News

Richmond residents opposed to a developer’s plan to build 1,000 residential units at Breuner Marsh are looking to the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) to insist the land be preserved as open space. -more-

The new Berkeley Bowl planned for the corner of Ninth Street and Heinz Avenue in West Berkeley “would not result in any significant and unavoidable impacts,” according to the conclusion of the massive draft environmental impact report (EIR) prepared by Christopher A. Joseph & Associates, a Petaluma consulting firm. -more-

Is Peralta Community College District Trustee Marcie Hodge running for the 6th District Oakland City Council seat against incumbent Desley Brooks in next June’s election, and if so, whose idea was it? -more-

The Berkeley Public Library, already beset with labor-management problems, risked further alienating organized labor this month when it hired a non-union firm to do its janitorial work. -more-

In a sign of increased scrutiny over district operations that began last January when four new board members were elected, the Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees has hired an inspector general to report directly to the board on district operations. -more-

In the past two weeks, several more Cal football players have given witness statements to investigators in the murder of Meleia Willis-Starbuck, according to John Burris, the attorney for co-defendant Christopher Hollis. -more-

To raise funds to renovate Berkeley’s first racially integrated church, the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA) has joined with the South Berkeley Community Church to hold a Wednesday night meeting that will explore the church’s history. -more-

The article “Diversity Lacking in Council’s Commission Appointments” in the Oct. 14 issue mistakenly attributed to Councilmember Gordon Wozniak the quoted opinion that Bates’ appointment of only one African-American was “pretty sad, and pretty surprising. For years, the NAACP used to give [former mayor] Shirley Dean a hard time because she only had one African-American appointment. After that, to her credit, she appointed a number of African-Americans, at least as many as four. But now I see that Bates has the same number of African-American appointments as Dean had.” The quote should have been attributed to Councilmember Kriss Worthington.3 -more-

One of the country’s most famous anti-war activists is now one of Berkeley’s newest residents. -more-

Berkeley Iceland will apparently remain open for business after city officials approved its proposal to quiet the rink’s temporary refrigeration system, which the city feared would disturb neighbors. -more-

Lucretia Edwards, who might best be remembered as the mother of Richmond’s magnificent 3,000-plus acres of shoreline parks, died peacefully at her home on Oct. 12. She was 89 years old. -more-

The City Council will take up soft story buildings tonight (Tuesday), an amendment to the city’s condominium conversion ordinance and a host of other measures ranging from approving the budgets of local Business Improvement Districts to a renewal of the city’s needle exchange program. -more-

There’s no police blotter today because Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies is on vacation through the end of October and his temporary replacement didn’t return calls by deadline Monday.. -more-

Summer dust, first rain trigger power outages -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.

UC PARKING -more-

A Lively Collection Awaits at the Berkeley Public Library -more-

I hadn’t planned to write another column about Meleia Willis-Starbuck so soon but things change and this is about more than Meleia. No sooner did I write my last column saying I hoped that John Burris, her accused murderer’s attorney, wasn’t attempting to lay the foundation for blaming Meleia for her own death with his statement that Christopher Hollis’ bringing of the gun to the scene of the crime was an example of his being “too dependable,” than Burris was quoted that same week stating that he knew that Meleia asked Hollis to “bring the heat.” -more-

My dad has been asked by the widow of his best friend in the Army to contribute to a memory book about her deceased husband. Specifically, the widow has requested tales of heroism and valor during my father and her husband’s stint in the Army Air Corps, 1944 to 1945. -more-

First there was Green Party candidate, Audie Bock. In 1999 she stunned political experts and beat long-term black Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris for an assembly seat in a special election in Oakland. -more-

The Berkeley City Council is scheduled to discuss the potential benefits to several communities of not demolishing the Bevatron, a retired nuclear accelerator, and recommend instead that it be preserved as a historical landmark and education facility. As the council has no actual authority in this matter, this would be a recommendation only and most likely would be ignored by the Department of Energy, which runs Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL). -more-

On June 24, 2004 the City of Berkeley, a Charter City, entered into a contract with Checkpoint Systems Inc., New Jersey, to “deliver, install and make operational the Intelligent Library System (radio frequency identification technology) at the Berkeley Public Library...” for $643,000. -more-

The recent discussions on planning for an avian flu pandemic highlight a critical problem in disaster planning—our inability to predict the future. Even if, as with Hurricane Katrina and the 9/11 terrorist attack, a few people may have anticipated and forewarned of potential disaster, these events appeared to have a low probability of occurring in the near future. As a result, few people in public policy-making positions were prepared to spend the time, money and political capital necessary to prepare for them. So how do we plan for an appropriate disaster response without wasting limited resources chasing after every potential disaster? -more-

The 23rd annual San Francisco Jazz Festival begins this Thursday and continues for another 42 events through Dec. 10. This is the most concentrated amount of great jazz available in the Bay Area all year. -more-

The African-American Shakespeare Company is providing the opportunity to see one of the more obscure ventures of the Bard, Two Noble Kinsmen, at the African-American Art & Culture Complex, on Fulton Street in San Francisco, through this weekend. -more-

Sometimes the greatest mysteries are closest to home. Just ask Kent Brown, a Berkeley man who’s embarking on a quest to learn about his grandmother. -more-

TUESDAY, OCT. 18 -more-

All through September, I’ve been seeing warblers in the backyard: not the yellow-rumps that spend the winter, but migrants of other species stopping over during their southbound flight—yellow warblers running the gamut from bright to drab, orange-crowns, a female Townsend’s, at least one Wilson’s. -more-

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-