East Bay progressives, politicians, celebrities, and business and religious leaders rallied this week in front of the Federal Building in Oakland to alternately denounce the Bush administration and urge aid for the Louisiana and Mississippi residents displaced by last week’s devastating storm and floods. 

And all across the East Bay this week, organizations and agencies raced to hold events or announced plans for future actions to support hurricane victims. The ad hoc coalition that assembled at the Federal Building demonstrated the sudden marriage between the anti-war movement and Hurricane Katrina victim relief. 

More than 100 activists gathered for more than an hour and a half Tuesday afternoon, many holding up signs expressing anger at the lapse in the federal government’s initial response to Katrina and linking the Gulf Hurricane with the war in Iraq. 

Included in the signs were “Full Funding For Disaster Relief,” “No More Lies—No More Excuses—Troops Home Now,” and “It’s Not A Horse Show. It’s A National Tragedy” (a reference to the fact that before joining the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is heading the Katrina federal relief effort, FEMA Director Mike Brown was fired from his longtime job with the International Arabian Horse Association). Another sign read, simply, “Homeland Security My Ass!” 

The rally was held on the sidewalk after Homeland Security officers said that representatives of the Oakland office of the federal General Services Administration, the caretaker for the Federal Building, had not signed off on a permit to hold the rally on Federal Building grounds. 

Pamela Drake, a former Oakland City Council candidate, former aide to Councilmembers Desley Brooks and Nate Miley and one of the original organizers of the rally, said that a representative of Rep. Barbara Lee’s office had submitted the permit request to the GSA office several hours before the rally, but said that apparently no one was in the office all afternoon who could sign off on it. 

Rally sponsors included Code Pink, the John George Democratic Club and the Oakland Black Caucus. 

“Thank God we weren’t homeless and hungry and thirsty and surrounded by water when we needed a government official to be around,” Drake told the crowd. She called the permit mix-up “illustrative of the situation that’s going on in Mississippi and Louisiana.” 

FEMA, Brown, and President George Bush came under attack by speaker after speaker for what was repeatedly called bungling and callousness in its relief effort. 

Alameda County Board of Education member Gay Plair Cobb said she was “shocked, subdued, and saddened by the response of our government,” while Oakland School Board member Greg Hodge said that “the blood of our people is on the hands” of the Bush administration, and Oakland City Councilmember Nancy Nadel said that “FEMA’s response to the tragedy was a tragedy in itself.” 

Nadel was also one of many speakers who noted the ties and similarities between the East Bay and Louisiana. 

“The demographics of Oakland are not much different from New Orleans,” she said. “Many Oakland citizens emigrated from there, and many have families who are still in the area.” 

Nadel also said that the East Bay was “as vulnerable to earthquakes as New Orleans was to hurricane and flood.” She announced that Oakland City Council was meeting in emergency session Thursday afternoon to decide what it could do to help hurricane victims. 

Informing the community of how it could help took up the bulk of the rally’s time. Among the announcements: 

• Rep. Lee’s office as accepting donations. 

• Oakland hip hop artist and entrepreneur Dwayne Wiggins said he was organizing an all day Oct. 1 jazz and hip hop benefit at the Kaiser Convention Center in conjunction with the office of Oakland Councilmember Desley Brooks. 

• AC Transit Amalgamated Transit Union bus drivers had announced plans to adopt New Orleans bus drivers and their families and relocate them to the East Bay until they could get back on their feet, said Sharon Cornu, executive director of the Alameda County Central Labor Council. 

• A representative of the Ella Baker Center announced a jazz concert and spiritual event fund raiser at the First Congregational Church in Oakland on Saturday at 10 a.m., and Board Member Greg Hodge said that the Oaktown Jazz Workshop and resident dance companies at Oakland’s Malonga Casquelord Center would hold a fund raiser on Sept. 18 at 2 p.m. at Sweets Ballroom in Oakland. 

• Oakland School Boardmember Dan Siegel said that at a community meeting held last Saturday at Allen Temple Baptist Church, a coalition of Oakland civic and religious leaders were working on a proposal to ask for the opening up of unused housing at the Oakland Army Base to relocate as many as 1,000 hurricane victims. In addition, Siegel said the group is asking the Port of Oakland to work with airlines flying out of the Oakland Airport to provide free transportation for the families to be relocated. Siegel also said that they were working with Congressmember Lee’s office to secure emergency Section 8 vouchers for hurricane victims relocating to the East Bay. 

• Bill Patterson of the Oakland NAACP said his organization had set up a National Disaster Relief Fund to coordinate financial contributions to the area hit by the hurricane. Patterson said donations could be sent to the NAACP Disaster Relief Fund, 663 35th Street, Oakland, California 94609. 

• A representative of Santiago de Cuba, Oakland’s Cuban sister city, urged residents to contact the Bush administration to accept Cuba’s offer to send 1,500 physicians into the disaster area. “We need to put aside politics,” she said. “We could be there in two hours.” 

In other disaster relief action across the East Bay: 

• Veterans for Peace and U.S. Tour of Duty will present “Direct from Camp Casey,” featuring military families and Bay Area neighbors for two appearances: Sept. 12 at the Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland, and on Sept. 13 at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 405 South 10th St., San Jose. Both events will benefit hurricane relief efforts. 

• At a fundraiser last weekend at Ashkenaz in Berkeley, the Aux Cajunals band and Tom Rigby raised more than $9,000 for flood victims. 

• Berkeley’s Shotgun Players donated proceeds from their Labor Day performance of the play Cyrano to hurricane relief. 

• Members of Berkeley Rep’s Teen Council announced a six-hour benefit of staged readings from plays set in New Orleans, to be held at the Berkeley Rep School of Theater on Sept. 25. 

• The City of Berkeley announced a number of disaster relief activities, including coordinating temporary housing for displaced people from the disaster area and sending emergency and cleanup personnel to Louisiana and Mississippi. 

• Many businesses around the area are collecting donations for hurricane aid.›

Sixty-two years ago Shirley Thompson left her family in New Orleans behind to start fresh in Bay Area. Last week, 13 members of her family, their homes underwater and with little left besides the clothes on their backs, joined her. 

Ranging in age from 8 to 88, Thompson’s relatives from New Orleans now reside in Thompson’s three-bedroom house on Hopkins Street where before last week Thompson slept alone. Three of the family members are sleeping in Thompson’s mobile trailer parked in her driveway. 

“This isn’t luxury, but I feel blessed that we can have this time to be together as a family,” said Edna Marchand, Thompson’s 88-year-old sister whose home in New Orleans was flooded above the upstairs porch, her neighbors told her. 

Hurricane Katrina’s imminent landfall last Monday sent Marchand and her family scurrying for shelter across the South. After a day in a relative’s overcrowded home in Shreveport, La., they packed into a Honda Accord and an Accura Legend and headed to Arlington, Texas, where they spent four nights in a hotel as their money dwindled. 

Thompson, an 80-year-old widow, said nearly her entire family lived in New Orleans and that her Berkeley home was their best option to escape the ravaged city. 

She said, “I told them, ‘look you guys can come here and we’ll make provisions for you. We’ll be one happy family, just come.’” 

The family bought tickets for Edna Marchand and two other relatives to fly to Berkeley, while the rest of them drove across country, five people in each car. 

“When they got here on Sunday, I swear I was so thankful that they made it safely,” Thompson said. She added that she had recently tried to sell her trailer on EBay, but couldn’t find any takers. 

“I think God knew I’d need some extra room,” she said. 

Living under one roof isn’t easy for the family. Thompson has two people sleeping on an air mattress in the living room, two people on beds in all three bedrooms, and three people sleeping in the den on fold-out mattresses that neighbors gave to the family. 

“It’s a lot different than having your own three-bedroom house,” said Dana Lewis, a distant niece of Thompson’s who is sleeping with her son and daughter in the trailer. The Lewises are one of three nuclear families staying with Thompson. The others are the Marchands and the Cuneos. While Thompson is close with the Marchands and the Cuneos, she had never met the Lewis’ who are related by marriage through an uncle. 

“My uncle is the kind of person who always has a plan to evacuate and we were fortunate he brought us along,” Dana Lewis said. “Everyone has been so welcoming, we feel like we’ve know each other for years.” 

The crowded living arrangement won’t last much longer. The Lewises are heading back to Texas, where Dana Lewis has family, Thompson said in a telephone interview Thursday. She said the Cuneos and Marchands have rejected the Red Cross’s offer of apartments on Seventh Street in Berkeley, which she said were substandard. 

“For now they’re going to stay with me,” Thompson said. 

The Red Cross has offered each family member $320 spending money per person, they said. They are still waiting to see how much aid they will receive from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or when their they will be able to file a claim with their insurance companies. 

“It’s hard to get an insurance check when you can’t get to your house to document your losses,” said Freda Marchand, who said neighbors told her flood waters had risen nearly to the top of her ceiling. 

City officials have sought to help the family as they wait for federal aid. On Sunday, Berkeley social workers arrived at the home, and Julie Sinai, an aide to Mayor Bates, took the family food shopping with money from a city’s program for the homeless. 

Devin Sanders, Thompson’s granddaughter and a Richmond resident, said her boss’s family at In and Out Burger was raising money to buy supplies for the family. 

“We just thought we’d be gone for a night or two,” said Freda Marchand, who packed just a few outfits. “We never dreamed we would not be able to go home or that all of our vital records and personal belongings would be destroyed.” 

Jessica Cuneo said that on the Monday that when Katrina struck, she had planned to stay in New Orleans with her mother, who was scheduled to work in the emergency room of a New Orleans hospital. “We got up at 5:30 a.m. and when the news said it was going to be bad my mom told me to pack my bag and be ready to get on the road,” she said. “It took us about eight hours to get to Shreveport.” 

With their houses under water and their hometown off limits for at least four months, the evacuees are struggling to settle down in Berkeley. 

On Wednesday, Cuneo attended her first classes as an eighth-grader at Albany Middle School, where her cousin also goes to school. “Going to school helped me get my mind off everything,” said Cuneo. She said she hopes to return to New Orleans for ninth grade.  

Jessica Cuneo’s sister Sydney, a fifth-grader, and her cousin Ariel Lewis, a third-grader, are attending Berkeley Arts Magnate School. G’nai Marchand, 18, and her distant cousin Chad Lewis, 19, started classes this week at Vista College.  

Dana Lewis, who had worked in a dry cleaners, and Nicole Cuneo, a hospital technician, said they were both looking for work in the East Bay. 

Marchand, like several family members, said a close friend of hers was still missing. Lewis said his friends were all accounted for, but they had been spread out across the country. 

“A lot are in Northern Louisiana, but one is in Chicago, one in Atlanta,” he said. “It seems like I went the farthest.” 

While most of his family members said they would like to return home, Lewis said he was hesitant to go back to New Orleans. 

“I don’t think it can ever be the same,” he said. “What’s bothered me more than anything is watching what’s happened. It was just like a third world country. Everything is destroyed. It’s unbelievable to think we were one step away from being there too.”›

The landmark UC Theatre on University Avenue in Berkeley could soon be the home of a jazz club, but just when remains a question. 

If Gloria Mendoza and her spouse Michael Govan, who operated Kimball’s East in Emeryville until it closed earlier this year, win all the necessary approvals, the long-vacant movie theater will be transformed into a supper club offering live music four nights a week. An adjoining restaurant will also open in the storefront immediately to the west currently occupied by Universi ty Nails. 

According to their application filed with the City of Berkeley, Mendoza and Govan plan to reconfigure the theater, replacing the row seats with fixed U-shaped booths seating 596. Additional movable tables and chairs along the sides and by the b ar in the rear of the showroom could bring the total up to 900. 

Because the theater has no columns or structural supports to block views, each seat will offer an unrestricted sightline to the stage. 

“This puts the UC Theatre back into play as a major entertainment forum,” said John Gordon, the commercial real estate agent who is negotiating the lease. “It will be a big shot in the arm for University Avenue.” 

The 15,215-square-foot building, which also includes some second-floor office space, ended its 84-year run as movie palace four years ago when its operators were unable to pay for an extensive earthquake retrofit. 

“The retrofit is now complete, and there will be very little construction involved” with the changes necessary for its new incarnation as a jazz club, Gordon said. 

Name glitch? 

While Gordon said the new club would be called Kimball’s Berkeley, there’s still some question if that will prove to be the case. 

The Kimball’s name comes from Kimball Allen, now 86, who has been operating musi c clubs in the Bay Area with his spouse, Jane Allen, for decades. 

At one point in the 1990s, the couple operated jazz clubs under the Kimball’s name in San Francisco, Emeryville and at Jack London Square in Oakland. 

The original Kimball’s was located be hind the San Francisco Opera House, while Kimball’s East was one of two clubs the Allens operated in the Emery Bay Public Market in Emeryville. Downstairs was the less formal Carnival, which specialized in salsa, and Kimball’s East, a more traditional jaz z showroom, was located upstairs. 

Kimball’s East opened in 1989 and Jane Allen said they sold Kimball’s East to Gloria Mendoza in 1999, a year and a half after they moved Carnival to 522 Second St. in Oakland’s Jack London Square area, offering salsa and pool. They recently acquired an adjacent space that will be run as a sports bar featuring three projection screens and 18 pool tables, she said. 

Allen said that when they sold their Emeryville club, the deal included the use of the Kimball’s name only a t that location. The club continued under their name until it closed in July. 

Told that their name would be attached to the new Berkeley operation, Allen said, “I have no knowledge of that at all. You took me by surprise. That’s something we’ll have to d iscuss.”  

Elusive operators 

Despite repeated requests by Gordon and calls from a reporter, the Mendozas and Govan declined to be interviewed for this article. 

“I don’t know why,” Gordon said. He called them “the most unusual clients I’ve ever worked w ith. He’s [Eric] the only guy who’s ever called me ‘Babe.’” 

Gordon said the site’s proximity to the downtown BART station and the accessibility of other forms of public transportation played a key role in picking the site. “They were also excited about t he hotels now in play for downtown,” he said. 

Gordon also said that when major acts played the club in Emeryville, many fans would book rooms for the weekend in local hotels. The Mendozas were delighted at the pending transformation of the Shattuck Hotel into the Berkeley Westin and UC Berkeley’s plans to build a new hotel nearby, he said. 

Jane Allen, who knows the Mendozaa and Govan, said “they’re wonderful people, really, and I wish them all the best.” 

Landmark status 

Designed by venerable Berkeley a rchitect James W. Plachek and opened in 1917, the move palace once seated up to 2,200 patrons during the golden age of silent film and witnessed the birth of color films and talkies. 

The lobby features unique terrazzo floors and tile work in the blue and gold colors of the university and the walls of the showroom are adorned with distinctive architectural flourishes.  

Though the building was designated a Berkeley landmark on May 6, 2002 by the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), the renovations now under consideration probably won’t probably won’t require any formal review by the LPC because no changes to the exterior are planned, Sage said. 

“We may provide a copy of the completed application to the commission as a courtesy so that they can review it,” Sage said Thursday. 

Daniella Thompson, an outspoken member of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA)—the city’s most active preservationist group—said she welcomes a new jazz club to Berkeley. 

“Better here than in Emeryville,” she said. 

While the landmark status offers protection for the exterior of the building, she said she hopes the new operators will preserve the unique character of the interior. 

“The interior is pretty much intact,” said Anthony Bruce, who works for BAHA.  

Gordon said “the kitchen will be the project’s one major piece of new construction, and may be built after the club opens,” Gordon said. It will serve both the showroom and the adjoining restaurant. 

In addition, new dressing rooms complete with showers a nd bathrooms will be built for performers at both ends of the stage and what is now the theater’s lobby area will become the full-service bar. 

ABC review 

In addition to the requisite city approvals, the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (AB C) must also approve the transfer of the liquor license from Emeryville to the Berkeley location—and that may pose additional problems. 

The license is currently held by Ego Entertainment, a limited liability corporation with Gloria Mendoza and her son Er ic as the managing partners. 

Andrew Gomez, the Oakland-based district administrator for the ABC, said that the owners were required to surrender their license within 15 days after the Emeryville club closed. The operators have a year in which they can ei ther reopen at the same location or apply to transfer the license to a new location which would have to open within a year of the surrender. The proposed opening of the Berkeley club next fall could require the owners to start the full licensing procedure over from scratch, leading to further delays before the club could serve alcohol—a financial mainstay of the supper club business. 

Approval of the transfer requires permission of the City of Berkeley, as well as a separate vetting process by the ABC, wi th notices to resident who live within 100 feet of the new location as well as to schools and community and civic organizations within 600 feet, as well as public notices that must be posted for 30 consecutive days. 

If there are no delays, the transfer could be approved as soon as 60 to 90 days after city approval. 

Should any individual or designated group within the noticed area raise objections, the process can take considerably longer—as happened with Anna De Leon’s Jazz Island on Allston Way in the Gaia Building. 

“Because one resident (of the Gaia Building) raised concerns that music from the club might affect him, it took four months to reach a settlement,” De Leon said. “The issue wasn’t even liquor.” 

Strong support 

Mayor Tom Bates and City Man ager Phil Kamlarz have expressed support for the project and named Dave Fogarty, a city economic development specialist, as the city’s representative working with Gordon and club operators Gloria Mendoza, her husband Michael Govan and her son Eric S. Mend oza. 

Fogarty said the jazz club is a perfect fit for the location and for downtown Berkeley’s Arts District. 

“Upper University Avenue hasn’t really benefited yet from much revitalization,” Fogarty said. “There isn’t much foot traffic now, and that’s wha t Kimball’s will do. It will bring a nighttime anchor, and I think it will make a huge difference.” 

Deborah Badhia, executive director of the Downtown Berkeley Association, said the proposal is “very exciting, a great addition to the Arts District. And b ecause it’s a bigger venue, it will be able to draw the top name acts.” 

Even Anna De Leon, the owner of Berkeley’s newest and largest existing jazz club, Anna’s Jazz Island, said she’s thrilled with the project. 

“I think it’s terrific. I welcome anythin g that brings more people into downtown Berkeley at night,” she said. 

Both Badhia and De Leon said that such a strong jazz presence in downtown Berkeley could help create a critical mass that could earn the city a national reputation as a major jazz cent er. 

Anna’s Jazz Island is one of four venues in downtown Berkeley that offer live jazz, the others being the Jazz School at 2087 Addison St., Jupiter at 2181 Shattuck Ave., and Downtown at 2102 Shattuck Ave. 

If all goes well, said Gordon, the club could hold its grand opening next fall, just as the Berkeley Repertory and Aurora Theaters open their new seasons.  

“The club will be a real bonus for the Downtown Berkeley Jazz Festival,” added Gordon. “This year they played at 12 or 14 different venues. Jus t imagine how it will be when they open.” 

Badhia said she was concerned that the project doesn’t include parking, nor did the building’s prior cinematic incarnation 

“It’s not reasonable to expect them [the new operators] to supply it,” she said, “and we’re relying on the municipality to provide the infrastructure to support the growing Arts District.”  

Aaron Sage, the senior planner assigned to the project, said Thursday that the project is currently “in the earliest possible stage, with many questions remaining to be answered.” But he added that he’ll examine the parking issue in the staff report he’s preparing for submission to the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB), which plays the central role in authorizing project permits. 

ZAB must also issue formal approval before the club will be allowed to serve alcohol, a process that involves notification of property owners and residents in the area.n

Renovations to Berkeley’s Civic Center Park, in the works since 1996, have been delayed once again after the city learned that the project would cost at least $400,000 more than anticipated. 

The city will redesign the project so that it can be completed for the $981,000 it has budgeted for renovations, said Berkeley Director of Parks and Recreation Marc Seleznow. The lowest bid for the project came in at $1.4 million, he said. 

“When you’re talking a $400,000 shortfall, I’m sure some things will be taken out of the design,” Seleznow said. 

The city had hoped to start the project this summer and complete it by the end of the year. Seleznow said it would take the city’s consultants about three months to redesign the project and then seek the City Council’s approval. He added that the city no longer had a timetable for when renovations would be completed. 

The planned renovation for the park just north of Berkeley High School between Milvia Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way included a new children’s play area, a refurbished west end of the park, including a stage and rails for skateboarders, pedestrian lighting, sidewalk renovations, new benches, drinking fountains and an upgraded irrigation system. 

Voters approved money for the project in 1996 as part of Measure S, a city bond for downtown improvements. Councilmember Dona Spring said the project was then delayed though 2002 as preservationists and advocates for Native Americans battled over a proposal to replace the park’s fountain with a new fountain design which would be a monument to local indigenous peoples. A compromise was eventually reached to leave the fountain design substantially unchanged and to install a monument for Native Americans elsewhere in the fountain plaza. 

“What a terrible shame that the process took so long and the money has lost so much of its value,” said Spring, whose district includes the park. 

A city engineering study performed this spring estimated that the full project would cost just under $1 million. But Seleznow said that rising construction costs resulted in the three bids from contractors all coming in over budget. “Concrete, steel and labor, everything is going up,” he said. 

Seleznow said that the monument honoring Native Americans would remain part of the plan and that the new lighting would probably remain as well. A children’s climbing structure, designed to resemble a creek flowing from the hills to the Bay, might have to be simplified, he added. 

In April, the City Council voted against spending $600,000 to repair and maintain the functionality of the existing fountain, which has been dry for the past four decades. 

Spring said that despite the city’s fiscal shortfall, she would try to squeeze more money for the park, including funds for the fountain. 

“There’s just something morbid about this dried out cement hole,” she said. 

While rising construction costs have jeopardized other projects in the city, most notably the planned David Brower Center, Seleznow said that contractor bids for upgrades in four other park have come in within the city’s budget. The parks are Cedar Rose Park, King School Park, Live Oak Park and Shorebird Park. 

Seleznow said the other projects only required new play equipment and didn’t need electrical or irrigation work. “They were more focused and didn’t require a lot of steel or concrete,” he said. 

f

The Berkeley City Council meets Tuesday at 7 p.m. after an eight-week recess. Items on the agenda include: 

• A request from Councilmember Gordon Wozniak to have the Planning Commission revise the Elmwood Business District quota system. Wozniak, who represents the district, is calling for prohibiting businesses from expanding into adjacent spaces, as Jeremy’s did this year. Also he has proposed to scale back the quota system from seven categories of quotas to two—barber shops and food service establishments. 

• A resolution calling on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to demand that President George Bush and Congress withdraw California National Guard troops from Iraq. The non-binding resolution is sponsored by Mayor Tom Bates and councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Max Anderson. It is nearly identical to a resolution that failed to win a majority of the Peace and Justice Commission earlier this year. 

• A proposal to approve an $80,000 grant from the state Department of Alcohol Beverage Control to help police enforce alcohol laws pertaining to minors. 

• A proposal to spend $204,000 for pedestrian safety improvements and the installation of a traffic signal at Hearst Avenue at Arch Street and LeConte Avenue. UC Berkeley has agreed to pay one-half of the project cost ($102,000) upon completion of the project. 

• A resolution from Councilmember Worthington calling on Alameda County to work with electronic voting machine vendors to help Berkeley begin instant runoff voting in 2006.  

• Consideration of the appeal of Zoning Board ruling to grant the owners of the lot at 2615 Marin Ave. permission to construct a house on the property. Last summer, the council split 4-4 on the appeal from neighbors who contend the home will obstruct views. 

• A proposal by Kriss Worthington to amend city law to specify that an elected official is also eligible to serve as an appointed member of a city commission. Worthington’s appointee to the Housing Advisory Commission, Jesse Arreguin, is also an elected rent board member. The city attorney’s office recently published an opinion that holding both types of positions violated city law, according to Michael Wilson, president of the Berkeley Property Owners Association. 

• A proposal to approve $177,600 for traffic circles at Seventh Street and Allston Way, Ninth Street and Addison Street, Ninth Street and Allston Way, Ninth Street and Bancroft Way, Tenth Street and Bancroft Way, California and Derby streets, California and Parker streets, Chestnut Street and Hearst Avenue, Hillegass and Webster streets, The Plaza and Nogales Street, and San Fernando and San Ramon avenues.›

The drive to make Berkeley the first city in the country to charge a fee for grocery bags at city supermarkets hit a snag this week when results were released of a recent unscientific online survey conducted by the mayor’s office. 

Out of 165 responses, 43 percent were in favor of a fee for grocery bags and 44 percent were opposed. When respondents were then given information about the environmental impacts of plastic grocery bags, their opinions shifted slightly: 46 percent approved the fee and 41 percent opposed it. 

“The results show there is no clear consensus in the community about how to move forward with this,” said Cisco De Vries, chief of staff to Mayor Tom Bates. 

De Vries said the survey did not necessarily herald any future legislation, but posed a useful question as the city works towards Alameda County’s mandate that it reduce its waste going to landfills by 75 percent by 2010.  

“We want to put forward ideas about how to reduce waste overall as well as specifically cut down on the use of plastics,” De Vries said. “This is one in a series of ideas that we need to look at.” 

Martin Bourque, executive director of the Ecology Center, which handles Berkeley’s curbside recycling program, called for a more extensive survey. “I’m not totally convinced that is how people see this issue,” he said. 

Dona Spring, the only Green Party member of the City Council, said she had been approached about introducing a grocery bag fee, but said any legislation would need a mobilized group of supporters to back it. 

“It’s something that would take a lot of work,” she said. “We’d have to explain it to grocery stores.” 

Currently Safeway allows customers to recycle plastic bags and Whole Foods offers customers credit for not using store bags. 

While Berkeley recycles paper grocery bags, the plastic bags present a landfill problem. 

According to the California Integrated Waste Management Board, last year, 1.7 million tons of thin plastics were sent to state landfills—20 percent more than five years before. Of the thin plastics disposed, 147,038 tons were grocery and merchandise bags—roughly eight pounds per person. 

Bourque said that plastic shopping bags slow down recycling because workers have to separate the bags from materials that the city does recycle. 

Although about 5 percent of the bags nationwide are recycled to make plastic lumber, Bourque said the Ecology Center “hasn’t found a consistent good market for them.” 

Bourque said that thin plastics accounts for roughly 20 percent of Berkeley’s waste, which is trucked to Livermore, Calif. at $50 a ton. 

Cities in Ireland, South Africa, Bangladesh, Australia, China and Taiwan, among others, have instituted grocery bag fees, but so far no U.S. city has followed suit. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors this year rejected a 17 cent fee. A lesser fee is still being considered as the city completes studies to determine the true cost of disposing of plastic grocery bags. 

Bourque said that a 15 cent grocery bag in Dublin, Ireland, has reduced the use of plastic bags by 80 percent. He’d like to see Berkeley institute a similar fee. “It needs to be at least 20 cents to make people stop and think,” he said. “If I was walking away with five bags and it cost me a buck, I would think twice about that.” 

›

Hundreds of dead fish floated to the surface of Strawberry Creek Tuesday morning, the apparent result of chemicals dumped in the stream, according to a group of residents who reported the incident. 

Asa Dodsworth, who lives on the bank of Strawberry Creek on Acton Street, called the Fire Department after he began feeling dizzy investigating the suddenly cloudy water flowing through the creek in his back yard. 

“I noticed that the water in the stream was cloudy, and there were dead fish floating in the stream,” Dodsworth said. 

He and some of his friends headed upstream to locate the source of the spill. They found that the creek was running clear and odor-free off the UC Berkeley campus into the entrance of the culvert at Oxford Street. 

0pening a manhole cover at Civic Center Park, they noticed a strong bleach-like smell, they said, though the water was running clear. 

Dodsworth and friends collected 87 dead fish—identified by a state game warden as mostly members of the carp family. They also found a koi that was hanging onto life. 

Geoffrey Fielder, hazardous materials specialist for the city, said that the spill probably originated from a commercial source. 

“It flushed completely through in about an hour, and I would guess the contamination had occurred somewhere between Oxford and Acton streets,” he said. “If I had to guess, I would say the contamination probably resulted from cleaning at a commercial establishment.” 

Captain Tim Dillon of Alameda County Fire Department Station 19, based at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, said the water was clear by the time he arrived at Dodsworth’s house. 

His company is trained in handling hazardous materials spills, and the infrared testing equipment they brought identified ammonium chloride, Lysol cleaning solution and an optical lens cleaner in the water samples Dodsworth provided. 

“I have no clear idea what killed the fish,” Dillon said Wednesday. 

Dimethyl amine, used in production of fungicides, herbicides and rocket fuels, was also found in the samples—again at low levels. 

Lt. Robert Perez, a hazardous materials specialist with the Berkeley Fire Department, had arrived earlier, when the stream was still milky. 

“He told me that initially he couldn’t see the bottom of the stream,” Dillon said. 

Todd Ajari, a warden with the California Department of Fish and Game, took the dead fish Dodsworth and his friends had collected, along with water samples. 

Like Fiedler, Ajari said he suspected someone had dumped cleaning solution into a storm drain that emptied into the creek. “It’s hard to say whether it was intentional or unintentional,” he added. “While it was probably a small amount” that was dumped, Ajari said that “in a small creek the effect was great.” 

Fielder said that beginning with Tuesday’s incidents, his office would start reporting spills to the police. 

“We had another incident in Strawberry Creek two months ago, where we suspect latex paint was dumped into the creek, but that didn’t kill the fish,” he said. 

Detecting the source of creek contamination is difficult at best, Fielder said. “The only way you can get at it is a really quick response and you would have to stop traffic so you can pull the manhole covers” in city roadways. 

Officials urged anyone who suspects creek contamination to call 911 or the Fire Department as soon as possible. The Department of Fish and Game maintains a 24-hour toll-free reporting number for spills and poacher reports at 888-334-2258. 

At least one-quarter of unionized workers at Bayer Corp.’s Berkeley facility were barred by their union from voting on a new contract Wednesday because they had refused to pay a $40 surcharge after an embezzlement scheme had depleted union coffers of more than $100,000. 

The workers at Bayer who remain in good standing with the union voted by a ratio of 2-1 to approve the new three-year contract, said Donald Mahon, business agent for the International Longshoreman and Warehouse Union Local 6.  

The new contract, which will give most of Bayer’s 551 unionized employees incremental raises, goes into effect Monday. 

“I don’t have a problem with the contract, but I think the union is crooked,” said Deborah Burr, a maintenance worker at Bayer. 

According to Local 6, about 150 employees refused to pay the surcharge, but Burr and other Bayer workers said that the number is closer to 300. Local 6 refused to release the exact vote tally to the Daily Planet or workers interviewed on Thursday. 

“I don’t think it’s right for the union to charge us $40 because someone in the union stole money,” Burr said. 

Local 6 voted to assess the extra fee in 2003 to its members after former president Robert Flotte could not account for union dues. 

Mahon said Local 6 has filed a lawsuit against Flotte, his brother, and the union’s former secretary treasurer to recoup the funds, but added that the lawsuit is on hold because the defendants have filed for bankruptcy. 

No criminal charges were filed against the three men. Mahon said the Department of Labor didn’t aggressively pursue the case. “If the investigator they have now was working for them in 2003 there might have been charges filed,” he said. 

Still, Mahon said the union was fully within its rights to bar Bayer employees from voting on the contract. “To be able to vote you have to be a member in good standing, which means you have to be current on dues and assessments,” he said. 

Mahon added that nearly all of the local’s 3,000 workers paid the $40 and that Bayer was the one shop that resisted the surcharge. 

“Bayer is different,” Mahon said. “They have a lot of people who are working at their first jobs and are from a white collar background. It takes some people a while to figure out what a union is all about. They want the benefits of a union without paying for it.” 

Hector Prado, a maintenance worker, who paid the $40 surcharge, disagreed with the union’s stance. “I don’t think it’s right for the union to charge us $40 because the former president ran away with our money,” he said. Prado pays $67 a month in union dues. 

Last week, union members rejected a contract that would have left janitors facing a pay cut from $20.29 to $18 an hour, while most other employees would have received annual raises of 3.5 percent in the first two years and four percent in the third year, plus a $750 signing bonus.  

Under the contract approved by the union Wednesday, janitors will continue to make $20.29, but no employees will receive the signing bonus and non-janitors will now get a 3.8 percent raise in the third year. 

›

Berkeley Unified School District leaders pledged this week that even though the Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team has left the building, the district itself will continue the organization’s work. 

In the meantime, the BUSD board approved the hiring of three safety officers to replace the Berkeley Police Department’s school resource officers who have been withdrawn from the district’s middle school for financial reasons. 

Following a BUSD fiscal crisis in 2001, FCMAT spent three years setting financial and program goals for the district and publishing performance evaluations. The state-funded school intervention organization published its final BUSD report in July, praising the district for making “good progress over time,” but cautioning it to “remain vigilant to avoid fiscal insolvency.” 

FCMAT rated the district in the areas of community relations and governance, personnel management, pupil achievement, financial management, and facilities management. 

At Wednesday night’s BUSD board meeting, board directors and Superintendent Michele Lawrence said that evaluation of those areas should go forward, though now by the district itself, rather than by an outside agency. 

“The value here is that we have the template which has been implemented for the past three years,” Director John Selawsky said. “We don’t have to invent it. Carrying this work forward enhances our efforts and adds to our credibility as a district.” 

Selawsky said that the areas of pupil achievement and fiscal and personnel management should be the top priorities in a continued district evaluation program. 

“It took a lot of hard work by people throughout the district to get us back to a stable, albeit fragile, financial situation,” said Board President Nancy Riddle. 

The board directed Lawrence to add the FCMAT-developed performance evaluations to the district’s regular calendar of performance indicator reports. 

But while directors and the superintendent expressed pleasure at the district’s reported progress under FCMAT’s goals, some also expressed reservations about using FCMAT ratings to judge BUSD’s standing in relation to other districts in the state. 

With BUSD averaging a little over six points (out of 10) on the FCMAT scale, Director Joaquin Rivera said that “no one knows if a fully-functional district would be able to get tens all across the board.” 

Noting that the “standards in this report are subjective to the individual evaluators that came to the district” and that different evaluators at other districts may have used other standards, Rivera said that “the real value of the report is how we made progress internally.” 

Even those results came under some criticism, with Rivera pointing out that since FCMAT only looked over a different, selected list of district programs each time it issued an evaluation, “it is possible that progress was made in areas that FCMAT didn’t specifically look at in a given period, and therefore that progress wasn’t noted in the report for that period.” 

And School Board Vice President Terry Doran said that while he was “glad that FCMAT was here,” he thought some of the organization’s criticisms were out of place for Berkeley. 

Doran pointed out that the FCMAT report noted a “high level of special education [expenditure] encroachment [on the BUSD budget] compared with statewide averages” and that the district’s 12.75 percent special education population was also “above current state averages.” It was a situation FCMAT called “of concern to the review team.” 

Doran said he saw that as a positive rather than a negative. 

“This community has been known for years to attempt to provide a positive environment for students with special needs,” he said. “Many parents bring their special needs children to the district, just for that. I don’t want to discourage special needs students from coming here.” 

Doran also took issue with FCMAT’s assessment that “the district will not be able to stop deficit spending [in its nutritional services fund] unless the food restrictions are eased to permit the high school to serve a wider variety of foods.” 

“We pioneered the elimination of junk food, sodas, and sugary snacks while other districts balanced their budgets by serving crap,” Doran said. “There was no acknowledgment in the report that we provide more nutritious and better tasting food to students than almost any other district in the state.” 

On the middle school safety officer issue, the board voted to hire three district safety officers using money that had been budgeted for administrative positions that have not been filled. The three city police officers assigned to the district’s middle schools since 1998 were withdrawn by the city because the grant that funded the officers ended. 

Lawrence said the district did not learn of the city’s decision until after this year’s budget was passed. 

Wednesday’s meeting was the first for newly rehired fiscal manager Eric Smith, who replaced the outgoing Glenston Thompson. Thompson had replaced Smith a year ago after Smith left the district for personal reasons. 

Berkeley High School senior Teal Miller was also sworn in as the board’s new student director, replacing Lily Dorman-Thomas, who graduated from Berkeley High School in June.›

As Tuesday’s strike deadline nears for the East Bay’s Summit Alta Bates hospitals, a state legislator announced plans Thursday for hearings on the tax-exempt status of their corporate parent. 

Johan Klehs, chair of the Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation, notified Sutter Health CEO Pat Frey that his committee is “particularly interested in conducting a detailed examination of Sutter Health, given the scrutiny it has received from the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee.” 

The Oakland and Berkeley facilities are among 13 Sutter units facing the Tuesday strike deadline from SEIU-United Healthcare-West, which represents licensed vocational nurses and other hospital workers. 

The California Nurses’ Association, which recently signed a contract with Summit Alta Bates, has announced plans to walked out in sympathy with SEIU-UHW, as have several other unions who have also signed contracts. 

In his letter to Sutter, Klehs said that he would be following up with a request for information and documentation on a variety of subjects, including: 

• Charity care. 

• Executive compensation. 

• Billing and pricing practices. 

• Treatment of the uninsured. 

• The chain’s tax exempt status. 

• Affiliations with for-profit entities. 

• Financial performance. 

“In addition, you and other corporate officers should be prepared to be prepared to publicly testify,” wrote Klehs.

One of the most heart-wrenching facts of Hurricane Katrina’s horrific destruction is that so much of the death and devastation was completely avoidable. Another sobering fact is that the means to avoid so much pain and loss was well known and technologically low-tech. 

University of New Orleans geologist Shea Penland said, “It’s not if it will happen, It’s when.” (National Geographic, October 2004.)  

If the catastrophe we’re witnessing right now along the Gulf Coast was expected, how come funding and manpower to fight it was either drastically cut or never available? It’s popular to bad-mouth President Bush for cutting Army Corp of Engineering funding, FEMA grants, National Guard readiness, and wetlands preservation programs. However, he and his fellow far-right Republicans are not the only politicians to stick their heads in the sand in denial of pending natural disasters.  

This Gulf Coast hurricane is not the largest natural disaster destined to strike us. The July 18 issue of New Orleans City Business wrote, “A land-falling hurricane in New Orleans is the No. 3 biggest natural disaster for the United States. The first is an earthquake on the San Andreas [fault].”  

The Bay Area is built on two very active faults—the San Andreas and the Hayward. The latter is parallel to the Bay in the East Bay hills and runs through Memorial Stadium on the UC Berkeley campus. According to the California Geological Survey (www.consrv.ca.gov/cgs), a 6.5 earthquake solely on the northern Hayward fault (Berkeley’s section) would cause $9 billion in building damage—and that is not counting job, education, infrastructure, or medical costs, nor the number of dead and maimed residents. A combination of the northern and southern Hayward at 6.9 would cost $23 billion, while a repeat of the 1868 southern Hayward 6.7 quake would cost $15 billion (again, both costs are solely building damage, not total damage). 

A major quake is coming on the Hayward fault (66 percent chance in the next 30 years). There will be billions of dollars in damage and thousands of human casualties. What are we doing to minimize the inevitable destruction and death from this quake? The answer is heart-stopping: almost nothing. In fact, we’ve been doing less and less every year! 

Berkeley’s Office of Emergency Services, which coordinates disaster planning and disaster mitigation, has been mercilessly slashed to one part-time employee from a barely-adequate four employees in 2002. Those four employees were very overburdened but were able to get a lot of vital tasks accomplished, including much of the following:  

OES teaches us laypeople how to survive and to take care of ourselves and our at-risk neighbors after a major disaster. Residents should plan on being isolated from the rest of the state for one to two weeks after a major quake. The delay in outside help that happened in New Orleans will occur after a major quake. Our first responders—police, fire, and medical—will be concentrating on major structure failures (like the Nimitz and the Bay Bridge in 1989) so we will all be on our own.  

Each passing disaster teaches us that a coordinated response means less death and less damage, yet there is no functioning central office of disaster professionals who can plan, train, and practice this coordination among city, county, BUSD, U.C., and private entities like Bayer, Community Agencies Responding to Disaster (CARD), and the Red Cross.  

OES provides government and citizens with a destination point for new initiatives and on-going safety concerns. The current work on a soft-story ordinance echoes the earlier unreinforced masonry ordinance that OES helped coordinate with the Planning Department. The on-going planning for city-run disaster shelters, currently in limbo due to overburdened staff, must be completed. New initiatives, like convincing the Berkeley Unified School District to incorporate a flexible multi-grade disaster curriculum like the Red Cross’s “Masters Of Disaster,” should be coordinated by OES. 

Over the years, the city commission I serve on, the Disaster Council, has worked tirelessly with the OES and other city offices on bringing neighborhood volunteers into the process, saving precious staff time and adding new ideas like the almost-completed emergency caches at each Berkeley public school. 

The real tragedy is that none of this takes a lot of money. The cliché of an ounce of prevention equaling a pound of cure applies triply to disasters. The city has allowed a once-adequate OES to be slashed apart in 3 successive budget blood-lettings, leaving all of us at greater risk of avoidable death and injury.  

We need an OES that is firmly insulated from budget cuts and is adequately staffed. Otherwise everyone reading this will have less and less of a chance of surviving our pending “Katrina.” After Earthquake Katrina, will the current mayor and council be hailed as far-thinking protectors or as short-sighted inadvertent killers?  

Jesse Townley is the vice-chair of the Disaster Council and former executive director and board member of Easy Does It Disability Assistance. 

NEW DELHI—Even as the United States struggles to come to terms with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that has destroyed New Orleans, there is a sense of shock in India. Pictures of victims begging for food, reports of looting, rapes, racist attacks, an ineffective disaster management routine has revealed the innards of America that many believed never existed. After all, making it to America, the land of opportunities, freedom and quality lifestyle, remains one of the abiding Indian dreams. New Orleans is a modern city and a tourist destination. 

It makes matters all the more worse when the prediction about the hurricane had already been made but the necessary precautions not taken. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced with thousands probably dead. Damage is estimated at $25 billion and disruption to U.S. refineries has pushed oil prices to record highs above $70 a barrel. 

The visuals being beamed in and reports of desperation are generally associated with Africa or less developed countries in Asia. Two pictures displayed prominently by newspapers here speak of the tragedy. A black woman is lying dead on the roadside while a police car whizzes past. Another photograph is of a large group of women lunging for food being distributed.  

Some of the voices that resonate: “I really don't know what to say about President Bush,” said a 60-year-old Vietnam veteran. “He showed no lack of haste when he wanted to go to Iraq, but for his own people right here in Louisiana, we get only lip service.” 

“They di ed right here, in America, waiting for food,” said another affected person. 

Many have been talking about the recent natural disasters in India—the tsunami in December and the unprecedented rainfall in Mumbai in July which was perhaps dealt with much bett er, now that one can compare with New Orleans. In Mumbai, the government agencies were found severely wanting, but there have been innumerable tales of people pitching in to help citizens with food, shelter and transport that checked higher casualties. There have been some reports of vehicles stalled in water being burgled, but no arson and looting to the scale that happened in New Orleans. A couple who spoke to this correspondent talked about the help they received when their car was flooded. The locals in the area arranged for their night stay and assured that nobody would harm the car. Two days later, the couple went back to find their car intact. There have been many many such stories which have been covered on TV as well as print media. Similar was t he case with tsunami, though the governments of the coastal states did a better job in providing relief, apart from the citizen and private initiatives.  

Comparisons have also been made to the response to the London blasts in July this year. The emergenc y services in the city responded with a zeal that was commendable. Ordinary people chipped in. Although the police got it horribly wrong by shooting the Brazilian youth, by and large the response of the government agencies has been quite good. Just like n atural disasters, it is near impossible to prevent suicide attacks of the kind that the al Qaeda propagates that cause maximum damage to a peaceful civilian population and outrage in the electronic media. It is reactions post-tragedy that can go a long wa y in mitigating suffering. 

In a reversal of usual roles, India has offered a comprehensive assistance package to the United States, the world’s largest relief donor. An estimated 70 nations, from Azerbaijan to Venezuela, Afghanistan and Thailand have off ered cash contributions to the Red Cross totaling more than $100 million, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said. The American people too are responding with massive donations.  

India’s three pronged package attempts to export a combination of materials and expertise, given the experience in handling large scale disasters. Apart from a $5 million contribution to the American Red Cross, India has offered to send Army medical teams, rather than civilian, given the law and order problems. This is apart from expertise in water purification and consignments of medicines.  

The questions 

Many questions are being asked post-Katrina: Has America become too obsessed with other countries to ignore the interests of its own? Has the administration gone too far in pursuing its war on terror, the battles in Iraq and geo-strategic games to stamp its might, at the cost of its own people? Is something wrong with America that has been missed by people elsewhere? Has President George W. Bush committed too many resources in the battlefield which many consider unnecessary that has led to the absence of adequate manpower to protect American citizens? Have Bush’s tax cuts to please the rich and corporate America harmed the nation? 

A news agency has analyzed census data that shows that the residents in the three dozen worst affected neighborhoods in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were disproportionately minority and had incomes $ 10,000 below the national average.  

However, issues of poverty and racism have be en debated for long in every society. Mumbai has its share of poor and caste/regional/religion barriers exist. It is within such a structure that the respect for law and individual dignity has to exist, especially during a crisis.  

“What we are seeing in U.S.A. is complete chaos,” said Farida Lambe, a social worker involved in relief during the Mumbai floods. “My assessment is that many of the problems arose as the people are not used to facing calamities. They expect complete efficiency and find it difficult to cope if it does not come about.” 

The fingers thus point to Bush and his policies. When such a tragedy gets out of hand, it is natural to blame the government which has the responsibility to maintain law and order as well as ensure relief to the people affected fast enough.  

The question is, had not the Bush government been so embroiled in the war in Iraq as well as keeping an eye on suspected nuclear weapons in Iran and North Korea, would matters have been better sorted? They should have been. At least there would have been no Cindy Sheehan with her sad story demanding attention. 

The question being asked is whether national resources that feed on American taxpaying public should be better deployed to ensure the people of Iraq or America. Sept. 11, 2001 changed the United States. It forced the country to look for the enemy out there, with Saddam Hussein the convenient scapegoat. Most agree that terrorism in the name of Islam has influenced youth around the world, whether in Britain, Europe or A merica and the solution does not lie in going for more wars. The world is grappling with the rise of Islamic terrorism which is a product of the Cold War that was played out in countries such as Afghanistan. 

The terrorists were never holed up in Iraq and the worst of them are still somewhere in Afghanistan/Pakistan. Bush won the first election as people backed him on the supposed war on terror. The terrorists continue to multiply while Americans die in Iraq and New Orleans. The effects of Hurricane Katrina will be felt for long. It will make American policy makers look inwards. As many experts have predicted the Republicans will have to answer for a lot when elections happen again in the United States in 2008. 

Siddharth Srivastava is a New Delhi-based journalist.  

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A CLARIFICATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thanks for publishing my article, “Listeners Marched to Support KPFA” (Sept. 2). 

I want to correct a wrong impression readers might get, due to a misprint plus an edit of the title of the piece, which together give the impression that I disrespect the staff’s contribution to KPFA. 

The station is pretty polarized, at this point, but will be trying to reconcile differences so that we can work together towards our common goals, which are considerable. (I believe the LSB has committed to be implementing Mr. Campanella’s “Six-point Plan for Reconciliation and Transformation”.) 

It was not my intention to say things in such a way as to exacerbate divisiveness at the station and I did not write the piece that way! I want the station to heal and personally, to be able to work on committees with staff who won’t prejudge me as their enemy! 

The third paragraph should have read like this—except that I’m putting in brackets the section which the Daily Planet accidentally omitted: 

“It was an amazing victory when we won the station back and won democratic participation for the listeners, who were instrumental in the victory. Our governance was changed from a general manager and an advisory board, who did not represent us or the staff, to an elected board composed of 18 listener representatives and 6 staff representatives, and reclaimed the] five stations’ representation on the National Board.” 

The other change was in the title, which I wrote as “[A Listener] Marched to Support the Station, not (Just) the Staff.” The “Just” was left out to shorten it, but it gives the impression that I or we did not support the staff!  

We do support the staff; the only thing I do not support is those attempts on the part of some of the staff to deny some 30,000 listener-supporters their voice in station affairs. 

I look forward to us all working together using our station to strengthen our communities in bringing about a better world. 

Mara Rivera 

• 

SUSAN PARKER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Newsflash! Everything isn’t about racism! Suzy Parker wrote an intelligent column about a teenager who was taking advantage of her hospitality and a grandmother who was able to teach Suzy a thing or two about maintaining control. The column was amusing and instructive—and not at all about the teenager’s being black, as at least one of your readers seemed to think. 

Susan Parker’s column is the reason I almost never miss picking up the Tuesday edition of the Daily Planet. 

Carolyn Bradley 

• 

PARKER FOR PREZ 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Dear Madeline Smith: Well I am a black person and I love Susan Parker and I think about all the things that are wrong in the world you would be on the top of my list. Suzi, as we call her around our neighborhood, has helped so many people. You read her articles and misinterpret what she says as being racist. But that is not the case. She is around African-Americans 24/7, and for you to just write bad things makes me feel sorry for you, because you don’t know her and you have never been in her company to actually know what she is really like. So, my friend, you should take a look the mirror.  

Susan Parker for president! 

Kisha Scott 

• 

UNSOPHISTICATED? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The people Susan Parker wrote about liked her articles. But Madeline Smith Moore says they were “unsophisticated.” So their opinions don’t matter? Just who appointed Ms. Moore to decide what African Americans should and should not enjoy? 

Nancy Ward 

• 

HURRICANE KATRINA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Lack of preparedness on the part of the U.S. Government is as much responsible for devastation in the hurricane region as is the poor response in the aftermath. 

The levees located near the region were no secret. Why wasn’t there a plan for repairing broken levees, and why weren’t they shored up before the storm hit, in preparation for the worst? 

If the U.S. can airlift supplies and food to foreign countries, by plane and helicopter, why wasn’t that response prepared for a natural disaster in its own country? 

I don’t buy for a minute the excuse that flooding has kept supplies from arriving on the ground to the people in the devastated regions. Not when millions of dollars are being spent for equipment and machinery that has created so much devastation on foreign lands. Why doesn’t the U.S. put taxpayer dollars to good use instead of destruction? 

These questions need to be answered. This lack of preparedness and pathetic response is unconscionable.  

Get the people that are there what they need now. If they need water and food, drop it to them before they die. Get them out of there before disease takes hold. Bring all the troops, planes and helicopters deployed to Iraq and around the world home now to help with this effort. 

This is nothing short of parental neglect on a national scale. What example is being set for good people in the U.S. and world-wide? 

The current conditions in New Orleans are American Apartheid in action, for all the world to see. 

Marcy Greenhut 

• 

COLOR BLIND 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I think those who claim that George W. Bush doesn’t care about poor people who are black are mistaken. Actually Bush doesn’t care about poor people regardless of race or ethnic background. 

Meade Fischer 

Watsonville 

• 

AMERICAN HOLOCAUST 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

With a formerly unthinkable American Holocaust horrifying the whole world, it should be clear to the most obtuse right-wing fundamentalist “Christian” that the George W. Bush administration has no business being in the White House to “lead” the American people. 

If the Democrats can’t rise to an occasion such as the one evolving in Louisiana with a filibuster on the John Roberts nomination, an Alberto Gonzales nomination, and any other nominee to the Supreme Court named by this disastrous president, it is over as a party. I have voted Democratic all my very long life, and never hear a peep from them except a “survey” that elicits no response whatsoever and to which is always attached is a request for funds.  

We are living right now the “exceptional circumstances” agreed on in the Dems’ ill-conceived “compromise”! 

Nancy Chirich 

• 

PATRONIZING PLANET 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am writing in regard to Becky O’Malley’s Aug. 26 editorial, “Welcome Back, Part Two.” I have watched with alarm for some time your editorial page’s uncompromisingly negative attitude toward the university, and I had been hoping that you were at least able to differentiate between the administration and the many thousands of individual people associated with the university. I now see that hope was in vain. 

I was quite shocked to read that a newspaper that considers itself a publication for everyone in “Greater Berkeley” would deride and exclude every single UC Berkeley student as a “guest.” I am a UC Berkeley graduate student, and as such I have chosen to make my home here for a rather long time. I pay quite a lot of rent to my landlord, a “long-term” Berkeley resident, and that money goes to paying city taxes on his property. I eat meals in many Berkeley restaurants, and buy the rest of my food in the city, supporting these local businesses. I volunteer for and contribute money to local causes. And, yes, I am a student and employee of one of the world’s finest universities—which, for all its faults, enriches the cultural life of the city tremendously. I am most certainly not anyone’s guest! 

I am unconvinced by your moderating, tacked-on final paragraph, and I am not interested in being told that I am an exception or that it is really the undergraduates who are the problem. By all means, ask your fellow citizens to keep the noise of their parties down, if that is what you really wanted to say. But don’t patronize us as “guests!” 

Seth Zenz 

• 

SOUTH CAMPUS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Richard Brenneman’s article on South Campus noise complaints seemed thorough and interesting. But his second sentence raised my eyebrows: “If you crowd a handful or two bright young students into one-bedroom off-campus apartments, parties are pretty much a given—as are the complaints of the more sedate ‘civilians’ who live nearby.” 

In any context the word “sedate” connotes stiff formality; in Berkeley it is a definite put-down. People of any age and any role in Berkeley—even students—might resent being put down because they don’t want to be kept awake by noise at 4 a. m. 

Perhaps we should all, as a community, question some of the other assumptions implicit in that sentence. For instance, that living independently, away from home, to pursue “higher education” does not include learning to live as an adult, instead of like a 13-year-old whose parents went out of town for the weekend.  

We should also question the assumption that blasting loud music throughout a neighborhood at 4 a.m. is a sign of youthful high spirits; on the contrary, it is an act of aggression. We have several students, in groups of one to four, living on our South Berkeley block in houses also occupied by the owner, who has set rules for reasonable behavior. By reasonable, I mean that we all expect and endure one noisy, late party at the beginning of the semester, and another at the end. The rest of the time, the students generally keep their parties like our own—size and noise with consideration for the neighbors. 

Recently one large house on our block, not owner-occupied, was enlarged to house I’m not sure how many students. We had to leave polite little notes: “Please don’t block sidewalk with your car.” And, “Please don’t put packing cartons etc. on the curb until pickup days. We all keep our garbage inside until then.” Our block captain made a couple of calls to the owner. 

We got lucky—for now. (Maybe someone in the house took charge.) The last time there was a big ending-semester party, we all got a letter in our mailboxes, warning us there might be loud music, inviting us to join in if we liked, and giving their phone number to call “instead of police” if the noise was too much. (We are, at least six of us, instant callers of police for excessive noise problems.) I left a note in their mailbox complimenting them on their classy attitude and wishing them a good time. 

Brenneman quotes Jesse Arreguin: “My sense is that the university is putting the neighbors before its own students.” I don’t understand this statement. Does it mean that the university should defend and promote behavior by students that their neighbors would not tolerate from each other? Does it mean that there are two “opposing sides” here, one to be favored over the other? 

We are all—students and long-term residents—one community. Responsible consideration for one another is beneficial, not only for the permanent residents, but for the young people who come here for “higher education.” 

Dorothy Bryant 

Imagine that you are young and poor and nursing your beautiful new baby (brown and dimpled, with a head full of hair) while looking after your sister’s children and thumbing through the newspaper looking for a job. Your mother, who has been your rock, is in the next room tending to your ailing father who is suffering from diabetes. Your little brother walks in from school, hungry as usual. You butter the last slice of bread and try to help him with his homework which, at the seventh grade level, is already beyond you. 

Your family subsists on your sister’s minimum-wage paycheck and the meager government assistance your father receives as a Vietnam War veteran. Your boyfriend helps out when he can but he is also young, unemployed and undereducated. He is angry much of the time, frustrated that he cannot do more. It is the end of the month, that time when food, milk, meat and diapers run out and you thank God that the checks are due tomorrow. But tomorrow doesn’t come. Instead, the water is rising. The water is rising and you have no food, no money and no place to go. 

This is the kind of human interest story we should have heard about in the days immediately following Hurricane Katrina’s destruction of New Orleans. But we didn’t. The media could well handle coverage of the overall devastation. The shocking visuals spoke for themselves, not unlike the kind of footage gathered when covering the aftermath of a war. But, in terms of the human side of the story, the media seriously failed, beginning with its constant referral to the mostly poor, mostly black survivors as “refugees” as though they were Third World aliens who didn’t belong here anyway.  

I first visited New Orleans, my Creole husband’s hometown, in 1981. After we wined and dined our way through the French Quarter, making certain to save enough room for Mama’s gumbo, we drove through the surrounding dilapidated neighborhoods, a stark contrast to the picturesque Vieux Carre. As we drove on, I noticed that many of the homes had little shacks adjacent to them, too small to be garages and too large to be storage units. “Those were the slave quarters,” I was told. Close enough so that you could hear your mistress hollering but separate enough to render yourself invisible until needed. I was shocked. As a second-generation Californian, I had never been to the South, never seen any plantations or physical remnants of overt segregation—much less slavery—until that moment. The reality of it all, up close and personal, brought tears to my eyes. 

I also noticed the class divisions among New Orleans’ white, black and Creole citizens, much like those in South Africa between the wealthy whites, the poor, working-class blacks and the middle income, mixed-race “coloreds.” Most of the whites and Creoles are well-educated professionals, property and business owners. The majority of the blacks are poorly educated, low-income wage earners or unemployed.  

It is these folks whose ancestors lived in those shacks. It is these folks whose ancestors worked Louisiana’s prosperous sugar, cotton and rice fields, even after slavery. And it is these folks who were left to rot for four days while FEMA, Homeland Security and the rest of the Bush administration ignored the local government’s pleas for help. FEMA director Michael Brown admitted that the federal government didn’t even know that there were evacuees at the Convention Center, stranded without food or water, until they had been there two days! Three babies died there, of heat exhaustion and dehydration. Three babies.  

One young mother who had just given birth and been separated from her newborn in the hospital, was given about five seconds on the news, her baby’s photo in hand, her eyes pleading for help. We weren’t even given her name. Perhaps if she had looked like Natalee Holloway, Laci Petersen or Chandra Levy those cameras would have been ordered to follow her until that baby was found. We would have seen: Heart-Wrenching Search, followed by Touching Reunion, Tears of Joy, then Cut to Diaper Commercial and it’s a Wrap! 

Instead, we were subjected to continuous media focus on “looters.” Particularly galling was the now infamous photo from the Associated Press depicting a young black man making his way through the water with a bag of food. He was described as having “looted” the food while a white couple pictured in an Agence France-Presse photograph with a similar bag of food was described as having “found” their food. The distinction was glaringly racist, indefensible.  

Most of these distraught evacuees—exhausted, hungry and still reeling from shock—were herded into arenas that were no more than holding pens, eventually locked in as though they were prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, prevented from joining relatives aching to rescue them and unprotected from criminals who had been thrown in there with them. Families were split apart, put onto buses and not told where they were being taken. According to Barbara Bush, these folks are doing just fine. In yet another demonstration of “conservative compassion”—I mean, “compassionate conservatism”—she made the following comment on Tuesday while touring relief centers in Houston: 

“What I’m hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas—so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this—this (chuckle chuckle) is working very well for them.” 

What planet is she from? Unbelievable. No. What’s worse is that it is believable. Here we are in 2005 and to many, black folks are still viewed as not quite human, as only three-fifths of a man.  

According to New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and local activist Malik Raheem (as reported on KPFA) the federal government should have commandeered Greyhound buses, trucks and vans from nearby dealerships, empty high-rises and hotels, boats and medical supplies—anything they could get their hands on to save lives. Instead, FEMA was turning away water and fuel and cutting communication and emergency lines. When the National Guard finally arrived, fresh from Iraq, Gov. Kathleen Blanco gave them orders not to help or protect people but to “shoot to kill” looters and protect property. What about gas company “looters,” taking advantage of this disaster to price gouge? Should they be shot, too? 

Thank goodness there were many private citizens who didn’t reflect the attitudes and behaviors of our elected leaders. Many stories will be told of individual heroism, of people risking their lives and opening their homes to save others. I hope that the fast-food chains are helping out. It is poor people like these flood survivors—many of whom are suffering from obesity, heart disease and diabetes—who are the fast-food industry’s most loyal customers. Where you at, Mickey D? And what about the right-wing Christian ministers who have been all over the airwaves preaching about saving American families? What are they doing to help these Americans who are now “the least among us?” What would Jesus do?  

Nor is Berkeley off the hook. During this past week I have visited more than a dozen stores—coffee shops, supermarkets, drug stores, bookstores, clothing boutiques—all around town. Only one (Whole Foods) had set up a jar by the cash register seeking donations for the hurricane victims. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the other stores weren’t doing anything to help, however they missed a great opportunity to raise perhaps thousands of dollars from spontaneous giving immediately after the disaster struck. What a shame. 

The handling of this entire event has been shameful. Individual rescuers succeeded in spite of the bureaucracy, not because of its assistance, organization or direction—all of which have been sorely lacking. But then, this part of America, where you find “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses,” has been neglected for a long, long time. As one unidentified woman eloquently put it: “I had nothing before the hurricane. Now I have less.” 

What’s next? Will these displaced Americans ever be allowed to return home? Or will they be turned out in scenes reminiscent of the emancipation of slaves following the Civil War—left to wander wherever their feet will take them while developers turn their former homes into golf courses, high-priced condos and shopping malls. 

Wherever they settle, once their families are reunited and their souls begin to heal; once their children are back in school, their elders are being treated, their dead are buried and they begin to rebuild their lives, the number one thing on these folks’ list should be to go on down to the nearest county courthouse and register to vote. 

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Watching the Bush administration’s bumbling response to Hurricane Katrina, one felt a chilling sense of déjà vu. American has seen this ineptitude before: first with 9/11—George frozen while reading The Pet Goat and meandering across the country on Air Force One; and then the “liberation” of Baghdad—chaos fanning the fires of insurgency. History will remember that George Bush had three chances at crisis leadership, and struck out each time. 

There are disturbing similarities between all three failures. In each case, the White House was warned that if they pursued their policies, there was the potential for great harm to the nation. Before 9/11, the administration was cautioned by the bipartisan Hart-Rudman Commission on National Security and their own counter-terrorism adviser, Richard Clarke, about the possibility of a terrorist attack on the United States. While the Department of Defense planned the invasion of Iraq, the State Department advised the president of ominous problems with an occupation. Early in 2001, a FEMA report identified hurricane damage to New Orleans as one of the three likely catastrophes facing the U.S. and the Army Corps of Engineers begged for money to bolster the New Orleans levees against such an event. 

In all three instances the administration ignored the warnings. The basis for their refusal was not factual, but ideological. Before 9/11, Bush and company stubbornly clung to the view that the greatest danger to the nation came from rogue states—such as Iraq and North Korea—and downplayed the threat of Al Qaeda. Before the invasion of Iraq, White House Neo-Cons argued that the occupation would be a cakewalk; Vice President Cheney famously predicted that U.S. forces would be “greeted with open arms, as liberators.” Before Hurricane Katrina, the administration maintained that the greatest danger to America was from terrorists located in Iraq, and diverted money targeted for New Orleans to the military and the Department of Homeland Security. 

It was not sufficient for the Bush administration to ignore these warnings; it punished those who delivered them. Richard Clarke was demoted and then driven out of the administration. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld forced the retirement of General John Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, after he argued that that the United States did not have enough troops for the occupation. Similarly, Mike Parker, assistant secretary of the Army and director of the Corps of Engineers, was forced to resign after complaining to Congress about budget cuts that effected New Orleans levee projects. 

As each event occurred, there were massive communication failures within the f federal government. Before 9/11, there were botched information exchanges between the FBI and the intelligence community; on the day of the attack there were coordination issues between the FAA and the military. When American troops seized Baghdad, there was a failure to establish a command and control system; as a result there was widespread looting, which resulted in severe damage to the Iraqi infrastructure. When Katrina rolled over Louisiana and Mississippi there was, once again, an inability to construct a command and control system; this produced the chaos in New Orleans. 

In all three cases, the implosion of the Bush administration can be attributed to their personnel policies—rather than hire the best-qualified individual for key jobs, they assigned them to the most loyal or best connected Bush supporters. Before 9/11, the counter-terrorism adviser to the National Security Council, Richard Clarke, was demoted at the request of Bush favorite Condoleezza Rice, who was threatened by Clarke’s competence. In Iraq, much of the disarray of the U.S. occupation was due to the poor judgment shown by ill-qualified Bush appointees assigned to the Coalition Provisional Authority. The head of FEMA, Michael Brown, was selected because of his connections and had no relevant management experience, which was made painfully obvious by his failed leadership in the wake of Katrina. 

Finally, in each instance the Bush administration fought Congressional efforts to study what happened. The White House resisted the formation of the 9/11 Commission for more than a year. So far, the Bush administration has successfully bucked all attempts to review the disastrous occupation of Iraq. On Sept. 6, President Bush resisted the call for an independent commission to study the administration response to Hurricane Katrina. 

Since his celebrated speech to the nation, on Sept. 20, 2001, George Bush has enjoyed bipartisan support largely because of his solemn promise to keep America safe. Despite the problems of the Iraqi occupation, the most recent Gallup poll indicated that Americans continue to believe that the President has done a good job defending our country.  

The reality is that the Bush administration has had three opportunities to lead during a national crisis, and has failed each time. Experts say that the response to hurricane Katrina indicates that our defenses have actually grown weaker since 9/11. In baseball, one gets three strikes and then is out; national politics is not as simple a game and, therefore, George Bush is still standing at the plate, swinging wildly. How many strikes can we afford to give him? 

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

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Do you know what it means, what happened in New Orleans? To understand it, we must look to the nation’s past. 

In the beginning years of the Civil War, many union soldiers were ambivalent about slavery, and did not think its abolition was a cause worth dying for. 

“Father I want you to write and tell me what you think of Lincoln’s proclamation setting all of the Negroes free,” Weymouth, Ohio volunteer Chauncey Welton wrote from Frankfurt, Kentucky in early 1863. “I can tell you we don’t think much of it here in the army for we did not enlist to fight for the negro and I can tell you that we never shall or many of us any how. No never.” 

Later, as the union army marched deeper into the South, those attitudes began to change. As soldiers came more and more in contact with African captives, slavery grew human form—women with babies at their breasts as they worked the fields, old men crippled and bent from years of toil, people with backs horribly scarred by an overseer’s whippings. Slavery was no longer some abstract, faraway policy in a distant land. Its consequences were real, and immediate. Its victims were human, and could no longer be ignored, or rationalized away. 

Thus, so, looking today into the anguished eyes of those we left behind in New Orleans in our rush to higher ground, we have come face to face with the human consequences of a generation of national politics and policy, and we are sickened and horrified for the moment by the revealed sight of what the nation has so long sought to keep in the dark. 

Do you know what it means? 

New Orleans in the wake of Katrina is the underside of America, my friends, what we find when we turn over the pretty rocks lining our national garden. New Orleans after Katrina, rotting, writhing, tearing at its breast, crying out in its anguish “How could you leave us like this, so long, we who are your family and fellow citizens? What is it that we have done to you, to be abandoned, so?” Madam Katrina, with her black waters and howling stormwinds, has torn down all the curtains that covered our back rooms, exposing our national shame, leaving behind for all to see the bodies left rotting in the flooded streets, putrefying pillars that prop up the nation that is, not the nation that we pretend it to be. Let us linger long and burn the ghastly images into our brains before we are sucked back into the mindless carnival that is our “mainstream” national cultural life, before the “reality” we see on the “reality” shows begins, once more, to obscure what is actually real. 

New Orleans was one of our national playgrounds, where people came to hear Louis and the Nevilles and throw quarters into the hats of skin-legged boys doing their sidewalk taps. Wandering home late from the all-night jazz clubs or steamboat rides on the river, folks didn’t bother to watch where the prostitutes went to spend their hours when the sun was up. Not caring, in fact. Folks slept in during the early morning hours while the old men swept the bright paper and bottles and colored beads from streets left befouled and littered in the night’s casual revelry. Who parked the cars while the tourists wandered up the ramps into the floating casinos? Who put fresh linen on the motel beds while the occupants were downstairs eating cajun or creole? Who was up at five in the morning to sweat in the kitchen, cooking those delicious dishes? Who’s asking? Who cared, before this week? Not enough of us, my friends. Not enough. 

Out of sight. Out of mind. Do you know what that means? 

It has been asked how the Christian could countenance slavery, since God clearly could not approve such treatment of his own created children. The solution was for many to pretend that the African was something other than human, better off for the American experience, suited for plantation labor. “They do not feel pain and suffering as we do,” it was argued. “Did you not see how they were living, naked and savage in the jungle?” Or, as Mr. Jefferson succinctly justified the accumulation of his family wealth in “Notes On Virginia”: “They seem to require less sleep.” 

What man seeks to brutalize, he must first minimize. 

And so, in the last quarter century, from the Reagan years on, while the Movement slept, we have seen the marginalization of a whole section of the American population. It is the “underclass,” our leaders are fond of saying, stripping people of their faces and names and identity and making them anonymous, so that we do not have to look into their eyes as we eat our supper. The backwash of success from the civil rights struggles obscures our vision. Michael Jordan makes millions selling basketball and underwear. Rappers give us televised tours of their palaces, flashing the bling on their fingers. The Huxtables become iconic, the model American family. Blacks travel into space. Run international corporations. Sit on the High Court. 

But behind it all, rarely mentioned in our national dialogue, entire communities of color are being swept constantly and steadily backwards, like so much unwanted dust into a trash bin. 

Do you know what that means? God hates the poor, so, the South Carolina joke used to go. That’s why he sends tornadoes to trailer parks. Today, that joke has no humor, not at all. 

In New Orleans, it is now being said in louder and louder voices, “they” might have saved themselves, had they only heeded the warnings to evacuate the city before Katrina came calling. 

So, too, we are told it is the fault of this “underclass” themselves that they have not kept up, these dark ones left further and further behind as the rest of the nation rolls on ahead. 

We have coddled them too long, with these welfare checks and social programs. What they need, now, “tough love,” or “benign neglect,” so that they can learn to make it on their own, as “we” have. 

Of course, perhaps some of “them” are incapable of learning. There are, after all, no more barriers to their advancement, as there were in the distant past. 

The Irish did it. The Italians did it. The Jews did it. Even many of their own kind have done it, as well. So if “they” cannot do it, these dark ones who have been left in our lurch, it must be something in their own character that holds them back. Some flaw. Some lack of social organization. Some edict of God. Mustn’t it? 

This week, in our moment of bright revelation, all that sounds so hollow. 

For a moment, just the briefest of moments, Katrina laid us all bare, washing away our national justifications in the stinking tide that settled over the Crescent City’s streets. We—many of us—too many of us—left our friends and family members and fellow citizens and fellow human beings to suffer and to die, while we scrambled to safety, and if you think I am simply talking about the days of the hurricane, you have already missed the point. This week, the administration of George W. Bush scrambles to make up for the lost three days while it vacationed in Texas and shopped for shoes in New York. This week, America pours out its heart to the survivors. But why and how were they left behind in the first place? Left behind in New Orleans. Left behind in the nation, these last thirty years. 

Do you know what that means? 

Do you know what that means? 

Do you know what that means, about us, about who we are, about what we have become in our nation? 

If you don’t, you better ask somebody. 

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There is no blotter today because repeated calls to Officer Steve Rego were not returned. Officer Shira Warren of the Community Services Bureau said Rego was filling in during the absence of Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies.

A new progressive coalition is growing in Berkeley, and you are invited to our second meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 19 at the Unitarian Fellowship at Cedar and Bonita.  

Our mission statement is simple, although perhaps not yet complete: “The Berkeley Progressive Alliance has been created in order to unite progressive citizens and organizations in Berkeley. Our goal is to promote a more equitable economic and social life in our city, and to enhance democracy and solidarity on every level.” 

We see ourselves working on two levels; first, politically to elect candidates and to hold them accountable to a people’s agenda, and second, to work with Berkeley’s communities and labor unions, to help with their communications, and perhaps with their organizing. At the present time Progressive Alliance people are out on the picket line with the Honda strikers on Shattuck Avenue. 

Politically in Berkeley we have been watching our progressive democracy slip away. Berkeleyans do not have the government we think we elected, and the policies of City Hall are increasingly escaping our control or even our knowledge.  

Consider, for example, the Downtown Plan. Negotiated in total secrecy with the university, it gives UC veto power over planning in central Berkeley, and exempts them from millions of dollars in taxes and fees (sewage fees to the university are a fraction of what they are worth). The city is doing million-dollar favors for the university, while services to seniors, the disabled, the homeless and youth are being cut, as Kriss Worthington explained to us in our first meeting on Aug. 8. (Twenty-nine people were present.) 

Berkeley Youth Alternatives has been hit with a meat ax. Before May it was able to hire 20 high school students—poor, “at risk” and mostly minority—to do organic gardening, landscaping, and culinary arts. These students also received mentoring and training for permanent employment. Now, according to Director Mark Gambala, BYA is only able to hire six, and the culinary program in which high school students cooked for and fed elementary students, has been cut entirely. 

Isn’t Berkeley supposed to have a “liberal” or “progressive” City Council? The fact is that although six councilmembers (including the mayor) were elected with the support of progressives, only three voted against the Downtown Plan, and only three can be consistently counted upon to vote for the poor and the powerless. The Peace and Justice Commission, appointed by the present council and School Board, cannot even agree to recommend a federal Department of Peace, which is simply an embarrassment. In fact, there have been many progressive ideas which have originated in Berkeley, but which are implemented in other cities when they cannot get passed here. One example is Community Choice Aggregation for energy, by which homeowners and businesses can buy power directly from producers, bypassing the PG&E middleman. 

Why does Berkeley government fail to enact the ideals of its people? Mainly because we have allowed our progressive coalition, which used to transmit our needs and desires to the city, to decay and fall apart. The objective of the Berkeley Progressive Alliance is to re-create that coalition. 

In the 1970s and most of the ‘80s we had conventions which attracted up to 600 people. We wrote lengthy platforms. And the candidates we elected usually stayed true to progressive principles, and built up our nationally admired services, unique in small cities; our health department, our three senior centers, our powerful rent control (undermined by state legislation), our library system (now, alas, in decline). Our resolutions against apartheid and for U.S. withdrawal from Central America were models to the nation. 

Berkeley is still a progressive city. Republicans here often run as a third party behind the Greens, and in some flatlands precincts they run fourth behind Peace and Freedom. George Bush won 7 percent here in 2004. If we can host a coalition convention which will draw 5-600 people, who will then stay active in holding our candidates true to their word, we can again become a national model. It can be done. But only if we organize, not just for elections, but throughout the entire Berkeley community, in neighborhoods, schools, businesses, churches, and in the streets. Later we’ll talk about some community organizing ideas of the Berkeley Progressive Alliance.  

Laurence Schechtman has been a Berkeley activist since 1964. He can be reached at laurenceofberk@aol.com or 540-1975. 

It is interesting that it is often anti-development proponents who complain of insufficient low- and middle-income housing being built in Berkeley. It is 

also true that the demand for this same housing comes without demonstrating a way to provide that housing. 

It seems that Zelda Bronstein, in her Aug. 30 column, without saying it, wants absolutely nothing built. If one only wants low-income units then we are likely to get nothing. We could build Soviet-style low-income projects but as a model these have proven to be flawed and deeply depressing to inhabitant and town alike. Better we increase the minimum number of low-income and middle-income units in new mixed-income buildings. This might make better politics/communities all around. There is also the benefit of integration instead of segregation amongst the income levels of citizens. 

Mixing low-income housing into private development might make better buildings more economically feasible too. Making it more difficult or impossible to profit by building in Berkeley is not the same thing as city planning. Where Zelda sees “flagrant rogue builder” building “outsized projects” creating “municipal crises” and “exacerbating gentrification,” one could see happy vertical perhaps even more communal or ecological sound communities. It is possible to imagine more sharing of cars, more riding bicycles and BART. More mixed-use buildings could inspire going out of your home late at night for a little live jazz music or a cup of coffee. Municipal crisis indeed. This is called urban living. 

As for the worry that up on the hill looking down all you see is concrete, with the right incentives the rooftops could be basketball courts, swimming pools, running tracks or public parks, benefiting these dwellers and the community at large. 

How to get more low- and middle- income units built? Supply and demand and economics rule at the end of the day. Yes we will have to allow more density and more height in appropriate places. At the same time we do need to demand more esthetically pleasing and more function/service from each building like minimum percentages of low- and middle-income units. We will also have to build along our corridors, University Avenue and San Pablo Avenue, with perhaps taller buildings. What about those neighbors? We could re-zone the blocks along the backsides of these corridors to allow smaller but multiple housing units instead of single family dwellings. Wonderful new communities will congregate, adding to our middle class ranks. Single dwelling landowners could sell for handsome profits and move up the hill or off the major corridors. The greater good will be served. 

Developers are a part of the solution. There are those who lambaste developers like Patrick Kennedy because he makes a profit or because his developments did not start out as beautiful as they have become. However, I feel with the lights on at Gaia and the jazz and theater downstairs, that part of Shattuck has come alive. Driving to the end of Shattuck the Backenheimer Building stands proudly for all and a new community looks east to the hills where once graffiti-riddled billboards used to stand. 

Smart urban development has never been more important. The coming years will only bring more people back to the cities as fuel becomes more scarce and expensive. Failure to plan and build will only exacerbate concern for low- and middle-income housing. Let us have a plan that allows for housing that provides incentives for the developers to stay within that plan and make a profit and make beautiful buildings.  

Peter Levitt is the the proprietor of Saul’s Delicatessen.

Musicians and Fine Artists for World Peace has been working since 2001 to establish a U.S. Department of Peace. In partnership with the Peace Alliance we were successful in getting the cities of Berkeley and Oakland to endorse resolutions in support of that initiative. 

After the resolution passed in Berkeley it was attacked by Jonathan Wornick, Gordon Wozniak’s appointee to the Peace and Justice Commission. In a series of letters published in the Daily Planet, he not only criticized the Department of Peace legislation, but the very mission of the commission itself.  

I called for Councilmember Wozniak to reconsider his appointment because Wornick was acting as an obstructionist to any meaningful resolutions dealing with national or international issues 

At the last meeting he voted down Code Pink’s resolution calling for the recall of the California National Guard from Iraq. 

I urge citizens of Berkeley to attend the next Peace and Justice Commission meeting Monday night at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Express your opinion on a proposed resolution to get Bush to answer the secret Downing Street Memo that exposed his reasons for invading Iraq and another resolution supporting the withdrawal of our National Guard. 

Alan Moore is a member of Musicians and Fine Artists for World Peace and a former member of the Peace and Justice Commission.?

Just into Ron Jones’ monologue/solo show, adapted from his book, When God Winked, the protean Jones—who takes on the mannerisms and voices of his charges and colleagues from the Recreation Center for the Handicapped in San Francisco—blows out through the exit, into the lobby of The Marsh’s new Berkeley theater in the Gaia Building, and shepherds in (like a Border Collie) late arrivals, with high-pitched admonitions: “Don’t be tardy! Have you seen Carol?” 

But neither the latecomers nor those seated feel particularly institutionalized. Jones, who will retire this year after 30 years at the center (now named after its founder, Janet Pomeroy, one of the play’s characters), has said the show is his answer to a retirement party. 

It’s certainly not very retiring. Anecdotes from his rollercoaster career are mixed with the crazy life of the center. Raconteur gives way to mimic, punctuated by Jones’ remarkable video clips of basketball games with celebrities playing his challenged team (which always wins, he says, “because we cheat!”). He also includes movement theater workshops and performances led by a blind woman with dreamlike inspiration, as well as the breakfast club regulars at John’s Ocean Beach Cafe cutting up, and a freaky solidarity rally when the center’s workers go on strike. 

Pulitzer Prize nominee Jones has been hailed by Studs Terkel, who has called Jones “perhaps the most important story of our time,” and the late San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, who called him “one of my favorite San Francisco heroes.” 

When God Winked, a work-in-progress, showcases Jones’ many talents. Sometimes his monologue is a little too literary, like he’s reciting from the page. But the “constant improvization” of his job breaks through, and his ironic observations are hijacked by the acting out—often just a split-second—of his clients’ acting out. 

Jones himself is a valedictorian who gets lost in the episodes he brings back to life, both a Don Quixote and a Sancho Panza—even acting out some of the windmills. He refers to the center as a kind of heaven or paradise, and he wanders through it in memory, a Walden of human nature that he contemplates. 

But just as he ushered in the “tardies” with a bang, he’s a guide who constantly shakes up the audience’s reveries—and his own—with laughter and the harsh realities of life that progressively encroach on the Utopian life of the center. 

Hysterical highs of improbable victories over disability and convention are undercut by budget cutbacks and layoffs, driving some of the center’s stars back into a homebound existence, onto the street or to suicide attempts. Fantastic stories of the playful “inappropriate behavior” of Carl, “The Pope of The Sunset,” who kisses hands outside St. Ignatius, end with his funeral. The solemnity is broken up by “Aka God,” a woman from the center (who answers questions to the divinity, even in Spanish) approaching the casket and pouring in the contents of her purse, followed by the other challenged Centerite ladies, while the Irish priest struggles to keep up by speaking of “this act of kindness.” 

The story of the Wildcats, the center’s “undefeated” basketball team, ends in a blaze with Jones torching their uniforms on Ocean Beach. 

It’s a sidelight to his extraordinary presentation of day-to-day offbeat experiences in a very special community that Jones’ sometimes rapt monologue is also a paean to the improvised conviviality of postwar San Francisco, as it fades beyond recognition. He is a native of the Sunset, where his family owned a burlesque theater. 

“There’s no frame of reference for it now,” Jones remarked afterwards, answering questions in the lobby, backed by a drum solo next door at Anna’s Jazz Island. 

As he says, “After all, it’s showtime!” 

When God Winked plays at the Marsh Berkeley in the Gaia Building, 2120 Allston Way, 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday through Sept. 16. $10 Thursdays, $15-22 Fridays and Saturdays. For more information, call 1-800-838-3006 or see www. themarsh.org.›

FRIDAY, SEPT. 9 

THEATER 

Aurora Theatre “The Price” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m., through Oct. 9, at 2081 Addison St. Tickets are $38. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

California Shakespeare Theater, “Nicholas Nickleby” Part 2 at 8 p.m. at Bruns Amphitheater, 100 Gateway Blvd., between Berkeley and Orinda, through Sept. 18. Tickets are $10-$55. 548-9666.  

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.  

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.  

Shotgun Players, “Owners” at 8 p.m., Thurs.-Sun. through Oct. 16 at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Reservations suggested. 841-6500.  

Wilde Irish Productions “Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me” Thurs. -Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m., at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., through Oct. 2. Tickets are $18-$22. 644-9940.  

Woodminster Summer Musicals “Jesus Christ Superstar” at 8 p.m. at Woodminster Amphitheater in Joaquin Miller Park, 3300 Joaquin Miller Rd., Oakland, through Sun. Tickets are $20-33. 531-9597.  

EXHIBITIONS 

Arie Furumoto, color etchings inspired by landscape, ocean and plants. Reception at 6 p.m. at The Scriptum-Schurman Gallery, 1659 San Pablo Ave. 524-0623. 

“Contemporary Traditions in Clay: The Pottery of Mata Ortiz” reception at 5 p.m. at the Phoebe Hearst Museum, College and Bancroft. 643-7648.  

Recent Work by Jon Nagel and Loren Purcel Reception at 7:30 p.m. at Boontling Gallery, 4224 Telegraph Ave., Oakland.  

The Big Brush Off featuring works by Berkeley artists Gael Fitzmaurice and John King at Falkirk Cultural Center, 1408 Mission, at E St., San Rafael. Reception at 5:30 p.m. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Images of America: El Cerrito” will be introduced by the El Cerrito Historical Society at 5:30 p.m. at the El Cerrito Library.  

Bret Easton Ellis introduces his new novel “Lunar Park” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sheng Xiang & Band, Taiwanese folk music, at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22. 642-9988.  

Mamadou Diabate & Walter Strauss, African, contemporary at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

E.W. Wainwright’s Elvin Jones Birthday Celebration at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Duamuxa, CD release concert at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568.  

Houston Jones at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

House Jacks at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Times 4 at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Plays Monk, Ben Goldberg at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Dani Thompson Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

DJ & Brook, jazz trio, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Dick Hindman Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373.  

Brown Baggin’ at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Times 4, contemporary jazz, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

The Time Flys, Top 10, The Gimmies, High Vox at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

The Zawinul Syndicate at 8 and 10 p.m. through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $18-$22. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, SEPT. 10 

THEATER 

Living Arts Playback Theater Ensemble “Immigrant Stories” at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. Tickets are $12-$18 sliding scale. 595-5500, ext. 25. www.livingartscenter.org 

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

EXHIBITIONS 

“All Dolled Up” A exhibition of works by California doll makers to Sept. 30 at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527. www.accigallery.com 

China’s Vanishing Heritage: Heirloom Embroidered Textiles from the Hill Tribes of Southwestern China. Reception from 4 to 6 p.m. at Ethnic Arts, 1314 10th St. www.redgingko.com 

“Retrospect: 199-2003” Photographs by Kiyo Eshima. Reception at 4 p.m. at Albany Arts Gallery, 1251Solano Ave. Exhibition runs through Oct. 8. 526-9958. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Yuri Kochiyama and her biographer, Diane Fujino, will speak at 2 p.m. at Heller Lounge, MLK, Jr. Student Union, UC Campus. 642-6717.  

“Music, Community Politics and Environmental Justice in Taiwan” with Shen Xiang at noon at 145 Dwinelle, UC Campus. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Juris Jurjevics reads from “The Trudeau Vector: A Novel” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Chalis Opera Ensemble “The Magic Flute” at 2 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. Tickets are $5-$10, children free. 415-826-8670.  

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, “Atalanta” by Handel at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant. Tickets are $28-$62. 415-392-4400. www.philharmonia.org 

Trinity Chamber Concerts: The Beth Custer Ensemble at 8 p.m. at 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. http://trinitychamberconcerts.com 

”Sing Against the Odds” a Breast Cancer Fund fundraiser with Shelley Doty, Green & Root, and Irina Rivkin at 8 p.m. at Rose Street House of Music, 1839 Rose St. Donation $5-$10. 594-4000, ext. 687. 

Tom Huebner Band, country, folk-rock and blues, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Bay Street Plaza, (near Old Navy) Emeryville. 

Wayward Monks, jazz, progressive rock and new age, at 8 p.m. at Epic Arts Studios, 1923 Ashby Ave. Donation $5-$10. All Ages. 644-2204. 

Wadi Gad & Jahbandis at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Reggae dance lesson at 9 p.m. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054.  

Ed Reed and Laura Klein Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Dani Thompson at 9 p.m. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $5. 763-7711.  

Katherine Peck and Terese Taylor at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Big Skin at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

House Jacks at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Pickpocket Ensemble at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473.  

Quanti Bomani at 8 and 10 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15-$17. 849-2568.  

Chuck Steed, musical suite “Manfish” at 7 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

Big Skin at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Tarbox Ramblers, The Cowlicks at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Sherri Roberts Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

What Kids Want, Madeline, Whiskey Sunday, Gypsy at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, SEPT. 11 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Pleasure” by Susan Danis Opening Reception at 2 p.m. at The Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Gallery hours are Wed. through Sun. noon to 5 p.m. 

“Ascension” photographs by Shoey Sindel. Reception at 4 p.m. at Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. 

Works by Fran Roccaforte Opening reception at 4 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

FILM 

“Security” A film by Rob Nilsson that examines vulnerability in dangerous times at 5:30 p.m. at Pacific Film Archive. Tickets available from 642-5249. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“The Danube Exodus” artist talk with Larry Rinder and Larry Abramson at 2 p.m. at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St. www.magnes.org 

Rabbi Alan Lew describes “Be Still and Get Going” at 2 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Poetry Flash with Alicia Suskin Ostriker and Anita Barrows with Joanna Macy at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Solstice, female a cappella group in a benefit for the victims of hurricane Katrina at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Cost is $10-$20. 

Davitt Moroney, harpsichord, performs J.S. Bach Inventions and Sinfonias at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $3-$10. 642-9988. 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, “Atalanta” by Handel at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant. Tickets are $28-$62. 415-392-4400.  

Organ Recital by Robert McCormick at 6:10 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Donations accepted. 845-0888.  

Jazz and Spoken Word with Philip Greenlief, Lisa Mezzacappa, and Noah Phillips at 6 p.m. at Kimball’s Carnival, 522 Second St., Oakland. Cost is $5. 

Mark Levine Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

The Saddle Cats at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 655-5715. 

Rafael Manriquez at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Trout Fishing in America, folk originals, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Brook Schoenfield at 10 a.m. at Nomad Cafe. 595-5344.  

MONDAY, SEPT. 12 

EXHIBITIONS 

Jerome Carlin’s Landscape Paintings Imaginary landscapes and small plein air oil sketches. Reception at 5 p.m. at The Musical Offering, 2340 Bancroft Way. www.jeromecarlin.com 

“Revisions” Larry Abramson: Searching for an Ideal City opens at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poets for Peace poetry reading featuring Dan Bellm, John Burgess, Ilya Kaminsky, Alicia Ostricker, and Meredith Stricker at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

Actors Reading Writers ”Coming Home” Stories by Garrison Keillor, Kurt Vonnegut and Wu Zuxiang at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave.  

Karl Soehnlein reads from his latest novel “You Can Say You Knew Me When” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Tram Nguyen describes “We Are All Immigrants Now: Untold Stories from Immigrant Communities After 9/11” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Poetry Express with Karen Pojmann and John Burgess 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.  

Sara Gazarek at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $6-$12. 238-9200.  

TUESDAY, SEPT. 13 

FILM 

Margaret Tait: Subjects and Sequences “Islands” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Anthony Shadid, author of “Night Draws Near, Iraq’s People in the Shadow of America’s War” at 12:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Joe Conason describes “The Raw Deal: How Bush Republicans Plan to Destroy Social Security and the Legacy of the New Deal” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Laura Joplin offers some insight into her older sister in “Love, Janis” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

The Whole Note Poetry Series with Randy Fingland and Bert Glick at 7 p.m. at The Beanery, 2925 College Ave., near Ashby. 549-9093. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Samarabalouf, music inspired by gypsy jazz, from France, at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Dred Scott, solo jazz piano, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Ellen Hoffman Trio and Singers’ Opn Mic at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ.  

Brandi Carlile at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. 

Carla Bley & Her Lost Chords at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$18. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Barbara Linn at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 14 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Kazakh: Paintings by Saule Suleimenova” opens at the Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities, 220 Stephens Hall, UC Campus. Appointments recommended. 643-9670. 

“CCA Faculty New Work” Reception at 5:30 p.m. at Oliver Art Center, California College of the Arts, 5212 Broadway, Oakland. 

“Taisho Chic: Japanese Modernity, Nostalgia and Deco”opens at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. 642-0808. 

FILM 

Artificial Expressionism: Semiconductor at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

THEATER 

Berkeley Rep, “Our Town” opens and runs through Oct. 23. Tickets are $45-$59. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Michael Kimmelman describes “The Accidental Masterpiece: On the Art of Life and Vice Versa” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Jacques Leslie discusses “Deep Water: The Struggle Over Dams, Displaced People and the Environment” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Berkeley Poetry Slam at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082.  

Café Poetry at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donation $2. 849-2568.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert, New Traditions in American Indian Music and Dance at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

TapRoots and New Growth: Contemporary Ghazal singer Kiran Ahluwalia. Lecture and demonstration at 8 p.m., concert at 9:15 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $12-$15. 525-5054.  

Horacio Franco, recorder, at 8 p.m. at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. Tickets are $32. 642-9988.  

Calvin Keys Trio Jam at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

La Verdad, salsa, at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Will Blades Quartet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Carla Bley & Her Lost Chords at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$18. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, SEPT. 15 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Dress: Clothing as Art” reception at 6 p.m. at Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave., Richmond. 620-6772.  

Third Thursdays Open Studios between 4 and 8:30 p.m. at 800 Heinz Ave. 

FILM 

Films from Along the Silk Road: “Revenge” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

“Raise the Red Lantern” film and discussion in conjunction with the performances of the National Ballet of China, at 7 p.m. at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. 642-2809. 

Cine Documental: “El Dia Que Me Quieras” a documentary deconstructing the myth of Che Guevara at 7 p.m. in the CLAS Conference Room, 2334 Bowditch St.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Yosemite in Time” Gallery talk with Rebecca Solnit at 5:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

“African Material Culture Between Everyday and Ritual Contexts” with Mariane Ferme at 5:30 p.m. at Phoebe Hearst Museum, Bancroft and College. 643-7648.  

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

Arnaud Maitland describes “Living Without Regret: Growing Old in the Light of Tibetan Buddhism” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

LiveAndUnplugged Open Mic at 7 p.m. at Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. 703-9350.  

Word Beat Reading Series with Juan Sequeira and Jan Lewis at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. 526-5985. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra “Musical Tribute to Laurette Goldberg” at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Free. 528-1685. 

Albany Music in the Park with Mark Russo and the Classy Cats, swing music at 6:30 p.m. at Albany’s Memorial Park. 524-9283. www.albanyca.org 

Lost Bayou Ramblers at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $12. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Berkeley Old Time Music Convention with the Stairwell Sisters, the Roadoilers, and Larry Hanks at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50-$16.50. 548-1761.  

Fourtet Jazz Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is. $5. 841-JAZZ.  

The Other Side, Dora Flood, The Mandarins at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082 .  

Dave Matthews & Peter Barshay, piano and bass, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Gato Barbieri at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $15-$22. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Selector, lap-top funk, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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The carefree days of summer have slipped through our fingers, making time spent outdoors all the more crucial. Make a commitment today to walk, hike, bike, play or just sit enjoying the nature around you. There’s still time to participate in the 2005 East Bay Regional Park District’s Trail Challenge and hike number five offers a number of options for an outdoor adventure.  

Before venturing out into the post-summer landscape it’s good to be informed about a few unwanted hiking companions, rare but present. Warm temperatures, dry grasses and low water levels might lead to encounters with ticks, yellow jackets or, less common, rattlesnakes.  

In California, the western black-legged tick (Ixodes pacificus) is a vector for the bacterium (Borrelia burgdorferi) that causes Lyme’s disease. Teardrop in shape with a dark head and a reddish-brown flattened body and only 1/8-inch long; the adult tick is easy to mistake for a speck of dirt.  

Grasses, shrubs and leaf litter throughout the regional parks are ideal environments for Ixodes so precautions when hiking are a must. Stay on trails and check pets and person frequently. Light colored clothing with pants tucked into socks and shirt into pants reduce your exposure on narrow paths or off-trail.  

Crawling ticks can be brushed off. If they become embedded, pull out steadily without twisting, using tweezers close to the skin and then clean with antiseptic. Save for identification if the tick resembles Ixodes and be aware that Lyme’s disease can affect both people and pets.  

Ticks want your blood, yellow jackets want water for their nests, protein for their young and sweets for themselves. Your picnic is their Shangri-La. They’ll sting if threatened so gently blow them away and keep your foods covered.  

Like Greta Garbo, snakes just want to be left alone, especially the Western rattlesnake. In all my years hiking in the parks I’ve yet to encounter this poisonous reptile but it never hurts to be informed and careful.  

Snakes are not aggressive. Their color and pattern camouflage them against the rocks and soil, their rattle warns you of their presence. Using loreal pits on each side of their broad, flat head to sense heat, they can locate warm-blooded prey in the dark or amid many confusing scents.  

Common sense can prevent negative encounters. Again, stay on trails where snakes can be seen more easily. Don’t use hands or feet to explore where you can’t see. If you sight a snake give it plenty of room and don’t disturb it. Remember, the parks ensure its protection as well as your enjoyment.  

Informed, enthusiastic and anxious to get outdoors, we’re ready for the next hike.  

Trails Challenge No. 5: Wildcat Canyon Regional Park  

This loop hike takes you from Wildcat Staging Area at the north end of the canyon to Tilden Park at the south end via canyon and ridge trails. If 11 miles is too much of a challenge, you can utilize two cars or public transportation and hike one direction only. Since Tilden Park is my second home, I decided to explore the unknown—Wildcat Canyon and Alvarado Park.  

Like many of our regional parks, the story of the Alvarado area begins with Native Americans utilizing the natural bounty of the woodland and coastal environments. In the late 18th Century, Spanish explorers reached the mouth of Wildcat Creek and opened the way to ranches and missions. Two centuries later the war of the waters raged over Wildcat Canyon’s springs and streams, only resolved in 1920 when the Bay Area’s water source was switched to the Mokelumne River. The final chapter takes place between 1967 and 1976 when the Park District acquired over 2000-acres to create Wildcat Canyon Regional Park.  

From the Staging Area, Wildcat Creek Trail, a wide, paved road, climbs steadily uphill providing an instant aerobic workout. Amid thick stands of eucalyptus, coast live oak, madrone and pine I listened to the calls of songbirds, the squawk of jays and cry of a hawk. Plant invaders were in full profusion; scotch broom, six-foot tall wild fennel and thorny yellow star thistle easily outnumbered natives. Open flower heads and garlands of pods thick with seeds spelled trouble for the coming year. This trail had the air of a neglected sibling; there were few signs of any effort toward plant control.  

I followed Wildcat Creek Trail well into the canyon but it felt more recreational than aesthetic. Though wide enough for multiple side-by-side exercisers, the open terrain made me long for the lush riparian forest in the canyon below. Late in the season, the creek was neither visible nor audible. 

Aesthetics kicked in when I climbed Belgum Trail and reached a cattle gate, Wildcat Canyon being a grazing park. Like Alice, entering that gate brought me to a true hiking environment—late summer ranchland. Among drying oat, rye and barley I spied remnants of the park’s previous lives—an agave cactus with a 10-foot flowering spire circled by bees, full-fronded palm trees, solitary fence posts wrapped in barbed wire and small sections of fencing going nowhere.  

An attractive, illustrated panel marked the spot of Belgum’s Grand Vista Sanatorium for the treatment of nervous disorders. In 1914, San Francisco’s upper class used this remote outpost to keep afflicted relatives out of sight. Looking at the pictures of the two-story mansion in its peaceful, park-like setting, I had no doubt about who had the better deal.  

Shawls of fog covered the hills, but glimpses of the sun signaled a warm day ahead, making me glad I had come early. The trail undulated across the hills to the ridge past low-growing wildflowers like lavender puff-balls on flowering mint, tiny white daisies and yellow ceaonothus, but few trees.  

At the top of a small hill I found an inviting bench, obviously a spot favored by the park’s grazers. Before me spread grand vistas of Richmond and the bay, behind me El Sobrante. The breeze refreshed and my water tasted great. I watched a hawk hover then dip down into the shrubs. Cows were content and so was I. The creases of the hills were thick with bay laurel and oak. As the sun emerged, wafts of licorice infused the air.  

These Trail Challenges embody more than getting outdoor exercise. They’re about taking the time to absorb the beauty around us, even in a dry field. A hill of parched grasses revealed rippling contours and dabs of color: the orange of a poppy, the white of a morning glory and the violet of lupine. The challenge is to make the time to see the features of nature.  

There’s no better ending to your adventure than a picnic at Alvarado Park. Like a secret treasure, you’ll want to hoard this site all to yourself. Beautifully landscaped with lush lawns, mature trees and attractive flowers, the unique feature of this park is its rustic architecture of wood and stone that blend with the environment.  

A gathering place for over 200 years, Grand Canyon Park is on the National Register of Historic Places. Stonework greets you at every turn, in chest-high walls lining pathways, the bridge across Alvarado Creek and in solitary light standards among the lawns, picnic areas and trees.  

A welcoming pavilion with benches looks out over a huge lawn and the native flowers of Jean and Vern’s garden. Rather than one large picnic area, sites are scattered throughout the park in nooks under spreading trees and along the creek. Though the open-air dance pavilion and roller rink are long gone, the old-time atmosphere of a neighborhood gathering place remains, awaiting your pleasure.  

East Bay Regional Park District Trail Challenge: 562-PARK www.ebparks. org. 

Getting there: Take Marin Ave. to Arlington Boulevard. Follow the Arlington into Richmond and turn east on McBryde Avenue. Alvarado Park is on your left. Continue on McBryde to the Wildcat Canyon Staging Area and parking lot. AC Transit Line number 67 runs between Tilden and Wildcat Parks. Hours: 7:30 a.m.-7 p.m., no fees. Alvarado Park group picnic reservations: 636-1684.  

FRIDAY, SEPT. 9 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Peter Haurus, author, “Resurgence of China: Whither?” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020.  

Free Emergency Preparedness Class in Disaster First Aid from 9 a.m. to noon at 997 Cedar St. To sign up call 981-5605. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

fire/oes.html 

Spirit Walking Aqua Chi A gentle water exercise class at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley High Warm Pool. Cost is $3.50 per session. 

Town Hall Meeting on RFID (Radiofrequency ID) tracking tags in Berkeley Public Library materials at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship, 1924 Cedar at Bonita. 843-2152. 

Womansong Circle a musical gathering for women at 6:45 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way, at Dana. 525-7082. 

By the Light of the Moon Open Mic and Salon for Women at 7:30 p.m. at Changemakers, 6536 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $3-$7 sliding scale. 655-2405. 

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride meets at the Berkeley BART the second Friday of every month at 5:30 p.m. 

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. 

SATURDAY, SEPT. 10 

Berkeley Path Wanderers Waterfront Walk to explore the history and future of Berkeley’s waterfront, led by Susan Schwartz. Meet at 10 a.m. at Sea Breeze Delicatessen, south side of University Ave. just west of the I-880/580 Freeway. Bring water, snack, and, if you want, binoculars to enjoy shorebirds on their fall migration. 848-9358. www.berkeleypaths.org 

Point Richmond Day Long Summer Festival starting at 11 a.m. Featuring 360, The Irrationals, Two Feet Tall Norma Blase, Jeb Brady and many more. Plus classic car show, vendors, children’s activities, food and drink. www.pointrichmond.com/prmusic/ 

Oakland Wetlands Restoration Project Help Save the Bay remove invasive plants and collect native seeds along the MLK, Jr. Restoration Marsh, from 9 a.m. to noon. For information and meeting place call 452-9261. www.saveSFbay.org 

Walking Tour of Oakland City Center Meet at 10 a.m. in front Oakland City Hall at Frank Ogawa Plaza. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

Progressive Democrats of the East Bay Chapter meets at 1 p.m. at Temescal Library, 5205 Telegraph, Oakland. The agenda includes a discussion of the propositions for the special election on Nov. 8, and the anti-war, pro-choice Ret. Lt. Col. Charlie Brown, who is planning to contest the 4th congressional seat of very conservative Republican John Doolittle. 526-4632. www.pdeastbay.org 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class on Basic Personal Preparedness from 9 to 11 a.m. at 997 Cedar St., between 8th and 9th. To sign up call 981-5605. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

fire/oes.html 

East Bay Athiests meets at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 3rd flr meeting room, 2090 Kittredge St. Videos from “Theo- 

cracy Watch” will be shown. 222-7580. 

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 

“Music, Community Politics and Environmental Justice in Taiwan” at noon at 145 Dwinelle, UC Campus. 642-2809. 

Piedmont Choirs Fall Tryouts for children age six to 18, from 9:30 a.m. to noon in Piedmont and 10 a.m. to noon in Alameda. Call for appointment 547-4441. www.piedmontchoirs.org 

Tet Trung Thu: Mid Autumn Children’s Festival Celebrate the Vietnamese full moon festival from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Yuri Kochiyama and her biographer, Diane Fujino, will speak at 2 p.m. at Heller Lounge, MLK, Jr. Student Union, UC Campus. 642-6717.  

Free Quit Smoking Class for pregnant and parenting women from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Alta Bates, first floor auditorium, 2450 Ashby Ave. Childcare provided. Free but registration requested. 981-5330. quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

East Bay Chapter of the Great War Society meets to discuss “Military Revolutions Since 1600” and “Napoleon and WWI” at 10:30 a.m. at 640 Arlington Ave. 527-7118. 

Studio 12 Open House from 4 to 7 p.m. to meet the teachers and see what classes and workshops are coming this fall, at 2525 8th St. www.movingout.org 

“Salvias and Companion Plants” with Gail Yelland at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. 

SUNDAY, SEPT. 11 

Solano Avenue Stroll “Don't Rain on My Parade” from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with entertainment, food booths, crafts, art cars, kidtown and more. 527-5358. www.solanostroll.org 

Run for Peace with the United Nations Association A 10k run or a 5k run/walk at 9 a.m. at Cesar Chavez Park, Berkeley Marina. Cost is $15-$20. To register call 849-1752. www.unausaeastbay.org 

Solar Electricity for Your Home Learn how to design your own solar electrical generator, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Building Education Center, 812 Page St. Cost is $75. 525-7610. www.bldgeductr.org  

Bike Ride to the Solano Stroll Leave from the North Berkeley BART at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. and the El Cerrito Plaza BART at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Valet bike parking at the Stroll. Sponsored by the Bicycle-Friendly Berkeley Coalition. 549-7433. 

Free Hazardous Waste Drop-Off of computers, monitors, TVs, cell phones, and batteries at Solano at Evelyn St., near the BART tracks, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sponsored by the Cities of Berkeley and Albany and the Ecology Center. 981-5435. 

Mercury Thermometer Exchange Liquid mercury from broken thermometers is harmful to the Bay. Exchange them for a Bay-safe digital thermometer. Bring mercury thermometers in two plastic zipper bags from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. to 1241 Solano Ave., Albany. 452-9261, ext. 130. www.savesfbay.org 

Pancake Breakfast on the Red Oak Victory Ship in Richmond Harbor from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. 1337 Canal Blvd., Berth #6. Exit at Canal Blvd off 580. Cost is $6, children under 5 free. 237-2933. 

Montclair Flea Market and Community Fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 6300 Moraga Ave. Activities include safety fair, health fair, food and Astro Jump. Benefits the Montclair Lions Club. www.montclairlions.org 

“Understanding the Collapses of the World Trade Center Towers” Official Theories Versus Controlled Demolition at 5 p.m. at the Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave. at 65th in North Oakland. Sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County. 

Benefit Film Festival for 9-11 Truth Alliance and Project Censored from 1 to 11 p.m. at Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $6-$9. 1-866-268-2320. www.ciommunitycurrency.org 

“Reconciling Differences” A film and dialog festival from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Parkway Speakeasy Theater, 1834 Park Blvd. 654-9114. www.adrnc.net 

“A Citizen’s Guide to Hope in a Time a Fear” with Paul Rogat Loeb at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 486-0698. 

Music in the Park at Arroyo Viejo Park with Toni, Tony, Tone at 3 p.m. at 7701 Krause St., Oakland. 

“Friends of Roman Cats” a slide show and presentation on the Torre Argentina Roman Cat Sanctuary at 3 p.m. at Rabbitears, 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Donation $10. 525-6155. 

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 

“Christianity for Unitarian Universalists” with Huston Smith at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

“New Faces of Israel” with Donna Rosenthal at 7 p.m. at Oakland Hebrew Day School, 5500 Redwood Rd., Oakland. RSVP to 531-8600, ext. 26 

Weekend Healing Workshops with Rabbi Goldie Milgram at the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $50-$65. 655-8530. 

MONDAY, SEPT. 12 

National Organization for Women Oakland/East Bay Chapter meets from 6 to 8 p.m. at the San Leandro Public Library, 300 Estudillo. The topic will be Teen Safety: The Importance of Defeating Proposition 73. 287-8948. 

“Direct From Camp Casey” with Iraq vets and miltary families at 7 p.m. at Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland. Donation $10. 452-3556. www.ustourofduty.org 

Berkeley-Albany YMCA Golf Tournament at 12:30 p.m. at Tilden Regional Golf Course. Fee is $150 per player, which includes green fees, tee bags with promotional items, lunch and dinner. Proceeds support the South Berkeley Learning Academy. To reserve a place call Amy Golsong at 486-8406. agolsong@baymca.org 

“Voluntary Simplicity” a workshop with David McFarlane, on Mon. eves. at 7 p.m., through Nov. 14 at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. Cost is $25. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

“Get Rid of Physical and Emotional Clutter” with psychotherapist Jill Lebeau and organizer Stephanie Barbic at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Free. 524-3043. 

Critical Viewing An ongoing group to examine the art/craft of short films and television productions and effects on our daily lives, at 1 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Free. 848-0237. georgeporter@earthlink.net 

TUESDAY, SEPT. 13 

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. 524-9992. 

WriterCoach Connection Training Sessions Tues. Sept. 13 and 20 from noon to 3 p.m. Help students improve their writing and critical thinking skills. Commit to 1-2 hours per week during the school day. To register call 524-2319. www.writercoachconnection.org  

“Hetch Hetchy Valley: Water and California’s Future,” a panel discussion on the feasibility of dismantling the O’Shaughnessy Dam to restore the Hetch Hetchy River Valley, at 5:30 p.m. at Goldman School of Public Policy, Room 150, UC Campus. 642-2666. 

Youth Arts Studio Demonstration Class in visual arts for ages 10-13 at 3:15 p.m. at All Souls Episcopal Church, 2220 Cedar St. Youth Arts Studio is a non-profit after-school program. 848-1755. 

Day Hiking with Your Dog with Thom Gabrukiewicz and dog trainer Jen Worth at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

“Elections in Crisis” documentary films on voter fraud from noon to 5 p.m. followed by a speaker event at 7 p.m. at Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $6 for the afternoon, $10 for the evening. Sponsored by the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club. 848-6767, ext. 609. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 1 to 7 p.m. at Berkeley Community Media, 2239 MLK, Jr. Way. To schedule an appointment call 848-2288, ext. 13. www.BeADonor.com 

Kundalini and Meditation Therapy with Dr. Hari Simran Singh Khalsa at 7 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. at Cedar. 549-9200. 

“Medicare: Understanding Your Drug Coverage” at 4 p.m. at Center for Older Adult Services, 828 San Pablo Ave. To register call 558-7800. 

“Applied Buddhism” a workshop led by Marilee Baccich and Lynette Delgado, Tues. at 12:15 p.m. through Dec. 6 at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. Donation $40. To register call 526-8944.  

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 14 

“Quilters Comfort America” Help make quilts at the quilt-a-thons, Wed. and Thurs. from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at New Pieces 2, 1605 Solano Ave. New Pieces will provide the tables, chairs, irons and ironing board. Please bring anything else you have that could be of use. All quilts will be hand delivered to Red Cross Volunteers at evacuee shelters in Houston. To reserve a place please call 527-6779. 

“Himalayan Quest” book-signing with Ed Viesturs, the first American to successfully climb all 14 of the world’s highest peaks without supplemental oxygen, at 1 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

“Lori Berenson: Convicted by an Image” and “La Noche de los Lápices” two films from Latin America at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. 393-5685. 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland “New Era/New Politics” highlights African-American leaders who have made their mark on Oakland. Meet at 10 a.m. at the African American Museum and Library at 659 14th St. 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

Youth Arts Studio Demonstration Class in dance for ages 10-13 at 3:15 p.m. at All Souls Episcopal Church, 2220 Cedar St. Youth Arts Studio is a non-profit after-school program. 848-1755. 

Pain Free Movement Learn exercises to rehabilitate joints and muscles at 1 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. at Cedar. 549-9200. 

Eco-Medicine: Greening Primary Health Care A free presentation at 7 p.m. at the Teleosis Institute, 1521B 5th St. 558-7285 www.teleosis.org  

Poetry Writing Workshop led by Slison Seevak at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave., Albany. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

“The Day I Died” BBC documentary on near-death experiences at 7:30 p.m. at Unity of Berkeley, 2075 Eunice St. 395-5684. 

East Bay Genealogical Society with Barbara Smith, docent at Mountain View Cemetery at 10 a.m. at the Library Conference Room, Family History Center, 4766 Lincoln Ave. Oakland. 635-6692.  

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. 548-9840. 

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

“Mindfulness Meditation” a workshop led by Kendra Smith, Wed. at 9:30 a.m. through Nov. 2 at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. Donation $30. To register call 527-4816.  

Prose Writer’s Workshop An ongoing group made up of friendly writers who are serious about our craft. All levels welcome. At 7 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. georgeporter@earthlink.net 

THURSDAY, SEPT. 15 

“Redemption - The Stan ‘Tookie’ Williams Story” a special screening with Barbara Becnel, hosted by the Fr. Bill O’Donnell Social Justice Committee, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. Donations accepted. 482-1062. 

“Cuba Today: Achievements, Roadblocks, Failed US Policy” with Lee Zeigler, Stanford Univ., at 7:30 p.m. in the Home Room, International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Cost is $5. 642-9460.  

“Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary: Research and Resources” with Jennifer Stock on one of the most biologically rich areas of the West Coast at 12:30 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Golden Gate Audubon Society “Why Do Birds Sing and How?” with George Bentley at 7:30 p.m. at Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 

Berkeley Community Gardening Collaborative Potluck and meeting at 6 p.m. at the Edible Schoolyard Garden, Rose and Grant Sts. 883-9096. 

Communication for Caregivers Ongoing free Berkeley Adult School class meets Thurs. at 1 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5170. 

“Alzheimer’s and Other Dementia: Current Treatment” at 4 p.m. at Center for Older Adult Services, 828 San Pablo Ave. To register call 558-7800. 

Puppy Prep, socialization skills, a four week class, at 6:30 p.m. at Rabbitears, 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Cost is $100. 525-6155. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Creeks Task Force meets Mon. Sept. 12, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Erin Dando, 981-7410.  

Council Agenda Committee meets Mon., Sept. 12, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St. 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/citycouncil/agenda-committee 

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Mon., Sept. 12, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Gisele Sorensen, 981-7419.  

Peace and Justice Commission meets Mon., Sept. 12, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Manuel Hector, 981-5510.  

Youth Commission meets Mon., Sept. 12, at 6:30 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Philip Harper-Cotton, 981-6670.  

City Council meets Tues., Sept. 13, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Commission on Early Childhood Education meets Tues. Sept. 13, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Angellique De Cloud, 981-5428.  

Commission on Disability meets Wed., Sept. 14, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Don Brown, 981-6346. TDD: 981-6345.  

Homeless Commission meets Wed., Sept. 14, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jane Micallef, 981-5426. Planning Commission meets Wed., Sept. 14, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Janet Homrighausen, 981-7484.  

Police Review Commission meets Wed., Sept. 14, at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-4950.  

Waterfront Commission meets Wed., Sept. 14, at 7 p.m., at 201 University Ave. Cliff Marchetti, 981-6740.  

Transportation Commission meets Thurs., Sept. 15, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Peter Hillier, 981-7000.

In its final six-month progress report on the Berkeley Unified School District, the Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) praises the district for making what it called “good progress” in its operational areas, but says that the district “still faces significant fiscal challenges” and cautions that BUSD “will need to remain vigilant to avoid fiscal insolvency.” 

The BUSD board will review the report at Wednesday’s regular board meeting. The board had been scheduled to conduct the review at its Aug. 24 meeting, but postponed it when the meeting ran overtime. 

The meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Old City Hall at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

FCMAT is a state-funded organization set up by the Legislature to intervene and assist school districts facing severe financial difficulties. In recent years, the organization’s role has increased to encompass the monitoring of every aspect of school district operations. 

The publication of the final FCMAT report on BUSD, which was released in July, ends the organization’s oversight of the district, which began during BUSD’s fiscal crisis in 2001. In that year, FCMAT was appointed by the Alameda County Office of Education as BUSD’s Fiscal Advisor, but that role ended last summer. 

In the five areas in which FCMAT provides assessments, the organization noted steady improvement in BUSD’s operations. On a 1-10 scale, with 10 being the highest possible score, BUSD received final ratings of 7 in community relations/governance, 5.65 in personnel management, 6.08 in pupil achievement, 5.70 in financial management, and 6.47 in facilities management. 

While all of these showed at least a one-point jump in assessment from July 2003 through July 2005, FCMAT said that BUSD’s greatest gains during that period were in financial management over the two year period, from 3.08 to 5.70. 

In pointing out that BUSD “should continue to self-monitor its fiscal operations regularly,” however, FCMAT officials noted areas of concern that required specific district action. Some were controversial, others seemed difficult to achieve in a period of fiscal austerity. 

• Noting that “a number of district programs significantly encroach upon the general fund,” FCMAT recommended that the practice be “curtailed.” FCMAT mentioned special education as the most “notable” encroachment. 

• FCMAT noted “a high degree of turnover” in the district, “particularly in mid-management positions,” adding that “the superintendent administers the district with few cabinet-level administrators to provide support or to assume leadership roles.” FCMAT made no suggestions as to how the district might find money to add the new level of administrators, however. 

• FCMAT said that BUSD needed to “continue its efforts to address several instructional issues,” including “reducing the achievement gap for minority students,” and “administering fair and equitable student discipline.” 

• The organization suggested that BUSD “should consider providing a full-time informational systems administrator for its management information systems” so that the district could have “accurate information to make appropriate fiscal decisions.” 

To continue its “measurable progress” in fiscal management, the FCMAT report also suggested that BUSD: 

• Develop and distribute an internal control manual so that a clear understanding of district processes exists. 

• Update budgets throughout the year. The report said that for the past several years the district has experienced what it called “significant differences” between its budget estimates and its actual audited amounts, saying that “if these large variances continue to occur annually, confidence in the budget data may begin to erode.” 

• Do something about the continuing deficit in the food budget. FCMAT said that the food budget deficit will not stop “unless food restrictions are eased to permit the high school to serve a wider variety of foods, the campus is closed for lunch, or new innovative ways are found to increase revenues.” The report noted that “at this time, district administration does not consider any of these options feasible. FCMAT has concerns about the [food] fund’s large deficit and encroachment upon the general fund, but these concerns do not appear to be shared by the district.” 

• Develop board policies for the management and oversight of student body funds. The report said that the Berkeley High School ASB advisor and bookkeeper “comprehend their duties and responsibilities and seem to understand and use the ASB Accounting Manual,” FCMAT added they “have not been provided with any board policies for guidance,” and that “without policies and guidelines, employees cannot be held accountable for their actions.” 

• Closely monitor its first full year of self-insurance program for worker’s compensation “since the current activity will affect future rates.”

UC Berkeley has called a halt to talks with a Marin County developer whom they had selected as a potential developer of a corporate/industrial research park at their Richmond Field Station. 

A state official also said Thursday that her agency is looking into claims that radioactive waste may have been dumped offshore from the station. 

Meanwhile, two field station workers—one of them retired—were elected Thursday night to the community advisory panel monitoring the state’s oversight of cleanups at the RFS and the adjoining Campus Bay site. 

Rick Alcaraz, the retiree, who is also a former union official, has told the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) that he and other workers collected drums from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and dumped them offshore from the field station three decades ago. Alcaraz said he believes the drums contained radioactive waste material. 

Barbara Cook, who is supervising the cleanups of field station and Campus Bay for the DTSC, said that the property where the drums were dropped is not owned by RFS and that the state does not know who owns the marshland between the station and the Marina Bay subdivision. 

She said that her agency will be using magnetometers in an attempt to pinpoint the barrels so her agency can determine what they contained. 

Victory and stalled talks 

The appointment of the RFS representatives with only one dissenting vote represents a major victory for the UC employees, many of whom were worried about potential exposures to hazardous chemicals which are present in the soil. 

Initially, employees were told they were banned from serving on the panel because they worked for one of the parties involved in the cleanup, but the workers pressed their request to serve on CAG, ending in Thursday night’s vote and the seating of David Kim, a current RFS employee, and Alcaraz, who former colleagues say is well-versed on events at the site. 

Both the field station and the adjoining Campus Bay property are contaminated by toxic chemicals left over from the chemical factory and blasting cap plant that were once on the land. 

Cleanups at both sites are now under the control of the state DTSC, which took over jurisdiction from the Regional Water Quality Control Board early this year following protests by local activists and resolutions by the Richmond City Council and Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors. UC Berkeley resisted the change in oversight to the DTSC. 

Because of the change in supervision, UC Berkeley Senior Public Information Representative Sarah Yang said Friday that plans to build a 2.2-million-square-foot corporate/academic research complex on the site have been placed on hold. 

“The talks were discontinued because of all the unresolved issues about the future and the lack of a clear time frame for remediation. We decided that until those issues are resolved, let’s hold off,” said Yang. 

While the university had been in initial talks with Cherokee-Simeon Ventures (CSV) as their choice of applicants from a Request for Qualifications, the talks were eventually narrowed down to Simeon Properties, a Marin County and San Francisco development firm. 

Cherokee Investment Partners, an international firm specializing in investing in developments on cleaned-up toxic sites, is still teamed with Simeon to develop the Campus Bay site—those those plans too are being held in abeyance until cleanup issues are resolved. 

Members of the South Richmond Community Advisory Group, which is charged with observing the cleanup process, moved forward last week, learning that Cook has reopened the investigation into why trees have been dying on both sites. 

While a botanist on Cook’s staff originally blamed the deaths on excess water, field station workers and neighbors feared toxins. Bay Area Residents for Responsible Development (BARRD) activists Claudia Carr and Sherry Padgett—the latter a CAG member—recruited UC Berkeley plant pathologist Dr. Robert Raabe to look at the plants, and he too suspected toxins. 

Raabe, Cook, a toxicologist and a botanist from her staff and developers will tour Campus Bay on Wednesday to examine the trees.

Different cultures and historic eras have had various approaches to imitation, originality and improvisation in art forms. 

In much traditional art in Asia, careful imitation of the work of a master has been considered one of the highest goals of the artist. The same was true in Europe for long periods, but starting with the Renaissance and continuing to the present day, originality has been highly valued, both in visual arts and in music. 

Improvisation on a standard theme occupies a middle ground between the poles of imitation and originality. European classical music featured a good bit of improvised ornamentation through the Baroque period, but it’s been out of style lately. Jazz and other forms of music with an African inheritance, on the other hand, have maintained a robust improvisatory tradition.  

A small exhibit now at the Mills College Art Museum, “Improving the Bow Tie: African-American Improvisational Quilts,” provides a capsule illustration of how some African-American women artists have struck a balance between standard themes and original expression. The catalogue—free to all attendees, as is admission—is a six-fold cardstock brochure, with handsome prints of all 10 quilts. Curator Eli Leon’s extensive notes plus bibliography provide a good introduction to the art form. 

Leon traces the artists’ style back to their African heritage:” While every society finds its own balance between structured and spontaneous artistic expression, sub-Saharan African cultures—and the traditions they inspired throughout the Americas—are exceptional in the degree to which they favored spontaneity.” He says that this “posed a problem” for Euro-Americans, whose crafts historically have favored exact repetition.  

In the European tradition the divergence between high art and crafts, which has been taking place since the Renaissance, has allocated originality to “art” and imitation to “crafts.” Crafts have often been accorded lower status, especially the fabric crafts, possibly because they have largely been the province of women. But when well-meaning American women of European descent taught quilt-making to African-Americans, they were confounded by what emerged from many of the quilters. These students mastered what Leon calls “standard-traditional” patterns when they chose to, but they also branched out into the colorful riffs on standard themes which this show celebrates.  

Leon calls them “Afro-traditional” quilts, saying that they “incorporate a seemingly heterogeneous mix of qualities, including improvisation, that depart from Euro-American standards while conforming to norms that cut across a broad spectrum of African cultures.” The examples in this exhibit contain variations on the traditional bow-tie pattern deployed in unique designs.  

Leon got into quilt-collecting in the ‘60s, starting out with standard-traditional quilts. He’s an inveterate collector—he says he “must have 50 different collections” of art objects made from things that might otherwise be thrown away, mostly packed into his small North Oakland house. He found quilts made by African-Americans particularly beautiful and intriguing, and started researching their origins. 

There were a few scholars studying this kind of art who were starting to reject what he calls “the deficit theory,” that these were simply failed attempts at traditional quilting, and he learned from them of the African origins of the genre. Later on, he sought out the still-living artists and taped interviews with them about what their intentions were, which confirmed his idea that there is usually some kind of non-random planning underlying their deviation from standard designs. 

The quilts in the Mills show all have the bow-tie somewhere in the design, and they’re all made from vividly colored fabrics, but the interpretation of these motifs is strikingly different for each artist represented. 

Leon had lost track of one of them, Johnnie Poindexter, whose “String Bow Tie” quilt was pieced in 1981 when she lived in Oakland. A friend took her to see the Mills exhibit, and she and Leon reconnected. 

The show was originally scheduled to close on Aug. 7, but it was reopened at the request of African American Mills alumnae who are meeting there this week, and will go on until Sept. 11. Johnnie Poindexter was at the reception which accompanied the re-opening, meeting fans and having her picture taken with her work. 

Talking to her, I was reminded of a line from a hymn I once heard in an African-American church: “After all I’ve seen, I still have joy.” She gets around with a walker now, 24 years after she made the quilt in the show, but she’s still enjoying life. She’s moved to a senior citizens’ apartment building in Berkeley, where she continues piecing her joyous quilts.s

The Berkeley School Board will review the final Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team report and the district’s facilities plan update when the board meets this Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., at Old City Hall at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

With a construction boom in progress in the district, the board will also review several construction projects recently completed—including major renovations at Berkeley High School, Willard Middle School, and Washington and Oxford elementaries—as well as projects scheduled for completion within the next year and a half. 

Also at Wednesday’s meeting, the BUSD board will review recently released test and school-ranking results from the state Academic Performance Index (API) and the federal Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Those two reports have become the state and national benchmarks in judging the progress—or regress—of public schools. 

Also on Wednesday’s agenda is a resolution in support of California Congressmember Mike Honda’s (D-San Jose) pending bill to change access of military recruiters to student records. Under interpretations of President George Bush’s No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law, military recruiters presently have access to all public student records unless the student or the student’s parents signs a form in advance asking that those records not be released. The policy is commonly known as “opting out.” 

Honda’s bill would change NCLB to require that military recruiters could only receive student information if the student or the student’s parents “opt in,” that is, sign a paper saying that release of such records to recruiters is acceptable. 

The bill is presently in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, where earlier this year, Honda communications director Jay Staunton says it may languish. “The Republican leadership is not interested in pushing this legislation,” Staunton said. “It’s not their priority at any level. It’s not on their agenda.” 

Berkeley Unified presently operates using the “opt in” interpretation of the law. Since a 2003 policy on military information policy was passed by the school board in Berkeley, parents of Berkeley High School students are provided with a form in the Student/Parent Handbook asking the parents to check a box and sign their names stating: “Please DO release my student’s name, and address, and/or telephone number.” The form goes on to inform parents that if they “do not check a box and sign above, [the high school] will not release your child’s information to military recruiters.” 

Such interpretation in other school districts around the country has been challenged by federal authorities. 

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Henri Poole and his colleagues have formed a smoothly functioning creative community even though none of the collaborators has ever met all the others. 

They have also found a way to get clients to pay them, even though their clients know that the product they’re paying for will be given away free to all who come later. 

Think of Berkeley resident Poole and his colleagues at CivicActions as a collection of computer-savvy political wonks who’ve set out to transform politics from the grassroots up. Their website describes them as an Internet campaign consulting firm comprised of a network of leading technology and human relationship specialists. Poole ran Dennis Kucinich’s electronic campaign, and collaborator Dan Robinson ran Howard Dean’s national Meet-Up lists during the 2004 primaries. 

Together, they decided to create software to run campaigns, and one of their most successful projects is AdvoKit, a free, open-source software package for organizing communities and running campaigns. 

The software has drawn the attention of State Controller and former eBay exec Steve Westley’s gubernatorial campaign, which is now using the software. Westley is the man that some polls and pundits now rank as the candidate most likely to terminate the governor. 

In last November’s elections, AdvoKit was used to organize four New York state senate races and helped net three winners for the Democrats. Nationally, the program was used to run the Rock The Vote and Music for America get-out-the-vote campaigns, Poole said. 

CivicActions takes on paying clients for all kinds of campaigns, including fundraising, publicity, elections and Internet strategies. Jim Hightower is a prominent fundraising client.  

A nonprofit hired them to organize phone bank software to reach unregistered voters in isolated locations. The campaign registered 5 million votes, including 500,000 who had never voted before. Volunteers could click on the website CivicActions set up for a list of names to call, ten at a time. 

Closer to home, Robinson used AdvoKit to run the Measure B campaign last year, the Berkeley school bond measure that passed at a time when voters were otherwise largely reluctant to add more to their property tax bills. 

AdvoKit users, who can download the software on line, are obligated to share their tweaks with other users, but that’s the only obligation they incur. 

In the course of two to three months, organizer Barbara Graves of Santa Cruz and her volunteers have used the software to organize three million voter records in nine counties and have run precinct captain training programs to organize throughout the state, Poole said. 

Contrast that to programs created by for-profit companies. Some charge $50,000 to $100,000 a state to use their products. 

“With free software and voter rolls available to recognized parties at $50 a county, it opens up campaigning at the local level,” Poole said. “For us, it’s fantastic. We’ll have 400 to 500 precinct leaders already trained in the software” for use in future campaigns. 

State Democratic Party officials were sufficiently impressed to invite Poole to speak to the party’s executive board gathered in Sacramento. 

A month before the November election, Poole and Robinson decided to bring others on board, and now there’s a dozen of them scattered across the country from Point Reyes to Albany, N.Y., as well as two in Eastern Europe. Another principal is joining from his native Germany next month. 

Though none of the participants have met all the others, that will change next month when they will all gather for a meeting in Amsterdam. 

“There’s definitely something about being together physically,” Poole acknowledges, “but it’s not necessary to work in the same building.” 

Poole likens CivicActions to a virtual company. “There’s no bricks and mortar at all. We have no property, no stuff,” he said. 

Each member has connected to the others by Internet telephone, text messaging, computers and other gear, and the team members are expert at—you guessed it—multitasking. 

“You can be meeting with a client and talking by phone to one of us while texting [text messaging] another, so you can answer the clients’ questions and conduct research while you meet,” Poole said. “There’s no intellectual property stuff to deal with, and we bill in five-minute increments, and we may deal with three or four clients a day. We keep track of all our hours on line, and we stay in constant touch.” 

And the best part is, Poole says, is that they’re working to give power back to the voters at the community level. What better way to do well by doing good?

The David Brower Center complex is the biggest thing on the agenda when the Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thursday. 

The 2200 Oxford St. project features both a “green” building to house offices of environmental organizations and a six-story all-affordable apartment complex. Questions have been raised about the availability of funds to complete both structures. 

The project’s permits are headed to a vote, a crucial step in acquiring funds. 

Other projects on the agenda include: 

• A request by developer Avi Nevo to modify the use permit for his 97-unit residential and commercial building project at 2310 Fulton St. 

• A proposal to demolish an existing one-story single-family home at 1331 Fairview St. to make way for a three-unit, two-story project. 

• A permit request for an addition to a house at 1806 Yosemite street which exceeds city density standards. 

The meeting will be held in City Council chambers at 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. 

Flying Cottage 

The ZAB subcommittee which is pondering the future of the so-called “Flying Cottage” at 3045 Shattuck Ave. is scheduled to meet Friday from 8-10 a.m. in the second floor Sitka Spruce Conference Room of the city Permit Service Center, 2120 Milvia St. 

The committee consists of three members of the Design Review Committee (DRC)—ZAB and DRC member Bob Allen and DRC-only members Burton Edwards and David Snippen. 

Applicant Christine Sun and her architect Andus Brandt stopped meeting with the DRC and appealed the committee’s rejection of the project straight to ZAB, which appointed the committee to find a compromise on a project that has created strong neighborhood opposition. a

I happened to be present in Khao-I-Dang Camp, on the Thai/Cambodia border, the day it opened to refugees from Pol Pot’s terror: Thanksgiving Day, 1979. It was an empty field on that day, with tired figures who had been trudging through mine fields arriving with all their belongings in bundles on their heads, to line up to receive inoculations and malaria prophylaxis. 

The camp was a bamboo and blue tarp tent city for 200,000 people not long afterwards. We were a Bay Area medical team, sponsored by International Rescue Committee, and funded by KRON and the San Francisco Chronicle, and we staffed and supplied a grass roofed pediatric hospital in the camp for a few years, during the time it took the refugees to reconnect with surviving family, and find permanent homes, either in third countries or by being repatriated back to Cambodia. 

In the last day or so, since what now will likely be called simply “The Hurricane,” I have been talking by phone and e-mail to some of these same relief workers, many of whom (like me) admit to have been spending their days yelling at their TV sets in horror at what we are seeing in New Orleans. 

We have all been screaming: “If the media got in there, other vehicles could be in there! Where are the fuel trucks, the water tankers, the busses, trucks, and airplanes to take people out?” We all thought, that first day, that there would be boats, and portable hospitals, and out of area police, fire, rescue, military and civilian volunteers. 

We former relief people thought that there would be lists for the evacuees to sign (name, home address, family members, out of state contact, a photo, who’s missing) when someone entered a shelter. (One person with a notebook can do a lot/a computer is better/a digital camera is great).  

And where are the radios/walkie talkies/satellite phones that work when land lines and cell phones fail, so that the people who are helping can know what is going on, and can summon help? Where are the “walking records” for medical situations, the tracing procedures for lost family members? It all takes time, but it should start right away. 

Normally, in an international disaster, international relief organizations, trained and supplied to do this kind of work, would be sent in immediately. But we are not getting international help with this emergency. For one thing, we would need to ask for it. It may be bravado on the part of the president, or simply a matter of his being clueless, but the implication (in his speech today) that other countries are “welcome to send money ... but we can take care of this,” is a big problem. 

Now that everything to do with emergencies in our country—from terrorism to earthquakes to immigration processing—is under one big umbrella called Homeland Security, one suspects that there is also a concern about foreigners getting into our country, and about what they might do. 

Our president is afraid to relinquish control. So 9/11 has come to Louisiana and Mississippi, to tell our people that they must wait for help until we Americans can re-invent the wheel. 

On Thursday we were for the first time seeing signs of movement, which was not soon enough for so very many people, sadly. The Red Cross was no longer saying “just send money,” and was taking names and numbers and calling back potential volunteers (the number to call is (408) 577-1000, by the way). 

In the meantime, however, we have lost that most valuable of resources: time. We cannot easily undo the mess that has happened. In some areas, like the Convention Center, things are apparently falling apart completely. There are, incredibly (they say on my TV) hospital evacuations that are taking place under sniper fire. No use crying over spilt levees, I guess (or at least this is not the moment), but to quote the movie, Animal House, our government seems to be saying to the people, “Hey, you screwed up. You trusted us!” 

As the flood waters recede (at least where they can, in those places that weren’t built in a hole) so must our preconceptions about how together we are as a nation. Our expectations about the “good things in life”—the things that are really just extras—need adjustment as well. 

We can do this; we can scale back. There are few Americans who could not easily get by with half of what they have right now: half the shoes they own, half the energy they consume, half the desserts they eat, half the rooms they live in. Thousands of Americans have more than one home, and assuming that they cannot be in two places at once, at least half the time one of those homes is empty. There are places where families can live, and can send their kids to school, and can find community to help them with jobs and other needs, at least for awhile.  

The Houston Astrodome (are they kidding?) can only be temporary. It is easy to complain, to second guess, and I am not there on the ground to see what is happening first hand. The media (our new “aid workers,” it seems) are doing a good job of showing us how bad it really it, however, while they are helping people as they go. The people who are on the scene (“in the field,” in relief parlance) are doing superhuman work. God bless them. 

The starving Cambodian survivors we worked with in ‘79 to ‘83 were a population coming from the hell of Pol Pot’s Kampuchea, and as a result, anything was better than that. Our new refugees from Louisiana and Mississippi (now we are supposed to call them ‘displaced persons’) on the other hand, are people used to the American lifestyle, which even at lower economic levels has larger expectations than that. It makes what is offered—MREs, bottles of water, a roof but not a bed—seem paltry by comparison. These are good people, who may not be getting even this, however. 

This is fixable. We need to have a giant American potluck supper, symbolically speaking. Our churches, schools, YMCAs, youth centers and neighborhoods need to get together whatever resources we have to share, so that all of our people can enjoy the surplus that this nation has in its hands. We need to be telling people what they can do to help. And the government needs to give help directly to the affected people.  

That’s what they, and we, pay taxes for. This kind of help will not trickle down. 

There are plenty of people who are angry; some are violent. If they want to do something really useful, though, instead of threatening their fellow New Orleans citizens, they should be standing up to our president, and forcing him to sign the Kyoto Accords. Maybe if he had done so, it might not be so bad for so many today. As for the future, we can only hope. 

People wonder, I’m sure, what this emergency would have looked like if we still had the $200 billion dollars (or whatever astronomical number it is) that we have spent in the wars, so we could send it down to our fellow citizens in the South. Maybe each one of them, who has lost a loved one in the last few days, could get a ‘settlement’ like the one that came to the survivors of those lost on 9/11. 

Some may wonder why the National Guard needs to be overseas, if it is, indeed a National Guard. And they may be thinking that it seems like there really ought to be a lot of temporary living space available in all those military bases they were talking about closing last week. Most importantly, however, the survivors and victims themselves may be wondering why they have to pay their own way out of this, rent their own rooms, walk out of the deep water of disaster with their babies on their backs, and why they have to wait for volunteers and for donations. 

I wonder, too. 

›

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

GUESTS? 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Your editorial calling UC Berkeley students “guests” of supposedly superior “long-term residents” was disgusting. 

Students are full-fledged citizens through the simple act of living here. As a long term resident, I will not allow you to turn Berkeley into a place with first- and second-class citizens. 

As a former student, I remember paying hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars in parking tickets, with usurious 200 percent late fees, because I could not cough up fines within three weeks. Berkeley to this day treats its working poor this way, all for the simple crime of driving a car. 

I also paid thousands of dollars in sales tax and thousands more in property taxes, all to support schools and educational programs for children I did not and still do not have, to help homeless people I do not know or particularly like (assaulted by several), to fund non-profit organizations I never met and to beautify neighborhoods where I knew no one. And yet, even at 18, I could grasp that this is what government is supposed to be: not fee for service, or for impact, but from all for all. 

I am amazed that a gifted newspaper publisher like yourself, who has done excellent work, for example, covering the Marina Shores project in Richmond, cannot get your head around this simple concept. Students are not Less Than simply because they do not write property tax checks directly out of their own bank accounts, or because they disproportionately violate noise ordinances, or even because they are only in town for a few years. Nor is the university anything less than an integral and valuable part of this city simply because it requires heavy services without paying its way in taxes. 

It is tough living with the sort of people who would agree with your sourpuss editorial. When I was editing the Daily Californian and thousands of issues were stolen, your police department did not lift a finger to help (thank you to the UCPD). When our current mayor repeated the crime several years later, a “long-term resident,” who probably loved your scolding and disingenuous “welcome,” shouted at me outside a City Council meeting that my thoughts did not count (she thought I was a student). 

I have lived in Berkeley longer than any other city, for 11 years now. Despite some of the strengths of your paper, I can only hope students see that, like many in the city, you want only their money and not their company, at least not as first-class citizens. In a town with an admitted thief as mayor, teeming with surly homeless and losing retailers left and right downtown and on southside, I don’t think students are the problem. 

Ryan Tate 

• 

IRV 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Last year, Berkeley voters passed instant runoff voting election modernization by a landslide, with over 72 percent support, the greatest margin of any item on the ballot. We want our first, second and third choice to count. San Francisco voters are already benefiting from better elections. 

The city and county should be making election modernization a top priority so that we too can have IRV elections with less hostility, more votes counted, and without an expensive and time-consuming runoff in 2006. Ranked voting elections empower voters otherwise disenfranchised by the antiquated one-choice plurality election system 

Much of the nation watches our city for civic leadership. IRV elections here in 2006 will support the efforts of congressmen Cynthia McKinney, Jesse Jackson Jr., and Dennis Kucinich, and also Howard Dean, U.S. Sen. Obama, and Assemblymember Loni Hancock for state and national IRV reform by 2008.  

Sennet Williams  

• 

MORE ON IRV 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

In March, 2004, Berkeley citizens voted overwhelmingly—by a 72 percent landslide margin—to pass Measure I, mandating instant runoff voting (IRV) for future Berkeley elections.  

On Monday, Aug. 29, on the steps of City Hall, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates and City Councilmembers Max Anderson and Kriss Worthington honored Berkeley voters by reaffirming their commitment to establish an IRV voting system in Berkeley before the November 2006 elections. 

During the November 2004 election, San Francisco successfully used IRV voting for municipal candidate offices without difficulty.  

The Utah Republican Party uses IRV at its state conventions to determine nominees for elected offices. During the 1940s and 1950s, major U.S. eastern cities—including Cleveland and Cinncinati—used IRV for municipal office elections, and Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom have used IRV for decades. 

Even if Berkeley has to hand-count IRV ballots (which is done in Ireland and other locations), IRV must be implemented in the city before the November 2006 elections—Berkeley’s voters demand it!  

Chris Kavanagh 

• 

BERKELEY HONDA 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Regarding your July 15 article, “City Council Calls for Berkeley Honda Boycott,” I would like to know exactly when the City Council was promoting business at Berkeley Honda (previously Jim Doten Honda)?  

According to Councilmember Gordon Wozniak, Berkeley Honda “is one of the city’s top sales-tax generators,” yet when the City Council exercised a contract to purchase Civic Hybrid’s in 2004, they went to a non-union dealership in Southern California to buy these city-owned vehicles? 

Councilmember Linda Maio, who has a 1994 Honda Accord, claims “I’m not going back to Berkeley Honda until they treat their people honestly.”  

This statement is curious, since she has only visited Jim Doten Honda once since 2000 and that was for a free warranty claim. If she has been having her ‘94 Honda serviced in Berkeley, she has been using a non-union shop. 

On the same page as the boycott article, there was a letter to the editor promoting the virtues of Berkeley Minicar as an alternative to using Berkeley Honda. They may be a great place to get your Honda worked on, but they are also non-union. 

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is currently holding meetings to determine if the hiring practices used by the new owners of Berkeley Honda were conducted fairly and based solely on the merit of the individuals being interviewed. Wouldn’t the City Council have been better served to wait until these hearings are concluded to make a decision on endorsing any kind of boycott? 

Just as a point of reference, the NLRB recently conducted hearings into the hiring practices of Future Ford in Concord, where new ownership took over a previously union contracted shop and the mechanics/employees went on strike.  

The NLRB found that Future Ford acted “without prejudice” in the hiring of employees and immediately declared the union-organized strike as “illegal and without merit” and the picketers were ordered off the premises of Future Ford. 

On Monday Aug. 29, the NLRB found that the hiring practices at Berkeley Honda were fair and conducted without bias. The union promptly dropped their charges of “unfair labor practices” against the dealership. The mechanics must be asking themselves now, why did they walk out on jobs that were paying them over $100,000 a year? So they could force ownership into accepting their bankrupt retirement plan? 

Yesterday marked 75 days that some employees of Berkeley Honda have been on strike. The only issue that clearly remains is whether ownership of the new Berkeley Honda will take on the financially embattled pension program. 

The cost of this “marriage” is nearly $650,000, the amount that the union officials have demanded from Jim Doten when he retired and now from the new owners of Berkeley Honda, to shore up the nearly $2 million it is under-funded locally. From everything I have seen to date, I can tell you without a doubt, this is one nuptial that will never make it to the altar. 

Tim Lubeck 

Service Advisor 

Berkeley Honda 

• 

PROTEST PARTY 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Boy, has it been uplifting and fun over by the big plastic rat in front of Berkeley Honda lately. Especially on Thursdays and Saturdays, when the weekly rallies have been happening! 

Last Thursday there were picketing mechanics (those who didn’t make the cut when the new owners took over from Jim Doten, and those who were re-hired but left in support of their co-workers). There were school teachers, retirees, relatives of strikers, a remarkable young woman with a broken ankle. (Every time a passing motorist honked in solidarity, she cheered like an alum at a Bears touchdown. She must keep Walgreen’s in business ordering lozenges, because there’s a whole lotta honkin’ goin’ on.) 

And there were mechanics from other shops, leashed and well behaved dogs large and small, Wellstone Democratic Club stalwarts, a smartly dressed 30-something woman, City Councilmember Max Anderson, and tasty snacks to recharge everyone’s energy. You could almost say, “It’s a party!” 

And in a way, it is, but the stakes are also high. Many union jobs with a decent health plan and pension. It’s happening lots of places, but this one is right here where we can join together and win it! Their business is down, but they think if they stall enough, we’ll all go away. Only we won’t. 

So, join us. It’s fun! It’s righteous! Come Thursdays from 4:30-6 p.m., or Saturdays from 1-2:30, when there are rallies. Or really, any time they’re open, join the picketing. Come alone or bring a friend—it’s fun, and really gets their goat to see more people out there. 

Because the more people “join the party,” the more it will lighten the load of the strikers themselves, who have been out there long hours already for two months. 

It will also be one more way to show both the former Doten workers and potential Berkeley Honda customers that this community cares about an old-fashioned concept like justice. 

Oh, and perhaps best of all, we can win! How does that feel in the depths of these political doldrum times? 

Donna Mickleson 

• 

VENEZUELA 

Editors, Daily Planet  

Although labeled “news analysis,” the recent article in the Daily Planet on Venezuela (“Despite War of Words, U.S.-Venezuela Ties Remain Strong,” by Vinod Sreeharsha, Pacific News Service) is neither news nor analysis about the process of change in Venezuela.  

I left Berkeley in 1984 to live in Caracas Venezuela, where I lived for seven years. Since 2000, I have returned to Venezuela for several months every year.  

Descriptions such as “communist splurge” or “self-proclaimed revolutionary Hugo Chavez” are very much in line with the overall misinformation campaign of some of the major Venezuelan media and most of the U.S. media who by attaching misleading labels try to discredit the process of change in Venezuela. Such terms do not lend themselves to thoughtful observation and analysis.  

Having observed Venezuela for many years as well as living and talking with Venezuelans of various opinions and social classes, I believe that there is a profound process of social, cultural and political change going on in Venezuela based on a vision of participatory democracy and a commitment to environmental, social, economic and political justice.  

What is the evidence? People living in low income neighborhoods have increased access to health care, food and education. Other positive programs include low income housing projects and access to low or no interest loans to establish cooperatives to re-open businesses and agricultural sectors that have been in decline since the 1989 (when then President Carlos Andres Perez imposed the IMF economic package that led to nationwide demonstrations). 

As a foreign resident, I have seen an annual improvement in the visa and national identity card services. There is more freedom of speech and of movement since 2000 than when I lived here in the 1980s.  

The Venezuelan government has consistently opposed bombing of Afghan and Iraqi civilians. Chavez infuriated the Bush regime when on national television he held up a photo of Afghan women and children killed by American bombs and said “You cannot fight terror with terror.” Chavez is working to increase cooperation among all South American countries for mutual benefit and to escape the historical domination by the United States.  

I would invite Berkeley Daily Planet readers to find out more about what is really happening in Venezuela. The article by Sreeharsha fails to inform your readers about the democratic process of change in Venezuela.  

Pamela Collett 

Tucacas, Venezuela 

• 

SUSAN PARKER 

Editors, Daily Planet  

Obviously, Jernae needed to be taught some or be reminded of some manners. If she is incapable of adapting to an unfamiliar environment, she is in trouble. Undoubtedly Susan Parker offered some gentle suggestions as to how things work around here. If it takes a tough grandma in a Cadillac to square things away, so be it. I wonder if grandma makes other out calls. I suspect she would be welcome at 59th and Shattuck to assist Mr. McCullough and the OPD.  

Bill Lutkenhouse 

• 

XXXXXXXXXX 

Editors, Daily Planet  

The hurricane and flood damage will cost hundreds of billions to repair, an amount similar to that which has been wasted by Bush in Iraq. Someone needs to tell him to bring his troops home now, and spend our resources rebuilding our devastated cities. 

Most Americans are willing to sacrifice to help fellow Americans who have lost so much, provided that everyone pays their fair share, including the very rich. Bush needs to tell his backers that the free ride is over, and rescind the tax breaks which the rest of us are having to cover. 

Can someone please gently explain to our President that global warming correlates with increasingly catastrophic weather, and closing his eyes real tight will not make it go away. 

Bruce Joffe 

Piedmont 

• 

DERBY STREET PLAN 

Editors, Daily Planet  

The Aug. 26 Daily Planet article, “BUSD Says Derby Might be Closed,” omitted several issues that are important to this discussion.  

The stated costs for the open-Derby Street and closed-Derby Street options include only construction cost. According to the school district staff report, neither estimate includes a construction contingency, normal inflation costs, or soft costs such as design work, project management, permit fees, testing and inspections. Together these costs will add 30-40 percent to the cost of the project, raising the budget for the open-Derby Street option to approximately $1,300,000 and the closed-Derby Street option to approximately $6,000,000, yielding a cost differential of $4,700,000.  

It also appears the cost estimates did not include several specific items such as on-site storm drainage for the playing fields to allow them to be used during the wet season. Additionally, in the closed-Derby Street option part of the MLK King Jr. Early Childhood Development Center’s open space will be needed to fit the proposed regulation-size field. The budget will need to include improvements to that site as well.  

The East Campus neighbors welcome the Berkeley High School baseball team to its neighborhood, just as we have welcomed the students who attend the Alternative High School on the same site. In developing the open-Derby Street option, neighborhood representatives to the design committee supported the proposal that gives more to the baseball team and less to the community. These features include a skinned regulation practice infield and batting cages. By comparison the closed-Derby street plan has many shortcomings, The baseball field is a tight fit even with the street closed, resulting in compromises to both the baseball infield and the multipurpose field. The plan also eliminates valuable open space for the Early Childhood Development Center and significantly impacts the neighborhood in the closing of the street.  

Members of the East Campus Neighborhood Association strongly encourage the School Board to work with the city and mayor to seek a more suitable non-residential site to provide a high quality baseball facility in Berkeley. In view of the district’s financial limitations and many other pressing needs, the open-Derby Street option is the fiscally prudent course. This option is supported by the surrounding neighborhoods and does not require City Council approval for the street closure. Affordable sports fields could be ready for play by spring 2006.  

Peter Waller, Susi Marzuola and members of the East Campus Neighborhood Association  

• 

XXXXXXXXXX 

Editors, Daily Planet  

Loved Dorothy Bryant’s “Two Novels in Support of the Artist’s Right to Privacy” (Aug. 30). Bryant writes: “The one thing that transformative fiction needs is creative readers...” That’s true now more than ever, since the reading of books is growing arithmetically and the writing of books is growing exponentially, there will soon be more people writing books than reading them. 

Joe Kempkes 

Oakland 

• 

DOWNTOWN PLAN 

Editors, Daily Planet  

The board of directors of the Claremont-Elmwood Neighborhood Association (CENA) has discussed the Downtown Area Plan (DAP) element of the UC Berkeley-City of Berkeley agreement at its last two meetings. The DAP was also a topic at CENA’s general membership meeting in June. It was clear from those discussions that our 800 paid members feel strongly about all future development in the downtown area. The board has therefore concluded that CENA and other interested neighborhood associations should be an integral part of the planning process. 

Many compelling reasons supporting that conclusion were brought up during our discussions. Perhaps the single most important one is that CENA feels downtown Berkeley should be developed in a manner that is good for all Berkeleyans—not just for UC, its students, faculty and staff. We are concerned that if university and city staff are the only parties involved in the preparation of the DAP, the decisions on how the downtown will be developed may make our city’s downtown much less attractive to most of Berkeley’s residents. If Berkeley’s neighborhood associations are excluded from the planning process, the voices of many active and concerned citizens will be denied the opportunity to give significant formative input.  

A small mayor’s task force format will not provide a forum broad enough for an open discussion by the entire Berkeley community. We support a much more inclusive format that brings neighborhood groups into the DAP development process as significant voices. Once a draft DAP is created, it should go to the Planning Commission for implementation as the city charter provides. We feel that this inclusive process will allow all citizens to voice comments, questions and concerns in a constructive manner.  

Kimberly Tinawi 

Laurent de Janvry 

Co-president, CENA 

• 

KPFA 

Editors, Daily Planet 

No doubt I am as biased as the next person, but I would say that my friend Bob Baldock’s critique of my article adds only refined oil to the fire he claims to want to control. The implication that I am dismissive of women who would charge sexual harassment is unfair. I did not write in the first person on that situation because I have no direct knowledge about it. But my view of those charges is based upon the vote of the elected Station Board entrusted with guiding KPFA’s maturation (15-5 against firing or censure). They did hire independent people including a lawyer to investigate and presumably made an informed decision based upon the reports.  

Baldock fires at me but surely his comments imply that those 15, like myself, must all be male supremacist pigs or have an agenda in protecting Campanella. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The 15 are not a unified block. My article and my understanding of the internal conflicts and resistance to needed reforms at KPFA—such as the unfortunate blocking of the effort by the Program Council to move Pacifica’s most valuable and popular news show, “Democracy Now!” with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, to a more prime time slot on KPFA—is informed by fact and first hand knowledge. Listeners hold the swing votes in the Program Council that voted the ill-fated change. The intensity of paid staff resistance to such a change is incontrovertible. This overall situation calls for an effort at open dialogue and even mediation between core staff and the activist community of listeners to see how some power sharing might amicably evolve.  

Marc Sapir 

• 

CAREGIVING 

Editors, Daily Planet 

Hardly a week goes by that doesn’t include someone telling me about the difficulty of being a caregiver. Most of the difficulties center on communication, either with the person who needs care or with the persons and agencies that provide care. 

It finally occurred to me that I might be able to help. My decades of experience as a communication coach and my own lurching through the intricacies of caring for my mother give me a fair chance of being useful. 

I called the Berkeley Adult School to see if they wanted to sponsor a class in Communication for Caregivers, and was told to go for it. So classes have been scheduled at the South Berkeley Senior Center (2939 Ellis St., 981-5170), starting in September, every Thursday from 1 to 3. This will be an ongoing class. It is free, and people are welcome to start any time. 

This will be a support group with a difference. It will include techniques for effective speaking that have been helpful for hundreds of people in challenging circumstances. Issues that I anticipate arising include:  

The difficulty of being patient when your husband asks you the same question for the third time. 

The challenge of making your requests understood by the rehab center. 

The dilemma of persuading your mother to have hired help in her home. 

Persuading other family members to consider your proposed solutions. 

The general feeling that no one understands how hard it is to be a caretaker. 

I hope that people will take advantage of this chance to make their lives a little easier. 

Donna Davis 

• 

WHEAT AND CHAFF 

Editors, Daily Planet 

To support those who want to separate the wheat from the chaff—in the Daily Planet and elsewhere—I offer the best advice I ever got from my grandfather. 

He said that people who had fact and logic on their side didn’t need to use insulting adjectives (like the Planet contributor who called a neighborhood house of worship a “monstrous building”) or judgment-loaded nouns (like the writer who dismissed the historical evidence she disliked as “fables.”) 

The following facts were overlooked by the Planet contributor who claimed that the wars of 1948, 1956, and 1967 “were launched by Israel.” 

Concerning 1948: The day after the UN Partition Resolution of 1947, Syrian-backed armies began a war of liquidation against Palestine’s Jews. 

The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syra and Iraq invaded Israel. 

Prior to 1956: In direct violation of international law and a 1951 UN Security Council ruling, Egypt refused to open the Suez Canal to Israeli shipping. 

In a 1951 blockade that was an act of war as a matter of international law, Egypt blocked Israeli commerce from the Straits of Tiran. 

As to 1967: On May 15, 1967, Egypt started a troop-buildup in Sinai. 

One day later, Egypt demanded the withdrawal of the UN troops in Sinai. 

The next week, Egypt again declared war on Israel by blockading the Straits of Tiran. 

In 1967, between May 15 and 5 June 5, the leaders of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Algeria and Iraq declared that Israel had to be destroyed. 

Though Israel was immediately willing to cede back almost all the land it captured, a conference of Arab leaders in Khartoum in September of 1967 refused to negotiate with or recognize the state of Israel. 

Woodrow Wilson noted that educated people are more likely to shed light than add heat to debate. 

How about it, folks? 

David Altschul 

• 

IRAQI CONSTITUTION 

Editors, Daily Planet 

The Bush regime has rigged the proposed Iraqi constitution by embedding 100 orders in it that allow U.S. corporations to control and steal Iraq’s vast oil reserves and to run the rest of the Iraqi economy for their own private benefit. Imagine if the writers of the United States Constitution back in 1787 had been infiltrated, corrupted and subverted by agents of the British Crown who had insisted on the insertion of orders and special provisions that allowed British corporations to control all the major American colonial resources including timber, fisheries, farmland, water power and manufacturing facilities. What if American farmers had been forced to purchase new crop seeds from British corporations each year? That, in essence, is what the American military occupiers of Iraq have illegally done in the proposed Iraq constitution. These illegal actions are violations of International Law and the United Nations Charter. 

Paul Bremer, the then-U.S. proconsul in Baghdad and the head of the U. S.-created “Coalition Provisional Authority,” inserted 100 orders into the interim ruling authority’s rules. These orders allow U.S. corporations to control and eventually steal the vast Iraqi oil reserves and also to control the rest of the Iraqi economy. These orders are deeply embedded in the proposed Iraqi constitution in such a manner that it will be almost impossible for the Iraqis to get rid of them. This is what Mr. Bush smirkingly likes to call “democracy.” 

This is part of the alleged “sovereignty” supposedly granted to the Iraqis by the U.S. occupation in June 2004. For example, Order 81, one of these illegal orders, outlaws the traditional seed-saving practices of the Iraqi farmers of keeping their best seeds from their crops for the planting of next year’s food crops and instead, forces them to buy new seeds each year from U.S. corporations such as Monsanto. How’s that for some “democracy?” What an insult to the farmers of the original Fertile Crescent, the cradle of modern agriculture and modern civilization.  

Thus, this proposed Iraqi constitution, which has been rigged by U.S. and British occupiers, is totally illegitimate under international law and the United Nations Charter. The Iraqi people will probably rightfully reject it, unless the Bush regime and their Iraqi puppets rig the vote. 

James K. Sayre 

Oakland 

It’s 6:45 a.m. and Clyiesha’s grandmother has just gotten off work and dropped by to pick her up and prepare her for first grade at Santa Fe Elementary School. She leaves half asleep, clad in her Snoopy Dog pajamas, clutching a Safeway bag filled with dirty clothes in one hand, and a Cowboy Bob doll in the other. Upstairs, LaKisha and baby Kemora are still sleeping. 

In the next room I hear Willie’s television blaring, and in the front room Andrea, Clyiesha and LaKisha’s auntie, snores. 

Downstairs Ralph’s oxygen tank rumbles and percolates. Outside my window, one block south, a BART train bound for Fremont rumbles by. A block north, up 54th Street, the Concord/Bay Point line blows its horn, and clickity clacks along the tracks, carrying tired and bright eyed commuters through fog-shrouded sun and dark tunnels into downtown Oakland and San Francisco. 

I’ve just finished reading another letter to the editor of the Berkeley Daily Planet accusing me of racism and insensitivity. In the past, editors and mentoring columnists have advised me to ignore negative criticism and focus only on the positive. But it’s difficult to do so, and during these early morning hours, when the house is quiet and everyone is sleeping, I begin to question my motives and values, my reason for being, my ability to juggle the responsibilities of taking care of my husband, Ralph. 

I think of all the reasons I can give to defend myself against my critics. I‘ll make a list, I tell myself, of every nice thing I’ve ever done for a person of color, starting with taking Mrs. Scott to doctors’ appointments, nursing Leroy while he suffered from terminal lung cancer; the loans I’ve made, the trips to the county jail I’ve taken, the babysitting I’ve done, the parking tickets I’ve paid, the restraining orders I’ve helped obtain. I’ll list the number of times I’ve had to call the police because of threats to someone who lives with me, and I’ll record the broken windows and furniture I’ve had repaired, and the court appearances I’ve had to make, to prove that my identity was stolen and the crimes committed in my name were done by someone else, not me. 

But I know these excuses won’t satisfy my critics. I’m white and middle class and therefore privileged. Even though I share bedrooms, appliances, food, and bathrooms with the people who help me take care of Ralph, and their extended families, I’m always going to offend someone when I write honestly and openly about our living situation. 

I watch the news on TV in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. I read the newspaper reports of death, destruction, and anarchy. I see the anger and fear in the faces of the victims. I cannot know their pain. But I do know that when the Big One splits the East Bay in two, when people are frantic to flee the fires and flooding, Andrea, Willie and whoever else is here, will help me gather up Ralph, place him in his chair, and wheel him out to our van. Then we’ll all pile in together, picking up neighbors on the way, and it won’t matter what color we are or what class we come from. We’ll be a vanload of people who trust and know each other well, doing what we always do, helping one another survive. 

When I went to see Hustle and Flow recently, I knew I was going to see a movie about a pimp approaching middle age who has lingering dreams of making it big, of doing something really important with his life before it’s too late. I also knew that this slice of struggling black life was written by a white guy named Craig Brewer and that the making of this film was the culmination of a hard-fought-for dream of his own. I didn’t know whether or not a pimp could be likable or at least, empathetic and I’m still not certain he can be.  

I do know that Terrance Howard, whom I have long admired, is a phenomenal actor. He brought depth and complexity to the lead role of “DJay” that could have been stereotypical. Anthony Anderson, as DJay’s partner (Key), broke through the funny fat guy stereotype and was allowed to stretch—he did a fine job. The supporting female cast, Paula Jai Parker (Lexus), Taraji P. Henson (Shug) and Taryn Manning (Nola), who comprised DJay’s stable of prostitutes all rendered fine performances. So what’s my complaint? 

Think of the last dramatic film you saw in which the black woman was the lead character or romantic interest. (Foxy Brown don’t count.) Quick! Time’s up. What we got in Hustle and Flow is the same thing we’re usually stuck with: Sapphire and Butterfly McQueen. “Well, hell,” you say. “These are prostitutes we’re talking about.” “I know,” I sigh. But, it’s still tiresome. 

Lexus is a hard-assed “ho” who don’t take no stuff, a la “Sapphire” of “Amos ‘n’ Andy” fame and almost every Hollywood movie and television show since. Lexus and DJay get along fine until she gets all up in his face and tells him he ain’t never gonna be nuthin’. DJay—his artistic soul pierced by her “evil bitch” tongue—kicks Lexus and her baby boy to the curb, sure to become another struggling single black woman turning tricks to feed her no-daddy baby. Shug’s character is slightly more sensitive although she initially appears to be brain damaged. Her constantly dazed expression calls to mind Butterfly’s lament in Gone with the Wind: “I don’t know nuthin’ ‘bout birthin’ no babies.” But then it occurs to me that many women caught in the web of prostitution have been severely abused—physically, mentally and emotionally—and that the fog which surrounds Shug is probably a result of such abuse (perhaps with a little drug abuse thrown in for good measure). 

The white prostitute, a Bo Derek look-alike, had more props. Nola is considered by DJay and his clientele to be special—exotic, even. When Nola protests DJay’s callous treatment of her and the fact that she also has unfulfilled dreams even though she cannot verbalize them, DJay tells her that all she needs is in order to feel better about herself is a suit. In the end, Nola is still turning tricks for her pimp—albeit in a pin-stripped suit—and has been convinced that that is dream enough for her. DJay is still hustling her, even from his prison cell, and she’s flowing right along with it. 

The “hustle” of The Aristocrats is that it documents the retelling of an old vaudevillian joke full of feces, vomit and deviant sex which flows from the mouths of over 100 comics like so much you know what. The details leading up to the punch line—which is always “The Aristocrats!”—become increasingly obscene and include graphic (and to these guys; hysterical) accounts of rape, incest and beastiality. (If anyone were to study the history of American culture by focusing on what makes white men laugh, it would answer a lot of questions about where we are today.) 

The creation of Paul Provenza and Penn Jilette, this 86-minute documentary is, Penn cautions, “not for everyone.” Hopefully, this is an understatement, although he adds, “I want everyone who sees our movie to enjoy it.” I must admit to laughing at some of the interpretations, the funniest jokes being those which were most off-formula. 

The most appealing aspect of the film is the sheer number of popular comics assembled around this joke (George Carlin, Shelly Berman, Eric Idle, Bill Maher, Carrie Snow, Robin Williams, Jason Alexander, The Smothers Brothers), each with their own perspective on both the history of the joke and the best way to tell it. Chris Rock, who does not offer a version of the joke, appears to have been thrown in gratuitously, perhaps so the producers could say that they did have one black guy in the film. Whoopi Goldberg attempts a version and comments that “the shockability of American audiences has gone way down” perhaps in an effort to explain why the jokes are so vile. I don’t know how she feels about the joke I found the most offensive, however. 

This “joke” is a reversal of the Artistocrats formula, inasmuch as it describes a group of people who are doing “aristocratic” things but have contrastingly vulgar names. This particular jokester—the only unidentified person in the credits—describes three “women of color” performing aristocratic feats; reciting Shakespeare, sipping tea and singing opera. What does one call these women? “Nigger cunts,” the comedian grins. “But, of course,” he chuckles, “You can’t say that.” But of course, (ha ha) he just did. And it isn’t funny, Penn. And not because it isn’t “politically correct.” The “joke” doesn’t make sense unless one accepts the premise that “women of color” are not only unsophisticated but are easily identifiable as “nigger cunts.” These guys don’t seem to get that racist jokes can only be funny to racists. 

One of the most memorable lines from Hustle and Flow (and I don’t mean “memorable” in a good way) is DJay’s declaration that “I don’t call a ho no bitch!” I am so weary of hearing one black woman after another being called “ho,” “bitch,” “cunt” and every other derogatory name under the sun, particularly absent a comparable calling out of the many talented, intelligent, classy, beautiful black women desperate for an opportunity to balance them out. I am certain that my mother and grandmothers felt the same way. 

I’m following up on Peter Teichner’s insightful Aug. 16 piece, “How Many Diebolds to Screw Up an Election.” 

Diebold’s receipt-printing behavior reminds me of Arafat’s shlemeil act: a strange seeming incompetence and shrugging, while election officials just stand around and watch helplessly. The shenanigans have been curious and telling. 

Some people in politics, when they get to a certain degree of power, enter a strange realm of arrogance or power-drunkenness within which it no longer seems to matter to them that their appearance of wrongdoing has become visible to the electorate. They don’t bother to cover their tracks any more. And here, we see Schwarzenegger’s shameless money steamroller, Cheney’s glaring Haliburton conflict and Scalia’s chumming with him right before an important court vote about him (electric with impropriety), and Bush’s appointed regulators standing around and watching while his buddy Ken Lay rapes California’s electricity consumers (Democrats have given goodies to their chums, too, but the GOP has taken the corruption to new, dizzying heights). And then there’s the rather transparent boast that Diebold would deliver Ohio to the neocons: our topic of the moment. How numb have we become in the face of so much corruption, conflict, and connivance, that this hasn’t been more of a hot-button? 

When it comes to Diebold and the receipts, you’re going to prove the lie to yourself! The next time you go to the ATM, take a good, hard look at the logo on that ATM machine. Spell it out. What does it say? (If it doesn’t say D-I-E-B-O-L-D, go look at a few more ATMs.) 

I submit that not only can Diebold print receipts, but that Diebold has refined receipt printing to flawless excellence. They are experts at reliable receipt printing. Diebold prints receipts day after day with complete accuracy. Have you ever checked your Diebold-printed ATM receipt and found that it disagreed with either your transaction or with your monthly bank statement? Has the Diebold ATM machine screwed up the transaction in those rare cases in which it didn’t print a receipt for you? And would their customer financial institutions put up with the same behavior that Diebold has exhibited when it comes to their voting machines? I smell a rat. And I think we’ve been fed some bad electoral pizza with rat topping. 

Alameda is one of a number of counties that have bought into electronic voting machines via the Trojan horse of access so that our handicapped citizens can participate fully in our democratic process. And, indeed, who can oppose this goal? But I think that our democracy is too important to allow the present gang of jokers to steal it from us. Diebold has proved to be untrustworthy. It’s time to kick the rascals out. And if Diebold’s competitors (remember them?) won’t give us the verifiable systems that we can trust, it’s time for a whole new approach. 

My thinking is that we should, indeed, have electronic voting machines. But our voting machines should be manufactured and programmed by a corporation made up of a consortium of governments. It would have snags, of course, and it’d be a rocky road. But it can be done. 

We have precedents. For example, San Francisco manufactures parts for its cable cars. Governments and corporations hire teams of consultants to come in and design entire vertical software systems—systems that sometimes aren’t perfect, but are good enough to get the job done. The U.S. Army has built some pretty secure dams for us. NASA blasts off into space pretty well, for the most part. Very often, Government can do things right. A lot of us are so busy grumping our government grump mantra that we fail to see how well, for example, the Post Office delivers our mail—the percentage that gets delivered accurately (pretty impressive, huh?). 

I also think that it’s time for tough questions to our election officials. In some cases, there are clear conflicts of interest, some pretty transparent partisan motivations. Why have some counties, including Alameda, adopted such buggy unverifiable technology, gone ahead with machinery that’s suspect to so many of their constituents, signed contracts despite the alarm bells rung by organizations of expert data professionals? Are these people to be trusted with our democracy? 

I’m thankful that my own county has not jumped on this bandwagon. But note that Diebold or similar systems actually tally the votes from our black-dot vote cards (should these be suspect, too?). 

I’m certain that we’ve got all the proof we need: our democracy is too important to be entrusted to the private sector. I’m glad that Teichner brought our attention round again, and this is a topic that should be kept alive until the problem is solved and our election process can be trusted by all. 

Richard Steinfeld lives in Contra Costa County.

Regardless of the performance of Diebold’s electronic voting machines, we are putting our whole election system in jeopardy by placing it into the hands of private corporations who refuse to allow anyone to analyze the programming code unless they sign a non-disclosure agreement. 

When Ion Sancho, the registrar of Leon County in Florida, invited Black Box Voting to examine his Diebold optical scan voting system, computer expert Harri Hursti found an executable program written into the code of each memory card. There is no justifiable reason to have such a program on these cards, except to facilitate manipulation of the vote count, and the voting system won’t work unless it is present. Harri Hursti was able to manipulate the vote count using this program in three different ways without leaving any trace of evidence behind. The votes can be switched and still equal the number of votes casts. The paper audit tape will agree with the changed vote totals and show no evidence of the program run. To see Hursti’s technical report, go to www.blackboxvoting.org/BBVreport.pdf. 

To receive federal certification, electronic voting machine vendors use labs they hire themselves. These labs merely test that components of the system will operate in the way they say they will; there is no security testing done on these machines. 

There are countless reported incidents, such as what occurred in the Alameda 2004 primary, where Diebold technicians applied “patches” at the last minute to their touchscreen machines before the election without having them certified or examined. Poll workers saw unfamiliar Windows screens, frozen screens, strange error messages and login boxes—none of which they’d been trained to expect. A report released by Diebold showed 186 of 763 voter-card encoders failed because of hardware or software problems or both, but they offered no explanation of how and why they delivered faulty voting equipment to Alameda and San Diego counties—its two largest West Coast customers—on the eve of the 2004 presidential primary. 

After the Oct. 7 recall election, when Diebold’s vote-tabulating software wrongly awarded 9,000 Democratic absentee votes to a Southern California Socialist, Diebold decided its computer was overwhelmed and replaced it. 

In San Diego County, Diebold’s software misreported almost 3,000 votes. In the worst case, it switched 2,747 Democratic presidential primary votes for U.S. Sen. John Kerry to U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt, who had dropped out of the race. In the recent San Diego mayoral race, Diebold technicians were observed actually replacing the central tabulation machines with unknown devices to count the votes. Was it a remarkable happenstance that the percentages of votes per candidate stayed even throughout the night as the precinct results were fed into the tabulators? 

Former Secretary of State Kevin Shelley decertified Diebold after he found they had fraudulently delivered machines running uncertified versions of software to California counties. He also mandated paper trails for machines by 2006, but current Secretary of State McPherson says he doubts these paper ballot copies could be used in a recount, the only way to verify an election. 

So please forgive us, Mr. Byrd, if we have skepticism and disdain for Diebold and other electronic voting machine vendors, but it based on your company’s past history of deception, contract breaches, questionable contributions, insecure practices and use of executable programs on your memory cards that facilitate vote manipulation, illegal application of uncertified “patches” on the machines that count our votes, and the countless incidents of miscounted, uncounted and switched votes and voter disenfranchisements that seem to accompany your machines. 

Until we go back to hand-counted paper ballots, we will never truly be able to trust the results of our elections. 

Karla Bean is a Richmond resident. 

?

Albany has been hosting a huge urban gambling operation on its waterfront for 60 years, maintaining one of the lowest bay area crime rates while deriving up to 20 percent of its budget from the racetrack. In recent years the track’s usefulness has faltered as patronage and income dropped. Part of our community prefers a park in place of the track and another part is mainly interested in increased income from the site. Some of our politicians seem to think the track will die a quiet death if we just leave things alone.  

This may be true of other tracks but is unlikely for ours. Taking a passive approach could cause an undesirable outcome. Magna stands to make a lot more money by hanging onto the land than by selling it under the current zoning. As long as the zoning is locked by Measure C, the value of Magna’s property would likely be depressed by $100 million or more. It would be in their interest to write off cumulative losses of 10, 20, or even 40 million dollars by continuing to operate the track for 20 or more years if there is a good possibility of eventually gaining full value by rezoning or adding slot machines. This could happen in several ways. Political tides can rapidly shift. The failure of the slot machine initiative two years ago does not mean that a future one cannot succeed. Many states now allow slot machines at racetracks and the number keeps increasing. We could easily end up with a racetrack and a casino and no park, ever. It is also possible that horse racing could come back from the dead, like bowling did, making it much more difficult to negotiate with Magna for track closure. 

Alternatively, Magna might actually close the track and put a chain link fence around the property, depriving Albany of $800,000 in income while hanging onto the land relatively inexpensively, letting it appreciate until political and economic events fall their way. Do not assume that Albany would have the resolve hold out forever, particularly if a recession hits or the housing bubble pops. In the early ‘90s Albany prices dropped 15-20 percent. We would then be negotiating from weakness. Speaking as the originator of Measure C, we cannot simply rezone the land in advance to induce them to sell, in the absence of a linked development agreement we lose much control of what happens out there and also lose the income from the track while the land sits vacant. 

In the ideal we should try to come up with a project that is financially attractive enough to induce Magna to close the track, create a large park on 80 percent of the property, and generate substantially increased income for Albany. This should satisfy both the park and income factions in Albany. Without doubt the strongest incentive would be to offer Magna a casino or hotel/casino. In effect, we would be downsizing a large and inefficient urban gambling operation to a much smaller more profitable one while creating a park on 80 percent of the land. Casinos are politically incorrect these days, however. Weaker incentives would include a mall and/or hotel project. Perhaps there are other, much better, ideas out there. 

We have all heard the negatives about casinos but, for the sake of completeness, we should examine the positives and then decide if they outweigh the negatives in this particular situation. Because of space limitations here, I have set up a website at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/albanyca where 13 arguments in favor of a casino are listed and where we can discuss all the possible alternatives in a constructive and civil way. Public hearings are not efficient ways to resolve complex issues. We need give and take with questions and answers to properly evaluate the alternatives and break the current stalemate. 

Albany can take a year or two exploring politically correct solutions. If we find one that works, great. But we need to set a deadline. It is inadvisable to leave the waterfront unresolved for another ten years. People need to stop thinking in terms of the best conceivable outcome and start thinking in terms of the best realistic outcome. We may ultimately need to choose between getting a park plus millions additional income on the one hand and being politically correct on the other. 

Tony Caine is an Albany resident. 

TUESDAY, SEPT. 6 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Darkroom Drawings” black and white photographs and mixed media by Robert Tomlinson opens at Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St., and runs to Oct. 22. 644-1400.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Nahid Mozzafari and Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak describe “Strange Times, My Dear” the PEN Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Literature, at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Fundraiser for Victims of Hurricane Katrina withTom Rigney & Flambeau at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson with Cheryl McBride at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Hamilton de Holanda & Mike Marshall, mandolinists, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50- $18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Ellen Hoffman and Singers’ Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Gary Rowe, solo jazz piano, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Benefit for New Orleans with Juan-Carlos Formell, Cuban guitarist, at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Leslie Thorne Trio at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

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

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 7 

EXHIBITIONS 

“CCA Faculty New Work” Reception at 5:30 p.m. at the Oliver Art Center, 5212 Broadway, Oakland. 594-3600. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Chris Mooney discusses “The Republican War on Science” 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. www.starryploughpub.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert with Anais Lim, flute, and Jessie Lee, piano, at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

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

Whiskey Brothers, Old Time and Bluegrass at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Edessa at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Balkan dance lesson at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Julio Bravo, salsa, at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Fundamentals Jazz at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Dirk Powell Band with Riley Baugus, Appalachian music, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50- $18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Calvin Keys Trio Invitational Jam at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Dave Eshelman’s Jazz Garden Big Band at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$15. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, SEPT. 8 

THEATER 

Woodminster Summer Musicals “Jesus Christ Superstar” at 8 p.m. at Woodminster Amphitheater in Joaquin Miller Park, 3300 Joaquin Miller Rd., Oakland, through Sun. Tickets are $20-33. 531-9597. www.woodminster.com 

EXHIBITIONS 

Residency Projects Part Two by Kala Fellowship artists. Reception at 6 p.m. at Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. Exhibit runs to Oct. 15. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

“From the Maker’s Hand” selections from the permanent collection of the Phoebe Hearst Museum opens at Bancroft Way at College. 643-7648. http://hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu 

“China Obscura: A Photo Exhibit” by Mark Leong opens at the IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St., 6th flr. 642-2809. 

“Retro” a photography exhibition by Harold Adler opens at the Art of Living Gallery, 2905 Shattuck Ave. Reception at 6 p.m.  

“China’s Vanishing Heritage” Heirloom Embroidered Textiles from the Hill Tribes of Southwestern China at Ethnic Arts, 1314 10th St. 415-812-0015. www.redgingko.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Reporting From China” by Mark Leong in conjunction with his photography exhibit at 4 p.m. at the IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St., 6th flr. 642-2809. 

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

Lan Samantha Chang introduces her novel “Inheritance” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Word Beat Reading Series with Jan Steckel and Debra Grace Khattab at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Albany Music in the Park with Spirit of ‘29, Dixieland jazz, at 6:30 p.m. at Albany’s Memorial Park. 524-9283. www.albanyca.org 

She’Koyokh Klezmer Ensemble, Eastern European folk music, at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

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

Ahenk Duo, traditional music from Turkey, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

The Memphis Murder Man, Year of the Wildcat at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

Pete Madsen at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Ginny Wilson and Tommy Kesecker, piano, vibes, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

The Zawinul Syndicate at 8 and 10 p.m. through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $18-$22. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

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

FRIDAY, SEPT. 9 

THEATER 

Aurora Theatre “The Price” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m., through Oct. 9, at 2081 Addison St. Tickets are $38. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

California Shakespeare Theater, “Nicholas Nickleby” Part 2 at 8 p.m. at Bruns Amphitheater, 100 Gateway Blvd., between Berkeley and Orinda, through Sept. 18. Tickets are $10-$55. 548-9666.  

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 

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  

Shotgun Players, “Owners” at 8 p.m., Thurs.-Sun. through Oct. 16 at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Reservations suggested. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

Wilde Irish Productions “Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me” Thurs. -Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m., at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., through Oct. 2. Tickets are $18-$22. 644-9940. www.wildeirish.org 

Woodminster Summer Musicals “Jesus Christ Superstar” at 8 p.m. at Woodminster Amphitheater in Joaquin Miller Park, 3300 Joaquin Miller Rd., Oakland, through Sun. Tickets are $20-33. 531-9597. www.woodminster.com 

EXHIBITIONS 

Arie Furumoto, color etchings inspired by landscape, ocean and plants. Reception at 6 p.m. at The Scriptum-Schurman Gallery, 1659 San Pablo Ave. 524-0623. 

“Contemporary Traditions in Clay: The Pottery of Mata Ortiz” reception at 5 p.m. at the Phoebe Hearst Museum, College and Bancroft. 643-7648. http://hearstmuseum. 

berkeley.edu 

Recent Work by Jon Nagel and Loren Purcel Reception at 7:30 p.m. at Boontling Gallery, 4224 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. boontlinggallery@hotmail.com 

The Big Brush Off featuring works by Berkeley artists Gael Fitzmaurice and John King at Falkirk Cultural Center, 1408 Mission, at E St., San Rafael. Reception at 5:30 p.m. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Images of America: El Cerrito” will be introduced by the El Cerrito Historical Society at 5:30 p.m. at the El Cerrito Library.  

Bret Easton Ellis introduces his new novel “Lunar Park” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sheng Xiang & Band, Taiwanese folk music, at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22. 642-9988.  

Mamadou Diabate & Walter Strauss, African, contemporary at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

E.W. Wainwright’s Elvin Jones Birthday Celebration at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Duamuxa, CD release concert at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568.  

Houston Jones at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

House Jacks at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Plays Monk, Ben Goldberg at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Dani Thompson Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

DJ & Brook, jazz trio, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Dick Hindman Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373.  

Brown Baggin’ at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Times 4, contemporary jazz, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

The Time Flys, Top 10, The Gimmies, High Vox at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

The Zawinul Syndicate at 8 and 10 p.m. through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $18-$22. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, SEPT. 10 

THEATER 

Living Arts Playback Theater Ensemble “Immigrant Stories” at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. Tickets are $12-$18 sliding scale. 595-5500, ext. 25. www.livingartscenter.org 

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

EXHIBITIONS 

China’s Vanishing Heritage: Heirloom Embroidered Textiles from the Hill Tribes of Southwestern China. Reception from 4 to 6 p.m. at Ethnic Arts, 1314 10th St. www.redgingko.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Yuri Kochiyama and her biographer, Diane Fujino, will speak at 2 p.m. at Heller Lounge, MLK, Jr. Student Union, UC Campus. 642-6717.  

“Music, Community Politics and Environmental Justice in Taiwan” with Shen Xiang at noon at 145 Dwinelle, UC Campus. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Juris Jurjevics reads from “The Trudeau Vector: A Novel” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Chalis Opera Ensemble “The Magic Flute” at 2 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. Tickets are $5-$10, children free. 415-826-8670.  

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, “Atalanta” by Handel at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant. Tickets are $28-$62. 415-392-4400. www.philharmonia.org 

Trinity Chamber Concerts: The Beth Custer Ensemble at 8 p.m. at 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. http://trinitychamberconcerts.com 

Tom Huebner Band, country, folk-rock and blues, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Bay Street Plaza, (near Old Navy) Emeryville. 

Wayward Monks, jazz, progressive rock and new age, at 8 p.m. at Epic Arts Studios, 1923 Ashby Ave. Donation $5-$10. All Ages. 644-2204. 

Wadi Gad & Jahbandis at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Reggae dance lesson at 9 p.m. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054.  

Ed Reed and Laura Klein Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Dani Thompson at 9 p.m. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $5. 763-7711.  

Katherine Peck and Terese Taylor at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Big Skin at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

House Jacks at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Pickpocket Ensemble at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473.  

Quanti Bomani at 8 and 10 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15-$17. 849-2568.  

Chuck Steed, musical suite “Manfish” at 7 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

Tarbox Ramblers, The Cowlicks at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Sherri Roberts Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

What Kids Want, Madeline, Whiskey Sunday, Gypsy at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, SEPT. 11 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Pleasure” by Susan Danis Opening Reception at 2 p.m. at The Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Gallery hours are Wed. through Sun. noon to 5 p.m. 

“Ascension” photographs by Shoey Sindel. Reception at 4 p.m. at Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. 

Works by Fran Roccaforte Opening reception at 4 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“The Danube Exodus” artist talk with Larry Rinder and Larry Abramson at 2 p.m. at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St. www.magnes.org 

Rabbi Alan Lew describes “Be Still and Get Going” at 2 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Poetry Flash with Alicia Suskin Ostriker and Anita Barrows with Joanna Macy at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Davitt Moroney, harpsichord, performs J.S. Bach Inventions and Sinfonias at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $3-$10. 642-9988. 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, “Atalanta” by Handel at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant. Tickets are $28-$62. 415-392-4400.  

Organ Recital by Robert McCormick at 6:10 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Donations accepted. 845-0888.  

Jazz and Spoken Word with Philip Greenlief, Lisa Mezzacappa, and Noah Phillips at 6 p.m. at Kimball’s Carnival, 522 Second St., Oakland. Cost is $5. 

Mark Levine Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Americana Unplugged at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 655-5715. 

Rafael Manriquez at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Trout Fishing in America, folk originals, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Brook Schoenfield at 10 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

MONDAY, SEPT. 12 

EXHIBITIONS 

Jerome Carlin’s Landscape Paintings Imaginary Landscapes and small plein air oil sketches. Reception at 5 p.m. at The Musical Offering, 2340 Bancroft Way. www.jeromecarlin.com 

“Revisions” Larry Abramson: Searching for an Ideal City opens at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poets for Peace poetry reading featuring Dan Bellm, John Burgess, Ilya Kaminsky, Alicia Ostricker, and Meredith Stricker at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

Actors Reading Writers ”Coming Home” Stories by Garrison Keillor, Kurt Vonnegut and Wu Zuxiang at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave.  

Karl Soehnlein reads from his latest novel “You Can Say You Knew Me When” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Tram Nguyen describes “We Are All Immigrants Now: Untold Stories from Immigrant Communities After 9/11” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Poetry Express with Karen Pojmann and John Burgess 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.  

Sara Gazarek at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $6-$12. 238-9200.  

Even after a quarter-century in California, I still miss lightning bugs—especially in late summer. By some quirk of biogeography, they never made it west of the Rockies. We have a few species of glowworms, with luminescent wingless females and larvae, but no fireflies as such. And I also miss the nocturnal chorus of the katydids: what Sue Hubbell called “the audible essence of a summer night.” 

Not that we don’t have katydids; I found two a couple of weeks ago, lurking in a pelargonium. But they don’t have the classic call. (The eastern true katydid has borne that name since colonial times; the first documented reference is by the botanist John Bartram in 1751. There are various stories about who Katy was and what she might have done, most involving a romantic triangle that ended badly). Although I’m not sure about the fine points of identification, the katydids in the garden, big green insects with long gawky hind legs and rhomboid wings, were probably either greater angle-wings (Microcentrum rhombifolium) or California angle-wings (M. californicum). The brand new Field Guide to Grasshoppers, Katydids, and Crickets of the United States describes the song of rhombifolium as “a loud lisp repeated every 2-4 seconds and a series of ticks that sounds much like someone slowly running a thumbnail along the teeth of a pocket comb.” Californicum’s song is a two-part lisp at 2.5-second intervals, without the ticks. 

You can hear both songs, and many others, at the Singing Insects of North America web site (http://buzz.ifas.ufl.edu). Katydid songs tend to be high-pitched, with a frequency of 8 to 20 kiloHertz. Given the normal loss of high-frequency hearing, folks my age are often deaf to most of them. I was relieved that I could still register the performances of the common virtuoso katydid (Amblycorypha longinicta), said to be the most complex of any North American singing insect’s, and its relative the Cajun virtuoso (A. cajuni). Some entomologists use ultrasonic detectors to translate these high-frequency songs into audible range. 

It’s not a vocal performance, of course. Katydids (and crickets) make music by rubbing their forewings together—a process called stridulation. Grasshoppers also stridulate, using their legs and hindwings. Near the base of a katydid’s left forewing is a specialized vein with a series of downward-projecting ridges, the stridulatory file. The right forewing has a sharp, upward-projecting structure called the scraper. Opening and closing the wings brings the scraper and the file into contact and produces the calling song.  

Among true katydids, only the males sing. But Microcentrum is a member of the false-katydid subfamily in which males call and females respond with brief ticks, produced by a less complex apparatus. The song of each species is a unique combination of frequencies and rhythms. Entomologists have found that apparently identical populations with variant songs are in fact genetically distinct; the songs are part of a shared recognition mating system, ensuring that the callers find appropriate partners. In some, males move in the direction of a female’s tick calls; in others, the two move toward each other. They listen with the knees of their forelegs; how’s that for Intelligent Design? It’s a risky process; predators and parasitic flies may be eavesdropping. 

In addition to the calling song, some katydids, according to the field guide, make a distinctive noise when threatened or harassed. This is called a “protest song,” but is otherwise not described. I doubt that it sounds like “We Shall Not Be Moved,” though. 

Human musicians have picked up on the idea of stridulation, of course. The frottoir or rubboard of Louisiana Creole music is a pretty close analogy to the katydid’s file. It used to be an actual washboard hung around the player’s neck until 1946, when Cleveland Chenier asked his welder friend Willie Landry to make him a special model with built-in shoulder straps. Chenier, brother of accordionist Clifton, played with a handful of bottle openers and other picks and could get amazing echo effects on the rubboard. Puerto Rican jibaro musicians use a gourd rasp called the guiro; and in Kenya, the ridged surfaces of Fanta soda bottles are or were used to similar effect. But the most remarkable parallel to katydid music, and one that was only recently discovered, is a product of evolutionary convergence: a stridulating bird.  

In the forests of Ecuador there’s a small red-headed bird called the club-winged manakin, a member of a family noted for elaborate male song-and-dance displays. The club-wing waves its wings over its back, producing a loud, clear, violin-like tone. Cornell ornithologist Kimberly Bostwick noticed that one feather on each of the bird’s wings had a series of seven ridges on its central vane and another had a stiff, curved tip. Equipped with a camera that could record a thousand frames a second, Bostwick filmed the manakin in action. She found that the bird shakes its wings a hundred times a second. With each shake, the scraper feathers hit the feathers with the ridged vane, just like the action of katydid wings or a rubboard player. That produces 14 sounds per shake, with a frequency of 1,400 cycles per second.  

Bostwick calls the modified wings of the male manakin a tribute to the power of sexual selection—the same process that drove the evolution of the songs of the katydid: “Darwin would have loved it if he had known.” In fact, Darwin did write about the specialized music-making wing feathers of a species of manakin in The Descent of Man, among a long catalog of secondary sexual characteristics. He just didn’t have the technology to go beyond description to functional analysis. Darwin with a high-speed camera—there’s a thought. A scanning electron microscope would have been nice, too.  

R

TUESDAY, SEPT. 6 

Berkeley Salon Discussion Group meets to discuss “Living Poor with Style” from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Please bring snacks and soft drinks to share. No peanuts please. 601-6690. 

“Bicycle Touring California Backroads and Trails” a slide presentation with Joel Albright, 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. 524-9992. 

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  

“Healthy Eating with Hypnosis” at 6:30 p.m. in Oakland. Free, registration required. 465-2524. 

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, SEPT. 7 

Back to School Walk Berkeley Path Wanderers take an easy First Wednesday walk exploring local school sites and school memories. Meet at 10 am at the entrance to the Live Oak Park Recreation Center, 1301 Shattuck. Free and all welcome. 524-2383. www.berkeleypaths.org  

“Reflections on Life in Gaza” with Palestinian activist Majeda Al-Saqqa from Gaza at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5-$10 sliding scale, no one turned away. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Firescaping: Creating Fire-Resistant Landscapes” A discussion with author Douglass Kent at 5:30 p.m. at University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way. 558-1666. 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland uptown to the Lake to discover Art Deco landmarks. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of the Paramount Theater at 2025 Broadway. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

WriterCoach Connection Training Sessions Wed. Sept. 7 and 14 at 6:30 p.m. Help students improve their writing and critical thinking skills; become a mentor to Berkeley students. Commit to 1-2 hours per week during the school day. To register call 524-2319. www.writercoachconnection.org  

Young People’s Symphony Orchestra Auditions, Sept. 7, 9 and 10 by appointment only. Please call 849-9776. 

Textile Art and Papier-mache Whimsey Classes at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave., Albany. 524-9122. 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters welcomes curious guests and new members at 7:15 a.m. at Au Coquelet Cafe, 2000 University Ave. at Milvia. 435-5863.  

Entrepreneurs Networking at 8 a.m. at A’Cuppa Tea, 3202 College Ave. at Alcatraz. Cost is $5. For more information contact JB, 562-9431.  

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. 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. 

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. 8 

“Altered Global Needs: Meeting the Challenges” with Rita Maran, Lecturer in International Human RIghts, UCB, at 7:30 p.m. in the Home Room, International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Cost is $5. 642-9460.  

Medicare Prescription Drug Plans, a presentation by Medi- 

care Today at 11 a.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center.  

East Bay Mac User Group Mark Altenberg of Apple presents Quicktime Streaming Server from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Expression College for Digital Arts, 6601 Shellmound St., Emeryville. Free. ebmug.org 

Communication for Caregivers An ongoing free Berkeley Adult School class meets Thurs. at 1 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5170. 

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, SEPT. 9 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Peter Haurus, author, “Resurgence of China: Whither?” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020.  

Free Emergency Preparedness Class in Disaster First Aid from 9 a.m. to noon at 997 Cedar St. To sign up call 981-5605. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

fire/oes.html 

Town Hall Meeting on RFID (Radiofrequency ID) tracking tags in Berkeley Public Library materials at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship, 1924 Cedar at Bonita. 843-2152. 

Womansong Circle a monthly musical gathering for women at 6:45 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way, at Dana. 525-7082. 

By the Light of the Moon Open Mic and Salon for Women at 7:30 p.m. at Changemakers, 6536 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $3-$7 sliding scale. 655-2405. 

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride meets at the Berkeley BART the second Friday of every month at 5:30 p.m. 

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. 

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, SEPT. 10 

Berkeley Path Wanderers Waterfront Walk to explore the history and future of Berkeley’s waterfront, led by Susan Schwartz. Meet at 10 a.m. at Sea Breeze Delicatessen, south side of University Ave. just west of the I-880/580 Freeway. Bring water, snack, and, if you want, binoculars to enjoy shorebirds on their fall migration. 848-9358. www.berkeleypaths.org 

Point Richmond Day Long Summer Festival starting at 11 a.m. Featuring 360, The Irrationals, Two Feet Tall Norma Blase, Jeb Brady and many more. Plus classic car show, vendors, children’s activities, food and drink. www.pointrichmond.com/prmusic/ 

Walking Tour of Oakland City Center Meet at 10 a.m. in front Oakland City Hall at Frank Ogawa Plaza. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

Progressive Democrats of the East Bay Chapter meets at 1 p.m. at Temescal Library, 5205 Telegraph, Oakland. The agenda includes a discussion of the propositions for the special election on Nov. 8, and the anti-war, pro-choice Ret. Lt. Col. Charlie Brown, who is planning to contest the 4th congressional seat of very conservative Republican John Doolittle. 526-4632. www.pdeastbay.org 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class on Basic Personal Preparedness from 9 to 11 a.m. at 997 Cedar St., between 8th and 9th. To sign up call 981-5605. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes.html 

East Bay Athiests meets at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 3rd flr meeting room, 2090 Kittredge St. Videos from “Theo- 

cracy Watch” will be shown. 222-7580. 

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 

“Music, Community Politics and Environmental Justice in Taiwan” at noon at 145 Dwinelle, UC Campus. 642-2809. 

Piedmont Choirs Fall Tryouts for children age six to 18, from 9:30 a.m. to noon in Piedmont and 10 a.m. to noon in Alameda. Call for appointment 547-4441. www.piedmontchoirs.org 

Tet Trung Thu: Mid Autumn Children’s Festival Celebrate the Vietnamese full moon festival from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Yuri Kochiyama and her biographer, Diane Fujino, will speak at 2 p.m. at Heller Lounge, MLK, Jr. Student Union, UC Campus. 642-6717.  

Free Quit Smoking Class for pregnant and parenting women from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Alta Bates, first floor auditorium, 2450 Ashby Ave. Childcare provided. Free but registration requested. 981-5330. quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

East Bay Chapter of the Great War Society meets to discuss “Military Revolutions Since 1600” and “Napoleon and WWI” at 10:30 a.m. at 640 Arlington Ave. 527-7118. 

Studio 12 Open House from 4 to 7 p.m. to meet the teachers and see what classes and workshops are coming this fall, at 2525 8th St. www.movingout.org 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.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, SEPT. 11 

Solano Avenue Stroll “Don't Rain on My Parade” from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with entertainment, food booths, crafts, art cars, kidtown and more. 527-5358. www.solanostroll.org 

Run for Peace with the United Nations Association A 10k run or a 5k run/walk at 9 a.m. at Cesar Chavez Park, Berkeley Marina. Cost is $15-$20. To register call 849-1752. www.unausaeastbay.org 

Bike Ride to the Solano Stroll Leave from the North Berkeley BART at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. and the El Cerrito Plaza BART at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Valet bike parking at the Stroll. Sponsored by the Bicycle-Friendly Berkeley Coalition. 549-7433. 

Free Hazardous Waste Drop-Off of computers, monitors, TVs, cell phones, and batteries at Solano at Evelyn St., near the BART tracks, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sponsored by the Cities of Berkeley and Albany and the Ecology Center. 981-5435. 

Mercury Thermometer Exchange Liquid mercury from broken thermometers is harmful to the Bay. Exchange them for a Bay-safe digital thermometer. Bring mercury thermometers in two plastic zipper bags from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. to 1241 Solano Ave., Albany. 452-9261, ext. 130. www.savesfbay.org 

Pancake Breakfast on the Red Oak Victory Ship in Richmond Harbor from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. 1337 Canal Blvd., Berth #6. Exit at Canal Blvd off 580. Cost is $6, children under 5 free. 237-2933. 

Montclair Flea Market and Community Fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 6300 Moraga Ave. Activities include safety fair, health fair, food and Astro Jump. Benefits the Montclair Lions Club. www.montclairlions.org 

Music in the Park at Arroyo Viejo Park with Toni, Tony, Tone at 3 p.m. at 7701 Krause St., Oakland. 

“New Faces of Israel” with Donna Rosenthal at 7 p.m. at Oakland Hebrew Day School, 5500 Redwood Rd., Oakland. RSVP to 531-8600, ext. 26 

“Friends of Roman Cats” a slide show and presentation on the Torre Argentina Roman Cat Sanctuary at 3 p.m. at Rabbitears, 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Donation $10. 525-6155. 

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 

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 

“Christianity for Unitarian Universalists” with Huston Smith at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

Weekend Healing Workshops with Rabbi Goldie Milgram at the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $50-$65. 655-8530. 

MONDAY, SEPT. 12 

National Organization for Women Oakland/East Bay Chapter meets from 6 to 8 p.m. at the San Leandro Public Library, 300 Estudillo. The topic will be Teen Safety: The Importance of Defeating Proposition 73. 287-8948. 

Berkeley-Albany YMCA Golf Tournament at 12:30 p.m. at Tilden Regional Golf Course. Fee is $150 per player, which includes green fees, tee bags with promotional items, lunch and dinner. Proceeds support the South Berkeley Learning Academy. To reserve a place call Amy Golsong at 486-8406. agolsong@baymca.org 

“Voluntary Simplicity” a workshop with David McFarlane, on Mon. eves. at 7 p.m., through Nov. 14 at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. Cost is $25. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

“Get Rid of Physical and Emotional Clutter” with psychotherapist Jill Lebeau and organizer Stephanie Barbic at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Free. 524-3043. 

TUESDAY, SEPT. 13 

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. In case of questionable weather, call around 8 a.m. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

WriterCoach Connection Training Sessions Tues. Sept. 13 and 20 from noon to 3 p.m. Help students improve their writing and critical thinking skills; become a mentor to students at Berkeley High, Willard, King or Longfellow Middle Schools. Commit to 1-2 hours per week during the school day. To register call 524-2319. www.writercoachconnection.org  

“Hetch Hetchy Valley: Water and California’s Future,” a panel discussion on the feasibility of dismantling the O’Shaughnessy Dam to restore the Hetch Hetchy River Valley, at 5:30 p.m. at Goldman School of Public Policy, Room 150, UC Campus. 642-2666. 

Youth Arts Studio Demonstration Class in visual arts for ages 10-13 at 3:15 p.m. at All Souls Episcopal Church, 2220 Cedar St. Youth Arts Studio is a non-profit after-school program. 848-1755. 

Day Hiking with Your Dog with Thom Gabrukiewicz and dog trainer Jen Worth at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

“Elections in Crisis” documentary films on voter fraud from noon to 5 p.m. followed by a speaker event at 7 p.m. at Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $6 for the afternoon, $10 for the evening. Sponsored by the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club. 848-6767, ext. 609. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 1 to 7 p.m. at Berkeley Community Media, 2239 MLK, Jr. Way. To schedule an appointment call 848-2288, ext. 13. www.BeADonor.com 

“Medicare: Understanding Your Drug Coverage” at 4 p.m. at Center for Older Adult Services, 828 San Pablo Ave. To register call 558-7800. 

“Applied Buddhism” a workshop led by Marilee Baccich and Lynette Delgado, Tues. at 12:15 p.m. through Dec. 6 at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. Donation $40. To register call 526-8944.  

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 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. 845-6830. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Council Agenda Committee meets Tues., Sept. 6, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St. 981-6900. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

citycouncil/agenda-committee 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., Sept. 7, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Tasha Tervelon, 981-5190. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/women 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meets Thurs. Sept. 8 at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Pam Wyche, 644-6128 ext. 113. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/rent 

Community Health Commission meets Thurs., Sept. 8, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Kristin Tehrani, 981-5356. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/health 

West Berkeley Project Area Commission meets Thurs., Sept. 8, at 7 p.m., at the West Berkeley Senior Center. Iris Starr, 981-7520. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/westberkeley  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., Sept. 8, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/zoning ›

A curious development in Berkeley’s social evolution has recently surfaced in these pages. Despite the fact that the official city logo is derived from the multi-hued faces which are part of the mural Romare Bearden created for the City Council chambers, it’s apparent that the city has a residual population of pull-up-the-ladder cultural isolationists. Embedded political commentator Zelda Bronstein’s recent column documented and lamented the fact that Berkeley’s building boom has still produced almost no housing for low-income people (anticipated more than a year ago in an article by Rob Wrenn). It has elicited responses from seemingly well-educated and articulate residents who ask why anyone would want to live with such people anyhow.  

The hardy little band of citizens who both appreciate population diversity and deplore mindless densification-for-profit has been aware of this attitude for a while now. They have been embarrassed by those residents who initiated a legitimate CEQA challenge to the city’s secretive land-use decision process, but chose as their target an innocuous all-affordable senior citizens’ apartment complex. They think the same environmental issues could and should be raised about the wall of luxury condo developments going up on University which have little space for low-income people. 

The savvy speculators who make their fortunes from building projects have gleefully exploited all the loopholes in the affordable housing bonus laws, gaining allies for their enterprises from well-meaning liberals who don’t realize that the building boom has actually reduced the city’s population diversity rather than enhancing it. But the elephant in the middle of the room is the question of whether most Berkeleyans actually want a mix of income levels in the city. Corollary (if elephants can have corollaries) is the lack of open discussion of the fact that having racial and ethnic diversity still requires income diversity, since people of color still make less money than those of all-European origin.  

I’ve been reading away lately at a pair of books which look at the diversity question from different interesting angles. Kwame Anthony Appiah is a Princeton philosophy professor, the son of a marriage between British and Ghanaian intellectuals who were prominent members of their respective countries’ political elite. He was educated in England, later chose U.S. citizenship, and is also gay. His book, The Ethics of Identity, explores the philosophical question of whether diversity is a value in itself.  

Jonathan Kozol has spent his life exposing the way that the children of the poor—predominantly African Americans—are condemned to dismal segregrated schools as the more affluent of all races choose to remove their children from admittedly appalling public school environments. His new book is fittingly titled The Shame of the Nation—The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America.  

The two approach the same topic from opposite perspectives. Appiah considers the positive aspects of multiculturalism balanced against the virtues of individuality, and seems (I haven’t finished the book yet) to be coming down on the side of a cosmopolitan culture whose members retain some of the virtues of their unique roots. That would be the ideal Berkeley, probably for most of our current residents. Kozol, on the other hand, points out the stark consequences of the failure to create a viable integrated society for those who have been left behind in cities. The recent scenes from New Orleans graphically depict the worsening plight of the have-nots in this country. The underfunded and abandoned public schools in many of our cities have become an ever-present demonstration of how majority society has stopped caring for the poor. 

Berkeley has a certain number of optimists who believe Berkeley would be paradise if it could just limit its diversity to the well-behaved middle classes of all hues. As long as those people of color can afford to live here, they seem to be saying, we’re delighted to have them on our block. We’re pleased to invite them to our parties—they can even join our religious institutions and our social clubs. Patricia J. Williams in The Nation this week has a mini-review of a book that satirizes this mentality, Damali Ayo’s How to Rent a Negro. She calls it “a kind of Miss Manners for the racially isolated yet yearning to connect.” She says it offers “handy tips on how to enliven your parties with a little integration, how to impress your friends you’re not a racist and how to compliment your Negro on the articulateness of his speech.”  

But when it’s a question of their own kids, even the hardiest multi-culturists of any race will bend their principles. Very few parents who can afford it are willing to sacrifice their own children to what passes for public education in many parts of this country today. I doubt if African-American Columbia Law Professor Williams sends her son to her neighborhood New York City public school, unless she happens to live in one of the few “right” neighborhoods.  

The Berkeley public schools have been almost unique in that they offer an excellent public education in a multicultural environment. That’s why many of us chose to live here, and why the non-white parents who now can’t afford to live here figure out ways to send their children to our schools anyhow. They register the kids from Grandma’s house, or from the home of a sympathetic friend, and they take advantage of, yes, lax enforcement of residency requirements. A better solution would be for Berkeley to reserve its small amount of remaining infill space for projects which produce a substantial number of suitable homes for lower-income families. Those who genuinely value the city’s historic diversity shouldn’t go on kidding themselves that building lavish condos for upper-middle class buyers has anything to do with maintaining it. That’s just not true. Of course, for those who want the city to become even more of an enclave for the presumably well-behaved well-off, the status quo is just fine.  

B

Leaders of nine unions vowed Friday to walk out in sympathy if members of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers-West strike the three Alta Bates hospitals and 10 other facilities of Stutter Health on Sept. 13. 

Planned talks between the union and the hospitals last month reached an impasse before they ever began, though SEIU-UHW President Sal Rosselli said he hopes they will be restarted before the walkout. 

The 10-day notice, announced at a press conference at the San Francisco Marriott, could lead to the walkout of 8,000 union workers at the affected facilities, said Rosselli. 

Carolyn Kemp, spokesperson for the three Summit Alta Bates facilities in Berkeley and Oakland, said management is already making arrangements for replacement workers. 

If the California Nurses Association joins the walkout as announced Friday, that will mean the loss of registered nurses along with licensed vocational nurses and other workers represented by SEIU-UHW. 

“We will do whatever is necessary to make sure we have quality people to keep the doors of the medical center open so we are there for the patients and for the community,” Kemp said. 

Carey Garner, spokesperson for Sacramento-based Sutter Health, said her firm does not engage in negotiations, which are handled entirely by the local affiliates. 

“We have 26 hospitals in Northern California and eight are in separate contract negotiations. Each has offered employees a great wage and benefit package,” Garner said. 

Rosselli said the strike isn’t about salaries and benefits as much as it is about his members “achieving what’s the industry standard across the country, namely giving workers a say in staffing and offering a training and educational fund.” 

Rosselli said he still hopes that talks with the hospitals can be reopened with National Labor Relations Board mediator David Weinberg. 

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