Construction crews were still carting away trash by the forklift near the Donahue Gymnasium and in the newly refurbished Academic Building, many baseboards were still not in place and some of the wall tiles had not been cemented into place. -more-

A group of Berkeley citizens filed a lawsuit against the City of Berkeley and several city officials in the California Superior Court in Oakland yesterday, asking the court to set aside the city’s settlement agreement with the University of California over UC’s Long Range Development Plan because it “contracted away the City Council’s right to independently exercise its police power in the future.” -more-

If, as the poet Robert Frost once wrote with a touch of irony, “good fences makes good neighbors,” the Berkeley corollary is clearly, “loud parties don’t.” -more-

Three firefighters and one healthcare worker from Berkeley have flown to the South to aid in the rescue and care of victims of Hurricane Katrina. -more-

Alameda County Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to call for proposals from voting machine vendors who can provide both a verifiable paper trail and the capacity for instant runoff voting (IRV). -more-

Officials of the union representing 8,000 workers at Sutter Health hospitals—including the Alta Bates Summit facilities in Berkeley and Oakland—are holding a press conference this morning (Friday) to announce a strike deadline. -more-

An Oakland parent who transferred her ninth-grade daughter from the Oakland School for the Arts to Skyline High School after only one semester says that OSA’s academic program and some of its art programs are in “turmoil,” adding several other parents have pulled their children from the school during the past year. -more-

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

HOUSING CRISIS -more-

A key Silicon Valley rule is that to be successful at developing new products one must focus on getting the job done, rather than on being right. The failure of the Iraq constitutional process brings America to a critical decision-point, where the American public has been presented with only two options, both based on the notion of taking the “right” next step in Iraq. -more-

Did someone fire seven shots “at” Oakland police officers following a motorcycle club charity event at the Kaiser Convention Center last Saturday night? Were the motorcycle clubs—composed of mostly black members—in any way connected with the fired shots or the reported “chaos” that surrounded it, including what has been described by police officials as a “massive sideshow” that rolled from the downtown area out into East Oakland? And what were the exact events that led to the fired shots? -more-

Rape suspect busted -more-

Two things happened in one day that tell much about the abysmal failure of the Bush administration to get a handle on poverty in America. -more-

I think that in the beginning, redevelopment was either a good idea or an act of desperation. I believe it was initially spurred by massive disinvestment in inner cities in the East. I have to laugh when I hear redevelopment people in California talking about blight and abandoned buildings; do you know that Baltimore has 40,000 empty buildings? Oakland only has 80,000 buildings altogether. In any case, the good idea or act of desperation, once it was in place, turned out to be not so good. It led to “urban renewal”—the destruction of mostly historic and intact neighborhoods deemed “blighted,” and the removal of the residents. Eventually urban renewal fell from grace and was replaced by new planning fads like: turning your downtown into a pedestrian mall, festival marketplaces, building aquariums, gambling facilities, or the current favorite, downtown baseball stadiums, and of course, “smart growth.” Because you have to understand, planning is subject to fads, and planners like to think big. Politicians like to think big, too, because it gives them big things to point at when they run for reelection. -more-

First, I would like to commend Daily Planet Executive Editor O’Malley for her two editorials welcoming UC Berkeley students back to Berkeley and presenting them with information on the myriad of opportunities to shop and participate in community life. I would also like to take this opportunity to correct a pervasive urban myth that the University of California and non-profits “dominate the majority of square acreage in Berkeley”. -more-

I was one of those 12,000 or more KPFA supporters Bob Baldock referred to in his Aug. 26 opinion piece, and I have a different take than Mr. Baldock (for whom I have a lot of respect) on both the meaning of that march for KPFA six years ago and of the present situation. We did not march to support the staff, but the station. And we listeners not only won it back, but we won recognition as the guardians of the station, and network, and a role in station and network governance which we hadn’t had before. Now we find some staff blocking us in this role. -more-

One of the most beautiful exhibitions to be seen hereabouts in a long time is currently on view at the library of the Graduate Theological Union on Holy Hill (2400 Ridge Road) in Berkeley, a venue that has mounted fine art exhibitions for over 30 years. -more-

FRIDAY, SEPT. 2 -more-

Calf-deep in the snappy waters of the Pacific, on a driftwood-tossed beach across the river from the town of Gualala, I gaze at the portrait of raw beauty around me. My weekend escape was to be work-free but a travel article is writing itself in my head. Some places are just too good to keep to oneself. -more-

FRIDAY, SEPT. 2 -more-