News

In a white tent erected on the parking lot north of the grandstand at Golden Gate Fields, Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso unveiled his preliminary plans for an open air shopping complex he wants to build at the site. -more-

Some call it a mall, others, mixed-use retail. Whichever the case, tensions were mounting in Albany as city leaders prepared for the unveiling of the latest development plan for the 102-acre Golden Gate Fields property on the Albany waterfront. -more-

The South Berkeley drug wars came to Small Claims Court in Berkeley this week, with opposing witnesses arguing whether an aging Oregon Street homeowner was the knowing matriarch of a drug-dealing family or the elderly victim of abusive children. -more-

Yahoo and UC Berkeley on Tuesday debuted the Internet giant’s new Berkeley lab, where students will work alongside Yahoo employees to try to make the search engine more responsive to individual tastes. -more-

Berkeley Honda’s pre-game tailgate parties outside Memorial Stadium, which two weeks ago drew several union protesters, might soon get a visit from the State Department of Alcohol Beverage Control. -more-

The diversity of city councilmembers and mayoral appointments to the 34 Berkeley commissions is “abysmal,” according to Councilmember Kriss Worthington, but he expects it to dramatically increase in the near future in part as the result of a recently-released report. -more-

One of the Bay Area’s most unique theatrical companies has claimed a bridgehead in Berkeley, and they’re marking the event with a four-hour celebration Sunday afternoon. -more-

The scoping session for preparing the environmental impact report on the proposed condominium and retail development at 740 University Ave., originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled. -more-

Some times the best ideas have unintended consequences. Measure B was a special tax measure that would implement a tax that would be used to primarily reduce class sizes. -more-

To view Justin DeFreitas’ latest editorial cartoon, please visit www.jfdefreitas.com To search for previous cartoons by date of publication, click on the Daily Planet Archive.

DAY OF MOURNING -more-

Good Samaritan, Fast Response -more-

For centuries, Judaism, Christianity, Islam—worshipping the same desert God—these brother religions have been divided from one another, divided even among themselves. It is not news that ancient hatreds persist. -more-

If you have ever played a competitive sport, you understand that there are actually two sets of rules. In regular games, there are formal rules and, usually, referees to ensure that all players abide by them; the competition is governed by an ethic: “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.” -more-

Day One: Ben Gurion Airport -more-

This is a tale about a vote, a strike, and a sleight of hand. -more-

There’s a history of this. -more-

Who in their right mind would ever think to create a sports field on the shoulder of an interstate freeway that is often in gridlock and whose daily auto capacity exceeds 250,000 vehicles? It seems no one, except the City of Berkeley, which is now proposing the Gilman Street “Freeway Fields.” As it turns out, the site designated for this recreational facility is connected to the East Shore Regional Park. Unfortunately, it is that narrow portion that is directly adjacent to I-80, separated from the busy highway by only the frontage road and a chain link fence. -more-

Some points in Matthew Artz’s generally accurate Oct. 7 article on Derby Street/East Campus need explanation and clarification. It is not so much that any information in the article is inaccurate, it is that some of it is incomplete. -more-

Steven Donaldson writes on your commentary page Oct. 7 that I used “completely bogus statistics” in describing the industrial sector in West Berkeley as vibrant in my presentation at a meeting of the West Berkeley Alliance of Artisans and Industrial Companies. Actually, I reported well-documented facts that Mr. Donaldson apparently doesn’t like. I said: -more-

We all know the names Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms. We think of these as the great signposts on the familiar highway that is the history of Western music. Looking backwards, the story seems clean, neat, inevitable. -more-

Start where, then? -more-

John Philip Sousa, hailed by Claude Debussy as “the king of American music,” heads up the parade once again. Oh Mr. Sousa!, Ken Malucelli’s 24-number musical biography of the composer of “The Stars and Stripes Forever” and 135 other popular marches will debut at Freight & Salvage Sunday before touring other Bay Area venues. -more-

FRIDAY, OCT. 14 -more-

Autumn is upon us, bringing forth some of the Bay Area’s warmest days. How better to celebrate than with a trip to the coast, not all the way to the Pacific, but just a few miles from home in the town of Alameda. With beaches, lawned picnic and playing areas and a scene-setting visitor center, it would be a challenge not to enjoy the penultimate Trails Challenge Hike at Crown Memorial State Beach and Crab Cove! -more-

FRIDAY, OCT. 14 -more-

Leaders of the Draft Ron Dellums movement said they believe that the former Congressmember did not make a decision to run for mayor of Oakland in next year’s election until minutes before he mounted the stage at Laney College Friday to make his announcement. -more-

According to Luis Damerell, until last year living near the corner of Allston Way and Ninth Street seemed like a nightmare. -more-

Youth Radio, Berkeley’s award-winning media outlet for East Bay high school-aged students, is planning to move to Oakland. -more-

When Khawaja Ashraf of Berkeley learned Saturday that a major earthquake had devastated his native Pakistan, he immediately telephoned relatives still living in the country. -more-

A magnitude 2.7 earthquake—not strong enough to do damage but enough to awaken a Daily Planet reporter—rumbled through the Berkeley hills early Sunday morning. -more-

Photo by Jakob Schiller: Hayward resident Ronnie Yellowhair, a Navajo and a member of the Traditional Men’s Dance Group, performs an inter-tribal dance at the Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebration at Martin Luther King Jr. Park on Saturday.. -more-

Citizens concerned about the impacts of a proposed 173-unit condominium project planned for 700 University Ave. will have a chance to raise their questions Thursday afternoon. -more-

The closing credits scene in the hour-long documentary Soul of Justice: Thelton Henderson’s American Journey could take its title from the Lonne Elder play: Ceremonies in Dark Old Men. -more-

After Hurricane Katrina lashed the Gulf Coast, the nation’s ethnic media tracked the grassroots efforts of ethnic communities to find and shelter their own. Now, ethnic media editors and activists report, those community networks are strained to the breaking point. -more-

Berkeley officials opted Friday not to close Iceland and instead ordered the 65-year-old rink to hire an acoustical engineer to quiet its yet-to-be installed temporary refrigeration system. -more-

To view Justin DeFreitas’ latest editorial cartoon, please visit www.jfdefreitas.com To search for previous cartoons by date of publication, click on the Daily Planet Archive.

INTELLIGENCE -more-

“No more compromises,” vowed Mayor Bates during a break in the council’s Sept. 27 deliberations. The mayor had just joined councilmembers Capitelli, Maio, Moore, Olds and Wozniak in a 6-3 vote approving a “public participation program” for the Downtown Area Plan (DAP). -more-

I forgot my homework, but it wasn’t my fault. Getting ready to go to an MFA workshop at San Francisco State last week, I got distracted and left my assignment in the house. It wasn’t my fault because there was a lot going on at the very moment I needed to leave. I had to run in order to catch the #15 bus. I had to sprint up the MacArthur Station stairs to meet the Daly City-bound train. It was not until I’d caught my breath, somewhere between the 12th Street and West Oakland stations, that I realized my mistake. -more-

I never intended to be a soccer mom. I am no sports fan, so my husband Mike and I agreed that he would be the athletic director for the kids. When our first son joined a team at age 6, I attended a token game or two. The division of labor fell apart as soon as our younger boy, Chris, started playing. -more-

LOS ANGELES—Since the day my kids were born, my mantra has been, “Go to college.” But next week marks not only my daughter’s graduation from boot camp, but the Oct. 15 deadline for my son to opt out of the military recruitment directory at his school. -more-

Energized by Camp Casey and the creativity of Cindy Sheehan, a change is taking place in the peace movement. -more-

Gamelan, featuring the intricate orchestral ambiance of bronze gongs, drums and other instruments, performed with dance, song, and shadow and rod puppetry, will take center stage for “A Gathering of Gamelans” at Cowell Theater in San Francisco’s Fort Mas on Center this weekend. -more-

TUESDAY, OCT. 11 -more-

There are a couple of catalpa trees a few blocks from where I live, crowded into a narrow curb strip so tightly they’ve started bulging over the sidewalk. I’d wondered about them for years, and figured they were something planted by a homeowner years ago, for whatever reason. I got a partial explanation from a friend of ours who grew up on that block and still lives there–that rare bird, a Berkeley native of about my advanced age. He said that that part of Grant Street used to be lined with magnolias; the catalpas, another emblem of the Southeast, therefore fit right in. And yes, they were evidently planted by the person who owned the house they’re in front of. -more-

TUESDAY, OCT. 11 -more-