comes to mind when you think of Indian food, it might be time to head to Udupi Palace, Berkeley’s only all vegetarian Indian restaurant.  

Udupi specialties in Southern Indian cuisine so many of the dishes most familiar to the American palate aren’t available there. Udupi’s specialty is the dosa. A mammoth sized crepe filled with the customers choice of potatoes, vegetables, spinach or even cream of wheat. Udupi offers eight types of dosas, all of which are vegan. For those who prefer thicker bread, Udupi has Uthappam, which are pancakes wrapped in spices with options for, vegetable, pineapple, hot peppers or onions. 

Most of the food is vegan, and store manager Jaffar Salik said anything on the menu can be made dairy free. Dosas range from $5.25 to $6.95 and the Uthappam costs between $5.25 and $5.75. 

Comings and goings 

Albany’s best vegan restaurant Mother Nature closed earlier this month. However fans of raw food can take heart that in December San Francisco’s Cafe Gratitude will set up shop on Shattuck Avenue by Virginia Street. 

Honorable mentions 

For vegans who want pizza, the only game in town is Lanesplitter Pub. The restaurant with locations at 2033 San Pablo Ave. in Berkeley and 4799 Telegraph Ave. in Oakland, servers a vegan pies along with more traditional pizzas and has plenty of beer on tap.  

Vegans who want something cold and creamy after dinner are advised to head to Gelateria Naia at 2002 Shattuck Ave. The popular eatery has around a dozen different dairy-free frozen desert options.›

Despite grant funding drying up and the competition of movies, video and other cheaper, often in-the-home competition, live theater performance continues to thrive, even spill over in the Bay Area—and Berkeley is no exception. 

There are several hundred theater companies in the Bay Area, and—from top to bottom, professional resident stage companies to community theaters and short-lived amateur-semipro projects—the Berkeley area is the scene for some of the best, as well as the most diverse. 

Just as with homes, the real estate market is the hidden arbiter of theatrical production and its problems, just as much as funding. Only a handful of companies have homes or even regular—if shared—venues. Some of the best longtime troupes are vagabond, producing in different places every season, or sometimes for each show. 

TheatreFIRST, with 10 years in the area, produces shows of consistently high quality that engage in often unexpected ways with contemporary social issues. The group is on the move again after a year at Mills College (in past years, at the Julia Morgan Theater on College Ave. and in the Morgan-designed Berkeley City Club), opening The Arab-Israeli Cookbook Oct. 27 at the Jewish Community Center. (The play is based on “verbatim conversations ranging from how to cook falafel—and we will be cooking onstage!—to having children who become martyrs to both causes—42 characters played by 8 actors!”) 

In the spring, at ProArts Gallery at 9th and Broadway in Oakland, TheatreFIRST will present the West Coast premiere of Love Play, by Moira Buffini (“2000 years of loving encounters, from the Romans to a dating service, on one spot in London—30 characters played by six actors!”) and World Music by Steve Waters (on the aftermath, in Brussels and Africa, of the Rwanda genocide). 

For more information, see www.theatrefirst.com. 

Oakland’s Eastenders, celebrating their 15th year of genuine repertory production, develops ensembles for rotating programs of both thematically related short plays by known playwrights and new locally-written full-length plays (some by co-founder Charle Polly, who also trades off directing with co-founder Susan Evans). They are still unconfirmed searching for a venue for their annual 100 Years Of Festival. Last year the theme was “Political Theater,” this year it is “Sex Acts” (questions of gender, relationship, etc.) For more information on the upcoming season, see www.eastenders.org. 

They last performed at the new Ashby Stage, as well as in San Francisco—an increasingly employed alternative for homeless East Bay troupes and projects, such as Golden Thread’s ReOrient, an annual program of short plays that deal with the Middle East. Last year, ReOrient staged an artistically successful (not to mention socially engaged) run at the Ashby Stage; this year, the bulk of the fest will be at San Francisco’s Magic Theater in November, with a seminar at UC Berkeley’s Center for MidEast Studies around a staged reading of Egyptian playwright Lenin El Ramly’s Nightmare. For more information see, www.goldenthread.org. 

Central Works Theater En-semble’s motto is “We make plays”—and they do, in a true collaborative lab situation, with innovative and highly professional results, developing new plays from draft to stage. They have a home—the intimate hall of the Berkeley City Club. In October they will produce Achilles & Patroclus, “a play about two men and a woman,” by cofounder Gary Graves, who will also direct a play still in development next spring, under the working title Crossing, by Brian Thorstenson (“about citizenship and immigration”). Cental Works charges admission on a sliding scale, $25-$9. For more information, see www.centralworks.org. 

Another great City Club regular company, Wilde Irish, will be back Sept. 9 with Irish playwright Frank McGuinness’ Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, about hostages in 1992 Lebanon, directed by founder Gemma Whalen, the former head of the now-defunct Mills Drama Dept. For more information, see www.wildeirish.org. 

Newest of home venues is the Ashby Stage (nee Transparent Theatre), home to both the Shotgun Players and Shotgun’s collaborative Theater Lab. Berkeley favorites for over a decade, Shotgun is a vigorous and community-minded troupe that casts a wide net: their Cyrano is still running outdoors at John Hinkel Park; Owners (by Caryl Churchill, directed by founder Patrick Dooley) opens Sept. 6, followed by Cabaret in December and January. 

Ambitious, sometimes over-reaching, stretching dramaturgy and technique, Shotgun has dazzled its public by seeming to run on a fund of sheer energy—something that carries over to the Lab, any production of which is always potentially the most interesting show in town. Cry/Don’t Cry, by Playwrights Foundation’s Christine Young and musician Greg Beuthin, with live drumming, runs Nov. 8-17. For more information, see www.shotgunplayers.org. 

The Ashby Stage is venue for other local and Bay Area groups, both through Theater Lab and as a rental. Last year, San Francisco’s innovative foolsFURY played at the Lab, and Darvag, Oakland’s long-standing Iranian ensemble, produced the exceptional Death of Yazgird by poet Bahram Beyzaii. It’s a curious multicultural note that the two best-written plays premiering in the Bay Area last year that this reviewer covered were both Iranian: Yazgird and a short play in ReOrient, Taziyeh, by Novid Parsi, both at the Ashby Stage. 

Darvag will be back at the Ashby this October and November with The Suitecase, a piece on exile and moving from place to place, originally written (and performed) in Farsi 15 years ago by director and cofounder Farhad Aeesh about the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution, now updated and translated into English. For more information, see www.Darvag.org.  

Holding pride of place among local resident companies is Berkeley Repertory, with two theaters side-by-side on Addison Street off Shattuck Avenue: the new Roda and the older Thrust Stage. The Rep is one of the Bay Area’s handful of Equity (the actors’ union) houses, running six days a week during production. Performing a broad range of plays with professional casts, production staffs and designers (local and imported), there is the occasional awkwardness of a well-acted, brilliantly appointed imported new play with a bland script—too often the albatross of the Regional Rep system in America. 

A disasterous fire this summer at their scene shop has beleaguered the Rep. This year’s shows range from Thornton Wilder’s combine of Americana and 1930s experimental spareness and theatricality, Our Town in September; the world premiere Finn in the Underworld, by Jordan Harrison, in October; and the extravaganza Brundabar and Comedy on the Bridge, adapted by Artistic Director Tony Taccone from a piece performed in concentration camps, with set and costumes by Maurice Sendak and a local children’s choir. For more infomation, see www.berkeley rep.org. 

Next door to the Rep’s Thrust Stage is the Aurora. Under the artistic direction of Barbara Oliver, Aurora built up the greatest critical reputation of perhaps any Bay Area company, for both dramaturgy and production values—in particular, acting. Oliver has just retired, replaced by longtime Managing Director Tom Ross. Their season begins Sept. 2 with Berkeley favorite Joy Carlin directing the late Arthur Miller’s The Price, with an all-star Bay Area cast. In November,a Tom Ross will direct a new translation of Pagnol’s Marius, followed by another new translation, of Ibsen’s Master Builder, and new plays by Thomas Gibbons and Craig Lucas. For more information, see www.auroratheare.org. 

On Adeline, Black Repertory is a three-generation family affair. Last year’s shows ranged from a premiere of Ishmael Reed’s Tough Love Game to the musical Bubbling Brown Sugar. Bolstered by civic and community support, though dogged by controversy and uneven production values and artistic directorship, Black Rep stands as one of two or three African-American companies in the Bay Area with regular shows on a stage of their own. For more information, see www.blackrepertorygroup.org. 

In Orinda, California Shakespeare performs The Bard outdoors, continuing into fall with the two-part Nicholas Nickleby. For more information, see .www.calshakes.org. Woman’s Will, the all-female Shakespeare company, has been performing Richard III in parks around the Bay for free (including at John Hinkel Park). This fall, they present the Brecht-Weill radical musical Happy End at Luka’s Tap Room in downtown Oakland. For more information, see www.womanswill.org. 

Other troupes perform at Hinkel and other parks, often for free—the San Francisco Mime Troupe plays here this weekend. Julia Morgan Theater, Berkeley City Club, Live Oak Theater, Ashby Stage and other venues have seen performances by local and regional groups (like Larry Reed’s innovative Shadowlight puppet-and-actor theater or San Francisco’s Traveling Jewish Theater). Intimate venues like Eighth St. Studios or LaVal’s Subterranean host regulars such as ImpactTheater. For more information, see www.impacttheatre.com. There are other good local vagabond troupes, such as Subterranean Shakespeare Company and Ragged Wing Ensemble, which presented a splendid debut at Eighth St. last year. 

More conventional repertory and community theater (as well as a few surprises) are presented by Berkeley Actors Ensemble (usually at Live Oak Park), Contra Costa Civic Theatre, and the twin venerables, Altarena Playhouse in Alameda and The Masquers in Point Richmond. Unusual and international fare can be found at UC Berkeley, from the ‘30s labor musical The Cradle Will Rock to contemporary social-political plays from India and the UK. For more information, see www.theater.berkeley.edu and the usually brief shows in the panoply booked by CalPerformances at Zellerbach Hall, see www.calperfs.berkeley.edu. 

The latest, both as venue and as theater project, The Marsh-Berkeley, an extension of San Francisco’s solo performance landmark in the Mission, is now playing And God Winked in the Gaia Building. For more information, see www.themarsh.org. 

Most companies have discounts for students seniors and groups, as well as sliding scale or pay-what-you-will performances.r

Most adults know that being a high school student isn’t easy. However, many would be surprised to learn that the vast majority of teenagers are becoming depressed and losing sleep over problems that are much less superficial than fashion or the high scho ol social scene. 

Bay Area psychologist Dr. Anita Barrows, who has 25 years of experience counseling children and adolescents, estimates that 60 to 70 percent of teenagers are affected negatively by stress. 

According to psychologists, stress can have a variety of effects on teenagers. Although the most common effects of stress are insomnia, stomachaches, headaches, anxiety, and irritability, stress can also be a major factor in depression and eating disorders. Michael Simon, an East Bay psychotherapist, estimates that 60 percent of high school students have their eating habits disrupted in some way by stress and that 20 to 30 percent of teenagers have their mental health affected negatively by stress. 

Most teenagers worry about issues that are much more serious than cliché high school problems such as homework and popularity. According to Bay Area psychologists and teenagers interviewed by the Daily Planet, high school students often worry about being successful, both in the immediate future and later i n life. 

Barrows said teenagers often fear that they won’t make it in a competitive society. Simon points out that teenagers with successful parents often worry about failing to match their parents’ level of success. Many teenagers also worry about living up to impossible standards. One 16-year-old said she often feels as though she has to do “everything perfectly.” 

High school students who are considering attending college may face an even greater level of stress. Simon blamed the media for creating a “publicity machine” surrounding the college application process by compiling lists of the top schools. Barrows points out that trying to gain admission to one of these top schools can be like trying to “win a prize.” 

As high school students strive to win these prizes, their lives are made more stressful by the fact that they are trying to achieve success at the same time that they are trying to determine “who they are and what they want out of their lives,” as Simon puts it. When faced both with the pressure to excel as well as the need to determine their own identities and goals, it isn’t surprising that most teenagers suffer from stress. 

The stress faced by today’s teenagers is more complicated and widespread than it may seem to many adults. According to Barrows, “Parents and teachers like to think of teenagers as lazy—[they] underestimate how seriously teenagers take their lives and how hard it is to be a teenager.” 

What Teens Can Do About Stress 

Bay Area psychologists and teenagers suggest severa l things that high school students can do to reduce stress. All of the items on this list were suggested both by Simon or Barrows and teenagers interviewed by the Daily Planet. 

• Exercise regularly. 

• Talk to someone (such as a parent or friend) about w hat is causing stress. 

• Find a “creative outlet” (according to Barrows) such as art or writing. 

• Participate in a relaxing, noncompetitive activity or hobby. 

• Get enough sleep. 

Berkeley resident Elizabeth Hopper is a senior at Bentley School in Lafayette. 

FRIDAY, AUGUST 26 

THEATER 

California Shakespeare Theater, “Nicholas Nickleby” Part 2 at 8 p.m. at Bruns Amphitheater, 100 Gateway Blvd., Orinda, through Sept. 16. Tickets are $10-$55. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org 

Impact Theater “Nicky Goes Goth” at 8 p.m., Thurs.-Sat. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid, through Oct. 1. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. www.impacttheatre.com 

“Livin’ Fat” Fri. at 8 p.m., Sat. at 2 and 8 p.m., Sun. at 4 p.m. at Malonga Casquelord Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St., Oakland, through Aug. 26. Tickets are $15-$25. 332-7125. 

Magical Arts Ritutal Theater, “Equus” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Tickets are $25. 523-7754. www.ticketweb.com 

The Marsh Berkeley “When God Winked” by Ron Jones. Thurs.-Sat. at 7 p.m. at the Gaia Building, 2120 Allston Way, through Sept. 16. Tickets are $10-$22. 800-838-3006. www.themarsh.org  

FILM 

Louis Malle: “Au reviour les enfants” at 7 p.m. and “Atlantic City” at 9:05 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Dr. Loco’s Rockin’ Jalapeño Band at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

The Nika Rejto Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Wake the Dead at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13-$15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Lua at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Anna Maria Flechero, singer-songwriter, at 8 p.m. at Maxwell’s 341 13th St., Oakland. 839-6169. www.maxwellslounge.com 

Lee Waterman Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Damond Moodie, singer-songwriter, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Tom Freund at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Akimbo, Lords, Ass End Offend, Paint Out the Light, at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

London Street and Baby James at 10 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Bitches Brew at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Kenny Burrell Quintet at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $14-$20. 238-9200.  

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27 

THEATER 

Oakland-East Bay Shakespeare Festival “Much Ado About Nothing” Sat. and Sun. at 4 p.m. at Lakeside Park at Lake Merritt, corner of Perkins and Bellevue, through Aug. 28. Free. 415-865-4434. www.sfshakes.org 

San Francisco Mime Troupe “Doing Good” at 2 p.m. at Cedar Rose Park, 1300 Rose St. 415-285-1717. www.sfmt.org 

Shotgun Players, “Cyrano de Bergerac” at 4 p.m., Sat. and Sun. through Sept. 11, at John Hinkle Park, labor day perf. Sept. 5. Free with pass the hat donation after the show. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“New Visions: Introductions 2005” artists’ talk at 1 p.m. at ProArts Gallery, 550 Second St., Oakland. www.proartsgallery.org 

“CCA Faculty New Work” opens at the Oliver Art Center, California College of the Arts, 5212 Broadway, Oakland. 594-3600. 

FILM 

A Theater Near You: “F for Fake” 7 and 8:45 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Rhythm & Muse with poet and prose writer Jan Steckel at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center. Free. 527-9753. 

Poetry Flash with Michael McClure and M.L. Liebler at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Cost is $2. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Diablo Street Jazz Band from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Bay Street Plaza, near Old Navy, Emeryville. 

Robin Gregory & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Bolokada Conde, child prodigy drummer from West Africa, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Ray Abshire with Andre & Louis Michot of Lost Bayou Ramblers at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054.  

Don Villa & Gary Wade, original compositions for guitar, at 7 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

Deanna Witkowski Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

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

Toychestra, The Loins at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082.  

Allegiance, Blacklisted, Cast Aside, Down to Nothing at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Will Bernard & Motherbug at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

SUNDAY, AUGUST 28 

THEATER 

San Francisco Mime Troupe “Doing Good” at 2 p.m. at Cedar Rose Park, 1300 Rose St. 415-285-1717. www.sfmt.org 

FILM 

A Theater Near You: “Edvard Munch”at 2 and 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jazz Spoken Word featuring Dayna Stephens Quartet at 6 p.m. at Kimball’s Carnival, 522 Second St., Oakland. Sponsored by The Jazz House. Cost is $5. 415-846-9432. 

Poetry Reading by contributers to Diner, a Journal of Poetry, at 7 p.m. at Pegasus Books, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

Poetry Flash with poet Bryce Milligan and novelist Cecile Pineda at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland Lyric Opera “Love Songs and Lullabies,” songs by African American composers at 2 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. 836-6772. www.oaklandlyricopera.com 

Live Oak Concert with Amy Likar, flute, Bruce Foster, clarinet, Yueh Chou, bassoon, Erika Wilsen, horn, at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Cost is $8-$10. 644-6893.  

Du’Vo’ from Hungary, at 7:30 p.m. at Finnish Hall, 1970 Chestnut St. Tickets are $5-$15. 526-7757. 

Oak, Ash & Thorn at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Crying High Brazilian Band and Choro Band at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Koko de la Isla, flamenco, at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

David Serotkin, CD release party, at 7:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 644-2204.  

Shotgun Ragtime Band at 10 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Americana Unplugged with The Dark Hollow Band at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

MONDAY, AUGUST 29 

EXHIBITIONS 

“The Danube Exodus” Interactive installation by Péter Forgács & the Labyrinth Project opens at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St. www.magnes.org 

FILM 

“Stolen Childhoods” a documentary on child labor, at 7:45 p.m. followed by discussion with director Len Morris, at Pacific Film Archive. Sponsored by Amnesty International.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Express Theme Night: “Ex’s” at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Trovatore, traditional Italian music, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Oaktown Jazz Workshop with Najee & His Band at 8 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $35. 238-9200.  

TUESDAY, AUGUST 30 

FILM 

Eyeing Nature: “Ten Skies” with James Benning in person at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Tell it on Tuesday” storytelling with Ruth Halpern, Wayne Harris, Marijo, and Gay Ducey at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. 845-8542. www.juliamorgan.org 

Karen Fisher describes the romance and cruelty of pioneer life in “A Sudden Country” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sauce Piquante at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance leson at 8 p.m. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The Frank Jackson Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Freight and Salvage Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $4.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

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

Larry Coryell Trio with Victor Bailey and Lenny White at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

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

Duncan James at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31 

EXHIBITIONS 

Tenth Annual Yozo Hamaguchi Printmaking Scholarship Awards Exhibition opens at the Isabelle Percy West Gallery, California College of the Arts, 5212 Broadway, Oakland. 594-3619. 

FILM 

For Your Eyes Only: The President’s Analyst” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Mark Little Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

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

Dhol Patrol at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

Home at Last at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Larry Coryell Trio with Victor Bailey and Lenny White at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, SEPT. 1 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Lunch Poems at 12:10 p.m. at Morrison Library in Doe Library, UC Campus. http://lunchpoems. 

berkeley.edu  

Julia Vinograd, poet, at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave., Albany. 526-3720. 

Nomad Spoken Word Night at 6 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Word Beat Reading Series with Jamey Genna and Alice Templeton at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Davka, classical Middle-Eastern Ashkenazi jazz, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Peter Barshay’s “Fog” at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Paul Mehling, Will Bernhard and Ken Emerson, guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Night of the Cookers with Billy Harper, James Spaulding, Charles Tolliver, David Weiss, John Hicks, Roy McCurdy and Dwayne Burno at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $1-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.comÊ

FRIDAY, AUGUST 26 

Reduced City Services Today Call ahead to ensure programs or services you desire will be available. 981-CITY. www.cityofberkeley.info 

Activism Series on 9/11 and Social Change with Carol Bouillet, Ken Jenkins, Maya Schoen and Ralph Schoenman at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. 528-5403. 

“Building a Community FM Broadcast Station” by T.J. Enrile. Book Release Party at 7 p.m. at AK Press, 674-A 23rd St., Oakland. Donation $5-$10. 208-1700. 

Middendorf Institute for Breathexperience Open House at 6 p.m. at 830 Bancroft Way, #104. RSVP to 981-1710.  

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. 

Celebrate a Humanistic Shabbat with Kol Hadash, led by Rabbi Jay Heyman, with song leader Bon Singer, at 7:30 p.m. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. Free and open to the public. 428-1492. info@KolHadash@org  

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 

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27 

San Francisco Mime Troupe “Doing Good” at 2 p.m. at Cedar Rose Park, 1300 Rose St. 415-285-1717. www.sfmt.org 

Names on the Land: George R. Stewart Hike to learn the origin of local names Orinda, Treasure Island, Golden Gate and others. Meet at 10 a.m. in the overflow parking lot off Lomas Cantadas and Grizzly Peak Blvd. in Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Dr. Terrence Roberts, one of the “Little Rock Nine” will speak at the Leaders’ Conference at Boalt Hall, UC Campus. Conference runs 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cost is $125 for all day, $55 for the Awards program. For information call 835-7999.  

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 

All Life Strives to Have Grandchildren Learn why there is so much activity by insects, birds and flowers aimed at finding a mate. From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Winter Vegetable Garden Learn about plant selection, preparation and planting at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. 

Homebrewing Biodiesel Learn the whole process from testing, washing, filtering to putting it in your vehicle, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Oakland. Cost is $20-$40. Call to register. 843-9877. 

Natural Hormone Therapy at 10:30 a.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. www.elephantpharmacy.com 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of Picardy Drive and Mills Gardens. Cost is $5-$10. For details call 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring warm waterproof clothes. www.cal-sailing.org 

Free Help with Computers at the El Cerrito Library to learn about email, searching the web, the library’s online databases, or basic word processing. Workshops held on Sat. a.m. at 6510 Stockton Ave., El Cerrito. Registration required. 526-7512.  

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, AUGUST 28 

San Francisco Mime Troupe “Doing Good” at 2 p.m. at Cedar Rose Park, 1300 Rose St. 415-285-1717. www.sfmt.org 

Community Garden Party and Fundraiser from 1 to 5 p.m. at Peralta Community Garden, 1400 Peralta Ave. near Hopkins. Live music, food, on-site raffle, kid’s activities, and peace-tile painting. 798-8148. 

“Birdbrain” is Really a Compliment We’ll look for smart birds and see what they are doing with all their brain power. From 10 a.m. to noon at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

All of Life is a Great Thirst Learn how life copes with keeping as much water as it can inside. From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

The Art of Composting Learn to make fertilizer from your kitchen scraps from 2 to 4 p.m. at City Slicker Farms, 16th and Center Sts., Oakland. 763-4241. 

Social Action Forum with Chris O’Sullivan who had a Fulbright Fellowship in Jordan, at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

Hungarian Folk Dancing with Du’Vo’ from Hungary, at 7:30 p.m. at Finnish Hall, 1970 Chestnut St. Tickets are $5-$15. 526-7757. 

All Our Voices: Celebrating Diversity through Storytelling with Jewish, Latino, Asian, African American and Native American stories from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut Ave. Cost is $20-$45. 444-4755. www.stagebridge.org 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour around the Claremont. Cost is $5-$10. For details call 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Berkeley City Club free tour from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tours are sponsored by the Berkeley City Club and the Landmark Heritage Foundation. Donations welcome. The Berkeley City Club is located at 2315 Durant Ave. For group reservations or more information, call 848-7800. 

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring warm waterproof clothes. www.cal-sailing.org 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.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 

MONDAY, AUGUST 29 

Rally to Support Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) in Berkeley Join City Councilmember Kriss Worthington and other IRV supporters for a rally at noon at City Hall, 2180 Milvia, to urge that the Berkeley City Council work harder to implement IRV, approved by the voters last March with over 72% of the vote. 981-7170. 

“Stolen Childhoods” a documentary on child labor, at 7:45 p.m. followed by discussion with director Len Morris, at Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way. Sponsored by Amnesty International.  

Stress Less with Hypnosis A free seminar at 6:30 p.m. in Oakland. Registration required. 465-2524. 

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, AUGUST 30 

Return of the Over-the-Hills Gang Hikers 55 years and older who are interested in nature study, history, fitness, and fun are invited to join us on a series of monthly excursions exploring our Regional Parks. Meets at 10 a.m. at Pt. Pinole. For information and to register call 525-2233.  

GPS Mapping Learn how to make your own maps at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

East Bay Animals Advocates Volunteer Meeting at 7:30 p.m. at Fellini Restaurant, 1401 University Ave. 925-487-4419. infor@eastbayanimaladvocates.org 

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. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Tai Chi for Health and Long Life from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. www.elephantpharmacy.com 

“Supporting Your Child’s Attention Holistically” at 7 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. www.elephantpharmacy.com 

Celebrating the Legacy of Derek Humphry, of the Hemlock Society, at 1 p.m. at Northbrae Church. Reservations required. 843-6798. 

Family Story Time at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Branch Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Free, all ages welcome. 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. 

Healthy Eating Habits and Hypnosis A free seminar at 6:30 p.m. in Oakland. Registration required. 465-2524. 

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. 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31 

Walking Tour of Jack London Waterfront Meet at 10 a.m. at the corner of Broadway and Embarcadero. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

Bayswater Book Club meets to discuss “From Jesus to Christianity” by l. Michael White, at 6:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble Coffee Shop, El Cerrito Plaza. 433-2911. 

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

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. 548-9840. 

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

Sing your Way Home A free sing-a-long at 4:30 p.m. every Wed. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720. 

Kundalini Yoga for All Ages at 2:30 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. www.elephantpharmacy.com 

Artify Ashby Muralist Group meets every Wed. from 5 to 8 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, to plan a new mural. New artists are welcome. Call Bonnie at 704-0803. 

Stitch ‘n Bitch Bring your knitting, crocheting and other handcrafts from 6 to 9 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, SEPT. 1 

LGBT Catholics BBQ-Potluck Get-together at 6:30 p.m. at Newman Hall, Holy Spirit Parish, 2700 Dwight Way at College Ave. 663-6302. www.calnewman.org 

World of Plants Tours Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu?

The attorney for the Oakland man briefly arrested for the 1970 slaying of a Berkeley police officer says a composite drawing made of the suspected killer at the time of the murder “has no resemblance to the way Styles Price appeared during that time. These are not minor differences. They are major.” 

Price, 56, a retired high school educator, was arrested by Berkeley police on Aug. 10 for the murder of officer Ron Tskukamoto, the man for whom the Berkeley Public Safety Building was named. Price was released two days later after the Alameda County District Attorney’s office said there was not enough evidence to bring Price to trial. 

While there are no pending charges against Price, the retired Berkeley police lieutenant coordinating the case, Russell Lopes, told the San Francisco Chronicle at the time of Price’s release that “We are absolutely sure, beyond any doubt—reasonable or otherwise—that [Price] cold-bloodedly killed Ron. We’re going to prove it. It ain’t over.” 

Morris Jacobsen, the Alameda County Deputy district attorney assigned to the Tsukamoto case, said that his office is not investigating the case. 

“It is presently in the hands of the Berkeley Police Department,” Jacobsen said. “The procedure is for the police department to collect evidence and then present it to our office. Until that time, we are not involved.” 

Price has repeatedly denied that he was involved in the Tsukamoto shooting. 

According to Price’s Oakland attorney, William DuBois, Price’s arrest by Berkeley police was partly based upon a confession from Don Juan Graphenreed, 56, of Oakland. Berkeley police say they believe Graphenreed was the getaway driver during the murder. Graphenreed was also released from jail without charges being filed. 

Last week, DuBois released the 35-year-old composite drawing of the alleged Tsukamoto shooter to buttress Price’s claim of innocence. DuBois said the drawing came from a copy of the Aug. 22, 1970 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle. 

Lt. Lopes has said that the composite drawing is one of the factors which has convinced him that Styles was the shooter. He has also said that his office has a computerized “age regression” drawing that advances the composite drawing 35 years, and resembles Price as he currently appears. 

“They keep saying this is the spitting image of Styles,” DuBois said. “But I’ve seen photographs of my client contemporaneous with the Tsukamoto murder. There’s no resemblance between my client and the original composite.” 

Price pointed out one major discrepancy between himself and the drawing of the alleged Tsukamoto shooter. While the composite shows a man without glasses, Price said that he has worn prescription lenses constantly since he was 10. 

“My eyesight is 2,400-plus,” Price said. “What the normal person can see at 400 feet, I can only see at 20 feet. I’m extremely nearsighted. I literally have to hold something up to my nose to read it. I wouldn’t be able to make out someone’s face 10 feet in front of me.” 

The composite drawing was based on statements made by a motorcyclist who was stopped by Tskukamoto on the night of the police officer’s killing. The witness was reportedly within a few feet of both the officer and the killer while they held a brief conversation shortly before the shooting. That witness died several years later in an automobile accident. 

At a press conference at DuBois’ office last week, Price said that “in no way do I resemble the assassin” of Tskukamoto. 

Price said that he remains “very concerned that the Berkeley police may re-arrest me. This has caused me continual paranoia and emotional unease. Since no formal charges have been brought against me, it’s like a sword hanging over your head. I feel if they can do it to me, they can do it to anyone.” 

Price said he has never been convicted of any crime, and has lived what he calls a “blameless life.” He said that he is consulting with his attorney about possible legal action. 

Meanwhile, Price’s sister, Anola Price Small, released a statement from the Price family to the Tskukamoto family, stating that “my family expresses sympathy for you. We cannot believe that the Berkeley Police Department would advance their own agenda using your grief. This is so egregious and unkind as to be unbelievable. Why they would present false hope to your family and accuse an innocent person is beyond comprehension. I believe, without knowing your brother, that he would not want an innocent person to go to prison for his murder.” 

Small called her brother “a productive member of the Oakland community who has spent his entire life as a civil rights activist trying to correct discrimination and racism. He is a pacifist who would never harm a fly, let alone walk up to another human being and shoot him point-blank. Those that know Styles throughout our community know that this is not in his character to commit a crime like this.” 

Small is married to the physician of the author.ˆ

For several Berkeley political watchdogs this has been their summer of discontent.  

They see developers getting too many concessions, the all-white school board acting as an rubber stamp, the library using technology they fear could one day monitor patrons, the city attorney’s office giving poor legal advice and city and school budgets that are out of control. 

“There’s a complete frustration with the way the city is being managed,” said Marie Bowman, president of Berkeleyans Against Soaring Taxes (BASTA). 

As Berkeley politics cools off during its August breather, Bowman and others outside the city’s political establishment haven’t taken summer vacations. 

They are working on ballot initiatives aiming to change the way the city elects its officials, balances its budget, pays its employees, oversees new development and even checks out library books. 

If in the June 2006 primary election a majority of Berkeley voters are in agreement, next year could be the establishment’s summer of discontent. 

City Finance Measures 

After forming last year to successfully fight off proposed city tax hikes, BASTA is taking the offensive for the June election. It has already written three ballot measures and is working on two more, Bowman said. 

One initiative would require city employees to contribute to their pension fund. Currently most city labor contracts call on Berkeley to pay full pension contributions. BASTA’s proposal would force Berkeley employees to pay the average pension contribution made by employees in surrounding cities. 

BASTA, concerned by the recent sale of three properties, is sponsoring an initiative that would require a two-thirds popular vote before the city sells surplus property. 

A third initiative would limit the city’s ability to increase taxes for special funds like the library fund. Currently the City Council can raise the library fund tax through its choice of two cost of living indexes. Typically it chooses the larger tax increase, but the BASTA measure would require it to use the smaller increase.  

Library Director Jackie Griffin has said the higher tax rate approved this year by the council will enable the library to reopen on Sundays starting next month. 

BASTA is also considering a measure that would require the city to more than double its emergency cash reserve from 6 percent of the total budget to 13 percent.  

That would tie lawmakers hands, said Councilmember Linda Maio. 

“A larger reserve would mean cutting all of the services that have already been cut,” she said. “I don’t think people really understand the kind of impact that would have.” 

School District 

Typically when there is a school measure on the ballot it comes from the school district. Not next year. A recently reformed organization, Berkelyans Endorse School Management Accountability Responsiveness Transparency (BESMART), spearheaded by staunch district critic Yolanda Huang, is seeking to remake the school board. 

One measure would abolish the five-member school board elected at-large throughout the city, and replace it with a nine-member board. Eight members would represent the eight City Council districts and a ninth member would represent the city as a whole, Huang said. 

“If they ran in districts, that would bring greater diversity for the board as a whole,” said Councilmember Darryl Moore, who has signed on to the initiative. 

Berkeley, where one-third of the students are African American, hasn’t had an African American school board member since Lloyd Lee stepped down in 1998. 

A second initiative from BESMART would establish a directly elected auditor to oversee district finances. 

“The district’s financial accountability is not strong,” Huang said. “I think it would help to have an internal auditor whose goal is good management and accountability.” 

School Board Member Terry Doran said he didn’t think either measure would improve Berkeley schools. He held that the district already had an outside auditor and county supervision, and that “a nine-member school board seems awfully unwieldy.” 

BESMART has also proposed an initiative that would prevent the school board from selling off excess property without a two-thirds vote. The measure could disrupt plans for the former Hillside Elementary School, which the district has rented, but might one day sell. 

Development  

Councilmember Kriss Worthington said he is drafting an initiative that would clearly define zoning rules for new development and foster affordable housing. Worthington said his measure would spell out density requirements, which critics of the city say have been used to super-size new developments. But if a proposed development contained more than half affordable units, Worthington said, “they would be given bonus space up the wazoo.”  

Meanwhile, Bowman said that BASTA is also considering a measure to better define density standards. The BASTA plan, she said, would restrict much of the city’s authority to deviate from its land use plans. 

Other Proposals 

Elliot Cohen, author of last’s year’s failed Tree Ordinance, is working on a ballot measure to render the public library’s new checkout system illegal. Cohen agrees with privacy advocates who fear the radio devices placed on library materials to track books could be used by authorities to track patrons. If the measure is passed, the library would have to scrap its new $650,000 system. 

Bowman said several residents have spoken to her about a ballot initiative to call for the city attorney to be directly elected, rather than appointed. 

“A lot of people are upset with the city attorney in the wake of the UC-city deal,” said Bowman, adding that she didn’t expect BASTA to put the measure on the ballot.  

Most California cities appoint city attorneys, although surrounding cities—Oakland, Albany and San Francisco—have elected city attorneys. 

Can They Win 

Bowman has a mixed track record in Berkeley elections. As leader of BASTA, she is coming off an election-year sweep where voters rejected city tax measures. But two years prior, Bowman was a key figure in Measure P—a campaign to restrict height limits on Berkeley buildings that garnered just 20 percent of the vote. Last year voters defeated all three citizen-sponsored ballot initiatives. 

“I learned a lot from Measure P,” Bowman said. “That campaign started too late and it never really had a chance to get its ideas out.”  

Time is of the essence for several of the proposed initiatives. For those like the district-wide school board elections, which would require a change to the city’s charter, roughly 10,500 signatures are needed to get on the ballot, said City Clerk Sara Cox. A standard ballot initiative requires 2,007 signatures. 

Shifting Alliances 

To gather signatures and mount a campaign, Bowman will need to find financial backing at a time when a major force behind BASTA’s victory last year has pulled out of the group. The Berkeley Property Owners Association (BPOA), which last year gave money and manpower to BASTA’s efforts, is working on its own ballot measure for next November to change rent control laws and abolish the rent board. 

“BASTA united a lot of people over a specific issue last year,” said BPOA President Michael Wilson. “Now there isn’t a specific issue so it’s a bit formless and shapeless.” 

While he said the BPOA might support some of BASTA’s proposals, he questioned whether the group was over-extending itself. “I would never run five ballot initiatives,” he said. 

Bowman countered that collecting signatures for multiple ballot measures was more efficient and that BASTA planned to team up with other groups floating initiatives.  

Already Bowman and Huang—strangers until bumping into each other at a recent City Council meeting—have joined forces.  

“We started talking and we realized that we have similar concerns about financial accountability,” said Huang. She added that Bowman had helped her to better understand the initiative process, but stopped short of saying that she would try to remake BESMART in BASTA’s image. 

“Let’s see if we win first,” she said. 

The most improbable thing in a most unlikely place Sunday was a giant wooden clock, an intricate creation resembling nothing so much as a Walt Disney design on LSD. 

The creation of twenty or so people, the resplendent wooden weight-and-pendulum-driven t imepiece took shape in the Shipyard, a West Berkeley artist’s collective built of stacked shipping containers. 

Volunteers—technically, the Time to Burn Regulators—were still adding the final touches Sunday evening as artists began arriving for a celebrat ion of the work before it was disassembled Monday. The artwork was then loaded on a truck headed for the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, where the festival will be held. 

There, it will serve as one of idiosyncratic landmarks of the Burning Man Festival, which begins next Monday. 

The highlight of every year’s gathering is the immolation of the eponymous Burning Man, when the Regulators will ignite the Berkeley clock as well. 

“I don’t like to overexplain myself,” said McNamara, before doing just that. 

“We’re playing with time. That’s what’s important. We just like to play with things, take them apart, whatever,” he said, adding, “we got a little out of control.” 

McNamara and fellow Regulator Matt Snyder said there’s some controversy about sacrificing their work to the flames. 

“It’s very controversial,” said Snyder. “It’s a beautiful thing.” 

“It’s about impermanence,” said McNamara, “and Burning Man is about impermanence.” 

The best part about sacrificing the work to the flames is that “we don’t have to bring it back,” he said. “That’s the beauty of it. We don’t have to fix it either. Besides, I want to build something different next year.” 

The clock is built almost entirely of wood, save for a few pieces of metal joinery, the brass kerosene lan terns that illuminate it, and the 200 pound empty compressed gas cylinders that serve as counterweights to drive the pendulum. 

The most modern touch, ironic in its execution, are the wooden binary numbers adorning one of the clock’s six faces. 

“We’ve go t woodworkers, machinists, a guitar-maker, a carpenter. You might say its really about working with all these people,” McNamara said. 

Burning Man legacy 

The Shipyard and Burning Man were inexorably linked form the get-go. 

Artist Jim Mason, a leading li ght at the festival, created the unusual workspace four years ago by assembling 27 shipping containers around a central courtyard as a haven for local artists—kinetic sculptors being the first to sign on. 

When city building inspectors declared the comple x un-Kosher, Burning Man founder Larry Harvey beseeched the Zoning Adjustments Board to issue a use permit. 

Joining him during the October 2003 meeting were 150 or so local artists lamenting the lack of workspace in the city. 

The shipyard was saved by Z AB’s enthusiastic endorsement. 

Many of the artists working at the Shipyard are Burning Man buffs, and about a fourth of them worked on McNamara’s vision, with the remainder drawn from the larger community of devotees. 

When they finished, they had time to burn.

Trees are dying around two controversial sites in Richmond, and highly regarded UC Berkeley plant pathologist Dr. Robert Raabe thinks toxins are to blame. 

Raabe, the conductor of the university’s popular Sick Plant Clinics at the Botanical Garden, examined plants at the request of Professor Claudia Carr of the College of Natural Resources and activist Sherry Padgett. 

Carr and Padgett are two of the founders of Bay Area Residents for Responsible Development, which has been demanding increased scrutiny of a pair of major developments planned for construction on adjacent sites in South Richmond. 

The first site is Campus Bay, built atop a massive mound of buried hazardous and toxic waste accumulated during a century of chemical manufacturing. 

Cherokee Simeon Ventures, the creation of a developer and an investment fund specializing in development of projects on rehabilitated hazardous waste sites, is planning a project on the site of the former Zeneca Pharmaceuticals plant just south of UC Berkeley’s Richmond Field Station (RFS). 

The same consortium is also negotiating with UC Berkeley to develop the field station as a corporate/industrial research park. The university site hosted a blasting cap factory that left a legacy of mercury pollution, and some Zeneca wastes were also left at the field station. 

Trees have been dying on both properties, and the two activists sought Raabe’s expert opinion to learn the causes. 

Barbara Cook, project manager for the cleanups at both sites for the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), has sought the opinion of DTSC staff botanist Allan Fone. 

“He looked around the trees and at the soil and found that the soil was very wet and the drainage system was either plugged or not working,” Cook said. 

Raabe looked not only at the trees along Meade, but along the business park immediately to the southeast of the site and along the RFS to the northwest. 

“I came to the conclusion that that it was not root rot, nor was it too much water. This would leave something else, and I suggested tests of plant tissue and soil for chemicals,” Raabe said. “It was of interest that the sides of the trees facing areas charted as chemical hot spots showed more damage than the opposite sides.” 

Cherokee-Simeon gardeners have been removing diseased trees from along Meade. 

“If it were excess soil in the water, you would expect to see root rot,” said Raabe. “It can usually be tested by cutting into the bark right at the soil line.” 

But Raabe’s cut showed no evidence in the plant tissue. “If there’s rot, it usually turns brown, but it had not. There are other fungi that can cause problems, but I didn’t expect to see or find them and I didn’t.” 

Among the tests Raabe suggested was an analysis of plant tissue from both sides of trees showing one-sided damage. 

“Damage isn’t usually one-sided like this. It usually girdles the plants,” he noted. 

Joan Lichterman, system-wide Health and Safety Director for UC members of Local 9119 of the United Professional and Technical Workers-Communications Workers of America, said tress have also been dying at the Richmond Field Station. 

“Employees have told me the university spent the last few weekends removing trees and grinding them up into wood chips,” she said. 

The ailing trees are major concerns to critics who contend that the cleanup at both sites has failed to address health care concerns of people who work and live near the site. 

“The national leaders of our union are very concerned,” she said, and Larry Cohen, the executive vice president who is expected to be elected to head the union after next week’s national convention in Chicago, has asked to be informed of all developments at RFS. 

Cook said enhanced testing will be done at the Campus Bay site and in the business park area to the southwest. Soil gas testing is already underway near the Zeneca building that houses the Making Waves after-school program, and preliminary results indicated no vapor readings above acceptable levels. 

Further testing of the business park scheduled to begin in September will include soil gas, soil analysis and water testing. 

“These will give us a better understanding of what chemicals, if any, may be affecting the trees,” Cook said.  

“All the trees along 49th Street (in the business park) are showing signs of stress,” Padgett said. “The branches are falling off on windy days. There are 210 chemicals known to be at the Zeneca site, and we need a lot more testing.” 

Calls placed to UC Berkeley’s Office of Environment, Health & Safety were not returned by deadline Monday, nor was a call made to Cherokee Investment Partners. 

Berkeley officials granted Iceland a one month extension Friday to install a temporary cooling system and pump out 4,200 pounds of potentially toxic ammonia. 

“The city recognizes, based on the information provided us, that the extension is a reasonable request,” said Assistant Fire Chief Gil Dong. 

Last month Berkeley ordered Iceland to have a temporary cooling system in place by Aug. 22. Now the skating rink will have until Sept. 23 to install the system, which Iceland General Manager Jay Wescott said will cost about $100,000 to operate over the next seven months. 

Dong said Iceland will be allowed to use the temporary system through April 15, 2006, at which time Iceland must complete upgrades to its permanent cooling system.  

Iceland has contracted with Willy Bietak Productions to supply the temporary cooling system, which will contain 800 pounds of ammonia. The company has said that it had too many projects to install the system before Sept. 23. 

Iceland’s current system lacks key safety features and the city lacks the resources to handle an accidental release of 4,000 pounds of ammonia, said Dong. In the case of a major release, ammonia could harm residents as far as a mile downwind from the South Berkeley rink. 

There has been little progress on fixing the rink’s cooling system. Berkeley Building Official Joan MacQuarrie confirmed last week that the city rejected Iceland’s application to do the work and have yet to receive updated plans. 

“Once we get the temporary system up and running then we’ll move quickly getting the permanent system done,” Wescott said. He added that Iceland might have to shut down temporarily next April if cooling system upgrades are not completed.m

The Flying Cottage has landed again, this time on the agenda for Thursday night’s meeting of the Zoning Adjustments Board. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers at Old City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

The controversial popup at 3045 Shattuck Ave. has had a hard time passing muster with neighbors and city officials. Repeated appearances before the Design Review Committee (DRC) have resulted in rejections—the latest on June 16—prompting architect Andus Brandt to appeal to the Zoning Adjustments Board, which will hear the pleas of Brandt and owner Christine Sun Thursday. 

DRC member and architect Burton Edwards said “we did not respond favorably” to Brandt’s latest revisions. 

“We still find a number of difficulties, both on esthetic grounds and in terms of ZAB issues. If we had the opportunity we would have preferred to continue with the design review process, but the applicant preferred to take it directly to ZAB,” Edwards said. 

The project will only come back to DRC if ZAB requests that the panel address very specific design issues. 

Sun’s project is a sore point with neighbors, who contend that completion of the three-story structure will pose parking, esthetic and privacy issues. 

Also on Thursday’s agenda are proposals to: 

• Add three new units to a two-story, four-unit building at 2538 Hillegass Ave. 

• Demolish a 14,500-square-foot two-story warehouse at 2039 Fourth St. and replace it with a 19,000-square-foot, three-story office and retail building. 

• Approve a request to open up a new gelato store at 2170 Shattuck Ave. 

• Modify the use permit for a mixed-use project at 2310 Fulton St. 

• Approve a fast food restaurant in a new mixed use building at 3075 Telegraph Ave. s

After a year that saw a months-long teacher contract protest, budget uncertainty, and construction disputes, the Berkeley Unified School District Board of Education returns this week from an August recess. 

The first meeting of the new school year will be held Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., at the Old City Hall at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

The board will hear a presentation by WLC Architects and Vallier Design on a construction plan for the district’s Derby Street-area school properties that includes a proposed closure of Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street. 

The East Campus Project—encompassing both the old East Campus buildings and a portion of the property occupied by the Berkeley Alternative High School across Derby Street—set up one of the major battles of last school year. 

Proponents of a regulation-size Berkeley High School baseball field want to use the site for a field, the only available district-owned property large enough. The only way to build such a field on the two properties would be to close Derby Street. 

Neighborhood residents objected. They said they did not want the baseball field in their neighborhood and wanted Derby Street to remain open. 

Meanwhile, the district moved forward this summer with the demolition of the old East Campus buildings. 

One 2004-05 issue that district officials hope will not return this year is the district’s labor problems. Those problems were highlighted by a contract dispute with the district’s teachers, including a “work-to-rule” action in which they refused to work past their contracted eight-hour days. Berkeley teachers had been working without a new contract for two years. 

The district was also held contract talks with its bus drivers, custodians, instructional assistants, office workers, administrators, managers and supervisors. Those disputes were almost all settled in May, when tentative contract agreements were reached with all but the administrative workers. 

Budget matters also dominated the 2004-05 district board meetings and promise to continue this year. The district spent much of the year on “qualified” budget status, meaning that while the present budget was balanced, the district could not present balanced budgets for the following years. Public school districts must present balanced budgets or face severe sanctions, including possible takeover by the state. 

District officials blamed much of the budget problems on decreased funding from the state.?

Registered nurses voted Thursday to settle their strike with the Alta Bates hospital in Berkeley and Summit Alta Bates in Oakland. 

As part of the accord with the California Nurses Association (CNA), the hospitals agreed to replace licensed nurses with RNs in non-relief positions in medical and surgical units, emergency and critical care units and in woman and infant care units. 

Among the provisions of the new three-year contract are signing bonuses of up to $2,000, wage increases of 12 percent over two years, and a new 25-year tenure step with a two percent salary increase over the current 20-year position. 

The contract also creates up to 50 new positions for nurses who want to work 60 percent of regular hours and still receive benefits. The hospital also agreed to pay all medical benefits for employees and to cover health care premiums for retired nurses and their spouses. 

CNA spokesperson Charles Idelson said that the pact was also ratified by nurses at Eden Hospital in Castro Valley, Sutter Solano Medical Center in Vallejo and St. Luke’s in San Francisco. All are members of the Sutter Healthcare system. 

Idelson said that the contract didn’t include all Sutter Hospitals, though both CNA and the non-RN SEIU-United Healthcare Workers-West (UHW-W) have striven for system-wide contracts. 

In a statement, Alta Bates Summit Chief Nursing Officer Viki Ardito, said, “Summit Alta Bates is staffed with the very best nurses. We’ve always committed to providing wages, benefits and a workplace environment that are second to none.” 

The settlement, announced Monday, resolves half the labor problems confronting Sutter Healthcare in the East Bay. The major hurdle remaining is a contract with UHW-W, which represents licensed vocational nurses and other employees. Hospital officials failed to meet with union officials at an Aug. 8 negotiating session. 

a

The Nabolom bakery will cease operations as a cooperative Sept. 1, but one cooperative member has made an offer to keep the ovens running as a private business. 

Crow Bolt said he has secured an $80,000 loan from a private financier to cover the cooperative’s debts and stave off eviction proceedings. Nabolom’s landlord, Carrie McCarthy, has given the bakery until Sept. 1 to repay thousands in back rent. 

Nabolom, founded 29 years ago, has been beset by management troubles and on the brink of bankruptcy for the past year. 

Bolt declined to disclose the identity of his financier. “It’s someone who has faith in this bakery, but not faith in collectives,” he said. 

Besides his offer, Bolt said Nabolom has received offers from a former pastry chef and the former owner of a bakery in Fremont. Nabolom’s board reviewed the competing offers at a meeting Monday night. The board has until Sept. 1 to select a bid, Bolt said.  

Bolt appears to have an inside track on buying Nabolom since his name is already on Nabolom’s $3,886 a month lease and he said the landlord would have to honor it. 

Last week, Miette’s Cakes, which has a shop at San Francisco’s Ferry Building, withdrew a bid to buy the bakery after McCarthy asked them to pay $5,000 a month, according to Bolt. 

Should the board select his bid, Bolt said Nabolom would continue operations with a similar selection of baked goods and consensus-oriented management style. 

“It would no longer be a collectively-owned bakery, but it would still operate as a collective,” Bolt said.s

http://www.jfdefreitas.com/index.php?path=/00_Latest%20Work0

FAMILY HOUSING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Let me get this straight: Grad student of several years Devin Pope lives in a two bedroom apartment with a bay view close to campus with free parking for only $900 while I pay more than that for a one bedroom place with no parking a few miles from campus and Pope is whining that he is being treated unfairly? Pope is whining that his life is going to get oh so difficult? Just what does he have to complain about—that he will no longer have additional free parking for visitors? My god, he should shut the hell up and be thankful for the handouts he is getting already. 

I have a question for Mr. Pope: After several years of studying, when are you going to graduate and get a job and stop being a parasite on society because I’m tired of my taxes supporting a whining child who’s mad that he isn’t given everything free year after year while the rest of us work for a living? 

Mark Stillman 

• 

DUBIOUS STATEMENTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A huge thankyou to Matthew Artz for covering UC Berkeley’s latest anti-family action, the new parking fees and the elimination of visitor parking for families at Smyth Fernwald. I would like to call attention to the dubious statements made by Nad Permaul, director of parking and transportation for UC Berkeley, who indicated that the university is trying to “treat students fairly across the board.” Permaul neglected to mention that student families who live in Albany Village pay nothing for parking, and have ample spaces for their visitors. Smyth residents were told that since we live close to campus, our spaces are “desirable” for students to use, and that is why they are being made available to the general student population. Some student families pay, while other don’t? It isn’t fair, it is exploitative. 

Furthermore, students who live in other dormitory facilities around the campus at the very least have street parking for their visitors—something that is sorely lacking near the hilltop community of Smyth Fernwald, which is nestled at the tip-top of Dwight way, with most buildings at least two blocks from a city street, straight up hill. 

UC Berkeley is not considering the needs of student families when it makes decisions such as these. I was told by Mark Miller, associate director of parking and transportation, that there were no financial or neighborhood impact studies performed to assess the hardship these changes will place on students who are trying to support their kids. Most of us are now recommending that our friends applying to grad school go elsewhere. 

Elizabeth Bremner 

• 

THE FIRST EVIL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Reading all of these points of view (Cohen, Wornick, etc.), my old head is in a swirl until I begin to get a glimmer of understanding. The prickliness, antagonism and arrogance stem from pain and fear. I am reminded of W. H. Auden’s telling us in his moving poem “September 1, 1939,” “Those to whom evil is done/ Do evil in return.” 

The first evil our society does is to our children. Every woman should have access to birth control information so she need have only a chosen child, preferably with a man who knows that every child deserves to have his basic needs met in a loving home. Otherwise, the child is warped from the outset by mistreatment, poverty or neglect. I remember a client’s saying to me, “I wish I had known about Planned Parenthood years ago. My husband would never have left me if I hadn’t had ten children.” Though other evils are perpetrated as well, this basic one, in the light of today’s knowledge is inexcusable and unacceptable. 

Dorothy Headley 

• 

CONTENTIOUS COMMISSION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I and many other Berkeley residents are very dismayed by the contentiousness surrounding the Peace and Justice Commission. This commission periodically and predictably erupts on the scene, causing unnecessary ugliness and ill will. There are a multitude of local issues to argue about, discuss, and resolve (such as land use, crime, taxes, budget, education) without developing expertise and policy on foreign policy matters, particularly on questions, such as the Middle East, that create great discord and disruption of the peace at home in Berkeley. 

On balance, the Peace and Justice Commission does more harm than good, and I would support any initiative to disband it. 

Barbara Gilbert 

• 

OUTSIDE THE BOX 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

California’s Democratic Party can’t seem to look outside the box—offering us political hacks like Angelides and Westly, whom no one knows or cares about. Meanwhile the GOP ran Reagan all the way to the White House and was planning to do the same with Schwarzenegger until he stumbled. Looking for star power, some friends and I immediately thought of West Wing. Martin Sheen is too obvious—and President Bartlett had some story line problems. No, the obvious choice is Allison Janney—a tall, smart, striking, articulate, commanding presence. Everyone loves C. J. So let’s all say it together, just to see how it sounds: “Janney for Governor — Thrive.” 

Jerry Landis 

• 

TEST SCORES STORY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Your article failed to capture the uniquely Berkeley results demonstrated by standardized testing. Every neighboring district that adds significant resources to state funds showed a high pass rate. Uniquely Berkeley with its unprecedented decision not to actively enforce residency has achieved a high cost but low pass rate school district. The special policy of Berkeley schools, an experiment in non-enforcement of residency so to use the schools to promote social justice, is undermined by these results.  

It is time to establish the priority of creating a productive learning environment for residents. Non-residents (about one-third the student body) can be welcome when they perform to grade. High percentages of non-resident students who do not meet minimal grade achievements undermine every aspect of the school district. Albany, Piedmont and Orinda have substantial residency validation offices. Berkeley has none. A PG&E bill is all it takes to gain over a hundred thousand dollars of cumulative tax payer paid service. We need leadership from BUSD to achieve better schools. There must be a sensible middle ground in this, the most important education policy issue. 

David Baggins 

• 

BETH EL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I should like to respond to Daniel Magid’s letter of last Tuesday concerning the “war” between the Beth El community and the Live Oak Codornices Neighborhood Association (LOCCNA). Although I cannot claim to speak for LOCCNA, my home is immediately opposite the site of the new community center, and so I am an interested party. 

Firstly, this is not a “war.” Trying to be melodramatic or to relate this debate to some sort of religious conflict is escalating a simple issue of neighborliness beyond what it merits. 

The fact is that Beth El has built a very large building on a rather small site and that they have not provided sufficient parking to support its intended use. That is the argument. Period! 

It is irrelevant that Beth El have been in this neighborhood for 60 years. 

It is irrelevant that their existing, smaller, building may attract only a modest number of congregants. The new building has been designed with ten classrooms and a large meeting hall, and is intended to support a membership of several hundred people. This can be seen clearly by any passerby. 

I personally rather like the idea of a mixed neighborhood, where houses rub shoulders with community centers, churches, shops, parks, etc. Such areas support life: If I wanted homogeneity I would move to El Dorado Hills! But part of the livability of a mixed neighborhood comes from the ability of the different components of the society to get on with one another. There has to be a certain amount of give and take, without any one part swamping the others. 

I do not see this attitude in Daniel Magid’s letter; I see no concern for more than his immediate congregation. He talks of the need to provide encouragement to his membership to park responsibly as being “draconian,” and objects to the need to measure the actual impact of their parking on the neighborhood. If his claim is correct that the on site parking is sufficient and that the parking impact will actually be decreased, then I should have expected him to welcome measurement, since this will vindicate him. Or not! 

LOCCNA has placed great emphasis on the restoration of the creek. I think that Mr. Magid and his community deserve praise for what they are doing on behalf of the creek, even though it was actually required of them and has yet to be fully successful. The creek was indeed in a poor state when they took over the site and over the years I am sure that an active community will find it in their interests to look after what is after all one of the greatest assets of the site. Although I would have preferred to see the site added to the existing Live Oak Park, a well maintained creek, with its natural plants, animals and fish, is a part of what makes a great neighborhood. 

Ultimately, I suspect that the parking issue will take its natural course: If it becomes too hard for the Beth El community members to find parking near to the site, or if the proposed off-site parking schemes prove to be unworkable, then the members will stop coming to events and the membership will naturally reduce itself over time, as it has already done as a result of their reaction to the construction and cost of this monstrous building. It is in Beth El’s interests to recognize this and to do what they can for all concerned.  

This is what neighborliness and respect is all about, and is the message of the street signs. 

Bob Mackay

A few years ago, the 7-Up soft drink company ran a successful ad campaign branding itself the “un” cola. This defied the conventional advertising wisdom that argued one could not successfully define a product in the negative—by focusing on what it is not. The paradoxical success of the 7-Up campaign offers a ray of hope for the Democrats, who either by skillful design, or bumbling accident, have defined themselves as America’s “un” political party. The only thing that voters understand about Democrats is that they are not Republicans. 

Recent polls found that while the public lost confidence in President Bush, Democrats had fallen even further out of favor—only 34 percent of the electorate had positive feelings about them versus 38 percent for the Republicans. Voters know that the Dems oppose the policies of the Bush administration but they are unsure of what they offer to replace them with. For many, Democrats are best characterized as the party whose unifying slogan is, “Just say no.” 

A review of the painful presidential race between John Kerry and George Bush reinforces this impression. Democrats picked Kerry because he supposedly was a safe choice; as compared to Howard Dean, Kerry was thought to be a predictable commodity, someone who could be trusted, by the Democratic powers-that-be, to reliably represent mainstream Democratic values. The problem was that these values were never made clear. Kerry’s campaign went through so many twists and turns that what most of us remember about him are not his values but the label, “flip flopper.” George Bush won because he stuck to his guns; while never overwhelmingly popular, he managed to portray himself as resolute, compared to Kerry.  

As UC Berkeley Professor George Lakoff, and others, have pointed out, when American voters are asked about the core values of the Republican Party, they believe they know what they are: cutting taxes; strengthening national defense; reducing the role of government; and protecting the traditional family. The GOP has successfully hammered these themes into the American consciousness. 

On the other hand, when the public ponders the core values of the Dems little comes to mind, merely the refrain that they are not Republicans. The tragedy, in the continuing saga of the Un Party, is that Democrats actually have a powerful story to tell if they return to their historic role as the defender of the interests of the average American. Such a stance builds upon the inherent populism of the party—it portrays Republicans as representing the rich and powerful and the Dems as defending the rest of us. 

If they were to stake out this moral high ground—the true center of American democracy—then Democrats could elaborate four core values that would resonate with the voting public. First, they might differentiate themselves as the Party that tells the truth. Rather than harp on an ever-growing list of the ethical failings of the Bush administration, the Dems should focus on the fact that George Bush and company habitually lie and, therefore, cannot be trusted. Democrats should adopt the candor displayed by Howard Dean. 

Based upon a foundation of truth telling, the Democrats could next make the case that they, not the GOP, are the true defenders of America. Dems might argue that since 9/11 the policies of the Bush administration have weakened the U.S.: their war on terror has failed; George’s war in Iraq has strengthened the hand of terrorists; and, Bush has ignored vital aspects of Homeland Security. Dems should propose a realistic program to protect America. 

Democrats might also attack the Bush administration for shamelessly pandering to their base—the rich and powerful—while ignoring the needs of the rest of us. Republicans should be characterized as the party of plutocrats and administration policies revealed for what they are: assaults on common decency, deliberate attempts to destroy the social safety net. Dems should propose a real plan for social security and fund it by increasing taxes on the wealthy. 

Finally, the Democrats could reestablish protection of the environment as a core value. Again, they might start with the fact that Republicans are not telling the truth: the Bush administration has misled the American public about the dangers of global warming, and dirty air and water. George Bush and company have deceived the electorate in order to favor the rich and powerful and, in so doing, have condoned the looting of America’s resources. Dems should strengthen environmental safeguards and propose a responsible energy plan.  

Democrats have a powerful case to make but to do so they will have to return to their historic populism. It is one thing to label the Republicans as the party of deceit, the party that is willing to do anything so long as it benefits the rich and powerful. But it is quite another thing for Dems to stand up as the party that speaks the truth and doggedly defends the common good. By remembering who they are, they can find the strength to cease being the Un Party and become Democrats by deed as well as word. 

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

.

Our summer houseguest has departed and I can’t say that I’m terribly sad about it. Fifteen-year-old Jernae spent the past nine weeks vacationing on our third floor and volunteering at the Emeryville Recreation Center. It was a learning occasion for everyone, including me. 

We’ve never had a teenager live with us. Weekend visits, yes, but 24/7 was a new, and often frustrating, experience. There were hours when I couldn’t get into the bathroom. The door was locked and there was no response when I knocked. The radio was always tuned to a station I didn’t like, my computer was often unavailable, and my cell phone was set for speed dial to people with names like Boo, and Poo, and Buckethead. The attic bedroom was a disaster. There were dirty dishes in the kitchen sink, and empty ice cream containers in the freezer. 

But the most difficult part of having a teenager in the house was the angst, the silent treatments, the way she looked at me with half closed eyelids, as if the very sight of me made her nauseous. It was precisely the way, 40 years ago, I would respond to my mother whenever she’d ask me something inane and perky such as, “How was your day, dear?” 

Several years ago, local writer Adair Lara wrote an essay about her children acting like happy, enthusiastic, obedient puppies when they were small. But as they grew older and morphed into full-fledged teens, Lara complained that her kids had become cat-like and unbearable: moody, unpredictable, superior-thinking beings who slinked around the house with negative attitudes. I know now exactly what she was referring to: that annoyed, evil feline look that screams silently, “Back-off now, I’m hormonal.” 

Our situation grew so disagreeable, I had to call in the military, i.e., Jernae’s mother and grandmother, for some womanly advice. Renee, Jernae’s mother, told me to crack down on her daughter, and if that failed, I was to send her home to Hunter’s Point where she could sit inside their apartment and stew while her three sisters were in daycare and Momma was at work, driving a MUNI bus. 

Jernae’s granny had a different approach. One Sunday she pulled her Cadillac in front of our house and blew the horn. She was dressed in her church-going clothes: a white flowing, regal ensemble, big brimmed hat, and sensible heels. “Bring that child to me,” she boomed from curbside. Jernae and I did as she commanded. 

“What’s wrong with you?” she asked Jernae. “I know you know how to behave. What’s the three R’s I taught you?” 

Jernae hesitated before answering. 

“Say them,” shouted Granny. 

“Reliability, responsibility and...,” she paused, trying to collect her thoughts. 

“And?” Granny leaned in close, as if she was hard of hearing. 

“Respect,” answered Jernae. 

“That’s right,” said Granny, shaking her head and raising a perfectly manicured finger. “This is Suzy’s house,” she continued, “and you ain’t the diva here, you hear me?” 

Jernae nodded. 

“When you come over to Granny’s house, who’s the queen?” she asked. 

“You are,” said Jernae. 

“You got that right,” said Granny. “I’m the queen, I’m the diva, I’m Big Momma and don’t you forget it. And when you’re at Suzy’s house, she’s Big Momma. You’re not the Diva or the Queen or Big Momma yet. You hear me?” 

“Yes, Granny,” answered Jernae softly. 

“All right then,” said the Queen. She turned to me. 

“There’s only room for one diva in your house, Suzy, and that’s got to be you. Now go inside and act the part. Call me if you have any more troubles.” 

Granny revved the engine of her champagne-colored Escalade and roared off. 

I don’t know if her words had much impact on Jernae, but they sure made a difference in me. I tossed back my shoulders, stood up straight, entered my little castle, and slammed the door behind me. Queen for at least one day, I thought. It feels all right to me. 

Drunk+SUV=chaos  

A sorely inebriated man took the wheel of his SUV Sunday morning and proceeded on a rampage starting shortly before 4 a.m., inflicting serious damage to 15 parked cars before he crashed his mini-tank into a phone pole about 5:05 a.m. 

Berkeley police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies said that police were alerted by a report of an SUV crashing into a pole in the 2100 block of Essex Street. 

The 24-year-old driver had abandoned the wreck by the time officers arrived, but a search quickly located the blotto blitzer. 

Somewhere along the way, the SUV lost a wheel, accounting for the shower of sparks callers reported from the careening vehicle as it battered its way along Russell and Wheeler streets. 

Berkeley Unified School District spokesperson Mark Coplan, who lives on Wheeler near Ashby, said that after the car lost the wheel, “You could hear it from three blocks away. It was like a scraper going down the street. By 4 a.m. there was a line of cops taking reports from car owners. The dude missed my car, but he hit my neighbor’s car.” 

The fellow was booked on multiple hit and run charges plus the deuce rap. 

Students beware! 

Berkeley police and agents of the state board of Alcoholic Beverage Control have teamed up to catch underage drinkers who hope to dupe tavern-keepers with their cleverly forged IDs. 

Officer Okies said that Friday night action actions resulted in a total of 56 citations. Two others were booked into the city pokey. 

A search of one south campus bar turned up six minors with fake IDs inside, while officers cited eight others who were trying to get in. 

“We’ll be doing stepped up enforcement throughout opening week and rush week,” said Okies. The enhanced enforcement is funded by a grant from the ABC. 

Domestic, violent 

Summoned by a phone call report of a threatened incident of domestic violence, Berkeley police arrived at a residence near the corner of Acton Street and Channing Way Wednesday afternoon to find the threatened woman still on the phone with the caller. 

While an officer was talking to the woman, the 18-year-old caller appeared and approached the officer and the threatened woman, in the process of which he dropped a loaded shotgun and a knife from his coat. 

A brief flight ensued before the suspect was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence and two concealed weapons charges. Officers also discovered outstanding warrants against the fellow as well. 

Rat pack heist 

A gang of four or five felons ranging in ages between 15 and 20 confronted a man outside Iceland in the 2800 block of Milvia Street and robbed him of his money, a cell phone and his XBox games just before 7 p.m. Saturday. 

One of the fellows was wearing a “spark” (a removable gold tooth cap) and a basketball shirt emblazoned with the number 20, said Officer Okies. 

They were long gone ’ere police arrived. 

Lone gunman 

A young man with a gun robbed a woman of her purse, cell phone, cash, credit cards and ID about 9:20 p.m. Sunday in the 2400 block of Woolsey Street.?

This November, UC Berkeley students will be voting to extend the successful Class Pass program for another seven years.  

Over 85 percent of students have used their Class Pass on AC Transit and campus shuttle buses since its inception six years ago. During the same period, the number of students who have purchased parking permits has decreased to 12 percent. This universal transit pass has made it easier for students to commute to campus, improved air quality, and reduced the amount of congestion on Berkeley roadways.  

The ASUC recognizes the benefits that students have received by the Class Pass. Nevertheless, we are deeply concerned over proposed fee increases in the new Class Pass model outlined in the upcoming referendum. While students agree with an increase in AC Transit’s portion of the fee, there is serious concern over a more than $3 increase in the student contribution to the Bear Transit system and a $1.50 per semester fee for Translink implementation.  

As opposed to continuing to fund alternative transportation, some faculty members have advocated for using parking funds for only parking-related expenditures, such as construction of new parking lots. While this benefits one segment of the campus, it undermines the progress made to provide access for students and staff.  

Furthermore, the substantial increase in the student contribution to Bear Transit will not ensure that service will improve. In fact, certain buses are slated to be cut altogether despite increased funding. Therefore, we are being asked to pay more for less service.  

Recognizing this unnecessary burden, the ASUC Senate passed a bill supporting the Class Pass itself, but opposing these additional increases. With student fees increasing every semester, it is disconcerting that the administration would make students shoulder the burden in maintaining a balanced transportation program. 

We hope that the university recognizes these concerns and is willing to negotiate with students over the next few months to address these increases. The university has the financial resources to fund a portion of the Bear Transit system. While a minor increase in the student contribution is understandable given increased operating costs, we urge on the university to maintain an equitable Class Pass for its students. 

We are paying for this program, and it is our hope that the final model will reflect our needs and our budgets.  

Manuel Buenrostro is the ASUC president; Sharon Han is the ASUC external affairs vice president; Jesse Arreguin is the ASUC city affairs director; and Alan Lightfeldt is the ASUC representative to the Class Pass Advisory Committee.

Admired and emulated across the U.S. and in Canada, Romania and Japan, Berkeley’s Peace and Justice Commission was established almost 20 years ago. It has furthered Berkeley’s proud tradition of activist democracy, standing up to human rights violations in Afghanistan, Burma, China, Iran, Mexico and apartheid South Africa. We have championed citizen authority over transnational corporate power and vindicated the rights of women, workers and voters in the U.S. Residents bring concerns to volunteer commissioners who organize background information and formulate recommendations for the City Council, according to our mandate. We save city employees valuable time. Those of us who craft the approximately 10 recommendations per year put in countless research hours. Our preparation is arduous, so the City Council usually adopts our recommendation with little discussion. We help people reach for their highest ideals. Using the democratic process to address concerns “constructively, creatively” is healthy for the community and for individuals.  

Open communication and trust are all important, and particularly challenging if one feels emotionally threatened. I was initially stumped by recently published recriminations of anti-Semitism. I am sure the accusers believe that. I am also sure that “the peace faction” commissioners, some of whom are Jewish, are innocent. I believe commissioners share the goal of a world that is fair and just for all. Is distrust obstructing that common goal?  

Critiquing Bush’s policies is healthy. Critiquing the Israeli government’s policies is no more anti-Semitic than critiquing Bush policy is un-American. A Jewish man wrote the Rachel Corrie Resolution, adopted two years ago, which did not criticize Israel at all but expressed condolences to her parents and endorsed the request for an independent investigation. “The City of Berkeley supports peace and justice and opposes the senseless killing of innocent civilians including Palestinians, Israelis and others.” Many believe a Jewish Israel with 1967 borders will be more secure if the Palestinians have a viable state, too, and that Corrie was trying to block the gears of oppression with her young body. She was a nonviolent peace worker engaging in civil disobedience.  

Can time heal? At a protest outside City Hall during debate on the resolution, some extremists on both sides shouted insults. Some sent hate mail. Some people remained calm and tried to calm others. Passionate Berkeleyans do exercise their right of free speech. Could part of the solution be respectful communication and listening? We might learn that most Jewish people and others who support Israel want a fair deal for Palestinians, too, as long as Israel is secure. We might learn that most who endorse a Palestinian state want safety and health for Israelis, too, if the Palestinians can thrive. Most Berkeleyans oppose violence, especially against unarmed, peaceful civilians. It is sad to see people’s values and good intentions distorted or compromised by fear and insecurity.  

The issues are complex. It can help to communicate compassionately, without loaded language, giving the benefit of the doubt, finding common ground. Taking a stand is our proud m/patriotic duty. Criticizing suicide bombers and Republicans and even Berkeley commissioners asserts American free speech. Criticizing the policies of the Israeli government is not anti-Semitic but pro-democracy. Can honest, fair criticism be worded so as to push fewer buttons?  

In chapter 3.68.010 of the city code, the Council finds that, “...It is the responsibility of one and all to labor hard for peace and justice within forums of appropriate scale. The residents of Berkeley have continually demonstrated their concern for peace and justice based on equality among all peoples...The Berkeley City Council, to act successfully in furthering peace and justice, must have wise counsel, accurate research, vigorous analysis, articulate formulation of issues and proposals for action, and thus the establishment of a Peace and Justice Commission is proper.”  

I am grateful for Berkeleyans “solving differences constructively, creatively” to uphold democracy and assert citizen authority over corporate greed and the military industrial complex’s shortsightedness. You strengthen my hopes for an increasingly just and peaceful city and world.  

Phoebe Anne Sorgen is a member of the Peace and Justice Commission.  

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The Friday, Aug. 5 article in the Daily Planet, “Library Workers, Patrons Denounce RFID System,” has several omissions and distortions.  

Opposition to RFID ballooned as the community became aware of its impact on our budget, of its potential for compromising patrons’ privacy, and the health risks imposed on library staff working in close proximity to the equipment day after day. To place this protest at the doorstep of the ACLU and EFF is insulting to all of us. Citizens in Berkeley approached these groups for advice about how to get rid of RFID in Berkeley, not the other way around. 

The article failed to include a major concern of people attending the forum: the exorbitant cost of RFID to the taxpayers of Berkeley: 

• Six hundred fifty thousand dollars was only the initial payment to Checkpoint, the company from which the library director bought the RFID system, and the cost will go higher the longer the system is in place (currently 60 to 65 cents for each book, magazine, CD, DVD, etc. in the collection). 

• In addition to buying more RFIDs as materials are added to the collection, RFIDs are routinely thrown away as weekly and monthly periodicals are discarded (again, at a cost of plus or minus 65 cents each, amounting to a waste of hundreds of dollars per week since the devices cannot be reused). 

• We will be at the mercy of Checkpoint for maintaining and updating the system for years to come (assuming that the company stays in business). 

When Paul Simon, Checkpoint System’s representative at the forum, was asked what the turnaround time was for repairs to the equipment, he replied, “Twenty-four to 48 hours.” It was then that a library staff person forced him to acknowledge that equipment at the Claremont branch has been down for six weeks, is still not working and he had no estimate for when it will be fixed. 

Once again, RFIDs will NOT replace bar codes on materials at the Berkeley Public Library. RFIDs read the bar codes and are another layer of equipment placed on top of what is an already functioning, cheap method of checking books in and out of our library. 

Panel member David Molnar, a U. C. graduate student, said he was able to buy an RFID reader that worked at Caeser Chavez branch library in Oakland for only $150. The thousand dollar model referred to in the article is for monitoring tags at a greater distance. 

Attacks are directed at Jackie Griffin, the current library director, because she is the primary reason that we are having to deal with RFID. She promoted it from the beginning of her employment at our library, she persuaded the Berkeley Board of Library Trustees to borrow a half a million dollars from the City of Berkeley budget to buy it, and she continues to champion it.  

If some of the people at the meeting were rude and angry, it is because we have reached a level of frustration that has turned up the volume on protest. This will continue until RFIDs are removed from our library and its branches. 

Shirley Stuart is a Berkeley resident.

Michael Stephens of Chicago in his Aug. 16 letter to the editor says Rabbi Sara Schendelman “tells it exactly like it is” when she states that we in Berkeley “are the most intolerant place in the U.S. when faced with a differing view.” 

Mr. Stephens then proceeds to compare Berkeley’s close-minded residents to the “extremely conservative Republican” Mormons, who he found to be so open-minded while attending a convention in Salt Lake City. 

Mr. Stevens, I grew up in Salt Lake City. Mormons, including my family, are hospitable. So were white Southerners famous for their hospitality to outsiders even in the darkest days of Jim Crow suppression of blacks. Mormons have a long history of being pro-Zionist. Their entire religion is based on their belief that the 10 lost tribes came to America and became American Indians. How do you suppose a rabid anti-Palestinian, pro-Zionist such as Sen. Orrin Hatch keeps getting re-elected? Today, (Monday, Aug. 22) President Bush will be speaking in Salt Lake City. The ABC affiliate in Salt Lake City refused to air an anti-war commercial put out by the Democratic Party. Republicans outnumber Democrats twelve to one in the state of Utah. This is open-minded? 

I’ve often wondered how when all the facts are readily available, as pointed out by Gerald Schmavonian’s Aug. 16 commentary, that people such as Lawrence White (Aug. 5) still continue to make up fables about the history of this conflict. My kudos to Mr. Schmavonian. Finally someone succinctly and methodically confronted their lies. 

Dan Spitzer (Aug. 16) says “a local publication shouldn’t waste time and space on international matters which can be found elsewhere.” Then why does he keep writing to the Daily Planet about international matters? The problem is the major news organizations all slant their coverage. This week we are witnesses to the removal of a few thousand illegal Israeli settlers in Gaza. They will be compensated to the tune of over one billion dollars in U.S. taxpayer money. Gaza is home to over one million Palestinians, most of whom are refugees or descendants of refugees expelled from Israel proper by Israel after the 1948 War. None were compensated for their properties expropriated by the Israeli government, not even one cent. Then, after the 1967 conquest of Gaza, Israel took 40 percent of Gaza for a few thousand illegal Israeli settlers, removed all the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living there, killing thousands of Palestinians in the process, and bull-dozed tens of thousands of their homes. And not a word on Nightline, nor any American TV news network, nor the New York Times, nor the Washington Post at the time. Compare that to the coverage a few thousand illegal settlers being removed from illegal settlements receive from those news sources. The fact is, Mr. Spitzer, a local publication is not wasting time or space on international matters since much of it cannot be found elsewhere. But Mr. Spitzer and his buddies all know: If you control the sound bites, you control the message. 

Anne Cromwell is a Piedmont resident. r

TUESDAY, AUGUST 23 

CHILDREN 

P&T Puppet Theater at 6:30 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

FILM 

Eyeing Nature: “13 Lakes” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Pamela Cranston reads from “Coming to Treeline: Adirondack Poems” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes & Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-3635. 

Sara Halprin talks about “Seema’s Show: A Life on the Left” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Riley LaShea discusses the role of women in fairytales and reads from her new novel, “Bleeding Through Kingdoms: Cinderella’s Rebellion” at 7 p.m. at Change Makers, 6536 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 655-2405. 

The Whole Note Poetry Series with Gg and Ralph Dranow at 7 p.m. at The Beanery, 2925 College Ave., near Ashby. 549-9093. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tom Rigney & Flambeau at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Noel Jewkes Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Howard Barkan Trio, jazz, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Calvin Keys Trio, CD release concert, at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $6-$10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazzschool at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Danny Caron at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24 

FILM 

For Your Eyes Only: “13 Frightened Girls” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Chuck Klosterman explores rock star demise in “Killing Yourself to Live” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Mark Little Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

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

Balkan Folkdance at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $7. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Outbound Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Mitch Marcus Quintet, 13 Big Band at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $8-$12. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 25 

THEATER 

Magical Arts Ritutal Theater, “Equus” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Tickets are $25. 523-7754. www.ticketweb.com 

FILM 

Latino Film Festival “The Storytellers” at 7:30 p.m. at La Pena Cultural Center. Cost is $8. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Louis Malle: “God’s Country” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Word Beat Reading Series with Diana Q. & Patricia Edith at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. 526-5985. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Karashay: Chirgilchin & Stephen Kent Lecture/demonstration on Tunvan Throat Singing at 8 p.m., concert at 9:15 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $12-$15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Fiddle Summit at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $25.50-$26.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jason Davis Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Abel Moulton and The Tastemakers, The Radishes, The Fuxedos at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

Peter Barshay Trio at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Kenny Burrell Quintet at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $14-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Selector, laptop funk, beat machines, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

FRIDAY, AUGUST 26 

THEATER 

California Shakespeare Theater, “Nicholas Nickleby” Part 2 at 8 p.m. at Bruns Amphitheater, 100 Gateway Blvd., Orinda, through Sept. 16. Tickets are $10-$55. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org 

Impact Theater “Nicky Goes Goth” at 8 p.m., Thurs.-Sat. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid, through Oct. 1. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. www.impacttheatre.com 

“Livin’ Fat” Fri. at 8 p.m., Sat. at 2 and 8 p.m., Sun. at 4 p.m. at Malonga Casquelord Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St., Oakland, through Aug. 26. Tickets are $15-$25. 332-7125. 

Magical Arts Ritutal Theater, “Equus” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Tickets are $25. 523-7754. www.ticketweb.com 

The Marsh Berkeley “When God Winked” by Ron Jones. Thurs.-Sat. at 7 p.m. at the Gaia Building, 2120 Allston Way, through Sept. 16. Tickets are $10-$22. 800-838-3006. www.themarsh.org  

FILM 

Louis Malle: “Au reviour les enfants” at 7 p.m. and “Atlantic City” at 9:05 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Dr. Loco’s Rockin’ Jalapeño Band at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

The Nika Rejto Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Wake the Dead at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13-$15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Lua at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Anna Maria Flechero, singer-songwriter, at 8 p.m. at Maxwell’s 341 13th St., Oakland. 839-6169. www.maxwellslounge.com 

Lee Waterman Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Damond Moodie, singer-songwriter, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Tom Freund at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Akimbo, Lords, Ass End Offend, Paint Out the Light, at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

London Street and Baby James at 10 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Bitches Brew at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Kenny Burrell Quintet at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $14-$20. 238-9200.  

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27 

THEATER 

Oakland-East Bay Shakespeare Festival “Much Ado About Nothing” Sat. and Sun. at 4 p.m. at Lakeside Park at Lake Merritt, corner of Perkins and Bellevue, through Aug. 28. Free. 415-865-4434. www.sfshakes.org 

San Francisco Mime Troupe “Doing Good” at 2 p.m. at Cedar Rose Park, 1300 Rose St. 415-285-1717. www.sfmt.org 

Shotgun Players, “Cyrano de Bergerac” at 4 p.m., Sat. and Sun. through Sept. 11, at John Hinkle Park, labor day perf. Sept. 5. Free with pass the hat donation after the show. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“New Visions: Introductions 2005” artists’ talk at 1 p.m. at ProArts Gallery, 550 Second St., Oakland. www.proartsgallery.org 

“CCA Faculty New Work” opens at the Oliver Art Center, California College of the Arts, 5212 Broadway, Oakland. 594-3600. 

FILM 

A Theater Near You: “F for Fake” 7 and 8:45 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Rhythm & Muse with poet and prose writer Jan Steckel at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center. Free. 527-9753. 

Poetry Flash with Michael McClure and M.L. Liebler at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Cost is $2. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Diablo Street Jazz Band from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Bay Street Plaza, near Old Navy, Emeryville. 

Robin Gregory & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Bolokada Conde, child prodigy drummer from West Africa, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Ray Abshire with Andre & Louis Michot of Lost Bayou Ramblers at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054.  

Don Villa & Gary Wade, original compositions for guitar, at 7 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

Deanna Witkowski Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

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

Toychestra, The Loins at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082.  

Allegiance, Blacklisted, Cast Aside, Down to Nothing at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Will Bernard & Motherbug at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

SUNDAY, AUGUST 28 

THEATER 

San Francisco Mime Troupe “Doing Good” at 2 p.m. at Cedar Rose Park, 1300 Rose St. 415-285-1717. www.sfmt.org 

FILM 

A Theater Near You: “Edvard Munch”at 2 and 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jazz Spoken Word featuring Dayna Stephens Quartet at 6 p.m. at Kimball’s Carnival, 522 Second St., Oakland. Sponsored by The Jazz House. Cost is $5. 415-846-9432. 

Poetry Reading by contributers to Diner, a Journal of Poetry at 7 p.m. at Pegasus Books, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

Poetry Flash with poet Bryce Milligan and novelist Cecile Pineda at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland Lyric Opera “Love Songs and Lullabies,” songs by African American composers at 2 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. 836-6772. www.oaklandlyricopera.com 

Live Oak Concert with Amy Likar, flute, Bruce Foster, clarinet, Yueh Chou, bassoon, Erika Wilsen, horn, at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Cost is $8-$10. 644-6893.  

Du’Vo’ from Hungary, at 7:30 p.m. at Finnish Hall, 1970 Chestnut St. Tickets are $5-$15. 526-7757. 

Oak, Ash & Thorn at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Crying High Brazilian Band and Choro Band at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Koko de la Isla, flamenco, at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

David Serotkin, CD release party, at 7:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 644-2204.  

Shotgun Ragtime Band at 10 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Americana Unplugged with The Dark Hollow Band at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

MONDAY, AUGUST 29 

EXHIBITIONS 

“The Danube Exodus” Interactive installation by Péter Forgács & the Labyrinth Project opens at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St. www.magnes.org 

FILM 

“Stolen Childhoods” a documentary on child labor, at 7:45 p.m. followed by discussion with director Len Morris, at Pacific Film Archive. Sponsored by Amnesty International.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Express Theme Night: “Ex’s” at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Trovatore, traditional Italian music, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Oaktown Jazz Workshop with Najee & His Band at 8 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $35. 238-9200.

The feral or rock pigeon doesn’t have a lot of fans. True, these birds add a touch of nature to the urban jungle; when I worked in San Francisco, I looked forward to the occasional pigeon visit to the window ledge outside my cubicle. But I still harbored a grudge against the one that guano-bombed me in the Piazza di San Marco in Venice years ago, and tended to think of them as feathered vermin. 

Alberto Palleroni, a former UC Davis doctoral candidate now a post-doc at Harvard, sees it differently. “The feral pigeon is an amazing balance of adaptations and success,” he told a New York Times reporter earlier this year. “I’m always one to defend them.”  

Pigeons have intrigued scientists for a number of reasons. That homing instinct, for example, which has been exploited since antiquity. Roman magistrates took pigeons along to the theater in case they were delayed and had to send word home. Pigeons carried the results of the ancient Olympics, relayed Genghis Khan’s battle orders, and linked besieged Paris with the outside world in the Franco-Prussian War. The British Air Force employed 20,000 homing pigeons in World War I. As of a couple of years ago, at least, a Police Pigeon Service still functioned in the Indian state of Orissa.  

The birds seem to use a mix of navigational tools. Tiny particles of magnetite in their beaks help them orient by the earth’s magnetic field, with assists from their sense of smell and possibly their perception of low-frequency sound. 

Psychologists, from B. F. Skinner on, have also explored the mental world of the pigeon. At Cardiff University in Wales, John Pearce discovered that they can discriminate between pictures of trees and pictures of non-trees, then went on to establish that they can tell Picassos from Monets—pattern recognition on a pretty sophisticated level. What interested Palleroni, though, is the pigeon’s own plumage patterns, and how one particular variant helps protect the birds from that avian superpredator, the peregrine falcon.  

In the centuries after the first wild rock pigeons started hanging around Middle Eastern villages for spilled grain and other treats, their descendants have been tweaked into a dizzying variety of plumages, shapes, and behaviors: aerobatic tumblers, bizarrely feathered Jacobins, pouters, shakers. Charles Darwin used pigeon breeding as a model for the shaping force of natural selection. With typical Darwinian thoroughness, he joined two London pigeon clubs and tried his hand at breeding. You could argue that pigeons had more to do with the origin of The Origin of Species than Darwin’s famous finches. Today’s street pigeons are reasonably uniform in shape, but diverse in plumage pattern. Most have uniformly dark backs, but a minority—20 percent in Palleroni’s study—have a white rump patch. 

Palleroni, a serious falconer who works with an African crowned eagle named Biko, decided to study peregrine predation on Davis’s rock pigeon population. His lab was strategically located under the birds’ flight path between the campus and a favored feeding location. Over seven years, Palleroni and his associates logged 1794 peregrine predation attempts on the commuting pigeons. In a typical attack, the falcon barrels down on its target at a speed of up to 250 miles per hour, then levels out and hits the pigeon from behind, killing or stunning it with a blow from its clenched talons.  

Adult peregrines were found to have a higher success rate than juveniles (40 percent versus 19 percent). One unanticipated finding was that white-backed pigeons made up only 2 per cent of the total kill for both falcon age classes—much less than a representative share of the pigeon population. To eliminate the possibility that white-backs were simply better at dodging, Palleroni did an ingenious cut-and-paste experiment, trapping 756 pigeons of the white-back and the more common blue-bar forms and changing the color of their rump feathers. He couldn’t just paint the birds, since peregrines can see into the ultraviolet range and would have detected the fraud; he had to excise the pigeon’s rump plumage and glue in feathers of the opposite color. Once up to speed, it took his research team only 10 minutes to customize a pigeon. When released in falcon territory, former white-backs now sporting blue rumps suffered heavy casualties, but former blue-bars with white rumps were caught just 2 per cent of the time. 

What happens, according to Palleroni, is that the diving falcon fixates on the conspicuous white rump patch. While the raptor closes in, the pigeon executes its standard evasive maneuver, dipping one wing, rolling, and veering off like a jet fighter breaking formation. At 250 mph, the falcon is moving faster than its brain can process what it sees. It takes 1/ 50 of a second for the pigeon’s dip and roll to register. That’s apparently all the time the pigeon needs. “In effect, it’s a kind of card trick,” Palleroni says. “The patch may disguise the start of the evasive roll, confusing the attacker with the sudden contrast between conspicuous white and dull gray-blue body.” 

Trying to baffle a predator by breaking a visual pattern is not uncommon among prey species. The white flags of the cottontail rabbit and the white-tailed deer serve a similar purpose. If you’ve ever watched a falcon going after a flock of shorebirds, you’ve seen the dazzling reversal of dark backs and white bellies as the birds twist and turn in flight. Schools of baitfish pursued by bigger fish do the same thing.  

So it makes sense that the white-back pattern would confer enough of a survival advantage for the responsible genes to be preserved. But it seems the trick only works for peregrines, old familiar enemies of the rock pigeon; the two evolved side by side in Eurasia before pigeons spread worldwide. According to Palleroni, the red-tailed hawks that patrol Harvard Yard have no trouble at all catching white-backs.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 23 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll look for our reptile friends from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Groundbreaking Ceremony of West Street Right of Way Improvements Project for Bikeway and Pedestrian Path between University and Delaware at 2 p.m. in Berkeley Way Mini Park, 1294 Berkeley Way. 981-6396, 981-7534.  

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. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

Tai Chi for Health and Long Life from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. www.elephantpharmacy.com 

Healthy Eating Habits and Hypnosis A free seminar at 6:30 p.m. in Oakland. Registration required. 465-2524. 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult. We’ll look for our reptile friends from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

“Aggression in Dogs: Safety Solutions for You and Your Pets” Learn how to prevent dog agression in your home, and how to avoid it in the community. From 7 to 9 p.m. at the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society, 2700 Ninth St. 845-7735. www.berkeleyhumane.org 

Bus Riders Meeting on Van Hool Buses with Jim Gleich, Assist. GM of AC Transit, at 7 p.m. at Shattuck Senior Homes, 2425 Shattuck Ave. All welcome. 655-7508. 

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. 

“Breema: The Art of Being Present” With Angela Porter at 4:30 p.m. at Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy, 1744 Solano Ave. 527-8929. 

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

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. 548-9840. 

Sing your Way Home A free sing-a-long at 4:30 p.m. every Wed. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720. 

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

Stitch ‘n Bitch Bring your knitting, crocheting and other handcrafts from 6 to 9 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198. 

Kundalini Yoga for All Ages at 2:30 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. www.elephantpharmacy.com 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at 6:30 p.m. at Berkeley BART station followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 25 

85th Anniversary of the Passage of the 19th Amendment Community Luncheon with Professor Cynthia Gorney, Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at UCB at 11:30 a.m. at the DoubleTree Hotel, Berkeley Marina. Tickets $65. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters. 843-8824. http://lwvbae.org  

“Sierra Birds: A Hiker’s Guide” a lecture and slide show with John Muir Laws at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220. 

Easy Does It Disability Assistance Board of Directors Meeting at 6:30 p.m. at 1744A University Ave., behind the Lutheran Church between Grant and McGee. Meetings are fully accessible and open to the public. 845-5513. 

Activism Series on 9/11 truths and strategies for social change at 7 p.m. at Fellowship Hall, Cedar and Bonita. 528-5403. 

Protest Rally at Berkeley Honda every Thurs. at 4:30 p.m. and Sat. at 1 p.m.  

World of Plants Tours Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

FRIDAY, AUGUST 26 

Reduced City Services Today Call ahead to ensure programs or services you desire will be available. 981-CITY. www.cityofberkeley.info 

“Building a Community FM Broadcast Station” by T.J. Enrile. Book Release Party at 7 p.m. at AK Press, 674-A 23rd St., Oakland. Donation $5-$10. 208-1700. 

Middendorf Institute for Breathexperience Open House at 6 p.m. at 830 Bancroft Way, #104. RSVP to 981-1710.  

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. 

Celebrate a Humanistic Shabbat with Kol Hadash, led by Rabbi Jay Heyman, with song leader Bon Singer, at 7:30 p.m. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. Free and open to the public. 428-1492. info@KolHadash@org  

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 

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27 

San Francisco Mime Troupe “Doing Good” at 2 p.m. at Cedar Rose Park, 1300 Rose St. 415-285-1717. www.sfmt.org 

Names on the Land: George R. Stewart Hike to learn the origin of local names Orinda, Treasure Island, Golden Gate and others. Meet at 10 a.m. in the overflow parking lot off Lomas Cantadas and Grizzly Peak Blvd. in Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

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 

All Life Strives to Have Grandchildren Learn why there is so much activity by insects, birds and flowers aimed at finding a mate. From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Natural Hormone Therapy at 10:30 a.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. www.elephantpharmacy.com 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of Picardy Drive and Mills Gardens. Cost is $5-$10. For details call 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring warm waterproof clothes. www.cal-sailing.org 

Free Help with Computers at the El Cerrito Library to learn about email, searching the web, the library’s online databases, or basic word processing. Workshops held on Sat. a.m. at 6510 Stockton Ave., El Cerrito. Registration required. 526-7512.  

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, AUGUST 28 

San Francisco Mime Troupe “Doing Good” at 2 p.m. at Cedar Rose Park, 1300 Rose St. 415-285-1717. www.sfmt.org 

Community Garden Party and Fundraiser from 1 to 5 p.m. at Peralta Community Garden, 1400 Peralta Ave. near Hopkins. Live music, food, on-site raffle, kid’s activities, and peace-tile painting. 798-8148. 

“Birdbrain” is Really a Compliment We’ll look for smart birds and see what they are doing with all their brain power. From 10 a.m. to noon at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

All of Life is a Great Thirst Learn how life copes with keeping as much water as it can inside. From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Social Action Forum with Chris O’Sullivan who had a Fulbright Fellowship in Jordan, at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

Hungarian Folk Dancing with Du’Vo’ from Hungary, at 7:30 p.m. at Finnish Hall, 1970 Chestnut St. Tickets are $5-$15. 526-7757. 

All Our Voices: Celebrating Diversity through Storytelling with Jewish, Latino, Asian, African American and Native American stories from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut Ave. Cost is $20-$45. 444-4755. www.stagebridge.org 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour around the Claremont. Cost is $5-$10. For details call 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Berkeley City Club free tour from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tours are sponsored by the Berkeley City Club and the Landmark Heritage Foundation. Donations welcome. The Berkeley City Club is located at 2315 Durant Ave. For group reservations or more information, call 848-7800. 

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring warm waterproof clothes. www.cal-sailing.org 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.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 

MONDAY, AUGUST 29 

“Stolen Childhoods” a documentary on child labor, at 7:45 p.m. followed by discussion with director Len Morris, at Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way. Sponsored by Amnesty International.  

Stress Less with Hypnosis A free seminar at 6:30 p.m. in Oakland. Registration required. 465-2524. 

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, AUGUST 30 

Return of the Over-the-Hills Gang Hikers 55 years and older who are interested in nature study, history, fitness, and fun are invited to join us on a series of monthly excursions exploring our Regional Parks. Meets at 10 a.m. at Pt. Pinole. For information and to register call 525-2233.  

GPS Mapping Learn how to make your own maps at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

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. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Tai Chi for Health and Long Life from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. www.elephantpharmacy.com 

“Supporting Your Child’s Attention Holistically” at 7 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. www.elephantpharmacy.com 

Family Story Time at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Branch Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Free, all ages welcome. 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. 

Healthy Eating Habits and Hypnosis A free seminar at 6:30 p.m. in Oakland. Registration required. 465-2524. 

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. 

?

Diversity is not just a lofty abstraction: It tastes great, and you can dance to it. 

With the exception of the wet months, the Bay Area calendar is full of street fairs, music festivals, parades, and other events where you can hear everything from mariachi to taiko and sample endless variations on grilled-meat-on-a-stick. A sampling follows, and my apologies to anyone whose favorite event I’ve inadvertently omitted; write to the Daily Planet if you have suggestions. I tried really hard to find a local observance of Loy Kratong, the Thai celebration where you apologize to the spirit of the waters, but no luck. 

For updates, visit http://sanfrancisco. about.com/od/festivalsandstreetfairs. 

Oakland Chinatown StreetFest 

Aug. 27-28 

A pan-Asian event, bigger than anything in San Francisco; martial arts demonstrations, music, food. 893-8988. 

Arab Cultural Festival 

Sept. 18 

Food, dance, crafts, with a side of politics. San Francisco County Fair Building, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. (415) 664-2200. 

Sebastopol Celtic Festival 

Sept. 22-25 

Mostly music--Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Celto-Spanish, Cape Breton, Quebecois—in a great outdoor venue. Sebastopol Community Center. (707) 823-1511. 

How Berkeley Can You Be? Parade and Festival 

Sept. 25 

Is Berkeleyan an ethnic group? A philosophy? A cult? You decide. The parade down University Avenue ends at Civic Center Park with more entertainment. 644-2204. 

Reggae in the Park 

October 2005 

Legendary bands, tasty Caribbean food and culture. Sharon Meadow, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. (866) 384-3060. 

San Francisco Italian Heritage Parade 

Oct. 9 

North Beach’s big day. Wine tasting in Washington Square Park and a Ferrari show. No phone information available. 

Indigenous Peoples Day 

Oct. 8 

Pow-wow dancing and drumming, traditional and modern arts and crafts, frybread, bison burgers. Springer Gateway/West Entrance, UC Berkeley. 595-5520. 

Oktoberfest by the Bay 

Oct. 13-16 

Closer than Munich. Organizers promise “nonstop music, dancing, and singing.” The Chico Bavarian Band headlines. Fort Mason, San Francisco. (888) 746-7522. 

Vietnamese Spring Festival and Parade, February 2006 

Celebrate Tet, the Lunar New Year, with the people who brought us banh mi; music, martial arts demos, crafts. Parkside Hall, 180 Park Ave., San Jose. (408) 292-0623. 

Cherry Blossom Festival 

April 2006 

Taiko and tako in Nihonmachi; classical and folk dances, martial arts. Remember, it’s a good thing if the lion bites you. Japantown (Post and Buchanan), San Francisco. (415) 563-2307. 

Ukulele Festival of Northern California, April 2006 

All ukuleles, all day, with occasional hula. Kalua pig and other island treats available. Hayward Adult School, 22100 Princeton St., Hayward. (415) 281-0221.  

Portuguese Pentecostal Festival, seven weeks after Easter 2006 

Not a fiesta—a festa. Half Moon Bay. (650) 726-2729. 

Oakland Cinco de Mayo Festival 

May 2006 

Celebrate the end of one of Napoleon III’s really bad ideas, when Mexico defeated French imperial troops in the battle of Puebla. International Boulevard between 34th and 41st Avenues, 535-0389. Other Cinco de Mayo events in San Francisco, Berkeley and elsewhere. 

Festival of Greece 

May 2006 

Souvlaki, bouzouki, maybe ouzo in the Oakland hills; dancing with and without tables. Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Ascension, 4700 Lincoln Ave., Oakland. 531-3400. 

Himalayan Fair 

May 2006 

Safer than Katmandu—music, dancing, arts, and crafts from the Roof of the World, plus curries and handmade momos. Live Oak Park, Berkeley. 869-3995. 

Carnaval San Francisco 

May 28, 2006 

A couple of months later than the rest of the world, but it’s colder here in February than it is in Rio or Trinidad. San Francisco’s version centers on a huge parade through the Mission District. (415) 920-0125. 

Israel in the Gardens 

June 2006 

More than just falafel; last year’s event featured an Israeli rock band and belly dancers. Yerba Buena Gardens San Francisco. (415) 512-6423. 

Campbell Highland Games and Celtic Gathering 

June 2006 

Watch out for the caber! Food (haggis at your own risk), music, dancing as well as feats of strength and skill. Campbell Community Center. (408) 219-9264. 

Juneteenth 

June 2006 

Commemorating the day that word of the Emancipation Proclamation reached Texas, this celebration of African American heritage also features music, food, and crafts from Africa and the Caribbean. Adeline Street, Berkeley. 655-8008. 

Eritrean Western USA Festival 

August 2006 

Listen to exotic Red Sea beats and learn how to handle your injera. Wood Middle High School, 420 Grand Ave., Alameda. 986-1991. 

Nihonmachi Street Fair 

August 2006 

Japantown hosts a celebration of Asian and Pacific cultures, with a dazzling variety of street food. Post Street between Laguna and Fillmore San Francisco. (415) 771-9861. 

San Francisco Aloha Festival 

August 2006 

Polynesia (and Micronesia) at the Presidio. Hula, slack key guitar, canoe races, island-style plate lunches, miles of vendors. Parade Grounds, Presidio of San Francisco. (415) 281-0221. 

International Dragon Boat Festival, August 2006 

Drums propel the rowers at Oakland’s Jack London Square. 452-4272. 

Pistahan Festival, August 2006 

The Bay Area’s Filipino community follows a parade down Market Street with music, traditional dancing and hip hop, art exhibits, and an adobo cook-off. Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco. (415) 777-6950.

Like many Berkeley dog owners, Tracy Koretsky and Ken McMillan would rather have their shepherd-airedale mix Jezebel by their side than stuck indoors at home or tethered to a pole when they’re about town. 

Plenty of local businesses feel the same way. 

Whether you want a beer, a book, a DVD, cigars, or even a fresh coat of paint, several local shops won’t just let your dog come inside, they’re liable to give it some water and a treat. 

“We travel a lot and this is probably the best place in the country to have a dog,” Koretsky said. 

The first rule about having a dog in Berkeley is that the city has a lot of dog rules and often it seems as if lawmakers are chasing their tails.  

For instance, according to city humane commissioner Jill Posener, the city prohibits residents from having more than four dogs in a single home. But someone who owns four dogs would be breaking the law if he walked all of them on Telegraph Avenue, since Berkeley forbids more than three dogs from congregating at the same place on Telegraph. The law was passed to target homeless youth and their dogs, Posener said. 

Tethering dogs outside shops is illegal, although typically not enforced, in Berkeley. Yet, the city allows well behaved dogs to be walked off-leash. Owners—or “guardians” as they are called by law in Berkeley—who can show that their dog responds to voice commands and can stay within a safe distance of them don’t have to use a leash. 

“Try telling that to the police,” Posener warned. As a native of England, she said she pines for her native land where dogs are welcomed in several movie theaters and restaurants. 

“Europeans are much more dog savvy,” she said. “Americans are obsessed with dogs, but not in a healthy way.” 

In Berkeley, only licensed service dogs can go wherever their owners take them, and even that isn’t always easy. Recently a woman needed to call the police to force the local Subway shop to let her service dog inside the eatery, Posener said. 

For dog owners like Koretsky and McMillan a visit to Subway is out of the question, but there are plenty of places that roll out the red carpet for canines. 

The best place to have beer with your dog is the Albatross Pub (1822 San Pablo Ave). While your dog might be no match for you when it comes to the pub’s full compliment of board games and Sunday night trivia, he is welcome to sit at your side. 

Book lovers have plenty of dog-friendly options. Cody’s welcomes dogs in their Telegraph Avenue and Fourth Street stores. Pegasus & Pendragon Books allow dogs at its stores on Shattuck and Solano Avenues, and Barnes and Noble lets dogs in its Shattuck Avenue store. In fact, one of the few places full of books that doesn’t allow dogs is the public library. Only service dogs are allowed there. 

When it comes to the video rental stores, dog owners say that Reel Video (2655 Shattuck Ave.) and Five Star Video (1550 University Ave. and 1501 Solano Ave.) are as dog-friendly as they come. The folks at Five Star might even have a few treats up their sleeves. 

Not surprisingly, the most dog-friendly shops happen to sell pet supplies. Pet Food Express (1101 University Ave. and 6398 Telegraph Ave.) welcomes dogs as does George, an upscale boutique (1829 Fourth St.) where Louis Vuitton dog biscuits are available. 

Fourth Street is generally considered by dog owners to be the most dog-friendly shopping district in the city. “Richer business neighborhoods tend to be more amenable towards dogs,” Posener said. 

No matter how high-end the neighborhood, dog owners shouldn’t expect to see the inside of a restaurant or a supermarket with their best friends by their side. State law prohibits pets in shops where fresh food is sold. 

The best option in Berkeley are restaurants with spacious outdoor seating and a dog-friendly waiter. Several people said Cafe Trieste (2500 San Pablo Ave.) will sometimes offer dogs water while they sit outside waiting for their owners to finish their espressos. The courtyard on Domingo Street, just across the street from the Claremont Hotel, also wins high marks. Customers at the Peet’s Coffee or at Rick and Ann’s can sit outside with their dogs while enjoying a Sunday brunch. 

Most dog owners seemed to have a favorite pro-dog establishment. Sally Reyes said the people at Pursel Paints (2161 University Ave.) often have a treat for her Australian Shepherd. Margo Robatto said her shepherd mix has been allowed in Amoeba Music on Telegraph Avenue. Melisa Frilot said her dog is welcome at Lucky Smokes, a tobacco shop on Shattuck Avenue.  

For most Berkeley dogs the shorter their stature the greater their access to area shops. Judith Phelan said she has been allowed to take her lap-sized Chihuahua mix into Target. “As long as she can fit into the shopping cart, they don’t have a problem,” she said.  

A Target employee said the Albany store actually allowed all dogs, but that might change because the store has received complaints. 

For overnight guests, the Golden Bear Inn on San Pablo Avenue allows pets. 

If you just want your dog to get some exercise, there are plenty of places to recommend. Berkeley is home to the Ohlone Dog Park, the nation’s first, founded in 1979 at Hearst Avenue and Grant Street. It has enough space to let small dogs run and their owners sit and talk about their four-legged pals. “We all come here so we can socialize with each other,” Robin Davis said as she was sitting with friends at the park bench.  

An Oakland resident, Davis also takes her dog to the dog park on Claremont Avenue underneath Highway 24. But the dog park that gets the best reviews is in Alameda. 

“It has a separate park for big dogs and small dogs,” said Frilot. “Nothing else compares.” If you’re in Alameda, you can also take your dog on the ferry as long as you can squeeze it into a carrier. 

When dog owners want to get some exercise too, they recommend the Lower Jordan Fire Trail at the eastern edge of the UC Berkeley campus. Take Centennial Drive and park in the dirt lot just before the Botanical Garden. The trail features a creek and a redwood grove. “It’s fantastic how removed you feel from city life when you’re up there,” said Sasha Futran. 

Other friendly places for dogs are the Berkeley Marina, home to Cesar Chavez Park, and Tilden Park in the Berkeley hills. Tilden has a mini train ride that allows dogs. For information call 549-6100. 

While Point Isabelle in Richmond remains the most popular place to have your dog off leash, many dog owners still flock to the beach at the Albany Bulb in the Eastshore State Park even though off leash dog walking is illegal at state parks. To the dismay of many local environmentalists fearful for the welfare of migrating birds, dogs still roam free at the Bulb, which is the only East Bay beach that at least tacitly allows off leash dogs.  

“We think the state law is stupid,” said Nancy Jean, who takes her lab and border collie mixes to the Bulb. “What are they going to do, eat the weeds?” 

›

Hello, my name is Cassie Norton, and I’m a college student. 

When my editors asked me about contributing to a “Back to Berkeley” edition of the Daily Planet, I thought for a few minutes about what information students need to know when they arrive at their college of choice. 

There are things you will only learn by asking, like the best place to do laundry on or off campus, the best bar for wasting a Friday night, and the easiest way to pass a particularly difficult class. These are the things freshmen discuss with sophomores and juniors, those who are in the know—and they make friends in the process. Or you can just go find out for yourself. 

But it’s easy to get in a rut after that first, exciting year. You found a bar you like, so you don’t go anywhere else. You do laundry in the basement of your dorm because it’s close and convenient, though maybe not the cheapest. And you ordered pizza one night when you were starving, and though it’s never tasted quite as good since that first time, that’s the parlor of choice for you. 

Wake up, people! There are dozens of pizza places in Berkeley and almost all of them deliver. It’s time to rediscover that staple of college life—and possibly save a couple bucks in the process. Keep reading for places that deserve your patronage and places to avoid. 

Domino’s Pizza 

I’m starting with Domino’s for one simple reason. It’s a chain, and as such, it sucks. If you have a particular attachment to their pizza, there are two in town, one on Adeline (652-8077) and one on University (849-9000). The only good thing about Domino’s is that they’re open fairly late—the stores are open until 1 a.m. and the last delivery is at 12:30 a.m. A large pizza (all large pizzas are 14 inches, unless noted otherwise) is $10.99. Minimum charge for delivery is $10.39 and there is a $1 delivery fee. 

There, now that we’ve addressed that point, let’s move on to better, more unique fare. 

La Val’s Pizza 

There are two La Val’s locations, and though the one on Euclid (540-9333) is closer to campus, I’m going to tell you about the one on Durant (845-1652), off of Telegraph, because that’s the one I went to. Also because I hear it’s better, atmospherically speaking. 

La Val’s is in the basement of 2516 Durant. It’s pretty large for a pizza place, which is good, since it also features an arcade complete with DDR and a pay-to-play pool table. There are booths and long, family-style tables upon which to consume your pizza and beer. A large cheese is $12.95 and a pint is $3.50. If you’re looking for atmosphere with your pizza, this is the place for you. The crowd is mixed and there are always a few biker dudes hanging around. 

On the other hand, if you’re looking for great pizza, this is probably not the best place. The cheese pizza is so greasy, my dinner companion and I used 22 napkins to mop up the slices and our fingers. For comparison purposes, I ate a slice (or more) of plain pizza at every parlor—the pizza may or may not be better with the addition of toppings—but I’m talking about bare bones, brass tacks pizza. Also I don’t like stuff on my pizza. 

Anyway, La Val’s isn’t the best for value or flavor, but it is on campusfood.com. What’s that, you say? Campusfood.com is a website that allows you to order your food from local vendors online rather than picking up a phone and interacting with an actual human being. Vendors also offer specials that are not available elsewhere. 

Fat Slice Pizza 

Right around the corner on Telegraph is one of my favorite pizza places. Fat Slice (548-6479) lives up to its name—the pieces are big and thick, and if you insist on toppings, a fully loaded veggie pizza at $15 is just a dollar more than the plain. The pizza is pretty good—nothing to swoon over, but it’s certainly not going to kill you. They don’t deliver, but they are open until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights and are located smack in the middle of bustling Telegraph Avenue, just down the block from the popular night spot Blake’s. 

The pizza is expensive, but you get a lot for the money. If you’re in the neighborhood and hungry, drop by for a big, fat slice. 

Extreme Pizza 

Extreme Pizza (486-0770) is on Shattuck Avenue, conveniently in the same block as Blockbuster Video. They too have beer on tap. Happy hour specials from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. will get you a pitcher for $8 and a pint for $2. I have say, this whole pizza and beer in the same place thing is pretty smart. Where I go to school (Albany, New York, in case you care), you have to buy your pizza and take it with you to the bar. So props for that. 

Props for not much else, unfortunately. The pizza has a paltry amount of cheese and is fairly greasy. The crust is thin and crisp, which is nice, but not very tasty on its own. A large cheese is $12.45 and the last delivery is at 10:30. The décor is suggested by its name and features photos of people engaged in “extreme” activities. Also, there’s a bike hanging from the ceiling. Seating is fairly minimal, supplemented by an outdoor courtyard shared with High-Tech Burrito. 

The Cheeseboard Pizza Collective 

More frequently referred to as simply The Cheeseboard (549-3055), this is a venerable Berkeley institution. An offshoot of the neighboring Cheeseboard Collective, the pizza parlor has wonky hours (Tues.–Fri. 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m., 4:30 p.m.–8 p.m.; Sat. 12 p.m.–3 p.m., 4:30 p.m.–8 p.m.) and offers only one flavor of pizza each day. It’s cash only, not much seating, and the lines are usually long. But they move quickly and there’s often live music to entertain you while you wait. 

A pie is $18 (which is actually a pie plus two pieces) and a slice is $2.25. There’s no delivery, so you’ll just have to go down there. I can’t tell you what the plain pizza is like, because they don’t make plain pizza, but here’s the amazing part. I ate the pizza they gave me, with tomatoes, red peppers, onion, mozzarella, parmesan, basil and olive oil. I didn’t pick any of it off, and that’s the highest endorsement I can give to a pizza. This is the place in Berkeley for gourmet pizza. 

Fiesta Pizza 

If you’ve made it this far, well done. Your reward is learning about my favorite pizza place, Fiesta Pizza on Shattuck Ave. 

Now the only reason I know about this place is that it’s right up the street from the Daily Planet office, but I’m very glad it is. Fiesta Pizza’s slices are thick and very big, with a crispy crust and a tangy sauce. And if you’re a cheese fan, this is the place for you. I think this is the only pizza parlor I found that uses only mozzarella—and there’s a lot of it. It’s not a traditional kind of pizza, but it’s pretty cheap and damn tasty. 

The seating is practically non-existent, so call them at 644-1222, and if you’re picking it up, don’t forget to grab a menu for all those weird people who want toppings on their pizza. Delivery goes to 10:30 p.m. and is free. A large plain is $9.95 and an extra large (16 inches) is $11.95. 

And so I say unto to you, “Good eating, my fellow pizza lovers!” Even if you choose to ignore my sage advice and eat at Domino’s, at the very least you’ll know where to find them. There are plenty of other pizza places in Berkeley, as a Google search will reveal, and I encourage you to broaden your culinary horizons by sampling as many of them as possible. College is a time for discovery and learning, and it will serve you well to know, for future posterity, whether you prefer Chicago or New York style pizza, and what kind of beer goes best with each. 

One pleasant surprise when I moved here from Pennsylvania was being able to garden year-round. You’re arriving just in time for planting season. 

September in wild California is a lot like February in the Northeast, but warmer and without the grimy leftover snow. If you’ve never seen February here, just wait. But you’ll have to wait only till October or so for the first winter rains to open the clenched soil and the native plants to start showing themselves. Meet them in the Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden.  

If you want to plant them, now is the time. The closer to the first rains, the less you’ll have to irrigate them. Some natives resent being watered when the weather’s warm, and become more susceptible to soil pathogens. The natural watering is perfectly timed for them.  

Why plant natives? They attract native wildlife, and foster the populations we’ve threatened by paving their homes and groceries. Some are good pollinators, like our native bees, generally more peaceable than honeybees. Some are just beautiful, like Anna’s hummingbird, or the hermit thrush and varied thrush and assorted warblers that winter here. You’ll be amazed at the color of ceanothus flowers in spring, and what you see visiting them. 

But say you have only a windowbox, or a few containers, or a little square of dirt to play in, or a decent fringe of natives in the landlord’s border already. You can brighten your table anyway, and there’s no need to wait six months for home-grown salad. This is the perfect time to plant greens and culinary herbs. 

Lettuce, arugula, mache, chicory, endive, most salad greens do well in winter, especially with just a bit of sun part of the day. If you plant them before the hot days of September and early October, they will probably bolt, so don’t rush. You can plant root veggies soon, too; carrots get weird in our clay soil, so try them in a planter box, for early spring eating. Cabbage relatives like broccoli (or better, broccoli raab), collards, kale, bok choy, and turnips (for roots and greens) grow all winter.  

Swiss chard, sorrel, purslane/ verdolaga (that one grows as a weed here), and other cooking greens love winter, and so does spinach, another one best grown in a planter box. Radishes and scallions are practically instant gratification.  

Plant a chayote vine for lots of tasty weird squashlike fruit; artichoke (full sun) to eat flowers; fava beans for a spring harvest plus soil improvement. Snow peas, no surprise, are a classic winter crop. 

Herbs! Lemon balm is easy—it’s feral in Tilden Park, even in shade, so it might like a sunny windowsill. (Even a sunny window is shady to outdoor plants.) Winter savory wants sun; so do parsley and cilantro. Try any perennial herb now, even lavender, soon for a good start with minimal irrigation. If you can water till the rain starts, many will benefit from still-warm soil temperatures.  

Savvy local nurseries carry seedlings of most of these, and you can get natives at the California Native Plant Society’s huge sale, first weekend in October at Merritt Community College in Oakland. I’m increasingly impressed with Spiral Gardens’ new nursery at Sacramento and Oregon streets, open Tuesdays through Saturdays. They have most of the stalwarts mentioned above, including natives, plus surprises like the funny cloverleafed tuber, oca; vining Malabar spinach; sugarcane; tobacco and horseradish. Get some catnip for your cat, and you can both sit under thy (grape)vine and thy fig tree, or even a loquat, from their well-labeled and inexpensive stock.  

The Bay Area, with its wealth of regional, state, and national parks and wildlife refuges, is a great place to discover the natural world. This is true even in late fall and winter, when the hills begin to green up, mushrooms emerge, newts migrate to their mating ponds, and manzanitas start to bloom. But hiking in the rain can be a drag, and even on dry days it can get seriously mucky out there. Fortunately, there are options for getting in touch with nature during the wet season. 

University of California Botanical Garden 

The greenhouses near the entrance are home to succulents, orchids, carnivores and more, including the grotesque Welwitschia of the Namib Desert and giant Rafflesias from the East Indies. Centennial Drive. 643-2755. Free to UC faculty and students. 

University of California Museum of Paleontology 

The fossil collection isn’t on public view, but you can see the Bay Area’s only Tyrannosaurus rex and a soaring pterosaur. Other exhibits include remains of giant marine reptiles from a time when the Central Valley was a shallow sea. 1101 Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley. 642-1821. 

Tilden Nature Area Visitor Center 

In a walk-through exhibit, you can follow the Wildcat Creek watershed from Volmer Peak to the bay and meet some of its wild inhabitants; see wildflowers through a bee’s eyes, learn about the architectural skills of the woodrat and the sex life of the newt. Off Wildcat Canyon Road and Grizzly Peak Boulevard. 636-1684. 

Oakland Museum of California 

One of the best starting points for newcomers to California, the museum’s natural history gallery is set up like a transect across the state, from coast to mountains and desert. 

Displays feature our major ecosystems and the web of interaction between land, climate, plants, and animals. The history gallery also shows how California’s Indians related to the natural world. A special exhibit of California wildflower portraits runs through December 4. 1000 Oak St., Oakland. 238-2200. 

Lindsay Wildlife Museum 

A good place to meet a raptor. The Lindsay Museum’s staff and volunteers care for injured or orphaned wildlife; some nonreleasable hawks and owls become permanent residents, along with bobcats, foxes, lizards, and snakes. 1931 First Ave., Walnut Creek. (925) 935-1978. 

Coyote Hills Regional Park Visitor Center 

Interpretive displays explore the vanishing world of San Francisco Bay’s tidal marshes, along with the lifeways of the Ohlone people who harvested their resources and traveled the bay in tule-reed boats. 8000 Patterson Ranch Road, Fremont. 636-1684. 

California Academy of Sciences 

In temporary quarters downtown pending completion of its new home in Golden Gate Park, the Academy has many of its exhibits in storage. But you can still visit the inhabitants of the Steinhart Aquarium: fish, reptiles, and amphibians both local and exotic, and an entertaining colony of penguins. Beginning Nov. 17, a special exhibit will spotlight California’s biodiversity, with the state’s last grizzly bear on display. 875 Howard St., San Francisco. (415) 321-8000. 

Conservatory of Flowers 

There’s a rain forest in the heart of Golden Gate Park, with monster philodendrons, bizarre insect-eating plants, spectacular orchids, water lilies the size of roulette wheels. Keep an eye out for the geckos and anole lizards that handle pest control. Through Oct. 16 the “Nature’s Pharmacy” exhibit showcases traditional and modern sources of herbal remedies, including some from Native California. (415) 666-7001; free admission first Tuesday of the month. 

Coyote Point Museum for Environmental Education 

Meet the yellow-billed magpie, a bird found only in California, and other native species in their walk-through aviary; watch the exuberant antics of river otters. 1651 Coyote Point Drive, San Mateo. (650) 342-7755. 

Point Reyes National Seashore Bear Valley Visitor Center 

An introduction to the mosaic of habitats of the Point Reyes Peninsula and its offshore waters—forest, marsh, mudflat, sea cliffs, open ocean, sea floor—as well as local human history. Bear Valley Road near Olema. (415) 464-5100. 

Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History 

A small but choice collection, including the skeletons of ancient sea mammals from the California coast, exhibits on seabirds and tidepool creatures. 1305 East Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz. (831) 420-6115. 

Access to art shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg, or even an ear. Many Bay Area museums follow the enlightened practice of waiving admission for one day every month—sometimes more often. And a handful are always free.  

Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive 

First Thursday of the month, including 5:30 p.m. PFA screening; always free to UC Berkeley students, faculty, and staff. 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. 642-0808. 

Hearst Museum of Anthropology 

Free every Thursday, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. 102 Kroeber Hall (corner of Bancroft and College) 642-3682. 

Oakland Museum of California 

Second Sunday of the month. Fee required for special exhibits. 100 Oak St., Oakland. 238-2200. 

Mills College Art Museum 

Free every day, hours vary, closed Monday. 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. 430-2164. 

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art 

First Tuesday of the month, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. after Labor Day. 151 Third St. between Mission and Howard, San Francisco. 357-4000. 

California Academy of Sciences 

First Wednesday of the month, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 875 Howard St. between Fourth and Fifth streets, San Francisco. (415) 321-8000. 

Asian Art Museum of San Francisco 

First Tuesday of the month, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 200 Larkin St. between Fulton and McAllister, San Francisco. (415) 581-3500. 

Legion of Honor 

Free every Tuesday, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Fee required for special exhibits. Lincoln Park, 34th Avenue and Clement Street, San Francisco. (415) 863-3330. 

The Mexican Museum 

Free every day through the end of 2005, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; closed Sunday-Tuesday. Fort Mason Center, Building D, San Francisco. (415) 202-9722. 

Exploratorium 

First Wednesday of the month (reservations required for groups of 10 or  

more), 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 3601 Lyon St., San Francisco. (415) 561-0399. 

San Jose Museum of Art 

Free every day, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; closed Monday. 110 South Market St., San Jose. (408) 271-6840. 

Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University  

Free every day, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. 328 Lomita Drive and Museum Way (off Palm Drive), Stanford. (650) 723-4177.

On Friday, Aug. 5, Cal head coach Jeff Tedford and his coaching staff hosted the second annual Cal Women’s Football Huddle from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in Memorial Stadium. As advertised on the official Golden Bear Athletics website, the event—“for women only”—would “interactively teach participants about the ins and outs of football, from officials’ signals to individual position responsibilities.” More than 300 women had signed up in 2004; many more were expected this year.  

As soon as I heard about the Huddle, I asked Daily Planet Executive Editor Becky O’Malley if I could cover it. The request surprised her. My regular beat at the Planet, local politics, does involve Cal football, thanks to the controversy over certain questionable changes planned for Memorial Stadium. But the Huddle doesn’t qualify as a political event.  

More to the point, as far as Becky knew, I was the antithesis of your stereotypical football fan: a woman and an intellectual with a Ph.D. in the History of Consciousness and a former career as an English professor. She wasn’t aware that ever since my sixth-grade teacher required all the girls in class to learn the rules of football, I’ve harbored an intense if sporadic interest in the game. Last fall, I informed her, I’d followed the Golden Bear’s rise to glory: at one point they were ranked ninth among the nation’s college teams and were strong contenders for a Rose Bowl berth.  

My predilection for football aside, the Huddle sounded like a fun story—which is to say, it sounded utterly unlike current Berkeley politics. I was up for a fun story.  

Becky said go ahead. She told me that Anne Wagley, who works at Planet, was going to be at the Huddle (Anne’s husband coaches football at Berkeley High). I promised to look for her at Memorial Stadium.  

The Huddle was indeed delightful. After a buffet supper, the 550 attendees split up into teams of 25, each bearing the name of an NFL franchise, plus one group named the Bears composed mainly of Cal coaches’ wives. By the end of the evening, each team had moved through 16 stations on and off the field. At each station, the women got a seven-minute lesson from a member of the Cal football coaching staff or, in one case, from a PAC-10 referee. The subjects included recruiting, videos, equipment, training, weight-lifting, officiating, side-line communications, and the positions on the team, starting with running back and ending with linebacker. Every time the clock ran down to zero, Director of Football Operations Mike McHugh sounded an air horn, and everyone had a minute to hustle to the next class.  

In the golden light of the long August afternoon, hundreds of women cavorted on the artificial turf, kicking, passing, receiving, tackling, pushing the exercise sled. At one end of the field, five participants lined up across from five others, each of whom was holding a big pad in front of chest. “When I say go,” said special teams coordinator and tight end coach Pete Alamar, “we’re going to see if you can drive anyone off the line of scrimmage.” In the officiating class, held in the stands, David Lambros, back judge and official for the PAC-10 conference, asked if anyone could name the most commonly called foul on offense in college bowl. The answer: false start (holding is second). Wide receiver coach Eric Kiesau offered a simple formula for impressing “husbands”: more receivers on the field means they’re going to pass; less means they’re going to run. The thing to remember when you’re trying to make a tackle, advised linebacker coach Justin Wilcox, is to “wrap and grab.”  

There was a lot of laughter, whooping, cheering, and of course huddling. Many of the women had attended last year’s event and had come back for more. “It was fabulous,” said returnee Helynn Rueda, from Castro Valley, who added that she’d bought season tickets “because of this event.” Jeanna Rushwood, from Concord, also attended last year. This time, she said, she and her friend “came for the strip.” In 2004 “the equipment guy explained all the parts of the uniform” by taking off “each piece, all the way down to his undies.” The demonstration was not repeated this year because, she said, there were “disparaging phone calls ... That sucks.” Like most others, Rushwood came to the Huddle with somebody else. Christina Polk, a season ticketholder from Moraga, attended with her mother. “I love Cal athletics,” said Polk. “You’re pregnant,” I noted, stating the obvious. She replied, “I’ve been watching and taking lots of pictures of my mom.”  

The students weren’t the only ones enjoying themselves. “Are you having a good time?” I asked Justin Wilcox. “It’s awesome,” he said. To all appearances, he could have been speaking for the entire Cal football staff. “That girl just booted that ball all the way through the uprights,” said a coach who was watching from high up in the stands. “A 30-footer.” “Sign her up,” said another.  

I never did find Anne. I’d figured it would be easy to spot her, with her long blonde hair. As it turned out, a great many of the attendees fit that description.  

But I did connect, in a manner of speaking, with somebody else: a handsome man holding a diagram that showed the order in which the women’s teams moved from station to station. He was the only member of the staff who wasn’t wearing a name tag. That should have tipped me off. Ditto for the autograph-seekers who kept stopping by. Somehow I missed those clues.  

“You are…?” I asked.  

An infinitesimal hesitation. “Coach Tedford.”  

Some rich and famous individuals, when they’re not recognized, get huffy. Coach Tedford was totally cool.  

We chatted a bit longer. I asked him for a prediction about the coming season.  

He smiled, graciously. “We don’t make predictions,” he replied. “We’re going to work hard and do our best.”  

Then he said: “The Daily Planet—is that a new thing around here?”  

This issue of the Berkeley Daily Planet contains the second of two special “Back to Berkeley” pullout magazine sections. Like the first one (which is still being distributed around town as well) it’s full of insider tips from local residents on how students and other newcomers can make the most of their Berkeley experience. For those of you who can’t find a copy of Part One, we’ll just repeat a bit of what we said earlier. The Planet is the publication for what we call Greater Berkeley: people who live in Berkeley, but also people who work in Berkeley, shop in Berkeley, go to school in Berkeley, or even just wish that they lived, worked or shopped in Berkeley. We believe that Berkeley is a state of mind which has expansive boundaries. Those of us who are lifers here are happy to welcome most of the new faces we see every August.  

At this time of year, though, the perennial conflicts between town and gown are highlighted. The University of California always has new schemes to reduce friction between students and residents. This year it’s a new alcohol education program and re-configuration of housing sites where there were problems last year. Good luck. Student rowdiness has always been a part of the university experience, and it won’t be completely banished. The thirteenth century seems to have been particularly hot. A quick Google produces the University of Paris riots of 1229 and a whole bunch of English clashes in the 1200s, but also the “Turl Street Riot” in Oxford in 1979. Sometimes rowdiness and politics mix, sometimes not.  

Incoming students might just keep in mind that they are the guests of the long-term residents of Berkeley. A recent editorial which suggested that Berkeley’s non-taxpaying religious institutions (of which we have a plethora) are also guests produced an outraged response from some congregants. But it’s a fact: neither the University of California nor any of the many other non-profits which dominate the majority of the square acreage in Berkeley pay their fair share for the upkeep of the roads, the sewer system and other necessities of modern life. Some money flows to city coffers from sales tax revenues generated by students and staff, but in these days of regional shopping malls and web purchasing, not that much anymore.  

The City of Berkeley huffed and puffed a lot last spring about the cost to Berkeley of UC’s new long-range expansion plan. At one point consultants hired by the city estimated that if the university paid its full share of civic costs it would add up to about $11 million. Chancellor Birgeneau’s response was that if the university gave the city even $3 million more a year, it would mean depriving 300 students of a UC Berkeley education. City officials ended up making a sucker deal with Cal for less than a million in compensatory payments. Using Birgeneau’s figures, it would therefore seem that at least a thousand U.C. students are going to school courtesy of the local taxpayers’ approximately $10 million contribution.  

Not, of course, that we Berkeleyans aren’t glad to see you again. We choose to live here instead of in Walnut Creek or San Mateo because we appreciate the pizzazz the presence of a major university and its students adds to our lives. We enjoy going to your lectures, your plays, your museums and your concerts. Many of us have fond memories of our own riotous student days, so we’re happy to wink at a certain number of indiscretions. But we’d appreciate it if you could try to keep your youthful exuberance within reasonable limits most of the time, at least at night when some UC neighbors need their sleep. 

Today’s paper contains the first of two “Back-to-Berkeley” pullout magazine sections. Students are arriving this week at the University of California, some coming back and some for the first time. Many new non-students also arrive at the beginning of each semester: faculty, staff, significant others, kids. Whoever you are, and wherever you came from, welcome. You’ll find a lot to read in the Planet. 

The Berkeley Daily Planet, for those of you who are reading the paper for the first time, is oddly named, for historic reasons. The name itself was originally a tribute to Superman’s hometown paper, but this year’s freshman class might not even know who Superman was. Also, we’re not exactly a daily. The paper comes out on Tuesdays (weekday edition) and Fridays (weekend edition). It is distributed every day in high-traffic locations, but not published daily. And, when we say that we’re the paper for Berkeley, we don’t just mean the 100,000-plus population of the City of Berkeley. We’re talking about Greater Berkeley: people who live in Berkeley, but also people who work in Berkeley, shop in Berkeley, go to school in Berkeley, or even just wish that they lived, worked or shopped in Berkeley. We’re read all over the world on the Internet, and we have at least one mail-order subscriber in Indiana. We believe that Berkeley is a state of mind which has expansive boundaries. 

Our East Bay coverage has extended through Albany and El Cerrito, as far north as Richmond, over to Alameda and south through Oakland to the San Leandro border. If something big is happening near you, tell the Planet about it and we’ll try to report on it. We even do occasional pieces about events and places worth traveling for: west across the bay or to other parts of northern California. Our calendar pages focus on close-by events, in greater detail and with more variety than you’ll find in metro daily entertainment pages.  

Our opinion pages are lively and unique. This year we won two first prizes in the statewide California Newspaper Publishers Association, both for our editorial pages and for our editorial cartoons (as well as four more prizes in other categories.) We are holdouts against prevailing beliefs in corporate metro dailies about what opinion pages should be. Our letters are more than just snappy soundbytes, although we get our share of those too. The longer commentaries are almost all written by local people, not by the syndicated op-ed professionals who dominate the opinion pages of many papers these days. There are big fights on our opinion pages, and even readers who don’t participate enjoy watching the byplay. Greater Berkeley people are literate, perhaps excessively so, and they put on a good show. (We don’t have a sports section as such, but watching the opinion writers go at it is a good substitute.)  

We’re independent and locally owned, not part of any corporate chain like the other papers which are distributed around here. You can find the paper free in boxes and cafes all over town, with occasional teaser deliveries in selected neighborhoods to induce readers to pick it up when they see it. We’re supported financially by our loyal advertisers, so we encourage you to patronize them, and when you do, tell them you found them in the Daily Planet.  

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After the ritual stop at the Lawrence Hall of Science parking lot for the view of the bay, you might want to show your parents around your new home.  

If you’re a Goth and want to give them a dose, you know where to find others of your kind. But don’t mi ss The Bone Room for atmospherics and jewelry (1569 Solano Ave., 526-5252), or the East Bay Vivarium for lovely snakes, lizards, and arachnids (1827-C Fifth St., 841-1400). 

Mom’s a gardener? Take her to Mrs. Dalloway’s, a unique independent bookshop in t he Elmwood neighborhood (2904 College Ave., 704-8222). Dedicated to the literary and garden arts, the store has a thoughtful selection of books and periodicals, live plants and containers. It’s only one of our many alternatives to Barnes and Noble and Bor ders; others include Cody’s (stores on Telegraph Avenue and Fourth Street), Moe’s, Black Oak, Pegasus (stores on Shattuck and Solano avenues), Pendragon, Half Price Books (moving from Solano to Shattuck), and for genrephiles, Dark Carnival and Other Chang e of Hobbit. 

If it’s the first Sunday of the month and the weather’s decent, give them a megadose of yesterday and the surreal for a mere $5 each at the Alameda Antiques Fair on the former Naval Air Station (follow Pacific Avenue; 522-7500). There’s no s hade, but there is chow, and you can listen to the folks exclaiming, “My mother has a pair of those!” or even, “I used to have that game!” 

If they brought the dog along, they’ll all love the scene at Berkeley’s Cesar Chavez Park or Richmond’s Point Isabe l Regional Shoreline, where they can mingle with Catahoula hounds, komondors, and other canine curiosities. At Point Isabel, dogs that have gotten into the Bay can be hosed off at Mudpuppy’s Tub & Scrub. 

For out-of-staters, the Oakland Museum of Californ ia provides a painless introduction to the state’s ecology, history, and art (100 Oak St., 238-2200). Check out the 1940’s kitchen and the beat and hippie exhibits. 

Food and drink? There’s a wealth of options. For cocktails by the bay, try Hs Lordships a t the Berkeley Marina (199 Seawall Drive, 843-2733). Unlike many popular bars, you can actually have a conversation there. And for Hong Kong-style dim sum with a view, you can’t beat Emeryville’s East Ocean (3199 Powell St., 655-3388). For tiki and pupu a ficionados, Emeryville also has the legendary Trader Vic’s (9 Anchor Drive, 653-4300). 

Eating your way down Solano Avenue can be a rewarding experience. Start with Ajanta (1888 Solano Ave., 526-4373 ) for some of the Bay Area’s best Indian food; other choices include Japanese, Thai, Nepalese, several kinds of Chinese and Mediterranean. 

Fourth Street, the Anti-Telegraph Avenue, has splendid Mexican food, mostly small plates, at Tacubaya (525-5160) and breakfast fare at Bette’s Oceanview Diner (972-6879). Everyone knows about North Shattuck’s Gourmet Ghetto, but downtown Shattuck offers microbrews at Jupiter (2181 Shattuck Ave., 843-8277), rustic French at La Note (2377 Shattuck Ave., 843-1535), and kosher vegetarian Italian at Raphael Bar Ristorante (2132 Center St., 644-9500). College Avenue has memorable Italian food, with Trattoria La Siciliana (2993 College Ave., 704-1474) and Locanda Olmo (2895 College Ave., 848-5544). 

If your parents are more the meat-and-potatoes or fish-and-fries type, The Dead Fish is worth the drive to Crockett: crab and prime rib, white-tablecloth nautical decor, and a view of the Carquinez Straits (20050 San Pablo Ave., 787-3323). 

And then there’s Fatapple’s classic burgers and pies (1346 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, 526-226 0), and for weekend brunch, the scones, cornmeal pancakes, and oyster po’-boys at Meal Ticket (1235 San Pablo Ave., Albany, 526-6325). 

In Emeryville, try Lois the Pie Queen (851 60th St. just off MLK, 658-1516) for downhome cooking; Lois has passed on, b ut her son keeps the culinary tradition going. 

Approaching the Berkeley Marina along University Avenue one is greeted by multicolored flags moving enthusiastically in the wind. They’re waving you forward, eager for you to join in. Each color—teal, goldenrod, lime and forest green, tangerine, violet—represents different choices awaiting you. 

Great cities have great resources. The Berkeley Marina’s resources can be used in different ways depending on your interest and level of activity. Enjoy walking, cycling, boating, fishing, kite flying, and bird watching or just sitting and soaking up the scenery. A renewable resource, one visit won’t use it up. Just one short mile from city center, you’ll return often. 

A get-acquainted walking tour along a wide, paved path lining the bay and marina points out “places of interest.” Recently I followed this tour, catching up on old friends and making new ones. 

Beginning at the southeast corner of the Marina, I admired the attractive landscaping of lawns, strands of pines and large ceanothus shrubs while gazing across the water toward Emeryville. Benches invited me to sit-a–spell watching the sunlight dance on the water.  

For anyone interested in sailing or windsurfing, the Cal Sailing Club is worth a visit. This non-profit cooperative has been around for 60 years providing lessons, equipment rentals, cruises and races. Free rides are offered at open houses held twice a month. 

Leaving the sound of wind-ruffled sails I next heard a concerto of hammering accented by excited voices and the zing of a zip-line. I’d reached the entrance to Shorebird Park and Adventure Playground where kids bring imagination into reality using recycled materials, nails and paint to construct forts, boats, towers or whatever they fancy. Opened in 1979, this playground has long been a favorite among kids and their parents. Encouraging skills not often called upon, what children gain is far greater than their enjoyment. Sadly, my age greatly surpassed the Playground’s 26 years of adventure, so I continued into Shorebird Park. 

A wood-frame play structure, giant concrete pipe and swings continue the theme while expansive lawns and benches appeal to the less active. Picnic tables with grills border a sheltered cove and rocky beach. Gentle breezes, warm sun and the sound of birds evoke a sense of peace and timelessness. Here one can escape alone or with friends for an hour or a day. Just keep an eye out for the explosion of gray ground squirrels. Signs warning against feeding them appear to be too late. 

Opposite the beach stands the Nature Center in the Straw Bale building. Attended by students from all parts of the Bay Area, the center’s goal is to educate about the ecology of the bay, watershed and estuary. Using salt-water aquariums, touch tables, hands-on stations and outdoor activities, children visit with their school or sign up for afternoon classes.  

If you’re hoping to get involved with your community, two programs sponsored by the Nature Center welcome your participation. The Bay Clean Up on Sept. 17 draws concerned citizens of all ages for a three-hour shoreline “fall-cleaning” Day. It requires a longer commitment but offers greater rewards. This docent-training program will fulfill your lifelong dream to emulate Jacques Cousteau; you’ll spend time among the rocks and docks with fellow enthusiasts, learn about marine biology and share this knowledge with the young. 

The Straw Bale Building is an attraction in itself, drawing design students, builders and home remodelers interested in sustainable architecture. This handsome building of gray stucco trimmed in teal is entirely constructed of recycled or salvaged materials: straw bales of rice by-products, natural linoleum, recycled glass windowsills and seats and cellulose insulation. Interpretive panels describe the building process and a brochure lists all products used and their suppliers. Create a family project by constructing Adventure Playground designs using “green” materials.  

Heading west along the path I felt and heard the breeze intensify, more so when I reached the bay’s edge at Seawall Drive. White caps provided visual evidence of a wind strong enough to clear away cobwebs crowding my head. This area is often enjoyed within the comfort of an automobile; many come to read, nap or just enjoy the view. From here it’s possible to see the two generations of the Berkeley Pier, where the new pier ends, the remains of the old, burned pier continue out onto the bay. 

At the entrance to the pier you can stop for a tasty hot dog or hot link from Eat and Run or take a photo of Frederick Fierstein’s Guardian, a mysterious sculpture that appeared in 1985, protecting the life spirit. Strolling to the end of the pier requires an investment of 3,000 feet, a salt-tinged walk on water. I passed a dad and his two kids with lines out for ocean perch and traps out for crab, not a bad way to spend the day, even when the fish aren’t running.  

Directly ahead lay Alcatraz Island and beyond a hovering fog bank, the Bay Area’s personal air conditioner, keeping us cool as inlanders swelter in the heat. 

Back on Seawall, I headed north toward the Berkeley Yacht Club, looking out at the protective breakwater and then did a u-turn into the 52-acre marina. Boats of all sizes with bright marine-blue sail coverings and sentinel masts filled the 975 berths. Dreams of adventurous or romantic cruises come easily gazing across these beautiful craft. Grounds landscaped with lawns, agapanthus and pines, regularly placed benches and a horseshoe park add to this area’s appeal, as does the whimsically painted sculpture, Calliope, by Joseph Slusky.  

Across from the Marina Office I entered the Marina Deli. More than hot dogs and chips await you here. Stocked with fishing lures, line, fishing weights, and of course, live bait. Fancy some pile worms, anchovies or grass shrimp? Home to the Berkeley Marine Sport Center, you can sign up here to cruise the bay or out to the Farallon Islands on the new Easy Rider or El Dorado fishing for salmon, rock cod or albacore tuna, as well as hear the latest fishing report. 

Following the marina east I reached Marina Blvd. then followed rows of berths accommodating an interesting variety of live-on boats to Spinnaker Way and Cesar Chavez Park. 

Loved by both dog-walkers and kite flyers, ninety-acres of former landfill now offer large multi-use turf, wetland and shoreline areas. Fido can run off-leash in the seventeen-acre center section or accompany you on-leash along the 1.25-mile Dorothy Stegman perimeter trail where you’ll pass picnic areas and an undeveloped wildlife sanctuary frequented by bird watchers. 

As kites fluttered overhead, I watched families on the leeward side of the bluff picnicking while holding onto their kite strings. Here the winds reach maximum strength explaining why this is the site of the annual Kite Festival. I feasted on the San Francisco skyline, the Marin hills, Angel Island and the three bay bridges, an incredible panorama before me.  

Views worth millions of dollars, personal benefits priceless, cost to be here, zero. Whether you tack your sail into the wind, watch gulls wheel above fishing boats, smell burgers on the grill, or just claim a bench—the Berkeley Marina has a spot with your name on it.  

Berkeley Marina 

201 University Ave., 981-6740. www.cityofberkeley.info/marina. 

Adventure Playground 

Open 11-4 p.m. Sat. and Sun., free drop in. 

Straw Bale Nature Center Open Tues.-Sat. 9 a.m.-5 p.m., 981-7620. 

Cal Sailing Club 

www.cal-sailing.org. 

Berkeley Marina Sport Center 849-2727, www.sfbayfishing.com. 

The best way to get to the Berkeley Marina from campus using AC Transit is to take the 51 bus from the south side of campus, or the 52L bus from the north side, or either one from the intersection of Shattuck and University avenues. Ride west on University Avenue until Sixth Street. Transfer to the 9 bus at Sixth Street to ride over the highway to the marina.?