The Week

Jakob Schiller: Cristina Mariscal of the Cuauhtonal Aztec Dance group performs during a late-afternoon ceremony outside St. Elizabeth’s Church as part of the Day of the Dead celebration in Oakland’s Fruivale neighborhood on Sunday. The annual celebration mixes Indigenous Indian practices dating back to the Aztecs with more recent Mexican traditions, and is meant to remember and honor the dead.
Jakob Schiller: Cristina Mariscal of the Cuauhtonal Aztec Dance group performs during a late-afternoon ceremony outside St. Elizabeth’s Church as part of the Day of the Dead celebration in Oakland’s Fruivale neighborhood on Sunday. The annual celebration mixes Indigenous Indian practices dating back to the Aztecs with more recent Mexican traditions, and is meant to remember and honor the dead.
 

News

Developers Ask Board to Help Design Project By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday November 01, 2005

Agreeing with critics and city staff that their planned five-story, two-building project at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and University Avenue wasn’t the best piece of design Berkeley has ever seen, the developers tried to get a city board to come up with an alternative Thursday. -more-


Downtown Panel Almost Complete By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday November 01, 2005

With only City Councilmember Kriss Worthington’s two appointments yet to be named, the panel responsible for helping to formulate a new downtown plan is almost in place. -more-


Peralta Trustee Mailing Stirs Political Tensions By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday November 01, 2005

Peralta Community College District Trustee Marcie Hodge stepped up two campaigns last week—one against Peralta’s Office of International and Global Education, the other for the 6th District Oakland City Council seat currently held by Desley Brooks. -more-


Investigation Looks into Dumping at Richmond Site By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday November 01, 2005

Were drums of radioactive waste from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory buried in South Richmond? -more-


Rubicon Program Opens Its Doors to Berkeley By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday November 01, 2005

The East Bay’s self-styled “social capitalist” organization Rubicon Programs officially opens in Berkeley Thursday morning with a celebration at its downtown offices. -more-


Neighbors Pitch in at New Adult School Photograph by John McBride

Tuesday November 01, 2005

Neighbors of the Berkeley Adult School (formerly Franklin School) planted the northeast corner of the site (Curtis and Virginia streets) on Saturday. Schoolhouse Creek Commons, which is allied with Partners-for-Parks, welcomes donations and assistance with the project. For more information, contact James Day at 559-8368 or dayork@infinex.com.. -more-


Liquor Store Declared Public Nuisance, Ordered to Close By Richard Brenneman

Tuesday November 01, 2005

The Zoning Adjustments Board voted unanimously Thursday to declare Dwight Way Liquors a public nuisance and to order its closure. -more-


Dolores Huerta to Speak Against School of the Americas By MARY BARRETT Special to the Planet

Tuesday November 01, 2005

Dolores Huerta is coming to Berkeley this Friday to advocate against the School of the Americas where Latin American soldiers are trained in torture techniques. -more-


Driver in Fatal Crash Charged by Richard Brenneman

Tuesday November 01, 2005

Prosecutors have filed felony charges against the 46-year-old Oakland man whose car ran a red light and killed a 20-year-old UC Berkeley student at about 2:30 a.m. Thursday. -more-


Police Blotter By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday November 01, 2005

Gunshot -more-


Editorial Cartoon By Justin Defreitas

Tuesday November 01, 2005

To view Justin DeFreitas’ latest editorial cartoon, please visit -more-


Letters to the Editor

Tuesday November 01, 2005

VOTE! -more-


Column: Grateful for a Roof Overhead and Uneven Floorboards Under My Feet By SUSAN PARKER

Tuesday November 01, 2005

In the morning, before anyone is awake, I go downstairs and make coffee. From the living room I hear the pop and bubble of my husband’s oxygen machine. In the kitchen I feel the cold, uneven, sticky floorboards under my bare feet and I am annoyed. -more-


Commentary: Crime in South Berkeley is A Difficult Problem to Solve By ANDREA PRICHETT

Tuesday November 01, 2005

After reading Paul Rauber’s commentary “South Berkeley’s Crime Enablers,” I feel sure that he misunderstood my opinion piece. Mr. Rauber refers to my “venomous Oct. 25 commentary” accuses me of “tossing around incendiary” charges of racism and then concludes by saying that my opinions “Make a firebomb look kind of benign by comparison.” Mr. Rauber’s choice of language and metaphor suggests that by merely raising the question of racism, I have somehow caused a harm comparable to the destruction of a firebomb. This is a surprising repudiation of the value of free expression coming from a man who makes his living as a writer. -more-


Commentary: Civil Suit Filed Only After Defendent Refused to Move By PAUL RAUBER

Tuesday November 01, 2005

It’s me again, lead plaintiff for the 14 South Berkeley citizens suing our South Berkeley drug house, responding to the latest distortions of our case in the editorial pages of the Daily Planet. In her Oct. 28 editorial, Executive Editor Becky O’Malley’s paints us ordinary neighborhood folks as vindictive harpies “with blood in their eyes” intent on unconstitutional punishment of Lenora Moore, owner of the drug house at 1610 Oregon Street. “If anyone . . . has broken a criminal law,” O’Malley asks, “shouldn’t they be charged and tried in accordance with the Constitution?” -more-


Commentary: Homeless or Keyless? By Winston Burton

Tuesday November 01, 2005

It had just started to drizzle and I had ducked under a freeway overpass to keep dry. I was tired from walking all day and sat down on a worn, discarded mattress. I looked around at bottles and trash strewn everywhere and a rat scurried near my foot. It was starting to get dark so I decided to take my chances in the rain. I headed out, not sure where I was going, hungry, getting cold and I had to go the bathroom. My cell phone rang. It was my wife. She was finally home! I had locked myself out and left my wallet home. Homeless for a day? No, I was keyless. -more-


ARTS: Central Works Updates an Ancient Tale of War By KEN BULLOCK Special to the Planet

Tuesday November 01, 2005

“I sing the wrath of Achilles ...” If The Iliad doesn’t recount the fall of Troy so much as it does the seemingly endless war of attrition that preceded it, and of deeds of arms on the field, and vanity and wounded pride in the tents behind the lines—then Gary Graves’ Achilles and Patroklos (staged by Central Works at the Berkeley City Club) isn’t just a deliberately anachronistic parallel between Homeric heroics and the quagmire of occupation following the invasion of Iraq, as it is more an attempt to view the different facets of interpersonal experience as conditioned (and distorted) by an interminable war. -more-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday November 01, 2005

TUESDAY, NOV. 1 -more-


Hawthorns and Thorntrees Come Into Their Own By RON SULLIVANSpecial to the Planet

Tuesday November 01, 2005

The little Crataegus trees—hawthorns, thorntrees—in that grassy strip of Sacramento Street between Dwight Way and University Avenue bloom in the spring with pretty white flowers, but this is the season when they come into their own. They dress themselves in red berries while they still have leaves, then drop the leaves and keep the berries. On their slender horizontal branches, the berries hang gracefully and usefully all winter. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday November 01, 2005

TUESDAY, NOV. 1 -more-


City Property Crimes High, Violence Drops By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday October 28, 2005

For the first eight months of the year, Berkeley proved the East Bay’s hot spot for thefts, burglaries and other forms of property crime—topping the rates for Richmond and Oakland—while the city’s crimes of violence ranked in the mid-range. -more-


Planners Consider Rezoning West Berkeley to Allow Auto Dealerships By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Friday October 28, 2005

Staring in the face of a potential $1.4 million loss in annual sales tax revenue, Berkeley Planning Commissioners decided to look further into a plan to set up portions of West Berkeley as auto sales zones after hearing a bleak preliminary report from city staff at the commission’s regular meeting Wednesday night. -more-


Volunteers Help Avert Poll Worker Crisis By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Friday October 28, 2005

Suppose they held an election in Berkeley, but no one showed up to open the polls? -more-


Construction Begins on Richmond Transit Village By F. TIMOTHY MARTIN Special to the Planet

Friday October 28, 2005

Plans for a new transit station in Richmond took a big step forward this week. -more-


Richmond Woman Killed in University Ave. Crash By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday October 28, 2005

A 20-year-old Richmond resident died in a fatal traffic accident at the intersection of University and San Pablo avenues at 2:30 a.m. Thursday. -more-


City Council Approves Soft Story, Condo Measures By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday October 28, 2005

Berkeley city councilmembers passed the second and final readings of the soft story and condominium ordinances Tuesday, as well as the city plan and zoning changes needed to construct the Gilman Street Playing Fields complex. -more-


Looking for Work and a Dry Place to Rest

Friday October 28, 2005

Photograph by Jakob Schiller: Kelly English, 35, rests under a makeshift rain shelter he made in People’s Park during the rain showers on Tuesday. A graduate of Kennedy High in Richmond and of Diablo Valley College, he handed out his resume, which said, “I bring work and personal attributes that foster positive, respectful and peaceful relationships with my co-workers and customers. I want responsible employment with a team that also values these attributes.” -more-


Police Blotter By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday October 28, 2005

iJacked -more-


Mary Yamashiro Otani 1923-2005 By TOM BUTT

Friday October 28, 2005

Mary Otani was born in Berkeley to hardworking immigrant parents from Okinawa. One of six children, she was a good student, and loved to play basketball. As a student at UC Berkeley, Mary was already interested in social justice, and worked with other YWCA students to support fair housing legislation. -more-


Putting on ‘The Laramie Project’ at BHS By RIO BAUCE Special to the Planet

Friday October 28, 2005

Do you ever not know what to do on a Friday or Saturday night? Do you feel like there is something going on you’re missing out on? -more-


Outsourcing Ethnic Media Knight Ridder Closes ‘Nuevo Mundo By Elena Shore Pacific News Service

Friday October 28, 2005

Latino journalists are disturbed by what they fear could be a new trend in the Hispanic media market: the outsourcing of ethnic media. -more-


Editorial Cartoon By JUSTIN DEFREITAS

Friday October 28, 2005

To view Justin DeFreitas’ latest editorial cartoon, please visit -more-


Sale of Viet Mercury Troubles Bay Area Vietnamese By ANDREW LAM Pacific News Service

Friday October 28, 2005

Unlike some ethnic enclaves, the Vietnamese-American community in Santa Clara county, does not lack for news in its own language. If anything, the community can access more news than a mainstream population reading in English only. -more-


Letters to the Editor

Friday October 28, 2005

NO DEAL -more-


Column: Dispatches From The Edge Counting the Dead: The War Moves on to Iran, Syria By Conn Hallinan

Friday October 28, 2005

In the wake of a United Nations investigation implicating a number of Syrian and Lebanese officials in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the Bush administration is calling for sanctions and leaking dark hints of war. But the United States is already unofficially at war with Syria. For the past six months, U.S. Army Rangers and the Special Operations Delta Force have been crossing the border into Syria, supposedly to “interdict” terrorists coming into Iraq. Several Syrian soldiers have been killed. -more-


Column: Undercurrents: Rosa Parks is Not the Beginning of the Story J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Friday October 28, 2005

If things continue upon their present course—which “things” have that interesting habit of not always doing—somewhere in a school in North Oakland 50 years from now, a teacher will stand before a class and tell her (his) students the story of the day in 2003 when a courageous black woman, grown weary of the lies of the Bush administration, stood up by herself in the United States Congress and cast the single vote against the Iraq War Authorization, thus sparking a national movement that eventually led to both the collapse of neoconism as well as the end of the stranglehold of the radical religious right on the government of the country. -more-


Commentary: South Berkeley’s Crime Enablers By Paul Rauber

Friday October 28, 2005

I’m sitting here Tuesday night in my South Berkeley home contemplating Andrea Pritchett’s venomous Oct. 25 commentary, “No Simple Solutions for Berkeley’s Drug Problems,” when six gunshots ring out close by. I instantly call 911 and report the number of shots, and estimate direction and distance. The scariest part about it was that this is a completely ordinary part of life here—counting the shots and praying they don’t come in your window. -more-


Commentary: Bush’s Veil Over History By Kitty Kelley

Friday October 28, 2005

Secrecy has been perhaps the most consistent trait of the George W. Bush presidency. Whether it involves refusing to provide the names of oil executives who advised Vice President Dick Cheney on energy policy, prohibiting photographs of flag-draped coffins returning from Iraq, or forbidding the release of files pertaining to Chief Justice John Roberts’ tenure in the Justice Department, President Bush seems determined to control what the public is permitted to know. And he has been spectacularly effective, making Richard Nixon look almost transparent. -more-


Commentary: In Defense of City Workers By MICHAEL MARCHANT

Friday October 28, 2005

The City of Berkeley projects budget deficits into 2007. Some argue that these deficits are due to excessive compensation received by city workers. While workers certainly receive fair compensation for their work, this compensation is not the source of the problem and is far from excessive. -more-


Commentary: Talkin’ No Free Box Blues By Saul Crypps

Friday October 28, 2005

Soup stains, skid marks -more-


Commentary: A Different View of the LRDP Case By PETER MUTNICK

Friday October 28, 2005

Concerning Antonio Rossman’s remarks in the Oct. 7 Daily Planet, I would like to make several comments. Rossman says the following: “In the court’s words, ‘It therefore appears compelling that the statutory allowance for settlements in closed session not override extrinsic requirements for public proceedings.’ In lay terms and common sense: more important than settling city litigation is the right of citizens to learn in advance and influence the settlement terms.” -more-


Arts: A Psychosexual Ghost Story in Time for Halloween By KEN BULLOCK Special to the Planet

Friday October 28, 2005

With cellphones off and no chance to call 911, the audience faces the ground floor interior of an old wood house in Seattle, strewn with packing boxes, the bannister of a staircase turning up and away from the tableaux of figures facing each other at the doorway, one in bright daylight, the next in darkness, as the grandfather clock tolls the hour. -more-


Arts: Recipe For a Play: A Cooking Report From the Front Lines By KEN BULLOCK Special to the Planet

Friday October 28, 2005

“We’re cooking live on-stage, every performance,” said director Clive Chafer of TheatreFIRST’s Northern California premiere of The Arab-Israeli Cookbook, opening tonight (Friday) at the Jewish Community Center. -more-


Arts Calendar

Friday October 28, 2005

FRIDAY, OCT. 28 -more-


Bringing Classics Into the Digital Age By Ira Steingroot Special to the Planet

Friday October 28, 2005

If you are one of those damned souls who has traveled “the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire,” the well-worn path from lisping your ABCs, to juvenile reader, to adolescent bookworm, to adult bibliophile, and finally to full-blown bibliomaniac, then you know that “of making many books there is no end and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” -more-


Berkeley This Week

Friday October 28, 2005

FRIDAY, OCT. 28 -more-


Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: Corporate Mergers Threaten Watchdog Press By BECKY O"MALLEY

Tuesday November 01, 2005

Monday’s “revelation” that the Tonkin Gulf resolution, the basis for U.S. entry into the Vietnam conflict, was somehow “doctored” provides yet another opportunity to marvel at the apparent inability of the people who are supposed to be running this country to find out what’s going on. If we are to believe Robert McNamara, Lyndon Johnson’s secretary of defense, it’s news to him. According to the New York Times, “Mr. McNamara, 89, said he had never been told that the intelligence might have been altered to shore up the scant evidence of a North Vietnamese attack.“ -more-


Editorial: Complaints, Constitution Clash in South Berkeley By BECKY O'MALLEY

Friday October 28, 2005

In September of 2001, the average house in zip code 94703 sold for $375,000. In September of 2005, the average house in 94703 sold for $780,000. -more-