People’s Park has a new freebox and this one, say supporters, has been built to last. 

Following the destruction of two previous incarnations of the freebox earlier this year, volunteers gathered on Saturday to put together the support rods and sheets of steel that now make up a new eight-by-four-foot free-item exchange bin. 

Billed as the “Freebox Fashion Show,” the event drew more than 100 people to the park for an afternoon of live music, protest and a street theater dition of The Three Little Pigs, complete with a big, bad (Cal) bear—all in support of keeping the freebox up and running.  

In February, fire damaged a pre-existing, straw-made freebox, which in some form has been a part of the park since long-time activist Bob Sparks started the tradition in 1989. UC Berkeley police finished the job in September by tearing up the box’s foundation after volunteers attempted to build a more permanent structure, which is located near the basketball courts at the park.  

A few days later UC police also dismantled two wooden crates put up to replace the burned box. Given the history of contention with the university, park and homeless rights activists are now holding their breath to see if the new structure will last longer than its predecessor. 

“It’s something that ties the community together,” said Dan McMullan, a volunteer from Friends of Peoples Park, a group that advocates for the park. “It offers the chance for an act of giving from people that have to people that don’t have that makes both parties feel good.” 

When asked if he thought campus police would dismantle the freebox McMullan responded cheerfully, “Probably, but we’ll just build another one.” 

In fact, freebox supporters have reason to worry. UC officials have expressed their disdain for the box, claiming that the freebox is a nuisance, and that its users often fight over items and leave them strewn about the park. Others, they say, take what they can from the box of donated items to stores where they can sell the items for profit. 

In an interview last September, Irene Hegarty, UC Berkeley director of community relations, told the Berkeley Daily Planet that it would block freebox advocates from rebuilding at the park. As of press time, however, no action had been taken to dismantle it. 

Perhaps one sign to suggest better future cooperation between the university and park advocates is the recent decision to reinstate the People’s Park Community Advisory Board, which had operated since the mid-1990s, but was shutdown by the university last year. Comprised of community members, students and activists, the advisory board offered a line of communication between the two sides—both of whom claim ownership of the park. 

“It’s a bureaucratic dance,” said former advisory board member and local activist Terry Compost, who hopes to regain a seat on the university-appointed board. “But the real power struggle is going on right here [at the park].” 

“It used to be that the city and university did things together,” added Berkeley City Councilmember Kriss Worthington. “The university kicked the board out of the process.” 

Worthington points out that the park is virtually the only open space within the densest part of the city. He said it is therefore vital to continue to support park advocates and to recreate the lost line of communication offered by the advisory board. 

Volunteers from Friends of Peoples Park said they spent over $300 to purchase materials for the new freebox and that they received donations and words of support from all over the country once news broke of trouble with the preexisting freebox. 

“UC thought this would be a good opportunity to tear it down while people weren’t looking,” said McMullan, “but today proves that people are looking.”.”

Members of the Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees have introduced a resolution censuring fellow trustee Marcie Hodge for what the resolution calls “behavior that is out of compliance with the established Peralta Community College District policies” of “civility and mutual respect” and accusing her of “emotionally ºviolent behavior.” Trustees are prepared to vote on the censure resolution at Tuesday night’s regular trustee meeting. 

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Peralta Administrative Headquarters, 333 East Eighth Street in Oakland. 

An informal survey of board members revealed that the censure motion appears to have at least three votes for passage. If all seven trustees vote, the measure would need four votes to pass. 

Sources on the trustee board would not reveal who had written or introduced the resolution or what path it had taken to get on Tuesday’s agenda, other than to say that trustees had been advised by Peralta General Counsel Thuy Nguyen that the resolution could not be handled in closed session. Other than Hodge, no trustee agreed to talk about the resolution on the record, saying they would reserve public comments for Tuesday’s meeting. 

A copy of the proposed resolution itself was included in the background agenda material released by the Peralta administrative office in advance of Tuesday’s meeting. 

Hodge was elected to her Area 2 trustee seat last November, representing the extreme southeastern end of Oakland from Seminary Avenue to the San Leandro border. While it has been widely reported and assumed that she is running for the Oakland City Council in next year’s election for the 6th District seat currently held by Desley Brooks, Hodge has said that she will not consider such a race until the beginning of the year.  

The resolution harshly criticizes the first-term trustee for actions Hodge took during a September trustee meeting in which she called for the abolition of the district’s International Education Department and severely criticized its director Jacob Ng, as well as for accusations against both Ng and fellow trustee members that Hodge allegedly made during an Oct. 18 Laney College Faculty Senate meeting. The resolution also accuses Hodge of being “deficient” in “fulfilling her responsibilities as a trustee,” including being “regularly, substantially late for board meetings and workshops,” adding that Hodge “virtually never attends assigned committee meetings of the board.” In addition, the resolution accuses Hodge of “reading magazines and working on matters totally outside the realm of Peralta” during board meetings. 

If passed by the board, the charges of non-attendance and inattention at meetings could be particularly politically harmful to Hodge in a possible run for the Oakland City Council next year. 

But reached by telephone a day before Tuesday’s meeting, a defiant Hodge said the proposed censure resolution “trivial and has no merit. They can censure me, but they can’t silence me. What is it that they don’t want me to uncover about what is going on with the International Education Department? Why are they hiding Jacob Ng?” 

Several trustees have been expressing private concerns to reporters for weeks about what they call Hodge’s failure to attend committee meetings and chronic lateness to the closed sessions that regularly precede the board’s public sessions, but up until now, they have been unwilling to go on the record with such complaints. 

What dramatically changed the situation, sources on the trustee board say, and caused them to go public was the September 13th trustee meeting. 

The censure resolution incorrectly puts the date of that meeting as Sept. 27. 

Hodge had requested that Ng attend that meeting to present a report on the activities of the district’s International Education program. But Ng did not appear at the meeting, instead sending in a written report that was presented by his supervisor, Vice Chancellor for Educational Services Margaret Haig, who had only been on the job for four days. Visibly agitated that Ng was not present, Hodge aired a series of charges of mismanagement and malfeasance against the International Education Department in general, calling Ng by name specifically several times and criticizing his job performance. 

Allegations of financial improprieties in the International Education Department were the subject of an Alameda Civil Grand Jury investigation several years ago. 

Trustees tried unsuccessfully several times to stop Hodge from using Ng’s name in her charges at the Sept. 13 meeting, telling her that board policy prohibited trustees from publicly criticizing staff members by name. She continued talking even after Board President Bill Riley repeatedly ruled her out of order. At one point, Hodge and Riley got into a virtual shouting match. 

The censure resolution says that district personnel matters should be discussed in closed session, adding that having such a discussion in open session “could expose violators to court-ordered damages and any legal costs... [that] would not be financially covered by the District.” 

The censure resolution cites Hodge for what it calls “uncouth verbal outbursts [that] castigated the character” of Ng and of Peralta Chancellor Elihu Harris. The resolution also charges that Hodge’s treatment of Vice Chancellor Haig at the Sept. 13 meeting as Haig tried to present Ng’s written report “is considered to have been demeaning, intimidating, threatening and an emotionally violent behavior.” 

The resolution also alleges that at a meeting of the Laney College Faculty Senate in October, Hodge repeated her charges against Ng by name, and called her six fellow trustees the “lap dogs” of Chancellor Harris. 

At the Sept. 13 meeting, at least two other trustees—Bill Withrow and Cy Gulassa—said they were in support of Hodge’s call for greater accountability for the International Education Department, but balked when Hodge called for the immediate abolition of the program. Vice Chancellor Haig reported at the Sept. 13 meeting that she was initiating a review of the department, and would report her findings back to the board when it was completed. 

Hodge said Monday that she was “absolutely not satisfied” with that review. Saying that it was “almost like a free-for-all over there” at the International Education Department, she said that she was “concerned about the whole process at the department. My concern is still the same as it was in September. I want answers. I want to know the actual numbers of international students who are coming to Peralta as a result of recruitment by the department. I want to know the linkage. My focus is on that. I’m not going to get sidetracked.” 

But Hodge backed off her call for an immediate abolition of the International Education dDepartment, saying that she would support its retention “if it is run right. It could be beneficial.”›

Safeway plans to tear down its 1500 Solano Ave. store in Albany and replace it with a new store and 40-or-so-units of condominiums—signaling a major shift in the focus of the giant grocery retailer. 

The proposal has received mixed reviews, evoking fears of increased traffic and density among residents who live near the market. 

While residential neighbors expressed almost unanimous opposition during a Nov. 2 meeting with the developer, citing features of congestion and parking woes, nearby merchants welcomed the proposal. 

Executive Director Lisa Bullwinkel of the Solano Avenue Association (SAA), a group that represents merchants along the popular commercial strip, welcomes a revitalized Safeway. 

“I think the plans are great, it will be a good thing for the street,” she said. 

While SAA members haven’t taken a formal position on the project, Bullwinkel said, “They all seemed to think it was a good thing” when she presented an update on the development at the association’s most recent meeting. 

Former Albany Mayor Robert Cheasty, whose law office is just up the street at 1604 Solano Ave., said he has serious reservations about the appropriateness of the project along the popular commercial street. 

“It looks on its face as if it will change the character of the neighborhood significantly, overwhelming the local residents,” he said. “This is no small and compatible project.” 

Neighbors, who met with the developers on Nov. 2, offered almost unanimous opposition, citing the bulk of the proposed structure, traffic congestion and potential impacts on parking. 

The developers 

As currently envisioned, the project will feature the store at ground level, with two floors of housing above and two levels of parking below. 

Safeway spokesperson Jennifer Webber, director of public relations for the chain’s Northern California division, said “Our newest store in San Francisco at the corner of Fourth and King streets was built with housing over ground floor retail,” she said, “and other store in the city was built that way several years ago.” 

The chain built a similar project in Portland in 2003, which featured apartments above and behind the store and parking beneath, and opened a similar store in downtown Sacramento a year later, according to newspaper reports from those cities. 

Asked if the shift to infill development—housing built over commercial uses—was part of shifting development strategy by the chain, Webber said, “it varies according to the site and the community.” 

The chain’s developer for the project is Security Properties Inc. (SPI), a low-profile, privately held, Seattle-based developer with projects in all but 12 of the contiguous 48 states. The company buys, sells and builds affordable and market-rate apartments and condos and, through a subsidiary, is building subdivisions as well. 

John Marasco, SPI’s managing director for development, said the firm built a similar project to their Albany proposal on a nearly identical lot in Seattle two years ago, though the zoning at the Seattle site allows for a taller project. 

“Since then, we are working on a dozen similar projects in Seattle and the Bay Area. Maybe four of them will turn into developments,” Marasco said. 

The store 

“This sudden interest in development may be the result of Safeway’s failure to keep up with the competition,” Cheasty said. 

“Andronico’s is doing fine, and so is Whole Foods. If you go to Trader Joe’s in El Cerrito on a Saturday you can barely squeeze a cart through the aisles. But it’s not that way at Safeway. 

“They could do a better job with organic produce and other commodities that appeal to the community’s health-conscious shoppers. Maybe before they go into development, Safeway should look first at its core business.”  

For the most part, Bullwinkel agrees with Cheasty’s critique of the existing store. 

“That store was built in the 1960s, and everything else in the area has been upgraded. The competition’s getting stiff, and they really need an extreme makeover,” she said. 

Marasco agrees. “It’s obvious the store has been let go. There are so many things they could do to improve the current situation. 

The new store will be markedly different from the existing facility, she said, complete with an in-store restaurant and other amenities. 

Unlike the existing store, which is set well back from the street by a large parking lot, the new design will bring the store right up to the sidewalk, a move Bullwinkel praises. 

“It brings life to the street instead of all that dead parking space,” she said. 

But that street-level parking may be missed by neighboring retailers, Bullwinkel acknowledges. “Safeway has been very gracious in allowing customers of other merchants to use their lot,” she said, “and we hope they’ll continue to be.”  

Uncertain future 

Marsaco, whose firm Safeway approached to develop the project, acknowledges that serious obstacles remain. 

“We didn’t get the warmest of receptions,” he said of the neighborhood meeting. “The neighbors, for a variety of reason, say that Safeway doesn’t meet their needs—and most of the criticisms we heard were about Safeway. But they also don’t want any more development on the street. It wasn’t a question of the quality of the residential units. They didn’t want anything at all.” 

Marasco said his firm has a good history of working with neighbors, and he feels their proposal to add townhomes along the rear of the lot should ease a lot of the concerns that neighbors have about crime in the existing alleyway that would be closed should the project win approval. 

But Cheasty and other opponents are organizing and developing a wide range of issues to challenge the project. 

As one example, Cheasty cites health risks that could accompany putting parking underground to replace the lot sacrificed to the development because of the mold that could result in an area rich with underground springs.  

Marasco notes that plans are anything but complete. The initial proposal calls for a C-shaped development, built around a courtyard at the center rear of the site. But the number of housing units is undecided. 

“While it could range between 40 and a maximum of 60, it will very likely be less than 40,” to provide a reduced number of higher-priced condos to help ease concerns of neighbors. 

“We do specialized niche development, one-off projects that reflect the needs and concerns of the neighborhood as well as our own,” he said.t

Alameda County voters got their first look at life in the paper-trail, electronic voting era when four companies showed off their machines Monday at the Alameda County Conference Center in Oakland. 

A change in state law requires that as of the beginning of next year, all electronic voting machines in California must include a verifiable paper trail that provides a hard copy. 

Alameda County Registrar of Voters Elaine Ginnold estimated that the purchase of the new paper-trail machines could range between $6 million and $20 million, depending on the system eventually chosen. 

A steady crowd of poll workers and voters walked through the conference center on Monday, asking questions and doing sample voting on the voting machines of the four companies—Sequoia, Hart, Diebold, and Election Systems & Software (ES&S)—which submitted bids to supply Alameda County’s next generation of machines. 

Participants were asked to rate the four types of machines. Ginnold said that the citizen evaluations are an “important part of the overall evaluation process.” She said that the county currently has an election committee which is reviewing the four proposals and will receive the citizen evaluations. The committee will eventually rank the machines and based upon their evaluation, the Alameda County Purchasing Office will make a recommendation to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, which is scheduled to vote on the voting machine purchase at its December 13 meeting. 

The four machines displayed Monday have many things in common, but with slight differences that could be important to voters.  

All of them display the ballot on a computer screen similar to the method used by the Diebold machines used by Alameda County in the last election. Three of the machines allow voters to cast their votes by touching the screen. But one of them, Hart, does not operate with the touch-screen method, instead using a manual plastic wheel and enter button below the screen that functions similar to a mouse and keyboard. 

All of the demonstrated machines have a paper trail in the form of a continuous-roll cash register type receipt that prints out each ballot and retains the record in the voting machine. Voters have the opportunity to compare the printed ballot to the vote they have recorded on the screen. Once the ballot is cast, the receipt rolls on, hiding the previous voter’s ballot from the next voter and displaying only a blank tape. 

All of the machines allow a voter to go back and change a vote, even after the paper ballot has been printed, but before the vote has actually been cast. Three of the machines print the full ballot and, if the voter decides to make a change, prints a “VOID” mark at the bottom of the ballot and then prints an entirely new ballot with the voter’s changed choices. One of the machines, ES&S, prints the actual keystrokes as the voter goes along, including any corrections. Thus if an ES&S voter marks a vote for a particular candidate and then decides to change that vote, the machine marks a “VOID” on that particular vote, then prints a second line that indicates the corrected vote. 

A spokesperson for ES&S at Monday’s demonstration said the company’s machine provides a “paper audit log that records every keystroke the voter makes. You can go back and see exactly what was done as it was done by the voter.” 

Several of the vendors said that in addition to a written record of the vote, their machines also printed bar codes of each voter’s entire vote on the paper-trail ballots that could be used by scanners to electronically count the paper ballots in the event of a recount. 

The Diebold machines also included a separate keypad and earphones to be used by the visually impaired.

University of California Regents come to the UC Berkeley campus this week for a series of rare regular meetings, and unions and student activists have planned a traditional Berkeley-type welcome of protest demonstrations. 

On Wednesday at noon while rege nts are meeting on the Berkeley campus, university employees and student activists plan to hold a rally against the regents at Sproul Plaza, with a second rally by university students from across the state planned for Thursday, also at noon at Sproul Plaz a. 

The meetings will be held Wednesday and Thursday at the Clark Kerr campus, with regents tackling, among other things, the sensitive issue of raising student fees. The meetings are open to the public. 

Regents generally alternate their quarterly, two-d ay general meetings between northern and southern California, with the northern meetings usually held at UCSF-Laurel Heights. Situated far from downtown San Francisco and without Berkeley’s spacious plazas, UCSF is not the easiest location to hold a demon stration protesting regents’ actions. At the UCSF meetings, activists have been relegated to making short, timed presentations inside the regents’ meetings themselves, with strict access limits and under the watchful eye of campus police. 

The last four n orthern California regents meetings have been at UCSF, and all three northern California meetings for next year are scheduled at the campus. 

The Wednesday rally, co-sponsored by the Coalition of University Employees (CUE), which represents clerical worke rs at the nine UC campuses as well as the Lawrence Berkeley Lab, will protest what CUE representatives call low wages for university employees and “escalating tuitions” for students. 

“One reason we’re having a joint effort with students is to show that t here are common issues between the students and the workers,” said CUE representative Amatullah Alaji-Sabrie by telephone. “The regents keep telling the students that they have to raise student fees in order to pay staff, but that’s a bold lie. What the u niversity is actually doing is cutting operational services while they’re giving the extra money to high-level administrative officers.” 

Alaji-Sabrie said that university students “have always been supportive” of efforts by the union to increase worker p ay, and said that the Wednesday demonstration is “a joint effort by both groups to demand that the regents rethink their priorities.” 

Another purpose of the Wednesday rally, according to a CUE press release, will be to protest “the university’s bargaining demand that unions must agree to allow management to discipline or fire any worker who honors another union’s picket line.” 

The CUE release called that a “hypocritical and unconstitutional gag order” that “flies in the face of UC’s mission as a public institution and repeated claim to being a proponent of academic freedom and ‘Home of the Free Speech Movement.’” 

The Thursday protest is expected to address the regents’ plans to raise fees for undergraduate, graduate, and professional school students. T he university says the money is needed to offset the continuing state budget crisis, to put back into a financial aid fund for low-income students, and, at the professional school level, to make the university’s schools more competitive with private insti tutions. 

On Wednesday morning at 9 a.m., the Regents’ Committee on Finance is scheduled to discuss the recommendation by UC President Robert Dynes to raise undergraduate student fees by 8 percent and graduate student fees by 10 percent, as well as a 5 pe rcent increase for professional school students. 

That translates to a $462 increase for resident undergraduates, $504 for nonresident undergraduates, $660 for resident graduate students, and $684 for non-resident graduate students. 

For professional stud ents, the increases range from $545 for the UC Berkeley Public Health and Public Policy schools to $2,095 for the UCLA Business School, $1,993 for the UC Berkeley Business School, and $1,991 for Boalt Law School. 

If approved, the fee increases would take place beginning in the 2006-07 school year. 

The professional fee increase recommendation comes on top of a 10 percent increase in those fees approved by the regents last year. In addition, last July, the regents approved a temporary two-year professiona l fee increase totaling $1,800 to pay for an injunction granted by plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit filed in 2003 by professional school students protesting a previous fee increase. That lawsuit was filed by students who had enrolled in 2002 or previously. 

A second, similar lawsuit was filed earlier this year in Superior Court in San Francisco by UC professional school students enrolled in 2003. The students in both lawsuits alleged that their enrollment contracts with the university stipulated that their fees would not be increased while they attended professional school in the UC system.>s

Minority students blasted UC Berkeley’s administration Thursday for not taking bolder steps to diversify the student body. 

They spoke out during a public hearing in UC Berkeley’s Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union. Without a critical mass of underrepresented students, they argued, the social conditions at the university will deteriorate. 

The passage of Proposition 209, the legislation that banned affirmative action in the UC admissions policy, has created a hostile environment for underrepresented students, they said. 

In 1998, the first year that Proposition 209 took effect, the entering freshman class had 126 African-American students compared with 257 the year prior. The number of Latino entering freshmen dropped from 390 to 191 the same year. By 2004, the entering freshman class had 250 Latinos, but the number of African-American freshman had shrunk to 108. 

“I dread walking into those lecture halls, where I have to defend my right to be, where professors look past me when I raise my hand,” said sophomore Erica Williams, an African-American. “I should feel lucky to be here, but my sense of wonderment about being here, at the finest public university in the world, has disappeared.”  

The group plans to rally Thursday morning at the UC Regents meeting, followed by a march from Clark Kerr campus to Sproul Plaza.  

Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, who only attended a portion of the hearing, has declared his commitment to addressing inclusion, calling the issue “a moral obligation” and “a fight for the soul of the university.” 

The 2005 admissions figures, Birgeneau’s first year at the helm, show a slight increase in minority enrollment with 18 more African-American freshman, and 94 more Latinos. He has made the issue the centerpiece of his administration, and he has called for a repeal of Proposition 209. 

But, says Pat Hayashi, former UC Berkeley director of admissions, the focus on affirmative action is misguided and doesn’t get at the root of the issue. He doubts that Proposition 209 will ever be overturned. 

“Instead we need to work on the architecture of the eligibility requirements,” said Hayashi in a seminar on campus earlier this fall. The current eligibility system only allows into consideration approximately 4 percent of California’s African-American and Latino high school seniors, he says. 

Ron Williams, spokesperson for the Black Graduate Student Assembly, warned at last week’s hearing that the low numbers of minority enrollment will discourage underrepresented students, even those who meet the eligibility requirements, to consider UC Berkeley. 

“They won’t want to face this isolation and hostility,” he said.  

Two local high school students, both weighing their college options, agreed. 

“My friends ask me why would I want to go to Cal when there won’t be any other blacks there,” said Jocelyn Eastman, a senior at Oakland Tech who is in the process of applying to UC Berkeley. 

After a tour of the campus she is having second thoughts. 

“The first thing I noticed was the segregation,” she said. “Why do everyone’s friends look like each other here?” 

A Berkeley High sophomore compared the diversity he sees in his high school with his perspective on UC Berkeley. 

“It’s a privilege to go to Berkeley High, an integrated school,” said Derwyn Johnson. “It’s too bad you don’t see that here on this campus. ... Even though this campus needs more students like me who will stand up and fight for better minority enrollment numbers, I’m not sure if I want to put myself in such a segregated place.” 

Berkeley’s newest addition to the National Register of Historic Places overlooks the first, a small laboratory in the attic of one of the smaller buildings on the UC Berkeley campus. 

With the addition of the Panoramic Hill neighborhood to the prestigious list on Oct. 21, the city now boasts 57 national landmarks. 

“We’re delighted,” said Janice Thomas, who owns one of the landmarked homes and helped organize the drive to win federal recognition. “It’s a great relief.” 

With a commanding view of the Bay Area and homes by legendary designers, the slope that rises between the main UC Berkeley campus and the Clark Kerr campus has attracted its share of luminaries. 

And it was, in part, changes now afoot at the university that that led Thomas and neighbor Fredrica Drotos to prepare the recognition proposal they submitted to the National Register of Historic Places, an agency of the National Parks Service. 

They and other Panoramic Hill residents have battled the proposed installation of permanent lighting at Memorial Stadium, the 80-year-old coliseum where the UC Berkeley Golden Bears play. 

Their efforts in 1999 stalled the installation of the lights, and the university has used portable lights instead. But that will end soon, university officials revealed last Thursday. 

UC Berkeley Athletic Director Sandy Barbour said plans for a massive retrofit of the stadium will include permanent nighttime lighting. 

“We have the opportunity to take advantage of technology that will minimize light spill” into adjoining neighborhoods, she said, adding that the lights will be relatively unobtrusive. 

“It will be a win-win for everyone,” Barbour declared. 

Neighbors have also been concerned that the university would use the stadium to host other events. The last such performance was a Paul McCartney concert to benefit the homeless held there in 1989, drawing angry protests from surrounding neighborhoods. 

Chancellor Robert Birgeneau said Thursday that stadium would continue to host only their own events. 

The university’s Long-Range Development Plan for 2020—the same proposal that has sparked at three lawsuits—confirmed their fears. Volume IIIA of the plan listed potential historic resources that could be impacted by future development, declaring that none existed in their neighborhood. 

Thomas and Drotos prepared at 62-page application, which the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission endorsed on Jan. 10. The next step in the approval process came on Feb. 4, when the state Historic Resources Commission voted to endorse the proposal and forwarded it to the National Register. 

One day before the vote, Birgeneau gave extra urgency to their drive by announcing plans for a $120-plus million retrofit of Memorial Stadium and a $100-plus million expenditure to build a new academic building near the stadium—the same project unveiled last week.  

The final approval of National Register status for the district now means the university will have to consider impacts on the project under the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act. 

However review under federal law is only mandated if any of the funds used in the projject are from federal appropriations, grants or loans, said Paul Lusignan, the National Register historian in charge of landmark designations in western states. 

“The federal funding has to be for the specific project, or for something directly related to the project, such as widening a road to give access to the project,” he said. 

Unique locale 

Along the narrow winding roads that thread their ways up the hillside, Nobel laureates and other noted academics have lived in stately homes designed by such architectural luminaries as Julia Morgan, John Hudson Thomas, Bernard Maybeck, Ernest Coxhead and William Wurster. 

Their spectacular views of the UC Berkeley campus are part of a panorama stretching from the Richmond/San Rafael bridge to the northeast and the Peninsula to the southwest. And just visible from many of the homes is the university’s Gilman Hall, where the attic houses the laboratory dubbed Room 307—declared Berkeley’s first national landmark on Oct. 15, 1966. 

It was in the confines of that room in February 1941, that physicists Arthur C. Wahl, Glenn T. Seaborg and Joseph W. Kennedy discovered plutonium. 

Panoramic Hill is Berkeley’s second national historic district. The other, the Berkeley Historic Civic Center District, was listed on Dec. 3, 1998, and encompasses the buildings bordering Civic Center Park. 

Federal law grants tax credits for the rehabilitation of historic landmarks in conformity with their historic character, and California’s Mills Act grants some property tax relief for the expenditures. Federal grant money may also be available for some rehabilitation projects, and the state has a historic building code that eases some requirements to ensure that the historic character of the structure can be preserved. 

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Evictions, RFIDs, the Drayage, the infamous Downing Street Memo and by-right additions are just a few of the items on Tuesday night’s City Council agenda. 

Councilmembers will consider a measure, adopted unanimously by the Rent Board on Aug. 29, to require property owners to pay relocation fees to tenants evicted when owners decide to remove buildings from the apartment rental business. 

Current city law requires tenants be given 120 days’ eviction notice, one year required for the disabled and those 62 and older. 

The only relocation fees currently required are for low-income tenants, those who are 60 or older and the disabled. 

According to a study by Jay Kelekian, executive director of the Rent Stabilization Program, if the last census is any indication, 59.3 percent of tenant households in Berkeley would meet the legal definition of low income. 

While Berkeley and Oakland offer no payments to other tenants, San Francisco requires a payment for all tenants of $4,500 each with a maximum of $13,500 per apartment. 

On top of the flat fees, additional monies are levied if tenants belong to specific categories. 

Similar flat and additional fees are also levied in Los Angeles, Santa Monica and other Southern California cities. 

Under the measure the council will consider, each rental unit would qualify for a $4,500 payment to be divided up equally by all occupants of the dwelling. 

An additional $2,500 would be available to units with low-income, disabled and senior tenants. The low-income payment would be shared by all occupants of the unit, but the disabled and senior payments would be divided up only among the disabled and/or senior tenants. 

The council will also hear other items, including: 

• An appeal by Drayage owner Lawrence White, who is contesting $157,500 in fines imposed after tenants refused to leave after city building and fire inspectors notified him and them that the warehouse units at Addison and Third streets were unfit for occupancy. 

• Alternative proposals to change the city’s by-right home addition ordinance, which currently allows owners to add 500 square feet to an existing structure without public notice to neighbors. 

• An ordinance authorizing purchase of an abandoned sliver of land in the middle of Codornices Creek between Fifth and Sixth streets to enable completion of the creek restoration project. 

• A request by Councilmember Kriss Worthington that the council adopt a resolution to encourage its members to appoint commissioners from a more diverse range of backgrounds. The resolution also calls for a semi-annual diversity review to ensure its success. 

• A resolution calling on City Manager Phil Kamlarz to submit a grant application to the Alameda County Congestion Management Agency for up to $3 million in funds to help build the Ed Roberts Center at the Ashby BART station. The center will provide a home for disability organizations, training programs and other services. 

• A request by Worthington and colleague Dona Spring that the city manager send Berkeley Library Director Jackie Griffin and the institution’s board of trustees a letter requesting that they respond to letters from the Service Employees International Union—which represents most library workers—seeking answers to questions about the library’s controversial RFID (radio frequency identification) programs. 

• A Peace and Justice Commission resolution directing the city to send a letter to President George W. Bush asking him to answer questions about a British government memo indicating that Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair had made a secret agreement to attack Iraq using “cooked” intelligence to mobilize public opinion.

Homeless organizers began sleeping openly in Berkeley’s Martin Luther King Jr. Park Sunday night to protest the lack of space where homeless people are allowed to sleep in the city. 

Bob Mills of the East Bay Homeless Union and Michael Diehl of the homeless advocacy group BOSS said they presented Mayor Tom Bates with a flyer announcing the sleep-in Friday while he was speaking at a Veterans’ Day ceremony in the park. 

“He was very unhappy about it, but maybe it was about something else,” Mills said. 

Bates did not return calls seeking comment for this article. 

City Manager Phil Kamlarz walked by the developing illegal campsite Sunday afternoon. He said he didn’t know anything about it and went into the park to discuss the matter of a permit with Mills, who said he did not object to getting a permit as long as it didn’t cost anything. 

“We can’t afford it,” Mills said. “We’re homeless.” 

Organizers said a pledge had been signed by campsite residents, requiring neatness, respect for other residents and prohibiting alcohol or drugs at the campsite. 

Kamlarz said: “I don’t know how long that one’s going to last.” 

A Berkeley policeman arrived at 8:30 p.m. to announce that the park would close at 10 p.m. and that it was illegal to camp there. A number of homeless people who ordinarily sleep discreetly in the park packed up and left. 

“That was a shame,” said Yukon Hannibal of the Berkeley Homeless Union. “(The police) are constantly pursuing homeless people and chasing them off. Last week, they went around and chased them out into the rain.” 

Two policemen drove their police car into the park at 10:30 p.m., accompanied by two people from the Berkeley Mental Health Crisis Intervention program. 

“The police said they were doing their routine jobs and told us we were in the park illegally,” Mills said. “They said they’d be back at 2 or 3 or 4 to tell us the same thing.”  

They returned at 4 a.m. 

About a dozen people slept overnight in the park. Homeless campsites, though, tend to grow rapidly. The last one staged in the park in 2002 lasted two weeks and housed 65 people before it disbanded. 

“These are political protests. There’s no intent to stay,” Mills said. 

In addition to their pledge-of-good-behavior forms, organizers came this time with a proposal, which was presented to City Council members last month. 

“What we want basically is for the city to designate unused parcels of land and give individual homeless people permits to use it,” Mills said. “All these pieces of property that have grass growing and are full of trash, we’ll come in and clean it up.” 

›

Downtown parking, perhaps Berkeley’s favorite complaint subject after George W. Bush and the Bush administration, tops the agenda for Thursday night’s meeting of the Transportation Commission. 

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center at 1901 Hearst Ave. 

Commission Chair Rob Wrenn said the first item will consider raising the Oxford parking lot flat rate evening fee from the current $2 to the same $5 rate charged at the city’s downtown parking structures. 

“I came downtown one Saturday night and I noticed that people were wrapped around the corner at Oxford street waiting to get into the lot, even though the sign said it was full,” said Wrenn. “When I drove to the Center Street parking structure there was no one there and I was able to find a parking spot right away.” 

Wrenn said it didn’t make sense to him that the city should be charging two different rates, so he has scheduled the hearing to consider charging the same, higher fee at the Oxford Street lot. 

The second hearing, scheduled at the request of the Downtown Berkeley Association (DBA), will consider expanding the time limits on the new downtown “pay and display” meters that have seemingly resolved the city’s long-standing problems with meter vandalism. 

DBA Executive Director Deborah Badhia said her organization is still formulating its position on whether the maximum time allowed should be 90 minutes or two hours. 

“Hardly anyone can do anything downtown and be in and out in an hour,” the current maximum parking time allowed at the new pay stations, Badhia said, “Whether it’s a chiropractic appointment or a shopping trip or even a lunch.” 

A longer time limit would place the downtown on a more even footing with North Shattuck Avenue’s Gourmet Ghetto and other shopping areas in the city, she said. 

The final decision on both proposals will be made by the City Council. 

While it’s not on Thursday’s agenda, Wrenn said the city should also look at raising meter rates to be more in line with other cities in the Bay Area. 

Meter parking in and around the San Francisco urban core costs from $2.50 to $3 an hour, with a $2.50 rate at Fisherman’s Wharf and $1.50 in other areas of the city. 

Oakland charges $1.25 at meters in the central business district and $1 in other areas. 

The Berkeley rate? Seventy-five cents an hour. 

H

When President Jean Bertrand Aristide was forced out of Haiti Feb. 29, 2004, every township in the nation was touched. 

Cote de Fer in southeast Haiti was no exception. Bolivar Ramilus had represented the region in Parliament, but because of his affiliation with Aristide, Ramilus had to flee Haiti for his life. The development work he had been doing for 20 years, first as a community organizer and then as a government official, came to an abrupt halt. 

One of the limited number of Haitians to have obtained political asylum since Aristide’s ouster, Ramilus will be in Berkeley Nov. 19 to speak about the turmoil in his home country and to raise money for the Vanguard Public Foundation’s Haiti Relief Fund.  

On Feb. 29, 2004, U.S. officials plucked Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide from his home, put him on a plane and sent him into exile, claiming they were saving him from the some two hundred former military men who had taken control of several towns and were planning to march on the Haitian capital. Democratically elected in 2000, Aristide called his removal a “kidnapping” and a “coup d’état.” U.S. officials said Aristide wanted to leave. 

Elected to Parliament in 2000, Ramilus broadened the work he had been doing for nonprofits, striving to improve the lives of peasants in the Cote de Fer region. “I needed the political power of the state behind me to advance the work of the community,” he said, speaking in Creole through translator Pierre Labossier, in a recent phone interview from Florida where he is now living. 

Ramilus explained why he ran for office as a member of Aristide’s Fanmi Lavalas party; “This was the only political organization that was carrying the people’s demands. This is the only organization that would help me implement what the people wanted,” he said. 

In Parliament he helped bring electricity and a telephone system to Cote de Fer for the first time; he created an irrigation system for peasant farmers and had 23 miles of new roads built in the area. All of these projects supported local economic development. In addition, he helped start a project raising fish in reservoirs and an industry fabricating briquettes from scrap paper and cardboard to help stop people from cutting down trees for fuel. He also had a hand in extending local schooling through the last year of high school.  

The central government didn’t plan these projects. “What is most important to understand is that it wasn’t the government that brought the electricity (and other projects) there, it was the people of the area. What was great was that we had the space to organize under my leadership, to make it happen as a community effort.” 

Aristide’s ouster unleashed a powerful backlash against his supporters. The U.S.-backed interim government has incarcerated thousands of Aristide supporters—and people from areas of strong support for him—in putrid, sweltering jail cells; many have been there for more than a year, most not accused of any crime. News reports, Amnesty International and studies from Harvard and Miami University detail extrajudicial executions at the hands of United Nations soldiers, the Haitian police and civilians working for the police. Unknown numbers of people are in hiding within Haiti and still others, like Ramilus, have fled for their lives. 

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently visited Haiti, underscoring the U.S. position that new elections would reintroduce democracy; election dates, however, have been revised at least three times and there is presently no firm schedule for the vote. 

Leaving his country was a difficult decision for Ramilus, who wanted to stay near the people he had worked with for so many years. But after the fourth assassination attempt against him, he was compelled to leave. He said that because he was able to show that the assassination attempts were clearly political, he was able to obtain asylum as a political refugee. 

With the country’s leadership in jail, in exile or dead, development projects begun under the Aristide administration have stopped. “Things have gone backwards,” said Ramilus, who maintains regular phone contact with home.  

A new school building to house the high school in Cote de Fer had been planned, “but the coup d’etat put an end to that,” he said; the fish-raising program was halted. Plans to expand irrigation have been set aside. An adult literacy project has folded. 

Born in 1956, Ramilus was a child of poor peasants in Cote de Fer. Neither of his parents could read or write, but they managed to send him to primary school. He then went to a French-funded trade school where he learned construction and worked building houses in the region. 

But he wanted to do more for his community and became an organizer for various nonprofits, including the Red Cross/Red Crescent. His projects focused on sanitation, including building public and individual toilets, providing clean water and dispensing health education, especially for pregnant women. “Doing this work I became very much aware of the situation of the peasants. That led me to be active politically, so that I could change the situation.” 

Ramilus’ exile places a personal burden on him. “I would like to be able to go back and see my dad.” His father, Dorestan, is 105 years old. “The worst thing that could happen to me is not to be able to see him in his last moments or attend his funeral.”  

The exile also means that his community work has been placed on hold. “The people of Cote de Fer and the people of Haiti for the first time participated in this great opportunity to impact directly on their own development. This coup d’etat was a blow to this movement.” 

But Ramilus says the people have not given up: “Their great dream is to start their projects again, to get back into a space where they can develop their own country and have the space to participate in the development of their local community and the country as a whole.” 

Addressing the situation in Haiti, Berkeley’s Peace and Justice Commission unanimously passed a resolution Nov. 7 stating, in part, that since the “coup d’etat that toppled the elected government of Jean Bertrand-Aristide in Haiti, Haitians’ human rights have been violated, constitutional government has been dismantled with most of the approximately 7,500 elected government officials forcibly removed, thousands of Haitian civilians have been killed, tens of thousands have been driven into exile, … activists … have been imprisoned in inhumane conditions without due process.” 

The resolution directs the city to lobby federal officials to change U.S. policy toward Haiti, exercising its influence to free political prisoners, stop the campaign against Aristide, stop the police and death squad killings, and support the return to constitutional governance. 

The fundraiser for the Vanguard Public Foundation’s Haiti Emergency Relief Fund will be 2 p.m.–5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. The fund offers humanitarian relief to Haitian grassroots organizations and individuals impacted by the violence of the coup d’état. 

›

We’re in a seismic season. From the recent South Asian disaster to the approaching Centennial of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, earthquakes are attracting increasing public attention. 

In particular, numerous local activities are being planned to remember and memorialize 1906, one of the defining years in regional history. Organizers aim not only to tell the story of that great earthquake but to apply its lessons to personal, institutional, and community planning for major earthquakes to come. 

One activity is an eight-lecture series at both UC Berkeley and Stanford University, running through March 2006. Journalist and author Malcolm Barker gave the second lecture in the series on Oct. 26 at Sibley Auditorium on the Berkeley campus. 

Barker is the author of Three Fearful Days: San Francisco Memoirs of the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, which recounts the story of the disaster through the writings of eyewitness survivors.  

The raw statistics still compel attention. In San Francisco, some 500 city blocks spread over 4.7 square miles were destroyed and more than 3,000 people killed. 28,000 buildings were ruined or burned and more than half the population—some 225,000 out of 400,000—left homeless.  

Barker offered up some powerful accounts gleaned from his research, such as the recollections of a resident of a downtown hotel. Clutching the knob of the jammed door to his fourth-floor room, he rode the building down as it collapsed floor by floor beneath him. Only seven of some 50 people in that building survived, Barker said. 

Throughout downtown San Francisco, people hopelessly trapped by building collapses died in the fires, sometimes begging would-be rescuers to shoot them before the flames arrived. 

Elsewhere, “those who lived away from downtown weren’t too aware of what was happening downtown,” Barker said. “It was just another earthquake.” 

Walls and chimneys cracked and objects fell in the outer residential districts, but most houses stood largely intact. Some residents were shaken awake then, unperturbed, went back to sleep. Even the mayor, after surveying his house for damage, calmly sat down to breakfast. 

Down at the Stanford campus, which suffered major damage, visiting philosopher William James, who had been told an earthquake was a California experience not to be missed, initially thought the shaking was “pure delight and welcome.”  

Fire quickly disabused San Franciscans of similar thoughts. “The quake was bad enough, but what destroyed the city was the fire,” Barker emphasized. Only here and there did rescuers—often office workers and homeowners—save scattered buildings.  

The Old Mint (still standing a century later, and now slated to become a San Francisco history museum) and the Main Post Office were preserved by the efforts of employees. At the stone-faced Mint the heat was so intense that “the windows didn’t break or crack, they melted like butter from the heat,” said Barker. 

Immediate disaster relief included the quick arrival of nearby troops, including Army units from then active posts at Fort Mason and the Presidio and naval units. Regular police, National Guard units, specially deputized civilians, and the Cadet Corps from the University of California—600 students shipped across the Bay on ferries—completed the temporary face of order and authority although, contrary to popular belief, martial law was never actually declared.  

Not all went well. “These young soldiers took their orders too seriously,” inflexibly carrying out forced evacuations of threatened districts, rousting those who wanted time to save their valuables or fight the fire. “If people had been left there, they could have done it,” Barker said. 

Some soldiers also became drunk, executed suspected looters with little evidence, or looted themselves. Later investigations criticized the authorities. 

“Only the Berkeley Cadets escaped without blemish,” Barker noted, to laughter and applause from the largely Berkeley audience at his talk.  

Tens of thousands of homeless San Franciscans of all classes found themselves camping outdoors in parks and squares. Social strictures relaxed. 

“I’ve added hundreds to my acquaintance without introductions,” wrote one 17-year-old girl, enthusiastic about the opportunity to mingle without formal etiquette.  

Some 5,000 small wooden cabins were erected for refugee families, reminiscent of the mobile homes and trailers now headed for the hurricane-devastated Gulf coast. Some of these were later moved to city lots and became the nucleus of larger, permanent, houses; a few still survive. 

Economic disparities quickly reasserted themselves. Wealthier refugees found surviving houses to buy or rent, rebuilt quickly, or were taken in by friends with larger homes, while many of the poor were stranded for months in tents. “Rains came and turned their floors into mud baths.”  

Racial tensions arose over land use, as in today’s New Orleans. Influential white San Franciscans promoted the idea of moving Chinese residents to then-rural Hunter’s Point, clearing the traditional site of Chinatown for other development. San Francisco’s Chinese retaliated by threatening to move to Los Angeles or Seattle, drawing lucrative East Asian trade to those ports instead of San Francisco.  

Other aftereffects included “lots of tourists (who) poured in from across the Bay” to see the ruins, drawn in part by lurid newspaper accounts based on distorted stories gleaned from the first wave of fleeing refugees. 

“Talk about media hysteria,” Barker mused.  

The joint UC Berkeley/Stanford earthquake disaster lecture series features six free talks to come. Most will be given at both campuses. At Berkeley all are at 7:30 p.m. in Sibley Auditorium, unless otherwise noted. 

Nov. 16: Room 155, Dwinelle Hall. Professor of Architecture Stephen Tobriner, “Engineers, Architects and the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.” 

Jan. 17, 2006: (Stanford only, Kresge Auditorium). Chris D. Poland, “A Tale of Three Seismic Projects at Stanford.” 

Feb. 1, 2006: USGS seismologist Mary Lou Zoback, “Lessons Learned, Lessons Forgotten, and Future Directions” from 1906. 

Feb. 15, 2006: Engineer Eric Elsesser, “Improving Seismic Safety and Performance of Buildings Through Innovative Structural Engineering.” 

March 1, 2006: Kathleen Tierney, “Social Dimensions of Catastrophic Disasters.”  

March 15, 2006: Professor of Architecture Mary Comerio, “Designing for Disaster — U.C. Berkeley Looks Ahead.”  

For more information on UC Berkeley’s 1906 commemorative events—including talks, tours, and exhibits and even a disaster film series at the Pacific Film Archive—visit http://seismo.berkeley.edu/1906. Events are open to the public.  

Another excellent resource is the website of the 1906 Earthquake Centennial Alliance, www.1906centennial.org/, a consortium of dozens of local museums, educational institutions, historical groups, and scientific organizations. Click “activities and events” for an ever-expanding list of local commemorations, exhibits, and programs, including a major exhibit at the Oakland Museum.  

The Berkeley Historical Society will also stage an exhibit, “On the Doorstep of Disaster,” exploring the events of 1906 from the local perspective. If you have 1906 family stories, artifacts, or other accounts with relevance to Berkeley circa 1906, the curator would welcome hearing about them. Contact Steven Finacom by e-mail at stuart60@pacbell.net, or by mail via the Berkeley Historical Society at P.O. Box 1190, Berkeley, 94701. 

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.



DRUG DEALERS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am pleased to see the ongoing discussion regarding the attempt to oust drug dealers from one Berkeley neighborhood. Sara DeWitt’s letter was disturbing. She said, “After seeing that we were serious about bringing a civil suit, our absentee landlord has reformed and no longer takes in SSI tenants.” Excuse me? Perhaps I am missing something but it seems Dewitt is encouraging illegal discrimination. It is just this kind of bigotry that inspired the law specifically barring a landlord from discriminating based on source of income. 

The situation with the Moore house does not involve tenants. One can’t help but wonder why the police are unable to control the situation. One letter writer mentioned dangerous dogs wandering the neighborhood. Has anyone called Berkeley Animal Services about these dogs? Are our laws insufficient, or is it the enforcement of the laws that is insufficient? I remain confused. Why is it so difficult to curtail obvious illegal activities? 

Another important point that has arisen is this—Where does it stop? If people are successful in their attempts to remove “problem” citizens from a neighborhood, will this sort of tactic increase? The letter from DeWitt suggests it will. She speaks of her landlord “no longer taking in SSI tenants.” SSI is largely for disabled and elderly citizens. SSI and drug dealing are not synonyms. Segregation of the elderly and disabled from those more healthy does not seem a practical solution. 

Let the discussion continue. 

Georgette Wrigley 

• 

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We’ve had enough! It’s time our neighborhood stood up for our quality of life. It’s not fair that one house with their two large SUVs can continue to erode our health and peace every single day. We are captive in our houses to their exhaust. Their engines wake us up with their noise at all hours of the morning. Their pollution ends up in our yards and in our gardens, and their vehicles are eyesores that take up public space. Enough is enough. Our health and our happiness are threatened. Our children are greatly endangered whenever they play in the neighborhood. It’s just not fair! The activities of this family threaten the very peace and stability of the country and the planet. This behavior is a gateway to war and global warming. 

We know the family has been in the house a long time and no one believes the grandmother is a gasoline addict (she walks) but she seems to have no control over her children who are obvious heavy users. We demand that this use of SUVs in our neighborhood stop or we will sue! We cannot tolerate this kind of behavior in Berkeley. No longer shall these thoughtless activities of individuals be allowed to disrupt life for the rest of us. 

Join SUVs Out of Our Neighborhood. 

Tierra Dulce 

• 

NEEDLESS ELECTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

At a time when many California towns cannot afford to provide basic public services, it was very disturbing to hear Gov. Schwarzenegger joke to reporters yesterday about his needless special election. 

I’ve written him, as perhaps others will do, to say that if he takes full responsibility for it, as he said on Nov. 10, he will go back to his wealthy donors and raise the $50 million or more that it cost and reimburse California counties and taxpayers. 

Charlene Mayne Woodcock 

• 

TIME TO KICK BUTT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Many throughout the labor community in the state are now enjoying the afterglow of beating back Gov. Schwarzenegger’s attempts to crush us in the last election. The media, after advertising our declining potency for the last decade, is now lionizing the labor movement as a mighty beast reborn. And it feels good. 

But unless we move forward, the pleasure we are feeling today will be like finding your car keys after you’ve lost them—you feel great, but in reality you’re no better off than when you started. 

So let’s make it a real victory. Let’s demand for the passage next year of the Rob Reiner/Wilma Chan efforts for guaranteed health care and pre-school for all Californians under the age of 5. Let’s demand the passage of Sheila Kuhl’s Single Payer Bill, so working people (and employers) can be liberated from the death grip of ever-increasing health insurance premiums. And let’s back up these demands with real actions, in our workplaces and communities. 

Let’s equalize our finances. Working people pay a much greater percentage of their income in taxes to Sacramento than do rich people. The legislature needs to restore the tax rates for upper-income Californians that were reduced in the mid-90s by Pete Wilson. And we have to amend Proposition 13 (there, I said it) so that commercial property gets taxed on its true value. Both would generate billions, perhaps enough to eliminate the deficit. 

Will the Democrats push hard enough for any of these things? I doubt it. 

Just as Republicans always go too far, Democrats never go far enough. Democratic elected officials often suck at the same corporate teat for campaign funds as the Republicans. They’ve become reluctant to antagonize rich people too much, in spite of their populist rhetoric. 

Our job in labor is to keep pushing the members of both parties. We can bask for a while over Tuesday’s victory. But working families in California are still being clobbered on a daily basis. Let’s take advantage of the right wing’s election day fumble. It’s time for us to pick up the ball and run for the goal line. Let’s make November 8th a true victory. 

Larry Hendel  

East Bay Director of SEIU Local 790 

Vice President of the Alameda County Central Labor Council 

• 

PROPOSED FIELD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Normally I would wholeheartedly support the creation of a new sports field such as the proposed baseball field on Derby Street. I certainly appreciate the Berkeley City Council pushing towards such a positive objective, despite pressure from reluctant home owners. However, I oppose this particular project largely because of the reasonable alternatives that exist to spending $3 million of our taxpayer money to unnecessarily close Derby Street, largely for the benefit of the Berkeley High School baseball team. 

One of the immediate negative impacts would be felt by the Tuesday market. The market is more than the sum of its fresh peaches and organic breads. Access to local food is great, but the market also plays a valuable role in building and maintaining that elusive thing we like to call community. It has a social dimension that is not easily quantifiable. 

It’s rather ironic that while people such as Prince Charles are flocking to Berkeley to learn about our approach to community markets and agricultural/nutritional education, we are busy trying to push it to the fringes. Rather than essentially evicting them, we should be moving towards increasing support for the market and the number of days that it occurs. 

One of my other concerns is the project’s unbalanced cost-to-benefit in terms of community sports. As a young, working adult who is not part of the university campus, I can think of several ways that such a large sum of money could be better used to benefit the city’s recreation options. Most importantly, there is a critical shortage of open spaces for pickup games—as not everyone has the desire or ability to join a highly organized team, whether youth or adults. 

Having lived on Hearst Street, I have observed that the Ohlone Greenway lots extending from Milvia to Sacramento are vastly under-utilized. Despite the demand for well-maintained, informal sports spaces that don’t require a one-year advance reservation with Berkeley Recreation and Parks, the turf on these lots have been allowed to sink into disrepair. 

I therefore urge the council to put their admirable interest in youth sports into the above suggestion, while ensuring the BHS team has a spot at the new Gilman Fields and pushing for a speedy completion of the multi-use East Campus fields. 

TJ Wagner 

• 

YELLOWSTONE BEARS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Having helped raise a pair of bear cubs here in California and having read extensively about the habits of bears east and north of here, I’m not sure bringing Yellowstone bears to California is such a good idea. Our flora are unique and bears here are adapted to it. Strangely enough, the flora have adapted to the bears, too. All the native berries tolerate the pruning habits of bears while they eat. A Prunus in the Sierra range has developed toxic sap more irritating than Fig latex or ushuriol (poison oak) to keep bears from destroying them as they harvest the fruit. Bears from the Rocky Mountains are not going to have grown up learning about this tree. This is just one example of the problems bears not raised here will encounter. As wonderfully playful, smart and exuberant as our bears are, their needs for large territories to roam and forage in has always limited their numbers and makes preserves for them a necessity. It would be a great shame to bring bears here only to lose them to the great differences of environment that they would be stressed by. If we concentrate on preserving the populations we have now and allow them to develop naturally, we should not have a problem seeing their numbers grow slowly and sustainably to a larger, but manageable, level that will allow us to coexist with them well into the next century.  

Linus Hollis 

• 

BRUNDIBAR UP IN SMOKE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Tobacco giant Altria/Philip Morris is the lead sponsor of the “family opera for the holidays,” Comedy on the Bridge/ Brundibar, now playing at our Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Loved ones of Philip Morris’s customers might find that bitterly ironic. Holidays spent in hospital rooms full of grief, pain, and human drama—thanks to Philip Morris’s addictive product and relentless marketing—is a family opera that we can do without. Soliciting tobacco industry funding for the arts is no different than wearing a blood diamond. I hope the Berkeley Rep reconsiders its new partnership with Altria/Philip Morris, the company largely responsible for the suffering and death of millions of smokers and nonsmokers, and the pain endured by their families. Tobacco use is far and away the number one cause of preventable death in our country and is unique in that regard. It’s lonely at the top, and Berkeley Rep certainly should not let Big Tobacco buy legitimacy and credibility through sponsorship. There are many “controversial” industries that support the arts, but there is nothing controversial about tobacco companies. They have no place in community theater. 

Bronson Frick 

• 

UNIVERSITY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We read with interest about the forum to discuss the university as a neighbor to be held Monday night, Nov. 14. But the schedule conflicts with our separate volunteer commitments in Berkeley that night. 

We both have lived here, raised our families here, and worked for the university for a long time, and find little that is more intriguing than the state of University and community relations, as characterized by some.  

For the record, we’re glad to have interesting jobs with an institution dedicated to public education, research and service, the option to hear David Lynch and see the Winter’s Tale on campus on a weekend, and to live with the university’s struggles to address diversity and equity. We also welcome our short commutes. As you and your writers think of “the people who live and work in Berkeley,” we hope you’ll consider our viewpoints, as well. 

Jennifer Lawrence 

Emily Marthinsen 

• 

VICIOUS ATTACK 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In answer to Gray Brechin’s vicious attack on my letter about Israel, I must, of course, go ad hominem. First off, what kind of a name is Gray? Immediately and obviously, I’m suspicious of anyone called Gray. Second, he uses the word “meretricious” to describe the victimhood of Jews. Well, Gray, the dictionary says “meretricious” means “befitting a prostitute.” Knowing this, how could you use it about a serious subject? Have you no shame? Third, Gray sounds to me like a guy who uses fancy words like “meretricious” and “reprise” to intimidate persons with whom he disagrees. A nasty tactic. Well, excuuuuse me, Gray, I may not be as educated as you, or have access to a thesaurus, but that doesn’t mean that you’re right and I’m wrong. 

Robert Blau  

• 

MOVING TO TEL AVIV 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Iran’s new president threatens Israel with annihilation, and the whole world understands that by this they mean nuclear annihilation. As President Ahmadinejad correctly notes, the annihilation of Israel has been Iran’s official policy for years. That’s why Iran is the major financial backer of Hizbollah and Islamic Jihad. And that’s why one of Iran’s ruling Mullahs recently mused aloud that just one or two well-placed nukes would do the trick for tiny Israel, which is, after, all only about the size of New Jersey.  

Leave it to the Daily Planet’s Conn Hallinan to insist that this is “just wind.” Sometimes people actually do mean what they say. Mein Kampf, as it turned out, was not “just wind,” but gave the world years of forewarning. I suggest that the Daily Planet and its staff move to Tel Aviv, Iran’s intended ground zero, and report so smugly from there in coming years, as Iran goes nuclear, that it’s all just wind. I’ll bet that soon enough they will be praying that that wind does not blow fallout upon their heads. 

John Gertz 

?

Berkeley police responded to a call of an argument on 1418 Curtis St. around 7 p.m. Monday. 

Upon arriving at the scene, police found the door of the residence open. A man came out with a gun and began firing at the officers, according to Officer Joe Okies, who arrived at the scene later. 

No one was injured and Okies said it was not immediately known whether the police fired back at the man. 

Berkeley police set up a perimeter around the block and a police negotiator was brought in. California Highway Patrol, UC police and the Berkeley police SWAT team also arrived at the scene. The man surrendered after a standoff of more than an hour. 

—

Bank robber sought 

Police in three cities are seeking a heavy-set robber who walks into banks wearing a bright orange construction worker’s vest and a billed cap and proceeds to rob them. 

Albany Police want him for a heist on April 27, 2004, and Richmond police want him for a Dec. 23, 2004, robbery in their city. Berkeley officers want to slap the cuffs on him for a similar caper at the 1095 University Ave. Wells Fargo branch on Oct. 20. 

He is described as a chunky African American male in his late 20s to early 30s, who stands about 5’10” and sports shoulder length dreadlocks and a goatee. 

Anyone with information on the vested bank robber is requested to call the BPD Robbery Detail at 981-5742 or e-mail the department at police@ci.berkeley.ca.us. Anonymity is allowed. 

Carjack 

Responding to several calls of “loud reports” (cop-speak for suspected gunshots) in the 1600 block of Russell Street shortly after midnight Nov. 6, police arrived to find the 24-year-old victim of a carjacking, said Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies. 

The young man said his car had been stolen at gunpoint by a group of several other young men, and he’d last seen his wheels rolling westbound on Russell. 

Belted 

Officers arrested a 38-year-old woman on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and being drunk in public after she reportedly took a belt to a 20-year-old woman in the 3300 block of King Street about 1:15 a.m. on the 6th. 

Robbery duo 

Two robbers, one armed with a pellet or BB gun, shot an 18-year-old man and robbed him and two others of a cell phone, cash and a wallet around 12:50 a.m. Nov. 7 in the 1100 block of Gilman Street. 

Foiled heist 

A man approached a woman who was in her parked car in the 2600 block of College Avenue at 4 p.m. on Nov. 7 and tried to take her wallet. The woman escaped by the simple expedient of stepping on the gas and departing. 

Teens on teen 

Thirty minutes later, two teenagers robbed a third at in the 800 block of Dwight Way. After landing a punch, they absconded with his portable video gaming device, said Officer Okies. 

Laptop bust 

Five minutes later, a quick response by officers to the report of the strongarm robbery of a 23-year-old woman’s laptop computer in the 2300 block of Ellsworth Street landed the 29-year-old suspect in jail and the laptop back into the hands of its owner. 

Hit and run 

Police are seeking a woman in her 40s who struck a 16-year-old girl near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Haste Street about 1:15 p.m. last Tuesday. 

The woman was reportedly driving a burgundy colored older American car, said Officer Okies. He was unable to provide further details on the victim. 

iJacker busted 

Responding to a caller who reported two males engaged in fisticuffs in the 1800 block of Fourth Street, officers arrived to discover that the caller had just witnessed a strongarm robbery, in which 16-year-old had been deprived of his iPod by a 17-year-old, who was then busted for the crime. 

More iJackers busted 

Police arrested two juveniles for robbing a young man of his iPod and backpack in the 2500 block of Dwight Way shortly before 8 p.m. last Tuesday. 

Oops 

Police arrested a 35-year-old man on charges of possession of burglary tools and drug paraphernalia after a routine pedestrian stop in the 1400 block of University Avenue just before midnight Tuesday. He was also held on a variety of outstanding warrants from earlier offenses. 

Hear heist 

A knife-wielding bandit robbed the till of Hear Music at 1809 Fourth St. just before 6 p.m. Tuesday. He was gone by the time officers arrived. 

Johns busted 

Acting on complaints of San Pablo Avenue residents and merchants, Berkeley Police staged a John sting Wednesday evening, resulting in the arrests of eight fellows willing to pay for fleeting companionship. 

In one instance, the arresting officer detecting the strong aroma of Cannabis wafting from the suspect’s car, and a subsequent search turned up more than two ounces of marijuana and hashish, 24 very young pot plants and $10,000 in cash. 

Beaten, robbed 

Police are seeking two men who robbed a 52-year-old man of his cash after punching him as he walked along the 2900 block of Ellis Street shortly before 3 a.m. Thursday. 

Oops again 

Officers doing an area search after a burglary was reported in the area of the 2400 block of Derby Street at 8:06 a.m. Thursday nabbed two trespassers, who on closer examination were found to be in possession of loot from the burglary as well as tools police believe they used to commit the caper. 

Knife caper 

A knife-wielding bandit clad all in white and wearing a white do-rag robbed a pedestrian of his cell phone in the 2500 block of Channing Way about 12:55 p.m. Thursday 

Campus caper 

A young robber clad in blue jeans and a black hoodie punched a pedestrian in the face and robbed him as he was walking on a pathway near the Valley Life Science Building about 10:15 p.m., reported UC Berkeley Campus Police. 

Assaults cop 

Officers responded to a home in the 900 block of Euclid Avenue at 6:49 a.m. Friday after a resident called police to report that a man had been standing on the porch, and after a request to leave, he had started vandalizing the back yard. 

When officers arrived, the 45-year-old suspect attacked one officer with a deadly weapon and punched the other, earning two other charges on top of the original trespassing complaint—plus a quick trip to the pokey. 

Trojan assault 

Police are seeking the two fellows clad in USC garb who assaulted a 20-year-old with a bottle near the corner of Haste Street and College Avenue at 10 p.m. Saturday. 

Campus burglary 

Campus Police report that four juveniles burglarized a university-owned building at 2240 Piedmont Ave. at 11:12 p.m. Saturday and made off with computer hardware in the process of ransacking several offices. 

Another beating robbery 

Police were called to a local hospital minutes before midnight Sunday, after a nurse called to report that a patient had been beaten and robbed. 

The 67-year-old victim told police he was attacked and robbed of his wallet about 90 minutes earlier in the 600 block of Gilman Street in the area of the railroad tracks. He was unable to describe his attacker.›

All the elements for the outbreak of youth rebellion are present in Western Europe. Hardly unique to France are the marginalized second or third generation immigrants out of place in their parents’ old countries but not fully accepted by their own. So are unemployment, social discrimination and underclasses packed in dismal neighborhoods of despair.  

The question is where the next conflagration will be, and when. There are usually warning signals, if anyone cares to listen.  

In France the powder keg is in the banlieues, suburban neighborhoods conceived at the beginning of the 1950s to provide modern housing to low and moderate-income families. But yesterday’s brilliant solution has become today’s nightmare.  

As white families’ incomes improved, they moved out of the banlieues, and ethnic immigrants moved in. Pied-noirs (black feet, a derogatory term used for Algerian French of mixed blood), Sub-Saharan Africans and French-speaking subjects from the former colonies were the bulk of the new arrivals. As their numbers increased, the state’s investment in the banlieue decreased.  

These neighborhoods, counterparts of the American housing projects, plunged into profound decline. Today, they can be compared to decrepit ghettoes where youth unemployment can reach 40 percent and crime is rampant.  

France’s current crisis was foretold. In 1981 a series of riots against police brutality erupted in the banlieues, resulting in special state programs for the restoration of disadvantaged areas and special educational initiatives.  

The 1981 uprising also led to an alliance between French extra-parliamentary groups and North African immigrant organizations, which would eventually give rise to SOS Racisme, a nonprofit institution to counteract racism and prevent acts of violence against immigrants.  

By 1983 SOS Racisme was successful in bringing the problem of racial discrimination to the forefront of the French political debate, organizing a Marseille-to-Paris march of hundred of thousands of people. In 1989, more than 60 North Africans were elected to office in various French cities. Former SOS Racism and France Plus (another immigrant rights group) activists were elected to the European Parliament.  

It seemed that great strides were being made in race relations in France. The gains were symbolized by the French national soccer team, which won the World Cup in 1998, and was composed mostly of children of immigrants from the former French colonies. While after Sept. 11, 2001, anti-Arabism raged across Europe, Droits Devants, a confederation of French organizations advocating for labor rights and housing for Sans Papiers (undocumented immigrants), helped lead a continent-wide campaign supporting the rights of illegal immigrants.  

France also rode high on sympathy for its opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. But war brewed at home. Ceaseless run-ins between ghetto youths and overbearing police became a corrosive common occurrence, filling the banlieues with pent-up resentment.  

After the London terrorist bombings, France’s situation really nose-dived. Old fears simmering under the lid of political correctness boiled over. Security forces constantly pursued potential threats arising from Muslim communities. On Oct. 27, in the suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, this pursuit turned deadly: two French-Arab kids reportedly being chased by the police sought refuge in an electrical sub-station and were electrocuted to death.  

Some 300 cities in revolt, 2,000 torched vehicles, one death and hundreds of arrests later, everybody in France and in the rest of Europe is seeking an explanation. More often than not the finger points to the Muslims, Arabs and the Africans, the bad immigrants—as if the rebels were not French themselves—who don’t want to integrate, who insist on gender-segregated physical education classes and wearing head scarves.  

But if in France the bad guys are the Arabs, in Germany they are the Turks, in Italy the Albanians, in England the Pakistanis. Every European country has its own enemy within and a mainstream united in their fear of Islam.  

Muslims are experiencing widespread discrimination across Europe, reported the Helsinki Federation, which was founded by 44 human rights groups. In 11 of the 25 EU countries, Islam is equated with terrorism, a federation study found.  

Far-right parties in Italy, Belgium and Austria depict Muslim immigration as a security threat. In the Netherlands, a majority believes that Muslim schools undermine integration efforts, while 80 percent of Germans associated the word “Islam” with “terrorism” and “oppression of women.”  

In Sweden and France people with Arabic-sounding names have a reduced chance of landing a job interview, regardless of their qualifications for the position. Animal rights groups, like those in Denmark, are even asking for a ban on Islamic ritual animal sacrifice.  

“Media accounts very often use stereotypical and negative descriptions and tend to contribute to a popular perception of Muslims as aliens and dangerous,” says Aaron Rhodes, executive director of the Helsinki Federation.  

This trend, if not reversed, doesn’t bode well for France and the rest of the continent, which could soon be swept by the fires of ethnic unrest. Recent car burnings in Brussels and Berlin indicate that the fire is already lapping at other powder kegs.  

Paolo Pontoniere is a correspondent for Focus, Italy’s leading monthly magazine. ›

For two hours last Friday I was home alone. This may not seem remarkable to most people, but for me it was an unexpected miracle. My husband’s attendant and a former attendant decided, on their own initiative, to take Ralph shopping. 

This has never happened before. Oh sure, there were some ulterior motives. Andrea wanted to shop for herself, but she had no transportation. And since she doesn’t have a driver’s license, she recruited Hans to ferry her in our van. This required some fiscal negotiations between them. 

I was so moved by their semi-altruistic philanthropy, I offered financial restitution for the self-motivated scheme. 

They helped Ralph out of bed, dressed him and secured him in his wheelchair. They assisted him in getting inside the van. Then they waved goodbye to me and departed. 

I was left on the sidewalk in front of our house, utterly alone in the middle of North Oakland, un-tethered, and free of any responsibilities. Whiskers, our dog, was with me, but she is like a small piece of furniture, requiring nothing from me but occasional butt and ear scratches. 

I went inside the house. It was implausibly quiet. I looked around. Familiar things appeared unfamiliar in the eerie silence. I went upstairs, checked my e-mail, flopped down on the couch, got up and looked out my bedroom window. What was I going to do by myself? 

I called a friend. “I’m alone,” I said. 

“What do you mean?” she asked. I explained to her that the last time I was alone in my house was over two years ago, when I came home to rest while Ralph was a patient in the intensive care unit at Kaiser Permanente. Neither of our live-in attendants had been in at the time. But the pleasure of being alone was lost in the sea of anxiety and responsibility I felt for Ralph’s health and well-being. 

Today was different. I wasn’t worried about Ralph. He was in relatively good health and with people who knew and cared about him. 

“What should I do?” I asked my friend. 

“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe you should sit still and listen to what your heart tells you.” 

I hung up the phone and sat still. I could almost hear my heart beating, and 

the sound of my rhythmic inhales and exhales was disconcerting. I listened closely. What were my heart and lungs saying to me? I wasn’t sure, but my head instructed me to do something familiar and comforting. 

I called my sister-in-law and offered to take care of my nephew and niece for the weekend. Then I called Clyiesha’s grandmother and invited Clyiesha to spend the night. By the time Ralph, Andrea and Hans returned from their adventure, the house was full. Clyiesha’s cousin Bobby had arrived with her. Our housemate Willie had returned from his job at Doug’s Barbecue. Andrea and Hans got Ralph ready for bed. Andrea flipped on the overhead lights and Ralph’s three television sets. Then she went upstairs and turned on her TV. 

Willie was already in his room, listening to his boom box. Clyiesha, Bobby and Bryce ran through the house while my niece, Kanna, struggled to keep up. I was no longer at loose ends. I had a home full of kids, two housemates, a dog, a husband, four TVs, and one radio to distract me. I couldn’t hear myself think, or my heart and lungs pulse and pump. But I was gratifyingly frazzled and oddly content; truly happy for the first time in hours. 

3

The United States Justice Department is reviewing the proposed merger between New Times and Village Voice Media, a deal that would create a 17-paper alternative newspaper chain and do incalculable damage to the alternative press in this country. There’s a chance that the federal regulators will recognize the obvious media-concentration and anti-competitive issues and delay or block the deal. 

But this is not an administration known for its close scrutiny of big corporate mergers, and most observers say that the biggest and most damaging consolidation in the history of the alternative press will sail through Washington, D.C., unimpeded, without a full investigation and without public hearings. That’s why it’s absolutely critical that California Attorney General Bill Lockyer—who also has jurisdiction over the deal—step in to stop it from happening. 

Lockyer’s office was a party to the consent decree that VVM and New Times signed in 2003, after the Justice Department and the attorneys general of California and Ohio intervened to halt an illegal market-allocation scheme involving papers in Los Angeles and Cleveland. New Times had agreed to close its paper in Los Angeles, giving VVM an alt-weekly monopoly in that market, and in exchange, VVM closed its Cleveland paper, which had competed with a New Times publication. 

That decree includes clear language that should bar the merger from going forward. It requires that the two parties notify the California attorney general before entering into any joint business ventures in the state and directs that: 

“Each defendant, its officers, directors, agents, and employees, acting or claiming to act on behalf and successors and all other persons acting or claiming to act on its behalf, are enjoined and restrained from, in any manner, directly or indirectly, entering into, continuing, maintaining, or renewing any market or customer allocation agreement, or from engaging in any other combination, conspiracy, contract, agreement, understanding or concert of action having a similar purpose or effect, and from adopting or following any practice, plan, program, or device having a similar purpose or effect.” 

What the legalese means is that New Times and VVM can’t conspire to allocate markets in an anti-competitive way in California—and the merger would amount to exactly that. 

Four of the markets that would be most directly affected—San Francisco, the East Bay, Los Angeles, and Orange County—are in California. New Times operates SF Weekly and the East Bay Express, and VVM owns the LA Weekly and the OC Weekly, in Orange County. New Times also has business interests in the San Jose and San Diego markets: The alt-weeklies there are members of the Ruxton Group, the national advertising sales outfit owned by New Times. 

In fact, the merged company would reach 29 percent of all alt-weekly readers in California. That’s more market dominance than Knight-Ridder, which reaches roughly 27 percent of all daily readers in the state. 

Nationally, the New Times-VVM company would reach between 22 and 25 percent of alt-weekly readership. Gannett, the largest daily chain, reaches only 13.8 percent of daily readers. 

So the merger would give the new company extensive reach—and through Ruxton, it would be able to allocate customers and share revenue within some of the biggest and most important media markets in the state. 

More important, New Times has made it very clear that the goal of the company is to eliminate competition and control entire markets. That’s what the L.A.-Cleveland deal was all about, and that’s what New Times is trying to do in San Francisco, where the Bay Guardian has been forced to sue to stop a pattern of illegal predatory pricing. 

It all sounds exactly like what Lock-yer complained about in his original Jan. 27, 2003 complaint, which charged that the actions of New Times and VVM “have the further result of depriving the economy and the general public of the benefits which accrue from healthy competition.” 

If this merger goes through, a company with a proven pattern of anti-trust violations would be in a strong position to increase media concentration, damage competition, and hurt readers and advertisers in at least two California markets. It would add to the homogenization of media in the state and damage the vigorous marketplace of ideas envisioned in the First Amendment. One example: New Times, by its own admission and proclamation, will wipe out the endorsements and editorials at the LA Weekly, thus depriving the community of a strong voice for progressive causes and against the war. 

Since the Bay Guardian was founded, in l966, the alternative press has become a vigorous and indispensable part of the politics and culture of California, a state dominated by out-of-state chain dailies. There are more alternative papers in California than in any other state, 23 in total, from the Chico News and Review in the north, to the San Diego Reader in the south. And most, in their own ways, have been on a special First Amendment mission, working to be alternatives to and competitive with the local monopoly daily paper and working in their communities to be a major force for positive change. 

The Bush administration would be happy to wreck all that, to see that the alternative press is subsumed into a neo-con corporate-chain culture and the independents jacked up against the wall. 

California’s attorney general doesn’t need to take his lead from Bush and doesn’t need to let New Times and VVM make a mockery of the original complaint, consent decree and moratorium on further conspiratorial, antitrust and anti-competitive activities between the two chains. Lockyer needs to do the right thing, employ the logic and rationale of his 2003 arguments, and exercise his power to stop the merger.  

Bruce Brugmann is editor and publisher of the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Are horticultural freedom of expression and Mother Nature both currently outlawed by the vegetation section of the “blight” ordinance of the City of Oakland? This highly intrusive law needs to be severely pruned back to allow a breath of horticultural freedom in Oakland.  

The present wording of this ordinance actually encourages local busybodies and bullies to complain to city officials about neighboring properties. Many of Oakland’s other laws encourage freedom, diversity, civil liberties and the respect for differing opinions and attitudes of others. However, this blight ordinance encourages conformity and uniformity and rewards bigotry and prejudice in the suppression of neighbors landscaping of their own yards and gardens. 

Arbitrary city rules limit heights, trimming, types and character of yard and garden plantings by Oakland residents. Neighbors are even allowed to snoop and peer into neighboring backyards from their upstairs windows and then report your alleged horticultural peccadilloes to city officials, even though the backyards are completely hidden from public view. This system of informants smacks of the totalitarian tactics used in the former communist regime in East Germany.  

If you are a gardener who respects and encourages Mother Nature, your efforts may be labeled as “blight” by the City of Oakland and then summarily trashed and destroyed. Under this blight ordinance, the city has voted itself vast police powers to secretly observe, document, photograph and track the appearance of your yard and garden. Busybody neighbors can call into city officials and complain about the appearance of your yard and garden. This is the rule of Others, with the concept of “private property” being tossed out. After sending you a written notice of complaint, the city can then send in private contractors to “clean up” your yard.  

In the case of my Rockridge home, the title is still in the name of my late parents, who lived out of town and who both passed away some two years ago. So when the city mailed their notices to the “property owner of record,” they were never forwarded to me since the one-year post office forwarding order had already expired. It is funny though that the Alameda County property tax bills from the same county recorder’s office have been arriving to my address in fine form. (Incidentally, I have been paying the property taxes promptly.) Obviously, the method of notifying owners and residents about possible property blight violations needs to be broadened to ensure that all interested and responsible parties have been contacted. 

On Friday, Oct. 14, a half-dozen men from a contracting “debris removal” service showed up unannounced and began trashing my yard and gardens. My protests were to no avail; I was told by the supervisor of the group to “call the City of Oakland.” What a Kafkaesque nightmare. I called the Oakland police, my City Council representative and left messages with several city officials. Meanwhile I anxiously stayed in my house while this crew devastated my yard and gardens for several hours. They were armed with chain saws, pruning shears and weed whackers. Many fine healthy specimen ornamental plants were severely pruned, debarked or killed and tromped on by this crew of ignorant workers. It took several days for me to find out what had happened and why I never received any written warning.  

Killed in the front yard: Blue Dawn perennial morning glories, fuchsia, acacia, roses, lavender, black bamboos, Himalayan blackberry, licorice plant, pink rockroses and a black cherry tree.  

Killed in the back yard: Anise Hyssop, avocado seedlings, Bartlett pear, blue gums, blue gum seedlings, scarlet-flowered gum seedling‚ pignut hickory, cardoon, a dozen cherry tomato plants, chives, feverfew, hydrangea, Himalayan blackberry, coast live oak seedlings, loquat seedlings, nasturtium, parsley, peppermint, red Gravenstein apple seedling, spearmint, thread agave, yarrow and a white Dr. Van Fleet rose.  

Severely pruned in the front yard: agave, bamboo, bottlebrushes, tulip tree, jade plant, Pride of Madeira, ferns, golden dewdrop, Abraham Lincoln rose, heavenly bamboo, salvia, pink pussy willows, sago palm, cabbage palm and English hawthorn.  

Severely pruned in the back yard: toyon, jade plant, lapin cherry, Santa Rosa plums, Fuji apples, braeburn apples, akane apples, Royal Blenheim apricots, kangaroo paw, rosemary, foxglove, ivy, blackberries, rhubarb, cardinal flowers, wire vine and even a potted scented geranium. 

Now my yard looks devastated; no natural disaster such as Hurricane Katrina hit here, just the City of Oakland and its sloppy careless hired contractor workers. Were the many plants that were either killed outright or severely pruned all considered fire hazards, aesthetic threats to a conformist mentality? The Rockridge-area property values are already obscenely high; surely my front yard landscaping did not present a threat to them. Or was this invasion and destruction of my yard payback for my several-year front windowpane postings of protest signs against the illegitimate Bush regime and its dirty war on Iraq?  

I believe that it is the right of any Oakland resident to make their landscaping bird-friendly. Hummingbirds, bushtits, house finches, scrub jays, English sparrows, brown towhees used the hawthorne tree, the tulip tree, fuchsia and coyote brush for roosting, perching and as sources of insects. I believe that horticultural and landscaping is part of our freedom of speech and is thus protected by the U.S. Constitution. The vegetation section of the Oakland blight ordinance needs severe pruning. Oakland gardeners need a horticultural and landscaping Bill of Rights. If you would like to help in this matter, please contact me. I’m in the book and on the web.  

James K. Sayre is an Oakland resident.

If politics is comparable to making sausage, then I was placed in a meat grinder last Tuesday—my first time working as a clerk at the polls. 

The process was rather mundane and the whole day seemed uneventful. I arrived at 6 a.m. and, with three others, set everything up just in time to open at 7. The flow of voters was slow but steady. The line was rarely longer than three or four people, and not once was a person told to wait because a voting machine was unavailable. 

By 8 p.m. the polls were closed and we began packing away the equipment and signing off on various receipts the machines printed out. Two people are required to take the electronic cards, which store the voter information, to the drop-off station and so I accompanied the inspector. 

The overall mood of the election was cheerful caution. With only a few exceptions, people were polite, made jokes, and were excited to receive their “I Voted” stickers when they were done. Also prevalent was a sarcasm that masked their legitimate reservations and fears about voting on machines that leave no paper trail. “That sticker should say ‘I think I Voted’” was a common remark. 

I expected these reservations before I took the job, but two things I had not predicted. Firstly, I was surprised at the number of people who used  

provisional ballots. The reason for the provisional ballots included people either losing or never receiving absentee ballots, changing addresses, going to the wrong polling places, or registering to vote through the DMV—an organization with a well-deserved reputation for delay. 

There were about 50 provisional ballots used, compared with approximately 400 electronic and paper ballots submitted. One in eight may not  

seem like a lot but when you consider the number of potential voters who believed themselves to be disenfranchised for the reasons above and simply did not show up to the polls, the number rises much higher. 

Secondly, I was surprised at how many people told stories about why their friends, neighbors, or family members were unable to make it to the polls.  

Everyone seemed to know someone who was not showing up for good reasons—contingencies they had no way of anticipating. Being stuck in traffic or held late at work is something that is difficult to plan for and a situation undeserving of blame. 

Though not all contingencies can be avoided and some people will not go to the polls no matter how easy, an annual poll holiday would resolve a lot of the difficulties. What better way to honor veterans, for example, than to help democracy work on the second Tuesday of November in their honor, while keeping Veterans’ Day celebrations on Nov. 11? 

Voter registration should be the responsibility of the state and not the individual. Berkeley, in particular, is home to a large student population and housing prices that keep people on the move. The need to re-register is common enough that we must find a public solution for it and not simply assert it as a matter of personal responsibility. There is no reason why anyone qualified should ever not be registered to vote—casting that vote is the matter of conscience. State registration of voters is already practiced in many industrialized countries, and there is no reason for the United States, especially California, to lag behind. 

Instructions to voters must be clear: “No matter your status, go to the polling place and vote.” Virtually all of the people using provisional ballots will have their votes counted, so long as they were being truthful, and everyone using a provisional ballot will be automatically re-registered. This will save a lot of confusion their next time at the poll. 

With a few simple changes, we can raise turnout rates and help many exercise their rights. 

Gene Zubovich is a North Berkeley resident. 

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Berkeley may pass up a golden opportunity to enhance the quality of life for our children by not moving to build the largest possible, multi-purpose field at Derby Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. We are not talking about a “Big League” baseball field, but a multi-purpose field to be used by high school soccer, lacrosse, field hockey and baseball players, as well as the neighbors. Money, of course, is the key, but I can’t believe our community cannot come up with a creative means to fund this great project by using already committed school district funds, City of Berkeley funds and money from both public and private organizations. 

The Berkeley Unified School District, in our master facilities construction plan for the entire district, dedicated $1.6 million for a playing field on our Derby Street property. We have already removed the old buildings and graded the land. The cost figures, presented to the School Board on Oct. 5 estimated the remaining costs to build the largest possible multi-purpose field to be $2.7 million, not $4.9 million. This means that with approximately $1.5 million more, we can complete this project.  

Right now hundreds of children around San Pablo Park are deprived of recreational programs in their neighborhood because of the overuse of this park by city users and sports teams from Berkeley High School. Innumerable studies have been conducted by the City of Berkeley documenting the abysmal lack of playing fields and recreational facilities in our city that adversely affect our children. And these studies, over a 15-year period, have identified the land around Derby Street as a prime source of starting to rectify this tragic situation. And central Berkeley needs more open space, the larger, the better. 

By closing Derby Street and moving the farmers market to a dedicated spot along Martin Luther King Jr. Way between Derby Street and Carelton Street (which would be larger than its present location just a few feet away), a multi-purpose field could be built that compliments the existing, small athletic facilities at Berkeley High School, reduces dramatically the overuse of San Pablo Park, and provides a new, beautiful park in Ccentral Berkeley. 

Of course, when there are changes in land use and the closing of a street, the impacts must be studied and any negative results of these changes must be addressed. And the concerns of neighbors must be seriously taken into account, and they have been and will continue to be addressed. 

However, we must also make our decision based on the best interests of our city as a whole because this will be a city treasure, not just a neighborhood entity. 

I, for one, along with four out of five of the other School Board members (this includes the student member of the school board), have made our position known by voting to work with the city and the wider community to close Derby Street and build the largest possible multi-purpose field for our children, and their children. 

Please join with us in making this possible. Let your elected officials know you want the best for our children and help us find the will, and the money, to make this possible. 

Terry Doran is a member of the Berkeley School Board.

I have never been to the South. I never went to the Jazz Festival or Mardi Gras. So working with an East Bay city in developing a program to respond to the needs of evacuees is paradoxical. I am grateful to have worked with such a resilient group of people and saddened by the entire tragedy. I cannot capture in writing the experience that these people have endured. I can only imagine, and with certainty fall short of the mark, in terms of understanding their sense of loss, grief, anger and exhaustion. When I try to imagine being there, some specific accounts come to mind:  

• Floating on a refrigerator and watching an alligator navigate the newly flooded Ninth Ward. 

• Being plucked off a rooftop by a helicopter and deposited on a freeway overpass only to wait for three days without food or water.  

• The Convention Center appearing “gory” with human waste piling up along the perimeter walkways and no police in sight.  

• Losing a grandmother because she had been abandoned while being treated for a leg infection in a New Orleans medical center.  

It seems to me now that there were two disasters that the hurricane victims endured: The first was the hurricane and the failure of the levees. The second was the illusion that help would arrive and normalcy would resume.  

When was the last time you lost everything? When was the last time you slept on someone else’s couch for three weeks? What if your only hope for relief was dependent on a phone call you had to make. But the last 10 times you dialed you were put on hold for 30 minutes only to find out you had to call back later because the “computers were down.” Then consider the fact that many of these people have been victims all of their lives. Living in poverty and socially marginalized for generations. A town where despite corrupt police and dilapidated schools, the people of and around New Orleans made a home for themselves and made a community. New Orleans: The town where art and life, fantasy and reality, pleasure and suffering stew in the same steamy caldron. Now it appears as if New Orleans may just become folklore history itself.  

After three weeks of traveling, sleeping on couches, in cars and convention centers, about 30 families made it into our agency. Several came via Houston only to be chased out by another storm (Rita) a few weeks later. They came here because they knew someone who lived here. Some had grown up here and gone to Berkeley High School. They arrived with the shirts on their backs and bags under their eyes. Most had not had time to think about what they lost, but you could see it in their faces.  

FEMA and other disaster relief agencies seem to have a fast food approach to treating disaster victims: If we just give them cash and a trailer, then our job is done. Indeed the Red Cross is rolling up the tents and FEMA is trying to close down the disaster trailer parks. Unfortunately, many never got the trailer and many still have not received the money.  

The coming months are perhaps the most risky for these individuals and families. The Red Cross reports they are providing hotel rooms for 2,000 families in the Bay Area. Most of these rooms are in Alameda County. The vouchers for the rooms expire Dec. 1, days after Thanksgiving. One could predict that 500 families may be out on the street during the wet season if our community leaders and local government aren’t proactive. Additionally, the evacuees are at risk for a myriad of mental health issues as a result of their trauma. If further alienation can be mitigated and some restoration of stability and normalcy can happen, these risks can be minimized. But if we adopt the “get over it or go somewhere else” approach, we weaken the very fabric of our own community. The imagery that we saw a month ago on the news is fading. The press conferences and photo ops are over. There is little political capital in making right so much that went wrong. And yet we need to do the right thing.  

Berkeley resident W. Spence Casey holds a master’s degree in social welfare. 

By a strange coincidence, two of the brightest young stars in jazz are both from Motown, both born in the ’60s and both named Carter: saxophonist James and violinist Regina. Because of their incredible promise and virtuosity, it is painful to admit that both have been known to falter occasionally in the heat of improvisation. Still, it is always worth catching either of them whenever they appear locally. Whatever momentary failures they may experience, they have more than enough personal incandescence to carry the flame of jazz into the future. 

Regina Carter was born in 1966 and began playing piano at two, switching to violin and the Suzuki method of instruction at four. At first, she only knew classical music, but it did not take long in Seventies Detroit for her to discover R&B, soul and funk. It was not until the ‘80s though, when she got to high school, that she discovered jazz in the form of French violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. 

The way he played violin pulled her sleeve, so in college, first at the New England Conservatory of Music and then at Oakland University in Michigan, she began formal study of jazz. She followed this by jamming all over town with local Motor City jazz players like trumpeter Marcus Belgrave. Since then she has worked with some of the top musicians in jazz, most notably saxophonist Oliver Lake, drummer Max Roach and her landsman, James Carter. 

Regina, who appears at Yoshi’s from Wednesday through Sunday of this week, was last at the Oakland club in June 2003. At that time, she played some wan, attenuated pieces from Fauré and Ravel and bossa nova composer Luiz Bonfa’s “Manha de Carnaval” from Black Orpheus, all from her Paganini: After a Dream CD; as well as Lucky Thompson’s “Prey Lute” and Milt Jackson’s “For Someone I Love” from her Motor City Moments CD; and Richard Bona’s weak “Mandingo Street” from her Rhythms of the Heart CD. 

The performance fell between two stools with neither the classical nor the jazz ever becoming fully realized. Also, her percussionist Mayra Casales chewed up the scenery in a grandstanding, attention-getting way through the whole set. This kind of disappointment often occurs in a music as volatile as authentically improvised jazz. 

On the other hand, her 2001 Freefall CD with Kenny Barron displays some of her best recorded playing, especially on the Sigmund Romberg/Oscar Hammerstein standard “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise,” Thelonious Monk’s “Misterioso” and Johnny Hodges’ “Squatty Roo.” Those who saw her 2002 Boston Pops concert with classical violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Celtic/folk fiddler Eileen Ivers, would probably agree that she blew her compeers out of the water. Her improvisational skills came to the fore allowing her to display the kind of genuine, spontaneous invention that is usually missing in, if not beyond the capability of, classical and folk players.  

This week’s gig promises to be more straight ahead jazz with the excellent drummer Alvester Garnett the only holdover from the 2003 band. Her current group also includes Xavier Davis on piano, Matthew Parrish on bass and Steve Kroon on percussion replacing the incongruous Casales. Carter has been heralded for the unique mix of musics that make up her consciousness, but that is not unusual in our post-modern world. What is unusual is her ability when she is at her best to meld that salmagundi of musical flavors into some genuine hot, swinging jazz violin.  

Regina Carter appears at Yoshi’s, 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland, Nov. 16 -20,  

8 p.m. and 10 p.m., except on Sundays, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. For more information, call 238-9200 or visit www.yoshis.com.

Coming into the Ashby Stage for the Shotgun Lab production of Cry, Don’t Cry (running through this Thursday), the audience has to wonder: “What sort of show are we in for?” 

Or is it a show at all? Opposite the ascending pews of the auditorium is a memorial altar, heaped with items ranging from personal taste (a bottle of Lismore Scotch) to vaguely magical props (colored dice) to the whimsical or incongruent (a jar of pickles next to cat’s ears for a costume party), as well as exotic flowers in a vase and a candle burning. Is it really a service? A ritual reenactment? We’ve been asked to contribute origami testimonials to the altar. 

There’s a question of tone, anyway, as the five people onstage talk to the audience rather normally at first, if in slightly hushed, reverent voices, thanking them for coming. Indeed, it almost seems there’s a sixth up there with them—the dear mutual friend, departed, we’ve all gathered to celebrate. But who’s the absent friend? 

The doctor of the deceased introduces himself and the family, friends, neighbors standing around him, asking if anyone else wants to be recognized. There’s been music, percussion with a little flatback mandolin strumming, sort of a processional to the neotraditional Sephardic “O Senor” and then a song about the departed’s life and exploits, from a playground tune, “Don Gato.” 

This just about tears it, though in a soft way. More riotous stuff comes later, if intermittently. Is it a pet funeral? Nothing’s ever quite clear. At the “talk-back” after the show, so integral a part of Lab productions, one of the performers mentions that director Christine Young remembered the song, and that “you can hear it sung by middle school kids sometimes.”  

The troupe of professional and eccentric mourners is Bale Techlorico, which “blends traditional, folkloric performance with contemporary urban sensibilities.” Is a shaggy dog (or cat) story traditional or contemporary? What is particularly folkloric about all this, as “the service” proceeds through testimonial, song, dance (a wild fandango), sharing secrets, puppetry (staged on a shrouded figure recumbent on an upright piano) and audience participation? Is the approach to real humor rather than improv comedy? The “service” more-or-less follows the program (though “due to the volatility of emotions ... things may change at a moment’s notice”), developing into routines of grief and remembrance, as eccentric as the characters, if not quite grotesque or really very “dark.” 

Like much of what happens at Shotgun Lab, Cry, Don’t Cry is a work in progress. The various “scenes,” primal or otherwise, segue smoothly into each other, though the piece as a whole feels charged with the dynamics of improvisation, a too-familiar dynamic, which often flaccidly replaces form in shows ranging from sketch to physical theater. Unfortunately, the improv dynamic has become so familiar, it often stifles the spontaneity it was meant to foster. 

But the humor of characterization is what really underpins the show. The cast (Daveed Diggs as Dr. Suchnsuch; Janaki Ranpura as Don Gato’s daughter, Merry; Parker Leventer as the Don’s secret love, Elena Margerita; Nicole Lungerhausen as neighbor Madame Bienvenue, who hears voices; and Greg Beuthin as Mortimer, the hired musician who specializes in Bar Mitzvahs and gay weddings, and generally acts like a drummer) are all skilled performers, multi-tasking in this collective effort, a close-knit ensemble. They are what this kind of self-generating theater is really about. 

H

TUESDAY, NOV. 15 

CHILDREN 

Celebrate Children’s Book Week with illustrator Philippe Ames at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

THEATER 

Shotgun Theater Lab, “Cry Don’t Cry” Tues.-Thurs. at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through Nov. 17. Tickets are $10. 841-6500.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Ship’s Sides” Abstract photography by Klaus opens at Lange Z Cafe, 2735 Broadway, Oakland. 663-2905. 

FILM 

Alternative Visions “La région centrale” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Daniel Wilson explains “How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Against the Coming Rebellion” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Bandworks at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $4. 525-5054.  

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

Tuesday Night Jazz with Atmos Trio at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Terry Rodriguez, solo piano, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 16 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Aesthetics of Ecology: Occupying Space for Sustainable Living” Reception at 6 p.m. at the Tecoah Bruce Gallery, Oliver Art Center, California College of the Arts, 5212 Broadway. 415-703-9595. 

FILM 

Busy Signals: Telephonic Art in Motion “Rotary” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

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

Hyder Akbar talks about returing to his family’s country in “Come Back to Afghanistan” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Mary Felstiner reads from her new book “Out of Joint“ at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.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  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Whiskey Brothers, Old Time and Bluegrass at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Calvin Keys Trio Invitational Jam at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ.  

Ned Boynton Trio at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Red Archibald & The Internationals at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

Karl Perrazo, Edgardo Cambon, Carlos Carro at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Matt Heulitt Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

The McKassons & Laura Cortese at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

THURSDAY, NOV. 17 

THEATER 

“Dick ‘N Dubya Show: A Republican Cabaret” Thurs., Sat and Sun. at The Marsh Berkeley, 2118 Allston Way, through Nov. 20. Tickets are $10-$22. 800-838-3006.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Taisho Chic: Japanese Modernity, Nostalgia and Deco” guided tour at 12:15 and 5:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. 642-0808. 

FILM 

International Latino Film Festival “Promedio rojo” at 7 p.m. and “Tudo azul” at 9:10 at La Peña. 849-2568.  

Selling Democracy: Films of the Marshall Plan, 1948-53 “Program Three: True Fiction” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Stained Glass Illuminations: Rennovations of the Jesuit Cathedral in Shanghai” at 7 p.m. at GTU Hewlett Library, 2400 Ridge Rd. Reservations recomended. 549-5051. 

Berkeley Treasures: An Evening with Marcia Donahue at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park.  

Nomad Spoken Word Night at 7 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Word Beat Reading Series with Sanford Dorbin and Bob Coats at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Mosaic Vocal Ensemble “Fire and Light” at 6 p.m. at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527. 

Tania Libertad, Afro-Peruvian singer, at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $20-$32. 642-9988.  

Jeffrey Foucault at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

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

Sean Smith, Steve Mann with Janet Smith at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. 

David Ross MacDonald, acoustic guitar, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Dhol Patrol at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Bhangra dance lesson at 9 p.m. Cost is $8. 525-5054.  

Interactive Crew at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

FRIDAY, NOV. 18 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley ” Six Degrees of Separation” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. through Nov. 19. Tickets are $10. 649-5999.  

Aurora Theatre “Marius” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St., through Dec. 18. Tickets are $28-$45. 843-4822.  

Backstage Productions “All in the Timing” at 8 p.m., Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. at Choral Rehearsal Hall, Cesar Chavez Student Center, UC Campus. Tickets are $6-$8. 642-3880. 

Berkeley Rep “Brundibár” A musical fable staged by Tony Kushner and Maurice Sendak at the Roda Theater through Dec. 28. Ticekts are $15-$64. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Black Repertory Group “Dance with my Father Again” a musical biography of Luther Vandross. Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. through Dec. 4. Tickets are $7-$15. 652-2120. 

Central Works “Achilles & Patroklos” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at The Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., through Nov. 20. Tickets are $9-$25. 558-1381.  

Contra Costa Civic Theater “Noises Off” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito, through Dec. 10. 524-9132. www.ccct.org 

Impact Theatre “Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake)” Thurs. through Sun. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean Theater, 1834 Euclid Ave., through Dec. 10. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468.  

Masquers Playhouse “Dear World” Jerry Herman’s musical, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. through Dec. 17 at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond. Tickets are $15. 232-4031. www.masquers.org 

UC Dept. of Theater, “Harvest” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Durham Studio Theater, UC Campus. Tickets are $8-$14. 642-9925. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“The Gift of Art” Reception for the artists at 6 p.m. at the Cecile Moochnek Gallery, 1809D Fourth St. 549-1018. 

FILM 

International Latino Film Festival “Inventos: Hip Hop Cubano” at 9 p.m. La Peña. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

The Battles of Sam Peckinpah “The Wild Bunch”at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Doris Kearns Goodwin talks about “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” at 6:15 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Tickets and book can be purchased in advance from Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Selling Democracy: Films of the Marshall Plan, 1948-53 Symposium on Productivity and Propaganda in the Service of American Foreign Policy at 2 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland East Bay Symphony performs works by Mussorgsky, Galinso and Rachmaninoff at 8 p.m. at Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. Pre-concert talk at 7:05 p.m. Tickets are $15-$60. 625-8497.  

San Francisco City Chorus and Vox Dilecti “An Evening of Vaughan Williams” at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $13-$20. 415-701-7664.  

Mazula Woodwind Quintet at 8 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Cost is $10. 848-1228.  

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

Eric Swinderman Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Nevile Staples, Chris Murray, The Soul Captives, Monkey, ska, rock at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054.  

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

Roy Rogers & Norton Buffalo at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Bobbe Norris & Larry Dunlap Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Lauren Murphy and Rupa Marya at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Spaceheater, John Schott’s Dream Kitchen at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Shadowboxer, Lobstrosities, K.B.H. at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

40 Watt Hype, world music, dub, rock, at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Swoop Unit at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Val Esway’s Acoustic Onslaught Series at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

SATURDAY, NOV. 19 

CHILDREN 

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Los Mapeches at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Phillipe Ames introduces “Meow Said the Mouse” at 4 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

EXHIBITIONS 

Enrique Martinez Celaya: Works on Paper opens at Oakland Museum of California, Tenth and Oak Sts. Slide show and discussion with the artist at 11 a.m. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

THEATER 

“Dick ‘N Dubya Show: A Republican Cabaret” Sat and Sun. at The Marsh Berkeley, 2118 Allston Way. Tickets are $10-$22. 800-838-3006.  

Woman’s Will “Happy End” by Bertolt Brecht, Sat. at 7 p.m. and Sun. at 2 p.m. at Luka’s Lounge, 2221 Broadway at Grand Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $12-$25. 420-0813.  

FILM 

Taisho Chic on Screen “The Neighbor’s Wife and Mine” at 5 p.m., “Our Neighbor, Miss Yea” at 6:30 p.m. and “Zigeuner 

weisen” at 8:10 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Robert Fisk introduces his new book, “The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East” at 7 p.m. at King Middle School Auditorium, 1781 Rose St. Tickets are $25, no one turned away. Benefits Middle East Children’s Alliance. 548-0542. www.mecaforpeace.org 

Adam Phillips explores sanity in “Going Sane: Maps of Happiness” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Ika Hügel-Marshall describes “Invisible Woman: Growing Up Black in Germany” at 4 p.m. at Hand to Hand, 5680 San Pablo Ave. 430-2673. 

Rhythm & Muse Open Mic Series “Peace Jungle Story Swap” at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Trinity Chamber Concerts, Jason Emanuel Britton, cabaret singer, at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St., between Durant & Bancroft. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. http://trinitychamberconcerts.com  

“Dancin’ with a Piano” with Bryan Baker, piano, Rod Lowe, tenor, and Deborah Schmidt, flute, at 8 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, One Lawson Rd., Kensington. Tickets are $15-$50. 525-0302. www.uucb.org 

“Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans” with the Berkeley Broadway Singers at 8 p.m. at St. Ambrose Church, 1145 Gilman St. Free, but donations will be sent to MusiCares Hurricane Relief Fund. 604-5732. www. 

berkeleybroadwaysingers.org 

Oakland Chamber Ensemble “I’m Talking to You” at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $15-$17. 595-4691. 

Andy Cohen, acoustic blues and roots, at 7:30 p.m. at Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St. Tickets are $10. 237-1960. 

Billy Mintz, Grossman-Vlatkovich Duo at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $10-$15. 652-7914. 

Moment’s Notice A salon for improvised music, dance and theater at 8 p.m. at Western Sky Studio, 2525 Eighth St. Cost is $8-$10. 415-831-5592. 

Gaucho at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473.  

Pillows, Persephone’s Bees, Jason of Papercuts at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Robin Gregory & Bill Bell Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ. 

Jamie Laval & Hans York at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

La Lesbian Karen Williams, comedy, at 9 p.m. at at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$15. 849-2568.  

Evolutionary Patterns and the Lonely Owl, interactive dance, music and video at 7:30 p.m. at Mad Horse Loft, 2200 Adleine St., Ste. 125. Donation $5-$10. 535-2504.  

Madeline Eastman at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $20. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Kotoja, Afrobeat at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Josh Workman Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Renée Asteria and Daryl Scairiot at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

The Urban Monks at 7 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

Persephone’s Bees, Pillows at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Famous Last Words at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. www.epicarts.org 

Harold Ray, King Kahn BBQ Show Riff Randells at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Skip Hop at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

SUNDAY, NOV. 20 

THEATER 

“Tellabration” National storytelling event hosted by Stagebridge at 3 p.m. at Arts First Oakland, 2501 Harrison St. at 27th, Oakland. Tickets are $12-$15. 444-4755.  

EXHIBTIONS 

Art in Progress Open Studios and Group Exhibition in the landmark Durkee Spice Building. Painting, photography, archival prints, sculpture, mixed media from 2 to 5 p.m. at 800 Heinz Ave. 845-0707. 

MATRIX 219 Wilhelm Sasnal new works by the Polish artist opens at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. Atrists talk at 4 p.m. 642-0808. 

“Taisho Chic: Japanese Modernity, Nostalgia and Deco” guided tour at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. 642-0808. 

FILM 

Taisho Chic on Screen “Castle of Wind and Clouds” at 5 p.m. “Walk Cheerfully” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Gallery Talk with Artists from Day of the Dead Exhibition at 2 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, Tenth and Oak Sts. 238-2200.  

Poems Against War at 3 p.m. in the Morrison Library, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Architecture Dept. 

Bill Mayer and Larry Felson, local poets, read at 8 p.m. at Pegasus Books, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

Poetry Flash with F. D. Reeve and Madeline Tiger at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans” with the Berkeley Broadway Singers at 4 p.m. at St. Augustine’s Church, 400 Alcatraz Ave. Free, but donations will be sent to MusiCares Hurricane Relief Fund. 604-5732.  

Volti and sporano Christine Brandes in “No More to Hide: An American Wedding Cantata” at 4 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft. Tickets are $15-$20. 415-771-3352.  

Prometheus Symphony, 40th Anniversary Concert at 3 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito St., Oakland. Free, donations requested. 415-864-2151. 

Deborah Voigt, soprano, at 3 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $36-$68, available from 642-9988.  

Contra Costra Chorale with New Millennium Strings at 7 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church, One Lawson Rd., Kensington. Tickets are $5-$10. 524-1861. www.ccchorale.org 

University Wind Ensemble at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $3-$10. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Organ Music for Four Hands with Paul Tegels and Dana Robinson at 4 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $5-$15. 845-8630. 

Juanita Ulloa and the Picante Ensemble at 2 p.m. at St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church, Mountain Blvd. at Keller, Oakland. Admission by donation. 635-4949. 

Carlos Olioveira & Brazilian Origins at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ.  

Tsygankov & Shevchenko at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761.  

T-Rex Elite, Panda, Hunazee, Burmese Crowd, rock, teen bands at 3 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5. 525-5054.  

Echo Beach, jazz, at 10 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Shook Ones, Ceremony at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926.

Got fruit? 

It’s coming on winter, and in our part of the world that means fall and winter fruits show up on our trees—apples are almost done, and for most of us, backyard peaches are a fond memory. 

But there are persimmons on our trees along with their blazing foliage, and the lemons are ripening; those of us with other citrus trees like Oro Blanco grapefruit are looking forward to harvest too. It’s been such a weird season—I just swatted a mosquito in my office, for pity’s sake, in November!—that, who knows? We might get another round of attempted summer. 

Or there might be a frost before this column runs, four days after it’s written. I’m no prophet; I’m not even Pat Robertson, to threaten small towns with divine vengeance over their school board elections, let alone a plague of unseasonal plums. 

Many backyard orchards yield an embarrassment of riches. Unless we’re goddesses of grafting, or have huge households, there’s too much fruit from our mere tree or two to use before it spoils. We can make jam or marmalade till we turn blue, but some years we can’t keep up. 

So who gets it? The raccoons and the rats? (Yes, fallen fruit does attract rats.) We can compost it, but ouch, what a waste. 

A group called Village Harvest will get your surplus fruit to a local food bank or shelter and if you can’t get up those trees yourself any more, their volunteers will pick it for you. In fact, they’ll pick it, give you as much as you want of it, and donate the rest. 

Village Harvest is a commendably efficient enterprise. “We’re all volunteer, and all virtual,” organizer Joni Diserens told me. “We have the website, the free phone number, and some donated storage for our tools. Since the idea is to get fresh fruit to people fast, we don’t need any warehouses for what we pick. We just take it to the people.” 

Village Harvest is based and does most of its picking in the Santa Clara valley, logically enough; many of us remember when that was a center for orchards, not computers. Aside from trees from the old days, there are lots of small backyard orchards. 

“We have better soil down here than you do in the East Bay,” alleges Diserens—well, OK, it is nice alluvial stuff. “So a lot of these yards are incredibly productive.” 

Village Harvest is an offshoot of a project of Diserens and friends and local kids, preserving backyard fruit. Overwhelmed with the amount of fruit they were given, they started the new project, a fast success, says Diserens: “The first year, we had about 50,000 [yes, fifty thousand] pounds of fruit.” Their total so far this year is 100,201 pounds. 

Berkeley’s harvest is much smaller. “About 100 to 300 pounds, and we definitely want more,” says Diserens. 

“We donate Berkeley’s harvest to Harrison House. For the people there, what we deliver is most of their fresh fruit for the week.” Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency’s Harrison House is a transitional home for people who, after overcoming various setbacks, are moving from street life to homes of their own. 

If you’re in the East Bay, especially Berkeley or Oakland, and have surplus fruit in your garden, call Village Harvest’s toll-free line, (888) FRUIT 411—(888) 378-4841—(leave a message) or email your name, address, phone number(s), and email address; the type, number, and size of your trees; and when the fruit will be ripe. Besides picking your fruit if you can’t, they’ll give you a receipt so you can deduct the value of the fruit from your taxes. 

Notify your neighbors. Diserens laughs that “The police are always getting called by suspicious neighbors. They know us now, and we always give them some fruit—it’s better than doughnuts!” 

If you can pick your own and/or have a small amount to give, Diserens suggests you drop it off at Harrison House, 711 Harrison Street, Berkeley—or, try any other shelter, halfway house, or transitional place you know. Call them first. 

Also, visit the Web site at www.villageharvest.org for suggestions on ladderless harvesting, preserving, and backyard orchard techniques in general.›

TUESDAY, NOV. 15 

Birdwalk on the MLK Shoreline from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. to see the shorebirds here for the winter. Binoculars available for loan. 525-2233. 

Berkeley Garden Club “Careful Gardening Means Care for the Earth” with Christopher Shein, permaculture instructor at Merritt College, at 1 p.m. at Epworth Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. 527-5641. 

“High School Dropout Rate Crisis” with Assemblymember Loni Hancock at 9:30 a.m. at Richmond High School Little Theater, 1250 23rd St., Richmond. 559-1406. 

Flu Shots for Berkeley Residents age 60 or over or “high-risk” from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Health Clinic, 830 University Ave. 981-5300. 

University Press Books Book Party celebrating a new book by Roger Hahn at 5:30 p.m. at 2430 Bancroft Way. 548-0585. 

“Wal-Mart: The High Cost of a Low Price” a film by Robert Greenwald at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña, 3501 Shattuck Ave.. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Darfur, Sudan: The Violence Continues; How Long Can We Ignore?” A panel discussion and slideshow lecture, at 8:30 p.m. at Booth Auditorium Boalt Hall, UC Campus. 220-8481. 

Choosing Infant Care A workshop at 7 p.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave. Babies welcome. Registration required. 658-7353.  

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation at 6 p.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland. 594-5165. 

“Weight-Loss Surgery: Is It For You?” at 6 p.m. at Alta Bates Summit Health Education Center, 400 Hawthorne Ave., Oakland. Free, registration required 869-8972. 

Berkeley Salon Discussion Group meets to discuss “Travel, Surveying the Empire” from 7 to 9 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 527-1022. 

“Ministry in the Eye of Disaster” at 7:30 p.m. in the Tuscan Common Room, Church Divinity School of the Pacific, 2451 Ridge Rd. Cost is $10-$15. to register call 204-0720. 

“Nutrition for Wellness and Harmony” Part of “Healing Therapies for Pain and Energy” at noon at Maffly Auditorium, Herrick Campus of Alta Bates, 2001 Dwight Way. 644-3273. 

Free Small Business Class on Opening a Restaurant at 5 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, Community Room, 2090 Kittredge St. Registration required. 981-6148. www.sfscore.com 

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. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Free Handbuilding Ceramics Class 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at St. John’s Senior Center, 2727 College Ave. Also, Mon. noon to 4 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Materials and firing charges not included. 525-5497. 

“Ask the Social Worker” free consultations for older adults and their families from 10 a.m. to noon at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. To schedula and appointment call 558-7800, ext. 716. 

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. 

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 16 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll hunt for spiders, or learn about the water cycle if it is cold out, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Mid-day Meanders to discover the newts. Meet at 2:30 p.m. across from the Tilden Botanical Garden, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“Time for an Oil Change” A lecture on dietary fats at 10:30 a.m. at Alta Bates Summit Merritt Pavilion, Cafeteria Annex B, 350 Hawthorne Ave., Oakland. Cost is $5. RSVP to 869-6737. 

“Llaguno Bridge: Keys to a Massacre” Venezuelan documentary at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $5. 393-5685. 

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.  

Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College Open House at 6 p.m. at 2550 Shattuck Ave. Tours of classrooms and clinics and information for prospective students. To RSVP call 666-8248, ext. 106.  

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 and a warm hat. 548-9840. 

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.  

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. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

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, NOV. 17 

Public Hearing on Parking Fees and Time Limits Downtown at the Planning Commission meeting at 7 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7010. 

LeConte Neighborhood Association meets at 7:30 p.m. in the LeConte School, Ellsworth and Russell. 843-2602. 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll hunt for spiders, or learn about the water cycle if it is cold out, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

“Albatross: On the Wings of Antarctic Ocean Wanderers” with naturalist Ted Cheeseman at 7:30 p.m. at Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Sponsored by Golden Gate Audubon Society. www.goldengatesudubon.org 

“The Lodgepole Needle Miner in Yosemite Park” with forest entomologist Tom Koerber at 12:30 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, Tenth and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

“Rainforest Conservation in the Ecuadorian Amazon,” on the Amazanga community, an indigenous-run biological reserve, at 7:30 p.m. in the Home Room, International House, 2200 Piedmont Ave. Donation $10. 235-4313. 

Healthy Food and Health Care A conference on sustainable and nutritious food, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. at the Oakland Marriott City Center. Cost is $85. 843-2222. www.foodmed.org 

“Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination” with Anne Allison at 4:30 p.m. in the IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St., 6th flr. 642-2809. 

Flu Shots for Berkeley Residents age 60 or over or “high-risk” from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Health Clinic, 830 University Ave. For information call 981-5300. 

“Update on What’s New in Parkinson’s Care” with Carol Evans, RNC, at 10 a.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center.  

Food Drive and Tree Lighting Ceremony with children’s activities and holiday entertainment at 6 p.m. at Bay Street in Emeryville. Bring canned goods to donate to the Alameda County Community Food Bank. 

Spanish Book Club meets at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

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, NOV. 18 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Norm J. Szydlowski, Refinery Division, Chevron Corp., on “Iraq Reflections” 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.  

“Taking on Bush’s Wars at Home and Abroad” with Cindy Sheehan, Peter Camejo and others at 7 p.m. in Room 2050, Valley Life Sciences Bldg., UC Campus. Cost is $10. Sponsored by Berkeley Stop the War Coalition. 

“Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price” documentary screening and conversation at 8 p.m. at The Living Room, 3230 Adeline St. RSVP to livingroomgallery@gmail.com 

“Target Market” with psychologist Allen Kanner and market researcher Nick Russell about how corporations target youth at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship, 1924 Cedar at Bonita. Donation $10. 528-5403. 

“Black Against Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Black Panther Party” with Prof. Waldo Martin and UCLA graduate student Joshua Bloom at 6 p.m. at Free Speech Movement Café at Moffitt Library, UC Campus. 642-0813. 

“German-Jewish Relations: A German Perspective” with Rolf Schütte, Consul General of Germany at 7:30 p.m. at Congregation Bth El, 1301 Oxford St. 848-3988. 

“Lessons in Confronting the End of Life” with Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt at 7:15 p.m. at Beth Jacob Congregation, 3778 Park Blvd., Oakland. 482-1147. 

Wellness Open House Complimentary consultations and healing sessions in exchange for non-perishable food donations to benefit Berkeley Food and Housing Project, at 6:30 p.m. at 828 San Pablo Ave., Suite 115, Albany. 526-1559. 

Three Beats for Nothing sings early music for fun and practice at 10 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 655-8863. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 548-6310, 845-1143. 

SATURDAY, NOV. 19 

Kid’s Garden Club for ages 7-12 to explore the world of gardening, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 636-1684. 

Fall Planting for the Wild Things Join us for a morning of planting to restore a marsh, and provide food and shelter for birds and other animals that live along the edges of San Francisco Bay in Pt. Richmond. From 9 a.m. to noon, followed by a naturalist’s talk at 1 p.m. To register and receive directions or for more information, email Bayshorestewards@thewatershedproject.org or call 665-3689.  

Help Save the Bay Plant Native Seedlings from 9 a.m. to noon at the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline. Gloves, tools and snacks provided. 452-9261, ext. 109. www.savesfbay.org 

Berkeley Alliance of Neighborhood Associations meets at 9:15 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Sproul Conference Room, 1st Floor, 2727 College Ave. www.berkeleycna.com 

“Green Jobs - Not Jails” A youth training program, for ages 16 - 25, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Ella Baker Center, 344 40th St. Oakland. Free. 415-577-3530. www. 

reclaimthefuture.org/training 

“The House on Mango Street” Community Reading with The Mixed Bag Storytellers, Mayor Tom Bates and Darryl Moore at 11 a.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis. 981-5180. 

“Walking in Two Worlds: Black Native Americans,” with Rafael Jesús González, essayist from El Corazón de la Muerte, dancing by Medicine Warriors Dance Troupe, drumming by All Nations Singers and music by Abdi Jibril and Balafo, at 1 p.m. at Oakland Main Public Library, West Auditorium, 125 14th St., Oakland. 

“The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East” with Robert Fisk at 7 p.m. at King Middle School Auditorium, 1781 Rose St. Tickets are $25, no one turned away. Benefits Middle East Children’s Alliance. 548-0542. www.mecaforpeace.org 

California Writers Club meets to discuss “The Rewards of Fellowship” with Ann Parker, Ginger Wadsworth, and Laurel Anne Hill at 10 a.m. at Barnes & Noble, Jack London Square, Oakland. 482-0265. www.berkeleywritersclub.org  

Holiday Craft Market with jewelry and beads, hand-crafted leather goods, ceramics, and gourmet chocolates from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2501 Harrison St., Oakland. Cost is $3. All proceeds benefit Magical Acts. 

Friends of the Albany Library Special Book Sale with rare and collectible books and records, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Edith Stone Room, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 5. 

Mandala Drawing A workshop from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, One Lawson Rd., Kensington. Bring a bag lunch and something to share. Cost is $35. To register call 525-8879. 

Softball Clinic for girls in grades 2-9, from 1 to 4 p.m. at Grove/Russell field, Martin Luther King Jr Way and Russell St. Free. Registraion required. clinics@abgsl.org, www.abgsl.org 

Flu and Pneumonia Shots from 1 to 5 p.m. at Phamaca Integrative Pharmacy, 1744 Solano Ave. Cost is $25 and $35. 527-8929. 

Holiday Baking for Your Pet at 3 p.m. at Rabbitears, 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Donation $20.525-6155.  

SUNDAY, NOV. 20 

Salamander Hike Enjoy wet habitats on a search for slow moving amphibians at 9 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tiden Park. 525-2233. 

Eat More Chocolate! Learn the natural history and health benefits of this amazing bean at 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $12-$14. Registration required. 636-1684. 

School of the Americas Watch Candlelight Vigil at sunset on the steps of St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. Bring a candle. Sponsored by the Fr. Bill O’Donnell Social Justice Committee of St. Joseph the Worker.  

Santa Paws & Holiday Photos Benefit for the East Bay Humane Society from noon to 4 p.m. at Holistic Hound, 1510 Walnut St. Photos cost $25. Call for an appointment 843-2133. 

The Globalization of Baseball with Jules Tygiel and Amaury Pi-Gonzalez at 2 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, Tenth and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Benefit for Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters with a concert by Dana Lyons, silent auction and refreshments, at 6 p.m. at Unitarian Fellowship Hall, 1924 Cedar St. 548-3113. www.HeadwatersPreserve.org 

Family Explorations: Ghost Memories at noon p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, Tenth and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

“Carving Your Thanksgiving Dinosaur” Learn how your bird is related to dinosaurs at 2 p.m. at Lawrence Hall of Science. Free with museum admission. 643-8980. 

Berkeley Cybersalon “Just Say No to Microsoft” with author Tony Bove at 5 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St.Cost is $5-$10. www.hillsideclub.org  

Berkeley Biodiesel Collective Harvest Mixer with presentations, demonstrations, dancing to live music, eco-ed activities for children and more from 5 to 9 p.m. La Peña. 849-2568.  

“British Literature and the Torah” with Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt at 7 p.m. at Beth Jacob Congregation, 3778 Park Blvd., Oakland. 482-1147. 

“Hebrew: the Ideal Programming Language” with Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh on Kabbalah and computer science at 8 p.m. at MLK Student Union, Tilden Room, UC Campus. Donation $18. Reservations appreciated 540-5824. 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712.  

MONDAY, NOV. 21 

“Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price” A screening of Robert Greenwald’s new documentary, with Rep. Barbara Lee, Global Exchange and Media Alliance at 6 p.m. at the Parkway Theater, 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland. Cost is $15. 415-255-7296. 

Sing-A-Long from 10 to 11 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. 524-9122.  

Beginning Bridge Lessons at 11:10 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Cost is $1. 524-9122. 

School Boardmember John Selawsky will hold a community meeting at 6 p.m. the Berkeley Main Library, 3rd floor meeting room. 848-0305.  

Satsang with Pamela Wilson, meditative inquiry and dharma talk at 7:30 pm at Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Donation of $15, no one turned away. 295-9794.  

ONGOING 

We Give Thanks Month Dine at a participating restaurant, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Berkeley Food and Housing. Restaurants include Bendean, Poulet, Rose Garden Inn, La Note, Skates on the Bay and Oliveto’s. www.bfhp.org 

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues., Nov. 15, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900.  

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wed., Nov. 16, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-6601.  

Civic Arts Commission meets Wed., Nov. 16, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7533.  

Commission on Aging meets Wed. Nov. 16, at 1:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. William Rogers, 981-5344.  

Commission on Labor meets Wed., Nov. 16, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7550.  

Disaster Council meets Wed., Nov. 16, at 7 p.m., at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. 981-5502.  

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wed. Nov. 16, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Kristen Lee, 981-5427.  

Design Review Committee meets Thurs., Nov. 17, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7415.  

Fair Campaign Practices Commission meets Thurs., Nov. 17, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Prasanna Rasaih, 981-6950.  

Transportation Commission meets Thurs., Nov. 17, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7000. ›

In the last use of non-paper trail electronic voting machines in Alameda County before new state standards kick in next year, voting reportedly went smoothly in last Tuesday’s special election, but the vote tallying trailed behind counting in other parts of the state. 

Alameda County returns did not finish coming in until 2 a.m., which Acting Registrar of Voters Elaine Ginnold said was normal for county elections. 

But most returns for the special election Tuesday night had been posted on the secretary of state’s website by midnight, with only Los Angeles and Alameda counties showing significant votes still uncounted. Alameda County had only 30 percent of its vote counted by midnight. 

When the Alameda votes did finally come in, they showed county voters in step with the trend in the rest of the state, rejecting all of the initiatives and constitutional amendments on the ballot. Alameda County voted no on Prop. 73 (parental notification on abortion) with 69 percent rejecting the measure, on Prop. 74 (public school teacher tenure) with 72 percent against, on Prop. 75 (union dues for political purposes) with 70 percent against, and on Prop. 76 (state spending and school funding limits) with 79 percent against. 

On Prop. 77 (redistricting), 74 percent of the county voters rejected the measure; on Prop. 78 (prescription drug discounts no. 1), 68 percent voted no; on Prop. 79 (prescription drugs discounts no. 2), 52 percent voted no; and on Prop. 80 (regulation of electric service providers), 61 percent voted no. 

Ginnold said that there was “no systemic failure” during Tuesday’s election, and blamed the delay on a number of factors, including the fact that Alameda County had a large number of election inspectors working the polls for the first time. 

“They had to ask a lot of questions,” she said. 

Several days before the election, the Alameda County administrator put out an emergency call for workers after election officials reported they were 90 poll workers short and did not have enough staff to open three separate polling places. Those positions were filled by election day. 

Ginnold said that another problem which slowed up Tuesday’s vote count was what she called an “additional step” in the counting procedure in which inspectors were required to count out the number of paper ballots cast at the precinct, add it to the total of electronic votes, and then balance it with the number of voters who had come to the poll. 

Next Monday, Alameda County citizens will get their first look at the electronic machines the county is considering to replace the Diebold machines. The County Registrar of Voters office is holding an all-day demonstration of the four electronic systems under consideration to provide state-mandated paper-trail machines. Ginnold said four companies will be represented at the demonstration: Diebold, Sequoia, Hart, and Election Systems & Software. The demonstration, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., will be at the Alameda County Conference Center, 125 12th St., 4th floor, in Oakland. 

In other election news, voters in two East Bay communities went in opposite directions on tax increase measures on Tuesday’s ballot. 

In the Albany Unified School District, voters approved Measure A by a 67.8 percent margin, 3,301 to 1,564. Measure A was a seven-year, $250-per-residential-unit parcel tax proposal as well as authorization for a 5-cent-per-square-foot non-residential parcel tax. Money from the tax will be used to raise teacher salaries, reduce class size, hire student support workers such as librarians and mental health counselors, and support student extra-curricular activities. 

But in Richmond, voters just as decisively defeated Measure Q, a proposed 1/2 percent tax increase for retail sales within the city. Measure Q gained only 35 percent of the vote, losing 6,274 to 11,886.e

Two years after the North Oakland community successfully fought to regain their Oakland Police Department Crime Reduction Teams (CRT), the new chief of the Oakland Police Department has removed them again. 

In a message e-mailed this week to North Oakland residents, District 1 Councilmember Jane Brunner urged constituents to oppose the CRT removal. 

“In neighborhoods where the work of the CRTs has been demonstrated to be the difference between a dangerous neighborhood and a safe one, removing them is just irresponsible,” Brunner wrote. 

A spokesperson for the Oakland Police Department did not return telephone calls in connection with this story. 

And concern over the reduction in the CRTs was not helped by rumors that Chief Wayne Tucker was also considering either reducing or eliminating foot patrols in some of the city’s business districts. 

Oakland’s CRT units are roving patrols designed to concentrate on the city’s street level drug-dealing and felony crime trends. The city operates six such teams, assigned to specific areas of the city on a four-day-a-week basis. OPD Lieutenant Lawrence Green, North Oakland Area Commander, reported two years ago that the North Oakland CRT had been responsible for 1,000 arrests, including six homicide arrests, in the preceding 13 months. 

But in 2002, then-Chief Richard Word cut both North Oakland’s and West Oakland’s CRT patrols from four days to two, diverting the teams for the remaining days to “sideshow abatement” activities in East Oakland. Violent crime in North Oakland immediately skyrocketed, jumping 14 percent. North Oakland murders averaged 11 per year in the two years that the CRT was reduced, jumping 200 percent from the murder rate when the CRT was fully operational. 

The North Oakland CRT patrols were restored in late 2003 following intercession by BrunBrunner’s office and complaints from North Oakland residents and businesses. 

Speaking to a North Oakland community meeting hosted by Brunner in the fall of 2003, Chief Word admitted that his office had “made a mistake” in reducing the CRT patrols. Word promised that the CRTs would not be moved again under his administration. 

Now, according to Brunner, Word’s replacement, Chief Wayne Tucker, has again moved half of the North Oakland CRT patrols from North Oakland, effective Tuesday of this week, as well as from Montclair, the Lake Merritt area, and the San Antonio and Fruitvale districts. Brunner said that Tucker plans to divert the patrols to “focus on other areas of the city.” 

She said that Tucker had originally proposed eliminating the North Oakland CRT altogether, but after meeting with Brunner and hearing from North Oakland citizens, Brunner said the chief agreed to let half of the CRT patrols remain in force, with a promise to return to full service in seven weeks. She called Tucker’s compromise a “small victory.” 

“The chief told me that he is trying to lower the rate of violent crime in other parts of the city, and he doesn’t want to use overtime to do that,” Brunner said. “That’s why he’s using the CRT. But I clearly disagree with that tactic.” 

In her e-mail message, which she said received “tremendous response” from North Oakland residents, Brunner wrote that “many of [our] neighborhoods are right on the edge, and taking CRT’s out of the areas they’ve been working on threatens to throw away the progress that’s been made. I predict there will be an increase in crime in many North Oakland flatlands neighborhoods if we remove the CRT’s. We cannot let that happen.” 

On the issue of the foot patrols, Rockridge District Association secretary Louise Rothman-Reimer said that “it has been rumored for a long time” that Chief Tucker is considering their elimination or reduction. 

The rumors have become so persistent, Rothman-Reimer said, that the Oakland Merchants Leadership Forum, a citywide merchants group, has scheduled a meeting with the chief on the issue, to be held on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 8 a.m., in Hearing Room 4 at Oakland City Hall. 

“The citizens of Rockridge are very concerned about this possibility,” Rothman-Reimer said. “Their presence is needed on the street.” 

Discussion of both the proposed CRT reduction and the possible foot patrol reduction was circulating this week on a North Oakland police-community e-mail list sponsored by Lt. Green. 

Councilmember Brunner said that while she had heard the rumor of the possible foot patrol reduction, she could not confirm it.(

UC Berkeley’s nearly halfway to funding a major retrofit of Memorial Stadium, and plans unveiled Thursday have already sparked controversy. 

Designs unveiled at a press conference featuring a collection of academic and athletic luminaries include: 

• Improved restrooms and seating and enhanced access for the disability community. 

• A 132,500-square-foot strength, conditioning and sports medicine high performance center to be constructed along the western base of the stadium. 

• A seismic upgrade of the stadium’s western wall to insure the safety of athletes using the high performance center. 

A second phase, to be started when the first phase is complete in the Fall of 2008 could include: 

• Permanent night lighting, long a bone of contention with stadium neighbors. 

• The addition of three new levels atop the existing stadium to accommodate “premium amenities” (a term often used to describe so-called high-priced luxury skyboxes), television broadcasters and other members of the press. 

• A major new underground parking lot beneath Maxwell Field. 

The stars were Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, the deans of Boalt Hall and the Haas School of Business, Athletic Director Sandy Barbour, Cal Bears football Head Coach Jeff Tedford—who had demanded stadium improvements as a condition of his contract—and two student athletes. 

All funds will be privately raised, said Birgeneau “and we already have several gifts and a matching fund challenge that have taken us close to the halfway mark” for the $125 million needed for the stadium retrofit and the sports center. 

If all goes as planned, construction plans will allow for continued play at the stadium, with a completion date in time for the 2008 football season, said the chancellor. He added that the stadium would only be used for university events and would not be rented out for private use. 

University officials unveiled their plans two days earlier in a private meeting with Mayor Tom Bates and City Manager Phil Kamlarz. 

“At a cursory glance, the plans look very good, but the real questions are in the details, which will come out in the EIR [environmental impact report],” Bates said. “We need to look very closely at the traffic and parking issues and at the way the facilities are used.” 

Bates said the stadium retrofit was clearly needed. 

“When I played for Cal [in the 1958-60 football seasons] the stadium was already in disrepair. The sports training facility is absolutely necessary,” he said. “Would I build the stadium there if we were starting from scratch? Absolutely not. But it’s too expensive to relocate.” 

Bates said he wants to make sure the project is carried out in a way that does the least environmental damage and raises the least concern to the neighbors. 

“We’ll have to make sure it’s well done,” he said. 

The press conference left several important questions unanswered. 

Neither Robert DeLiso of URS Corporation, project manager for new development in the campus’s southeast quadrant, nor Birgeneau, was able to answer one key question, the level of earthquake which the retrofitted stadium will be designed to withstand. 

The issue is critical because the stadium sits directly on the Hayward Fault, the source of the catastrophic Loma Prieta earthquake. The soil under the stadium could liquefy during a major temblor. 

Also unveiled were sketches of a structure to be built during a later phase of development which would sit between the existing Haas and Boalt buildings and provide new office and academic space, as well as a glassed-in atrium that could house up to 700 for evening events, and outdoor seating capable of seating up to 1,500. 

“This will be the destination venue that provides a window on the world for Berkeley and a window for the rest of the world on the Berkeley campus,” said Boalt Law School Dean Christopher Edley Jr. 

Birgeneau said the cost of the second phase academic commons building with the glass atrium connecting the two halves for the law and business schools is currently estimated at between $140 million and $160 million, “and must be provided through private support.” 

The chancellor and the two deans waxed euphoric about the potential of the combined projects to, in Edley’s words, “marry the intellectual energies” of the two professional schools, and he said that the plan “marries academics and athletic aspirations.” 

Lyons and Athletic Director Barbour used similar language, calling the plans “really magical” and hailing the “overarching concept.” 

Barbour said the massive athletic high performance center “will move us to an elite position,” competitive not only with other PAC 10 teams but on a national scale. 

Community concerns 

Bates acknowledged that permanent night lighting will be a matter of serious concern for residential neighbors. 

It was partly in an effort to battle permanent nocturnal lights that residents of Panoramic Hill sought and won the designation of a National Historic District for their neighborhood. 

But Janice Thomas, one of the two authors of the successful application, said lighting was a trivial concern compared to the impact of major new construction directly atop the Hayward Fault. 

“I’m really worried that they’ll transform a natural disaster into a man-made disaster,” Thomas said. 

Leslie Emmington, a member of the city Landmarks Preservation Commission and the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, said the developments will have a major adverse impact on Piedmont Way, a streetscape designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, America’s preeminent landscape architect, in 1865. 

“No amount of mitigation can offset the effect of blighting this historic landscape that makes that area of the university graceful and campus-like,” she said. 

Former urban planner John English, who has authored many successful historic resource designation applications, has raised the ante for the university by filing an application with the State Office of Historical Preservation that would be the first step in listing Memorial Stadium, which was designed by world renowned architect John Galen Howard and built in 1923, on the National Register of Historic Places. 

“I incorporated a lot of material in the application from a historic structures report done for the university that came to the conclusion that nothing should be built above the existing site,” English said.

In a massive show of force on June 16, Berkeley police officers served a search warrant on Karim Cycle at 2800 Telegraph Ave., drawing the attention of neighbors and press whom they summoned to the scene. 

But no criminal charges were ever filed against the proprietor and all but one of the bikes have now been returned to the store. 

After blocking off the sidewalk with yellow crime-scene tape, 20 or so uniformed officers and evidence technicians hauled scores of bicycles out onto the sidewalk as they started marking down serial numbers and looking for bikes that lacked them. 

As pedestrians and neighbors gawked, police contacted the media, providing sound bites for the evening news and good photos and good copy for the next morning’s papers. 

By the time the day had ended, police had hauled 17 bikes off to their evidence lockers, one that police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies said had been confirmed stolen, and the other 16 with what he described as illegally removed, altered or obliterated serial numbers. 

Within hours, word and images of the raid had been posted in the bicycles-for-sale section of Craigslist. 

But as owner Adlai Karim explains, “I was never arrested; no charges were filed, and they returned all but one of my bicycles.” 

Berkeley police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies confirmed the return of the cycles and the decision of the district attorney’s office to reject the charges. 

John Adams, the prosecutor who rejected the case for prosecution, was not available for comment because he has since retired from the agency. 

Karim acknowledges that his shop—like any other dealing in used bicycles—may have purchased stolen bikes. But, he said, that’s because few owners record their bike’s serial numbers, and even fewer report them to the state—leaving no way for a shop-owner to know with certainty whether or not a machine was stolen. 

In addition, registration requirements vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The city of Berkeley no longer issues bicycle licenses, and police recommend that owners go to UC Berkeley, which does. 

Further complicating the issue was the fact that different manufacturers stamp the numbers on different parts of the machines, unlike with cars, where stamps must be located in specific places. 

Police and Karim both advise bicycle buyers to write down the serial numbers of cycles they buy and keep the numbers and the receipt in a safe place so they can be reported in the event of a theft. 

Karim said he buys many of his bicycles from charities and garage sales, adding that he now reports to the state both the serial numbers and where he bought them. 

He said he still has a claim against the Berkeley Police Department for damage to his cycles during what he called “a very destructive search.” He said the city has made a partial settlement offer. 

Berkeley residents will get two chances next week to hear about relationships with the University of California, and the direction of the presentations could probably not be further apart. 

On Monday, a panel of outspoken critics of the present state of University/Berkeley relations will present their views at a free public forum on “Between Reality and Wishful Thinking: The University as a Neighbor” at the Multi-Purpose room of the Berkeley Alternative High School. The forum will be held from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. 

On Tuesday, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring a UC City Lunch ($60 for non-members, somewhat less for chamber members) featuring presentations by Mayor Tom Bates and UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau. 

The meetings come in the wake of a string of contentious reactions to UC Berkeley’s Long Range Development Plan, which will have significant effects on city residents in general and downtown development in particular. 

The City of Berkeley first sued the university over the plan, then reached an agreement with the university which led to the city’s dropping of the lawsuit. In turn, a group of Berkeley residents then sued city officials over the city-university agreement, saying that the city had given away too much of its development authority. 

Bates’ Chief of Staff Cisco DeVries said that representatives of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce contacted both the mayor and the chancellor “some time ago,” asking them to appear jointly at the luncheon to “talk about the traditional issues of the town-gown relationship.” 

DeVries said both the mayor and the chancellor will make presentations on such topics as the Berkeley-UC partnership, economic development in Berkeley, and the downtown planning process. He said while he was not sure of the format, he expected that there would be time available for comments and questions from the floor. 

The day before, it will be the critics’ turn. 

“We’re trying to open up a community-based dialogue between the city and the university,” explained Berkeley activist and Daily Planet contributor Zelda Bronstein, one of the organizers of the Berkeley Alternative High forum. “And by the city, we don’t simply mean the government. We’re talking about the people who live and work in Berkeley as well.” 

Panelists at the Alternative High event include Wendy Alfsen, a university neighbor; Jesse Arreguin, UC student and affordable housing advocate; Andy Katz, chair of the city Zoning Adjustments Board and a planning graduate student at UC Berkeley; Dean Metzger, a member of ZAB; Anne Wagley, a plaintiff in the lawsuit against the UC-city agreement over the university’s Long Range Development Plan; Rob Wrenn, a member of city planning and transportation commissions; and Bronstein. Panelists will make five-minute presentations apiece, to be followed by a general discussion. 

Bronstein said that while there have been many public hearings, scoping sessions, and other formal presentations about city/university relations, “this is the first time in my memory that we have planned an open discussion on the subject.” 

She said that while she expected many of the speakers to talk about the events surrounding the university’s development plan, the forum was also intended to encompass “a larger, broader picture. Obviously, there’s not enough time in one evening to cover all of this issue. What we’re looking at is an invitation to begin a larger discussion.” 

Anne Wagley, who is an employee of the Daily Planet, said that the forum is designed to bring the issue of the impact of the university to a wider Berkeley audience. 

“People who live near the university are immediately impacted by any university development, and they are very aware of the implications,” Wagley said. “But the UC expansion which is projected in the new Long Range Development Plan is going to have implications for the entire city in ways that citizens haven’t seen before. We want to help people understand the full impact.”

As Berkeley lobbies neighboring cities to join in its greenhouse gas reduction efforts, constituents at UC Berkeley are trying to get their school to follow suit. 

A coalition of faculty, staff and student groups at the university are now lobbying school officials to join the city by adopting their own set of greenhouse gas reduction standards, which they hope will be consistent with the Kyoto Protocol. They are also calling on UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau to create a campus-wide plan for reducing and offsetting the school’s environmental footprint. 

“If a city adopts the protocol they are taking steps towards sustainability,” said Daniel Kammen, a professor in UC Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group. “If a university does it they are making a strong statement about the environment.” 

Kammen and student representatives Brooke Owyang, Scott Zimmerman and Eli Yewdall sent a letter to Birgeneau last April urging him to formally endorse the protocol, an international treaty that requires countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 7 percent before 2010. 

A spokesperson from the university said that the chancellor has “made no decision on the matter,” but confirmed that he is scheduled to review the matter. Owyang said that she and four of the letter’s signatories are scheduled to meet with Birgeneau and university officials on Nov. 15. 

UC Berkeley’s main campus releases over 150,000 tons of greenhouse gas equivalents each year. That translates into roughly enough carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide to fill more than 11,500 Goodyear blimps, concluded a campus sustainability assessment released earlier this year. 

“The fact that they agreed to meet in the first place is the most telling part,” said Thomas Kelly, director of KyotoUSA, a grassroots non-profit organization that works with communities to promote adoption of the protocol. 

At the Alameda County Conference of Mayors on Wednesday, Bates, along with San Leandro Mayor Shelia Young and Hayward Mayor Roberta Cooper, introduced a proposal that would have all 14 cities within Alameda County work together to reduce their emissions. 

“I am exceptionally proud of the work Berkeley has done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Bates in a statement. “By setting up a regional greenhouse gas reduction effort, we can work together to make a far more significant dent in emissions and be an example of cooperation for other regions to follow.” 

In January, the Berkeley City Council formally endorsed the Kyoto Protocol, only to announce a few months later that it had reduced emissions from municipal operations by 14 percent since 2002—far exceeding the protocol’s requirements. 

Then in September, Berkeley became the fourth city to join the Chicago Climate Exchange. The nationwide association of over 100 public and private entities calls on its members to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by one percent each year. Members who do not meet the reduction goal can buy emissions credits from others through a stock market-like trading scheme. 

“If we want to be a model, we have to find ways to partner up,” said Cisco DeVries, the mayor’s chief of staff. “We’ve got to reduce emissions community-wide. That obviously includes the university and all the people that drive to and from it.” 

The Mayor and Chancellor Birgeneau have discussed how they can work collaboratively on the greenhouse gas problem, said De Vries. 

Taking its cue from Berkeley’s use of biodiesel in many of its municipal vehicles, Owyang is spearheading an effort to convert campus recycling vehicles to the vegetable-based fuel.  

The citywide switch from diesel to biodiesel and other alternative fuels is credited with reducing Berkeley’s city vehicle emissions by 47 percent. 

De Vries also praised the UC system’s Green Building policy. Passed in 2004, the policy set a goal of procuring 20 percent of the electricity used throughout the UC system from renewable sources by 2017.  

But the university still has a long way to go. As the campus grows, its consumption of both electricity and steam heat, the two biggest contributors to campus greenhouse emissions, are projected to increase drastically, according to the sustainability assessment. 

“They have the expertise, they have the brain power” to adopt and implement the Kyoto Protocol at UC Berkeley, said Kelly. “Now they need the impetus.”  

›

Given their penultimate chance to raise issues for the environmental impact report on the new Berkeley Bowl store planned for the corner of Ninth Street and Heinz Avenue, most speakers focused on one issue: traffic. 

The Planning Commission was the venue of the scoping session, in which concerned members of the public were allowed to raise issues they thought should be included in the official report examining potential impacts of new development and possible ways to alleviate them. 

The largest share of the 55 or so people who filled the seats at Wednesday night’s Planning Commission were parents of students in the Ecole Bilingue—also called the French School—which is located at the northeast corner of the intersection cater-corner from the store site. 

Their biggest single concern was the threat that increased traffic generated by the new market might pose to their children as they were dropped off and picked up from school. 

Sally Drach, who spoke on behalf of the other parents, said they welcomed the addition of the market as “a positive project and welcome to the neighborhood,” but said their concerns were directly related to the safety of the students and parking. 

Traffic, she said, was the foremost issue, both for students parents were delivering to and picking up from the school and for pedestrians crossing an intersection that will see heavier traffic as a result of the development.  

Drach said she and the other parents were skeptical of findings in the project’s draft environmental impact report (EIR) that indicated the new store would cause no significant increase in traffic on Ninth Street north of the school or at the Ninth and Heinz intersection. 

“We want to discourage traffic on Ninth Street” either by means of fixed barriers or moveable barriers that would reduce traffic during drop-off and pickup times. 

“Additional measures can only serve to benefit the project and reassure the community so that it will allow us all to welcome the Berkeley Bowl into our community,” she said. 

Drach also said that she expected that, despite the surface and underground lots included in the plans for the project, surface streets around the store would see an increase in parking “because they are providing only slightly more spaces than are required by law.” 

The school has limited parking, and the reduction of on street parking—plans call for elimination of 35 spaces—and the inevitable use some of the remaining spaces by store customers will make it harder for parents and school staff to find parking spots. 

Other parents expressed concerns about the impact of construction on students, while parent Janice Kim, a pediatrician and a public health officer, said she was concerned about the impact of heavier traffic near the school and emissions that could pose health risks to students. 

Lise McAdams, a resident of the low-rental artists’ lofts building at 800 Heinz Ave., said she was concerned not only with the traffic and parking impacts of a new market, but of their cumulative impacts when weighed with other major development projects currently planned for the immediate area. 

McAdams also said that colleagues at her San Francisco workplace who commuted past Berkeley were telling her that they would swing by the new market on their way home, further increasing traffic on Ashby Avenue. 

A major new laboratory/manufacturing building now planned for 740 Heinz Ave. will add to the traffic burdens, she said, “and there are rumors of an expansion of car dealerships in the area.” 

Mayor Tom Bates is seeking rezoning along the Ashby, University and Gilman avenue corridors to attract more car dealerships into the city and to prevent existing dealers from leaving in an effort to raise the city’s sales tax revenues. 

Contrary to the study done for the draft EIR, McAdams said, “an independent traffic study already concluded that traffic was at capacity” along Ashby. “Seventh Street backs up two or three blocks just so drivers with be able to turn onto Ashby,” she said. 

Ecole Bilingue attorney Dave Bowie reiterated the parking and traffic concerns. 

“They need to be studied more fully, and I think the traffic” impacts are underestimated, he said. 

Mary Lou Van De Venter, a co-founder of Urban Ore, reiterated the concern that Ashby traffic was already at capacity, comparing it to a river about to overflow its banks. Widening Ashby wasn’t an option, she said, because it would involve extensive structural demolitions. 

Two speakers specifically commented on benefits the project could bring to the poor and those without cars in a West Berkeley that lacked an opportunity to buy a wide range of fresh organic produce. 

West Berkeley resident Christine Staples said the market was needed “as a matter of public health and economic justice.” 

Natalie Studer, a registered dietician who holds a master’s in public health, presented a 2003 study she and two other researchers had prepared on the Berkeley Bowl, subtitled “How Politics, Policy, and Community Affect Food Access.” 

The document reports how West and southwest Berkeley have the city’s highest rates of low-income and minority tenants, who have the least access to fresh produce and other healthy food. 

“This is an opportunity to improve the availability of food to people in need,” she said. “It will bring affordable healthy food to West Berkeley.” 

The final scoping session was held last night (Thursday) at the Zoning Adjustments Board meeting.›

Due to a copy editing error, Joe Eaton’s Nov. 8 column did not run in its entirety. The complete article is available on our website: www.berkeleydailyplanet.com.2

Campbell Coe, legendary resident of Berkeley and Seattle, Wash., died in his sleep at 4 p.m. on Oct. 2. Campbell’s six-year battle with prostate cancer ended in Honeydew Home, a hospice, in Renton, Wash. He was 81. 

Campbell was born Jan. 15, 1924 to Herbert E. Coe, the pioneer pediatric surgeon in the Northwest, and Lucy Coe of Seattle. 

Campbell worked in broadcast journalism during the 1940s, specializing in radio news. About 1951 he enrolled as an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley, graduating with the class is 1955. He then became a graduate student in biochemistry at UC Berkeley. 

An exceptionally skilled craftsman, he spent several years in the mid-1950s engineering and manufacturing custom-cast and -machined models of live-steam locomotives. He also began performing country and western music by playing guitar, singing, and learning the patois of masters of ceremonies. During this same time Campbell taught himself stringed musical instrument repair, and was in part-time business by May 1956. 

At this time the folk music revival in the mid-to-late 1950s began and old musical instruments were rediscovered. Prior to Campbell’s entry into the repair field and instrument sales, the sole East Bay craftsman was violin repair expert, John Aschow, of Oakland. Campbell’s repair skills filled an important niche for myriad banjo and guitar owners. He initially repaired fretted instruments out of his third floor apartment at 2419 Haste St.; he also became a supplier of fretted instrument accouterments (e.g., picks, strings, capos, cases) to locals and some regional music merchants. 

When Jon and Deirdre Lundberg came to Berkeley in 1960 to open a music store, Campbell helped them found Jon and Deirdre Lundberg Fretted Instruments. Lundbergs’ became the preeminent acoustic repair and sales store on the West Coast in the 1960s and 1970s, specializing in instruments constructed before World War II. 

Campbell’s business success soon outgrew his apartment, which prompted him in 1961 to open the Campus Music Shop at 2506 Haste St., near Telegraph Avenue. Business at the Campus Music Shop began to wane in the early 1970s. As the ‘70s wore on, transactions diminished incrementally until Campbell finally sold or packed his equipment prior to returning to Seattle. 

The legacy of his craftsmanship endures: for example, he inspired Hideo Kamimoto, three-year part-time apprentice (and sales representative), who in 1967 founded H. Kamimoto Stringed Instruments in Oakland, now in San Jose; Mike Stevens, of Alpine, Texas; Richard Johnston, of Gryphon Music, Palo Alto; and Larry Blom, Oregon, to enter luthiery. 

Campbell was a stellar guitarist, exceptionally versatile and extemporaneous, who played country music (e.g., country swing and Hank Snow lead guitar styles), blues, and Django Rinehardt jazz stylings, using both right-hand plectrum and finger methods. He was the bandleader of the Country Cousins. 

In his role as a musical mentor and supporter of developing musicians in the East Bay, he inspired such musicians as Sandy Rothman, Betty Montana (later a.k.a. Betty Mann), and Rick Shubb. Campbell also influenced select members of local bands, for example, the Redwood Canyon Ramblers, Country Joe & The Fish, the Cleanliness and Godliness Skiffle Band, Asleep at the Wheel, Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen, and Don Burnham’s Lost Weekend. 

He was proprietor of Aeromarine Photography, specializing in photography of ships and related maritime subjects in San Francisco Bay. He also performed freelance photography of crime scenes and events of civil disobedience in Berkeley. An avid collector of disc recordings, especially 78 r.p.m. singles, he was also a recording engineer, for example, recording the private session at his apartment with Roland and Clarence White in 1964. 

Campbell was a consummate conversationalist—occasionally to a fault. Exceptionally articulate, his diction and eloquence, doubtless polished by his days in radio, were precise and his speech irresistibly engaging. He was widely known as a raconteur who could speak knowledgeably about a kaleidoscope of subjects, not merely limited to the acknowledged specialties above. Frequently his stories were so elaborate and far-fetched that they seemed at the moment of telling to be incredible, only later to be confirmed as accurate. 

Campbell enjoyed attention, and confidently excelled in communications within the context of small groups. Despite his self-confidence, he paradoxically did not seem especially comfortable in front of large groups. His conversational arts thrived among friends. The smaller the group, the closer the friend, the more focused his conversation became. It was here his command of rhetoric, verbal nuances, and paralinguistics came to the fore. It was difficult to resist Campbell’s blandishments. 

He was well known to many as an iconoclastic, eccentric character, enjoying an improvised life of intellectual individualism in a town well known as a haven for liberals and individualists. He personified the adventurous, ad hoc spirit of Berkeley and seldom took life seriously. At times his free-wheeling spirit became irreverent, critically cynical, even impish as he perfected puns and performed as a learned jester among his coterie of friends, occasionally testing his own limits—and those of others, as well. His gregariousness and enthusiasm generously embraced those who knew him well or those whom he thought needed his support. 

His many friends held Campbell in high regard and were spellbound by his mellifluous voice, loquaciousness, and bonhomie. We all learned a lot about life, music, performing arts, and musical instruments from him. We will remember his confidence, optimism, and irrepressible spirit. 

Campbell left Berkeley to return to Seattle on June 30, 1981 to be closer to his mother. In Seattle he completed the marine diesel engineering class at Seattle Community College. He became well versed in wooden boat restoration, culminating in wooden tug boat refitting. He also helped to refurbish Hidden Valley Ranch, the family spread outside Cle Elum, Wash., which became the premier dude ranch in the state by 2003. 

Campbell’s surviving kin include his brother and sister-in-law, Bob and Bobby Coe, Mercer Island, Washington; and nephews Bruce Coe, of Cle Elum, Washington; Matt Coe; and niece Virginia Coe Garland of San Francisco. 

Memorial contributions may be made to Children’s Hospital Foundation, Department of Surgery, Herbert E. Coe Surgical Fund at PO Box 50020-5200, Seattle, WA 98145. 

Photograph by Carl Fleishauer..

Women have had a bruising time in the public eye lately, ranging from Judith Miller’s deceptive reports in the New York Times to Harriet Miers’ embarrassing qualifications for the Supreme Court. So when a woman manages to outperform the most confident governor in America, it’s worth celebrating.  

On Tuesday, Nov. 8, every one of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s pet initiatives failed, in large part because of Rose Ann DeMoro, the chief executive of the California Nurses Association (CNA). She and her 65,000-member union spent most of this year building a broad-based populist movement that the once-powerful governor tried to dismiss with glib one-liners.  

Certainly, one reason Schwarzenegger’s initiatives failed was widespread anger over his $70 million “special” election. Lengthening the probationary period before teachers can qualify for tenure (Prop. 74), weakening the unions (Prop. 75), bypassing elected lawmakers on fiscal matters (Prop. 76) and privatizing the redistricting process (Prop. 77) were not going to solve California’s financial problems.  

But voters may not have gotten this message if it weren’t for DeMoro and her indefatigable nurses. Early on they stressed that Schwarzenegger’s election was a corporate power grab at the expense of California workers. The nurses hammered home this message almost daily, even when they risked being ostracized. As Lou Paulson, head of the California Professional Firefighters, said: “Rose Ann and the nurses showed us that the emperor had no clothes.”  

Their activism started last November, after Schwarzenegger suspended key portions of the state’s nurse-to-patient ratio to help hospital chains. “That really angered us,” says DeMoro. But the nurses protested tentatively, almost timidly, until one pivotal day last December.  

While the governor addressed a state convention of 10,000 women, a few nurses unfurled a protest banner that read “Hands Off Patient Ratios.” Schwarzenegger grinned for the TV cameras, then said: “Pay no attention ... to the special interests. I am always kicking their butts.”  

DeMoro was outraged. “For the governor to denigrate nurses—a historically female profession—while speaking to an audience of women is an affront to women everywhere,” she told CNN. Because Schwarzenegger had shut them out of the health-care debate, the nurses decided to take their case to the streets.  

“We were told to not make waves, that the people of California would turn against us to support their popular governor,” DeMoro says. At the time, Schwarzenegger had a 65-percent approval rating, along with fawning cover stories in Fortune and Vanity Fair magazines.  

Even so, the nurses continued marching while the state’s firefighters, teachers, and law enforcement unions watched from the sidelines.  

DeMoro rented a plane to buzz wealthy guests at the governor’s gated Brentwood mansion during his Super Bowl Sunday party. The nurses flew it over Wall Street while the governor held a $10,000-a-plate fundraiser there. They dogged him in Chicago at a lavish fundraiser, flying a banner that read “Don’t Be Big Business’ Bully.”  

When the governor reneged on his oft-repeated promise to restore $2 billion to education cuts in February, students and teachers joined the nurses. They gathered with pickets one rainy day at a Sacramento theater where the governor was about to watch the premiere of Get Shorty 2.  

But when nurse Kelly Di Giacomo was whisked out of the movie line and into a back room, protesters grew worried. The governor’s security team grilled the petite nurse for over an hour until she finally asked why they considered her a threat. One of Schwarzenegger’s bodyguards pointed to her scrubs and explained. “You’re wearing a nurse’s uniform.”  

“Oh, sure,” she said, drolly. “The international terrorist uniform.”  

That intimidating experience emboldened the nurses, whose protests began attracting media attention. By spring, TV news cameras were moving their soft-lens focus from Schwarzenegger to the growing crowds of angry workers, most of them women.  

In March, Schwarzenegger’s popularity dropped to 55 percent, and a California court ruled that the governor had indeed broken the law by suspending the state’s nurse-ratio regulation. By then, however, the governor was trying to gut California firefighters’ and police officers’ pensions, mimicking a Bush administration proposal.  

That effort galvanized the conservative law enforcement community to join DeMoro’s ranks for the first time. That spring, firefighters joined a crowd of 4,000 nurses, parents, teachers, and state employees to object to the governor’s rash of cuts to middle- and lower-class programs.  

By April, even die-hard Republicans were growing wary of the governor’s company. When former Secretary of State George Shultz showed up for an Arnold fundraiser in San Francisco, he was visibly shaking as 5,000 booing protesters met him in front of the Ritz Carlton Hotel.  

Hotel workers later reported that 80 percent of the $100,000 seats went empty that day. “I’m convinced that the protesters scared them away,” said CNA organizer Shum Preston.  

By summer, the folly of holding a special election seemed obvious, but DeMoro didn’t let up. In August, CNA nurses flew to Boston to protest Schwarzenegger as he tried raising election funds by re-selling three dozen Rolling Stones tickets in his sky-box for $100,000 each.  

Picketing CNA nurse Stephen Ingersoll couldn’t afford a ticket to the Fenway Park concert, but he stood outside and calmly explained his, and CNA’s position to Boston reporters. A group of non-union nurses were so impressed with his aplomb, they asked Ingersoll: “How do you guys do this?”  

It’s simple, he told them: “When there’s an issue that needs to be debated, we just go to the streets.”  

By September, DeMoro and the nurses were inviting workers of all stripes to join them, which attracted some Hollywood guild members. Documentary film maker Robert Greenwald (Wal-Mart), Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn and movie actress Annette Bening attended the nurses’ convention in September, where Warren Beatty had asked to be the keynote speaker.  

“We’re fighting star power with star power,” said DeMoro. By the time Beatty lent his voice to CNA ads that ran up to election day, Schwarzenegger’s ratings had sunk to a low of 37 percent.  

“Instead of attacking the real problems of our schools, Schwarzenegger attacked school teachers,” Beatty said. “Instead of attacking the cost of healthcare, he attacked nurses. Instead of increasing our safety, he attacked police and firefighters.”  

That tactical mistake cost Schwarzenegger his special election initiatives and turned California’s nurses into grass-roots heroes in other parts of the country.  

Nurses in Illinois, Massachusetts, Arizona, and Mississippi have asked DeMoro for help in challenging the growing clout of corporate hospital chains and other states’ anti-worker initiatives. To be effective, the CNA has created a subsidiary called the National Nurses Organizing Committee, which allows it to organize nurses outside of the Golden State. This fall, the NNOC welcomed 2,000 Chicago nurses into their fold, and it anticipates more members by year’s end.  

As for Schwarzenegger, he’s lost more than his special election. He’s managed to squander his once-bright political future and to jeopardize the pro-business platforms of other Republican leaders in outlying blue states.  

And all because of a woman. 

Kathleen Sharp is a Santa Barbara-based writer who covers California politics. She is the co-producer of the documentary The Last Mogul, in theaters now.›

“The World Can’t Wait! Drive Out the Bush Regime! The World Can’t Wait! Drive Out the Bush Regime!” was the battle cry of some Bay Area residents last Wednesday. 

On Nov. 2, many Berkeley High students and adults, including teachers, walked out of school after second period to join the San Francisco protest against the Bush administration. 

“I tried to be as supportive as I could of the students’ efforts,” said Berkeley High Principal Jim Slemp. “My goal was to make sure that students were not going to be hassled if they wanted to leave. Also, I tried to make sure that absences were able to be excused. It would be illegal to have the whole school participate in the walkout, but I did the most I could to support the students.” 

While the principal may have approved of the walkout, there were school board members who did not. 

“I want our students in class,” said Berkeley School Board Director John Selawsky. “Being a student is essentially a job. Kids can’t just walk off the job without realizing the consequences.” 

The majority of Berkeley High students who walked out did attend the protest in order to show their disdain for the current administration, but some just skipped school to hang out. 

“I felt that it was important to show how many people cared and that high school students care too,” said sophomore Emma Bloom, 15. “There weren’t just old hippies ... there was a variation of support.” 

At the rally, people came from all walks of life. There were students, adults, homeless people, people of different sexual orientations, and people of all different races. 

However, some students questioned the aim of the rally, as well as teachers’ support of it. 

“My son and his friends showed up after lunch was over, because they said that their teachers had told them that there wasn’t going to be much happening during class,” said BHS parent Laura Menard. “They thought that the kids were being manipulated to get involved with the rally.” 

The protest was relatively peaceful. It began with a line of speakers, such as Cindy Sheehan and Supervisor Chris Daly, rallying up crowds at Civic Center Park in San Francisco. Following this, there was a march with a couple of thousand people. High school kids organized several sit-ins, but were eventually shooed away to avoid getting arrested. 

The only time when the protest got violent was when a person threw a Molotov cocktail at the San Francisco Chronicle office buildings. Immediately, about 50 police officers surrounded the area to see what had happened. 

Bloom said, “The Molotov cocktails diverted attention from the protest. The news was focused more on that than on the protest.” 

The organizers of the rally, The World Can’t Wait, hope to organize millions of people to “express their outrage, to speak the truth, to act with urgency and form an organized political resistance.” While many were excited with how the rally went, some offered advice for next time. 

“I think that it would have been much more effective for the organizers to coordinate with teachers to take their students to the event,” said Berkeley Councilmember Kriss Worthington. “That way the average daily attendance would not go down, and the schools would not lose their money.” 

Rio Bauce is a sophomore at Berkeley High School. He can be contacted by e-mail at baucer@gmail.com 

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Bay of Pigs Redux?  

The U.S. State Department has apparently drawn up a plan to intervene in Cuba in the event Fidel Castro should die. According to the Financial Times (FT), Caleb McCarry heads the “day after” team, which will, according to McCarry, “manage the transition process between Fidel’s death and a democratic Cuba, because we know that at some point, that is going to happen.” 

State Department officials told the FT that the Untied States would never “accept” a handover of power in Cuba to someone like Castro’s brother, Raul. While McCarry says his office will be “respectful of the Cuban people and their wish to be free,” the only Cubans who will be consulted live in Miami. “They are the ones to define a democratic future for Cuba,” says McCarry. 

The National Intelligence Council recently added Cuba to its list of 25 countries where the United States has plans to intervene in the case of “instability.” The Cuba “day after” scheme comes out of the Office for Reconstruction and Stabilization headed by Cuban refugee Carlos Pascual.  

The plan calls for immediate intervention to insure “schools are kept open, and provided with new instructional material and staff,” and to impose a “market economy.” 

The congressionally funded U.S. Institute of Peace bowed out of the operation, because, “This was an exercise in destabilization, not stabilization,” one Peace Institute official told the FT. 

McCarry let slip what an intervention scenario might look like when he told the newspaper the “transition genie is out of the bottle”: Castro dies, Miami Cubans and a few small opposition groups inside the country call for intervention, and in go the Marines. And these people think Iraq is ugly?  

Other countries on the list are Nepal, Sudan, Haiti and the Congo, although you can scratch Haiti. We already pulled that one off.  

Iran 

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent demagogic remark that Israel “must be wiped off the face of the map” had less to do with any change in Iranian foreign policy than the ongoing war between political elites in Iran and an increasingly disillusioned populace. 

It was one of those remarks, as Mark Lawson of the Guardian pointed out last week, which should have been preceded by the old British Foreign Office phrase: “Speaking for domestic consumption.”  

Under Iran’s current political structure, Ahmadinejad may have access to the bully pulpit, but his office wields very little actual power. Mehdi Bazargan, the first president of the Islamic Republic, once described his job as being “A knife without a blade.” 

The real power lies with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who supported Ahmadinejad in the last election. But no sooner were the ballots counted than Khamenei began shifting power to the Expediency Council, chaired by Ahmadinejad’s chief rival, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The council’s powers have been expanded to oversee virtually every branch of government. 

Khamenei also appointed Muhammad Ghalibaf (another Ahmadinejad rival) mayor of Teheran, the current president’s old job. Ahmadinejad is apparently in such a snit over this that so far he has refused to invite Ghalibaf to a cabinet meeting. 

In a clear effort to tamp down the uproar over the Israel remark, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement that “Iran is committed to its obligations stated in the United Nations Charter and it never tried to use force or threat against a second country.” Even so, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan canceled his trip to Tehran. 

On the surface this looks like a split between so-called “realists” trying to end Iran’s isolation and conservative “fundamentalists.” But things are not always what they appear in Teheran. Much of the “realist” wing is centered among those who have made fortunes by manipulating Iran’s internal policy and cornering sections of the economy. Rafsanjani may be a “realist,” but he is also a multi-millionaire who is cheek to jowl with the mullahs who have used the Islamic revolution to line their pockets and consolidate their power. 

Ahmadinejad’s anti-corruption campaign was aimed directly at these “Islamic profiteers.” He won, in large part, because the average Iranian is enraged at the corruption of these religious entrepreneurs and with the country’s growing gap between “haves,” and “have nots.”  

While Ahmadinejad was off giving a bombastic speech at the U.N., Rafsanjani went to Saudi Arabia to hand out assurances that the new president would not be setting foreign policy for Iran. Ahmadinejad struck back by declaring that he intends to replace most of the Iranian diplomatic corps, but, given that Parliament has been knocking down some of the new president’s appointees, whether he will succeed is not clear. 

One indication of how this fight is going will be if Iran moderates Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric in the upcoming negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency.  

Now that the election is over and the liberals largely sidelined, the real powers in Iran are apparently moving to put the anti-corruption genie back in the lamp. As for Ahmadinejad’s threat to Israel? As the Guardian’s Lawson puts it, “just wind.”  

Oh, Canada 

Question: Why did the Canadian chicken cross the road? 

Answer: To get to the middle. 

Which sums up the view that most Americans have of our northern neighbor. But there was Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice late last month rebuking Canadians for “speaking in apocalyptic language.”  

Canadians? 

You bet. That’s what happens when you pull a bait and switch on someone.  

It all started when we got the Canadians to sign the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and then turned around and slapped $5 billion in tariffs on Canadian lumber products because we said the latter were “subsidized.” Canadian products are no more subsidized than U.S. lumber (both get major deals when they cut trees on public land), but the tariff was a payoff to western lumber interests, which donated heavily to the Republican Party.  

The Canadians sued and won. But the U.S. turned around and appealed to the World Trade Organization, which has nothing to do with NAFTA, and is a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary. To no one’s great surprise, the WTO ruled in favor of the U.S. 

When Rice went to Ottawa last month, journalists asked her whether she thought the United States could be “trusted”? It was that question which set her off. 

The Canadians are so incensed over the tariff (and the fact that Rice visited 42 other countries before bothering to visit Ottawa) that they upgraded their relations with Beijing to “strategic partner” and announced they would start shifting oil sales to China. Canada supplies about 8 percent of U.S. consumption and may have the second-largest oil reserves in the world. 

Time to retire all the Canadian “nice guy” jokes. 

A Must Read 

Patrick Cockburn’s smart and erudite report on the Iraq War in Counter Punch is a reminder that being “embedded” once meant you were a reporter, not a stenographer handing out Pentagon press releases. 

“The need for the White House to produce a fantasy picture of Iraq is because it dare not admit that it has engineered one of the greatest disasters in American history,” Cockburn writes, “It is worse than Vietnam because the enemy is punier and the original ambitions greater.” 

You can access the piece at www.counterpunch.org, or subscribe: CounterPunch, P.O. Box 228, Petrolia, Ca. 95558. (Truth in advertising: They occasionally run pieces by me.) 

›

It’s hard for a politician to lose more decisively than California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger did on Tuesday night. And within moments after Mr. Schwarzenegger made his concession speech at a Beverly Hills hotel on Tuesday night, political observers were calling this a self-inflicted wound, accusing the governor and his advisors of hubris, overreaching in an attempt to stuff their mouths with political power. 

Respectfully, I’m going to have to disagree with the prevailing political wisdom. 

What did Mr. Schwarzenegger in was time. And in a truly Einsteinian twist, the governor was plagued both by too much of it, and too little, simultaneously. 

Regarding the issue of too much time 

Movie actors at the upper levels of box office stardom—as Mr. Schwarzenegger once was—operate on a public exposure schedule that roughly coincides with their movie releases. Except for teaser appearances here and there, such stars virtually disappear from public view for months while they are preparing for and filming their newest feature. Then, in the weeks immediately preceding that movie’s release, they are suddenly everywhere: on bus billboards and television commercials, on Oprah, on Larry King and Leno and everything in between, interviewing up to their eyeballs. You can’t get rid of them. The idea is to overwhelm the public, saturate us with their presence, make us believe that YOU HAVE JUST GOT TO GO SEE THAT MOVIE, OR YOU ARE GOING TO JUST DIE! These campaigns are all exquisitely timed to peak right at opening weekend. After that, except for the occasional carefully scripted promotional appearance or red carpet stroll, the stars disappear again until the next movie comes up, beginning the cycle anew. 

Mr. Schwarzenegger proved an absolute genius in this format and if his movies were not critical successes, they certainly performed magnificently at the box office. And because of the shortened time span of the 2003 California gubernatorial recall race, he was initially able to translate the winning formula to that arena as well, overwhelming the state’s voting public with a clever combination of star power and clever quips that translated into interesting sound bites. 

What those tactics masked was that over the long haul—when you listen to more than three minutes of one of his speeches or see him on the news more than a couple of nights in a row—Mr. Schwarzenegger tends to grate on your nerves. 

This is not ideological. Eventually, Ronald Reagan’s sunny personality and self-deprecating humor wore away much of the grumpiness of his Democratic and progressive opponents, even while they continued to blast away at his positions and policies. Mr. Schwarzenegger does just the opposite. The more you see of him, the more he gives you to fuel your anger against him, until you begin to forget what made you mad in the first place, and just know that you are mad. It’s like the worst of marriages. 

But it was the very boastful, World Wrestling Federation-type persona that made Mr. Schwarzenegger such a hit as first a body-building personality and then a movie star that got him into trouble as a politician. He began his body-building career baiting the shy and stuttering Lou Ferragamo and carried those activities into his action-figure movie roles. His fans loved it when his robot character blew away the bad guys in Terminator 2 with the deadpan line “Hasta la vista, baby,” or, in the midst of kicking Bill Duke’s ass in Commando, declaring “I eat Green Berets for breakfast. And right now I’m very hungry.” He was even able to get away with overt battery on a female, punching out movie wife Sharon Stone in Total Recall while telling her “consider this a divorce.” Audiences went for it because, like Jessica Rabbit, Stone’s character had been drawn to be so bad. 

In that cartoon-type movie world Mr. Schwarzenegger once ruled, those lines got the governor the greatest applause, both in the theaters and during promotional tours. But he got in trouble when he tried to repeat them in the real world during his political battles, once famously calling the Democratic members of the state Legislature “girlie men” or boasting that “the special interests don’t like me in Sacramento, because I am always kicking their butts.” These were all delivered with cigar-smoking winks, and the California voters were all supposed to know that this was part of a great joke, not to be taken seriously. But the mostly-women members of the “special interest” groups he was targeting at that particular time—teachers and nurses—were not amused, and neither were many of the state’s voters. 

Worse than that, the political demands of the governor’s office did not allow Mr. Schwarzenegger to manipulate his onscreen time as he was able to do when he was only in the movies. And the more California voters saw of him, the less they seemed to like of him. His problem here, then, was that there was too much time to get to know him. 

Regarding the issue of too little time 

The term of a state governor—or a United States president—is set at four years, but in actuality, that only gives two years of governing time for the first-termer. By the third year, with opposition candidates identifying themselves and making speeches and giving interviews, the incumbent’s actions start coming under the political microscope again. And the fourth year, of course, is taken up entirely by the campaign for re-election. 

But because he was elected following the recall of former Gov. Gray Davis after one year in office, Mr. Schwarzenegger had only three years to serve his term. That left him, in actuality, only one year to build up a political resumé, forcing him into some quick fixes with long-term consequences. He fulfilled his campaign promise to lower California’s unpopularly high automobile-registration fee. In so doing, however, he left himself with less available money to work on California’s severe budget crisis, a problem he had also promised to fix. That led him to the infamous education compact of 2004, the deal in which Mr. Schwarzenegger won the promise of state primary and college leaders to forego full educational funding for one year in return for the governor’s guarantee of a restoration of that funding in perpetuity beginning the following year. 

But Mr. Schwarzenegger could not keep his promise to those educators to put back their state funding if he was going to both return fiscal solvency to the state budget as well as avoid raising taxes, two of the platforms on which he won the governorship. Thus, he faced began 2005 with bleak prospects, looking at a year in which opposition to his policies would mount as his ability to both govern and maneuver politically would correspondingly dwindle. 

Thus was born the self-titled “Year of Reform” in which Mr. Schwarzenegger decided to stake the future of his governorship on one diceroll: a special election in which he would go over the heads of the unions and state educational establishment and the Democratic Party opposition and ask the state’s voters to grant him sweeping powers to deal with the state’s problems. His hope was in part that returning to the limited format of an election campaign, he could recapture the popularity that won him the governorship in the first place. 

It was a gamble, and Mr. Schwarzenegger lost that gamble, about as badly as you can. But given the political realities—both his own limitations as well as the limitations of time—it’s not clear he had much choice. Mr. Schwarzenegger limps, now, into the 2006 election as a wounded governor, the political hellhounds at his heels. But that’s probably the same scenario he would have faced anyway, without the special election. This wasn’t so much a case of hubris as it was a case of had-to-be inevitability.›

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.

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WHIRLEY CRANE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Nov. 8 article “Historic Crane Docks At Richmond Park” contained a glaring error. The Whirley crane was not used to build “the cruisers and battleships that sailed out into the Pacific and helped win the naval war for the United States,” since Kaiser’s Richmond shipyards built no cruisers nor battleships. Battleships and cruisers were built in a few Naval shipyards especially designed to accommodate their much larger size and weight.  

Precisely 519 of the 747 ships built in Richmond were Liberty ships, slow “ugly ducklings” manned by merchant mariners. An additional 142 ships, including the Berkeley Victory, were Victory class. These ships carried raw material to our factories, and troops and war supplies to the fighting fronts and to Navy ships at sea, assuring Allied victory in World War II. 

Henry Kaiser made his mark by adopting mass production methods to shipbuilding, lowering construction cost of a Liberty ship to less than $2 million dollars each. A Liberty ship comprised 250,000 parts weighing about 14 million pounds. As a publicity stunt, the Richmond yards built one in four days, 15 hours and 29 minutes, while the average was about 30 days.  

Readers can see photos of the record-setting Liberty ship SS Robert E. Peary at www.usmm.org/peary.html and can visit the SS Jeremiah O’Brien, one of two remaining Liberty ships of the 2,710 which were built, at San Francisco’s Pier 45 1/2. 

Toni Horodysky 

Webmistress, American Merchant Marine at War, www.usmm.org 

• 

OVERLOOKED 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Berkeley’s Latinos, and in particular Mexicanos, are often overlooked in political discussion of who are our strong “liberals” and “progressives.” It is said that the Latino community is in flux, or in other ways hard to evaluate. But state-wide results for the Nov. 8 election reveal one very large Latino (mostly Mexicano) community that showed itself outstandingly liberal and worthy of attention and support. 

Imperial county is 72 percent Hispanic, mostly Mexican. On Propositions 74, 76, 77, 79 and 80, Imperial beat out Los Angeles to stand as the most “liberal” county in Southern California. On Prop. 79 the Imperial vote was more liberal than Alameda, and second in the state to San Francisco. 

The people of Imperial county tend to be poor, and in our Latte Liberal world of Berkeley it is lamented that too little is known about what actual poor people want. The vote in Imperial county shows that what is wanted is medical care. It is wanted so bad that the Imperial folk will take anything they can get. The Imperials were not only second in the state for Prop. 79, their vote for Prop. 78 was the highest percentage in the state. 

Ted Vincent  

• 

OREGON STREET  

Editors, Daily Planet: 

After reading with interest the letters to the Daily Planet about the drug dealing from a house on Oregon Street, I am left with the impression that if is not your front yard that is being pissed on and not your property on which are tossed drug needles and used condoms, you can become concerned about the lack of compassion for a nice African American grandmother homeowner of this house and her 37 grandchildren who are then said to be victims of racism and poverty. 

Of course the letters that could be written might be about where these drugs come from and why there have not been more arrests for the drug dealing. 

Max Macks 

• 

THE FIRST CREDO 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

My heart goes out to those South Berkeley neighbors who have suffered the ravages of a crime-plagued neighborhood, been forced to look to a small claims court action when all other efforts failed, and now must endure the taunts of “racist” for merely seeking a peaceful neighborhood. 

The first credo of any Berkeley lefty is to always call your opponent a racist. But aren’t those screaming about racism in this instance, e.g., Andrea Pritchett and Leo Stegman, the real racists? They’re saying we should accept that black neighborhoods have a lot of crime. 

Of course, it is a little hard to feel sorry for Paul Rauber who works at the Sierra Club, an organization that likes to engage in race-baiting. A few years ago, the Sierra Club was overtaken by a wave of political correctness, withdrew its policy that called for reduced immigration along with reduced birthrates as part of a comprehensive plan to stabilize the population of the U.S. Prominent environmentalists such as E.O. Wilson, Lester Brown, Sen. Gaylord Nelson, and David Brower said that was wrong. The Sierra Club response was to smear its critics, especially candidates for the board of directors, as “racists” and “nazis.” 

Sometimes what goes around, comes around. 

Mark Johnson 

• 

SIDESTEPPING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The very public dispute between Lenora Moore’s family and her neighbors has a seductive “which side are you on” quality, tempting people to comment as to whether participants are showing too much compassion or not enough. But by suggesting to the afflicted neighborhood that a civil suit is the appropriate course, the City of Berkeley neatly sidestepped its own responsibility to keep streets safe, something we all know it can do when it wants to.  

There is no politician in Berkeley whose street, if similarly plagued with problematic behavior, would not be problem-free in minutes. The police, moreover, have had years of political backing for all manner of extra “tools” (anti-loitering, pepper spray, wooden and rubber bullets, etc.) without which they claimed to be helpless.  

Come help rebuild the People’s Park freebox. You’ll be suddenly and instantly surrounded by at least a dozen police officers equipped with video cameras who will videotape even a singing circle. You’ll suddenly realize that this town has all the police it needs and can accomplish anything it needs to once it straightens out its priorities. 

Carol Denney 

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FREEBOX 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

UC is trying to privatize the give-away box at People’s Park. The freebox which started out with a cardboard box had grown over the last 30-some years, to a wooden covered large box. So has the second-hand clothing industry, which is now one of the United States’ leading exports.  

Used clothing that was intended to go to the poor, in most cases, is now sold to corporations for profit. Then the used clothing is sent to Africa. There it has become 80 percent of the local textile sales. This has put millions of workers out of work in Africa. 

There is no charity when it comes to the trade in used clothing. This is a lucrative business.  

Last spring the People’s Park freebox was burned down. This is the third time this has happened but this time the gathering of the repressive forces‚ organizing around “blaming the victims for the way they must live,” has led to an attack by UC. The freebox was torched and UC will not let us build a replacement. 

Up until the late ‘60s, many African Americans and poor people could not venture east of MLK (formally Grove Street) in Berkeley. You know why: the police! But with the civil rights and anti-Vietnam war movements, People’s Park was the place to go. People who were not part of the college community had and still have a hangout. The park is UC’s only class-diversity program.  

Now People’s Park is the most used park in Berkeley. There are three services in the park, free food (Food not Bombs), free clothing, and a little free speech (12 concerts or rallies a year). UC has been attacking the Food not Bombs for years and park advocates and users had to go to court to get the concert times. Now it is time to end the freebox repression. 

Come to the park on Nov. 12 around noon and help us build a new steel box.  

Michael Delacour 

• 

TAKING THE CHALLENGE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Loath as I am to reprise the battle of words about Israel in your letters column that inevitably winds up with someone likening the Daily Planet to Mein Kampf, I must award Robert Blau’s statement that “Jews are more reasonably paranoid about being in jeopardy than any other ethnic group in the history of civilization” with a prize for ethnic solipsism and meretricious victimhood. Blau follows his declaration with the challenge “Prove me wrong.”  

OK, Mr. Blau. You occupy land (California) previously inhabited by a people whose numbers by 1913 were reduced to less than 6 percent of what they had been in 1769 at the moment of white contact. That genocide is only a subset of the largely unknown Holocaust that overwhelmed Native Americans throughout the Western Hemisphere in the past 500 years as Gentiles and Jews forcibly took virtually everything they owned and often massacred them when disease and slavery proved insufficient to clear the land of their irksome presence. Yet I know of no museum commemorating their Holocaust in California, let alone of any serious effort to compensate their descendants for the horrors they suffered.  

Nor do I see in or on many of the Holocaust museums and monuments I have visited much, if any, mention of the persecution those of us who are gay, Roma, Slavic, African-American, or disabled have suffered throughout the centuries leading up to our own collective destruction in Nazi death camps.  

A friend asked her mother who had survived Auschwitz why most Holocaust museums concentrate on the agony of Jews to the exclusion of the rest of us, to which the lady candidly responded “Because we are white.” Is Mr. Blau prepared to state publicly that his team is worthier than the rest of us who have suffered as well?  

Gray Brechin  

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RESPONSE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Gosh. Until I read Rhoda Levinson’s letter demanding to know my education, profession, and time, place, and length of stay in Israel/Palestine, I had no idea that a curriculum vitae was a prerequisite for passing on information about upcoming events. 

While I’m on the subject, let me remind readers that “Justice Matters: Artists Consider Palestine” continues at the Berkeley Art Center on Walnut Street through Dec. 17. There are a number of worthwhile special presentations in conjunction with this exhibit. For information about them go to www.berkeleyartcenter.org. 

Also, I cannot too highly recommend the amazing Ibdaa Dance Troupe from Dheisheh refugee camp. These energetic young people will be performing at King Middle School at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 26. Make support for kids who are struggling to maintain hope under soul-crushing circumstances part of your family’s Thanksgiving celebration this year. Tickets are available at local bookstores. 

You can catch Ziad Abbas, the co-director of the Ibdaa Cultural Center in Dheisheh, at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 25 at the Berkeley Art Center. Bring your questions about life in the West Bank. 

And lastly, for holiday gifts, check out the Palestinian Handcrafts Sale at Berkeley Friends Meeting House on Walnut and Vine from 10 to 4 on Saturday, Dec. 3. Lots of moderately priced tchatchkes and the gratification of knowing your money goes to people who really need it. I suggest you get there early before the bottles of excellent olive oil sell out. (Rhoda, if I see you there, we can chat.) 

Joanna Graham 

• 

BERZERKELEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As an aside to the Berzerkeley Veterans’ Day event reported in Daily Planet and elsewhere, my quirky imagination has me wondering if the casket carrying stunt planned for Santa Monica’s Veterans’ Day observance has any credibility. Did the terrorist sympathizers in People’s Republic of Santa Monica exploiting Bill Mitchell’s grief ever stage events where participants carried caskets to mark the deaths at Khobar Towers, Mogadishu, Marine Barracks Lebanon, USS Cole, World Trade Center (twice), the Pentagon, a Pennsylvania farm field, a Bali nightclub, U.S. embassies in Africa, and several airplane disasters? If you covered any such casket-carrying stories, I guess I missed them. There’s something “fishy” about “Country Joe” McDonald inviting Bill Mitchell to Berkeley. But then, maybe not, considering “Country Joe’s” history as a former associate of Hanoi Jane Fonda. Kudos to Berkeley DAV president Ed Harper for withdrawing from the event.  

Richard Rongstad 

USN, Phu Cat to Phu Quoc, Vietnam, ’69-’70, DAV life member 

Concord 

• 

OIL INDUSTRY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Finally, the Senate is taking up the oil companies’ excessive profits. The oilmen tell us their all-time record high profits are “in line” with industry averages as a percentage of revenues. That’s not a satisfying statistic. While the world market for oil has shot up due to Bush’s war and Katrina’s response, the cost of oil production remains relatively constant. Add a fixed percentage profit margin onto higher prices and voila! higher profits. As oil companies pass the higher market prices onto us consumers, responsible companies would keep their profits at a fixed amount, not a fixed percentage. Congress should enact a Windfall Profits tax immediately, and should rescind the tax-breaks recently given to these gougers in the Energy Bill. Let them share our pain. 

Bruce Joffe 

Piedmont 

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From time to time in our nation’s history, a cultural or social upheaval has resulted in a wave of new lawmakers entering Congress. Often the triggering event has been war. John F. Kennedy was one of many young men who returned from World War II to serve the nation as political leaders, and several members of the “greatest generation” continue to serve in Congress. There are numerous Korean War and Vietnam War veterans in Congress as well, the two most prominent Vietnam veterans being former presidential candidates John Kerry (D-MA) and John McCain (R-AZ). 

It is not always a shooting war that brings sweeping change to the nation’s leadership. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, which sought to complete what post-Civil War Reconstruction had left unfinished, turned the House of Representatives from a white man’s club into a people’s house more representative of America’s diversity. In 1974, public outrage over the Watergate scandal swept a class of Democrats into office. 

In 1991, Anita Hill’s allegation of sexual harassment during Clarence Thomas’ confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court was one of the first engagements in the culture wars of the 1990s. It provoked a lively national debate over the place of women in our society and resulted in an unprecedented flood of women into Congress in 1992, which became known as “The Year of the Woman.” A second engagement in the culture wars was the 1993 debate over gays in the military, and although less dramatic, the increase in openly gay political leaders has been steady ever since. 

The congressional election of 2006 has the potential to be the next turning point in our nation’s political development. Sparked by a splendid little war gone bad and Democratic candidate Major Paul Hackett’s surprising near-victory in the heavily Republican Ohio 2nd congressional district, about 20 veterans have declared their candidacy for the House and Senate. What is odd is that it is not only Iraq War veterans who are seeking seats in Congress for the first time. In fact, a majority of the current wave are former officers and enlisted personnel with earlier military service. Why are these older soldiers turning to politics only now? 

The coming “Year of the Veteran” in 2006, while it shares some of the characteristics of previous waves of soldier-statesmen, also displays profound differences. This wave has arisen in reaction to the misguided militarism that instigated the Iraq war. This wave has also been shaped by the culture wars, by competing visions of what American values should be and how our country should conduct itself within the family of nations—“family values” in a much larger sense. 

To a large degree, the combatants in this American political insurgency have been spurred into action by their belief that the Iraq war was a mistake, and to continue a failed policy that pointlessly chews up lives and limbs is madness. They believe that the decision to send young Americans into harm’s way should not be made by “chicken hawks” who never spent a day on active duty, and in many cases never wore a uniform, yet are quick to commit the sons and daughters of others in battle. 

The horror and waste of war, and thus the gravity of the decision to go to war, can only be fully understood by those who have been there. This is not to say that military service should be a prerequisite for election to Congress or the presidency, although this might have rendered American history far less bloody. It is significant that America enjoyed its longest period without a foreign war while Civil War veterans controlled the Capitol and occupied the White House. 

People volunteer for military service not for love of war but for love of country. On Veterans’ Day and every day, let us say to all of them regardless of where or when they served, “Well done, and welcome home.” And between now and next Veterans’ Day, if a veteran asks for your vote, listen to what he or she has to say. 

Thomas Gangale is an aerospace engineer and a former Air Force officer. He is the executive director at OPS-Alaska, a think tank based in Petaluma, and an international relations scholar at San Francisco State. 

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This Tuesday the City Council will consider neighbors’ appeal of a ZAB decision approving the conversion of a small, single-story, single-family house at 2901 Otis St. into a three-story “pop-up” apartment building. One controversial aspect of this proposed project is that the developers propose to provide the three required off-street parking spaces by converting the rear yard into a parking lot. 

Planning staff have argued since May 2003 that the Zoning Ordinance allows such conversions “by right.” That is, no use permit or public hearing is required, there is nothing neighbors can do to stop them, the public has no right of appeal. The city attorney rejected this interpretation in a July staff report to the Planning Commission, finding that parking in required rear yards is prohibited unless, as at 2901 Otis, the yard abuts a street, in which case it may (at the city’s discretion) be allowed by an administrative use permit. No such AUP was issued for this project. The Zoning Adjustments Board, apparently misled by planning staff into believing that the parking was allowed by right, never discussed the detriment to the neighbors, which is a necessary prerequisite to such a discretionary action. 

In residential districts, the Zoning Ordinance also limits vehicle-related paving to 50 percent of a required yard that abuts a street. As the city attorney interpreted “abuts a street” for the Planning Commission, that limit applies to the required rear yard of 2901 Otis, which per the plans approved by ZAB would be at least 80 percent paved parking spaces and driveway. 

As regards 2901 Otis, the City Council should remand it to the ZAB to reconsider parking in light of the city attorney’s findings. More generally, the City Council should discuss the underlying policy issues and provide appropriate guidance to planning staff, ZAB, and the Planning Commission (scheduled to consider revising the relevant sections of the Zoning Ordinance on Nov. 30). 

The diagram shows how allowing parking in required yards affects the maximum development possible on typical 5,000-square-foot corner lots in much of Berkeley, including R-2A, R-3, R-4, and C-SA districts. If parking is allowed only in the non-required portion of the yard, there’s room for only one space, and thus only one unit. If parking is also allowed in the required portion of the yard, there’s room for three spaces, giving developers a strong incentive to convert single-family homes with ample rear yards to three-story, three-unit apartment buildings with the legal minimum of open space. 

Apartments with parking lots instead of yards are unsuitable for families with children. Three-unit buildings are too small to fall under the Zoning Ordinance’s inclusionary housing requirements. Is that the sort of infill development city councilmembers want to promote? 

It seems to me that parking in required yards is fundamentally detrimental to the immediate neighbors, the neighborhood, and the city as a whole. Thus it should be allowed only when it allows some offsetting benefit to neighbors, such as preserving open space on another part of the lot, or to the city as a whole, allowing construction of affordable housing that would otherwise not be practical. Parking should not be allowed in required yards simply to let developers make more money than they would were it located inside the building or if the number of units were reduced. 

Robert Lauriston led neighborhood opposition to the similar “pop-up” project at 3045 Shattuck. 

It seems even in Berkeley McCarthy-like tactics are alive and well. Because Andrea Prichett has the temerity to note the many-layered nuances of the issues of drugs and crime and their relationship to poverty, racism and injustice, her job is threatened by one of the plaintiffs in the small claims court suit telephoning her place of employment. It is naïve and disingenuous to ignore the direct relationship that these issues play to the situation involving Mrs. Moore and her home, and we stand with Andre a and Daily Planet Executive Editor Becky O’Malley for courageously addressing them. 

South Berkeley has been a neighborhood of long-term, working-class residents who care for their community and for each other. It has also been a neighborhood characterized by poverty and its accompanying ills of unemployment, drugs and crime. All of this was there when newer, often white and more affluent residents moved in as gentrification has proceeded. It is incumbent upon those who move into such neighborhoods to become aware of what’s going on around them and to acknowledge the dynamics and strengths of the existing community. 

We live in an urban environment, and as such many of us have been victims of crime. No one deserves to be a victim or to live in fear. However there are other crimes as well that have taken their toll—crimes like poverty, racism and health disparities. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina graphically revealed continuing inequities in our society which must be addressed. Failure to recogn ize the wider context in which neighborhood crime occurs leads to shallow and ineffective solutions. Putting a senior citizen who has lived in her home for over 60 years out on the street will not resolve the issues of drugs and crime. 

We can prove ourselves to be smarter, more inclusive and more compassionate than to pursue narrow, short-sighted solutions to these problems. We can then be truly called “enablers”—enablers of jobs, justice and progress. 

Unless there is a genuine attempt to involve all segments of the community in pursuing solutions to these very real problems, there will be no peace because justice is sought only for a few. 

Linda Olivenbaum speaks on behalf of Berkeley Citizens Action’s Steering Committee.˜›

Walk into another room past the barroom, and one encounters another bar. Some shows have a play-within-a-play; Woman’s Will has staged Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill’s musical play Happy End in a bar-within-a-bar—at Luka’s Taproom in downtown Oakland. 

Cabaret-style, anyway, for this piece from Berlin during the Weimar Republic of the ‘20s that, along with its more famous predecessor, Threepenny Opera, helped inspire Broadway’s ‘60s hit Cabaret. Set in a rathskellar, with only the crookedest of the shady encountering the cops and the Salvation Army in their chapel on Christmas Eve, Brecht’s wiseguys and Army of the Poor croon and belt out Kurt Weill tunes just as haunting and beautiful as the better-known “Mack The Knife”: “Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar),” with “That Old Bar In Bilbao” and the sublime ultimate love/hate song, “Surabaya Johnny.”  

Brecht’s famous style is stylized and, true to their name, Woman’s Will has cast Happy End with all female actors, gangsters and Salvation Army soldiers alike. It’s staged as an unblinking but wide-eyed noir, with Brecht’s famous inter-titles projected on the wall like a silent film. 

The mobsters are chafing at the bit; a rival gang just pulled off a heist “by boarding the train at Niagara Falls posing as a wedding party!” The crooked ensemble sings “Bilbao,” mixing the bittersweet with the piquant: “It was fantastic! Beyond belief! Now they cleaned it up and made it middle class.” Then a bell rings, a note sounds on a pitchpipe—and in troops the Salvation Army. 

After much sermonizing and cross-banter, Sister Lillian (Lisa Jenai Hernandez as a vivacious ingenue) is left alone to “preach a sermon to one man, Bill Cracker” (Jenny Debevec). But after a few drinks she confides, “We have songs that don’t have anything to do with Jesus,” and sings a slangy shipwreck number that she’ll later have to repeat in rather different fashion to her superior, Major Stone (Scarlet Hepworth)—Walter Benjamin’s setpiece in discussing Brecht’s “distancing” effect through repetition under different conditions. 

Brecht’s style is simple and not-so-simple, widely misunderstood by audience and performers alike, who stumble over the translated names of concepts like “Alienation” (or Strangeness or Distancing—the Soviet Constructivist literary notion of “Defamiliarization,” that shift in context to which Brecht owed so much, is maybe a better way to put it). 

A storytelling technique is performed onstage, taking full advantage of modern self-conscious theatricality to interrupt and digress, “play counter to the changes” (as Coleman Hawkins summed up “the modern style” in jazz) and offer up to the audience a considered performance for their own consideration and wonder: Just exactly how did things get to be this way? 

Much of Brecht is a process of discovery of the modern world through the mannerisms of his characters: “Of course the scientist couldn’t find God with his telescope,” exclaims Sister Lillian, “So I thought I’d bring in the miracle of radio!” 

As director (and Woman’s Will founder—and Brecht devotee) Erin Merritt points out, Happy End isn’t the most political of Brecht’s plays. It’s from fairly early on, and its sardonic folk humor (as reflected in Michael Feingold’s English version) and almost Confucian saviness can be enjoyed by anyone who’ll stroll into the bar, relax and take it all in. It’s well worth whatever you pay on the sliding scale. 

Woman’s Will presents Happy End at 7 p.m. Thrursdays and Saturdays and at 2 p.m. Sundays at Luka’s Taproom, 2221 Broadway, Oakland. The show also plays at 8 p.m. Fridays at Original Joe’s, 144 Taylor St., San Francisco.  

$15-25. For more information see www.womanswill.org or call 420-0813.

Because of incorrect information provided by the theater, the names and roles of the actors in The Dick ‘N Dubya Show were reversed in the text and accompanying caption in the Nov. 8 Daily Planet. 

Amos Glick portrays George W. Bush and Ed Holmes fills the role of Dick Cheney in the show which opened Thursday and runs through Nov. 20 at The Marsh Berkeley in the Gaia Building.

FRIDAY, NOV. 11 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley ”Six Degrees of Separation” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. through Nov. 19. Tickets are $10. 649-5999. wwwaeofberkeley.org 

Aurora Theatre “Marius” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St., through Dec. 18. Tickets are $28-$45. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

Backstage Productions “All in the Timing” at 8 p.m., Sat. at 2 p.m. and Sun. at 7 p.m., through Nov. 20, at Choral Rehearsal Hall, Cesar Chavez Student Center, UC Campus. Tickets are $6-$8. 642-3880. 

Berkeley Rep “Brundibár” A musical fable staged by Tony Kushner and Maurice Sendak at the Roda Theater through Dec. 28. Ticekts are $15-$64. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Black Repertory Group “Dance with my Father Again” a musical biography of Luther Vandross. Gala at 7 p.m. Sat. at 8 p.m. through Dec. 4. Tickets are $7-$15. 652-2120. 

Central Works “Achilles & Patroklos” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at The Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., through Nov. 20. Tickets are $9-$25. 558-1381. centralworks.org 

Contra Costa Civic Theater “Noises Off” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito, through Dec. 10. 524-9132. www.ccct.org 

Impact Theatre “Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake)” Thurs. through Sun. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean Theater, 1834 Euclid Ave., through Dec. 10. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. www.impacttheatre.com 

Masquers Playhouse “Dear World” Jerry Herman’s musical, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. through Dec. 17 at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond. Tickets are $15. 232-4031. www.masquers.org 

Propeller, “The Winter’s Tale” Fri. at 8 p.m., Sat. at 2 and 8 p.m., Sun at 3 p.m. at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus. Tickets are $65. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

UC Dept. of Theater, “Harvest” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Durham Studio Theater, UC Campus. Tickets are $8-$14. 642-9925. 

Youth Musical Theater Company “Sweeney Todd” Thurs.-Sat. at 7:30 p.m. at Longefellow Middle School Auditorium, 1500 Derby St. Tickets are $12, $6 students. 595-5514. 

FILM 

The Battles of Sam Peckinpah “Major Dundee” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

George Packer reads from his book on the American occupation of Iraq “The Assassins’ Gate” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Country Joe McDonald in a Katrina Relief Benefit Concert with others at 7 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall, Cedar and Bonita. Tickets are $25 available from www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2530 

Mills College Repertory Dance Company “Primitive Mysteries” by Martha Graham at 8 p.m. at Lisser Hall, 5000 MacArthur Blvd. Tickets are $10-$15. 430-2175. 

Garrett McLean, violin, Gabriel Trop, ‘cello, Inning Chen, piano at 8 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 29112 Claremont Ave. Cost is $12. 848-1228. 

Hecho in Claifas Annual Festival with Casique y Congo at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7-$10. 849-2568.  

Barbara Dane & Hot Five Jazz Band at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Dahveed Behroozi Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12. 845-5373.  

Broun Fellinis at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Youssou N’Dour at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5-$8. 548-1159.  

Baga Bae with drum circle, African dance and chants at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054.  

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

Duck Baker & Jamie Findlay at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

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

October Allied, The Botticellis at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Kalmex & The Riff Merchants at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SATURDAY, NOV. 12 

CHILDREN 

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Gerry Tenney at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

THEATER 

Woman’s Will “Happy End” by Bertolt Brecht, Sat. at 7 p.m. and Sun. at 2 p.m. at Luka’s Lounge, 2221 Broadway at Grand Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $12-$25. 420-0813.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Lost and Found: A Tribute to Animal Rescue” oil, watercolors and mixed media by Debbie Claussen. Reception at 7 p.m. at 4th Street Studio, 1717D 4th St. 527-0600. 

FILM 

Taisho Chic on Screen “Winter Camillia” at 5 p.m., “Public Manners: Sightseeing in Tokyo” at 7 p.m. “The Water Magician” at 8:50 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

“Ballets Russes” film screening and discussion with filmmakers Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine 6:45 and 9:25 p.m. at at Landmark’s Albany Twin Cinemas. Tickets are $9.50. 464-5980. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Visible and Invisible Drawings” an evening of storytelling with Ira Glass and Chris Ware at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $20-$32. 642-9988.  

Marianne Villanueva reads from her short story collection, “Mayor of the Roses” at 4 p.m. at Eastwind Books of Berkeley, 2066 University Ave. 548-2350. 

Synergy Women’s Open Mic at 3 p.m. at Lakeview Branch, Oakland Public Library, 550 El Embarcadero. 632-7548. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Alameda Civic Light Opera “Broadway’s Greatest Moments 2” at 8 p.m. at Kofman Auditorium, 2200 Central Ave., Alameda. Tickets are $25. 864-2256. www.avlo.com 

Baguette Quartette, Parisian café music, at 8 p.m. at St. Alban’s, 1501 Washington Ave., Albany. Tickets are $12-$15. 528-3723.  

Borodin Quartet, music of Russian masters at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, Dana at Durant. Tickets are $42. 642-9988.  

Rusalka Cycle “Songs Between the Worlds” at 8 p.m. at the Malonga Casquelord Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St., Oakland. Tickets are $20-$26. 925-798-1300. www.kitka.org 

Young People’s Symphony Orchestra Opening Concert at 8 p.m. at Valley Center for the Performing Arts Holy Names University, Oakland. Tickets are $12-$15. 849-9776.  

Mills College Repertory Dance Company “Primitive Mysteries” by Martha Graham at 2 and 8 p.m. at Lisser Hall, 5000 MacArthur Blvd. Tickets are $10-$15. 430-2175. 

Keith Terry’s Hoterry Englecrest at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Quijerema at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Fourtet with Julian Pollack, pianist and Berkeley High student at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Dick Whittington with guest Andrew Speight at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373.  

Hecho in Claifas Annual Festival with Las Manas, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7-$10. 849-2568.  

Co-Opted V with Why Are Boys Always Like This? John Howland, BublRap and N8 at 7:30 p.m. at Fish House Co-op, 1808 Bancroft Way. 914-0103. 

Richard Green and the Brothers Barton at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761.  

Brother Resistance with Junglz Apart at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15-$18. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Reverand Rabia and Dave Brownell at 7 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

Stevie Harris and Splintered Tree at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

She Mob, Bleu Canadians at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

BornDead, Regulations, Grey Skull at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, NOV. 13 

THEATER 

Milbre Burch “Seasonal Stories from Around the World” at 4 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $10 adults, $5 children. 925-798-1300. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Mapping the Soul of the City” Landcapes in charcoal and silverpoint by Christopher Castle. Reception for the artist at 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“Mestizo Exhibition: How Women are Presented in Our Society” Paintings by Eduardo Diaz and Carlos Granillo. Reception at 6 p.m. at La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568. 

“Taisho Chic: Japanese Modernity, Nostalgia and Deco” guided tour at 1 p.m. and panel discussion at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. 642-0808. 

FILM 

Taisho Chic on Screen “The Lady and the Beard” at 7:15 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Huston Smith in conversation with Native Americans on religious freedom at 4 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Poetry Flash with Jack and Adell Foley and Robert Sward at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Community Women’s Orchestra at 4 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church, 5201 Park Blvd., Piedmont. Donation $5-$10, children free. 848-2268. 

Rusalka Cycle “Songs Between the Worlds” at 2 p.m. at the Malonga Casquelord Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St., Oakland. Tickets are $20-$26. 925-798-1300. www.kitka.org 

Jonathan Lemalu, baritone, at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42, available from 642-9988.  

Gordon Bok at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761.  

Falso Baiano Trio Brasil at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Rhonda Benin and Soulful Strut at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazz 

school. Cost is $15. 845-5373.  

Bandworks at 2 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $4. 525-5054.  

Jack Irving at 10 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Animosity, Time for Living at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

MONDAY, NOV. 14 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Peter Kwong describes “Chinese America: The Untold Story of America’s Oldest New Community” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Joseph Kerman discusses “The Art of the Fugue: Bach Fugues for Keyboard, 1715-1750” at 5:30 p.m. at University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way.  

Poetry Express with Manuel Garcia, Jr. at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

TUESDAY, NOV. 15 

CHILDREN 

Celebrate Children’s Book Week at the Kensington Library with illustrator Philippe Ames at 7 p.m. at 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

THEATER 

Shotgun Theater Lab, “Cry Don’t Cry” Tues.-Thurs. at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through Nov. 17. Tickets are $10. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Ship’s Sides” Abstract photography by Klaus opens at Lange Z Cafe, 2735 Broadway, Oakland. 663-2905. 

FILM 

Alternative Visions “La région centrale” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Daniel Wilson explains “How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Against the Coming Rebellion” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Bandworks at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $4. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

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 

Tuesday Night Jazz with Atmos 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. 

Terry Rodriguez, solo piano, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 16 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Aesthetics of Ecology: Occupying Space for Sustainable Living” Reception at 6 p.m. at the Tecoah Bruce Gallery, Oliver Art Center, California College of the Arts, 5212 Broadway. 415-703-9595. 

FILM 

Busy Signals: Telephonic Art in Motion “Rotary” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Café Poetry hosted by Paradise at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donation $2. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Hyder Akbar talks about returing to his family’s country in “Come Back to Afghanistan” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Mary Felstiner reads from her new book “Out of Joint “ at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.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 

Whiskey Brothers, Old Time and Bluegrass at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

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 

Ned Boynton Trio at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Red Archibald & The Internationals at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. West Coast Swing dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Karl Perrazo, Edgardo Cambon, Carlos Carro at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Salsa lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Matt Heulitt Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

The McKassons & Laura Cortese at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

THURSDAY, NOV. 17 

THEATER 

“Dick ‘N Dubya Show: A Republican Cabaret” Thurs., Sat and Sun. at The Marsh Berkeley, 2118 Allston Way, through Nov. 20. Tickets are $10-$22. 800-838-3006. www.themarsh.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Taisho Chic: Japanese Modernity, Nostalgia and Deco” guided tour at 12:15 and 5:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. 642-0808. 

FILM 

International Latino Film Festival “Promedio rojo” at 7 p.m. and “Tudo azul” at 9:10 at La Peña. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Selling Democracy: Films of the Marshall Plan, 1948-53 “Program Three: True Fiction” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Stained Glass Illuminations: Rennovations of the Jesuit Cathedral in Shanghai” at 7 p.m. at GTU Hewlett Library, 2400 Ridge Rd. Reservations recomended. 549-5051. 

Berkeley Treasures: An Evening with Marcia Donahue at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park.  

Nomad Spoken Word Night at 7 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Word Beat Reading Series with Sanford Dorbin and Bob Coats at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Mosaic Vocal Ensemble “Fire and Light” at 6 p.m. at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527. 

Tania Libertad, Afro-Peruvian singer, at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $20-$32. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Jeffrey Foucault at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Con Alma at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Sean Smith, Steve Mann with Janet Smith at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

David Ross MacDonald, acoustic guitar, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Dhol Patrol at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Bhangra dance lesson at 9 p.m. Cost is $8. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Interactive Crew at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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Vatey Seng is the bureaucrat you could have encountered in an Alameda County office, the mom you may have met at a high school open house, a neighbor you wave to from across the way. 

But few people know the horrors that plague the 44-year-old accountant originally from Cambodia. 

“I am forced to return to the hell that the Khmer Rouge put me through each night. The terror of my past always haunts me whenever I’m alone or asleep. ... The more I want to forget, the more I remember,” Seng writes in a recently self-published memoir: The Price We Paid: A Life Experience in the Khmer Rouge Regime, Cambodia, published by iUniverse, Inc. and available at www.iuniverse.com/bookstore. 

As the first rains of fall tapped the windows of the small Chinese restaurant where she was interviewed this week, Seng was reminded of the rainy season in Cambodia and of hard times there.  

But before the horrors overshadowing the rest of her life, there were happy childhood years in Phnom Penh. Seng’s mother was a housewife and her father was a military man. Growing up on military bases meant secure housing, healthcare and good schooling. Seng’s father had only a sixth-grade education and her mother had even less schooling; they vowed their children would be educated.  

Family life revolved around close ties with neighbors at the military base. But civil war in the first part of the 1970s culminated with the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia’s extremist communist party, bombing the base and killing most of Seng’s friends. The family escaped death by staying with relatives outside the base. 

In 1975 the Khmer Rouge came to power, enforcing a brand of communism that idealized uneducated, hard-working peasants and condemned the middle class, including teachers and government workers, as leeches of society. Peasants were the “old people,” who embodied society’s moral fabric. City people were “new people,” the root of all capitalist evil. 

Seng was 13 and in the eighth grade before the 11-member family—her parents, two brothers, four sisters, an adopted sister and a 96-year-old grandmother—were relocated to the countryside. They tried to go to their father’s birthplace, but the Khmer Rouge had other plans, moving them from village to village. 

Seng remembers living with a village family whose job was to spy on them. They wanted to know if her father had been a government worker. The house they lived in was built on stilts.  

“They just wanted to watch us, to see if we did anything wrong,” Seng said. “Every night, boys, 8-, 9-, or 10-years-old stayed beneath the hut and listened to our conversation.” 

To save themselves, the family fabricated their histories. The father became a former taxi driver and the children pretended they had never been to school. They buried family photos. During the day, Seng, her father, brothers and adopted sister worked. In one village, they helped construct a dam; in another, they worked in the rice fields. Seng remembers the 10-hour days and the cuts and bruises on her hands. 

One day, while transplanting rice seedlings, Seng, then 14, and the other “new people” in the village were called to a meeting. “It was the rainy season, raining like this,” Seng said. “That’s why I don’t like the rain.” 

The authorities called certain names. “They called my two brothers’ names, my name and told us they were going to transfer us to another village. It was too crowded here.” 

They were put on a truck to another village and a Khmer Rouge soldier told them that their parents would be taken to that village as well. They weren’t taken to a village, but to a military base where they found their parents. “My mom cried all the time,” Seng said. 

“I was so hungry and they gave us hot rice and dried fish,” which was unexpected. “I was eating and my mom whispered to me, ‘Do you know that they’re going to kill us?’”  

Seng struggled through her grief to continue: “We didn’t know what they were going to do with us. In that building, they took one family at a time—those people were government officials—they knew who they were, so they took those people before us.”  

The family waited. “I couldn’t cry,” Seng said. They focused on the well-known Khmer Rouge rule: “If they took people before midnight, it meant that they would kill those people. If it was after midnight, it meant that people would be O.K. We just watched the clock and it passed midnight, so we thought it was going to be O.K.” 

At 2 a.m., soldiers came pointing their guns at the families, ordering people onto buses. “The women and children were crying. We thought they were going to kill us.” 

Instead, they were taken to another village, about an hour from there. There were eight families, including a few friends of Seng’s father. One was a professor who was separated from the others and taken away….  

At this point in her story, Seng was overcome with grief and could not continue her story. “Every time I talk, I tell myself, ‘don’t cry, don’t cry, but I get emotional,’” she said. 

The family eventually was incarcerated in a “re-education camp,” where they stayed until the Vietnamese liberated that part of Cambodia in 1979. (Seng’s father was reported dead by the Khmer Rouge in 1976.) 

Liberation by the Vietnamese, however, did not put an end to the trauma. The Vietnamese interrogated family members about their history in a manner similar to the Khmer Rouge. “My mom was afraid it was going to happen again,” she said. 

The family escaped to a refugee camp on the Thai border and was granted political refugee status, based on the military career of Seng’s father. By that time, Seng had married and given birth to twin boys in the refugee camp. When the twins were two-weeks-old, the family was moved to a refugee camp in the Philippines, where they waited nine months for a U.S. citizen to sponsor their immigration. 

Life as a refugee in the United States was not easy. Seng, her husband and the twins lived in Revere, Mass. with a relative. Seng worked part-time sewing curtains for K-Mart at minimum wage, then found work as a housekeeper in a hotel, cleaning up to 16 rooms every day. Her husband washed dishes in the same hotel.  

They lived in an apartment building with other Cambodians, where the landlord would come every weekend and turn off the heat, knowing the tenants had no one to complain to over the weekend. Even worse was the brutal racism: On the way to the train station to go to work, white teenagers would beat the Cambodian men and pull Seng’s hair. “They’d tell us to go home back to where you came from.” 

The couple moved to Oakland, where Seng’s mother and siblings had a two-bedroom apartment. Nine people shared the home “but we didn’t feel crowded,” Seng said. “We were used to small spaces in our country.” 

Both Seng and her husband went to school and earned AA degrees from Laney College. Bigotry followed Seng to Oakland. New on her county job, she would answer the phone and sometimes did not understand what people said. And the caller would say something like: “If you can’t understand English, why don’t you quit your job!” Some cursed.  

“For the first month, I used to cry when I went home,” Seng said. But she underscores that racism is “just a small part of America. Most people are very nice.” 

She hopes to see some justice for the suffering and deaths of more than 1.5 million people in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. A tribunal is being planned under United Nations auspices in which some of the perpetrators are to be put on trial (though newspaper reports indicate financing difficulties may stall the project). 

“I read that those leaders don’t think they did anything wrong,” Seng said. “That really made me angry.” Those responsible “should be accountable for those people who were killed or died (of starvation and disease). I don’t want to see any of those leaders put in jail or executed. It won’t help. But I want them to realize they hurt people.” 

Vatey Seng will sign copies of her book at a dinner to benefit the nonprofit Friendship with Cambodia. The dinner, 5:30-7:30 p.m., on Sunday, Nov. 13, at the Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall, 1926 Cedar St., will include Cambodian dancing and singing, a slide show and crafts. Tickets are $25-$50. For more information call (541) 343-3782 or e-mail cambodiaedu@hotmail.com. 

Vatey Seng will sign copies of her book at a dinner to benefit the nonprofit Friendship with Cambodia. The dinner, 5:30-7:30 p.m., on Sunday, Nov. 13, at the Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall, 1926 Cedar St., will include Cambodian dancing and singing, a slide show and crafts. Tickets are $25-$50. For more information call (541) 343-3782 or email cambodiaedu@hotmail.com.?

FRIDAY, NOV. 11 

Reduced City Services Today Call ahead to ensure programs or services you desire will be available. 981-CITY. www.cityofberkeley.info 

Veterans Day Celebration at 11 a.m. at Civic Center Park on Martic Luther King Jr. Way. 

Veterans Day “Prayer for World Peace” at 11 a.m. at Berkeley Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 3100 Telegraph Ave., two blocks south of Ashby. 848-8821. 

Veterans Day Celebration with a tea dance and dinner at 5 p.m. on the Red Oak Victory Ship, Berth #6, Richmond Harbor. Cost is $20. 222-9200. 

Bruce Babbitt on “National Land Use Policy” at 1 p.m. at the Oakland Zoo, 9777 Golf Links Rd. 632-9525. www.oaklandzoo.org 

Katrina Relief Benefit Concert with Country Joe McDonald and others at 7 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall, Cedar and Bonita. Tickets are $25 available from www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2530 

“Food is Love Made Visible” Benefit Harvest Dance at 5 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd, Kensington. Bring your weight in food or in dollars, at least $10. All proceeds benefit local food banks. www.uucb.org 

Womansong Circle Participatory singing for women at 6:45 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way, at Dana. Suggested donation $10-$20. 525-7082. 

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 noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 548-6310. 

SATURDAY, NOV. 12 

Berkeley Historical Society Tour of the Ashby Arts District with Justin Katz of Epic Arts, Patrick Dooley of Shotgun Players and Kules Kilot of Lacis Museum of Lace from 10 a.m. to noon. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0181.  

Upper Rockridge Hill Walk with the Berkeley Path Wanderers Assn. Explore elegant staircases, panoramic views, and see traditional homes as well as eclectic, post-1991-firestorm new ones. Meet at 10 a.m. at the SE corner of Rockridge Boulevard and Broadway, by the white pillars. Free; wear comfortable walking shoes and bring water and snack for this hilly walk. 848-9358. www.berkeleypaths.org 

People’s Park Free Box Fashion Show and Concert from noon to 4:30 p.m. at People’s Park. Wear your Free Box finest! 

“Bats Ain’t Bad” Learn about bats and how important they are, from 3 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. For ages 8 to 12. Cost is $3, registration required. 636-1684. 

“Trees in the Garden and Landscape” A workshop from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Bring photos or sketches related to tree or site questions, and a bag lunch. Cost is $10-$15. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Vegetarian Thanksgiving Cooking Class, using local in-season, organic ingredients, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St. at Castro. Cost is $40, registration required. 531-26655.  

“Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico” with Dr. Anthony Aveni at 6 p.m. at Chabot Space & Science Center. Tickets are $8. 336-7373.  

Childbirth Preparation Intensive with Constance Williams, doula, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., also on Nov. 19 and Dec. 3, at Birthways, 570 14th St., Oakland. Cost is $160-$180 per couple. 869-2729.  

NorCal High School Mountain Bike League Benefit Dinner at 7 p.m. on Treasure Island. Guest speaker is Andy Hampsten. For details call 325-6502. www.norcalmtb.org/spon/dinner2005.htm  

“Patriarchies: A Global Perspective on Women’s Oppression” with the Suppressed Histories Archives at 7:30 p.m. at Change Makers, 6536 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $10-$20. 665-3689. www.suppressedhistories.net 

Boost Your Immune System Learn how to test the state of your adreanal glands and restore energy at 4 p.m. at Phamaca Integrative Pharmacy, 1744 Solano Ave. 527-8929. 

Softball Clinic for girls in grades 1-9, from 1 to 4 p.m. at Grove/Russell field, Martin Luther King Jr Way and Russell St. Free. Registration required. clinics@abgsl.org, www.abgsl.org 

Protest Rally at Berkeley Honda Shattuck and Parker every Thurs. at 4:30 to 6 p.m. and Sat. from 1 to 2 p.m. until the labor dispute is settled.  

Historical and Botanical Tour of Chapel of the Chimes, a Julia Morgan landmark, at 10 a.m. at 4499 Piedmont Ave. at Pleasant Valley. Reservations required 228-3207.  

SUNDAY, NOV. 13 

Fabulous Fall Discover leaves and other natural clues of the season from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Especially for ages 5 to 10. Dress for rain and mud. 525-2233. 

“Autumn in Asia” A tour of Asian plants with Elaine Sedlack at 10 a.m. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $8-$12. Registration required. 643-2937. 

Celebration in Honor of Madeline Duckles, peace and social justice activist, at 2 p.m. at Redwood Gardens, 2951 Derby St. RSVP to 665-5459. 

“Is Wal-Mart Really That Bad?” with a screening of the new documentary by Robert Greenwald at 5 p.m., at the Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave., at Alcatraz. Sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County. 

“A Most Unlikely Hero” film screening and discussion with director Steve Okino on the racial injustices faced by Bruce Yamashita while enrolled in the Marine Corp officer training school, at 2 p.m. at 22 Warren Hall, UC Campus. 520-7726. 

“Cloning and Stem Cell Research: Theological and Ethical Issues” with Dr. Ted Peters at 11:30 a.m. at First Congregational Chuch, 2345 Channing Way. 845-4145. 

Cambodian Dinner, slideshow and talk at 5:30 p.m. at 1924 Cedar St. to benefit humanitarian projects in Cambodia. Cost is $10-$25. 925-295-0791. www.friendshipwithcambodia.org 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

“The Adventures of Milo and Otis” Family Film Sunday Series at 11 a.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $5 at the door.  

“The New American Cooking” with author Joan Nathan at 7 p.m. at Congregation Netivot Shalom, 1316 University Ave. Cost is $15. 524-7867.  

“Merchant of Venice” at 2 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $5. 848-0237. 

MONDAY, NOV. 14 

“Between Reality and Wishful Thinking: The University as a Neighbor” A free public forum on UC’s impact on the city of Berkeley at 7 p.m. in the Multi-Purpose Room, Berkeley Alternative High School, corner of Derby and MLK, Jr. Way. 528-8345. 

Demonstration of Election Equipment from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Alameda County Conference Center, 125 12th Street, 4th Floor, Oakland. The voting equipment shown at the demonstrations is equipment being considered for purchase by the County for use in elections held after January 1, 2006. Public input is requested. 

“The Constitution and War Powers” A panel discussion with Profs. Gordon Silverstein, Peter Irons and John Yoo at 7:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Sponsored by Black Oak Books.  

“Don’t Be Six Feet Under WIthout a Plan” Learn about creating a living will, powers of attorney and end of life services at 6 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave at Pleasant Valley Rd. 562-9431. 

“Seoul Train” A documentary on North Korean refugees at 8 p.m. in 145 Dwinelle, UC Campus. The director and producer will be available afterwards for a Q & A session. callink@gmail.com 

“The Search for Dark Energy in the Accelerating Universe” with Prof Saul Perlmutter at 5 p.m. at Berkeley Rep Theater, 2025 Addison St. 486-7292. 

Sing-A-Long from 10 to 11 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. 524-9122.  

Beginning Bridge Lessons at 11:10 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Cost is $1. 524-9122.  

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping the public schools, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, NOV. 15 

Birdwalk on the MLK Shoreline from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. to see the shorebirds here for the winter. Binoculars available for loan. 525-2233. 

Berkeley Garden Club “Careful Gardening Means Care for the Earth” with Christopher Shein, permaculture instructor at Merritt College, at 1 p.m. at Epworth Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. 527-5641. 

“High School Dropout Rate Crisis” with Assemblymember Loni Hancock at 9:30 a.m. at Richmond High School Little Theater, 1250 23rd St., Richmond. 559-1406. 

Flu Shots for Berkeley Residents age 60 or over or “high-risk” from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Health Clinic, 830 University Ave. 981-5300. 

University Press Books Book Party celebrating a new book by Roger Hahn at 5:30 p.m. at 2430 Bancroft Way. 548-0585. 

“Wal-Mart: The High Cost of a Low Price” a film by Robert Greenwald at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña, 3501 Shattuck Ave.. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Darfur, Sudan: The Violence Continues; How Long Can We Ignore?” A panel discussion and slideshow lecture, at 8:30 p.m. at Booth Auditorium Boalt Hall, UC Campus. 220-8481. 

Choosing Infant Care A workshop at 7 p.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave. Babies welcome. Registration required. 658-7353.  

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation at 6 p.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland. 594-5165. 

“Weight-Loss Surgery: Is It For You?” at 6 p.m. at Alta Bates Summit Health Education Center, 400 Hawthorne Ave., Oakland. Free, registration required 869-8972. 

Berkeley Salon Discussion Group meets to discuss “Travel, Surveying the Empire” from 7 to 9 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 527-1022. 

“Ministry in the Eye of Disaster” at 7:30 p.m. in the Tuscan Common Room, Church Divinity School of the Pacific, 2451 Ridge Rd. Cost is $10-$15. to register call 204-0720. 

“Nutrition for Wellness and Harmony” Part of “Healing Therapies for Pain and Energy” at noon at Maffly Auditorium, Herrick Campus of Alta Bates, 2001 Dwight Way. 644-3273. 

Free Small Business Class on Opening a Restaurant at 5 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, Community Room, 2090 Kittredge St. Registration required. 981-6148. www.sfscore.com 

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. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

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. 

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 16 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll hunt for spiders, or learn about the water cycle if it is cold out, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Mid-day Meanders to discover the newts. Meet at 2:30 p.m. across from the Tilden Botanical Garden, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“Time for an Oil Change” A lecture on dietary fats at 10:30 a.m. at Alta Bates Summit Merritt Pavilion, Cafeteria Annex B, 350 Hawthorne Ave., Oakland. Cost is $5. RSVP to 869-6737. 

“Llaguno Bridge: Keys to a Massacre” Venezuelan documentary at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $5. 393-5685. 

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.  

Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College Open House at 6 p.m. at 2550 Shattuck Ave. Tours of classrooms and clinics and information for prospective students. To RSVP call 666-8248, ext. 106.  

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 and a warm hat. 548-9840. 

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.  

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. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

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, NOV. 17 

Public Hearing on Parking Fees and Time Limits Downtown at the Planning Commission meeting at 7 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7010. 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll hunt for spiders, or learn about the water cycle if it is cold out, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

“Albatross: On the Wings of Antarctic Ocean Wanderers” with naturalist Ted Cheeseman at 7:30 p.m. at Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Sponsored by Golden Gate Audubon Society. www.goldengatesudubon.org 

“The Lodgepole Needle Miner in Yosemite Park” with forest entomologist Tom Koerber at 12:30 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, Tenth and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

“Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination” with Anne Allison at 4:30 p.m. in the IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St., 6th flr. 642-2809. 

Flu Shots for Berkeley Residents age 60 or over or “high-risk” from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Health Clinic, 830 University Ave. For information call 981-5300. 

“Update on What’s New in Parkinson’s Care” with Carol Evans, RNC, at 10 a.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center.  

LeConte Neighborhood Association meets at 7:30 p.m. in the LeConte School, Ellsworth and Russell. 843-2602. 

Food Drive and Tree Lighting Ceremony with children’s activities and holiday entertainment at 6 p.m. at Bay Street in Emeryville. Bring canned goods to donate to the Alameda County Community Food Bank. 

Spanish Book Club meets at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

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 

ONGOING 

Warm Coat Drive Donate a coat for distribution in the community, at Bay St., Emeryville. Sponsored by the Girl Scouts. www.onewarmcoat.org 

We Give Thanks Month Dine at a participating restaurant, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Berkeley Food and Housing. Restaurants include Bendean, Poulet, Rose Garden Inn, La Note, Skates on the Bay and Oliveto’s. www.bfhp.org 

Albany Berkeley Girls Softball League is looking for girls in grades 1-9 to play softball. Season runs March 4-June 3. To register, email registrar@abgsl.org or call 869-4277. Early Bird registration ends Dec. 31. Registration closes Feb. 1. Scholarships available. www.abgsl.org 

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues., Nov. 15, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wed., Nov. 16, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Katherine O’Connor, 981-6601.  

Civic Arts Commission meets Wed., Nov. 16, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Mary Ann Merker, 981-7533.  

Commission on Aging meets Wed. Nov. 16, at 1:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. William Rogers, 981-5344.  

Commission on Labor meets Wed., Nov. 16, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Delfina M. Geiken, 981-7550.  

Disaster Council meets Wed., Nov. 16, at 7 p.m., at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. William Greulich, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/disaster 

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wed. Nov. 16, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Kristen Lee, 981-5427. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/welfare 

Design Review Committee meets Thurs., Nov. 17, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Anne Burns, 981-7415. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/designreview  

Fair Campaign Practices Commission meets Thurs., Nov. 17, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Prasanna Rasaih, 981-6950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/faircampaign 

Transportation Commission meets Thurs., Nov. 17, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Peter Hillier, 981-7000. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/transportation?

Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor for the CIA leak case, makes $140,300 a year in his job with the U.S. attorney’s office, according to Slate.com’s excellent “Explainer” column. Besides his Washington case, he’s also handling the prosecution of a former Illinois governor in Chicago. If he were instead holding on to a lucrative private practice while serving as a special prosecutor, he might be making something like the million dollars reported to have been paid to Kenneth Starr by his tobacco in dustry clients while he was Clinton’s special nemesis.  

Are we to conclude that a better prosecutor than Fitzgerald could have been obtained if the government had paid more? No. Starr—the big cheese from the private sector—ended up looking foolish and l o sing his case. 

So what are we to make of the San Francisco Chronicle’s weekend revelations about the high salaries and astounding extra perks awarded to the University of California’s top brass? Did the citizens of California get better people than Fit zg erald just by coughing up big bucks? Are today’s U.C. executives much better than their predecessors because they’re now paid as if they were captains of industry? Are the 2,000 or so U.C. employees who make at least twice as much as Patrick Fitzgerald tw ice as competent? Doubtful.  

It has become an unfortunate characteristic of U.S. executives that they grossly overvalue their own services when their own pay is on the line. This has been true in the private sector at least since the eighties, and no w th is theory has entered the public sector as well. Thus the Chronicle quotes U.C. Regent John Moores: “The senior folks at UC are under market, and there are a lot of bad things that can happen from that. You don’t get to look at the best people in the market … It is almost like there is a Marxist notion that it is bad that we give raises to bring people to market rate.” Moores is also chairman of the San Diego Padres baseball club, in another sector that has been widely criticized for compensation creep. 

And Moores is probably some sort of a Democrat, since he was appointed by Gray Davis and serves on some of Jimmy Carter’s charity boards. The Republicans could be worse. Moores has at least opposed private fundraising to boost salaries even more, an unlovely concept being pushed by some U.C. administrators to increase the compensation of those already in the +$350k category.  

The equation of high pay with excellent job performance hasn’t been proved, though it’s loudly asserted by those who benefit from it. The fiction of a “market” in public service jobs has gotten badly distorted—the best people, believe it or not, are not necessarily the greediest people.  

For that matter, is Berkeley’s Assistant City Attorney Zach Cowan anything close to as com peten t as Patrick Fitzgerald? Their salaries are about the same. And Berkeley City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque makes even more. A local counter-example: Wes Boyd and Joan Blades, who continue to live modestly even though they did well in the software in dustry. They don’t even take a salary for their invaluable public service founding and running MoveOn.org.  

Many observers believe that one reason for the precipitous decline in America’s manufacturing sector is the wide disparity in pay for those at the top a nd the bottom of the ladder. A 1999 Business Week survey calculated that America’s CEO’s, on average, took home 476 times the average worker’s pay, and it’s only gotten worse since then. Do we believe that the University of California will do a bet ter job of educating young Californians because it’s now trying to emulate industry’s worst practices? I don’t. 

Perhaps that’s because I got my education at a time when both my excellent teachers and the administrators who made it possible for them to do their jobs were happy with standard upper middle-class salaries. But now those who are doing the heavy lifting in California’s university classrooms are paid a fraction of what California’s university administrators are paid.  

For example, a tenured sci ence pr ofessor at a California State University campus, teaching four classes a week, makes less than $60,000 a year. And at the same time we are raising student tuition to levels which are beyond the reach of many. I talked over the weekend with an African-Amer ican grandmother who can no longer afford to support her two granddaughters in attending the CSU system, even though they are well qualified academically to benefit from the education. She’s raised them after the death of their mother, and she’s managed t o see that their aunt got through college, but today’s tuition has finally gotten beyond her ability to pay or their own ability to finance their studies with part-time jobs. So they’ve dropped out of school. And U.C. Berkeley is even worse.  

A s citizens of California, it’s in our best interest to make sure that young women like this can complete their education. Topping off the already luxurious compensation packages of California’s educational elite won’t contribute anything to this result. T here are t hose, probably some U.C. regents among them, who say that the major goal of higher education in California should be supporting industrial research of the kind that already seems to have become the primary mission of the University of Californi a at Berkel ey. It’s not, but why is a topic for another day.  

The now distinctly unstylish 19th-century Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins once wrote a poem based on the lamentations of the prophet Jeremiah which could have served as a mantra for disappointed progressives in the last six years or so: 

Why do sinners’ ways prosper? and why must / Disappointment all I endeavor end? 

It’s been a long dry spell for many of us; we can echo the poet’s plea in his last line, “send my roots rain.” But now, in November, just as California is experiencing our annual re-greening, albeit not that much rain and none too early, we’re beginning to see some signs of hope in the national and state political picture.  

First, of course, is the indictment of Irving Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Jr. It’s not just that he seems to be a perjurer, which puts him at odds with the whole basis of the Anglo-American legal system. As a lawyer himself, he certainly knows that giving false testimony to a grand jury is a very serious offense, really a moral lapse, independent of liberal or conservative political positions.  

But Lewis is also the scuzziest of the notoriously scuzzy neo-con crowd, a student and disciple of the disgusting Paul Wolfowitz, shown by Michael Moore in Fahrenheit 911 combing his hair with saliva. The Center for American Progress’s website says Scooter was the main architect and pusher of Colin Powell’s phony testimony at the United Nations in February of 2003. According to CAP staffer John Lyman, “It was Libby—along with Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith, and a handful of other top aides at the Pentagon and White House—who convinced the president that the U.S. should go to war in Iraq. It was Libby who pushed Cheney to publicly argue that Saddam Hussein had ties to al Qaeda and 9/11. It was also Libby who prodded former Secretary of State Colin Powell to include specious reports about an alleged meeting between 9/11 terrorist Mohammed Atta and an Iraqi intelligence official in Powell’s February 2003 speech.” 

Listening to Patrick Fitzgerald’s measured, precise press conference delineation of why he went after Libby was a deeply satisfying experience, after all the double-talk we’ve had to listen to in the recent past. Some women commentators, notably Arianna Huffington on KALW’s “Left, Right and Center,” went a bit overboard, casting him as the country’s latest sex symbol. One of her male fellow panelists wondered why that should be, since Fitzgerald’s pectorals didn’t seem to be much to boast about. But an honest, straightforward and smart man will be more admired by most women (and men) than a big-body guy like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Fitzgerald is a rugby player—there’s a bumper sticker that says “Rugby Players Have Leather Balls,” and in this case the metaphor describes his performance so far.  

And then there’s the news about Ugly Arnie himself. Again, deeply satisfying. He went out on a limb with his special election, and then he sawed it off. Has he learned that even big boys get in trouble when they talk back to nurses and school teachers? Probably not, because unlike Fitzgerald, Schwarzenegger’s not very smart. 

Finally, we can savor the results of the governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia. Perhaps the depth beneath which negative campaigning cannot sink was reached in New Jersey, with Corzine’s ex-wife calling him a rotter in paid political ads: “Jon did let his family down, and he’ll probably let New Jersey down, too.” There are a lot of exes, both husbands and wives, among the voters these days, and they were all probably thinking “there but for the grace of God go I.” Then there’s Tim Kaine’s win in Virginia, despite his acknowledgment that he opposes capital punishment on religious grounds. Voters seem to have been paying attention for once—maybe it could become a trend. 

Californians do know that you can have a good shower or two in the fall and still end up with a drought year if the rains don’t keep up. Knocking off Libby doesn’t mean that Rove will go. The neo-con ideologues are running from Bush lately like rats deserting a sinking ship, but they might find another ship to jump on. Hapless and pathetic Harriet Miers seems to have been replaced by a more formidable candidate, but Senate Democrats might pull themselves together and stall his confirmation, at least for a while. It is even conceivable, though not guaranteed, that Democrats could take advantage of what appears to be the country’s new mood and come up with a viable candidate for president. We can always hope (or pray) that they’ve finally come alive again, after a long dead spell. 

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