Features

DRUG HOUSE 

Editors, Daily Planet 

I applaud the efforts of Paul Rauber and 13 of his neighbors to rid their neighborhood once and for all of a drug house. 

With all due respect to Ms. Prichett, while it is certainly true that racism does still exist towards blacks in our society, and there are educationally and economically disadvantaged black youths in South Berkeley and a lot of other places, Paul Rauber and his neighbors have the right to live in a neighborhood free of all the elements a drug house brings on the scene. We have heard so much about the racism and the economic and educational disadvantage, but there is absolutely no reason for Mr. Rauber and his neighbors to have to wait for social solutions to their problem when they have obviously waited too long as it is! 

Frank Rivers 

Oakland 

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ANOTHER VIEW 

Editors, Daily Planet 

Maybe Paul Rauber should sell his house and move. Just a thought. 

Annie Kassof 

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HALFWAY HOUSE 

Editors, Daily Planet 

A major point that has been overlooked in all the arguments about the Moores and their neighbors is this: When someone who has been using drugs decides it’s time to get clean and live a healthy, productive life one of the first requirements is that (s)he avoid all association with the friends and family they did drugs with. The same holds true for ex-convicts. If anyone is serious about going straight it is vitally important to give up all associations with those who are still criminals. 

So why are we encouraging the Moores to run an open house for ex-convicts and ex addicts? Are they really trying to run a halfway house for these people? 

If so, then let them register as such and follow all the rules set down, including establishing 12 step programs and job retraining. If not then close the house down.  

The rest of us who are working, paying taxes to the City of Berkeley and obeying the law want to live in peace in our neighborhood. 

Joan Modzelewski 

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A JUST SOCIETY 

Editors, Daily Planet 

Larry Hendel of the SEIU (“Time to Kick Butt,” Nov. 16) has it right when he says the Democrats “suck at the same corporate teat for campaign funds as the Republicans,” and therefore, remain unable to move forward on a meaningful agenda for working people. Now that we have managed to fend off the latest corporate attacks that Schwarzenegger enabled, let’s not fall back into the same trap that we just came out of. Labor unions must break away from the corporate two-party system in a hurry. 

As a nurse activist who sees how piecemeal reforms championed by Democrats have let millions of Californians fall through the cracks of health care “system,” I believe the hope for the future of working class America lies in the building of independent political organizations like the Green Party. We simply cannot be satisfied to wait for corporate politicians to dole out crumbs so we can thank them for not starving us. 

We need proportional representation or at least instant run-off voting, public financing of political campaigns, single-payer healthcare, and a reinvigorated economy based on social and ecological justice principles. Labor leaders should unite around these principles and join with the Greens to build a livable, just society for the next generation. 

Kevin Reilly, RN 

Oakland 

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DERBY STREET FIELD 

Editors, Daily Planet 

Responding to Terry Doran’s Nov. 15 piece, he states that the costs for closing Derby Street and building a “big-league baseball field” for the boys varsity baseball team will be $2.7 million, despite the fact that at our Oct. 5 School Board meeting, BUSD staff clearly stated that estimate does not include soft costs (planning, architectural expenses, permitting, and a contingency fund, which typically run 30-40 percent of construction fees), fencing, buffer zones, landscaping, and any future as yet unknown costs of mitigating the closed-Derby project. Not to mention ongoing and unestimated, very expensive maintenance costs for a baseball field versus a turf field available for soccer, softball, baseball practice, rugby, lacrosse, and other turf sports, which all could share an open-Derby plan. 

BUSD has barely enough to embark upon an open-Derby Street playing field right now. A closed-Derby project will cost BUSD and the city between $4 and $6 million. Those costs will only increase over time. We could have a multi-use playing field, with an open-Derby project, by 2007 if we decided to do that right now. Instead, with uncertain funding and a complicated street closure nothing will be done for years. 

The Berkeley School Board has worked diligently over the past four years to rebuild our financial and operational systems, our integrity, and our reputation. It disappoints me that a Board member would quote and publicize financial projections that are not accurate, nor what staff has reported to us. Whatever the merits of a closed-Derby project might be, the community and our citizens deserve to know the real costs, the sources of any funding, and what they can expect in return.  

John Selawsky 

Director, Berkeley School Board 

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THE PARTY OF FDR 

Editors, Daily Planet 

Bob Burnett ignores history in his Nov. 18 romantic reference to “the party of FDR” as a contrast to the current liar in the White House.  

Readers of Eric Alterman’s exhaustively footnoted When Presidents Lie know: 

At Yalta, FDR gave Stalin carte blanche to control Eastern Europe, and didn’t even tell his own vice president (Truman) about it. Harriman lied to Truman about it. (When we got the bomb, Truman started the tradition of “We’re strong enough to blow off our allies.”) 

JFK lied to the public about the secret deal that helped end the Cuban missile crisis. RFK lied about his personal role in brokering that deal when he came out as a Vietnam hawk. The truth could have been acknowledged as proof of U.S.-U.S.S.R. cooperation towards peace. The lie led to the ouster of Khrushchev and the arms race. 

JFK’s team spoke out about the government’s right to lie. 

LBJ and Robert McNamara lied consistently about Vietnam. This not only destroyed the nation’s faith in the presidency and the press, but led to a “we-can-get-away-with it” White House that gave us Watergate and Iran/Contra. 

(The book also covers Reagan’s lying, and refers to the current occupant as caretaker of “the post-truth presidency”.) 

Jimmy Carter was criticized for his honesty. He was also the least effective full-term president of the last 70 years. 

David Altschul 

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PRESIDENT BUSH 

Editors, Daily Planet 

Bush has called on China to be more tolerant of dissidents, while at the same time his administration labels any opposition to Bush’s policies in Iraq as unpatriotic. 

Bush attends church in Beijing and calls on China to be more open to religion. Could Christianity (and/or Islam) bring peace to Iraq? Has this even been tried? Ideology sure hasn’t worked. 

Bush says that a quick withdrawal from Iraq now would hand the country over to the suicide bombers. I remember, during Vietnam, when protesting monks burned themselves alive. What stopped those suicides? 

Can’t any of Bush’s advisors find a “faith-based initiative” which could make the insurgents want to stay alive and build a peaceful and prosperous Iraq? Or are the insurgents in despair, too sure that the new Iraq will remain a puppet, supplying the US with cheap oil? 

Steve Geller