News

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. -more-

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. -more-

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

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. -more-

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

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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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

A CLARIFICATION -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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

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. -more-

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. -more-

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 -more-

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. -more-

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?” -more-

FRIDAY, SEPT. 9 -more-

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. -more-

FRIDAY, SEPT. 9 -more-

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.” -more-

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. -more-

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

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. -more-

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

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

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. -more-

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GUESTS? -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

I’m following up on Peter Teichner’s insightful Aug. 16 piece, “How Many Diebolds to Screw Up an Election.” -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

TUESDAY, SEPT. 6 -more-

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.” -more-

TUESDAY, SEPT. 6 -more-